From: wolfone@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Patrick Chester)
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
Subject: Re: BTECH:  On artillery
Date: 10 Nov 92 12:12:52 GMT
Article-I.D.: ut-emx.83318
Organization: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX

In article <1992Nov7.174339.2182@gacvx2.gac.edu> phygod72@nic.gac.edu (Phil ) writes:
]
]There have been several suprised readers out there who seem to think that  
]arrtillery is not an overpowering force in BattleTech.  Let me be a little more  
]specific on just *why* this is:
]
](I don't have my handy dandy rulebook with me, so some of these actual figures  
You have the gist of artillery. Comments below.

]may be incorrect.  However, the general argument is still valid):
]
]
]ARROW IV:  artillery from hell.  When a target is TAGged, they are pretty much  
]get screwed.  20 points of damage to his hex, 10 to the surrounding hexes.  

20 to target. 5 to anything else in the hex.

]
]So that doesn't sound like much.  Add an artillery tank:  move 1/2, 100 tons, 4  
]Arrow IV systems (and pleny of ammo) or 5 Arrow IV systems (with bare-bones  
]ammo).  It then becomes 80/100 points of damage, 40/50 in surrounding hexes.  

Too slow. Enemy counterbattery fire will splatter you over the landscape.
I recommend hovertanks w/weapons replaced by Arrow IV launchers and ammo but
my minimum requirements for mobility are easily satisfied by refiting LRM/SRM
Carriers w/Arrow IV launchers. 4/6 is enough if they move immediately after
they fire a volley. Also, mix some normal missile carriers in for cheap point
defense against air strikes and light recon units.

Oh yes, does anybody have rules for counterbattery radars? Even w/the loss
of technology from the Succession Wars, a crude radar tracker can be very
helpful in tracing back artillery fire. Once the vector is known it's all a
matter of mathematics.

]As to on-board/off-board, it doesn't matter too much...I'd take the off-board  
]since ARROW IV is fired against a mapsheet, and not too many things can move a  
]mapsheet per turn (in an attempt to out-run the artillery).  Off board also  
]allows me to be safe from other nasties that might want to kill me...

Actually, I think Arrows are too short ranged. Only *5* mapsheets?! Maybe
we could add "boosted" rounds to double the range at twice the weight per
rocket. Except that ammo is 5 per ton. 2 or 3 per ton for "boosted" rounds?

]
]*BIG DEAL* you say...you still have to hit me.
]
]Right, but that is not a problem, as I have mentioned before.
]
]5 ton heilos, moving 30/45, carrying TAG.  Sure, they don't have armour, but I  
]don't *need* armour:  it's a +8 to hit them (+5 for fast movement, +3 for  
]jumping--heilos are always considered jumping)...I think that might be wrong,  
]but no matter...it is +5 if I am...*plus* your movement...I'll take 60 of the  
]buggers (at 300 tons)--not committing all of them at once, either.

I assume you are playing either House Liao or House Kurita. Otherwise I doubt
you would find anybody dumb enough to fly those things.

]
]What it boils down to is this:  kiss any one mech on the board good-bye per  
]turn (smaller mechs will die off more quickly)...

Possible. Of course, you may get struck by my disability: Snake Eye Fever. :(

]Tomorrow (or the next day)...AeroSpace, and death strafes from hell!
]You still have to get me, which may or may not happen...

AAA and SAMs. "It flies, it DIES."


-- 
Patrick Chester            |----------------------------------------------------
wolfone@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu |"The earth is too fragile a basket in which to keep
Politically Incorrect      |  all your eggs." Robert A. Heinlein
Future Lunar Colonist      |"The meek shall inherit the Earth. The rest of us
#^%$!! Militarist          |  are going to the stars." Anonymous
(Of the Sun Tzu mentality) |----------------------------------------------------