Archive through April 14, 2003
Star Fleet Universe Discussion Board: Star Fleet Battles: SFB Proposals Board:
The "X" Files:
OLD X2 FOLDER:
Major Western X2 tech changes :
Archive through April 14, 2003
Klingon, Kzinti, Lyran and Hydran
Been thinking on an idea with the Lyrans and their ESG's with advanced tech. My idea would be that they might be able to 'pulse' an existing ESG field out one radai. Maybe it would require reserve power equal to the new radius's need and would be a one impulse thing with the field falling automaticly afterwards. Be a way of giving them the chance to hit that ship that just barely managed to turn away.
ESG:
Change 4-impulse delay to 1-impulse delay.
Allow the field to be used continuously (no cool down, just add more power the impulse after the field goes down and it comes back).
Multiple ESGs no longer destructively interact.
An ESG hit can destroy the capacitor or the generator, owners choice.
A bit much. ESGs from the same ship won't interact.
Hey, here's a new thought. How about if they were able to channel reserve power into the ESG as it takes damage!
So the capacitor can only hold so much power, say 7 points. Thats a 21 point field at R3. A ship or mass of drones enters the field and takes the 21 points. Then during the Fire Step of the SoP of that and only that impulse the Lyran ship can channel as much reserve power (up to the capacitors capacity) as it wants for up to an aditional 21 points. If all the additional damage is not taken (i.e. the target is destroyed first) the field still drops.
Geez, that might be too scarry. But it's a new idea.
Maybe X2 Lyrans would decide to reduce the ESG capacitor and weapon size but put twice as many generators on. A cruiser would have four 5 point ESGs.
Or two ESGs could share one big capacitor, like 12 points. Hmmm, no. A standard X capacitor (7 points) shared with two ESGs. Each pair of ESG draw from one capacitor. Each can raise one field per turn. The first could use the whole capacitor and the capacitor could be recharges the same turn with reserve power to raise the second field with the un-used generator. The second field CANNOT be announced until all of the power it will use is in the capacitor.(So you can't announce two 21 point(R3) fields for the same impulse.) Represented by two adjoining boxes. The Capacitor is destroyed when both are destroyed.
ESG arc?
ie, raise an ESG R3 in the FA arc only. That way incomming drones/ships get hit, but the CW behind can still bring up its ESG without worrying about interaction.
Neat. Could you raise and lower it like you could shields?
Why not? ESGs that can raise/lover in specific shield arcs.
...No increase or decrease of ESG strength, but still...
I can dig it.
Better yet, if it covers less arc, it gains more strength.
Mode 1: Standard - 360 arc, normal damage
Mode 2: FH or RH - double damage
Mode 3: single shield arc - 6x damage.
If it needs to be balanced, it could be made inefficient. When using it in a 60 degree arc, the first point of power is lost.
I thought about that.
Too much. Too powerful an offensive weapon. You could do something like 126 points of damage with a Range-3 ESG ram. 168 at Range 0.
the only same way to handle ESGs is to assume the that at Range 3 the total energy in the ESG is 21 points. You're just dropping coverage areas.
Would there be a reason why you wouldn't want to cover the whole 360 arc?
To prevent the ESG from impacting other ships/ESGs in your fleet.
I would propose that any ESG shield arc is valid, but you can't have non-contiguous shielding with a single ESG. i.e. 1 ESG could not have a field up on shield 5 and shield 3 because it isn't contiguous. It could have 5, 4, 3 or use one ESG for shield 5 and a second ESG for shield 3.
I would agree with that.
So... how would you handle Hellbore / ESG interaction for an ESG covering only 3 shields?
42
Well, I don't think a directional ESG will make it past the sensors but if it does then you could handle Hellbore/ESG interaction this way.
The carrier Field that holds the energy in place is still globular but an additional constraining field is holding the energy in place in a directional nature. Hellbores fired through the ESG energy interact the same. Hellbores fire through the non-energy portion do not damage the energy portion but are directed to the ESG generating unit (so auto hit).
Ugh.........that was very bad technobabble.......
Hellbores interact with ESGs on a line of sight basis. If the Hellbore LOS to the target goes through an ESG then it hits the ESG. Excess Hellbore energy after the ESG goes down is split between the same shields the ESG was covering.
Hellbores whose LOS does not pass through the ESG have no ESG interaction and behave normally.
How would you do it then? (If a Directional ESG is to be.)
I wouldn't do it.
Wouldn't the ESG becoming an expanding arc generator (EAG)?
ESG vs. hellbore:
If the ESG is covering the shield the hellbore would hit, handle the interaction normally.
If it isn't, roll to hit the ship per normal.
the hellbore doesn't/doesn't have to envelop the ESG to interact with it.
One more thought on the ESG: It should incorporate the Expanding/Shrinking ESG capability Posted in "New Rules."
I am referring to the original concept as fille out in about the first half of the topic, not some of the less-appealing (to me personally) mods and directions the topic took later.
From a Lurker, for the ESG.
From another game (Renegade Legion) you had shields that "flickered" on/off.
What about for an ESG, it was to flicker "On/Off (even/odd)" impulses. So you could plan ships passing in and out of them.
Example.
Lyran with ESG up. Range 3. Lyran+Klingon inside the field. On an impulse that all 3 move, the ESG ship slips left. The other 2 turn right. Effectively leaving the field, and not being damaged. The ESG Lyran being able to move to time when the drones hit the ESG while it's up.
Maybe if the ESG can "flicker" in 8-impulse blocks?
\cloaking on: Now back to Lurking.
I'm working on a Lyran SSD (more to get some discussion going, I guess, than anything) and wondered about the ESG. My first thought was to give it a bigger diameter, or allow a bigger capacitor. Frankly, that's boring. So, I thought of some alternatives and wondered what people thought:
- 180 ESG's. Basically a half ESG field that covers 180 degrees, the players choice. Energy cost is the same, but field strength for that 180 is doubled.
- Projectable ESG. Instead of putting the field up around your ship only, project it out a few hexes. It would still move relative to the ship. A squadron could make a "flying wall" in front of it.
- Expandable/shrinkable ESG. Make it bigger or larger at whim. Really cool, but a bookkeeping nightmare, I bet.
- ESG Caster. A direct-fire application of the ESG. Fires sort of like the web fist
- "Tether Ball" ESG. Sort of a combination. A small ESG field can be projected, and moved around within 180 degrees. Think of swinging it like a flail, and bashing the crap out of the enemy ship until the field is destroyed.
I rather like that last one. Not sure how to work out the rules, but I might give it a stab.
If the ESG field were only expandable that would be a lot easier to deal with.
How about giving it a max of R4 and a Push out capability. Can push out one catagory. Max opening range is 3 when you raise it but then can "Push" the ESG out to R4. To calculate simply convert back the remaining damage points left to power then re-calculate for the new range.
Example: An ESG is raised at 5 energy for a 15 point field at R3. (E x 3) It takes damage from a shuttle (-8) leaving 7 points. The approaching Kzinti cruiser has turned and will not impact the field as the Lyran wanted so during the Fire Step of the SoP calls the ESG Push which expands it to R4 and impacts the Kzinti Cruiser. Lets say the strength factor for R4 is 2.5. First the field was a 7 damage points a R3 so 7/3=2.333. Now use 2.333 x 2.5 = 5.83. In the case of damage fractions are dropped so the Kzinti Cruiser would take 5 points of damage. Do not drop any fractions until the calculation is compleated.
Granted, using a calculator will really speed things up and who doesn't have a calculator handy?