Toroidal PAW repost

From: merrick@rt66.com (Merrick Burkhardt)
Subject: Toroidal PAW repost
Date: Sun, 12 Nov 1995 21:47:45 -0700 (MST)

Hi,
 
I've been working on a way to design non-linear PAWs.  The design that follows
was done using some rules I made up with the input (a lot) of Derek Wildstar.
 
Basically, toroidal PAWs run a pulse around the "racetrack" PA a few times 
(call each one a "lap"), then let them go off at a tangent.  This takes more 
energy to do, and as the beam accelerates, it becomes harder to keep in the 
torus, so the KE imparted to the beam decreases with each lap the beam takes. 
 
As FFS also says, this won't take much damage, so I'd divide the number of hits 
it takes by 3 or 4 (losing one part of the accelerator will cause the beam to 
exit the tunnel right through the wall).  It also uses more juice since each 
shot is made up of several added pulses.
 
Toroidal PAWs:
---------------------
 
1.  Select a tunnel radius, r.
2.  Select a torus radius, R.
3.  Calculate the path length of the torus, L:  L=2*Pi*R
a.  Calculate the DE/lap:  DE/lap=L^2  (this is just the max DE, it 
    could be lower)
4.  Calculate the tunnel volume:  Vtun=2*Pi^2*R*r^2
	a.  double this (to cover cradle)
5.  Caculate the effective range as in FFS, but use L from above.
6.  Pick the ROF you want:  ROF(actual)=(ROFeff)/laps per shot.
7.  Calculate the effective ROF (this is just the total laps used each turn).
8.  Calculate the actual DE:  DE=DE/lap*sqrt(laps per shot)
9.  IE=10*DE/lap (use this for HPG calculations)
10. For power, use the ROFeff, as the ROF.
 
All the other stuff uses the regular rules.  The idea here is that you take an 
HPG that  will support a ROF=800, and use several "shots" per actual shot 
(since the beam doesn't leave the tunnel).
 
The following is a sample TL15 Ring PAW.  It used the above stuff, but I added 
a short, linear section on the end.  This critter *includes* its own powerplant 
(there was extra room).  Why extra room in a 65 ton turret instead of just 
making it 50 tons?  Well, it had to do with the geometry of the standard 50 ton
Bay provided.  If we changed the shape of the bay, we could make this a 50 ton.

 
==================================================================
TL15 Ring PAW (two tunnels---both must fire at the same target)
 
Displacement:	65 tons (it fits in a standard 50ton bay, but has a 15ton turret
		above decks)

Bore Diam:		2m
Mass:			857.89 tonnes
Price:			76.72 MCr
Crew:			1
 
This weapon has a variable ROF, and the DE changes with the ROF.  
 
ROF	DE (MJ)	Power	 (MW)			Stats
(act)	(per tube)	(total used)		(BL over BR)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10	1937.26		1435.82		10:220   20:110   40:55   80:28
					P10:6-3-2-1
 
50	1243.24		"	"	10:176   20:88    40:44   80:22
					P(-1)10:5-3-2-1
 
100	893.46		"	"	10:150   20:75   40:37   80:19
					P(-2)10:4-2-1-0
 
200	646.12		"	"	10:127   20:64   40:32   80:16
					P(-3)10:4-2-1-0
 
 
The ROF of 10 is for each tunnel, so you'll get 2 shots.  All the other ROFs 
assume 2 tubes firing, so the ROF of 50 has each tunnel firing 25 shots where 
each shot took 16 laps around the PA.  Because they share an HPG, they'd 
alternate actually firing.  There is enough waste space to armor the turret up 
to around BR AV:15 or so if you were worrying about it (still weak, but what the
hell :).
 
This bay looks like a 2 barrel large naval gun, but the barrels are much bigger in relation to their length.

These would be *cool* to watch fire (assuming you could see the beam).  At low 
ROFs they kick ass on small ships and they aren't too nasty for the intermediate
size weapon that they are (and they aren't cheap).
 
-Merrick