Omega - Additional Tachyon Missile modules
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Omega - Additional Tachyon Missile modules
So I had an idea that we could create some additional modules for the Tachyon Missiles found in the Omega Sector.
What I came up were the following:
1) P-3 versions for FRA use. PW-3s exist now. The FRA would produce these themselves to mount in the TM frames they bought from the Maesrons.
1a) PR-3/PQ-3 versions for Bolosco use. The Bolowsco would produce these themselves.
2) SRC Module. Equip a module with a 4-shot FRA short-ranged cannon for anti-fighter work. The FRA could export these to earn some much needed money. If not a 4-shot, maybe a 3-shot.
3) Planetary Bombardment. Inflicting civilian damage against those nasty Vari.... Mostly for VP purposes for scenarios, like "hit with YY TM missiles". Maybe one of these is twice as effective as an anti-ship explosive module.
4) Mine Module. This one might sound silly, but having the TM carry a small mine in it's nose. Think of artillery delivered mines. Obviously the TM would have a hex as it's target when launched.
Items #1 and #2 I can see some argument for, but I am not convinced right off the bat. I will listen.
Item #3 I do not believe it is possible to have a warhead that does more damage as a bombardment drone than as a normal drone, and have zero desire to open the door for such a thing.
Item #4: No (subject, of course, to SVC overrulng me if he decides such a thing should be allowed in the Omega Octant, but I am unwilling to start arguments that type-H drones in the Alpha Octant would obviously also be able to do this mission).
1 and 1a seem obvious to me. any race that uses the missiles would want to put their own phasers in them, just for ease of swapping out parts, if nothing else.
2... I don't have mny rules in fornt of me, don't SRCs take power? (unlike ADDs, which we can already put into drones)
SRCs may take power, but so do phasers. You could say that the package includes sufficient battery for 1 shot or some such equivalent.
I don't like #3 as written, but it does make me wonder if there should be some kind of ground bombardment module for TMs. Is there such a thing for drones?
There is nothing similar for Drones. But with drones at least, you can reload the drone rack (see D6D), you can't do that with TMs obviously.
My thought was for ground bombardment by ships. My idea was for a situation where the Maesrons would have to inflict XXX amount of damage against the planet by TMs. Well the defender is going to know that EVERY TM matters, where the Maesron player might only want HALF of his TM's for the bombardment mission (and the other half as decoys or to be used against ships). The best analogy I could think of would be chemical/radiological weapons (yeah it's just an analogy here). No big deal I suppose if it's rejected.
But while writing that, it go me to thinking a "Ground Support" module which adds 2-3 Ground Attack pods to aide in ground combat (obviously this would be a 1 time attack from the TM).
So the proposal would be:
5) Ground Attack Module. The missile would replace the warhead with 2 Ground Attack pods in Y120. After the attack the missile crashes and is destroyed. It is expanded to 3 Ground Attack pods in Y165 as the technology reduced the space requirements of the equipment to allow an additional shot in the module. [This should obviously be included with other Omega ground force descriptions.]
I looked up the SRC in the Omega MRB.
It takes 1/2 power per SRC shot to energize it and shoot on a ship-mounted version.
So I don't think a TM-SRC module could have 3+ SRC shots loaded on it. But maybe 2.
6) Since there are no drones in Omega, how about a shuttle bomb/TM, built for the FRA and could possibly be exported to the Maeserons and Balascos?
In later years after a refit I believe a shuttle bomb is approximately 1/3 the size of a shuttle. Perhaps one can be fitted to the front of a extended (or larger) TM, maybe cost 3(4?) spaces on the TM frame.
It could be programmed before launch to either attack a separate target other than the TM's or be set to release just before the TM hits it's own target for a one-two punch.
A new MW-type missile
An FRA designed TM that deploys shuttle bombs. It would have to be a late-year model (Y192? - after the SB miniaturization refit), it would take at least 3 spaces per bomb (for the bomb itself plus the charging device), and cost about 3 BPV/ bombs. The most that could be deployed from a single missile - 2x from a standard frame missile, 3x from an extended/huge frame missile.
The charging device is a miniature APR that can feed 1-point of energy per turn to the shuttle bomb to follow (OJ5.2) for arming and holding purposes. This will give each bomb a maximum warhead strength of 8.
[Edit: The SBs could be allowed to be armed while the missile was still attached to the rack (for WS-I,-II or -III purposes), but if the missile was destroyed while still on the rack, then each armed SB would detonate causing a chain reaction. Damage applied first to the rack itself and then randomly within the ship]
thoughts?
[I came up with this idea tonight and when I went to post it I had found out that I had already came up with it 10 months earlier, from the previous post. 
]
A drone that deploys shuttles? I don't think so. TMs may be large, but they are still size class 7. Even with miniaturization, shuttle bombs are still size class 6. What you're suggesting is physically impossible.
Maybe if it was six drones deploying one shuttle, like a scatter pack in reverse?
(OFD1.35)says that TMs are larger than the largest sized drone (but not quite as large as a shuttle). (OFD1.351-3) also show that a TM is more similar to that of a shuttle.
(OJ5.112) shows that the newer shuttle bombs are 1/3rd the size of a shuttle.
That's why I limited the number of shuttle bombs to two on a "standard" missile frame. The larger frames are 25% and 50% bigger, so they could handle a third (just barely). If someone wants to put three SBs on a missile they could, but the missile will still have a slow speed due to the number of spaces required for the SBs.
One thing about 1 and 1a; (OFD1.252) already has the missiles use the most commonly used "light phaser" of the operating empire.
There is a Phaser-W1 module the Mæsrons get in Y212, but (OFD1.2523) currently prevents other empires from using it.
What about an improved fire control module, which would lower, or even eliminate, the four-impulse activation delay after launch? (Maybe have it available in Y198, when the first Mæsron X-cruiser is said to have entered service.)
I don't understand why you would want to put a shuttle bomb on a Tachyon Missile, even granted that it is physically possible.
Speed mostly. A shuttle bomb is limited to speed 6. A TM can deliver it further out from the ship and at a faster speed until it deploys from the missile (which it must do in order for it to activate).
A shuttle bomb could be given a different target (i.e. fighters) than that of the missile that deployed it or even the same target but since the SB moves slower it will be delivering a one-two punch to the target.
It follows the similar goals as that of the Alpha type-III MW drones.
TMs may be larger than drones, but they are still a smaller size class than shuttles. Shuttle bombs may be smaller than regular shuttles* but they are still a larger size class than TMs. Saying you could fit 3 SBs on a TM is saying that a TM is larger than an admin shuttle. But a TM is, in fact, smaller than a SB, even a miniaturized one.
Now, I do think there is potential in the idea of a TM with submunitions. Maybe the FRA started producing drones in limited numbers? But I think Terry's point is cogent, even if it were physically possible to deploy SBs on a TM, I doubt you'd really want to.
*Not necessarily 1/3 the size, though. (OJ5.112) just says you can fit three of them in a shuttle box. Note that you can fit 2 admin shuttles in a shuttle box if you have to. It's entirely possible that the miniaturized version of the SB is only slightly smaller than the original, and the advancement is mostly about making more efficient use of shuttle bay space.
Don't have the rules in front of me, so I need someone to spot me on this, but by Y192 you can get a TM that generates a blast larger than a Shuttle Bomb.
By the time that you accounted for the bomb (including the cost of the shuttle it replaced), and some markup for the harness, you'd almost assuredly be more costly than the equivalent damage shuttle bomb.
Similarly, given the size factor, even if you COULD carry a Shuttle Bomb in a TM (not saying you could), the sheer mass would probably require an enlarged frame which then had all the space used, making it as slow as a shuttle bomb to begin with.
So, if we put asside the mass issue for a moment, I repeat Terry's question. What's the goal?
No takers on the fire control idea, then?
If you want a TM with sub-munitions, there are smaller drone-like weapons in Omega; ultrawarp missiles.
Right now, the Qixa aren't among the list of TM-users, but they could be added, perhaps. Say that they signed a deal where they would sell "brick" missiles for use as sub-munitions by friendly powers (or operate them with their out-Cloud trading convoys) while the various in-Cloud warheads would be reserved for use with their home fleet.
Also, since the Vari can fit a particle beam on the end of a probe, perhaps some engineering team out there could figure out how to equip a module with a one-shot tachyon gun (or light photon, disruptor or focused tractor beam)?
Argh! A TM with say 6 Particle Probes on it could be DEVASTATING. Shot the missile on a ballistic course to a defined hex, a particlar probe goes 5 in each direction at the moment it hits the hex then targets a particle beam on the closest target (possibly with standard mine targetting rules). Get hit by that once and you'll think twice about ever waiting to tractor a missile again.
Now that I'm thinking about it, you'd have to say that it couldn't fire if it HAD been tractored, forcing you to toss in a fair chunk to anti-tractor.
The fire control thing seems more like a frame addition rather than a module. It doesn't seem unreasonable, but I could see where it might be impossible given the design of the TM.
I could see a probe module for TMs, enabling them to be used like probe drones. A single module would probably take several space points. I could even see a particle probe module, IF the Vari used TMs, but I can't see more than one fitting on a TM.
Other than that, I can't really see a heavy weapons module of any type.
I for one am not currently interested in taking a tachyon missile and fitting all sorts of different technologies on it, or increasing the number of empires that use tachyon missiles.
What would be next?
A Trobrin tachyon missile destroyer launching tachyon missiles that in turn launch HEAT torpedoes?
Why not a Trobrin Cruiser with tachyon guns, or a Mæsron ship with HEAT torpedoes at that point?
So, no, I do not think a particle probe tachyon missile is a good idea, nor do I think we need Vari ships armed with tachyon missiles, or FRA (much less Mæsron) ships armed with particle probes.
When it comes to the Vari thing, there was a note Bruce Graw made in Omega's Lost Futures, in which he mentioned some of the ships and technologies the Vulpa Confederacy were to gain from their successes against the Vriss-led Combine (and the Nucian Cluster) in the Seventh Cycle.
Of course, that view might not necessarily reflect what, if anything, would actually end up being published for the Confederacy down the line.
a TM that drops a spore cloud?
Actually that might be useful.