Date: Sat, 13 Dec 1997 16:58:21 -0600 (CST)
Subject: Dropped Weapons Design for Vehicles (fwd)

In the spirit of V2e weapon design, I sat out to develop a similar system
for dropped weapons, hopefully using as much exisiting material as
possible.  I think I have a fairly good start, but I'm seeking feedback to
see if I've missed anything. 

My main desire is twofold - 1) To offer a way of customizing the radius of
effect of dropped weapons and 2) To seperate the ammunition supply from
the weapon itself. 

The obvious starting point was to make each dropped weapon into a
'warhead' round, complete with a radius calculation, modifier for WPS and
CPS, and a cost per dose.  Once I had this, I could just build a dropper
like a launch tube. (Like with mines - V2e p. 118).  The idea is that each
ammunition type would be packaged into a dispenser like a CHEM warhead -
spreading out into a radius once i t was dropped from the vehicle. 

I broke the various munition types into specific catagories with the
intention that you could have a single dropper that would drop anything
withing it's weight/diameter parameters, or you could design a type
specific weapon with a cost break.  This becam e especially important with
weapons such as the spike dropper.  I couldn't accept a 45mm spike dropper
as having that much of a dispersal radius, but a 85mm dropper was much
heavier and more expensive than a 45mm dropper.  If this was the case,
there woul d be little reason to use spikes over mines. 

Each munition starts out with the same weight and cost as a solid missile
warhead, then is modified according to it's type.  Some types have an
additional cost per "dose".  Some types have a split CPS.  When these
types are loaded into their own specializ ed droppers they have a cheaper
cost than when loading into a generic dropper.  This is because of the
cost of "packaging" the material into a standard shell.  This second CPS
should also be used if the round is used as a warhead in a missile or
artillery
 round.

-----------------------------------------------------
Munition Design:

Solid Munitions (Minimum 46mm / Average 80mm)    Radius = B^2*0.00047
Round		WPS	CPS		 Notes/Effects
Spikes		x1	x0.25 / x0.5	 VE2e pg. 70
Junk		x1	x0    / x0.25	 Road Hazard VE2e pg. 151
Sand		x1	x0    /	x0.25	 Negates Ice, Oil or Flaming Oil.

Liquid Munitions (Minimum 35mm / Average 60mm)   Radius = B^2*0.0008	
Round		WPS	CPS	+$/dose  Notes/Effects
Ice		/1.25	x1 / x2	 $ 0.20	 Road Hazard VE2e pg. 151
Oil		/1.25	x1 / x2	 $ 0.10  As Ice.  Also VE2e pg. 70
Flaming Oil	/1.25	x1 / x2	 $ 0.50  Autoduel 2e pg. 104

Chemical Munitions (Minimum 16mm / Average 30mm)  Radius = B^2*0.00375
Round		WPS	CPS	 +$/dose  Notes/Effects
Flame Cloud	/1.5	x1  / x2  $ 1.00  1d per turn in AoE + chance/fire.
Smoke		/1.5	x1  / x2  $ 0.60  VE2e pg. 104
Paint		/1.5	x1  / x2  $ 0.25  VE2e pg. 70


Munitions may only use warhead sizes if used in a missile or artillery
round - use radius modifier as per VE2e pg. 119. 

Dispenser/Dropper design:

Build weapon as per Launcher on VE2e pg. 120 with a diameter and weight
rating.  If weapon is specialized and can only drop one catagory of
munition (solid, liquid or chemical) then modify cost and weight as
follows: 

	 Weight	Cost
Solid	 x .5	x .5
Liquid	 x .75	x .5
Chemical x .75	x .5

Calculate cost _after_ new weight is calculated.


      Barbarian - Founder of The Barbarian Illuminati
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