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guide:damage_rating_v3

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Fred's Damage Rating Revision

The Damage Rating System is intended to be used to give Game Masters and Players an idea of what to expect from the application of a particular weapon, while also giving an idea of what they can expect their defences to withstand. This reference gives GMs and Players a tool to help in the process of making informed decisions regarding their chosen equipment.

While the values presented on this page are meant to be as accurate as possible it is not intended to be used as a final arbiter as to the function of a weapon. Rather it is a guideline to help GMs and Players determine whether the equipment suits their application before reading the equipment's article to better understand how to best apply the equipment.

It is important to note that while a weapon can be expected to defeat it's intended target within the same class, that this is only if the operation of the weapon used with skill. A user needs to attempt to strike a vital area of the target, as many units are capable of sustaining operation should a non-vital section be damaged. Further the chaotic nature of combat may mean that a direct hit might not happen resulting in a diminished effect on the target.

Class

At the heart of the Damage Rating system are the weapon classes. Each class is accompanied by one or two examples of what one could expect to see as armour in its grouping. The listed armours are paired with examples of weapons that could be expected to defeat the armor when properly employed.

Class Purpose Offensive Example Defensive Example
Personnel
1 Ultra Light Anti-Personnel Zen Arms Little Killer and Liberator Flak Jacket, Leathers, Thick Clothing
2 Light Anti-Personnel Styrling Ripshot and Silver Special Ballistic Mesh
3 Medium Anti-Personnel Nekovalkyrja Service Pistol, RS36-1 Heavy Rifle Steenplast Muur plates, Penetration of cinder block walls.
4 Heavy Anti-Personnel GP-1 and OI-W8-1A Showstopper Assault Rifles Durandium-plated Everyday Vest, WIND Powersuit, Penetration of solid brick walls.
5 Super Heavy Anti-Personnel NSP (Heavy Mode), GP-12 Anti-Materiel Rifle Golem Assault Armor, Wind Powersuit /w Gust Kit, Cracking of concrete blocks.
Power Armor
6 Ultra Light Anti-Armor “Ek'yra” Railgun Service Rifle at PA Setting, PLA-03a, PMOPE "Partizan" on High Setting, Impaler M1 Demon, Na-J2 "Ichabod 3", crumbling and penetration of non-reinforced concrete structures.
7 Light Anti-Armor LCA, LASR Mindy, M10 Raider, Britva Power Armor, Readily capable of destroying unarmored machinery. Cracking of fortified concrete walls.
8 Medium Anti-Armor 26mm 'Cy'Dyo' Anti-material Rifle, Deshe'vo (PA Setting), NAM 30mm Chaingun Daisy, Outrider Armored Car, Penetration of half-meter thick solid stone blocks.
9 Heavy Anti-Armor Doorbreaker Plasma Cannon, HPAR, PA Forearm Aether Projectors Hostile, Super Corona, Flayer Tankette, Destruction of conventional buildings and structures.
10 Super Heavy Anti-Armor AoP with White/Red shells, Aether Saber Beam Rifle (beam) Devastator, Viper Gunship, Faction Specific Starfighter, Aggressor, Destruction of conventional bunkers and fortifications.
Vehicle
11 Ultra Light Anti-Vehicle 125mm Gauss Cannon, AoP with Green shells, Twin plasma Lance Cannons, SFR-01 Rocket Launcher Ripper, V6 Hayabusa, Jackelope APC
12 Light Anti-Vehicle AT-1 "Shortbow", SAoY Anti-fighter Turret Erla VANDR II, Ravager, V9 Nodachi, M9 TASHA, Hornet Fighter Bomber, Destruction of large buildings, small towns, city blocks.
13 Medium Anti-Vehicle 155mm SG Cannon AP/HEAP ammo, AT-2 "Swingbat", VT Sword, Heavy Penetrating Vulcan Hammerhead Strike bomber, T1A1 Havoc, Type 34 Main, Destruction of fortified city blocks.
14 Heavy Anti-Vehicle 155mm SG, "Motionless Sleep", R88, ABSR Maximus RUSE, TATC-0002, Comparable to small tactical nuclear weapon destructive force.
15 Super Heavy Anti-Vehicle L-Mark-Two, 155mm SG Anti-Matter Rounds, Plasma Artillery, Aether Saber, Warbear, Whirlwind, Immolator
Starship
16 Light Anti-Starship 88mm Subspace Enhanced Railgun, NAM Massed Positron Array Yui-Class Scout, Malchick Class Corvette, Hray, Destruction of geological features such as small mountains.
17 Medium Anti-Starship NAM Na-LRMS-XX "Curbstomper", NAM Plasma Lance Cannon atlas_destroyer, plumeria_gunship, Destruction of fortified cities.
18 Heavy Anti-Starship R-88 Starship Configuration, NAM Plasma Lance Canon (Multiple), AS-7 Torpedo orca_battlecruiser, Penetration of Earth-like planetary crust.
19 Light Anti-Capital Plumeria Aether Array, Heavy Multiphase Cannon, Hray Main Aether cannon blackjack_assault_cruiser, shaika_assault_carrier, super_eikan, Penetration of planetary mantle and core, global killer.
20 Medium Anti-Capital Lorath Anti-Matter Cruise Missile, Lorath 610mm Railgun, Heavy Multiphase Cannon GREEN shell sharie-class_battleship, primus_battleship, Destruction of Earth-like planet in proximity to energy release.
21 Heavy Anti-Capital Lorath Interstellar Anti-Matter Cruise Missile, Sharie-Class Aether Array, Eagle-Class Trans-atheric Shock Array eagle-class, Zodiac Starfortress, Destruction of stars, gas giants

Lethality

When a weapon is designed with the intention of effectively killing something, it should be expected that the weapon will succeed at that task.

Therefore, it can be expected that when using a light anti-personnel weapon on a lightly protected individual that a successful hit can potentially kill the target. This does not mean that a hit will guarantee a kill, as striking a less vital area such as a limb - barring health complications such as shock or excessive blood loss - will fail to be immediately fatal as opposed to a hit that does damage to vital structures such as the heart or brain.

Diminishing / Increasing Lethality

While a weapon's designated purpose should give a clear idea as to what you can expect a weapon to be lethal to, that doesn't mean that the weapon will be ineffective when used against a hardier target. The reverse of this is true, the weapon is likely to be much more deadly when used against a softer target than what it is designed to kill.

For the purposes of helping illustrate this point the below chart gives examples of approximate results from the use of weapons from classes above and below a target's class.

Weapon Class vs Target Approximate Outcome
4 Below Negligible (nothing significant)
3 Below Light damage (around 12.5% of expected damage)
2 Below Moderate Damage ( around 25% of expected damage)
1 Below Heavy Damage (around 50% of expected damage)
Equal Potentially lethal
1 Above Potentially lethal ( around 150% of expected damage)
2 Above Quite lethal (around 200% of expected damage)
3 Above Very lethal (around 300% of expected damage)
4 Above Assuredly lethal (instant destruction)

With this in mind, it can be clearly understood that a power armor like the Mindy will do its job and protect the wearer from anti-personnel weapons, however this does not guarantee safety from prolonged smallarms fire nor does it make anti-personnel grenades a trivial matter.

To further clarify, it is best not to think of damage in terms of “health points” with a lower Class weapon taking a fraction of the health subtraction off of a target. Instead it would be better to envision them as merely being less likely to be effective, where the usual effect will be to damage the armor to varying degree, with the possibility that a round might penetrate if the armor is compromised enough, or the weapon strikes a flaw or weak point in the target.

In addition weapons of a higher class could very well spell the end of a target despite not hitting it in a critical location. For example an unarmored man struck in the shoulder by an aether saber-rifle could be vaporized by the hit. Another example is that an individual in a power armor that is stuck in the blast radius of an anti-starship torpedo, you can probably count on it being the end for him.

Protection

This section provides guidelines to help with the understanding of the nature of defences in the setting giving players and GMs an idea of how different properties act.

Armor

At its most basic armor is what gets between an individual and what is trying to kill them. Different materials function in different ways as such it is a good idea to research what materials you are likely to be interacting with so as to best determine how to represent the armor as it is damaged while preforming its job.

Unlike shielding systems, armor provides a more dynamic and potentially longer lasting defence reliant on the skill of the individual or crew. What this means is that a Player, or enemy may choose to engage in behaviours that improve the effectiveness of their armor, such as denying a foe clean hits, or angling one's armor to improve general effectiveness. This allows skilled users to endure more damage than might otherwise be expected from a particular armor.

It is important to note that changing how much armor a unit has is going to affect which class it belongs in. Adding extra armor to a Daisy for example might move it from Class 8 (Medium PA) to Class 9 (Heavy PA). In addition to this class change it would also affect the function of the unit which should be taken into account IC.

Further it is advised to keep in mind that typically throughout the course of an operation, that the integrity of a units armor may degrade as it sustains fire. To elaborate, while weapon of equivalent Class can be expected to penetrate or destroy the armor of the target1) which would result in obviously observable damage, weapons of a lower class or indirect hits can still have an effect on armor integrity. As such at the digression of a GM, a portion of armor might degrade reducing the effective Class of the armor in that location.
As a result of this, opportunities may arise in the narrative for Players to target weakened portions of enemy armor to more effectively defeat a foe through increased damage, or conversely the Players may have to work to avoid taking damage to portions of their own armor that have sustained damage should they be forced to continue an engagement.

The nature of vehicles

As one would expect placing one's self within a vehicle lends a degree of protection to the user. For example: A power armor may endure weapons fire without breach, while slowly deteriorating/ablating to a point where its breakdown will threaten the wearer should the source of damage continue without being addressed.

It is important to remember that weapons fire that slowly wears away at the armor of a unit is likely under the class value of the machine. Should a weapon be intended to take multiple successive shots to destroy a target it should likely be placed a class or two below the target depending on the amount of successive hits intended.

Shielding

Shielding is a plot tool that provides GMs with the ability to lend players a certain level of 'recoverable crunchability' when under fire from similar-tier opponents.

“Shield Class” indicates the kind of abuse that the shielding systems are made to withstand at the utmost, while “Shield Charges” indicates how much of damage from that class of weaponry that they can soak up.

As an example, in general most vehicles with good-shielding will be equipped with shields of the same class as the vehicle with an Charge count of 2. For example a Mindy with fully charged shields (Class 7), would be able to endure two hits from a Class 7 weapon before the shields fell and the armor would begin taking damage directly.

This means that for a starship a potentially ship-killing hit will be able to be soaked up by the shielding twice.

When a shield receives damage from a source that is above its Class the excess damage the shield cannot handle will bleed through to what the shield was protecting. This means that more weapons of a higher Class can potentially damage or outright destroy a target even when it has full integrity shielding.

To give an example: Shields usually go from full strength to half-strength when something that could kill a player hits him. This provides a function for the player that could be considered equivalent of two extra lives; though with the caveat that the shield doesn't discriminate based on whether a hit that would've been truly lethal (head, chest) as opposed to one that might not have been (limbs).

The process of shield recovery, should usually be reliant on player action while also depending on opportunities provided by both equipment and Game Master.

For example with power armor, a player could duck into cover for a time to allow the shielding system to recharge, or alternatively shields could be restored by shunting capacitor power to the shield generator which could help it recover. It is recommended that full-endurance recovery of shielding systems be used as generally, GMs want players back in the action quickly. This provides a good way of rewarding players for being cautious, depending on teamwork for cover, or making good choices during load-out selection.

For larger vehicles such as starships, shield recovery can instead be portrayed in character as a decision to reinforce one shield facing at the expense of another, or to redistribute power from certain ship systems to compensate for ailing shielding. If available using reserve power can also yield such a benefit. This is a facet of an engagement that is ideally left to player intervention, as there are few ways to do damage control in a fast paced starship battle and shield reinforcement/restoration could be one way to do it.

Conversion considerations

Rate of Fire?

For the purpose of this damage system lethality is being considered on a per-shot basis. The damage potential for weaponry that has a very high rate of fire is something unique to the weapon and should be detailed and elaborated upon during the submission process.

With this said, if a weapon was made to cause damage to a 'light armor' (Class 7) on multiple hits, it should not be considered a “Light Anti-Armor Weapon”. While the weapon can be described as being used to assault such targets, when it comes to the Class the author should, depending on the intended effectiveness of the weapon, consider whether the weapon will prove lethal on a single hit for a Class 6 or Class 5 target and label it as such.

Weapons and what can use them

Before, using the previous system it was common that a unit's 'class' level created a certain expectation as to what kind of weapons it could field. Following this revision, these guidelines would be relaxed.

It's entirely possible in the context of modern warfare to have infantry use anti-materiel rifles, or man portable missile systems to be able to shoot and damage/cripple tanks. Following this real world example, it suggests that today's infantry might very well be wielding (Class 6) “Heavy Anti-Armor” weaponry.

The same could be said within our roleplay, where we expect the KFY-produced Aether Saber-Rifle to be able to cut holes through a ship's hull; this may solidly situate them in the (Class 7) “Light Anti-Mecha” category - in turn making them dangerous even to the larger Mishhuvurthyar mecha.

This same attitude can be applied toward for limited-use weaponry such as grenades. A person can carry a number of anti-personnel grenades and potentially use them to achieve a far larger level of lethality than most other anti-personnel weapons offer.

Missiles/torpedoes on fightercraft should usually see the same notion, making bombing runs on larger vessels a realistic threat.

The reverse is also true.

Let's take the Plumeria-class gunship for example.

Plumeria weapon complement brainstorm

It is built around a singular weapon: its aether shock array. Since the title “pocket battleship” is used in reference to this warship, it would be credible to believe it was actually be an asset that can potentially sink heavy cruisers and battleships. For the purpose of this example, it will be represented as a (Class 19) “Light Anti-Capital” weapon.

The two railguns on its wings serve the warship more as its dogfighting weapons to use against other ships around its size class. Intended to be used as one weaves around to get a good firing solution, fire and expect it to hurt or die. This kind of slates those as (Class 17) “Medium Anti-Starship” weapons.

The turreted anti-ship cannons can be employed against other vessels, but as these are turreted weapons with good range of fire, it would be a good balancing act to not make them as potent as the one-hit KO we expect from the fixed forward-facing pylon railgun. Making them appropriate to gut shuttles, this still makes them a credible menace to starships, so having them be (Class 16) “Light Anti-Ship” weaponry seems most appropriate.

The smaller anti-armor weapons were meant as a direct counter to Mishhu battlepods, as well as being able to preform some extra duty to shoot down power armor and incoming missiles. Unless it is in the best condition possible, most power armor should not expect to survive a direct hit from such a piece of equipment, so these are labelled (Class 14) “Medium Anti-Vehicle” weaponry.

The two torpedoes the Plumeria can carry are weapons are meant to directly supplement the ship-killing firepower it can bring to bear with its traditionally slow-charging railguns. The Z-1 torpedo, given an anti-matter payload, would possibly do as much as the positron railguns themselves, so they could be labeled as (Class 17) “Medium Anti-Starship” warheads. Their value would lie as breaking the fire rate/lethality limit/charge time the Plumeria has to make it especially good at what it is: an interceptor that swiftly brings down nimble warships or can perform devastatingly (for its size) brief hit-and-run strike on a heavier target without having the extra mass of a full torpedo loadout.

1)
barring circumstantial materials

Quality:
guide/damage_rating_v3.1457474358.txt.gz · Last modified: 2023/12/20 15:49 (external edit)