Missile System Annotation Question

[snrdg091012]

Hello all,

I am hoping that I have not been wrong for a couple of decades about how to read annotations for the missile systems.

The Long Range Missile/5 (LRM/5) system means it has five tubes or launch rails.

Is the above a good translation for the missile launching system?

[guardiandashi]

Hello all,

I am hoping that I have not been wrong for a couple of decades about how to read annotations for the missile systems.

The Long Range Missile/5 (LRM/5) system means it has five tubes or launch rails.

Is the above a good translation for the missile launching system?

usually as in 99% of the case, the launcher has a number of tubes equal to the "rack size"
IE a SRM launcher has 2,4, or 6 tubes
a LRM rack has 5,10,15, or 20 tubes.  the only exception I can think of offhand is the atlas's LRM 20, which only has 5 (6) tubes, because it fires 4 missiles out of each tube when it fires, the 6th tube is a coolant connection I think.

[SCC]

Power connector, not coolant, and it's a completely different size to the LRM tubes so it shouldn't be confused with them

[snrdg091012]

Hello guardiandashi and SCC,

Thank you guardiandashi for confirming that for 99% of the BT missile systems and the exception of the Atlas I have had the right translation.

I pulled out my Introductory Box Set Record Sheet booklet to look at the illustration the the record sheet for the Atlas to see the sixth tube you and SCC are talking about.

The illustration of the Atlas on the record sheet from the Introductory Box Set looks like the illustration in FASA 8630 TR 3025 on p. 123. I'm hoping that the fluff on p. 122 and the weapon and ammo section on p. 123 are still correct.

The illustrations show six openings for I think the SRM 6 going left and down is a large opening in a squarish looking section, and below that are five cylinders that are probably the LRM 20.

On p. 122 middle column end of the second line is the following fluff I think explains what the section between the SRM and LRM is for:

"...The large aperture between the two missile systems may look like another weapon, but it is an omnicoupling, where power and coolant can be attached to start up or repair the Atlas."

If the above is still true than the aperture between the two missile racks is guardiandashi's coolant connection and SCC's power connector.

Any guesses on which end is used to connect the power cable and the coolant hose?

Again thank you both the the help.

Does the missile annotation system apply to the Tactical Operations Heavy Weapons & Equipment Combat Data Table p. 404 Artillery Cruise Missile/50, Cruise Missile/70, Cruise Missile/90, and Cruise Missile/120?

[cavingjan]

as noted, typically the number of missiles equals the rack size. The Atlas was known for having a rapid firing launcher that allowed 5 tubes to launch 20 missiles in the same time that most racks could launch one salvo.

[ActionButler]

Something I've long wondered... if the earliest Battletech designs hadn't been so *ahem* heavily influenced... by a certain Fortress of Superior Dimensions... would our missile systems still have been multi-tube, Itano Circus-esque?  Or would they be more traditional, one-attack-one-tube-one-missile, with the larger annotation equating to a larger missole or a larger pool of ammunition?

[Ruger]

Something I've long wondered... if the earliest Battletech designs hadn't been so *ahem* heavily influenced... by a certain Fortress of Superior Dimensions... would our missile systems still have been multi-tube, Itano Circus-esque?  Or would they be more traditional, one-attack-one-tube-one-missile, with the larger annotation equating to a larger missole or a larger pool of ammunition?

The thing to remember is that in all of the shows that went into RT, and especially the first one of which you referenced, all of the mecha missile launchers, even those with clusters of missiles, were, for the most part, single shot systems with no reloads behind the initial shots (or anywhere else in the mecha)...the primary exceptions were the short range missile box launchers that were sometimes loaded on wing hardpoints of the primary mecha of the original series, as well as the short range missile launchers on the front of the box launchers of the FAST packs they mounted in space (which had 2 to 3 reloads per tube on these launchers only), and the Phalanx and Monster destroids (which carried a single reload for each missile tube they had), as well as some enemy mecha (which, again, only had limited reloads for those launchers with reloads)...and they physically had room for each of their reloads in their designs, as shown in the various cross-sections available for them...

Ruger

[snrdg091012]

Hello cavinghan,

as noted, typically the number of missiles equals the rack size. The Atlas was known for having a rapid firing launcher that allowed 5 tubes to launch 20 missiles in the same time that most racks could launch one salvo.

Thank you for indicating that the number associated with artillery cruise missile launcher is the same method used by LRM and SRM systems.

My questions with the SRM, LRM, and cruise missile number equaling the number of missiles that are fired from them has been leading to the question I've posted one the Game Rules board of "TO Heavy Weapons & Equipment Combat Data Cruise Missile Ammo (per Ton)".

In the TM a LRM 5 under Ammo (per ton) is the number 24 which I, again for decades, have understood to mean 24 missiles per ton. The Capital Missile Killer Whale is 50 t/Msl.

For the Cruise Missile/50 the number under Ammo (per ton) is 1/25. I've tried finding anything that explains what 1/25 means in Tactical Operations without success. I do have a couple of ideas of what 1/25 might mean but I have the feeling those are probably not even close.

If possible can you or some one here clarify what 1/24 ammo (per ton) really means please?

[snrdg091012]

Hello ActionButler and Ruger,

My opinion is that without the RT influence BT would have had a combination of multi-tube launchers with and without reloads and the type of LRM 20 used on the Atlas.

As I asked cavinghan can either of you explain what the Cruise Missile/50 ammo (per ton) of 1/25 means?

[Tymers Realm]

If possible can you or some one here clarify what 1/24 ammo (per ton) really means please?

For LRM/SRM/MML/MRM/ATM/NLRM/ELRM/SLRM/SSRM systems, the number listed per ton of ammo is the number of shots usable by the launcher in question.
To keep with the LRM-5, a single ton of LRM-5 ammo has 24 groups of 5 missiles, for a total of 120 missiles in that ton.

Does that help?

[Weirdo]

As I asked cavinghan can either of you explain what the Cruise Missile/50 ammo (per ton) of 1/25 means?

One shot per twenty-five tons of ammo.

Yes, this is a fancy way of saying that a CM-50 is a twenty-five ton missile.

[SCC]

Please note that Cruse Missiles and Thunderbolt Missiles follow the normal nomenculture of number in name is number of missiles fired, for those two systems only ([sub-]capital ones are another exception, but they don't have numbers in their names) they fire a single missile at a time and the number in the name is amount of damage that single missile does.

[grimlock1]

Please note that Cruse Missiles and Thunderbolt Missiles follow the normal nomenculture of number in name is number of missiles fired, for those two systems only ([sub-]capital ones are another exception, but they don't have numbers in their names) they fire a single missile at a time and the number in the name is amount of damage that single missile does.

Did you mean Cruise and Thunderbolt don't follow the normal nomenclature?

[SCC]

Yes

[snrdg091012]

Morning from Washington (not DC) Tymers Realm, Weirdo, SCC, and grimlock1,

Thank you Tymers Realm yes your clarification has helped and corrected my long held, but not expressed until now, belief has been wrong for decades in what Ammo (per ton) has met.

Weirdo, thank you for confirming that 1/25 is the same as the TM's use of 25 t/Msl. I wish that the books would keep the same format or at least provide a note about the change. Many years of following established from using real world procedures both in the military and civilian life has ingrained the idea that unless there is a note about changes then everything is the same. The TM used 50 t/Msl in the column Ammo (per ton) which is what I expected in TO material along with the my other misconception or misconceptions about missiles.

Thank you SCC and grimlock1 for indicating that the nomenclature for cruise and Thunder missiles indicate damage rather than the number of launchers.

Between the information provided by you four my questions have be cleared up and corrected my concept of how Ammo (per ton) works.

To keep things strait I'm going to make a note that the TO's Ammo (per ton) entries of 1/25 mean the same thing as the TM Ammo (per ton) of 25 t/Msl.