Hi!


I was wondering how much of pre-existing X-tech would (or should) be factored into the Maesron's and other races' TL13 ships.

In addition, what about the unique weapon systems that are found in the Octant - like tachyon missiles, implosion bolts and whatnot - what, if any, X-tech modifications should they have?

And when it comes to the Alunda - their equivalent of X-ships involved having the Sigvirions possess their living ships! Just what extras would the virii give t their new Mirn 'friends'?

Also, given the state of the Octant during the Sixth Cycle, how many races would it be fair to actually develop X-tech for, assuming that the ships would be reasonably expected to be actve prior to the onset of the Seventh Cycle (the history of which has not yet been published) - since TL13 was slow to get around with the Andros and Souldra causing trouble?


Gary

By John Trauger (Vorlonagent) on Monday, December 04, 2006 - 01:39 pm: Edit

I'm not up on Omega.

Did they ever get to 30-32 box warp engines? If not, that'd be a start.

If I were the Alunda, I'm not sure I'd want a sentient virus controlling my biological space ship. Esepcially one with its own defined territory and politics which may not be in line with my own. To say nothing of the virus wanting to spread to me, too.

Generally, bad things happen when what should be a device has its own sentience. The SFB rules for super-intelligent battle computers and countless good and bad SF movies reflect this.

I might try crossing my ship with a Space Dragon. (borrowing, I suppose, a page from Farscape) Or otherwise trying to genetically engineer a better ship.

I'd try making a cyborg ship before I'd try a Sigvirion. But the Sigvirion would make a great variation on the old "destroy the supership" scenario.

By Stacy Brian Bartley (Bartley) on Monday, December 04, 2006 - 01:49 pm: Edit

X-Tech and Omega?

The Xorks are OUT there.

regards
Stacy

By Tim Longacre (Timl) on Monday, December 04, 2006 - 01:57 pm: Edit

John, yes, the Omega Sector got speed 30-32 warp capable ships. In one of the prior CapLogs (don't remember which one off hand), the Vari have Particle Torpedo-equipped ships that can do speed 31.
It is also stated in the Omega Modules that the Omegans got X-tech, but later than the Alphans.

I very much agree with your sentiments about the Sigvirons in the Alunda host ships.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Tuesday, December 05, 2006 - 04:00 pm: Edit

Well, a few points:

Did they ever get to 30-32 box warp engines? If not, that'd be a start.

Well, according to the fluff, only the FRA and Maesrons developed 'hot warp' ships prior to the Sixth Cycle (when the Andromedans and Souldra kicked lots of Omegan face!) - and between them developed Interceptors, PFs and X-tech in the Y190s. (The FRA didn't use the first two of those, though...)

And even then, the two of them only developed the new 'war' classes in Y189, just a few short years before the Sixth Cycle began in Y192.

The tech took a while to get around - during the Invasions, the Maesrons tried to smuggle examples of new tech to the remaining Omega powers, but it took time to implement.

(The X-tech era didn't really get into full swing until after the Sixth Cycle was over, with the Maesron Renaissance.)

If I were the Alunda, I'm not sure I'd want a sentient virus controlling my biological space ship. Esepcially one with its own defined territory and politics which may not be in line with my own. To say nothing of the virus wanting to spread to me, too.

Ah, but you see, the Sigs are refugees - all of the planets in their home territory was glassed by the Maesrons and others a hundred years previously, and the Sigs who built up their forces in the Nucian Cluster prior to the Second Great War were also smacked around!

The few remaining Sigs have nowhere left to turn - and the Mirn (the race who use the Alunda as living ships) were being overwhelmed by their enemies, and needed the Sigs to pull them out of the fire...

It's all already in the established Omega background - so what I was wondering was how the likely rules for Alunda 'X-ships' should be considered.


Gary

By Scott Tenhoff (Scottt) on Tuesday, December 05, 2006 - 04:25 pm: Edit

---

Quote:

John T said:
I might try crossing my ship with a Space Dragon. (borrowing, I suppose, a page from Farscape) Or otherwise trying to genetically engineer a better ship.

I'd try making a cyborg ship before I'd try a Sigvirion. But the Sigvirion would make a great variation on the old "destroy the supership" scenario.

---

By Scott Tenhoff (Scottt) on Tuesday, December 05, 2006 - 04:29 pm: Edit

re: Alunda possible "Sig-Tech" (X-Tech)

Probably follow the partial x-tech from CL31 for power, shields.

Maybe an bonus to ECCM, naturally, say 3ECCM free.

Possible Bio-Bolt increase in damage (+25%?)

An x-tech Moray (Alunda fighter) would be kinda cool.

By John Trauger (Vorlonagent) on Tuesday, December 05, 2006 - 09:22 pm: Edit

Scott,

Given that I own no omega, it's not obvious here. Thanks for the info.

What did the Alunda do to win against the Branthodons? Can that be extended?

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Wednesday, December 06, 2006 - 07:38 am: Edit

Scott - Are the rules in CL31 specifically for Omega, or for another setting?

John - the Branthodons were hampered by the resources needed to clone and raise Dragonships, and the larger classes took a decade to grow and a lot to keep fed.

Meanwhile, the Mirn had lots and lots of Alunda to domesticate - the space whales are a lot more common than Dragons are (and easier to tame).

In the end, it boiled down to numbers and determination - and in both cases, the Branthodon were on the wrong end.


Gary

By John Trauger (Vorlonagent) on Wednesday, December 06, 2006 - 01:36 pm: Edit

...so the Brantodons simply bit off more than they could chew?

How did they expect to win? A quick blitz before the Alunda got organized?

By Scott Tenhoff (Scottt) on Wednesday, December 06, 2006 - 02:02 pm: Edit

It was a long war, and the Branthadon's really got out attritioned by the Alunda (it seems, the history doesn't really say much so far).

The larger Dragons can't be "grown" overnight as Gary said, many years in development, and it seems once you "hatch" it and field it, it can't be "aged" to a larger dragon.

So if the Branth's started loosing 1 "DNs" per year, and only made 1 "DN" every 2 years, they were in the loosing end of the war.

And then the Alunda just didn't want to make peace once they knew the Branthadons were on the ropes. The Branthadons were also isolated and had no friendly empire to help them next door.

By John Trauger (Vorlonagent) on Wednesday, December 06, 2006 - 06:25 pm: Edit

...so the Alunda didn't have to do anything new or different, just step production up to a wartime footing and slug it out?

How disappointing.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Wednesday, December 06, 2006 - 06:41 pm: Edit

Well, the problem for the Alunda is that they went too far in their war against the Branthodon - they left their coreward regions over-extended, and when the Hivers and Vari showed up to take advantage of the situation, the Alunda faced the nightmare scenario of ending up following the Branthodons into oblivion.

Which is when a Sig refugee ship shows up, and makes an interesting offer...

(Well, that and the presence of both the Souldra and Andros on the Octant in the Y190s, to give the Hivers and Vari bigger problems to deal with - which, for your average-sized Hiver, is pretty much anything bigger than a dog!)


Gary

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Monday, May 21, 2007 - 02:59 pm: Edit

Hi again,


After receiving my shiny new copy of the Omega Master Rulebook - with the historical data for the Seventh Cycle (Y205-Y221, note this makes Omega the region of the SFU with the farthest developed timeline of them all!) - I've got a few better ideas as to which might be a good way to go as regards previewing Omega X-tech.


To start off, it might be a good idea to work up prototype X-tech rules for, say, 3 or 4 races intially (and the weapons these races use) and stick with 1 X-cruiser and 1 X-destroyer from each race as a starting point.

Also, since such a proposal would limit the ability to test these X-tech ships against each other (and other Omega races), it would be reasonable to make sure that the races chosen have a few fairley well-developed historical opponents to go up against - for which the details of the Omega timeline make fairly reasonable.


So, to start off, I'd go for the power who were the first to develop an X-cruiser in Omega - the Maesron Alliance. As their X-ships showed up in the late Y190s, they would have plenty of Souldra and Andromedan starships to fight against. Also, as there are already preview Maesron PFs and PFTs out there, including a Maesron X-ship in a fleet battle would be more feasible. We'd still need the war classes to be cooked up, as well, but they are the closest match so far.

My second choice would be the Federal Republic of Aurora. As the FRA are the Maesrons' closest allies, and already have a history of co-operating with the Alliance in developing new tech (the two powers developed hot warp together, and the FRA sold PF tech to the Maesrons) it would be logical to assume that the Aurorans were first in line for X-tech imports. As far as 'authentic' fleet battles go, they still need in-print war cruisers et al, but since they never used PFs that hurdle is circumvented.


My third choice would be either the Trobrin or the Koligahr - probably the latter, as like the Maesrons they have in-print PF designs, and use them in the Invasions (so they can fight the Andros and Souldra).


The final choice might seem a strange one, but thanks to the history of the Seventh Cycle have a very interesting enemy to fight!

Note: Spoilers ahead! (in white)

In the Seventh Cycle, a series of wormholes start showing up in Omega - each lasting about a month or so before collapsing. Indeed, one such wormhole in Y214 allows for the re-establishment of contact between the FRA and the UFP, and for the latter to send the GSX Sakharov into the Octant for a five-year exploration mission. The ship has to make it home the long way around, via the Iridani Cluster.

However, in Y212, there is a far less benevolent encounter...

A wormhole opens that year near the Drexari core worlds, through which the Drex send a fleet in order to secure the other side. However, it turns out that apparently the farther the distance travelled, the further back in time the wormhole goes - and this wormhole leads to M81, to a time when the Tholian Will was still in power!

So, the Drex and Tholians fight a huge battle for control of the wormhole, which ends only when the Drex deliberately collapse the wormhole on their end.

Therefore, if we see preview Drex X-ships, we can have them fight the Tholian Will, in a scenario based on this Wormhole War!

The Drex would need war classes and their own PFs to be historically accurate, but the scenario could be updated as these ship types are put into print.

Also, we would need to find out from Loren which time period the Drex arrive in, to see whether, for example, the Tholians have Seltorian ships available or not.

But if there is ever an M81 Galaxy module released for SFB, a fully updated version of this scenario could be included within - or the scenario could go into an appropriate Omega module.


Does this seem reasonable as a starting point?


Gary

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Monday, July 07, 2008 - 04:47 pm: Edit

Now that X1R is out, we have a wider range of potential ship types which could be seen in other regions of the Universe - and thanks to Omega 5, a new set of units, such as gunboats, to consider also.

One interesting angle for an Omega standpoint may well be the X-PFTs - which combine the increased strategic speed and combat power of X-hulls with the attrition power of the gunboats on said vessels' mech-links.

Given the late stage at which both PFs and X-ships were introduced by the majority of Omega empires, perhaps one or more powers in the Octant (or Iridani Cluster) used such X-PFTs in the first batch of X-tech ships used in service, rather than waiting overly long to rely on PFTs derived from 'war' classes or concentrate on 'regular' X-cruisers in the production schedule.

Of course, there would still be plenty of room for Omega X-cruisers, but perhaps when/if the time comes for an X-supplement for Omega, that the likes of X-PFTs be high on the list (and since the Omega module featuring speed-31 ships will likely be out before an Omega-X module is feasible, the bases for such conversions would be ready to go by then).

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Wednesday, July 03, 2013 - 10:22 am: Edit

There is a discussion over in this thread regarding where to go next for Omega, in terms of working out what kind of technological advancements (if any) each empire might make beyond the point we see them at already. Part of the discussion involved trying to see if, when, or how first-generation X-technology would emerge for each operating empire.

One key point of comparison in this case is with another late Omega innovation: gunboats. The Federal Republic developed the "volatile warp" system used to power Omega interceptors and PFs in the Y190s, but sold the technology to the Mæsron Alliance rather than deploy it themselves. (Conjectural FRA gunboats were shown in Module Omega 5 for those interested in "what might have been".) From there, the Mæsrons (who felt that the only way to survive the Andromedan onslaught was to share their new technology with their old neighbours) sent blockade runs to offer "volatile warp" technology to the Koligahr, Trobrin, Probr, and others from Y198 through to the end of the Andromedan invasion of Omega in Y204.

That same year (Y198) was important for another reason, as it was the year in which the first Mæsron X-cruiser entered service. As with "volatile warp" technology, Mæsron X-tech was a domestic innovation (not one ported over from the Alpha Octant; the first Alpha X-ship to appear in Omega was the Federation GSX NCC-1821 USS Sakharov, which arrived from the LMC in Y214). And as with "volatile warp" technology, the Mæsrons sent samples of X-tech in the same shipments as a last throw of the dice against the Andromedan invasion.

As Module Omega 5 shows, even though the various gunboats featured in that file use the same kind of "volatile warp" engines, the resulting PFs (which were designed in isolation from those of their neighbours, due to the Andromedans' efforts to isolate the surviving empires from one another) are very different both in size and in performance. Even in terms of flotilla organization, these empires can vary widely; with as few as four to as many as eight boats in a single flotilla depending on which navy was operating them.

My hope is that, as was shown with Omega gunboats, the Mæsron X-template can be "something different". Not just in how the Mæsrons' own X-cruiser works (which, reportedly, was not quite as powerful as an Alpha X-cruiser; which may not be so bad, if the ship is still at least broadly competitive with the Andromedans, or with Alpha first-gen X-ships), but in how that template can be applied to other empires (whose own X-ships may well be stronger, or weaker, than those of the Mæsrons themselves).

So then, the question becomes: What exactly is Mæsron X-tech, and how can it be "something different" while still representing a step forward into the first-generation X-era?


One thought I had was based on the example of "volatile warp" technology itself.

The "hot warp" drives used on Alpha Octant PFs allow for the use of warp booster packs to give the gunboat the power it needs to fight at fleet speeds. Out in the LMC, the Baduvai PFs have no WBPs (at least prior to Operation Unity; it's not yet known if they gained access to the technology in its aftermath) and have relatively power-starved attrition units as a result. In contrast, "volatile warp" engines are physically bigger than "hot warp" gunboat drives (though can't use Alpha WBPs) and also include an afterburner system which allows them to increase their warp output by one-half for a single turn (but which requires a "cool-down" on the subsequent turn). However, "volatile warp" engines (which already take double the amount of damage per warp engine hit) take triple the amount if hit on turns when afterburners are in use. So Omega gunboat usage can become a cat-and-mouse game of when to take advantage of one's afterburners, and when not to.

(In a sense, afterburners are a weak version of Orion engine doubling; which I suppose is not entirely unreasonable, given that the FRA scientists who came up with "volatile warp" technology would have been familiar with the engines aboard the Throne of Ozymondas.)


So, my thought was this: what if the Mæsrons (who were busy getting the hang of "volatile warp" gunboat engines at the same time they were building up to their first X-ships) attempted to mimic the same kind of system in their X-engines?

Rather than give a Mæsron X-cruiser a "standard" pair of 20-box nacelles, what if each nacelle had a pair of "volatile X-warp" engines instead; each engine with a lower amount of warp boxes, but gaining the capability of using afterburners in exchange? (So, on a given turn, the ship can switch on the afterburners and gain 50% more power for that turn; but has to "cool down" on the next turn AND take double the amount of warp engine hits during the turn of activation.)

That would make the Mæsron X-ship's power curve much more volatile (no pun intended) than that of an Alpha Octant counterpart; and could do the same if such engines were then installed into other Omega X-cruisers (FRA, Trobrin, Probr, and so forth). Plus, if an X-ship was operating in tandem with a flotilla of "volatile warp" gunboats (such as an X-PFT, which could be used to flush out Andromedan RTN nodes in the wake of Operation Concerted Strike), both the X-ship and its flotilla could plan their "volatile warp" usage in tandem, providing for a unique set of tactical options.

Although, in the case of the FRA, while they may find the new engines useful for their line ships (and it would certainly make them different from Star Fleet X-cruisers), they may not bother installing them into the Throne itself (since it already has standard Orion engine doubling). They'd likely still give that ship a "partial-X" refit, based on what other options are made available by Mæsron X-technology.


The only question would then be a strategic one. Would these "volatile X-warp" engines allow an Omega X-ship to move seven hexes per turn in operational movement on the Federation and Empire scale map? Perhaps there may be a difference in how these engines run when on "cruise" mode, compared to what they do when slowing down to tactical warp speeds. (I guess that might make the Aurorans consider adding new engines to the Throne after all, if it meant that ship could go faster strategically.)


Does that sound like it might be an idea for Omega X-ships, or should they simply stick with the same kind of advanced engines as in Alpha? (Or, is there some other option they might be able to go with instead?)

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Wednesday, July 03, 2013 - 05:42 pm: Edit

I tok a fresh look over the afterburner rules in (OK1.23), and there are a couple of notes that might be worth mentioning in terms of what may, or may not, also apply to a ship-based equivalent.


According to (OK1.231), the 50% increase is per engine, and is rounded down. All engines on the same PF have to go to afterburners at the same time according to (OK1.2324), so no gaming the system to try and get around the need for the "cool down" turn.

So, if the same applied for "volatile X-warp", a Mæsron CX with two undamaged 15-box engines of this type would generate 44 points of warp energy (22+22) when switching on its afterburners, but would go back down to 30 points on the following turn (assuming the engines are still undamaged by then).

I suppose it might be worth considering whether or not a ship would have to use all of its afterburners at the same time, or could pick and choose the way an Orion can when engine doubling. Were the latter allowed to happen, that same Mæsron CX could generate 37 points of warp energy (22+15) from its warp engines per turn, if it chose to cycle its activations from one engine to the next and back again.

(I personally lean somewhat towards the idea of obliging them to all activate at once, but others may prefer to let a player rotate their engine cooldowns over successive turns. 37 is still less than the 40 a Fed CX enjoys every turn, and it would also come with the increased risk of damage to each afterburning nacelle. So I suppose it may not be a deal-breaker if allowed.)


However, there is another issue to consider. According to (OK1.2321), a PF using its afterburners cannot use reserve warp energy of any kind, as the warp flow is too erratic to channel through its batteries. (Reserve impulse power is still okay, though.)

Would a set of Mæsron X-batteries be possible that would be able to absorb such warp energy surges? (Or even if they could, would the power conduits on a Mæsron X-ship be capable of handling the strain of channeling the warp power to the batteries in the first place?)

If so, that might be handy for any empires that acquire the same X-template; particularly those (like the FRA) with weapons that have a use for reserve warp energy.

If not, that might set up a dynamic where the X-ship has to plan to spend as much of the additional warp energy as possible during Energy Allocation on the turn of afterburner usage.


So, if "volatile X-warp" could be viable for Omega X-ships (and I'm not saying it would be just yet), would it be better to force all of a ship's engines to use their afterburners at once? And either way, would it be better to let Omega X-batteries make use of the extra warp power, or force them to go without?

By Richard B. Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Wednesday, July 03, 2013 - 05:59 pm: Edit

Just as there are no warp booster packs for size four or larger units, my opinion is that there should be no afterburner for size four or larger units.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Wednesday, July 03, 2013 - 06:07 pm: Edit

But in this case, would it be a problem in terms of overall power output?


Over the course of two successive turns, a pair of 15-box "volatile X-warp" engines would, under the above setup, generate 74 points of warp energy a turn; six less than a Fed CX will get out of two turns' usage of its pair of 20-box nacelles. (To say nothing of the power curve an Orion X-ship can generate from doubling its own engines.)

Even if you are getting a boost in power at the start of the activating turn, you're trading a useful situational advantage for less overall power to work with over the course of a scenario (and an increased risk of engine damage on the turns these engines are using their afterburners).

Would that not be a way of making Omega X-engines "something different" while still keeping its overall power curve below that of an Alpha X-ship? (To refer to the "not as highly advanced" line from the Omega timeline.)


If all there was to Omega X-engines was the same kind of box additions seen over in Alpha, it may work... but at the same time, it might be kind of boring. If there's an opportunity to come up with a different approach, why not try it?

(Again, I'm not saying this is it, but might there be another alternative?)

By Richard B. Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Wednesday, July 03, 2013 - 06:33 pm: Edit

I don't see empires burning out their engines in this way. On attrition units, sure. On capital ships, not so much.

Otherwise everyone would just use Orion engine doubling :p.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Wednesday, July 03, 2013 - 06:46 pm: Edit

In this case, the actual using of the afterburners doesn't degrade the engines; though they are more vulnerable to external damage when this mode is activated. Plus, the shields of an X-ship should be harder to get past than those of a gunboat in order to actualy score such engine damage, even before deciding what kind of shield upgrades a Mæsron X-ship should have.

Well, in fairness, the "volatile warp" drives on Omega PFs still have to worry about ionic buildup (OK1.24), but that may or may not be an issue for an X-ship equivalent. Using, or not using, afterburners gives a plus or minus modifier when determining engine degradation for the purposes of (K6.13), to the point where afterburners no longer work when the running total exceeds 50 under (K6.21). But that kind of problem is more due to the compromises that need to be made when constructing warp engines sized for a gunboat rather than a full-sized starship.

Although, as of Y198, the Mæsrons may not have had much of a choice. By then, they were mostly isolated from the rest of the Octant, and their remaining holdings were steadily being ground down by the Andromedans. (And they had yet to figure out how the RTN worked, so had no real way to relieve the relentless pressure being placed upon them.) In such a circumstance, even a sub-optimal setup that still worked may have been "good enough", if the alternative was to hold out for something better while waiting for waves of paired Dominators to show up over the Wallimi and Tazol home worlds.

You wouldn't see an Alpha power switching to such a system after reading the Sakharov's data files, but it's a lot harder to be fussy about such technology when it's all you've got.


Unless, of course, a better option for Omega X-engines is out there.

By Richard B. Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Wednesday, July 03, 2013 - 07:25 pm: Edit

The powers that be may allow it, but I don't like it myself. Another problem is that you need the more capable ENGINES in order to get the advanced movement options that X-ships are capable of. This includes the tactical advantages, but also the strategic advantages that you see in Federation and Empire (such as the seven hex range as well as the ability to react to enemy reserve movement - and other advantages as well).

With afterburners needing a down time after use, I really don't see them as a viable alternative to the Xship warp engine systems that we see in the alpha quadrant.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Wednesday, July 03, 2013 - 08:10 pm: Edit

I raised the question a few posts back as regards where this would leave the ship's operational movement.

One problem is that we don't know for sure what the operational movement rates of most non-X Omega ships are yet. For all we know, most of the "middle years" Omega ships may only go five hexes, with exceptions like the Iridani Clipper the only ones to go speed-6 on the F&E scale map.

It could be that the need for these engines to use afterburners might only be while under the strain of fighting at tactical warp speeds, and that the ships may have more of a balance when in transit which allows them to move seven hexes a turn via operational movement in F&E terms.

Or it could be that they can't go as fast as an Alpha X-ship strategically, and that Omega empires just have to live with it.


Ultimately, with a few exceptions here and there (usually buried in some of the weapon rules), the only thing we know about the state of Mæsron X-tech in Y198 is that is is not as highly advanced as what is seen in the Alpha Octant.

Even if each kind of individual X-system they are eventually given looks no different to what is laid out in the Alpha X-modules (which is an option, but not one I would favour), something would still have to give in order to stop the resulting X-cruiser from having the full bag of tricks.


Is there something you would want Omega X-ships to have - or to not have, in terms of what an Alpha X-ship can do that these ships should not?

Be it their engines, batteries, shields, weapons, or other systems, what would you see as the standard by which a Mæsron X-cruiser should be set; and how would you transfer that template to those empires who the Mæsrons gradually offered this technology to?

By Richard B. Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Wednesday, July 03, 2013 - 08:26 pm: Edit

Units able to go speed 30 via warp will most likely be speed 6 in F&E, in my opinion.

To go faster, you need more. CW/DW engines do not get you to speed 7 in F&E, at least not so far.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Wednesday, July 03, 2013 - 08:40 pm: Edit

The problem is that the connection between speed-30 warp and speed-6 operational movement seems to already have been broken out in the LMC. According to (MS1.26), the C5 empires (even their "war" classes) have transit speeds which are no faster than those of Andromedan warships when off the Rapid Transit Network. (We don't have a confirmed set of movement rates for the Andros yet, but it is likely to be less than 6 in order to allow the Alpha powers to gain the advantage once they start dismantling the RTN.)

There's no reason to say that the same would be true for pre-X ships in the Omega Octant (where the FRA can act as a yardstick, at least with ships like the old CL). But at the same time, there's no guarantee that the "war" classes being discussed elsehwere in the BBS will get the full 6 hexes operationally either.


The point I was trying to get at is that, if it were to be decided that a first-gen Omega X-ship does get to go speed-7 operationally, there could be a way to divorce the capabilities of this proposed engine type at transit speeds from its need to use the afterburner system when fighting at tactical warp speeds. (Say that it is a more powerful engine type overall, but that it can only channel that power tactically via the afterburner system. Or something.) But, if it were stated that these ships cannot go seven hexes regardless of what kind of engines they had, it might not matter what they do to handle tactical warp combat.


EDIT: Here's an idea. What if, instead of saying you increase the warp output by 50%, you actually put the additional boxes on the SSD; but have them faded out, with a note saying they are only available tactically when the ship is using its afterburners?

That way, the "full" engine would still be there to let the ship go seven hexes operationally, but that they can't be fully utilised when fighting at tactical warp without the afterburner system.