That MJ thing kept me thinking. All I can think of is that it was
benchmarked at a very low TL, or benchmarked in a different section of the
rules. Because clearly loading a round into a breach is based only on the
size and weight of the round, not how much energy it contains, otherwise
there would be NO advantage whatsoever in TL improvements. Carrying MJ
across too many locations results in double-bookkeeping type issues
because it is tech independent, and you have to bring tech in twice. All I
can say is that it is in there because it made a lot of other things work,
just not everything that it touched.
However, to the extent that what you say later is true, that overall it is
remarkably accurate and workable in doing what it tried to do, that's
realistically all that I can ask. If you were to take all of the
real-world concepts in that book and put all of their real-world design
sequences into the book, it would be hundreds of thousands of pages long
and still wouldn't work, because real-world JSF and FCS and LCS are still
broken.
> Oh dear, Dave won't be happy. You've highlighted some of the major issues
> in FF&S CPR gun design!!
>
> Yes, the reload time always was screwed. Dunno what the reason was for
> using MJ for so many things in FF&S, but it gave results that aren't even
> in the ballpark of reality. Most of us houserule it. Or, if you mainly
> use ETC autocannon like me it isn't an issue because autocannon use a
> different design sequence.
>
> We could go through the other major issues as we did on a thread a few
> years back. Such as the penetration of the advanced rounds (APFSDSCI,
> etc) getting crazy good at high TLs (houserule that too, thanks Rupert
> Boelyn wherever you are now). The fact that the tracked suspension always
> makes AFVs too heavy. The fact that receivers and bipods for firearms are
> wildly overweight (MJ problem again). The way streamlining a grav craft
> doesn't give you sloped armour (seems to assume you still have a box) so
> you have to pay volume twice if you want a streamlined, sloped armour grav
> vehicle. The fact that the turret volume rules for vehicles seem to be
> more concerned with the amount of space required outside the vehicle to
> turn the turret without hitting anything than the actual volume of the
> turret. The missing scale efficiencies for powerplants. And so on.
>
> Despite all that - I still think it is one of the best single RPG books
> I've ever seen. The scale of the challenge it takes up, and the closeness
> within which it comes of pulling it all off is breathtaking.
>
benchmarked at a very low TL, or benchmarked in a different section of the
rules. Because clearly loading a round into a breach is based only on the
size and weight of the round, not how much energy it contains, otherwise
there would be NO advantage whatsoever in TL improvements. Carrying MJ
across too many locations results in double-bookkeeping type issues
because it is tech independent, and you have to bring tech in twice. All I
can say is that it is in there because it made a lot of other things work,
just not everything that it touched.
However, to the extent that what you say later is true, that overall it is
remarkably accurate and workable in doing what it tried to do, that's
realistically all that I can ask. If you were to take all of the
real-world concepts in that book and put all of their real-world design
sequences into the book, it would be hundreds of thousands of pages long
and still wouldn't work, because real-world JSF and FCS and LCS are still
broken.
> Oh dear, Dave won't be happy. You've highlighted some of the major issues
> in FF&S CPR gun design!!
>
> Yes, the reload time always was screwed. Dunno what the reason was for
> using MJ for so many things in FF&S, but it gave results that aren't even
> in the ballpark of reality. Most of us houserule it. Or, if you mainly
> use ETC autocannon like me it isn't an issue because autocannon use a
> different design sequence.
>
> We could go through the other major issues as we did on a thread a few
> years back. Such as the penetration of the advanced rounds (APFSDSCI,
> etc) getting crazy good at high TLs (houserule that too, thanks Rupert
> Boelyn wherever you are now). The fact that the tracked suspension always
> makes AFVs too heavy. The fact that receivers and bipods for firearms are
> wildly overweight (MJ problem again). The way streamlining a grav craft
> doesn't give you sloped armour (seems to assume you still have a box) so
> you have to pay volume twice if you want a streamlined, sloped armour grav
> vehicle. The fact that the turret volume rules for vehicles seem to be
> more concerned with the amount of space required outside the vehicle to
> turn the turret without hitting anything than the actual volume of the
> turret. The missing scale efficiencies for powerplants. And so on.
>
> Despite all that - I still think it is one of the best single RPG books
> I've ever seen. The scale of the challenge it takes up, and the closeness
> within which it comes of pulling it all off is breathtaking.
>