Date: Thu, 11 May 1995 18:48:12 -0500 From: bonn0015@flipper.itlabs.umn.edu (STEVEN M BONNEVILLE) Subject: TL15 Spinal Mount Comparison Spinal mounts: a comparison. I designed three spinal mounts, all with a DV of 2500 at one light-second. TL15 250-GJ Meson Gun --------------------- Length: 250 meters Volume: 677503 kL Mass: 462753 metric tons Power: 6944 MW Crew: 1250 Surface Area: 5000 sq. meters Price: MCr 62940 10:2500 20:625 40:156 80:39 TL15 250-GJ PAWS Spinal Mount ----------------------------- Length: 500 meters Volume: 44360 kL Mass: 87953 metric tons Power: 6944 MW Crew: 1 Surface Area: 2.4 sq. meters Price: MCr 497.8 10:2500 20:2500 40:2500 80:2500 TL15 Terajoule Laser Lance -------------------------- Volume: 180320 kL Mass: 355313 metric tons Power: 27778 MW Crew: 1 Surface Area: 5.3 sq. meters Price: MCr 2812 10:1/800-2500 20:1/800-2500 40:1/800-2500 80:1/800-2500 On an actual starship installation, it's likely that these weapons will be installed at ten times the listed power requirement, so they can get the -2 Diff Mod bonus for high ROF operation. Cheapest and most compact is the PAWS mount. At 3200 d-tons, it's near a traditional size. Great range performance, but it will have to deal with armor and sandcasters. PAWS mounts are also great candidates for beefing up to high rates of fire; it doesn't take as much to do it to a PAWS as to a laser, and meson guns can't be beefed up to -5 Diff Mod. In the middle is the huge laser lance, in all categories. It displaces about 13000 d-tons. It's enormous penetration should be more than enough to let it go after deep meson sites. However, sandcasters still affect this weapon, and I think that you're allowed to fire as many sandcasters at an attacking laser as you like and have available. Also, while the rules in Battle Rider might not reflect this, I suspect that this weapon would go *through* a target, wasting a lot of its' energy on empty space. It would still do a lot of damage. Another disadvantage is that it needs four times as much power as the spinal mounts. It's massive (which could cause an increase in the size of your maneuver drive) but it has no length requirement. I call it a laser lance, because while there's no reason why the lens, which is only 380 d-tons of the design, couldn't be made movable, if it were movable it would probably need more surface area. Most expensive, biggest (at over 48000 d-tons), and with a big support crew, is the meson gun. It doesn't have the 2400 Mm effective range that the other two weapons have. It has a big surface area requirement. But the only defense against a hit from this weapon is the meson screen, and it would need to be a big meson screen. Comments, anyone? Steve Bonneville