Turboblaster

[CRMcNeill]

I've been toying with this idea for a while, and I think I've reached the point where I'm ready to share...

Turboblaster
While turbolasers are the primary anti-ship energy weapon of the galaxy's naval forces, they are next to useless against attacking starfighters. While the Imperial Navy establishment looks down its nose at the threat starfighters represent to capital ships, the fact remains that capital ships are vulnerable to modern starfighters under the right set of circumstances.

The Imperial Navy has been slow to awaken to this threat, and has fielded a few different weapons in an attempt to counter the Alliance's starfighter forces, primarily the Lancer-Class Frigate, but also the Nebulon B-Class Escort Frigate and the Imperial Escort Carrier. Efforts have also been made to equip existing capital ships with anti-starfighter weaponry, but these efforts have been slow to catch on, due to naval command's refusal to admit that something the size of a starfighter could ever present a true threat to their star destroyers.

One experiment that has caught on, however, is little more than a relatively inexpensive software modification to existing turbolasers. Much of a turbolaser's power comes from an array of multiple capacitors that discharge their stored power into the turbolaser's firing chamber simultaneously. A turboblaster, on the other hand, can be switched over to an alternate setting that discharges the individual capacitor banks in sequence, rather than all at once. The new software also alters the cooling and recharge cycle of the firing chamber so that it can be fired again much more rapidly. The result is a standard turbolaser that can fire a flurry of smaller bolts against a target as opposed to a single large one. The major drawback of the modifications is a general reduction in beam cohesion (and thus range), due to the greatly increased fire rate. In addition, the software does not allow the cannon to transition quickly from one mode to the other.

While not as accurate against starfighters as a laser cannon, the turboblaster is a much less expensive modification for capital ships, with the advantage that a turboblaster can be used in either anti-ship or anti-starfighter mode with only a negligible loss in firepower at longer ranges. In addition, turning a turbolaser into a turboblaster requires little more than a technician with the proper software and a few hours to install the program.

Acceptance of turboblasters has varied from sector to sector, based on the preferences of local naval commanders, but in general, a ship equipped with turboblasters will have converted approximately 1/3 of existing turbolasers over, with a resulting ratio of 2 turbolasers per turboblaster.

Game Rules:
-Converting a Turbolaser into a Turboblaster requires the appropriate software for that weapon (Availability variable), 1D hours and a Very Easy Capital Ship Weapons Repair skill roll.
-A Turboblaster has the following stats:

Fire Control: As base weapon
Space Range: 1-10/20/50
Orbital Range: 2km-20km/40km/100km
Atmosphere Range: 100m-1km/2km/5km
Damage: As base weapon
Special:
-When in rapid fire mode, transfer 3D of Damage dice to Fire Control.
-Switching between modes requires 1 full round, during which the cannon may not be fired.

Designer Notes:
This is my attempt to make a dual-purpose cannon for SWU capital ships. The fluff is basically cover to allow GMs and players to shuffle the armament on ships with underpowered anti-starfighter defenses to make them more formidable. YMMV.
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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

[Jedi Skyler]

Not a bad concept! It reminds me of the stutterfire setting on the New Republic's fighters during the Vong invasion.

[CRMcNeill]