With all the talk of turrets and people wanting the ARC with a rear Arc I was thinking, "What other mechanic could be interesting?" and I came up with this:

A ship with two firing arcs, on opposite sides of the ship, but instead of a front/rear arc, it would be left/right side arcs.

The ship wouldn't be able to fire forwards, but would make up for that by being able to use all sorts of tactics to circle enemies.

The only ship I can think of that uses a similar mechanic is something like the Republic LAAT which has turrets on both sides, but it also has some forward fire power (which would make the side arcs too much).

What do you guys think about this, and do you know of any ships that would use this mechanic?

maybe ordnance usage, weird if primary.

Maybe for something like armada but not for a flight path starfighter game. The whole point is to maneuver to where you are pursuing your target and they are trying to shake you.

Maybe for something like armada but not for a flight path starfighter game. The whole point is to maneuver to where you are pursuing your target and they are trying to shake you.

Well since turrets already threw that out the window, I figured this is a simple reduction of that. Instead of full coverage it simply moves the target from getting the target in front of you to beside you, while still getting outside the enemies arc.

The printed stats on small base ship tokens makes auxiliary arcs almost impossible to use on them. The only option would be something like a 180 degree rear arc. I'd like to see a TIE Aggressor done this way.

I like you idea but side arcs would have to be on a large base ship, not the LAAT.

I once had some thoughts about the Twilight from the Clone Wars series.

If you don't know, it is a freighter with a strange shape, in that it has its entire superstructure including the cockpit, is engines, and crew compartments off center on its lefthand side, and then a single wing reaching out to the right with a fin underneath at the halfway point. This wing stretches from the base of the ship's superstructure. The ship's primary weapon is portrayed as a turret mounted at the far end of this right side wing, but if it were to point directly to its left, it would shoot the superstructure of the ship. Anakin also mentions in flying the ship that, because of its design, it is much easier to turn to the right while flying fast than it is to turn to its left.

Based on this information, I had this thought:

Perhaps the ship could have an auxiliary firing arc, like the Firespray, but it could point to the ship's right side instead of to its rear. Might make it an interesting ship to fly that is more flexible than a forward arc but does not possess a 360 turret weapon. To continue, what if Anakin's comments were reflected in its dial? Perhaps it has green banks and white turns to its right, but white banks and red turns to its left. Therefore, if you can get someone in your right side aux arc, you could fly broadside with them or circle them, but if they got around to your left, it would be harder to connect a shot.

Just some thoughts. Might make it an interesting ship to fly. Might make it terrible. But some thoughts, nonetheless.

I like the side arcs. Kind of odd for a small base shipped but would work on large.

It would be neat, sure, but it'd be a dumb idea from a logistics point of view.
"Hey Paul, let's build a ship, but only put the guns on it's sides, so you can't shoot what you're looking at."
"But Frank, that's dangerous! If you're aiming sideways, you aren't looking where you're going!"
"Herpaderp Paul, it'll be so cool! Safety and practicality are for chumps!"

It would be neat, sure, but it'd be a dumb idea from a logistics point of view.

"Hey Paul, let's build a ship, but only put the guns on it's sides, so you can't shoot what you're looking at."

"But Frank, that's dangerous! If you're aiming sideways, you aren't looking where you're going!"

"Herpaderp Paul, it'll be so cool! Safety and practicality are for chumps!"

limit it to Epics without turrets...

I've proposed the Scum faction get the jumpmaster 5000. It has a turret, but the hull prevents it from being 360° fire. I think it would be neat if it had a port and rear secondary (and teetiary) arc. If the ship is given port maneuvers a green rating and the starboard white or red, it would give the ship a very unique feel. I akin it to a circling shark, occasionally taking a bite out of its prey.

like the old sailing ship "Broad side"...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadside

What about a mechanic that utilizes the front firing arc on turreted ships? One mode would be turret mode and only allows 2 attack dice for the primary weapon, and the other mode would be when using the front firing arc allows for 3 attack dice to be rolled for the primary weapon. It would simulate the effect of turret and static guns firing at the same target.

what Swedge said. It's not a dumb idea, it's the way naval engagements were fought before they had warships with turrets. Almost all of their weaponry fired out the sides, not the front.

what Swedge said. It's not a dumb idea, it's the way naval engagements were fought before they had warships with turrets. Almost all of their weaponry fired out the sides, not the front.

even when they had turrets!! that way they could put more guns on target as the rear turrets on a battle ship did not have a forward firing arc. but the ALL (BIG turrets) could fire to the side..

"Crossing the T" was the strategy then!! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossing_the_T

A better design to turreted ships would require predict where the enemy is. Like end of the planning phase, they drop a token on one of four quadrants they'll fire out of. The result is if they are off by one quadrant it's -1 attack die, and if off 2, minus -2 or can't attack. With that design, they wouldn't need any price premium whatsoever on turreted ship costs, and ships with boost would be stronger against these turreted ships without need for cards like autothrusters.

It'd be appropriate given lore, the turret tracks fighters and can't be everywhere at once.

I am sure some of you have played wing of war aka wings of glory, that game uses all kinds of different arcs for both WWI and WWII planes, one of the WWI planes only has a rear arc.

As you can see here this plane lacks a gun in the front, the firing arc is shown in red, now this is not in the SW universe, I am just showing an example of different arcs.

By the way this is a plane created by FFG employed designers. Correction this picture is the same plane made by the company that took over the WOW game and make the same planes under the new name wings of glory.

How about just making different angles for different ships, like a high powered laser with a narrower arc.

Is there a ship in the Star Wars world that has weapons that world be best represented by an non standard arc?

Wouldn't rockets have a far narrower arc than missiles, if I am not mistaken the difference between rockets and missiles is that missiles have longer range and a guidance system?

This is just a thought I had after reading this post.

A ship with two firing arcs, on opposite sides of the ship, but instead of a front/rear arc, it would be left/right side arcs.

Eh...you mean like the CR-90 we already have?

It would be neat, sure, but it'd be a dumb idea from a logistics point of view.

"Hey Paul, let's build a ship, but only put the guns on it's sides, so you can't shoot what you're looking at."

"But Frank, that's dangerous! If you're aiming sideways, you aren't looking where you're going!"

"Herpaderp Paul, it'll be so cool! Safety and practicality are for chumps!"

I see your complaint, and raise you a Spectre:

A ship with two firing arcs, on opposite sides of the ship, but instead of a front/rear arc, it would be left/right side arcs.

Eh...you mean like the CR-90 we already have?

Yep, except small or large based instead of Huge

It would be neat, sure, but it'd be a dumb idea from a logistics point of view.

"Hey Paul, let's build a ship, but only put the guns on it's sides, so you can't shoot what you're looking at."

"But Frank, that's dangerous! If you're aiming sideways, you aren't looking where you're going!"

"Herpaderp Paul, it'll be so cool! Safety and practicality are for chumps!"

I see your complaint, and raise you a Spectre:

That has been a thought I've had as well. It also makes me think of a ship that doesn't have a symmetrical dial were all the turns and banks are the same difficult left and right.

It would be neat, sure, but it'd be a dumb idea from a logistics point of view.

"Hey Paul, let's build a ship, but only put the guns on it's sides, so you can't shoot what you're looking at."

"But Frank, that's dangerous! If you're aiming sideways, you aren't looking where you're going!"

"Herpaderp Paul, it'll be so cool! Safety and practicality are for chumps!"

I see your complaint, and raise you a Spectre:

That has been a thought I've had as well. It also makes me think of a ship that doesn't have a symmetrical dial were all the turns and banks are the same difficult left and right.

That would certainly be a unique ship, and it would play completely differently than any other ship.

That would certainly be a unique ship, and it would play completely differently than any other ship.

And how crazy would it be.

Have ship which turns and banks REALLY well one way but has a harder time going the other way. Give that same ship some weapon that puts out a lot of firepower to one side but is relatively vulnerable on the others. Now you'd have a ship that would need to be flown like no other. In a way it would be a whole new way of flying kind of like how the Phantom, especially Echo, requires a new way of looking at things.

this thread just makes me yearn for armada's release even more