Plas-Boost Laser Cannon

[CRMcNeill]

One of the decisions as made as part of my Common Weapon Systems project is that turbolasers can't be mounted on starfighters, as the multi-ton capacitor banks just pack too much mass to be mounted aboard a starfighter and still have it be useful for anything.

As such, I was looking at options to boost weapon damage for ships like the B-Wing, and I came across mention of Plasburst Laser Cannon mounted on the Arakyd Helix. The only real difference between a Plasburst Cannon and a regular old Laser Cannon is a 1D bump in damage (a pair of laser cannon generally does 5D, not 6D). While the description of the Plasbursts is minimal at best, the name does infer that something is done to boost the power of a standard laser cannon.

So I started playing with that idea, and came up with an enhanced version that allows the gunner to build up a charge in the cannon, inflicting greater damage at the risk of overloading and blowing up.

Here's a bare-bones version of the concept:

Plas-Boost Laser Enhancement Booster
Cost: 100% cost of base Laser Cannon
Availability: 2, X
Effect: +1D to Cannon Damage. Also, for every 1 round spent building up a charge, add an additional 1D to the Laser Cannon's Damage roll, to a maximum of 4D.
Fire Rate: 1. In addition, for every D of Boost Dice used, the cannon requires 1 round of cool-down time during which it cannot be used.
Note:
For every round of charge build-up, there is an increased chance of the weapon overloading and exploding when it attempts to fire. To generate this chance, compare the Wild Dice on the Damage roll to the following chart:
Boost Dice Used = Wild Dice Target Threshold
1D = 2
2D = 3
3D = 4
4D = 5
If the Wild Dice roll is less than the Threshold, the laser cannon explodes, inflicting the Boost Dice Used +2D Damage to the ship on which the laser cannon is mounted

EDIT: Per Zarn's suggestion, added a Fire Rate and cool-down restriction on using the Boost function.
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[Sutehp]

Is this anything like the Wave Motion Gun that was mounted on Quarrie's prototype B-wing in the Rebels "Wings of the Master" Season 2 episode?
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Only some of it is for D6 Star Wars.
Just repurchased the X-Wing and Tie Fighter flight sim games. I forgot how much I missed them.

[Zarn]

A semi-educated guess is that a "plasburst laser cannon" is an example of a pumped laser. Laser pumping is the act of energy transfer from an external source into the gain medium of a laser. The energy is absorbed in the medium, producing excited states in its atoms.

In this case, it is the "plasma burst" = "plasburst" which is the external source that is piped into the gain medium of the laser - essentially force feeding energy into the lasing part.

I think it would be reasonable to let the 'plasburst' limit the rate of fire possible with the laser cannon - partially because you're overcharging the laser (and therefore likely causing it to overheat), and partially because your power generation likely won't be able to keep up - something needs to feed the plasburst mechanism, and you may not be able to run everything at max all the time.

Essentially, I suspect the plasburst is in the same family as a turbolaser, in the sense that a turbolaser is likely also a pumped laser, but that the turbolaser has a lot of supporting infrastructure to be able to overcharge more or less continuously.

[CRMcNeill]

[CRMcNeill]

[Zarn]

While we're on the topic of messing with the weapon systems of fighters - there's also the -B variant of the E-Wing, isn't there? Which basically was "I'll just crank it up to eleven and hope it holds together"?

http://d6holocron.com/wiki/index.php?title=E-wing

Seems I remembered right. Though the side effects table seems a bit harsh (8D damage? Yikes!), it might be ... inspirational if one decides to juryrig extra damage dice or use some prototype "overcharge plasma burst" thingy.

[CRMcNeill]

IMO, assuming E-Wings even exist in the new universe, the blaster cannon kludge would likely be the result of a prototype fighter being rushed into combat, and would be replaced with something more reliable in a full production model.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[Cpkeyes]