Beam & warhead damage patterns?

[Rich.h (OP)]

In an effort to design more efficient systems I am trying to get a full grasp of how damage is applied. I understand how lasers and missiles differ so are the following correct?

Assuming a steady increase of 1,2,3,4 etc in power a laser damage patter looks like this?

x  x  x  x  x  x  x  x  x  x
           x  x  x  x  x  x  x
                      x  x  x  x
                                 x

Assuming the same steady increase in power a missile damage pattern looks like this?

x  xx  xxx  xxx  xxxx  xxxxx  xxxxx  xxxxx xxxxx  xxxxxx  xxxxxxx  xxxxxxx  xxxxxxx  xxxxxxx  xxxxxxx  xxxxxxx  xxxxxxxx
                  x     x         x        xx       xxx    xxx      xxx        xxx        xxxx       xxxxx      xxxxx     xxxxx      xxxxx     xxxxx
                                                                   x         x            x           x              x            xx          xxx         xxx        xxx
                                                                                                                                                                   x            x

If these are correct do all beam weapons fit into the same damage pattern as lasers or do any have a different spread?

[sublight]

There are 3 damage patterns:

Type 1, shallow (Missiles and Plasma)
Type 2, medium (Railgun, particle beam)
Type 3, deep (Laser)

Type 1 is the most well known and forms a cone wider than it is deep. It works out as follows (for strength 1-9)

Code: [Select]

12357
 468
  9
Type 2 appears to be a narrow cone as deep as it is wide.

Type 3 is deeper than it is wide, appear as nearly vertical stab at low damages.

I'm not confident enough on the exact pattern to post any diagrams on 2 or 3.

[Erik L]

There are 3 damage patterns:

Type 1, shallow (Missiles and Plasma)
Type 2, medium (Railgun, particle beam)
Type 3, deep (Laser)

Type 1 is the most well known and forms a cone wider than it is deep. It works out as follows (for strength 1-9)

Code: [Select]

12357
 468
  9
Type 2 appears to be a narrow cone as deep as it is wide.

Type 3 is deeper than it is wide, appear as nearly vertical stab at low damages.

I'm not confident enough on the exact pattern to post any diagrams on 2 or 3.

If I recall, lasers do a column of damage.

[sloanjh]

Code: [Select]

12357
 468
  9

Hey sublight - nice way of illustrating the damage template for multiple hit strengths.  Wish I'd thought of it all those years ago when the questions about missile damage templates were frequent - typing ascii art picture for each strength was a pain....

John

[Nightstar]

You might find the fourth post down helpful:
http://www.gamerswithjobs.com/node/48620?page=13

[Rich.h (OP)]

That post answers most things thanks.

[Theodidactus]

The rule of thumb for missiles is "A missile will penetrate armor of a depth equal to the square root of the warhead damage value rounded down."
So a missile that does 16 damage will punch through 4 layers of armor with its crater, a missile that does 25 damage will punch through 5.

[sloanjh]

The rule of thumb for missiles is "A missile will penetrate armor of a depth equal to the square root of the warhead damage value rounded down."
So a missile that does 16 damage will punch through 4 layers of armor with its crater, a missile that does 25 damage will punch through 5.

To expand on this:  "punch through" = "destroy".  Hitting undamaged strength-3 armor with a 15 point missile warhead will not do any internal damage (all the damage in the template is in the first 3 layers), while hitting it with a 16 point missile warhead will do one point of internal damage.  If the armor were strength 4 or higher the central column would get 4 layers of damage from the 16 point missile.

John