Hello, Dr.

>> If it is true, obiously Giant Force Swords are TOO MUCH WEAK!
>
>Not really -- they only encounter 1/5 DR *and* they never run out of
>ammunition. Think about it: A 40d(5) weapon can defeat DR 700 or so!
>That makes it the equivalent of a 20d(10) armor-piercing rocket that
>can hit *every turn!*

Even most cheep and old(old?) particle beam, Blaster Cannon of TL8
deals 6dx20 impaling damage(for machines) and it not consume so much
energy. 1000000kws energy bank enough to shot with it nearly 100 times
(it's a small e.bank!). Its SS is 20, but if you have "Beam Weapons:17" and
a Targeting program +3 or better, you can shoot each turn in "close range"
target(step and shoot, please) like a close combat weapon. If they have
not so high DR, it's critical stroke!

I can't faint this way, but if the sword hit me, I'll not mind. Because it's
damage quite small. DR 600 or 700 heavy weight mechs have 500~600
HP, and the sword deals only 50~40 damages these mecha. Even if they
wears abrative armor, it force to ablate no much armor. Deal with more
righter mechs? So you must wrong to bring such heavy(512lb.!) weapon...

You'd better to use "solid" weapons. Giant Broadswords with Weight
Multiplyer x100 deals sw+100 damage, and its min.ST is 1000.
So this weapon will deals at least 103d+100 damage. Its weight is only
300lb. It's righter than the Force Sword deals 40d(5) damage so min.ST
must be lower than that. I can add it bibloblade, and even monomolecular
edge, and can swing it each turn!

I can't find reason to use quite large Force Sword...

I think, this "Ultra-Tech and powerful" weapon must be more stronger.
It's damage too much small.

On 25 Dec 98 at 1:39, GGG wrote:
> I can't find reason to use quite large Force Sword...

Because it looks cool :-)

Seriously, though: This is how force swords work in the rest of GURPS;
we're not going to change things for GURPS Mecha. If you want to change
how they work in your game, feel free to do so. For instance, you could
multiply dollar cost and power consumption by X, leave weight the same,
and multiply damage *or* the damage divisor by X as well. E.g., for
double cost and power usage, a force sword of a given weight could do
double damage, or have a divisor of (10) rather than (5).

SP.