I was wondering if there was any particular reason that you can't apply the same concept that creates the Light and Heavy photon to most other heavy weapons?

It seems to me that the same ratios that make it work there would work just as well for other weapons.

Light Weapon Variant: 50% damage, 50% power cost
Normal(Medium) Weapon: 100% damage, 100% power cost
Heavy Weapon Variant; 150% damage, 150% power cost

I'd say drop fractions but I could go either way on it.

Using the Disruptor as a example:
Example: Replace 1 Standard(Medium) Disruptor with 2 Light disruptors. Replace 3 Medium disruptors with 2 Heavy Disruptors.
Or replace 2 Standard Disruptors with 1 Heavy and 1 Light disruptor.

The damage output is very nearly the same, the power cost is the same. But the damage is inflicted in a slightly different manner since individually the weapons do different damage.

The primary advantages to this are personal taste and operational flexibility. Having a D5 with 8 Light disruptors won't be as big a threat as 4 standards but would be reasonably effective as a fighter hunter-killer.

This concept so far has worked in my own limited tests fairly well but breaks down if you apply the idea to plasma torpedoes so I'd probably nix that potential aspect of it. I'm still personally undecided on if it would be worth paying +50% power in, say a Heavy G launcher (assuming you can find a ship with enough G's in one bank) to be worth the extra damage.

I don't really see a fleet doing this as more than a design study. But Players are usually a different animal all together and like different things so I don't see a reason not to give them a option if all factors are effectively equal.

By Daniel Knudtson Thompson (Brezgonne) on Wednesday, August 05, 2009 - 02:17 am: Edit

Oh, no down firing either. A given weapon only fires as itself; not a smaller version of itself.

Extension of my example:
Light Disr would cost 1 power to arm
Heavy would cost 3 power to arm.

i've tried this concept on phasers to a limited extent and it so far doesn't seem to bad. you end up with more crunch damage but in the end it's still basicly equivlent. Light Ph-1s are kinda quirky when I tried them. Against ships it was more like sand blasting a target than slicing it up but it seemed to be roughly equivalent. It worked much better as a escort-type unit since I was able to use only as much firepower on a given target as was needed.

At first glance the heavy Ph-1 seems like overkill and if taken just by itself it is. But as long as the ratio is maintained then the total damage output should still be equivalent. Recall you replace 3 Ph-1 and get 2 Heavy Ph-1. The damage output is about the same but crunch power is potentially higher.

I've so far had the most experience with disruptors. The concept has worked quite well with the Klingon ships i've ran.

By John Trauger (Vorlonagent) on Wednesday, August 05, 2009 - 02:41 pm: Edit

A fair number of weapons do this already.

TR beams (light/heavy)
Warp Rail Guns (Light, medium, heavy)
Photons have light/heavy rules as well
Different size plasma launchers are arguably light/medium/heavy weapons

So what we're talking about are

Light/heavy hellbores
Light/heavy PPDs
Light/heavy disruptors
Light/heavy Particle cannon

And, yeah, phasers. But phasers have grades of damage built in as well so I'd wonder why we need a light P-1 when we have a P-2 and a P-3.

By Michael C. Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Wednesday, August 05, 2009 - 03:06 pm: Edit

A light/ heavy fusion beam?

A light or heavy ESG? Actually, I'd kinda like a light ESG. Perhaps max 3 power and radius 2?

By Jim Davies (Mudfoot) on Wednesday, August 05, 2009 - 07:37 pm: Edit

Replacing the 4 disruptors on a D5 with 8 light ones makes it outright better, because it takes damage better (harder to repair, though). If you have narrow salvoes, you can treat them as 4 standards when required.

You need to design this sort of thing into the race before you start...

By Daniel Knudtson Thompson (Brezgonne) on Sunday, August 09, 2009 - 06:10 pm: Edit

You are correct some weapons do this already. I'm not talking about replacing those. And obviously the usefulness of would depend on the situation. As I said, I've only found a use for light phasers in a point defense role so far.

By Daniel Knudtson Thompson (Brezgonne) on Sunday, August 09, 2009 - 07:24 pm: Edit

as far as the weapon profiles, what I've done is just what i said in my first post.

john: Yeah this is basicly the exact same thing that the photons use but applied to any other weapon without a light or heavy mode. But still trying to use common sense of course.

I tried light and heavy plasma but I'm kinda so-so on the results. The higher damage output was nice but felt a little munchkin-sih even if it was the same total amount of plasma with the exact same range braket. I'll try it some more and see how I feel.

All the weapons operate just like their normal counter-parts except for power cost and damage. So far I've dropped any fractional points.

A light weapon requires half the power and does half the damage. It does, as you have said, make it more damage resistant but requires twice as many rolls (barrins narrow salvos. Since I've been dropping fractions though you lose a point of damage here or there. The primary role for light weapons has been defensive in nature, shooting down fighters, PFs, seeking weapons, ect.

the heavy is the reverse. It's primarily a ship-killer weapon. Does 50% more damage and takes 50% more power. Again I've been dropping fractions so 2 heavies it not 100% the same as 3 Mediums but it's very close.

Michael: A heavy fusion would just be nasty I think as a one die roll crunch weapon. given the short range for a fusion beam i can't really see Lights being a viable idea but I suppose someone could come up with one.

A light ESG sounds intresting. Having 2 light esg's on a small ship would give it some of the same tactical tricks as the larget ships without seriosuly affecting it's overall damage output.

A light PPD is a curious idea. That woudl just be brutal on a down shield with almost half a dozen pulses hitting a target, even if it's only for a point or two.