A couple "edge" geomorphs from the upcoming book showing my take on bay weapons. Aside from the Azhanti High Lightning deck plans, I don't think I've ever seen them represented in Traveller canon, and those in the Azhanti appear to be in the 30 dton range. I interpret them as standardized weapon frames that can be swapped out for alternate weapons easily. For the double laser, the doors retract and the weapon extends out from the bay and rotates into position. For the missile bay (as shown in the illustration), doors retract to expose the missile launch tubes. If desired, bay weapon doors could be indistinguishable from large cargo doors.
Designer's note: The weapons shown in the deck plans reflect 50 dton weapons bays on a single deck. The illustration shows a double height bay - just an artistic decision - and therefore would be 100 dtons. I doubt the gunnery crew would actually be in the bay as the weapon moves into firing position, I just wanted to show people to get a sense of scale.
Hmm. I always see a heavy missile bay as closer to a submarine torpedo room, although that does resemble a Vertical Launch System, just turned on it's side.
ReplyDeleteThere's just too much space around each one; the tubes should be closely fit to the missile, giving a shirt-sleeve environment around much of the tube.
Thanks for your comments. The missile bay shown was based (very roughly)on a VLS. I've got another version a bit more like you describe, with 144 smaller missiles based on the description from the Mongoose High Guard rules. That version will be in the book. For each geomorph I'm drawing I'm trying to show several different configurations, thinking that none of us envision the future quite the same way.
DeleteThe missiles shown are just symbols, so they can fit as tightly in the tube as you prefer. I think at the time I designed this, which was a couple of years ago, I liked the idea of a PC maybe having to crawl into the tube to defuse a warhead or something - the old argument of hard science fiction vs. cinematic story telling, and the idea of a PC wanting to ride a missile through space ala Slim Pickens in Dr. Strangelove isn't beyond the realm of possibility for some of the gamers I've played with.
So... are bay wweapons 'Single line' targeting? Or are they like giant turrets? The beam mounts you've illustrated here seem to be 'One direction' in nature?
ReplyDeleteNot that I'm fantastically familiar with the rules, but what have I missed in my readings?
Much cheers toy you and yours. :)
I see them operating like giant turrets. Although the articulation is not shown in my illustration, I would think either the barrels could move "up and down" relative to the laser body or the entire unit could move within its mount. Admittedly, I was thinking more of "broadsides" combat while I was designing this, hence the apparent "single line" targeting.
DeleteIn terms of gaming rules I'm not sure it matters, and it would also depend on which rules set you are going by. Traveller space combat rules have always leaned toward the abstract. I've never seen a rule in Traveller that, for example, prohibited a dorsal turret from firing on a target below the ship. Although if I recall correctly either CT Book 2 or CT High Guard limited the percentage of capital ship weapons that could be brought to bear to reflect the size and relative locations of the firing ship and its target. It's been a long time since I've read those rules.
Regarding AZH bay displacement, keep in mind that the deck height is 4.5 meters and not 3 meters. So if you were going by a room dimension of 6x8 + turret space at the end then it would be more like 45 tons. You can also add in some more for the machinery space (red) on either side of the bay.
ReplyDeleteA fair point. It's been a while since I've read the Azhanti High Lightning book and had forgotten about their 4.5 meter deck heights. However, all my geomorphs have the standard 3 meter deck height unless noted otherwise, so the tonnage remains as indicated. Players are welcome to modify anything to suite their needs.
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