A monster that is rather like Banshees but that drain power when they "impact" the ship every turn thereafter.

Can be killed by weapons when in space & by BPs fighting on the outside of the hull.

So a leech might be speed 16, have 3 ECM, drain 2 power every turn and take 5 damage to kill with weapons and 2 "BP damage points." If one drains 6 power (3 turns since they latched on) they reproduce.

Distracted by WW, plasma torpedoes, ecm drone, ECP, ecm drogue. Each leech does 1 point of damage to the drone/ drogue, shuttle per turn.

When they catch an ECP or plasma torp they drain the equivalent of 5 strength points and reproduce.

Populate asteroid fields & nebulae. Come in swarms... Nuisance for big ships & terrifying if you are aboard a skiff/ workboat or E4.

Inspired by a certain new show, episode 3...

Comments and more ideas are wanted. Lotfaan.

Mike Grafton
USS South Carolina, TDY aboard the ground base Bagram.

By Michael Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Monday, October 02, 2017 - 03:35 am: Edit

Note that I chose 5 damage so a P3 isn't a kill. And 2 BP damage points make getting them off the hull hard...

And while dodging them isn't hard, it will make maneuver important.

Maybe make them REALLY good vs PA panels & ESG?

TB kill them to radius 2, NSM to radius 5?

Tractors can hold them off, or pick them off the hull of another ship?

Do one internal damage when impacting the hull, or 6 vs up shields (so the first few bounce, but then...)?

Maybe they can move fast under certain conditions (like speed 40 if hit by an "energy weapon")?

so a viable tactic might be dodging them and getting them to bunch, then a Tbombs?

I can see these as a pretty fun monster to play that will reward subtlety. And absolute heck on slowmovers that like to brick.

There may have to be a rule about what happens when they bunch (or they end up in a clump that is too easy to destroy)? Perhaps they are repelled at speed 64 when 2 get in the same hex for 3 impulses?

Pursuit isn't perfect (so some act oddly) so they pursue on 1-5, while on a 6 they pursue as a slip or turn just off the "best" vector?

By Russ Simkins (Madcowak) on Monday, October 02, 2017 - 09:36 pm: Edit

Would seem best used as a nuisance monster. That’s a good thing reading player’s comments on the SFB S3 Monster Manual topic (Star Fleet Battles: New Product Development: MAYBE SOMEDAY: Module S3: Monster Manual) as there was call for such devices there. I do like the idea of an energy sucking nuisance.

Question: If it sucks energy from plasma torps, what happens when a torp is targeted on the leech?
Do they damage the energy systems or just take their juice?

Ideas/Suggestions: Keep it as simple as possible so stay away from making special interactions (t-bombs/NSM). I’m not excited about the boarding party stuff, it just seems like it will be too messy. BPs would need time to get suited up (unless they have life support belts ala ST:TAS) so do they have to spend a turn transitioning or what? I would find it more appealing to use tractors to push them off using up some of your power to prevent losing power later. Then must be killed by weapons or they come right back (expending more power + weapons). Rather then causing a single internal every time (it passes throught shields?) perhaps it sticks to shields and drains them (destroys shield boxes)

In some sense, these would be like non-lethal sticky foam. Definitely an idea worth development.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Monday, October 02, 2017 - 11:11 pm: Edit

there is a need for caution.

Cheap mission kill capacity (which this could be) has been on the auto reject list for years.

Not saying it's a bad idea, or that there is no room in the game for this. Just expressing an opinion that it could be hard to integrate it into the game.

Might be best if it were handled as a scenario special rule than a full blown monster.

By wayne douglas power (Wayne) on Monday, October 02, 2017 - 11:32 pm: Edit

Michael Grafton,

You could do it up as a scenario, in an asteroid field (with mining bases, prospecting and cargo ships and the like) and the Space leaches get woken up, disturbed from their hibernation perhaps. I like the idea of this monster. I can agree with the suggestions from Russ Simkins.

By Gregory S Flusche (Vandor) on Tuesday, October 03, 2017 - 04:06 pm: Edit

I like them to. The idea of a solo monster is tp practice with the different systems on your ship. So power usage and tractors. what systems are you practicing with.

By Michael Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Wednesday, October 04, 2017 - 09:18 am: Edit

I'd want something for labs and transporters too.

Perhaps if you successfully "labbed" a leech you tricked it into turning away for X impulses.

You can transport a leech, just like you can a GCV, using a transporter. Pick up out to range 5 and drop off anywhere else in range 5.

So you'd be doing all kinds of stuff...

I would really want these to have some randomness to them. Like real critters in the wild, they shouldn't be completely predictable.

A special function for a manned shuttle?

Something for a special sensor to do?

By Gregory S Flusche (Vandor) on Wednesday, October 04, 2017 - 06:34 pm: Edit

lots of monsters need you to lab them. Now using a WW to pull the leeches of your ship? The leeches will go after the thing showing the most energy?

Helping you learn how to use a WW

By Jim Davies (Mudfoot) on Wednesday, October 04, 2017 - 06:35 pm: Edit

Speed 16 is way too slow to fight warships. You'd need dozens of the things filling a fixed map or they'll never get anywhere near a ship. Drone users would find it a cakewalk, especially if they're SC7.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Wednesday, October 04, 2017 - 11:40 pm: Edit

Are these things fooled by a wild weasel?

By Michael Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Thursday, October 05, 2017 - 01:34 am: Edit

Speed proposed was a placeholder. Can be adjusted. Perhaps they "evolve" from the MY to X era and get faster.

WW? Sure. All Leeches within 15 hexes are drawn to a WW. When WW goes down the effect stops when the post explosion period ends.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Thursday, October 05, 2017 - 11:08 am: Edit

would individual Space leaches be targeted as individual targets by a scatter pack/shatter pack? Or could each drone in a SP/ShP be targeted on a different target?

By Russ Simkins (Madcowak) on Thursday, October 05, 2017 - 05:45 pm: Edit

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Quote:

I would really want these to have some randomness to them. Like real critters in the wild, they shouldn't be completely predictable.

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By Michael Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Friday, October 06, 2017 - 01:23 am: Edit

Individually targeted by a scatter pack? Sure.

By Stewart Frazier (Frazikar2) on Friday, October 06, 2017 - 06:33 pm: Edit

Sounds similar to Starswarm (SM12) or Banshees (SM13) though those were designed with fighters and PFs in mind...

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Friday, October 06, 2017 - 09:53 pm: Edit

Give each leach a monster close in defense capacity, a dozen leaches would easily destroy a drone wall. At three hex range a fighter squadron simply disappears.

If PFs are large enough to attract these things the PFs would be swarmed until dead.

Get the hits to kill numbers right.... only star ships would be able to effectively kill these things. Get the speed high enough no fighter or PF would be safe.

By Russ Simkins (Madcowak) on Friday, October 06, 2017 - 10:24 pm: Edit

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Quote:

E6.52 UNACCEPTED TARGETS: MCIDS ignores pseudo-plasma torpedoes, dummy-seeking shuttles, slug drones, and seeking weapons not targeted on itself.

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By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Thursday, October 12, 2017 - 04:21 pm: Edit

Evolution for monsters?

Sounds like something only the U.S.S. Darwin should handle!