I'm proposing an additional function for Tholian web generators, and that is the ability to remove energy from established, strengthened webs to weaken them at an increased rate above the 1 aggregate strength point due to deterioration. This would be safer, and faster, than causing web segments to be dissolved, losing their energy, and then re-spinning the lost hexes and recalculating the web strength, because the Tholian units doing this could be behind intact webs without being end anchors making the web vulnerable to dissolving due to the ship's destruction.

There are very few times when this would be done by the Tholians. One would be to allow approaching asteroids to pass through strength 0 webs without their losing their sublight momentum. The Tholians could plan for the webs to deteriorate naturally, but if the asteroid is meant to penetrate to the inner web, the timing would need to be carefully planned, and two webs to be passed through would be weak for a substantial amount of time if an enemy were near.

Another time would be for the Tholians to allow non-Tholian ships to pass through strong webs by weakening them enough for the ships to pass without being tractored through if there are too many ships to be admitted entry. A third would be during Operation Nutcracker to allow Gorn and Kzinti ships to utilize their seeking weapons from behind a very weak yet impenetrable by direct fire weapons second ring web barrier.

The method of weakening the web would be similar to the opposite of strengthening it, except there is no energy cost from the weakening ship. The weakening would be at the maximum rate of 4 energy points per impulse deleted and dissipated to space per web capable unit which is inside or adjacent to the web being weakened limited only by the energy of the web. There is no way for the Tholian units weakening a web to use the energy removed to strengthen another web. The energy is dissipated to space and lost.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Wednesday, June 05, 2024 - 04:06 pm: Edit

John Christiansen:
The biggest question is why would the Tholians develop such an ability? They had no allies in their old home galaxy, and no real reason to develop it in ours. (Kintis and Gorns aside). said from which, if they created a web that drones could move through, the opposing drones could also pass through. I do not see any red to devote engineering assets to weakening web, but will concede that perhaps you have found something I a missing.

By John Christiansen (Roscoehatfield) on Saturday, June 08, 2024 - 09:20 pm: Edit

Steve, (G10.55) would keep seeking weapons stuck in the web until they expend the movement points to escape. If, for a 3 ring circus, the outer ring is at 33-35 strength, Klingon or Romulan seekers would be stuck. If any Gorn or Kzinti ships are between the inner and middle web rings and the middle ring is kept at strength 1 or 2, they would be protected from any direct fire weapons and their seekers would be 4-6 impulses away from striking any enemy ships in the outer web.

Using this, a potential set of Operation Nutcracker scenarios would be for a fleet of Klingons and/or Romulans to be chasing a squadron of small ships of the Gorns and/or Kzintis towards a Tholian BS or BATS. The G/Z ships would have to have some speed limitation placed on them, for low fuel or whatever reason, to explain why they couldn't bypass the base and continue deeper into Tholian space. The webs begin at WS-3 strength, and the Tholians need to assist the G/Z ships in. This is one pinch point in the scenario as the Tholians try to open and close a web gap in the web to allow G/Z ships in without too much loss. They then need to reduce the middle web to strength 1-2 so the G/Z ships may pass into a protected zone and use their seekers against the attackers. If the attackers can damage enough Tholian ships' energy systems so they cannot maintain the outer web, they would need to retreat inward, reinforcing the middle web and weakening the inner one for G/Z seekers.

The available Tholian ships should be barely enough to maintain the outer and middle webs such that even a few energy boxes damaged will cause them to lose the ability to maintain both webs. They can slow the deterioration of the outer web but cannot stop it from weakening to the point in which the K/R fleet can penetrate. They could wait for the inner web to deteriorate if they have time to let the G/Z ships into the base hex, but the sooner the inner web is at strength 1-2 the sooner the G/Z ships will have their best seeking weapons' effectiveness.

The above scenario situation is the main reason for the proposal. It allows for over a dozen variations of replay by changing the squadron from Gorn to Kzinti to mixed, and the fleet from Klingon to Romulan to mixed.

Another reason, though more dubious, is for allowing an asteroid known to be filled with precious metals to pass through the web layers without losing its momentum. The asteroid would require between 100 to 400 damage points to destroy, and the Tholians get victory points for the amount of undestroyed asteroid they can allow to enter. The Tholian forces should be enough to win a base siege, but would get slaughtered if caught in open space. The focus would be on the asteroid. If the attackers can destroy enough of it, they win. This may be a good early years scenario in which the Tholians can only afford 2 web rings, and the attackers would not want to approach the base's P-4s combined with the Tholian ships' P-1s. The asteroid would have to be approaching toward the middle of a web line, and not towards a corner. This makes a gap too dangerous to make as there are too many web hexes to delete and re-spin, but a whole web can be reinforced. Balance can be made by making the asteroid bigger or smaller. If a gap in the web were to be made by destroying the Tholian ship acting as an anchor, the early years attacking fleet could get to range 1 and have a go at the base. This general idea would also apply to the Tholian Home Galaxy, which would explain why they had the ability when they arrived.

By Mike Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Sunday, June 09, 2024 - 09:12 am: Edit

How about a webcaster function that lets you shoot "web grease" that lets the target ship gain movement points in web pass ability?

This ability not discovered in the X1 era.

By John Christiansen (Roscoehatfield) on Sunday, June 09, 2024 - 11:36 am: Edit

Mike, work up the idea and propose it if you want.

By Mike Dowd (Mike_Dowd) on Sunday, June 09, 2024 - 11:58 am: Edit

Spitballing an old idea of mine here... It could be 1X or 2X depending on what ADB feels appropriate.

Another web caster function that adheres a temporary blob of web to a ship's hull/ shield facing?

* Blocks all but Tholian phasers from firing through the target ship's shield arc for a number of impulses (2 or 8).

* Causes no damage to the targeted ship, no EW penalties.

* Can be used offensively (on enemy ships) for 8 impulses or defensively (on friendly ships) as a last ditch shield for 2 (web doesn't stick so well to Tholian ships.)

By John Christiansen (Roscoehatfield) on Sunday, June 09, 2024 - 01:53 pm: Edit

Mike, maybe you can refine your idea a bit and open a new thread to submit it.