 March 10, 2019 - 10:12am | Note: This story will build upon Part 1: looking at grenades, Part 2: looking at rockets and missiles, and Part 3: looking at mines. Dropped weapons -- i.e. bombs -- first appeared in Dragon magazine with the "Tanks a lot!" story and were later updated by Larry Moore for his vehicle combat article in Star Frontiersman magazine. What I want to do here is flesh things out a bit more. Joe Cabadas |
September 26, 2019 - 5:28pm | Airdrop and Spacedrop Pods Along with bombs, aircraft can carry specially-designed aerodynamic airdrop pods. Or, vehicles such as the air transport can offload pallets of supplies, which are equipped with parachutes, for either high-speed, low altitude up to high-speed, high-altitude deliveries. The Frontier and even Sathar have special resupply pods that can be dropped from low orbit. These have can have heat shields, retro rockets and parachutes. Some examples are: 15 kg and 30 kg Airdrop Pods. These are small resupply container that takes the place of either a 15 kg or 30 kg bomb on a bomb rack. The smaller pod can be packed with 10 kg of supplies while the larger pod can hold 25 kg worth of supplies. High Speed Low Level Aerial Delivery System (Hi-Speed). An adjustable container that is wrapped by a nylon cargo cover and mounted on a pallet. The dimensions and weight capacity of the Hi-Speed container is determined by the load being airdropped. All items are rigidly secured to ensure they will survive the shock of a parachute opening when released at high speeds. Spacedrop Pods. These can range in size ones that can deliver a mere 100 kg from orbit-to-ground up to pods that can transport Explorer-size vehicles. Joe Cabadas |
September 27, 2019 - 7:23am | Another rough idea for a bomber  UPF Fireball Class Shuttle Bomber Hull Size: Super 1 (Length 19m (folded) or 18m (unfolded), width 4.6m (folded) or 25.8m (unfolded w/rotors), height 5.5m) Classification: Shuttle (military grade) Engines: 1 Atomic Drive, Sub-Class A ADF / MR: 2 / 4 Hull/Structure Points: 12/3,000 DCR: 24 Weapons: Anti-missile system Bombs: can carry approximately 11,000 kg of bombs in its internal bay. For atmospheric operations it has 12 hardpoints available on its wings for missile/gun pods or bomb racks. Defenses: Military grade ceramic armor plating Sensors: RADAR, Portholes Communications: Videocom, Intercom, Radio-phone, ¼ power WNB Hatches: 1 Minimum Crew Requirements: Pilot 1 Military: 665,280 Description: The Fireball Shuttle Bomber is a varient of the Meteor Class Assault Shuttle (see Star Frontiersman Magazine, issue 16). With a top atmospheric speed of 600 km/h and a cruising speed of 450 km/h, the Fireball has proven to be able to airdrop supplies or perform bombing missions. With a space-saving folding wing and tilt rotor atmospheric drive system, the Fireball is VTOL (Vertical Take Off and Landing) capable,combining the aspects of the aircar and jetcopter. It also boosts a small atomic space-drive, subclass A, capable of boosting the craft into orbit, or decelerating it out of orbit. The craft, however, is not Void jump capable. Due to space limitations and the shielding required to protect the crew and payload/cargo, the Fireball only has an ADF of 2. On terrestrial bodies with low gravity and/or little atmosphere, thrust is completely accomplished using this small atomic engine. During entry into a planet's atmosphere, the wings must be in the folded position while the atomic drive is used to slow the ship to under 200km/h. There, the wing can be safely unfolded, locked in, and the atmospheric drive system takes over. To boost off of a planet's surface, the atmospheric drive will lift it to the altitude of roughly 8km (depending on the atmosphere'squality) before it transitions back to using the atomic drive to escape gravity. This allows it to be safely used even on densely populated planets. The floor must be removed every 100 days of use in order to replace the inssuit-like material used to shield the passengers and crew from the atomic drive's radiation. The material costs 5,000 Credits and the job takes 12 GST hours of labor to accomplish. The Fireball has the latest ceramic armor, giving it excellent heat resistance during re-entry as well as high survivability incombat. Armaments: ...TBD...Joe Cabadas |
September 27, 2019 - 10:11am | Well, I decided that I could actually add a bit more information to Part 7. I don't think the early version has enough "gravitas" -- to use that overused word from the Bush-Gore election era... No, I'm not getting into politics here. It's just a reference. Another Look at Bombs
Bomb Racks. External bomb racks are mounted onto pylons and are used to carry and release the stored ordnance. Coming in different designs, some bomb racks may only hold one bomb, but others can store two, three, or more bombs. In the equipment list, the Roman numeral following the bomb rack type indicates how many bombs it can carry. In the case of the 15 kg Mount III, it can carry up to three 15 kilogram bombs. For racks such as the “Mount III” that carry more than one bomb, the weapons specialist can release any combination of bombs on the rack, from one, two to all at once.
I went and looked up how much real bomb racks weigh in comparison to the bomb loads. Some of the modern ones seem to weigh about 0.07 kg to every 1 kg of the bomb. So, I've trimmed the weights given in this chart. Joe Cabadas | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
September 28, 2019 - 10:07am | Another Warhead Electromagnetic Bomb (E-Bomb). Much larger than an electronic discharge warhead, the e-bomb generates an intense electromagnetic field tha tis designed to knock out unshielded electronics, including vehicles and robots. A non-nuclear e-bomb would consist of having an explosive material, a metal cylinder known as an armature, a coil of wire, and a bank of capacitors, noted writer Tom Harris on the website Science.HowStuffWorks.com. When the fuze detonates the high explosive material, the blast energy travels through the armature, causing it to come into contact with the surrounding coil of wire (the stator winding). This results in a short circuit that cuts off the stator off from its power supply. “The moving short circuit compresses the magnetic field, generating an intense electromagnetic burst,” wrote Harris. “Most likely, this type of weapon would affect a relatively small area – nothing on the order of a nuclear EMP attack – but it could do some serious damage.”
E-bomb warheads can only be installed on bombs that are 100 kilograms or larger. They typically will generate enough power to blanket their primary blast area with a microwave pulse. Otherwise, they behave very similarly to electronic discharge bombs. These bombs are large enough to impact the power grid of a facility to several city blocks. The resistance level of powergrids would range from level 1 for common, unshielded civilian utilities to level 6 for military facilities. A success roll indicates that a blackout has occurred. See Part 7 for more information. Joe Cabadas | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
September 30, 2019 - 5:54pm | Well, despite working on the idea for providing extended blast areas, I decided to do another review on line looking for information regarding injuries from explosive blasts. See here for more info.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blast_injury Most diagrams only provide three blast areas for explosions -- primary injuries, secondary injuries and tertiary injuries. There is a zone for "Quaternary injuries, or other miscellaneous named injuries, are all other injuries not included in the first three classes. These include flash burns, crush injuries, and respiratory injuries. So, despite the work I put into it, I'm scrapping the table for "truly large bombs." It did not seem to match reality anyway. Hey, it trims part 8 down to a more reasonable word count! Joe Cabadas |
October 5, 2019 - 11:09am | Part of the discussion on this topic is under the "How much damage is too much damage?" thread: http://www.starfrontiers.us/node/10362 I'm working out those details, but here are a few other new items. Cluster Bombs This class of bombs releases dozens or hundreds of sub-munitions that scatter across several hundred square meters. This type of weapon has long been controversial in human society, though other races, such as the Sathar, apparently have no hesitation in using them. They are mainly designed to cause as much damage as possible, generally to “soft targets” – i.e. characters. 100 Kg “Ruction” Cluster Bomb. This weapon disperses the equivalent of eight 15 kg standard fragmentation bombs which scatter around the main point of impact. Use the dropped weapon miss chart from Part 7 to determine where these land. 100 Kg “Williwaw” Cluster Bomb. About the size of a Frontier 100 kg general purpose bomb, Sathar aircraft have dropped Williwaw’s from a minimum distance of 100 meters from the ground. These weapons release some 200 bomblets that are about the size of a standard fragmentation grenade (8d10). They scatter across an roughly circular area (if the bomber was relatively stationary), or an elongated oval (in the direction of a moving aircraft), and cover some 200 5-by-5 meter squares! About 10 percent of the bomblets are known to fail to explode on impact, but may still be very dangerous if they are disturbed. Generally, a referee doesn’t need to keep track of every single bomblet, but if characters are in the area of effect of one of these, they will probably get hit by at least one of the explosives. 100 Kg “Vile” Cluster Bomb. Similar to the Williwaw, this bomb releases 200 poison gas bomblets that are the size of a standard poison gas grenade. 100 Kg “Sea of Fire” Cluster Bomb. This weapon releases 200 incendiary grenade-size bomblets, which disperse similarly to the bomblets from the Williwaw. Joe Cabadas |
October 5, 2019 - 11:14am | Airdrop and Spacedrop Pods Along with bombs, aircraft can carry specially-designed aerodynamic airdrop pods. Or, vehicles such as the air transport can offload pallets of supplies, which are equipped with parachutes, for either high-speed, low altitude up to high-speed, high-altitude deliveries. These pods have the same ranges and thus the same chance for the dropper “to hit” the intended resupply point. If the pod misses, consult the Ranged/Dropped Weapon Miss Chart in Part 7. The Frontier and even Sathar have special resupply pods that can be dropped from low orbit. These are equipped with heat shields, along with retrorockets and/or parachutes. Technically, these systems can be recovered, refurbished and reused, though many are abandoned. The cost to refurbish is 20 percent of the unit’s original price unless it was heavily damaged during the delivery. Then its scrap value is 10 percent the original cost. Some examples are: 15kg and 30 kg Airdrop Pods. These are small resupply container that takes the place of either a 15 kg or 30 kg bomb on a bomb rack. The smaller pod can be packed with 10 kg of supplies while the larger pod can hold 25 kg worth of supplies. They rely on a one-use parawing system to guide the pod into place. A “smart drop” system can be added to the pod, which provided the aircraft dropping the pod a +20 percent bonus for successfully delivering the supplies. High-Speed, Low-Level Aerial Delivery System (Hi-Speed ADS). An adjustable container that is wrapped by a nylon cargo cover and mounted on a pallet. The dimensions and weight capacity of the Hi-Speed container is determined by the load being air dropped. All items are rigidly secured to ensure they will survive the shock of a parachute opening when released at high speeds. It can also be equipped with a “smart drop” system. Spacedrop Pods. These can range in size ones that can deliver a mere 250 kg from orbit-to-ground up to pods that can transport Explorer-size vehicles. In this case, the weight rating indicates the amount of cargo that these pods can contain. These pods actually weigh double the indicated cargo amount. They can only be dropped from low orbit and only have a thruster system capable of handling one atmospheric entry. This operation would take two Knight Hawks turns. Pressurized Spacedrop Pods. A pressurized pod, with a limited life support system (10 hours) costs triple the normal cost. These can deliver precious cargo, including animals. They are not rated for people, though some intelligence agencies, cadres, and pirate organizations have been known to use them to drop people from space to a planet’s surface. The added costs includes the price of any extra webbing or cages (or in the case of characters, seats) to hold animals or other special cargo. Joe Cabadas |
October 6, 2019 - 12:23pm |
Joe Cabadas | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
October 6, 2019 - 12:19pm | Some more of my current thoughts on handling bombs. I made appropriate changes to Part 7 so it coincides with this. Handling Damage from Large Bombs Much like the 15 kg and 30 kg bombs, the large bombs presented above have just four blast areas. An effort was made to try to create more blast areas – a fifth zone and all the way out to an eighth blast area – but that quickly became untenable. Researching the term “blast injuries” confirmed that there are just four primary zones where injuries occur. Blast Areas. Except where noted, use the method laid out in Part 7 to calculate the four blast areas – the secondary area is generally 1.5 times the primary area; the third area is twice the primary area; and the fourth zone is usually four times the primary zone. In some cases, a referee may need to rule that nothing could survive if it was at the exact center where an explosion occurred. Damage Additives. In Part 7, the damage for the standard explosive warhead in the 15 kg “light” bomb was changed from 25d10 as presented in Dragon Magazine’s “Tanks a lot!” story to 10d10 + 50. The “+ 50” is a damage additive. So the maximum amount of damage from such a bomb is 150 stamina or structure points and the minimum is 60 points. The damage additive is only applied to targets within the primary blast area. Damage Multipliers. Some weapons will also have a damage multiplier. For example, a 100 kg general purpose bomb – which has a standard explosive warhead – will do 8d10 x 5 points of damage. Roll the 8d10 and multiply the result by 5. The minimum amount of damage would be 40 points and the maximum amount would be 400 points. Some bombs will then add an additional amount ofdamage after that. Some bombs have a variable multiplier, which declines the farther you get from the center of the blast. For example, the “Daisy Cutter” will do 12d10 x 3d5 pointsof damage in the primary blast area; but in the secondary area, the multiplier falls to 2d5; in the third area, it is 1d5; and is a zero in the fourth area, meaning characters and objects there take no damage. Vehicle Damage Modifier (VDM). In Star Frontiers vehicle combat, whenever a vehicle is struck by gunfire, an exploding grenade and the like, the character rolls a 2d10 and checks the “Vehicle Damage Table.” The number of dice of damaged caused is added to the result as a modifier. Since they player is not necessarily rolling large numbers of dice, a vehicle damage modifier has been added to the descriptions of the bombs. Joe Cabadas |
October 6, 2019 - 3:33pm | I will make the information about bombers a separate story. That trims Part 8: More bombs to about 5,500 words. That includes information on FASCAM mines, cluster bombs, retarding devices such as drogue chutes, the cargo drop pods, and -- of course -- the big conventional bomb statistics. Whew! Joe Cabadas |
October 6, 2019 - 3:36pm |
Joe Cabadas | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 October 8, 2019 - 5:10pm |
I like the idea of delivering critical supplies to PCs via drop pod. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
November 7, 2019 - 6:29pm | Now that I've finished a story on equipment for the demolition character -- things like blast suits, tool kits, and the like -- I'll start refining the story about bombers! Hey, something has to be able to drop these weapons. Joe Cabadas |
November 9, 2019 - 12:30pm | Posting out of order again... I want to put in something about the effects of a blast wave on a building in this story. Here's a graph from a FEMA document.  OK, here's some added information. Damaging Buildings A large amount of Tornadium D-19, a dropped bomb, missile warhead or an artillery shell can cause considerable damage to structures, which cannot make saving throws. Buildings caught in the blast radius of a bomb may simply be overwhelmed by an explosion and could partially or completely collapse.
The Sample Building Types chart provides a guide for how to handle an overall structure, as opposed to characters trying to blast open a hole in a wall or a floor. Larger buildings would have different sections and how resilient they are to certain types of damage will depend on how they are constructed and their purpose. For example, a skyscraper that is designed to withstand a magnitude 4 earthquake and/or a category 5 hurricane may still be fragile to bomb/missile attacks. The building’s outer shell could be breached by a bomb, exposing occupants to damage. Assume that large buildings have one or more major structural support columns. When one of these fail, a section of that building collapses. Joe Cabadas |
November 9, 2019 - 12:31pm | I will also reexamine the blast areas/effects one more time, especially since Parts 2 & 3, which deal with demolitions and large explosions, are slated to run for the next issue of Frontier Explorer. This information needs to be consistent for those stories as well as the later ones. Joe Cabadas |
