(J11.4#) BATTERY POD: This pod contains two 'charges' for a phaser pod (J11.33). This pod has no combat capability of its own, and is considered an 'auxiliary' pod. While the battery charges on this pod allow a phaser pod to be utilized multiple times, it does not allow the associated phaser pod to violate basic fire rate restrictions (E1.50).

(J11.4#1) CARRIAGE: One per fighter; two on heavy fighters. A battery pod, when mounted to a fighter, is tied to a specific phaser pod that must be on the same 'wing' (or side) of the fighter as the battery pod. Otherwise, the pod is inert.

(J11.4#2) AVAILABILITY: Maximum of one per fighter in a squadron; extras cannot be purchased as commander’s options.

(J11.4#3) ARMING: The pod can carry a full point of power, divided into two 'charges' sufficient for firing a phaser pod (1/2 point of power each), thus allowing a phaser pod to fire two additional times. Recharging the pod costs 1-energy point and one deck crew action. This can only be done on the carrier (or an escort with a ready rack for that fighter), but can be done while the pod is mounted on the fighter or on a ready rack. This pod can allow a phaser pod to fire at low-power in dogfights under the same rules as any other phaser-3 (J7.52). If used in a dogfight, each 1/2-point 'charge' in this pod allows a phaser pod to fire a total of four additional times before it is exhausted. After firing one of the charges once at low power, the remainder of that charge cannot be fired at normal power until the entire battery is recharged. After firing four times at low power, that charge cannot fire at all until it is recharged. Regardless of how many low-powered charges it fires, it still requires the full 1/2 point of energy to recharge. While one of the two carried charges may be partially utilized (and thus committed to use as) low-powered 'dogfight' mode, the other charge does not have to be. It can be used in dogfight mode, as well, or it can be retained for use to fire a phaser pod at normal power. When recharging this pod, it must be recharged in full to be utilized.

(J11.4#4) COST = 1 point.

(J11.4#5) YEAR of availability = Y175.

By Stewart W Frazier (Frazikar2) on Wednesday, March 16, 2011 - 09:19 pm: Edit

Hmmm, IIRC there are 2 pod spots ([J11.111] left/right of the fuselage or inline along the bottom) unless replacing a drone/Pl-D spot and a fighter is allowed one phaser pod (J11.33) [2 if heavy]...

So (in effect) you're saying that the battery pack is taking a drone/D spot to power the phaser pod (J11.4#1)...

By Xander Fulton (Dderidex) on Wednesday, March 16, 2011 - 09:42 pm: Edit

Yup, that's intentional. If you could just use both the pod slots, it would be too powerful - for 2 speed lost (and the dogfight rating impact), you get another phaser-3 with 3 shots on it. By being forced to give up at least one drone on single-space fighters for those two extra phaser shots, it becomes a more balanced choice.

Only real downside to that limitation is it does prevent, say, Tholians or Hydrans from using this at all*.

* Unless Tholian/Hydran pod rails are always considered to be 'inline along the bottom'. I honestly don't recall on that - we don't often play with pods on those fighters. They tend to be too fragile for players to be willing to give up any speed...

By Michael C. Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Thursday, March 17, 2011 - 04:51 am: Edit

NO! You put the phaser battery pod in the "pod position" and the actual phaser pod on the drone rail.

THEN if the battery is dry you can drop it for the increased speed DFR while still retaining the actual phaser pod for increased firepower...

By Xander Fulton (Dderidex) on Thursday, March 17, 2011 - 01:11 pm: Edit

Sure, that's one of the advantages of this. (Although, obviously, you'll *usually* want to bring the pod back to recharge it)

The key, though, is that you cannot just use 'both pod rails' (one for the phaser pod, and one for the battery pod), and thus keep your full allotment of drones at the same time.

I wanted to avoid that, so specified that the 'phaser pod' and 'battery pod' must be on the same side/wing. As a result, you could give up one of your drones and use a pod rail (suffering the reduced speed and DFR while its on), or give up two drones and not have to use a pod rail...

...but the key is that you DO have to give up some drones/plasma to use this. At *least* one.

By Alan Trevor (Thyrm) on Thursday, March 17, 2011 - 02:06 pm: Edit

I don't like the proposal as it currently stands for a couple of reasons. The first is that it provides still another advantage for those empires that already have the advantage in fighter capabilities.

The late war drone-armed fighters are already the best in the game. (Whether they're more cost-effective than the Hydrans is another matter. Paying for the speed upgrades for all those drones makes the fighters expensive.) So let's introduce still another advantage for the best fighters (as well as the plasma-armed ones) that the Hydrans, Tholians, and Vudar can't use. The Hydrans, as I have already acknowledged, are very cost-effective and are good enough to hold their own. But the Tholians?

I'm also having some trouble with the engineering. These star-faring empires, capable of faster-than-light travel, of terraforming whole worlds, even of building small Dyson spheres and moving them across intergalactic distances, are baffled by the concept of the extension cord? Seriously, what's the engineering justification for this "same wing" requirement?

By Xander Fulton (Dderidex) on Thursday, March 17, 2011 - 02:13 pm: Edit

There is no facility within the fighter to 'run the cord through it' (as most of the fighters were designed long before this pod was available), and running the cord around on the outside would not be able to stay connected during high warp maneuvers.

In any case, there may already be a way around that. As noted above, if the Tholian, Hydran, and Vudar fighters can be assumed to have both pod rails 'in line down the center' instead of on 'wings' (I don't think any of these race's fighters HAVE 'wings', do they?), then both pod rails can be used just fine.

So the 'must give up a drone' requirement basically just effects the seeking-weapon-users.

By William T Wilson (Sheap) on Thursday, March 17, 2011 - 05:31 pm: Edit

The Tholians are the most phaser-oriented race in the game. This makes their generally lousy fighters somewhat more effective, especially fighting behind web. I wouldn't worry about placement at all, I don't think a placement restriction especially for a non-weapon pod will fly with SVC.

I think a two-charge battery pod, that requires a phaser pod to be installed already, is balanced pretty well without any restrictions. You could, after all, just put on another phaser pod and be able to fire two shots whenever you like, or you can use the battery pod and fire three shots over three turns. It seems like a fair trade. If the concern is that, as non-weapon pods, the battery pod would be too widely available, just make it count as a weapon pod for purposes of availability.

As a player, I doubt I would use this much on Hydrans, who have plenty of phaser shots already. I guess Hydrans defending a base might be able to use it since the speed loss isn't important. Tholians are always defending something and always need more firepower so the speed loss is a better trade for them.

As a Federation player using the F-101, F-111 or bombers, I might be inclined to put a pod like this in the bay, where it doesn't interfere with firing rate, drone loadout (except indirectly) or speed.

By Terry O'Carroll (Terryoc) on Thursday, March 17, 2011 - 05:34 pm: Edit

As it stands in the rules, I'm pretty sure there's no requirement to work out which "wing" a drone is hung from. So it seems to be adding another complication that is unnecessary. For example, my drone-armed fighter is fully loaded with drones, goes on a sortie and launches some but not all. Do I have to track which wing launched its drones in case I want to load one of these battery pack things? If it's too much hassle, players just won't use the things.

Why not just an extra-large phaser pod with three shots that requires bridging two rails, like a Type-IV drone does?

By Xander Fulton (Dderidex) on Thursday, March 17, 2011 - 05:43 pm: Edit

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You could, after all, just put on another phaser pod and be able to fire two shots whenever you like, or you can use the battery pod and fire three shots over three turns.

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As a Federation player using the F-101, F-111 or bombers, I might be inclined to put a pod like this in the bay, where it doesn't interfere with firing rate, drone loadout (except indirectly) or speed

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Why not just an extra-large phaser pod with three shots that requires bridging two rails, like a Type-IV drone does?

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By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Friday, March 18, 2011 - 10:58 am: Edit

The Iridani have a two-space capacitor pod for their FEB charges; they had a problem developing a FEB that could hold its own charge, so stored the required energy in these larger pods in order to draw from them at the instant of firing.

This limits their assault fighters to one FEB shot per loading (as they have no additional pod rails), and their heavy fighters to a maximum of three (they have six pod rails, rather than four; they usually only load two FEB pods at a time when deploying them).

By Mike Kenyon (Mikek) on Friday, March 18, 2011 - 12:03 pm: Edit

The Bolosco have a double-sized pod that acts as a battery pod for either there FTBs or their IWT as the player likes. It doesn't limit by location on the pod-rails. With it you can pull off overloads, or in the must amusing thing that can ever happen, your heavy fighter can literally crush a dreadnought like a spent beer can.