Post by trynda1701 on Jul 11, 2013 13:05:21 GMT -7
Multiple arcs for Beam Weapons in STSTCS game by trynda1701
In the thread "trynda1701's Romulan Starships", rarcher expressed a point about how could a bank of two beam weapons have a f/p/s or a/p/s firing arc.
I thought I would put down my thoughts on the matter. They are by no means meant to be THE way it must be done, just how I think about firing arcs in the STSTCS game.
As always, Your Milage May vary!
Two ways of looking at it, rarcher.
1) Think of a twin beam emitter, like a phaser bank shown on the TMP Enterprise. As the phaser beam traverses round, one emitter turret can 'pop up' to fire OVER its neighbor, allowing it to fire in more than one arc. This would work even in a two arc weapon. In designing ships, I also try to take into account the physical layout of the mini I plan on using for my new design, similar to how SFB firing arcs work. This explains why not many vessels have 360 degree arcs! At most, unless you are Kinshaya, you could probably only have two 360 degree weapons, due to Hull form.
2) If you don't like that, how about this way? Although a vessel stats says it can fire 6 beams for example, it has more than that number of emitters. The multiple locations are what allow a 'bank' to fire into more than one arc, so in effect, the emitters are 'banked' in Fire Control terms.
The second idea comes from something some of us discussed elsewhere, probably on the old forum. The filming model of the Enterprise from TMP to TUC actually has eighteen emitters, 6 pairs on the primary hull (three on top, three below), four single emitters on the bottom of the secondary/Engineering hull, and two single emitters above the Shuttlebay doors. I think someone mentioned that FASA abstracted that 3D coverage down to a 2D plane (although the Enterprise class can't fire beams aft in Mk I-III form!)
Does that make any sense, rarcher?
Mark
EDIt: spelling errors corrected.
In the thread "trynda1701's Romulan Starships", rarcher expressed a point about how could a bank of two beam weapons have a f/p/s or a/p/s firing arc.
I thought I would put down my thoughts on the matter. They are by no means meant to be THE way it must be done, just how I think about firing arcs in the STSTCS game.
As always, Your Milage May vary!
Two ways of looking at it, rarcher.
1) Think of a twin beam emitter, like a phaser bank shown on the TMP Enterprise. As the phaser beam traverses round, one emitter turret can 'pop up' to fire OVER its neighbor, allowing it to fire in more than one arc. This would work even in a two arc weapon. In designing ships, I also try to take into account the physical layout of the mini I plan on using for my new design, similar to how SFB firing arcs work. This explains why not many vessels have 360 degree arcs! At most, unless you are Kinshaya, you could probably only have two 360 degree weapons, due to Hull form.
2) If you don't like that, how about this way? Although a vessel stats says it can fire 6 beams for example, it has more than that number of emitters. The multiple locations are what allow a 'bank' to fire into more than one arc, so in effect, the emitters are 'banked' in Fire Control terms.
The second idea comes from something some of us discussed elsewhere, probably on the old forum. The filming model of the Enterprise from TMP to TUC actually has eighteen emitters, 6 pairs on the primary hull (three on top, three below), four single emitters on the bottom of the secondary/Engineering hull, and two single emitters above the Shuttlebay doors. I think someone mentioned that FASA abstracted that 3D coverage down to a 2D plane (although the Enterprise class can't fire beams aft in Mk I-III form!)
Does that make any sense, rarcher?
Mark
EDIt: spelling errors corrected.