Re: [Traveller_TNE] Stupid Lasers

On Thu, 5 Oct 2006 06:49:56 -0500, you wrote:

>It was the battery pack that was giving me fits. The rules don't make it
>clear what the discharge rate for such batteries are (I think I ended up
>using 50 small batteries of the ×125 output). As for output, what the
>insert gave as the weapon's damage was what I got for its "Thin Atmosphere"
>performance.

The discharge rate you need is something faster than the shortest time
the laser can empty the battery. If the laser fires once per turn and
has 50 shots (for example), it can empty the battery in 5 x 50 = 250
seconds, so you need to use a battery that can discharge faster than
that (ie a 36 second discharge battery). The battery's output needs to
be the total input energy of all the shots divided by the battery's
discharge time. So, if you example laser has an input energy of 0.05MJ
per shot, it has a total energy storage of 50 x 0.05 = 2.5MJ, and the
battery needs to be able to supply 2.5 / 36 = 0.07MW.

When it comes to gravitic focussing in small lasers, it's often simply
not worth it, as the cost in extra power means the battery weight is
prohibitive and you're better off simply using a bigger non-gravitic
lens. Another thing to watch is that at low TLs small gravitic lenses
are /worse/ than non-gravitic lenses. Also, the rules say that X-ray
lasers (available at TL13+) can only be made with heavy focal arrays,
which means they can't be used in smallarms, and IIRC this rules was
not observed in some of the official designs.
--
Rupert Boleyn <>