Archive through January 29, 2003
Star Fleet Universe Discussion Board: Star Fleet Battles: SFB Proposals Board:
The "X" Files:
OLD X2 FOLDER:
X2 General Systems:
Archive through January 29, 2003
X2 GENERAL SYSTEMS
PROBES
X2 probe launchers should have a 10 box track. Star Bases and GSVs have had these for a long time and X2 ships which will ( particularly during the Trade Wars ) be opperating on their own quite often, should have the ability to use more probes.
X2 probes should have massively advanced sensor systems and should gain far mor information than regular probes. The ammount of Scientific Information should be determined by where the proble lands with respect to the objected being understood.
If the probe is fired into the same hex as am object then then 50 points of scientific information may be gained about that object.
If the probe is fired into a hex adjacent to an object then 40 points of information may be gained about it.
And if the probe is fired into a hex that is at range 2 of the object then up to 10 points of information may be gained about the object.
Information probes may be held for 1 point of pwer on the third turn and this power will bleed into the probe via the "feeders" for the next ten rounds. That is if armed on the 2nd turn and held on the 3, the probe must be launched or "refeed" before the 12 turn.
An X2 probe has it's own guidance computer and control thruster array and thus may be launched up to 10 hexes from the launch vessel.
Probes may be fired at targets as an improtu weapon. The Probe requires the usual 2+2 points of warp but can be held for 1 point of power ( from any soarce ) per turn...thanks to the feeders.
X2 probes are far more accurate than regular probes have guidance computers and control thrusters.
When fired as a weapon a die roll shall be made on the table below with the range to the target being used to determine if there was a hit or not. The damage scored is the same as a Non X2 probe.
| Range | 0-1 | 2-4 | 5-6 | 7-8 | 9 | 10 |
| Die Roll | 1-6 | 1-5 | 1-4 | 1-3 | 1-2 | 1 |
When use the Directed turn mode, the thrusters and may move the probe on a slightly different head.
If the vessel is going straight then the left, right and forward directed turn mode probe arcs may be used, at the firing players leasure.
If the vessel is turning left then only the left and straight arcs may be fired into.
If the vessel is turning right then only the right and straight arcs may be fired into.
TRANSPORTERS
Transporters are larger and more efficent on X2 ships.
An X2 Transporter may beam a 2nd Individual ( Read Leg' Officer ) as part of a group being beamed.
X2 Transporters may beam up to 7 hexes.
An X2 transporter may beam small items, Boarding Parties, deck crew, 1 or 2 Legendary Officers, type I or VI drones, data cubes at a cheaper rate paying 0.1 points of power for the transporter action.
An X2 transporter may beam 3 crew uints at the non combat rate ( bacause they are larger ) as one tranporter action ( no free officers though ) or 6 Boarding Parties for one transporter action.
TRACTOR BEAMS
X2 Tractor Beams should be able to reach out over 5 hexes.
If a vessel that is not capable of moving at speeds greater than 31 is tractored by an X2 vessel and the pair move ( or more accuratley the X2 vessel has a psuedo speed still greater than 31 ) at a speed greater than 31, then for each point of movement the tractor beam must have a point of "Tractor Strength" that is equal to the number of movement points greater than 31 in addition to the one point of tractor strength it must have to successfully tractor a friendly unit or a unit with no power in negative tractor.
This is because the higher speeds will generate mass dialtion in the vessel that does not have an adiquet warp feild.
HEAVY WEAPONS SQUADS
HWS have a much more potent potential in the X2 era in ship to ship combat.
This is because most of the Heavy Weapons of the HWS are not the traditional mortar and RPG but rather they use more commonly a light poratable squad support, rapid action phaser, not unlike the MG42 and M60 of earlier years.
Each heavy Weapons Squad has an offensive capacity in in regular ground combat of 4, in regular shipboad combat of 2 and in defending a passageway of 3.
BOARDING PARTIES
Boarding parties shall use the much vaunted Pulse Rifle as their long arm and thus will act as though they had an offesive capasity of 1.5 ( roundeing up ).
MILTIA
Militia arn't improoved very much by the use of the Pulse Phaser and thus they count as 1.25 units in shipboard combat ( rounded down ).
COMMANDOES
Commandoes are very skilled and their use of the Pulse Phaser is very effective.
Each commando squad counts as an offensive capasity of 2 when using this X2 weapon.
You gave the X2 probe a better To-Hit than an X1 photon......I think that is a little out of whack, don't you?
Also, a Probe as an emergency weapon should not be allowed to be held, no matter what the technology.
okay...let's try
| Range | 0-1 | 2 | 3-4 | 5-8 | 9 | 10 |
| Roll | 1-6 | 1-5 | 1-4 | 1-3 | 1-2 | 1 |
I honestly don't see the probe, as a weapon, being upgraded from it's current form. It is not that the probe is being turned into a torpedo really, but that the torpedo is being fired out of the probe hatch.
It got the ability to be launched 10 hexes for lab data and just capitalises on that ability when used as a weapon.
I also think at a certain time, Probe Anti-matter Bombs will be able to be held...it's just a matter of having advanced enough technolgy...it's not like the Admiralty don't know about it as a legitimate action by the Year 205.
I don't have my rules in front of me, so I might be wrong, but I don't think a probe should be an auto-hit at any range. I'm with Chris. If you want to improve the probe, a 10 track box and longer range is okay. But the weapon properties shouldn't change, IMHO.
MJC, not every system need to be improved.
Myself I almost never use probes (I haven't got the excuse to use it as weapons since my ship tend to be quite intact at end of combat
, and when it's time to hunt monsters the old probe works just fine) I prefer improved weapons
, and think thats what the navies too, would spend money on.
And not all system are easy to improve either.
I'd imagine it would be really hard to improve the range of tractors and transporters, for example. The energy required would in reality NOT be a linear thing, making it difficult to get practial use out of these systems at the new proposed range.
Quote:I don't have my rules in front of me, so I might be wrong, but I don't think a probe should be an auto-hit at any range. I'm with Chris. If you want to improve the probe, a 10 track box and longer range is okay. But the weapon properties shouldn't change, IMHO.
The To Hit rules are simply, roll higher than or equal to range, making the probe and auto-hit at R1 and R0.
I'm willing to put forward a to hit table of:-
| Range | 0-1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5-6 | 7-8 |
| Die Roll | 1-6 | 1-5 | 1-4 | -13 | 1-2 | 1 |
If that seems more resonable.
If the probe as a probe can go to R6 and we improove that to 10 then we should have some kind of improovement , but perhaps no further than traditional overload range.
GPD indicates that both tractors and transporters will get longer ranges with more advanced levels of Tech.
If we say that the tractors at R4-5 looses one point of "strength" and thus more enery than a purely linear application of power is required to slap on a tractor link, then I think that's playable.
If we say that transporting over ranges 6 and 7 costs 0.3 and 0.333 points of power respectively, I think that's also playable.
The thing I see here, is that the Probe as a weapon is a last ditch "and the kitchen sink too" type of weapon.
I'm all for Probes themselves getting an upgrade to act scientifically. I jut don't think an upgrade to an emergency weapon would be needed or researched.
I haven't created any upgrade to the probe as an emergency weapon, just the side effects of upgrading the probe as a probe, that by default; improove some aspects of the probe as an emergency weapon.
I can buy that reasoning, but maybe not the result
| Range | 0-1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6-8 |
| Die Roll | 1-6 | 1-5 | 1-4 | 1-3 | 1-2 | 1 |
Perhaps this is more believable?
MJC, you can subnit whatever you want of course. I, and several others, are just telling you that we do no think the probe's emergency torpoedo function should be improved over what it is now.
Besides, how often do you see a crippled X-ship?
You'll see a heck of lot more crippled X2 ships if the S.I.F. comes to be...it's the out working of reducing the Eggshells with Sledgehammers aspect.
I can't really see that there's much improovement.
The warhead hasn't gone up. The ability to hold, is something I'm willing to drop. The proble already had auto-hit at R0 and R1.
The probe already had the same damage and to hit ability as the Standard Photon at both R2 and R3.
All I've really said is that the R6 max range should be extended to R8 ( or maybe ten, but know I think R8 is better ).
And I think a lot of X2 ships will have the odd Leg' Captain.
Now there's an interesting idea for an improovement to the probe.
Allow Leg' Weapons Officers, Leg' Enginners and Leg' Science Officers the ability to order a probe be armed as a weapon without the ship being crippled.
Shoulda happened a long time ago.
Like I said, we all can submit whatever we like. I just don't like it.
New Technology: GIZMOS
Devices storage space
As X-technology advanced, researchers developed small, expendible devices that could be substituted for a probe or transporter bomb. Storage space for these devices was combined and slightly increased. SC4 ships had 8 spaces of storage, SC3 ships had 10, and SC2 ships has 12.
T-bombs take up 1 space and probe loads take up 1/2 space. NSMs take up two spaces.
These rules do not alter the maximum amount of t-bombs or NSMs a starship can carry.
Other devices were developed and added. Some examples follow.
Repeater Gismo
Federation researchers were not able to further extend the range for transporters or tractor beams. Instead they built the Repeater Gizmo. The Gizmo acts as a fresh origin point for a transporter beam or a tractor beam. A transporter or tractor beam routed through the gizmo can be redirected as if the Gizmo were the generating ship. The ship using the gizmo must have lock-on to both the gizmo and the target/destination of the beam. it must also be using a control channel to control the gizmo.
If the gizmo is at range-5 from the ship, the ship could bounce a transporter signal off the gizmo and be able to transport an object as far as 10 hexes away.
Gizmos handle tractor beams differently. The gizmo will bounce a tractor beam as far as 6 hexes away but it only bounces the tractor beam at the strength it is when it reaches the Gizmo.
Example: A ship bounces a tractor beam off of a gizmo 3 hexes away toward an object 2 hexes away from the Gizmo. the ship puts 6 points of power into the beam, which creates a 2-point tractor beam at the Gizmo's range. since the target is at range-2 from the Gizmo, the bounced tracor beam would be cut in half again effectively down to 1 point of power. The ship would need 6 points of power per point of tractor beam on the target.
If the gizmo is destroyed, the tractor link is broken, even if the target of the tractor beam is in tracotr range of the ship. The gizmo is completely functional until it is destroyed.
Only one tractor beam or transporter beam can be bounced off a given gizmo at any time.
A gizmo moves normally as a part of the tractor link. It has no move cost and does not count as a third unit in a tractor link.
A gizmo uses a single seeking weapon control channel. A gizmo is no longer available if it is ceases to be controlled. A gizmo bouncing a tractor beam will continue to bounce the tractor beam even if uncontrolled, but if the tracto9r link is broken, the gizmo will no longer bounce new tractor or transporter beams. Control of a gizmo may not be transferred.
A scout channel see to break lock-on can attempt to disrupt control of a gizmo. X1 and X2 scouts may do so at a -1 penalty on the roll in addition to any other factors. The penalty is -2 if the scout is not an X-ship.
The repeater Gizmo takes 12 points of damage to destroy and uses 1 space of device storage. (effectively replacing a t-bomb)
Other gizmos will appear as we think of them.
Quote:Federation researchers were not able to further extend the range for transporters or tractor beams. Instead they built the Repeater Gizmo. The Gizmo acts as a fresh origin point for a transporter beam or a tractor beam. A transporter or tractor beam routed through the gizmo can be redirected as if the Gizmo were the generating ship. The ship using the gizmo must have lock-on to both the gizmo and the target/destination of the beam. it must also be using a control channel to control the gizmo.
I think a Defsat can already do that.
I wasn't aware of that.
Even if true, how many Fed cruisers do you know of that can carry defsats into the field?
High Warp Movement.
General improvement in Warp drives allows up to three hexes of movement in one impulse. Paid for by double warp cost per hex, for 1 to 3 hexes. Similar to an HET, energy can be put into HWM but not necessarily used.
- Roll for breakdown.
- New roll for lock on as in 1 impulse ship appears in to positions. -2 penalty to retain lock on.
- Will detonate all mines
- Breakdown failure includes warp field collapse. No warp power for 8 impulses
- Only usable by ship units
Tractor Enhancement:
Tractor beam can be deployed in as a tractor field to destabilize warp movement. Causes speed loss to warp units. Speed loss is detemined by proximity to tractoring unit.
Range Speed loss
1 3
2 2
3 1
- Cost 1 point of power per unit affected, max 5 points of power.
- Field is directional out shield facing
Shield Enhancement
Deflector enhancement to shield reflects phaser energy away. Reducing phaser damage by 1/3 as long as the shield has at least 1 undamaged box. Phaser damage is reduced before it is applied to the shield
High Warp Movement
Sounds like a DisDev to me.
Tractor Enhancement
Would the effect be any different if the ship were moving away from you, toward you, or abeam with you?
shield enhancement
Could be a very powerful defense.
Not quite the same as adding 10 boxes to a 30 box shield, but it would make ships more reliant on heavy weapons which might not be a bad thing....
Overload range:
Right now, most heavy weapons in the game have a strict Range 8 overload.
What would happen if some of the X2 heavy weapons kept range 8, while others jumped to range 10?
Photon torpedos:
The consensus seems to be range improvements and an increase in the turn 1 arming to 16 points. This looks like a candidate for Range 10 OL.
Disruptor:
Several disruptor proposals have been bounced around.
Kzintis finally figure out how to overload the disruptor cannon. SHould they also get range 10, or should they get only one disruptor cannon improvement (overload it at all)
Klingons and Lyrans might be getting some sort of rapid fire bolt. Should they also get the OL range increase? Or maybe the Klingons get it but don't tell the Lyrans?
Tholians fuse the particle cannon and disruptor bolt to get the disruptor rifle, which can fire 4 standards or 1 mega-shot, or anywhere in between. With this much improvement in flexibility, should they also go to range 10?
Other systems:
Hellbore
Fusion
PPD (which the ISC might abandon totally after how well it did against the Andys)
Phasers (failed experiment. Forget I mentioned it)
Plasma glory zone
ideas?
Plasmas have no overload function and the glory zone is at range 10 right now. That's where it will stay without restructuring plasma torpedo ranges or making a specific bolt damage chart
Plasma Shield: The ability to launch a wide area field of plasma that leads before the launching ship absorbing phaser energy on a 1:2 basis (i.e. a pl-f would stop 10 points of phaser damage) . Can cover the leading shield only (move forward and it covers the #1. Move in reverse it can cover the #4) The launching tube must be able to fire in the direction of the shield it will protect. It can never protect any side shield. It only protects against phaser damage.
It can turn with the ship. It cannot HET. If the ship alters speed or E-Decels the shield is lost. The ship must be moving at least speed 1.
Coverage is reduced with range just as a normal plasma but phaser damage does 2 points of reduction per one of plasma energy. There is no enveloping or shotgun version. Arm as normal but must be noted as a Shield on the last turn of arming. It can be fast loaded. It cannot be rapid loaded.
Goofy idea off the top of my head but what the hey? Might could work.
Would it protect against asteroid damage?