Arc of Fire

Describes the area which can be fired upon by a siege engine, determined by the position it is facing. Because a ship’s weapon cannot easily be rotated, there is little time during the loading phase that the weapon can be even incrementally adjusted. This limits the arc of fire to only 30-degrees, as shown below.

Weapons placed on hardpoints located at the fore and aft corners of the ship’s configuration can be adjusted to one of three facings, as shown: directed forward, forward and to the side (as shown in the image), or rearward and to the side. When a weapon is ready to fire, whatever the facing may happen to be when the weapons is loaded, the crew must wait until the desired target moves into the arc of fire, or otherwise fires at whatever happens to be within that arc.

This vastly limits the use of weapons as an attack form … which is INTENTIONAL for game purposes. It is noted that the arcs of fire for the positions of the ship’s weapon are NOT interlocking. While not a simulation of reality, it does control the variables for resolving combat in a game space with a minimum or conflicts when determining the arc of fire that can be hit. Interlocking arcs of fire can be created by allowing the ship’s weapon to turn half-hex increments, if the DM prefers.

If the hardpoint is located on the side of the ship, then the facing of the weapon is limited to either towards the forward or towards the rear, as shown. Again, half-hex increments will allow the weapon to be turned so that it fires perpendicular to the ship.

The time needed to change the facing of a siege weapon 60-degrees is equivalent to the time needed to load the weapon. The weapon must be unloaded before it can be turned.

See Naval Combat