Rail gun damage?

[tkdguy]

If I were to write up some of the spacecraft in my hard SF campaign, how much damage should I assign the rail guns? Is the damage in Star HERO's rail gun write-up good enough, or should bigger ships have guns that do more damage?

[ghost-angel]

How many dice you got?

Seriously,
Depends on what effect you really want them to have. Defense levels of the campaign, all that kind of thing.

I really avoid the generic "This gun is X Dice" concepts because each campaign is different.

But... just to toss out an answer...

Very Fast Kinetic Object: 5D6 RKA, Armor Piercing would probably drive the point home quite nicely.

[tkdguy]

Thanks. Perhaps I will add a die or two for guns mounted on bigger ships.

[ghost-angel]

That was intended to be on capital ships.

Handheld KE weapons, while nice, move too fast to do all that much damage (punches a nice hole though) to a person. 3D6 for smaller ones. Maybe even remove the AP.

[tkdguy]

I wouldn't use handheld EM guns. They'd be mounted on vehicles. Infantry troops would use regular arms, although the bullets may have liquid propellants

[Thia Halmades]

I use a completely different scale than my brother does, but not out of disrespect. A SABOT round in an M1A1 I think is 8d6; at least MY tanks dish out 8d6. The Spinal Mount on my cruisers does 16d6, but is meant to punch straight through a ship, so that may be way, way too big for you.

[tkdguy]

Maybe 8d6 would be an absolute maximum, with guns mounted on the largest ships. 5d6 would be an average, with 3d6 being used in tanks and smaller ships. I wouldn't have any spinal mounts at this time because the setting is the near future, and first war in space is being waged. That would limit the firepower a bit.

FYI, I'm using the same mechanic for all EM guns. Railguns would be the main guns of the ships, while coilguns would be used for point defenses.

[Thia Halmades]

Maybe 8d6 would be an absolute maximum, with guns mounted on the largest ships. 5d6 would be an average, with 3d6 being used in tanks and smaller ships. I wouldn't have any spinal mounts at this time because the setting is the near future, and first war in space is being waged. That would limit the firepower a bit.

FYI, I'm using the same mechanic for all EM guns. Railguns would be the main guns of the ships, while coilguns would be used for point defenses.

Well, the differences between them are mechanical; I don't see how they'd really differ in terms of damage other than the scale of the shell, but then, I'm the guy who's constantly complaining that the game does not scale correctly from size to size. I still hold that the system needs an all new, overhauled vehicle system.

I know Steve disagrees, but if I can have a completely overhauled energy system, can I get a completely overhauled vehicle system!? KAHN!!!

[tkdguy]

True. I was thinking for point defense, add Autofire and lose AP.

[ghost-angel]

I use a completely different scale than my brother does, but not out of disrespect. A SABOT round in an M1A1 I think is 8d6; at least MY tanks dish out 8d6. The Spinal Mount on my cruisers does 16d6, but is meant to punch straight through a ship, so that may be way, way too big for you.

Is that with or without things like AP and Pen?

Personally, I'm a big believer in controlling Defenses and Advantages. Which tends to gauge my offensive rankings on the low end of the dice range. As you said - different scales.

[Thia Halmades]

True. I was thinking for point defense, add Autofire and lose AP.

Sure, but the rounds are likely going to be AP regardless -- that's really the advantage of a coil gun/rail gun/kinetic weapon. It doesn't over heat, it doesn't care what size the shell is, and can spit them out pretty much as fast as you can feed them in. So any variance is purely a system (i.e., designer) choice.

[Vanguard]

Thai, have you tried using the alternate/optional rules that let you add the Size of the vehicle to the body damage done but the attack to simulate larger class weapons on the bigger vehicles?

Also, 3d6 seems a bit low for a vehicle weapon unless the above rule is used. a .50 sniper rifle from Dark Champions does 3d6. (I happen to agree with Thai on this as well. I don't think Hero damage scales well). This also depends, as has been discussed, on where you're Defenses are.

[Yansuf]

If you wish "realism", a rail gun can have any amount of damage.
Their advantage is they can fire shells at higher velocities than "gas-expansion" weapons. Right now the best gas expansion guns (like on the M1A2) can attain a muzzle velocity of about a mile per second; the current experimental rail guns can double that.
So if the railgun is firing projectiles the size of a 0.50 cal HMG, it would have between 2 and 4 times the damage of the HMG. (There is still an argument over whether damage is more closely related to kinetic energy or momentum.)
For the spinal mount on a warship, it should realistically be be much more powerfull than a modern tank cannon, since your advanced tanks will probably have railguns with more power than current guns.
If you want point defense, etc. then anywhere from 4d6 to 12d6, probably with AP, is reasonable. If it is the ships secondary battery, it should be over 12d6 (personally, I would make it quite a bit over), and if it is the main battery, the sky is the limit.

[tkdguy]

All good points to consider. Thanks for the input, guys.

[Thia Halmades]

Thai, have you tried using the alternate/optional rules that let you add the Size of the vehicle to the body damage done but the attack to simulate larger class weapons on the bigger vehicles?

Also, 3d6 seems a bit low for a vehicle weapon unless the above rule is used. a .50 sniper rifle from Dark Champions does 3d6. (I happen to agree with Thai on this as well. I don't think Hero damage scales well). This also depends, as has been discussed, on where you're Defenses are.

Not to pick a nit -- and please don't mod me for this, it really is meant as politely possible. It's "THIA." Tee, Aich, Eye, Aeh. THIA. Not 'Thai.' I'm a Paladin, not a cuisine.