Yes, you would need a different universe, or maybe a lower tech level to account for such things. I just chipped in with my post because I thought there was a bit of uncertainty as to whether we were referring to standard or modified TNE-verse.
>From: Antony Farrell <>
>I agree that projectile and for that matter plasma and fusion guns are not a
>reasonable option in a standard TNE universe. Which is why I postulated a
>universe with no gravitic focussing which drops laser ranges, especially at
>the lower TL end of the spectrum, way down. Then to keep balance the range
>modifier of PAs and Meson Guns needs to be modified to make these weapons
>much short ranged. Then with 3 minutes turns and approx 200 km hexes
>projectile weapons become useful as normal ship board weapons.
I had an isolated TL-9 society in one of my settings that used det lasers as the main space weapon, with projectiles for close-in work. The TL-9 lasers were just not usable on the ship sizes used by this society.
>Fire control is largely computer controlled in any case. You could add a
>beam pointer to a projectile weapon if you wanted, I would just assume this
>is the central axis of a conical firing solution the this time scale by the
>way the standard beam weapons only fire 1 shot (this is for the 10/30 minute
>base) the rate of fire for a projectile weapon should be much higher which
>will help with these short range firing solutions.
True.
>In my experience most players prefer "hollywood" style combat, flying down
>the trench of the death star etc. Rather than a variation on submarine v
>submarine combat.
I can see the appeal, though there's a lot of roleplaying potential in the 30 minute game turn in TNE. For Hollywood style there's always COACC-style fights.
-----Original Message-----
From: []
I'm not sure that projectile weapons are reasonable options in TNE space
combat, save for one or two situations I'll expand upon later.
<SNIP>
>From: Antony Farrell <>
>I agree that projectile and for that matter plasma and fusion guns are not a
>reasonable option in a standard TNE universe. Which is why I postulated a
>universe with no gravitic focussing which drops laser ranges, especially at
>the lower TL end of the spectrum, way down. Then to keep balance the range
>modifier of PAs and Meson Guns needs to be modified to make these weapons
>much short ranged. Then with 3 minutes turns and approx 200 km hexes
>projectile weapons become useful as normal ship board weapons.
I had an isolated TL-9 society in one of my settings that used det lasers as the main space weapon, with projectiles for close-in work. The TL-9 lasers were just not usable on the ship sizes used by this society.
>Fire control is largely computer controlled in any case. You could add a
>beam pointer to a projectile weapon if you wanted, I would just assume this
>is the central axis of a conical firing solution the this time scale by the
>way the standard beam weapons only fire 1 shot (this is for the 10/30 minute
>base) the rate of fire for a projectile weapon should be much higher which
>will help with these short range firing solutions.
True.
>In my experience most players prefer "hollywood" style combat, flying down
>the trench of the death star etc. Rather than a variation on submarine v
>submarine combat.
I can see the appeal, though there's a lot of roleplaying potential in the 30 minute game turn in TNE. For Hollywood style there's always COACC-style fights.
-----Original Message-----
From: []
I'm not sure that projectile weapons are reasonable options in TNE space
combat, save for one or two situations I'll expand upon later.
<SNIP>