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DR Update Only Mindy Aetheric Pulse Cannon

Rizzo

Rizzo

Well-Known Member
Submission URL
https://wiki.stararmy.com/doku.php?id=stararmy:weapons:ke-m2-w3001_mindy_aetheric_pulse_cannon
Submission Faction(s)
  1. Yamatai (except Elysia)
Submission Terms
  1. I agree
As part of the Mindy Accessories updates I've spotted this one that seems to suffer from the classic usage of the word mecha on SARP. Mecha at one time referred to what is now called Power Armor.
The conversion from DRv2 to 3 was imperfect but supports the conversion of this weapon to T7-8, Light to Medium Anti-mecha, however the only other weapon that can do this is the 50 and 20mm gauss cannon which tops out at T7. Having been described as "compact" we can draw the conclusion that it's per-shot damage cannot possibly be the same as a big gun like the 50mm gauss bazooka.

There is another weapon that is comparable in performance. The infamous Aether Beam Saber Rifle. It deals T4 rapid fire aether damage. So we might draw the conclusion that it should be a T4 weapon, but that wouldn't make sense as the shoulder Scalar machinegun deals T4 damage at 18 rounds per second. Matching the damage tier of that weapon would effectively neuter this item and that just won't do! Why use aether when scalar is cleaner and safer to use? For more damage downrange obviously!

So with these things considered, that the words mecha and PA have at one time been synonymous, the impact on the other accessories, and the size/scale of the weapon it is my conclusion that the role this weapon was intended for fits perfectly within the ASBR's optimal performance range. Tier 5, Medium anti-armor. The ASBR and Aether SMG support this assessment, however there is more to it than simply damage considerations.

It is listed that this weapon this weapon has immensely diminished performance in atmosphere due to its compact size. As a result it has an atmospheric range of only 10 meters, a little over 30 feet.
The perceived intention seems to have been to force it to be a space only weapon. This seems almost too restrictive, but in the spirit of the original authors intention I have increased that to only 1 kilometer which is still incredibly short compared to the ASBR's 473,177km.
 
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I mean, I used to do the pencil and paper math on every hit to enemies and players and what the armors could take in the Kaiyo and also Setareh Wing RP and still do a bit of it in my head. I just don't like dice because it leaves to chance what you can do with a hard rule system. That's why I'm taking an interest in this change to the hard rule system.
Wes said:
If you look back in the thread in Post 12, Fred suggested Tier 4, Light Anti-Armor.
Click to expand...
Then changed his mind after I provided RP.

Sorry, I had the post locked and loaded but will refrain further. I just really like DR!
 
Minor update:

Ame's post above is correct, Fred told me that due to the RP examples Ame and Raz provided, that he agreed with it being a Tier 6 weapon not a Tier 4 one, so please disregard my earlier post where I mentioned that Fred said it should be DRv4, and posted this in this reply. Fred messaged me to let me know this since the thread was locked.

While it doesn't change my decision on the official DR number for this, it provides context and further reinforces a consensus of Tier 6 being the right number to go with rather than something lower.

Note: It's possible to make a larger version for the Star Army's small mecha (Project Thought) if desired. I like the idea of if you need huge guns, bringing some mecha is a thing. The MINDY isn't meant to do everything up to starships on its own and it's good to leave some room for mecha with bigger guns.
 
In the the beginning of this thread I, the creator of this weapon, said that Tier 7 was the correct conversion and accurate. But this was before I accounted for rate of fire and ended up going with Tier 6 because it fired so fast. However, some good points were made about RP examples so I've added a charged shot ability similar to the NSP grenade mode in which an armor can charge the weapon at a slower rate of fire to hit that Tier 7 when you really need a big blast.
 
Thanks. I think that honestly serves the roleplay best because of what I said here already, which was also said by Damakse over in the other thread.

It's important to maintain internal consistency in-universe between RP, the weapon's established text, and context from other weapons and articles. This compromise achieves that. I've always assumed that energy weapons' RoF is "up to," anyway, so the new information fits without implicitly changing anything about the weapon at all.
 
I like the idea here, it gives it a lot more function which adds value too.

One charged shot would kill a Mindy and two would kill a Kieko.
That definitely makes the heavy weapon role.

The rapid fire mode would still maim or kill a Mindy in one shot and kill a Kieko in 3-4.
I can live happily with that and it seems to fit its role as a PA Scale heavy machine gun.
 
So, this weapon is more-or-less this visually?

Not the little turret on the shoulders, but rather the big honking beam cannons in the back?
Except they'd look smaller proportionally on a THOUGHT armor?
fetch.php
 
I think they'd look like the Mindy 2's posted on the last page. Those 1H guns are a different weapon that is a whole tier higher.

The Kirie/Keiko have their own totally unwikified shoulder guns that are only mentioned in passing as "Often has dual swiveling backpack cannons" in the Thought Armors' size description. So, as a Kirie User®, I've always looked to either the 1H's Tier 8 or the Aetheric Pulse Cannon to represent that in actual roleplay. But that's kind of irrelevant because the T7/8 description was always valid for Mindy use, too.

One point I'd like to post publicly that I shared with Wes was the DRv3 page's own examples list and a comparative analysis of in-universe weaponry that flows from it.

The Damage Rating tier tables give a couple of examples:
Things we can extrapolate from this:
  • Tier 7 is codified from the start when DRv3 was written as appropriate for 50mm Gauss, of which there is a Mindy shoulder-mounted version that predates the bazooka. This Mindy shoulder mounted version actually shoots faster than the Aetheric Pulse Cannon at 6 rounds per second.
  • Tier 8 is similarly codified as having Aether weapons, specifically "cannons" be extremely powerful.
So it follows that:
  • A "compact" version of an aether cannon (the Aetheric Pulse Cannon in question) makes sense at Tier 7 alongside the 50mm Gauss it is complementary to.
    • Compared to a full sized "turbo aether" cannon, it is 1 less damage tier and 326,823 km shorter ranged (and also limited to 10 meters in atmosphere while the turbo has no atmospheric limitation).
So if it makes people somehow more happy to see this Pulse Cannon have a slower RoF mode to allow the tier 7 then that's fine. Even though Gauss, which is decidedly less powerful than aether, can shoot faster at Tier 7 without question.

Anyway, it's all said and done but just answering Fred's question and providing some canonical insight.
 
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