Introduction For capital-ship duels, the standard missiles in GURPS Space (3rd Edition) are not suitable; their low damage, relative to a capship's defenses, and need (at lower TLs) to accelerate towards their target make them somewhat anemic. And while beams and guns definitely fill the void, they are not useable at long ranges - for opening engagements, or long-range interception.
Plus, there's something satisfying about launching a big honkin' missile at a target. So I undertook to create a 'torpedo', a massive weapon capable of delivering a knockout punch to a capital ship. These weapons are about thirty times the size of a Heavy Missile, or about eighty times the size of a Light Missile. They are big enough to carry their own armour, and have measurable hit points. Why? Because a fighter may need to shoot one down... I broke out GURPS Space (3rd Edition), and spent about two hours poring over tables and getting assistance from my neighbourhood math whiz. So these numbers, no matter how unbelievable, are somewhat accurate, given the assumptions in GURPS Space. I was gonna include a range table, but no matter how hard we worked at it, we couldn't get believable numbers. The Torpedoes, as listed below, were inspired by several different sources: David Weber's Honor Harrington series, Star Trek, and Wing Commander, to name just a few. Construction Information Each Torpedo weighs in at five tonnes, and occupies just under 500 cf. Approximately half the Torpedo's volume is given over to the drive system and reaction mass; the rest contains the warhead, guidance package, et cetera. The Torpedo Launcher is a simple linear accelerator, plus crew equipment, loading track, etc. The accelerator gives the Torpedo an initial 'kick', to get it outside shields, warp fields, or whatever else might need clearing before the Torpedo can switch to its onboard drive. The Launcher requires one full space to install, and requires 2 MW when empowered. In addition to powering its computers and loaders, the Launcher's internal capacitors will charge off this 'trickle feed', so you don't need to install power packs for a Torpedo Launcher. The Torpedoes themselves require one full space to install, plus one half-space of loading gear, maintenance gear, computers, etc., per five weapons (or fraction thereof) carried. The loader and launcher system can be controlled by computer, or crewed by one to three crewmembers (loader, gunner/guidance, computer controller), as your game universe requires. Missile Drive Type End. V at T -Reaction Drive- Torpedo/8 Chemical Rocket 10s 12.4 kps Torpedo/9 Chemical Rocket 10s 12.4 kps Torpedo/10 Chemical Rocket 10s 12.4 kps Torpedo/11 Chemical Rocket 10s 12.4 kps -Reactionless Drive- Torpedo/9 Super Thruster 28m 22,350 kps Torpedo/10 Super Thruster 35m 15s 60,000 kps Torpedo/11 Super Thruster 45m 965,000 kps Torpedo/13 Mega Thruster 45m 3,650,000 kps -Grav Drive- Torpedo/12 Grav Drive 60m 0.1c Torpedo/13 Grav Drive 60m 0.3c Combat Information Reaction-drive Torpedoes, once launched, will accelerate for a maximum of nine seconds, and will coast after that. One additional second of acceleration is reserved for final maneuvers. Reactionless and Grav Torpedoes carry small batteries to power their drives, and have a much longer endurance. Twenty seconds are required to re-load the weapon system once fired. Missile sAccel cSM End. Skill Kinetic X-Ray -Reaction Drive- Torpedo/8 21 +3 10s 18 6dx20(3) - Torpedo/9 21 +3 10s 19/12 6dx20(3) 5dx6(2) Torpedo/10 21 +3 10s 19/13 6dx20(3) (5d+5)x6(2) Torpedo/11 21 +3 10s 20/14 6dx20(3) (5d+10)x6(2) -Reactionless Drive- Torpedo/9 0.8 +3 28m 19/12 5dx5(3) 5dx6(2) Torpedo/10 1.36 +3 35m 15s 19/13 4dx20(3) (5d+5)x6(2) Torpedo/11 16 +3 45m 20/14 6dx40(3) (5d+10)x6(2) Torpedo/13 50 +3 45m 21/15 4dx60(3) (5d+10)x6(2) -Grav Drive- Torpedo/12 400 +3 60m 20/14 6dx60(3) (5d+10)x6(2) Torpedo/13 659 +3 60m 21/15 6dx180(3) (5d+10)x6(2) Nuclear damage is as per regular missiles, so there's no point in using a nuclear torpedo. As for X-Ray lasers...each Torpedo carries five bomb-pumped X-Ray lasers, and the damage listed above is for *one*. The weapon will make five separate attack rolls when discharging. Comments? Tomatoes? -- ICQ#66022322 http://tailkinker.contrabandent.com "Cows fly like clouds but they are never quite successful." --MegaHAL _______________________________________________ GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l
