Harl Quinn
Veteran of the Clone Wars
- Joined
- May 12, 2017
- Messages
- 587
- Reaction score
- 819
A while back I read through Jack Campbell's The Lost Fleet series and was intrigued by the arsenal the fleet had - hell lances (plasma cannons?), the null field (a disintegrator field), and grapeshot. Yep, grapeshot, you heard right. Now, grapeshot, in the historical sense, was basically large (grape) sized lead balls packed into a canvas bag which was then loaded into a cannon to make a large shotgun. It was devastating against massed infantry and could cut rigging and puncture sails (as well as anyone topside) in a naval engagement.
In Campbell's series, the starship-grade grapeshot effectively serves to wear down an enemy's shields by depleting them (or in the case of Traveller, overloading a black globe to either force the defender to lower the flicker rate or turn it off altogether).
As far as mechanics go, I'm envisioning grapeshot functioning on the same level as a sandcaster - ammo is packed in barrels which are stored in a magazine and launched through an emplacement in a turret. The barrel reaches a certain range and releases its contents, which then go speeding into the target's screens or hull to cause damage. Grapeshot could also be used as an anti-missile defense, but I'm not entirely sure that would be terribly effective.
My issues are figuring out the range and damage it would cause. I'm going to go back and take a look at BTRC's 3G3 books and even TNE's Fire, Fusion, and Steel to see if I can get an idea of how to sort that out, but if there are any Traveller gearheads here who want to help puzzle it out, I'd appreciate it.
Oh, and if you're interested in Campbell's series, it's great. There's a review written here (not by me, but it's still very favorable).
In Campbell's series, the starship-grade grapeshot effectively serves to wear down an enemy's shields by depleting them (or in the case of Traveller, overloading a black globe to either force the defender to lower the flicker rate or turn it off altogether).
As far as mechanics go, I'm envisioning grapeshot functioning on the same level as a sandcaster - ammo is packed in barrels which are stored in a magazine and launched through an emplacement in a turret. The barrel reaches a certain range and releases its contents, which then go speeding into the target's screens or hull to cause damage. Grapeshot could also be used as an anti-missile defense, but I'm not entirely sure that would be terribly effective.
My issues are figuring out the range and damage it would cause. I'm going to go back and take a look at BTRC's 3G3 books and even TNE's Fire, Fusion, and Steel to see if I can get an idea of how to sort that out, but if there are any Traveller gearheads here who want to help puzzle it out, I'd appreciate it.
Oh, and if you're interested in Campbell's series, it's great. There's a review written here (not by me, but it's still very favorable).