First off, these are not my issues -- a member of our group cannot get on the forum, so I'm posting on his behalf.
1. On the Lyran mauler, are the two lines two separate weapons? (I pointed out to him the description of the D-6M having two lines for artistic purposes, but he'd like to know for sure. I think he's wanting to shoot into two separate arcs, but that's a whole other matter).
2. Is the mauler (or was it ever) an "area" weapon? He was taught (not by us) that the mauler affects all targets within the firing arc. I'd like to know what else he was taught
The Lines aren't exactly the weapon, just a conduit, the actual weapon is the batteries (engines), along with whatever translates the power into the proper energy which goes out through the conduit ---
That portion can't be destroyed, just the power source --
1. To answer the question of whether each conduit is a separate part, look and see if all power sources are connected to an individual conduit, or if separate power sources go to different conduits ---
2. No the mauler effect only goes to what is targeted, ship/fighter/shuttle/drone ----
No need to duck, they are good questions, not everyone gets the gisp of things the first time around --- You want to know what is correct, that's the point of questions ---
1. The lines are totally irrelevant, and are purely artistic. A mauler is a single weapon that can fire multiple times a turn, but only once in an impulse. The mauler weapon will always have a very specific, universal arc.
2. A mauler is not an "area of effect" weapon. A mauler weapon will always have a single target in a given impulse.
The firing arc cannot be changed, doesn't need to be changed, and will not be changed. It's the SFB firing arc. There is no reason for the FC one to be any different. However, there are actually THREE mauler firing arcs and rules to make sure you're using the one you need.
Steve Cole wrote:The firing arc cannot be changed, doesn't need to be changed, and will not be changed.
I would contest that of course it can be changed. In your universe, you are the Designer, the Almighty, the Creator (no blasphemy intended!) - you can do what you like.
The latter two points (doesn't need - will not) are your decisions as Creator, if you will. Fair enough, it will not be changed; but this is not because you can't do it. You can do whatever you like, it's your game!
Kang do you understand why the Mauler cannot have its Firing Arcs changed?
The Mauler is, to the best of my recollection, the only true bore-sighted weapon in the game. Because the hex based enviroment makes true bore-sighting almost impossible. The mauler was given a option of choosing one of three different 15
-Dal
"Which one of you is the Biggest, Baddest, Bootlicker of the bunch?"
"I am."
"ARCHERS!!! THAT ONE!!!!"
Yes, I understand the boresighting. But my rationale for its being unrealistically narrow *precisely because* of the boresighting issue is explained in the link I made above. Thus promoting healthy debate
Just a thought-- was there ever any discussion about letting all ships tend left or right to get a slightly modified arc? Seems like that would be an unnecessary headache
The mauler should only be used within a large fleet as a fire support ship. Even with the narrow firing arc there should be targets of opportunity when fighting a large fleet, the challenge is to hit the key ships. Also it is the responsibility of the rest of the fleet to corral the enemy ships for the mauler's narrow arc.
I don't know if anyone is trying to fly a mauler in a squadron (or smaller) action. If so, then I would expect the mauler to be ineffective with its narrow firing arc since it is not designed for such circumstances.
The mauler arc does have to be consistent, for compatibility with SFB.
In any case, maulers are very 'niche' ships. They are great for base busting with Klingons and Lyrans, because the K's and L's don't have a lot of one-hit-crunch weapons like plasma torpedoes or photons. When dealing with a base, you want to smash down the shield and the armour in one hit if you can.
"Captain" Terry O'Carroll, fourteen papers published including six best of issue
"Man, Terry, you are like a loophole seeking missle!" - Mike West
I agree with Kang, same concept, but different game.
There is no reason why they couldn't have different and less fiddly arcs, especially ones that don't have any requirements to explicity link movement with arc.
Other fiddly arcs were left out of SFB - directly rear firing klingon/fed phasers.
FedCom has a big difference to SFB, namely 4 sub pulses between firings. During those 4 subpulses you could have slipped left then right and fired pretty much across all of FA. Getting into rules linking movement to firing arc across 4 subpulses (be it after or before firing) is just far to fiddly for this game.
The best ranges for a mauler are up to 0-2 then 3-5 hexes, at those very close ranges against a decent opponent it can be awkward at the best of times to keep FA, never mind a more narrow arc. They are not going to gain a huge amount compared with SFB by giving them FA, but could be far more crippled than in even SFB by leaving them with narrow arcs.
So I'd say just give them FA. It better fits in with the 4 subpulse system, never mind the geometry of hexes.
Last edited by storeylf on Tue Sep 18, 2012 12:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
