Actually, jackwraith, a Demolisher cannon IS roughly comparable to a multimelta.
At long range (from 12" to 24"), the Demolisher cannon wins the anti-armor discussion, since a 2" deviation will still keep the blast on a vehicle (and there's a chance that a 3" deviation will still be on the vehicle, especially Monoliths, Land Raiders, and superheavies), and the higher strength makes armor go 'squish'. However, even that huge blast has a chance of only glancing the vehicle. OK. Math time. 2/6 chance of hitting, and even if it misses it still goes somewhere. Call it a 3/6 chance (although it's less than that, I just don't want to figure out the math right now). Let's assume Armor 14. That means I have a 2/6 chance of penetrating, and a 1/6 chance of glancing. 4/6 of the Ordnance Penetrating hits result in some form of vehicle destroyed, and so does 1/6 of the glancing hits. (1/2 * 2/6 * 4/6) + (1/2 * 1/6 *1/6) = 4/36 + 1/36 = 5/36, or about 14%.
At ranges inside 12", a multimelta is the better antitank weapon, since it's far more likely to hit and penetrate. Math time again: 4/6 hit * 1/6 penetrating (again, assuming armor 14) * 1/2 (@ long range) = 2/36, just over 5.5%. 4/6 * 26/36 * 1/2 = 52/216, just over 24%.
Multimeltas are only good against one target, though, so if you're facing a Teminator Squad, you're hosed. At all ranges, the Demolisher is better against infantry. It really should be AP2+ if it's not going MW (I think I can support this more than the MW option). In fact, the Demolisher is the BEST antipersonnel weapon in the game, period. The only thing that keeps units alive against Demolisher cannon fire is spreading out. Putting models on larger bases in 40k is somewhat legitimate (Diorama bases, anyone?), but doing so effectively spreads your infantry out more (as distances are measured from base edge to base edge, not from center to center, adding base diameter gives you 'free' distance between models).
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