Modify the Thunder munitions so the minefield created is LRM salvo size divided by 5.
Modify the FASCAM rounds so instead of a minefield of the weapon's rated damage, it is 1/5 that damage.
The reason is that a standard LRM-20 can have all its missiles hit the target, and do a maximum of 20 pts of damage. Yet if you replace that with a Thunder volley it will create a 20-pt minefield that will damage anything that walks inside a 30-meter wide hex, and repeatedly damage things on following turns if they are foolish enough to walk through it.
Same missile size (shots per ton and critical space), same ranges, same launcher, yet somehow the 1 pt warheads in the regular LRM munitions are able to do multiple points of damage when put in a minefield.
Gauss weaponry produces more heat per pt of damage than an AC, as the brass of the AC will carry away some of the heat produced.
Gauss weaponry can take advantage of extra capacitor mounts (similar to PPC capacitors), but still suffer the 5 pts of heat to charge them (and additional 5 pts of heat per additional shot). So the first Gauss shot might do 1 pt of heat, but the 2nd and subsequent shots in that turn will do 6 pts of heat (up to the number of charged capacitors).
Dropships:
Civilian drives require less tonnage than military engines, but are more vulnerable to critical hits and consume more fuel per burn-day.
Jumpships/Warships:
Station-keeping is .01G.
Space Stations:
You can put as much SI and armor as you want. The problem is that armor only contributes slightly to Threshold, and SI is needed for Threshold. Without the KF core, a Space Station needs more tonnage per point of SI than a Warship.
Space Stations can transit in-system at .01G, effectively taking 10* as long as a vessel transiting at 1G (but they only need 1/10 the fuel to do so). This allows a Space station to be Jumped to a new Star system using a Repair Bay, or a smaller station to be attached to a Dropship Docking point and jumped via regular Jumpship.
Ballistic weaponry on a Space station may need additional bracing. Each ballistic weapon needs an amount of tonnage equal the stations's SI minus the mass of the ballistic mount for recoil dissipation, FRU. So if the station has 1 SI, and you want to mount Machine guns (quarter, half, or full ton) feel free. But if you want to mount a dozen AC/2 (6 tons each, that is a difference of 5 tons for each weapon, so each of the 12 AC/s will need 5 tons of recoil bracing, for a total of 60 tons. Missile weapons need half the SI to mount (so a 150 ton AR-12 missile launcher only needs 75 SI). Energy weapons don't have recoil.
Yes, it is possible that mounting more bracing is less massive than mounting more SI.
Smaller weaponry takes up more surface area for its tonnage than a larger weapon. So larger ships don't have the surface area to practically mount more capital weaponry, while smaller hulls don't have the tonnage for larger weaponry. (For example, imagine 2 weapons, all else the same. The larger weapon is 2* as long, wide, and tall, and as a result masses 8* as much. However, it only requires 4* as much surface area.)
ASF Launch Bays would mass more than ASF storage bays. Launch Bays can launch fighters into space, while storage bays can't. Both can do maintenance on ASF. ASF can be transferred from Launch Bays to Storage bays, and vice versa. Basic idea is you have a few Launch Bays that actually deploy ASF, and a lot more Storage bays where you hold the reserve fighters or those being prepped for launch.
Surface area would be another calculation. Given a vessel's tonnage there is a chart or equation that tells how much base surface area it has. From there, you would have modifiers based on hull shape (for Dropships and Space stations), and you add surface area for other items (i.e. ASF Launch Bays, advanced sensor/jammer systems, external cooling arrays, etc). Surface items are the only things ASF can shoot at when attacking a Warship Dropship, until the armor is gone (unless they carry weapons heavy enough to break through Warship Threshold). As more Surface items are added, surface area climbs. You then specify the armor tonnage you want, and look up on the Surface area table (or equation) to determine how many points per ton of armor the armor tonnage gets (or how many tons per pt of armor). So the more Surface Area stuff you add, the thinner the armor gets.
Example:
A space station has a heat intensive civilian rig that produces more heat than the station's inherent heat sinks can dissipate. Instead of spending 1 ton per pt of heat to dissipate by putting in lots of standard heat sinks, the designer decides to put in a
Droplet radiator. This allows the design to dissipate 4 pts of heat per ton (numbers guessed at), and is used.
Later the space station is under attack by pirates. Deciding to ignore their first hails and trust the thick armor, the (idiotic) station commander refuses to turn over some of his refined product (Endo-steel?). The pirates then send a pair of ASF in and shoot off the Droplet radiator. The station commander then sees the heat gauges spike on the civilian gear and has a choice of either melting the station, turning off the Endo-Steel furnace, or giving up.
Another designer wants to make a Jump point defense base. This station needs to have extensive ASF Launch Bays, as he expects the need to rapidly launch ASF after someone Jumps. The number of ASF Launch Bays boost surface area by 25%, so the armor is only 80% as thick.
A third designer makes a defense station. Deciding to go with ASF as the primary armament, he makes it where there is 1 ASF Launch bay for every 19 ASF storage bays. As the station will be in orbit he expects that there will be 20 minutes available to launch the full complement of ASF.
