Turret Design
Turrets can now have fractional sizes. However, this means that with the current rules there is no longer any advantage to having twin, triple or quad turrets, as they are just exact multiples of the single turret in terms of size, crew, etc.. Therefore I have also made the following changes:
Large turrets receive a discount in terms of the size of the turret gear required. The discount is 5% for twin, 7.5% for triple and 10% for quad. So for a single turret that required 1.5 HS of gear, a twin turret would require 2.85 HS and a quad would require 5.4 HS. The total crew for the turret receives the same discount.
Additional armour for the turret is based on its total volume, using the current armour technology and exactly the same formula as for a ship the same size as the turret. As with ships, larger turrets will require less material per weapon to provide a given level of armour. Armour increases the HTK of the turret by (Armour Level * Number of Weapons). So adding 2 armour to a quad turret would increase the HTK by 8.
An example:
The Eridani have a 20cm Laser which is size 6. Their fire control tracking speed and turret tracking speed are both 6250 km/s and they have laminate composite armour. A single, unarmoured turret with a tracking speed of 25,000 km/s will appear as below. The new SPW parameter indicates the total size per weapon, which for a single turret is equal to the turret size.
Single Turret
Damage Output 10x1 Rate of Fire: 10 seconds Range Modifier: 4
Max Range 400,000 km Turret Size: 8.4 SPW: 8.4 Turret HTK: 3
Power Requirement: 10 Power Recharge per 5 Secs: 5
Cost: 75 Crew: 60
The twin unarmoured turret and the quad unarmoured turret, also with a 25,000 km/s tracking speed, are shown below. As you can see, the SPW figure is slightly lower for the larger turrets.
Twin Turret
Damage Output 10x2 Rate of Fire: 10 seconds Range Modifier: 4
Max Range 400,000 km Turret Size: 16.56 SPW: 8.28 Turret HTK: 6
Power Requirement: 20 Power Recharge per 5 Secs: 10
Cost: 149 Crew: 114
Quad Turret
Damage Output 10x4 Rate of Fire: 10 seconds Range Modifier: 4
Max Range 400,000 km Turret Size: 32.64 SPW: 8.16 Turret HTK: 12
Power Requirement: 40 Power Recharge per 5 Secs: 20
Cost: 295 Crew: 216
Now lets add armour thickness 2. As you can see, this makes the turrets harder to destroy and the difference in SPW is much more pronounced due to the efficiency savings when armouring larger turrets. These changes should make large armoured turrets a serious option for ship designers.
Single Armoured Turret
Damage Output 10x1 Rate of Fire: 10 seconds Range Modifier: 4
Max Range 400,000 km Turret Size: 11.73 SPW: 11.73 Turret HTK: 5
Power Requirement: 10 Power Recharge per 5 Secs: 5
Cost: 115 Crew: 60
Twin Armoured Turret
Damage Output 10x2 Rate of Fire: 10 seconds Range Modifier: 4
Max Range 400,000 km Turret Size: 21.8 SPW: 10.9 Turret HTK: 10
Power Requirement: 20 Power Recharge per 5 Secs: 10
Cost: 212 Crew: 114
Quad Armoured Turret
Damage Output 10x4 Rate of Fire: 10 seconds Range Modifier: 4
Max Range 400,000 km Turret Size: 40.87 SPW: 10.22 Turret HTK: 20
Power Requirement: 40 Power Recharge per 5 Secs: 20
Cost: 394 Crew: 216
Steve