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This rules addendum is currently not approved for implementation. |
The following is an addendum that, if approved, would be an additional requirement of the Submission Rules.
These rules govern the quantity and quality of firepower available to the numerous mecha, small craft, starships, vehicles, and so forth within the Star Army setting.
These rules do not address the following topics, due to the fact that we believe it is the job of the submission reviewers to determine whether or not a submission is overpowered, not the job of yet more rules whose presence would only make it even more difficult for content creators to contribute to the setting.
Usually, for infantrymen and power armor, this is self-explanatory… or at least easily ruled on. No one expects an infantryman or a power armor to dual-wield bazookas while carrying four spares on their back. For mecha and starships, however, it becomes more nebulous. The rule-of-thumb we offer is: a rough maximum of 8 same-tier weapons as the unit carrying them.
For weapons such as missiles/rockets/torpedos/etc., there's actually two rule-of-thumbs we offer:
Keep in mind that it doesn't matter whether you call the “missile” a torpedo, missile, rocket, rocket-propelled grenade, or something else entirely. What ultimately matters is its tier - nothing more, nothing less.
Here are a few final things to keep in mind:
Let's say that I'm an evil Mishhuvurthyar villain recently freed from imprisonment on Luna Bianca by two bumbling astronauts and that I've decided to create an 80-meter-tall Giant Robot Dinosaur so that I can wreak chaos, havoc, destruction, despair, and all that delightful child-friendly stuff upon the unsuspecting residents of Kyoto City.
Given that 80-meter-tall units fit under the “Light Starship” (Tier 10) category according to this chart, I can have:
So, if I want to have two Laser Eyes of Destruction™, I'd convert those 8 Tier 10 (Light Anti-Starship) weapons into…
…and then convert those four weapons into:
So, in the case of my giant robot dinosaur with laser eyes, it can kill with a glare.
But wait, I wanted it to breathe fire too! And I want my fire breath to cause more damage than my laser eyes. Back to the drawing board: I divide 1 of those Tier 12 (Heavy Anti-Starship) weapons back into 2 Tier 11 (Medium Anti-Starship) weapons. Those two will actually be my laser eyes. The bigger one is my fire breath. So, now, my loadout looks like:
And there we go. My Godzilla-impersonator is armed and ready to smash, stomp, burn, rip, and tear Kyoto City into rubble!
Let's say that I'm the general responsible for defending Kyoto City against an 80-meter-tall giant robot dinosaur. I have twelve fighter jets ready to go blast that thing back into whatever unholy abyss it spawned from - problem is, the engineering types don't know which missiles should be loaded onto the jets.
I know from the tech-heads that the fighter jets measure 14 meters by 9 meters by 2 meters, which (according to some chart they keep referring to) makes it a ”Tier 7 Light Mecha,“ whatever that means. They've also informed me for the one hundred and twenty-seventh time that this means each fighter jet can be equipped with…
…and that 4 of those 8 weapons are already “taken up” by the two autocannons mounted on each side of the forward fuselage, meaning that each fighter jet has…
…already equipped, and…
…available for missiles. Simple observation - and a forest's worth of unnecessary engineering diagrams - tells me that each fighter jet has two under-wing hardpoints per wing for a total of four, which therefore means that each hardpoint can carry a single “weapon system's” worth of missiles (or, if you ask the tech-heads, 1/8 of the fighter's total weapon capacity or 8 same-tier missiles). It also means that each of the four hardpoints could potentially carry one of the following payload options:
Now, in an ideal universe without any of those pesky politicians, tech-heads, sciencey types, budget cuts, or weapon reduction treaties, this means that I could load each jet fighter up with 4 Tier 10 (Light Anti-Starship) missiles - damnation, now I'm saying it too! - and bury that robotic lizard freak in a nuclear avalanche of pure radioactive awesomeness.
Problem is, this isn't an ideal universe; because the civilians spent too much time chewing their thumbs and debating over what to do, I, unfortunately, have no choice but to send out the fighter jets with their current anti-fighter loadout of…
…(which, for you tech-obsessed tech-heads out there, is sixteen Tier 6 missiles equipped per hardpoint) and pray to the Goddess that it's enough.
Let's say I'm the long-dead Yamataian who, ten thousand years ago, designed the gigantic 95-meter-tall mecha that - following the tragic, emotionally-moving, and non-graphic death of the last fighter jet pilot - is about to conveniently appear out of nowhere and defeat the Giant Robot Dinosaur on the outskirts of Kyoto City while an epic theme plays in the background, thereby granting the city a one-week reprieve from complete and total (child-friendly) annihilation.
I never intended in my wildest dreams for five teenagers with attitude to pilot my glorious war machine, of course - the notion of child soldiers was something that the Star Army of Yamatai abhorred, even during the final days of the insanity called the Twenty-Seventh (or “Final”) Mishhuvurthyar War - but the design principles of then still remain relevant, even today.
At 95 meters tall, the aforementioned war machine - the Ke-M1993-28i “Izanagi” Mega-Zōdo - fits squarely in the “Light Starship” (Tier 10) category according to this millenia-old chart, which means I have enough room for:
Seeing as how the Izanagi's enemies were originally starship-sized, Mishhuvurthyar-created monstrosities called “kaijū,” I decided to take 2 of those 8 Tier 10 (Light Anti-Starship) weapons and divide them into…
…for the extendable Sword of Justice™ built into the Izanagi's right forearm. Next, I took 2 of the remaining 6 Tier 10 (Light Anti-Starship) weapons and converted them into…
…then divided those four weapons into…
…and divided those eight weapons into…
…for the (retractable, in order to make the animator's jobs easier…wait, what?) Point-Defense Turrets of Truth™ located at various points on the Izanagi's body, arms, and legs. After that, the rest is pretty simple: Of the remaining 4 Tier 10 (Light Anti-Starship) weapons leftover…
…is utilized for the Aether Beam Cannon of Power™ located in each of the Izanagi's arms (which adds up to a total of 2 Tier 10 (Light Anti-Starship) weapons), while the Missile Launcher of Might™ located on each shoulder together equal…
…which thereby brings the Izanagi right up to the maximum limit of 8 Tier 10 (Light Anti-Starship) weapons. Granted, each Missile Launcher of Might™ can only fire a single missile every 10 seconds - but when up against opponents the size of buildings (or larger!), it's either go big, or go extinct.
With the weapons taken care of, all that remained was to add a Shield of Integrity™ to the Izanagi's left forearm. Seeing as how I wasn't able to fit any more onto the Izanagi, I chose to leave the Shield of Integrity™ devoid of weaponry; a quick glance here tells me that since the Izanagi is considered to be a Tier 10 (Light Starship), the Shield of Integrity™ should be classified as a Tier 11 (Medium Starship) - and with its final loadout of…
…plus the…
…the Ke-M1993-28i “Izanagi” Mega-Zōdo is ready to go save the day in a dashing, adrenaline-fueled, and action-packed fashion that's sure to keep the residents of Kyoto City alive for years to come (or twenty-four episodes) while simultaneously driving the sales of figurines and VHS tapes through the roof!
The following tables are included for usage as a quick reference when creating and/or reviewing setting elements. They are not meant to be used as a standalone explanation of the armament limitations, which are covered in more detail in the above sections.
Note: “Host platform” refers to the mecha/small craft/starship/vehicle/etc. a weapon system is mounted on.
<WRAP center>
</WRAP>
<WRAP group> <WRAP half column>
Tier Difference | Capacity Utilized |
---|---|
+3 | 8 |
+2 | 4 |
+1 | 2 |
0 | 1 |
-1 | 1/2 |
-2 | 1/4 |
-3 | 1/8 |
-4 | 1/16 |
-5 | 1/32 |
-6 | 1/64 |
-7 | 1/128 |
-8 | 1/256 |
-9 | 1/512 |
-10 | 1/1,024 |
-11 | 1/2,048 |
-12 | 1/4,096 |
-13 | 1/8,192 |
-14 | 1/16,384 |
</WRAP> <WRAP half column>
Tier Difference | Missiles Available |
---|---|
+3 | 1 |
+2 | 2 |
+1 | 4 |
0 | 8 |
-1 | 16 |
-2 | 32 |
-3 | 64 |
-4 | 128 |
-5 | 256 |
-6 | 512 |
-7 | 1,024 |
-8 | 2,048 |
-9 | 4,096 |
-10 | 8,192 |
-11 | 16,384 |
-12 | 32,768 |
-13 | 65,536 |
-14 | 131,072 |
</WRAP> </WRAP>
The following table was copied directly from the DRv3 Quick Reference article (apart from a few minor formatting changes) and is also included for reference purposes.
<WRAP center>
</WRAP>
frostjaeger created this article on 2017/04/22 12:28.