Useful Formulae

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Date: Thu, 30 Dec 1993 21:31:50 -0500
From: curtis@quark.qrc.com (Curtis Peer)
To: gdw-beta@quark.qrc.com
Subject: Useful Formulae
 
I've cooked up some "Rules of Thumb" from the FF&S rules to
aid designers.
 
Custom Turrets:
 
For the dimensions of non-standard turrets and barbettes,
the radius of the turret is equal to the cube root of the
volume in cubic meters, multiplied by 0.515:
 
r=0.515[V^(1/3)]
 
The Diameter of the turret = 2*r
The Height of the turret   = 2.3333*r
-------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Particle Accellerator Length:
 
The minimum length of a PAW for its effective range to be equal
to a given range (in BL hexes) goes by the following formula:
 
                  [     H      ]^(1/3)
       L = 13.47* [----------- ]
                  [  Ml * Mfa  ]
 
L= minimum length of PAW in meters
H= desired range in BL hexes
Ml= Length Multiplier (see table pg. 113)
Mfa= Focal Area Multiplier (see table pg. 113)
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Meson Gun Length:
 
The minimum length of a Meson gun for its effective range to be
equal to a given range (in BL hexes) goes by:
 
                 [  30 * H  ]
            L =  [----------]
                 [    Ml    ]
 
L = minimum length of Meson Gun in meters
H = desired range in BL hexes
Ml= Length Multiplier (see table pg. 117)
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PAW Penetration:
 
If a PAW is operating at the maximum Mj for its length, its
penetration value within its effective range is equal to:
 
          Pv = 5 * length (in meters)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
 
PAW design notes:
 
If a PAW operates at the maximum Mj for its length (and most will),
the damage it can do depends on how long it is.  This is not affected
by tech level.  Tech level affects the effective range only
 
For example, a TL 9 PAW can have an effective range of 80 BL hexes
(ie. maximum combat range) if it is at least 112 meters long.
A 112m PAW can deliver up to 12,544 Mj, and will do so even if
the PAW is TL 15, not TL 9.
 
However, the TL 9 PAW _MUST_ have its maximum bore (1/8th length)
to acheive this range.  Higher TL versions have the option of
reducing the focal area (and thus the volume, making for a more
compact weapon), or keeping the range overcapacity to improve
the weapon's performance during planetary bombardments.
 
The effective range of a PAW grows (most of the time) by leaps
and bounds with increased tech level.
 
For example, here are the effective ranges of a 16m long, 2m bore,
256 Mj N-PAW (suitable for 100ton bays) at TL's 9-15:
 
Tech Lvl        Eff Range(km)          Improvement over previous TL
 
   9              7037.2                   -------
  10              8042.5                   14%
  11             20,106                   150%
 
  12             37,700                    87%
  13             45,239                   120%
  14            100,531                   122%
  15            201,062                   100%
 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
John H Bogan
 
<whew!>
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Date: Thu, 30 Dec 1993 22:16:16 -0500
From: curtis@quark.qrc.com (Curtis Peer)
To: gdw-beta@quark.qrc.com
Subject: Bay Mounted N-Paws
 
Here's two TL-15 N-PAWs suitable for mounting in standard bays.
These are not the FULL stats for these guns, as I am only
including the stats for the tunnel and HPG, and do not
include the beam pointer and crew station for reasons I'll
go into later:
 
50-ton Bay Mounted TL 15 N-PAW:
 
144 Mj, Length= 12m, Bore= 1.5m, Power= 4 MW
    vol= 26.244kl   mass= 25.983 tonnes  cost= MCr 2.1708
  effective range= 84,816km (2.8hex), Max Pv= 60
 
100-ton Bay Mounted TL 15 N-PAW:
 
256 Mj, Length= 16m, Bore= 2m,   Power= 7.111 Mw
    vol= 59.226kl   mass= 46.66 tonnes   cost= MCr 5.116
  effective range= 201,082.4km (6.7hex)  Max Pv=80
 
What's wrong with this picture? look at the volumes.
Even with the beam pointer and workstation, these come
nowhere close to filling the bays. I can understand waste
space to allow these to traverse, but this is ridiculous!
 
Why, you could fit TEN of these things in a single bay and still
not make a dent in the bay's available volume......
 
DING!  ;-)
 
How's this for a concept:
 
A battery of PAWs mounted parallel to each other in a single bay.
The all share a single beam pointer, and total their crew
requirements before rounding off to determine the battery's crew.
 
If the battery scores a hit, all the individual beams hit.
Damage to surface features are divided equally between all beams
before the beams _individually_ chew through the hull. All hits to
same location.
 
Since they are acting as a single weapon, they are controlled
normally, rather than through an MFD.
 
A likely number for PAWs in the battery is 10, which opens up
another option:
 
Instead of firing as a single salvo, the gunner may opt to
stagger the firings of the PAWs in the Battery. In this case,
the battery would not hit in the "all or nothing" fashion outlined
above, but instead would act like a single high-RoF PAW, and
do single-gun damage, but with reduced difficulty to hit.
 
Whacha think?
 
Got leftover space in a turret or bay?  fill it with an
auxiliary power plant to power the turret or bay's weapons.
 
Stick this in your Gazelle's barbette:
 
8.34 MW,  VOL= 2.78kl,  mass= 8.34 tonnes cost= MCr 0.556
      fuel consumption= 0.834 kl/year
 
still leaves 3.42 kl to waste :-(
fuel, perhaps?
 
John H Bogan