Found out the info. It was the Brandenburg class that was laid down in 1890. It had 6 11-inch guns in three dual turrets, plus a secondary battery of 8 4.1-inch guns. Later German pre-dreads would massively increase the secondary armament (sometimes reaching 18 guns of roughly the same calibre as the Brandenburg's secondaries), but with smaller primaries (the Kaiser Frederick III had four 9.4-inch guns, whereas even the second-line British battleships of the time had four 10-inch guns (thinking specifically of the class of two 'fast battleships' that Fisher, in the Far East, made his flagship)

Okay, maybe I should have expressed myself better. I meant more powerful, as in the optimal damage for a weapon increases. Inverted Range Modifiers I can understand--maybe a missile with a targetting computer that is more accurate as it travels, or something to do with a hyperspace weapon. The Inverted R-B ROF/PEN/DMG issue, however, is something that I don't have a realistic-sounding explanation for.

The modifier should be x2.3.

Definitively.

Yup.

Seriously, here's how I came up with that:

Basically, the idea is that you'll likely get more (and more effective) shots at longer ranges, for the following reasons:

(1) You're going to want to keep the range open.
(2) There are more hexes at longer ranges.
(3) Early hits are worth more (learned at cost during the banked-weapons fiasco...)

So, the three range bands are "weighted": short x1, medium x2, long x3.

A normal weapon has the same dice at all ranges, so:

1x1 + 1x2 + 1x3 = 6

An inverted-range-based weapon would have twice the dice at medium range and thrice the dice at long range, so:

1x1 + 2x2 + 3x3 = 14

14 divided by 6 is 2.33...

This is essentially how we determined the range-based mods in the first place:

3x1 + 2x2 + 1x3 = 10

10 divided by 6 is 1.66...

And it is also appropriate for the inverted modifiers. If you have a 5+ base to-hit, you have 50% more hits at short range and 50% fewer hits at long range, so:

3x1 + 2x2 + 1x3 = 10

When inverted, this becomes:

1x1 + 2x2 + 3x3 = 14

So the modifier for inverted mods should be 1.4, not 1.3. Multiplying the mod for range-based by 1.4, you get 2.33, or what we've already decided should be the modifier for inverted-range-based.

Thus, japridemor's approach was sound to begin with -- but inverted mods is undercosted slightly.

Dan

Shouldn't the overall range be the prime determinent controling the S/U size cost of a weapon.
I'm probably missing something for sure.

I'm a firm believer that "Range is King, Accuracy his Prime Minister and Damage is his Right hand Man". Therefore in order of importance it goes like this:
  Primary: If you can't reach me you can't hit me.
  Secondary: Even if you can reach me, if you can't hit me you can't hurt me.
  Tertiary: Even if you can hit me, if you can't hurt me, you can't kill me.

Therefore, If I can hit you and destroy you over the course of a few turns, with my weedy 1 hit, 18 inch range weapon, it doesn't matter if you have the capability to destroy a llarge planet with your Scout Frigate if all you have is a range 3 weapon you will not get to use it.

???
Roy

Well, range is ONE prime determinent of SU cost -- it is, after all, a multiplier unto itself.