Behemoth Bio-Weapon Systems details and modifications
Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2014 2:59 pm
So I figure these are the longest-range weapons, at least on the human side, which makes them a pretty important factor. I'm wondering about the mechanics though.
If we loot at the Draco on page 115, they have a convenient "pounds of food per blast" cost. I think it would be good to have that for the Behemoth as well, as it mentions Behemoths can begin to regenerate their payloads before fully expending them (always grazing) so if we got a pounds-per-shot for the Behemoth weapons, the hour-count can begin as soon as a single shot is fired, so long as there is extra food in the belly.
Page 112 lists pounds of food for the entire payload of the Casting Gun (500 pounds for 120 rounds) so we can reduce that to 50 for 12, then 25 for 6, 12.5 for 3, or 4.16 pounds of foot per shot, which is less than half the poundage needed for a napalm blast. Pretty sweet deal, considering how much more effective the Casting gun is, dat range.
Page 113 similarly lists pounds of food for the entire payload of Organic Missiles (300 pounds for 32 missiles) so we can reduce that to 150 for 16, 75 for 8, 37.5 for 4, 18.75 for 2, or 9.375 pounds of matter per missile, still cheaper than the Draco Napalm by a slight margin.
Since I am firmly of the opinion that (in terms of weapons anyway, their immobility and payload problems makes them death-bait) Behemoth-is-Best, I began to wonder if the ranged weapon upgrades would work for them. The Ranged Weapon Upgrades on 107 are not listed on page 110 under the available Additional Biological Enhancements categories only Offensive Bio-Weapons is (melee-only). So I guess the only way to get range or damage upgrades for these things is via Geneticists and their tinier upgrades.
Which kinda sucks because it sure would be nice to upgrade the range of the missiles at least... longer-range Organo-missiles could even be worn on the armor of an Outrider piloting the Behemoth, so it seems odd that the almost-identical missiles of the Behemoth must stagnate.
Even if normal War Mounts with very basic upgrades could not select RWUs as their ABEs, I wonder if perhaps the Personal War Mounts (page 152) might be able to, because it says they can be -enhanced even further-. That might just refer to having more bio-E than normal, but who knows, it might apply to opening up new categories too, such as RWUing the built-in weapon systems or adding additional Ranged Bio-Weapons to the War Mount (a Behemoth would benefit from some built-in short-range weapons, a simple Vent would go along way in dealing with enemies 50-1000 feet away without using up a limited missile supply.
If we loot at the Draco on page 115, they have a convenient "pounds of food per blast" cost. I think it would be good to have that for the Behemoth as well, as it mentions Behemoths can begin to regenerate their payloads before fully expending them (always grazing) so if we got a pounds-per-shot for the Behemoth weapons, the hour-count can begin as soon as a single shot is fired, so long as there is extra food in the belly.
Page 112 lists pounds of food for the entire payload of the Casting Gun (500 pounds for 120 rounds) so we can reduce that to 50 for 12, then 25 for 6, 12.5 for 3, or 4.16 pounds of foot per shot, which is less than half the poundage needed for a napalm blast. Pretty sweet deal, considering how much more effective the Casting gun is, dat range.
Page 113 similarly lists pounds of food for the entire payload of Organic Missiles (300 pounds for 32 missiles) so we can reduce that to 150 for 16, 75 for 8, 37.5 for 4, 18.75 for 2, or 9.375 pounds of matter per missile, still cheaper than the Draco Napalm by a slight margin.
Since I am firmly of the opinion that (in terms of weapons anyway, their immobility and payload problems makes them death-bait) Behemoth-is-Best, I began to wonder if the ranged weapon upgrades would work for them. The Ranged Weapon Upgrades on 107 are not listed on page 110 under the available Additional Biological Enhancements categories only Offensive Bio-Weapons is (melee-only). So I guess the only way to get range or damage upgrades for these things is via Geneticists and their tinier upgrades.
Which kinda sucks because it sure would be nice to upgrade the range of the missiles at least... longer-range Organo-missiles could even be worn on the armor of an Outrider piloting the Behemoth, so it seems odd that the almost-identical missiles of the Behemoth must stagnate.
Even if normal War Mounts with very basic upgrades could not select RWUs as their ABEs, I wonder if perhaps the Personal War Mounts (page 152) might be able to, because it says they can be -enhanced even further-. That might just refer to having more bio-E than normal, but who knows, it might apply to opening up new categories too, such as RWUing the built-in weapon systems or adding additional Ranged Bio-Weapons to the War Mount (a Behemoth would benefit from some built-in short-range weapons, a simple Vent would go along way in dealing with enemies 50-1000 feet away without using up a limited missile supply.