GREETINGS ONE AND ALL:

A long time ago I came up with this as a way for the Gorns to gain equality with all the other races technology but haven't put it anywhere until now.

Basically, what the Rotary Plasma Launcher is is that you use the exsisting launch system (say a Plasma-S launcher) but instead of just launching one plasma torpedo you can launch up to 5 full strength torpedoes from that same launcher. You would still have to pay the same cost for each plasma launched and the 3 turn arming costs would have to be paid but the results would be worth it.

I have seen over the course of this games history every other race in the game getting something that enhances there weapon system (heavy weapon wise) except for the Gorns. Don't get me wrong, The Plasma Carronade system is nice but it doesn't even come close to getting even with every other races technologies. The Disruptor using races have got DERFACS and UIM and the Hydrans have gotten there Hellbores and well, you get the point.

I don't know why the Gorns have been severely left out of this "technological arms race" but it is about time that they get technological equality.

Over time the arming cost for plasmas haven't gone down to reflect an advancement in technology and there arming time hasn't gone down either except for x-technology era. I truly think that I am not the only one out here who thinks this. I would very much like to have everyone else's input to this thread.

Thank you very much for reading and EVERYONE HAVE A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR.

JOhn Erwin Hacker "GODZILLAKING".

By Les LeBlanc (Lessss) on Monday, December 20, 2004 - 04:46 pm: Edit

See plasma sabot.

By Andy Palmer (Andypalmer) on Monday, December 20, 2004 - 05:04 pm: Edit

See Plasma Carronade.

By William Curtis Soder (Ghyuka) on Monday, December 20, 2004 - 07:13 pm: Edit

John, I don't believe you give Gorn ship designs the credit they are due. Yes, those pesky GAS shuttles are a poor difference, but you don't credit their nice phaser batteries or center hull which are on nearly all Gorn hulls. The Carronade has a lot of potential if you use it properly, although I don't quite agree with the Feds, Orions and Wyn getting to use it.

As for the technological arms race, plasma torpedos have had a constant stream of improvments over the years. When you consider EPTs, PPTs, Shotguns, Envelopers, Sabots, Bolting, etc., it is very hard to say they havn't gotten any improvements.

As for your proposal, 5 full strength torpedos is way over the top for one mounting. Now, perhaps if you combined the mounts into one and gave a bonus of one or two torpedos that would sound more balanced. Especially considering the example you gave of the disruptor users. C'mon, DERFACS and UIM only give die roll shifts at certain range brackets and UIM has a burnout disadvantage. With what you are proposing a Gorn BC gives birth to a whopping 500 point plasma volley instead of 100. Dontcha think that a bit too much?

By Les LeBlanc (Lessss) on Monday, December 20, 2004 - 08:26 pm: Edit

but you don't credit their nice phaser batteries or center hull which are on nearly all Gorn hulls. Myth. Other ships aer just as good and you are basing this myth on the BC and CA go look at the CL and DD. The small gorn ships have a nasty tendancy to go uncontrolled real easily as well.

By Barton Pyle (Bart) on Monday, December 20, 2004 - 08:35 pm: Edit

All small ships have a tendancy to go uncontrolled. Not just the gorn. But such is life.

By Stewart W Frazier (Frazikar) on Monday, December 20, 2004 - 09:22 pm: Edit

Sorry, can't see 5 full strength torps here, but 2 reduced (one level) torps (especially for 2X) might work...plus some time to reset the tube, 4-8 impulses should do it...

By Greg Ernest (Grege) on Monday, December 20, 2004 - 09:26 pm: Edit

Waaayyy over the top here...

By William Curtis Soder (Ghyuka) on Monday, December 20, 2004 - 09:52 pm: Edit

One guy in a group I played with had a somewhat similar idea and I helped him flesh it out. He had taken the S-launchers on his BC from the wings and placed them in the center of the ship. He then increased it from two to three. Also, the launchers had the same launch rate as the drone-C rack providing a gap in time for the launcher to rotate around to the next torpedo. I never asked him how it turned out but it seemed balanced with other rules.

By Michael Powers (Mtpowers) on Monday, December 20, 2004 - 10:50 pm: Edit

Congratulations, you invented the Plasma Shotgun.

By Troy J. Latta (Saaur) on Monday, December 20, 2004 - 11:28 pm: Edit

The other problem is, you can't give the Gorn a tech advantage by introducing new plasma rules, because the Roms just copy it in a year and then their cloaks and superior ship designs give them the edge again.

But I'm not bitter...

By Les LeBlanc (Lessss) on Tuesday, December 21, 2004 - 06:00 am: Edit

Bart look at the number of control space on oh say a Gorn DD vs a Fed DD or Kzinti DD.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Tuesday, December 21, 2004 - 10:50 am: Edit

Leslie LeBlanc:

Irrelevant.

Should every race have exactly the same number of internals?

Should everything be vanilla?

Why don't we just say every ship has six control boxes, then you will not have a problem.

Part of the flavor of the game is that different races have different strengths and weaknesses. Their ships take damage in different ways.

Should all Klingon ships get a few extra Forward Hull boxes so that they do not lose their batteries so early in a battle?

Should every ship have exactly the same internals?

You can gripe and complain about the Gorn lack of control spaces on their small ships, but those design decisions have already been made.

By Les LeBlanc (Lessss) on Tuesday, December 21, 2004 - 10:57 am: Edit

SPP you out lost in the woods.

There is a myth concerning gorn ships that they are all solid strong ships that can take a pounding. I was specifically replying to but you don't credit their nice phaser batteries or center hull which are on nearly all Gorn hulls.

This is not true. This reputation comes from the CA BC ships however the smaller ships have a tendancy to go uncontrolled. I am not griping that they need to be fixed I am simply pointing out that they have this problem and that the opinion that all gorn ships are solid strong ships that can take a pounding is a myth.

I was also replying to the point that ALL small ships go uncontrolled just as easily. Not true when the eastern races have almost double the number of control spaces.

Now if you want to do something about not being vanilla then stop the if one plasma user gets it all of them do , and if one drone user gets it all of them do syndrome. THAT will bring back the flavour.

You would also be right if I was griping about those lacking points, I wasn't, I was just pointing out that they do exist in the face of posts that claimed the opposite.

By David Slatter (Davidas) on Tuesday, December 21, 2004 - 11:07 am: Edit

Speaking for myself, I would rather keep the small Gorns as they are, with a slight tendancy to go uncontrolled, rather than have a small Gorn that loses some kind of system to get an extra control box. By the time your ship goes uncontrolled, it is pretty much invariably combat-ineffective anyway.

By Les LeBlanc (Lessss) on Tuesday, December 21, 2004 - 11:15 am: Edit

David I agree, just don't try to tell me that - -
1) ALL small ships go uncontrolled just as easily
2) but you don't credit their nice phaser batteries or center hull which are on nearly all Gorn hulls.
- - when that's not true.

Yes the Gorn CA and up ships have good all around hull and phaser batteries; but this is decidedly not the case with the smaller ships excepting the DW's having balanced hull but still having the controll problem).

By David Slatter (Davidas) on Tuesday, December 21, 2004 - 11:54 am: Edit

Commenting on the suggestion at hand

Um - about 4 times too powerful... You could maybe campaign for a very minor weapon upgrade that no-one else had, but not much more. Maybe something like an ability to shotgun an S-launcher with three G torps rather than three F torps. And that's probably OTT.

By Michael Powers (Mtpowers) on Tuesday, December 21, 2004 - 01:09 pm: Edit

Or, bringing the "rotary" theme back into it, allow Gorns to spawn extra F-torps and keep them around to fire a quick shotgun.

* A rotary plasma torpedo launcher can "hold" extra F-torps in subsidiary chambers attached to the the launcher. These can be used to fire a shotgun plasma quickly, rather than having to re-generate the torpedoes.

* Each rotary torpedo launcher has one shotgun load's worth of F-torp slots. The ship loads F-torps as normal and assigns them to these boxes when they are fully armed. (The torpedo launcher must be empty--it generates an F-torp and then puts it in a box instead of firing it.) Fast-loaded F-torps _may_ be stored in these boxes. The decision to store an F-torp is not made until the third turn of arming, but if the torpedo is stored it happens during EA. A shotgun torpedo can be loaded and fill all of the boxes at once (if there are extra F-torps after the boxes are filled, they are jettisoned; a launcher cannot store some F-torps and fire others.)

* A rotary launcher requires one point of power to store torpedoes (no capacitor, if you don't power the storage system the F-torps go away.) While F-torps can normally be held for free, these ones need to be kept "hot" so that they can be launched quickly after injection into the launcher chamber. Rotary launchers can only hold their own torpedoes; F-torps cannot be transferred between launchers.

* During the EA phase of any turn, any or all stored F-torps can be "rotated" into the firing chamber of the torpedo. The torpedo is treated like a shotgun launch from then on (and can be combined into a single torpedo.) Stored F-torps can be rotated in to coincide with the final turn of arming an F-torp.

*Repair: A torpedo launcher with this sytem costs 1 extra point to repair. It can be repaired as a normal launcher without the system, for the normal cost.

*BPV: Gorn ships may have the "rotary plasma" refit, which costs +2 BPV per G-torp launcher, +3 per S-torp, and +5 per R-torp. Romulans and ISC cannot use this refit. Orions of the (Gorn cartel) may add the rotary feature to plasma torpedo launchers, paying the same price as Gorns.

*WS: Ships with rotary plasma launchers can start with one rotary-stored F-torps (total) per launcher at WS-II, and two per launcher at WS-III.

By Les LeBlanc (Lessss) on Tuesday, December 21, 2004 - 01:12 pm: Edit

This kind of already exists as the ISC rear F torp clusters.

By Mike Raper (Raperm) on Tuesday, December 21, 2004 - 01:27 pm: Edit

Well, if you really want to give the Gorn something unique, try giving them the "bolt shotgun". They can shotgun a torpedo, but fire them as bolts, either all at once or one per impulse. Makes for a very nice direct fire weapon system. A Gorn DN could shotgun bolt over a dozen type F's this way. Not sure it'd be worth it, but for mizia purposes it could be fun.

By Michael Powers (Mtpowers) on Tuesday, December 21, 2004 - 01:28 pm: Edit

Les: Yeah, but this one can get fired offensively, and you can do a one-two punch where you fire a regular torpedo and then a shotgun the next turn. Or two regular torpedoes in a row (hey, with a rotary-plasma DNT you could spam someone with R-torps!) Or you could launch a string of F-torps one after the other.

By Geoff Conn (Talonz) on Tuesday, December 21, 2004 - 01:35 pm: Edit

See plasma rack.

By michael john campbell (Michaelcampbell) on Tuesday, December 21, 2004 - 07:03 pm: Edit

---

Quote:

Should all Klingon ships get a few extra Forward Hull boxes so that they do not lose their batteries so early in a battle?

---

By michael john campbell (Michaelcampbell) on Tuesday, December 21, 2004 - 07:35 pm: Edit

Note the above idea would probably be an ISC invention as it would make their PPD hellish.

By Daniel G. Knipfer (Dgknipfer) on Tuesday, December 21, 2004 - 11:48 pm: Edit

Isn't that what a PPT is? A rotary bolted plasma?