Missile launcher critique/suggestions.

By Octavian84, in Star Wars: Edge of the Empire RPG

For our military oriented campaign, the players are members of the Rebellion, I was looking for ways to make missile tubes more effective versus armored vehicles. One idea proposed was to convert the tubes damage profile to planetary but only when targeting vehicles. It becomes damage 2 with +1 damage per success but leave everything else the same. We tried this and it seemed to allow missile tubes to damage vehicles with 3 + armor a bit and to activate crits. Another idea floated was for a new weapon. Something akin to a Javelin missile system. Something with stats along the lines of...

Skill: Gunnery

Damage: 4 planetary scale, using the mini missiles from Dangerous Covenants.

Range: Short planetary

Crit: 4

Blast 2, Breach 2, Guided 3, Limited Ammo 1, Prepare 1 or 2, Cumbersome 6

Encumberance: 10

Like the HOB comes with a tripod that must be setup before use.

In some of the TCW episodes we see troopers shoot shoulder fired missiles that severely damage or even cripple/destroy Seperatist vehicles, was looking for a way to reflect that in game. Another option is to use advantage/triumph to narratively find weakpoints and ignore armor in order to activate crits which could reflect that as well.

Why not just make one with a higher breach?

Why not just stat up an anti-armor rocket, ala Dangerous Covenants?

Easiest way to do it& IMO of course, is to take the mini missile tube from Dangerous Covenants and say it's shoulder fired.

Because the missile tube from the core both sucks and blows.

Some good thoughts about a new anti armor rocket. Say keep the damage the same at 20 personal or 2 planetary. Breach 2, but remove the blast quality to represent its more focused explosion? Perhaps extra difficulty to fire at targets below Sil 2 or 3.

Can't check the core rules right now, as I've left them at work, but isn't there different missiles for different targets?

So there are Anti-Personell missiles with a big blast and no breach, Anti-Vehicle missiles with Breach and no splash. Aren't there?

There are for grenades and mines in AoR, but no missiles. DC has a bunch of different types, but nothing decidedly anti-armor that I can recall. I think the stock launcher is supposed to be anti-armor, but the personal-to-vehicle thing rears its head again. Somebody once brought out that if only Armor is multiplied by 10 but hull trauma isn't, that might work out better, by I don't know how well that would play out without testing it.

There are some with bigger Blast, Burn, Concussive, wider area, but none with extra Breach to my knowledge. I like Jon D's idea. A one shot missile tube with the mini missile from Dangerous Covenants, started with my bigger version because I thought a smaller more portable version might be too powerful.

I'd say just make one with a higher Breach, give it Slow Firing 1 and Limited Ammo 1, to sort of simulate a heavy anti-vehicle missile. Hits hard, but it's one shot and then you spend a round re-loading it.

Something like:

Portable Missiles

Sabot

Gunnery

12

4

Extreme

1

-

® 175

8

Blast 6, Breach 3

HEAT

Gunnery

15

3

Long

1

-

® 200

8

Blast 15, Burn 12, Breach 1, Guided 2

Merr-Sonn SP-12 Sabot Penetrator Missile

Designed for use against heavy armor, a secondary booster accelerates a durasteel penetrator to hypersonic speeds allowing deep penetration of heavily armored targets. A major drawback to this missile is, due to the multi-stage operation of the penetrator, it is unable to be actively guided during flight. Once targeted and fired, only minor course corrections are able to be made before impact.

Merr-Sonn HE-8 High Explosive Penetrator Missile

Another approach to heavily armored targets, the HE-8 (commonly referred to as HEAT) creates a small fusion explosion, literally consuming the armor of the effected target in order to fuel a self-sustaining reaction. While not as effective at penetrating heavily armored targets, the reaction persists for some time after impact and continues damaging the target. The size of the warhead limits the missile's fuel and the range of the missile is reduced.

Just a thought, but as far as ranges go, I see it as a profile issue.

It isn't that a Personal Pistol can't actually shoot farther than short or Medium range, it is that the accuracy of the gun and the profile of the Target Limit it.

At the Gun range, I can easily hit a Target at 100 to 200 yards/meters with a rifle, because the barrel makes the Gun more accurate and capable of shooting a Man sized target at that range.

Now if I take a pistol, the Bullet may actually be able to reach that far (For instance using a 22 Long rifle in both a pistol or a rifle, it has nearly the same Muzzle velocity) But the Shorter barrel on the Pistol allows the Bullet to wobble and go off accuracy Much earlier. So while I might e able to hit a Hamn sized target easily at 25 t 50 yards... hitting at 75 becomes difficult and 100 very hard and so on.

But, If I am shooting a A Car or Ship? With a Larger profile? (not that I do this.. often :-P But we have taken out some junkers and large objects into the desert,for fun, to shoot at (with everything from pistols to AR-15) It becomes Easier to Hit the larger profile, with a pistol, at greater ranges.

Now the Pistol or rifle might not have a huge effect on ships and such, But I Can easily see the argument for allowing an Increase in range bands based on size rather than just making the target easier to hit.

There’s a Flechette Launcher which has four minitubes, each of which can be loaded with either anti-personnel rounds or anti-vehicle rounds. It’s pretty decent.

I considered it myself, and reached the conclusion that only a very specific weapon can penetrate military vehicles, so only vehicles or stationary gunnery emplacement are good for that. Missile tube is good against civilian vehicles up to air speeders.

Its all a balance of sorts, making the PCs doing an effort to down a military craft, or just making sure that vehicle combat remains in the territory of vehicle on vehicle engagement. Although a good hit from personal gunnery weapons can still bring down a starfighter for example, with a critical injury of course.

Edited by RusakRakesh

I considered it myself, and reached the conclusion that only a very specific weapon can penetrate military vehicles, so only vehicles or stationary gunnery emplacement are good for that.

I guess fiction has surpassed reality, since an Abrams tank can be killed by a hand gun.

Reality has nothing to do with roleplay, not that a handgun can penetrate armored tank :) If they made a mass produced military craft that can survive a clash with asteroids, combat and such, I am sure handheld rockets are no match. If they were, any merc with a tube could down a walker, tank, and so on... and war profiting companies would bankrupt.

Edited by RusakRakesh