Something else for people to spend commanders options points on, when you don't have drones

(DJC1.0) ABLATIVE MATERIALS

Units can be given protective coatings of ablative material. Unlike armor, which resists damage, ablative materials absorb energy that destroys them, instead of the protected unit. (The effect is comparable to human sweat absorbing heat and evaporating, cooling the skin.) By their nature, ablative materials are easily damaged even during normal space travel, so they are only applied to units expecting combat.

(DJC1.1) DESIGNATION

(DJC1.11) SSD: Ablative materials are not represented on the SSD. They are purchased as Commanders Options and must be recorded by the players.

(DJC1.12) DESTRUCTION: If a unit has no armor, and has ablative material, each damage point destroys 1 point of ablative material.
(DJC1.121) SPECIAL DAMAGE PRIORITY: Ablative material must be damaged if a unit has no armor, before allocating damage using the DAC.

(DJC1.13) REPAIR: Ablative material cannot be repaired during a scenario. They must be replaced by a repair unit between scenarios. A scenario special rule might specify that ablative materials are being applied to a unit and will start functioning at a point defined in the rule.

(DJC1.14) TECHNOLOGY RESTRICTIONS: Ablative material can be used by any nation.
(DJC1.141) Ablative material must be purchased as Commanders Options, at a cost of ? BPV per point of ablative material.
(DJC1.142) Ablative material cannot be used by civilian units or any variants of them.
(DJC1.143) Ablative material cannot be placed in option mounts.

(DJC1.15) SIZE CLASS RESTRICTIONS: Ablative material may only be used on units Size Class 4 and larger.

(DJC1.16) LEGENDARY ENGINEERS: A Legendary Engineer (but not a Legendary Captain acting as a Legendary Engineer) multiplies the number of points of ablative material a unit may have by 1.5 (DJC1.322).

(DJC1.17) TACTICAL INTELLIGENCE: Ablative material can only be distinguished at level ?

(DJC1.2) ARMING PROCEDURE

(DJC1.21) ENERGY: Ablative material does not require any energy.

(DJC1.22) WEAPON STATUS: Ablative material functions at Weapon Status 0 or above.

(DJC1.3) EFFECTS

(DJC1.31) PROCEDURE: Each time a point of damage is inflicted, one point of ablative material is destroyed, and instead of using the DAC, the player owning the damaged unit chooses one box that can be destroyed on a Hull hit, and marks that box destroyed,
(DJC1.311) If a unit has ablative material but no systems that can be destroyed on Hull hits, damage points are allocated by the DAC, and each damage point also destroys one point of ablative material,

(DJC1.32) SYSTEM OPERATIONS TABLE: The maximum number of points of ablative armor that a unit can have is calculated as follows:

(DJC1.321) Look up the unit Size Class in the "Maximum Number of Ablative Material points per unit" table below.

Maximum Number of Ablative Material points per unit
Unit Size Class > Maximum Number
0 > 32
1 > 16
2 > 8
3 > 4
4 > 2

(DJC1.322) A Legendary Engineer multiplies the above number by 1.5.
(DJC1.323) Subtract the number of armor boxes on the unit.
(DJC1.324) Example:
• A Romulan War Eagle is Size Class 3, has a Legendary Engineer, and 5 points of armor.
• The Maximum Number of Ablative Material points per unit table shows a Size Class 3 unit can have up to 4 points of ablative material.
• The Legendary Engineer multiples 4 x 1.5 = 6.
• Subtracting the 5 points of armor, 6 - 5 = 1.
• The War Eagle can have a maximum of 1 point of ablative armor.

(DJC1.325) If damage to a unit from different directions is allocated to different parts of that unit, modify the procedure as follows:
(DJC1.3251) Follow steps DJC1.321 and DJC1.321.
(DJC1.3252) Divide the maximum number by the number of directions damage can come from.
(DJC1.3253) Subtract the armor in each direction in the parts that can be hit, if the unit was undamaged.
(DJC1.3254) Example:
• A Star Base is Size Class 1. It has 6 modules and a core.
• Damage can come from 6 directions, which are allocated to different parts of the Star Base, i.e., the 6 modules.
• Damage from each direction is allocated to the module facing that direction if possible. It is only allocated to the core if it cannot be allocated to the module.
• The Maximum Number of Ablative Material points per unit table shows a Size Class 1 unit can have up to 16 points of ablative material.
• The 16 points are divided by the 6 directions the Star Base can take damage from. 16/6 = 2.66, which rounds off to 3
• The modules do not have any armor.
• The core has armor, but if the Star Base is undamaged, it cannot be damaged. Its armor is ignored (DJC1.3243).
• Each module can be given up to 3 points of ablative material.

(DJC1.33) RESTRICTIONS: Ablative material cannot be used by a unit that starts a scenario inactive. Scenario special rules may change this restriction.

(DJC1.44) NVC: If damage is caused using Non-violent Combat, use DJC1.31 before using the Non-violent Combat DAC (D6.4).

(DJC1.45) ARMOUR: If a unit has armor, the maximum number of points of ablative material the unit can have is reduced by the number of armor boxes (DJC1.323). This can mean the unit cannot use ablative material.


(DJC1.5) CAMPAIGN CONSIDERATIONS

(DJC1.5) REPLACING ABLATIVE MATERIAL In a campaign, ablative material may be added to a unit any time the unit can resupply consumables such as drones and shuttles. Ablative material can also be removed from one unit, and put on another unit, at half the normal cost of buying it as a Commanders Option.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Wednesday, March 26, 2025 - 12:11 pm: Edit

For comparison's sake, it's worth noting that, for most "metal-hull" empires, in the Alpha Octant or elsewhere, "armour" is comprised of crystal-shaped energy dampers which are woven into the exterior of the hull - as seen and described on the deck plans for the Romulan Snipe here.

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By contrast, the "armour" used by the warships of the Trobrin Empire over in the Omega Octant are, in fact, discrete belts of rock attached to various points of the hull. Back in the days of Shapeways 1.0, the belts could have been seen on miniatures like this one.

On the one hand, this allows the Trobrin to adjust the amount of "space" on the hull set aside for said armour belts, in order to install certain "new" systems - as evidenced when the Trobrin deep space dreadnought was converted into the Trobrin space control ship.

On the other hand, doing this cuts back on another reason why the silicate Trobrin install these armour belts on their hulls in the first instance... as a secondary food source! As in, the larger the armour belt is on a given Trobrin vessel, the more spare food the Trobrin crews aboard them can nibble on during lengthy patrol missions.

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More unorthodox forms of "armour" exist elsewhere in Omega, also.

The tiger-like Ryn species deploy ceramic-composite armour, which is set into hemispheric arcs. (In-universe, this system relies in part on the Ryn understanding of "Element #248", which other species do not have a similar grasp of.)

While the Ryn are able to use their advanced transporter technology to "rebuild" these banks in the course of a scenario - to include using their transpoter-collector beams to "recycle" bits of enemy warship hulls for this purpose! - this does not block transporter activity in either direction.

Which can be a problem for the Ryn, who do not possess shields...

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Also, there are "armour" boxes on the SSDs of Branthodon Dragonships. This is used to protect the "exoskeleton", which is installed in order for the Branthodon crews to be able to operate the "dragon" part of the Dragonship.

However, as with all aspects of Branthodon technology, this type of "armour" plating is biological and/or cybernetic in nature, and cannot be duplicated by other empires - not even by the Alunda, who themselves use organic interfaces to control their living "space whale" bioships.

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Meanwhile, in the Triangulum Galaxy, several local empires use a system known as micro-thin Neutronium armour. These are sub-divided into hemispheric banks, and offer a limited degree of protection against hits on critical systems aboard ship per volley.

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And, technically, the defences used on Juggernaut Empire warships are a form of electro-static armour, which operates under its own rules in turn.

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Overall, it would appear that, unless a given ship is designed from the outset to have external "armour belts" at certain locations on the hull, as is the case in the Trobrin Empire; or which uses a unique set of materials (such as the aforementioned Element #248) in order to function; it's not quite so easy to develop an ablative system that would serve as a "general" option for most empires' warships - be they "metal-hull" or "organic" in form.

That said, perhaps this system could be used in the future as a "specific" setup for a brand new empire: one which was designed from the keel up to incorporate this technology somehow?

By Jeffrey Noel Cochran (Jncochran) on Wednesday, March 26, 2025 - 05:35 pm: Edit

Gary, I originally thought of this as a technology for a new empire, but couldn't think of a reason other empires couldn't copy it.

Thanks for the rundown on non-Alpha armour, I know little about them. Very interesting concepts.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Wednesday, March 26, 2025 - 08:11 pm: Edit

If it helps, I might recommend checking out the 2011 edition of the Omega Master Rulebook: it has the rule and OR-section data from the first five Omega modules for SFB, plus a variety of Omega-related data from numerous issues of Captain's Log magazine.

While Triangulum rules are still in playtest; what material currently exists can be found in Module E2, Captain's Log #23, and in the most recent errata PDF.

There's still plenty of scope for new empires and new technologies in Omega, in the LMC, in M33, in M81, and elsewhere out there in the broader SFU!

By Jeffrey Noel Cochran (Jncochran) on Wednesday, March 26, 2025 - 10:06 pm: Edit

Thanks for the suggestions, and the encouragement, Gary

I've briefly looked at the errata. Some interesting stuff. Or dare I say, "Fascinating"?

By Jack Bohn (Jackbohn) on Thursday, March 27, 2025 - 08:17 am: Edit

(DJC1.14) TECHNOLOGY RESTRICTIONS: Ablative material can be used by any nation.

Except the Orions, who find it obscure their cool paint scheme.

Semi-seriously, if an Orion ship that can take less damage over powers them, (at this level, my guess would be it won't) their "stealth coating" could provide an excuse for a penalty -loss of stealth- or a higher BPV charge than other empire -another stealth coating applied over the ablative armor over the factory-installed stealth coating.

By Jeffrey Noel Cochran (Jncochran) on Friday, March 28, 2025 - 01:45 am: Edit

Good catch, Jack.

Whether or not ablative armor affects Orion stealth is a decision above my pay grade ($0.00).

But if it does,then

Version A:
(DJC1.46) ORION STEALTH: Units with the Orion Stealth bonus lose the stealth bonus as long they have ablative materials, and for 1/4 turn (8 impulses) after the last point of ablative material is destroyed.

Version B:
(DJC1.46) ORION STEALTH: Units with the Orion Stealth bonus reduce the stealth bonus by 1 ECM as long they have ablative materials, and for 1/4 turn (8 impulses) after the last point of ablative material is destroyed.

Version C:
(DJC1.141) Ablative material must be purchased as Commanders Options, at a cost of ? BPV per point of ablative material.
(DJC1.1411) EXCEPTION: Units with the Orion stealth bonus instead pay ? BPV per point of ablative material.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, March 28, 2025 - 10:58 am: Edit

As an engineer I have to be extremely dubious about this whole concept. Slapping on a coat of paint won’t do it. To work, this would have to be meters thick. It would interfere with every system on the ship, from weapons to sensors. It would be very expensive, and would increase the movement cost and degrade the turn mode.

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Friday, March 28, 2025 - 11:19 am: Edit

Pretty much like what external armor does to drones. I agree in full, Steve.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Friday, March 28, 2025 - 12:00 pm: Edit

Not an engineer, but it probably should be pointed out that different weaponry has different properties, Explosive, such as that inflicted by a Nuclear Space Mine, or Plasma Blast from a direct fired Plasma Torpedo, or plasma energy engulfing from a enveloping plasma Torpedo, of Hydran Fusion, or even a Hellbore .

And I know there are still others not listed.

Different kinds of weapons might well react differently to a single Ablative material. Explosives might be incredibly effective in wiping the Ablative Armor away from the hull whereas plasma torpedoes might be rendered totally ineffective as the plasma energy dissipates while in contact with the Ablative Armor.

I am not endorsing anything here, just pointing out to any one who still favors this proposal, that there are several additional factors that need to be included in any proposed rule above and beyond what SVC posted.

Instead of retroactively giving any published empire access to Ablative Armor, this might best be limited to a new Empire or a computer simulation.

Your best option might be to present it as a scenario with a special rule dealing with Ablative Armor against a single enemy.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, March 28, 2025 - 09:48 pm: Edit

We don't need it for a computer simulation. We have the old Romulan and Fed CL armor systems already. Don't re-invent the wheel without a reason. Getting your name on the game isn't a reason to print a new weapon. Writing a story, scenario, or tactical note is an easy and better path.