Attack of the Ankle-Biters - Replacment player needed.

[Pax]

Originally posted by Slick:
That's where the inventive designs come in. If you want 5 launch bays on a Frigate, it can be done. One option would be:

1 MC
1 Engine
5 Fighter Launch Bays
1 Solar Sail

Slow but viable. If the engine was a QE and a Solar Sail III, the speed would be 7 which isn't too bad. I would envision trading engines for space in lots of designs. This goes back to the idea of having to pay much more attention to managing supplies.

Slick.

Unarmored, unshielded, and naked of PDC ... nonviable, IMO. You'd have to lose three launch bays, toss a shield, a PDC, some emissive armor, and maybe a cargo bay on.

But then, you're down to three fighter bays, each one with not a WHOLE lot of cargo capacity in and of themselves. You can launch, what, twice? Three times? In Groups of three?

No thanks. Give me ~100kT more, so I can pile on two more launch bays, another cargo bay, and a second PDC ... and we're beginning to talk "Carrier" rather than "auxiliary Fi-Con" ...

[Fyron]

TK Projectors now skip all shields

Why would they skip shields? The weapon creates a force just like any other force, and would be inhibited by the energy barriers of the shields.

[Pax]

Originally posted by Imperator Fyron:

quote:

---

TK Projectors now skip all shields

Why would they skip shields? The weapon creates a force just like any other force, and would be inhibited by the energy barriers of the shields.

---

As I see it, the weapon generates kinetic energy directly at the target point. The energy does not cross the intervening space between the generator and the target point. That, at least, is how I have always envisioned telekinesis as operating. So as I said, a stylistic sort of change, based on how I envision the TK projector working.

The weapon, as a result, will almost definitely need to be adjusted to be more costly, both in terms of research and price to build. But it better fits how I "see" telekinesis working.

[Pax]

File uploaded (sucker compressed to under 90KB, lol):

Small Ships mod, v 1.0a, Beta 1.

Feedback and such will be welcome.

[geoschmo]

Originally posted by Pax:
But then, you're down to three fighter bays, each one with not a WHOLE lot of cargo capacity in and of themselves. You can launch, what, twice? Three times? In Groups of three?

No thanks. Give me ~100kT more, so I can pile on two more launch bays, another cargo bay, and a second PDC ... and we're beginning to talk "Carrier" rather than "auxiliary Fi-Con" ...

That the point though Pax. If your enemy is only using frigates then that small number of fighters can make a significant difference. It's part of the whole package deal.

But your mod idea is cool too. I like them both.

Geoschmo

[ July 28, 2003, 00:05: Message edited by: geoschmo ]

[Fyron]

So why would the shields not interfere with the mental energy going out to create the telekinetic bLast? They could still block that, forcing the telekinetic bLast to begin just outside of the shield layer.

[Pax]

Originally posted by Imperator Fyron:
So why would the shields not interfere with the mental energy going out to create the telekinetic bLast? They could still block that, forcing the telekinetic bLast to begin just outside of the shield layer.

Maybe you are not seeing this part:

"[...] does not cross the intervening space [...]"

I don't think any mental energy goes from Point A (the projector) to Point B (the target ship), at all. Therefor a shield between A and B is of no use, and has no effect.

That is how I envision telekinesis working -- and therefor that is how it will work in the SmallShips mod. So far, as a preliminary balance, I've cut the damage of the weapon in half (making it always inferior to the PPB, except against phased shields).

Considering the increase in relative armor hp/kt, it's not a be-all end-all weapon. Against Crystalline races, you want shields (and armor-skipping weapons); against Psychic races, you probably want armor (and MCs). I don't see why it's such a problem for you.