Cutter Beams
An alternate weapon system for use with Full Thrust, the Cutter Beam primarily kills Crew Factors early in the battle & starts taking out core systems later on as a secondary (but devastating) function.
The closest analogy to the desired effect I can see is the Primary Beams from Weber's "In Death's Ground" which punch a 2" hole through most ships (regardless of size). I see it more as firing once in the turn (like Pulsetorps) with extreme penetration than as a multiple pulse beam trying to "shotgun" the target area to increase hit potentiol (normal beams).
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Cutter Beam
Mass/cost: 6 mass +2 mass per extra arc (max: 3-arc)
Symbol: Pulse torp with bottom half enclosed in a circle.
Effect: same as Pulsetorp except damage is marked vertically from the topmost undamaged box of armour or hull. Any excess damage due to running out of damage rows causes an immediate Core System check against 1 random system (1-2: Bridge, 3-4: Powercore, 5-6: Life Support) at current value +1 per point of penetrating damage (7 on first row, 6 on second row etc). If the last box of a row is destroyed, this has no additional effect unless ALL boxes in that row have been destroyed (similar to Sa'vasku expending their own hull). Note that no row can be hit more than once due to the nature of damage distribution.
eg 1: Unarmoured ship taking 5 damage (Core system check at 6+):
| Before [xoooo] 6+ [*oooo] 5+ [o*oo] 4+ [ooo*] Destroyed |
After [xxooo] 6+ [*xooo] 5+ [oxoo] 4+ [oxo*] Destroyed 1 excess damage (6+ random core system) & 1 CF killed. |
eg 2: Armoured ship taking 5 damage (no system check):
| Before [XOO] Armour [xoooo] 6+ [*oooo] 5+ [o*oo] 4+ [ooo*] Destroyed |
After [XXO] Armour [xxooo] 6+ [*xooo] 5+ [oxoo] 4+ [oxo*] Destroyed 1 CF killed. |