Plasma Generator
Star Fleet Universe Discussion Board: Star Fleet Battles: SFB Proposals Board:
New Rules:
Plasma Generator
Some time ago, I got the crazy idea that SOMEbody might have a phaser corollary based on a single turn arming, direct fire plasma weapon. For sake of convenience, my (alleged) mind went straight to the Plasma Blaster (from module Y2) because its chart was close to, but slightly inferior to, the chart for the Phaser-1.
Thing is, the Plasma Blaster requires two points of energy to arm; something I always wanted to honor, even with a new race. Problem with THAT is that it led to the energy costs for arming all its P-1 equivalents to be prohibitively expensive (think about it; if it had as many Plasma Blasters as a refitted Fed CA has Ph-1s, that'd be sixteen points of power; nearly half the ships generated energy). Well, long story short (too late 
), my alleged mind eventually told me to think in terms of a new power (Section 'H') system; a Plasma Generator that is able to generate two points of energy per SSD box per turn, but this power can only be used for plasma systems.
It felt good (at first) because of power systems like the Hiver JPRs and the Eneen HPRs. I say, "At first," because I saw it reducing the power costs for Plasma-S torpedoes to 1-1-2 and "Two Turn Effs" to 1-2. IMO, that's too cheap in terms of power for such potentially damaging systems.
I also thought of what a sublight WB could be with this replacing its APR bank.
Got me thinking of a potential shortcoming or three for this sort of system. Here's what I've come up with for that...
FIRST, the system has to be warmed up/energized/powered up. For this reason, if a ship with a PG starts a scenario at WS-0, the PG will be off-line. Same thing with if the ship is surprised. The PG is unable to do anything (aside from absorb damage) until it's energized. This requires one unit of energy (from any source) and, if this is done on turn 'X' then on turn 'X+1' the PG is able to generate one point of plasma energy, two points of plasma energy on turn 'X+2', and double every turn afterwards up to a maximum of one point of plasma energy for every box of the PG on the SSD, with each point of plasma energy counting as two points of normal energy for the purposes of arming plasma type systems and weapons.
If a ship is at WS-1, it can start with the ability to generate a maximum of one point of plasma energy per PG on the first turn, doubling every turn thereafter. If the ship is at WS-2, it's at 50% generation (round up) on the first turn and at 100% on the second and subsequent turns. If the ship is at WS-3, it starts at 100% generation capability.
Another weakness, and one to explain why the Romulans never came up with this system (or at least why they never utilized it) is that if a ship utilizing this system takes damage to it while under cloak, it's treated as a momentary exposure, similar to what FRAX submarines suffer from when they fire an overloaded Axion Torpedo under cloak.
In short, the Romulans were concerned enough about possible voidance of their Cloak (okay, Mask and Veil first) that they opted to NOT develop this technology.
Anyhow, like I said, it's something I came up with for a pretty oddball reason, but is it something that looks worthwhile to any of y'all?
If I understand this correctly, the PG energy can only be used for plasma systems. This means that the APRs replaced with PGs are no longer available for powering non-plasma systems. This may be a way to deminish the advantages of effectively cheaper to power plasmas.
Honestly, I'm not too keen on the idea until it has been hashed out a bit better.
Got it in one, Roscoehatfield.
More efficient at generating power for plasma systems, but can ONLY power plasma systems.
As mature as the game is, I thought of it really as only something for some new super-plasma using race well outside the Alpha Octant, but seeing as how I've not created one, it's really nothing more than something to throw some Cold Ones down while BSing about it.
That would be a second use for it.
Jeff, as someone who does not like just saying I don't like something without substantive feedback, I want to detail why I'm not keen on this idea.
I'll use your WB as an example. The WB has only 11 total power, and you suggest substituting the 3 APRs with PGs. Your proposal would replace 27% of a WBs total available energy with something that can only be used to power the plasma torpedo. This would leave only 8 units of power for the 4 phasers, the transporters, shields, life support, the cloaking device, charging WWs, the tractor beam, et cetera ad nauseam.
In a game in which power is always at a premium, this proposal subordinates all other power requiring functions to the last turn's charging of plasma weapons.
If one were to accept the tradeoffs, there is the question of how far to go with the substitutions. There are enveloping torpedoes and sabot torpedoes that require extra energy. Other ships have multiple plasma torpedoes.
In short, this proposal would only be useful on the turn(s) of finishing the charging of the plasma torpedo(es). One other thing that is sacrificed is the ability of the ship's captain to say, "•••• the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" when a retreat is necessary and extra speed and/or shield reinforcement is more urgent. This proposal would hamstring the ship more than benefit it.
A possible suggestion would be to allow the PGs energy to be used on a 1 for 1 basis for all other functions, but that would be too much of an advantage.
So, yeah, I don't think so. Enjoy the cold ones while they're cold.
Or the PG can generate 2 points of energy for one turn. but only 1 for 3 turns afterward
Mike, is that general use energy or plasma only energy?
I'm not against this proposal in principle, but personally, I'd really dislike seeing this as an edition to existing Plasma races, certainly for the Romulans, Gorns and ISC anyway.
I'd rather see it as something used by a non-established race in the current system. I think this might fit in well under a new minor race empire that resides somewhere on the eastern plasma side of the F&E map which may have adopted plasma weapons but operationally has a very different power curve and play style to Romulan, Gorn or ISC. Or perhaps as an entirely new race located somewhere else.
Good discussions, all.
That's the reason for the boards; allowing discussions on things that may or may not be good.
Fro comparison's sake, the Module C5 empires do not use the equivalent of phaser capacitors for their warp-tuned lasers. instead, they have capacitance banks, which can store up to four points of "warp-tuned laser power" per BANK box. But, once power is assigned to a BANK box, it cannot be taken back out again for use by some other ship system.
There are quite a few alternatives to Alpha Octant phaser-1s (or, indeed, to Magellanic warp-tuned lasers) in the game system so far, to include certain playtest phaser-equivalents over in the Triangulum Galaxy. So it's quite possible that there is some sort of empire or faction out there which uses a primary weapon that could be tied to such a distinct type of power generation system.
I strongly suspect that, in such instances, the overall power curves of such an empire's ships would have to be carefully calibrated with such a system in mind - and that such a generator might well be unique to that empire - much as HPRs are unique to the Eneen, for example.
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Actually, how about this:
In Omega, the Qixa have two "tiers" of weapon design: one for "in-cloud" usage, which is intended to make the most of the unique properties of the volatile Qixavalour Cloud; and another for "out-of-cloud" missions, where they might be faced with armed opposition in "open" space. (They also have two sets of BPVs, depending on whether they are fighting at home or not.)
For example: one might see an "in-cloud" ship be armed with gauss cannons; whereas certain "out-of-cloud" trading vessels have wide-angle phasers installed.
Perhaps the same could be true for, say, the Nebuline, out in the M81 Galaxy?
It's already noted that the Nebuline use "winged" hulls for use in open space, and "wingless" hulls to defend their home colonies - which, as the name suggests, are inside active nebulae. And since nebulae are filled with charged ions, well...
Here's a further thought: what if the proposed plasma generator can only produce double power, if the Nebuline ship is operating inside of a nebula hex?
Which might explain why "winged" Nebuline raiders would not have them: they'd be useless - over and above a standard APR - in open space.
And, if we assume the generator is unique Nebuline technology, the "export" ships sold to the M81 Pirates don't gain access to them wither.
Any thoughts?
Gary, that at least allows for a start from zero, and allows for balancing rather than unbalancing an established system.
I think this is a bad idea and not necessary but if you guys really think it's a good idea you might flag Petrick to come look at it.
The proposal is adding complexity, and requires tracking plasma energy.
Seems more trouble than its worth. Plus, it slows down the game by requiring more bookkeeping / record keeping.
Think about what happens when a player/team uses several of these ships in a squadron battle.
People used to crack jokes about “Star Fleet Battle Accounting”, and not in a good way.
Is there a “just say NO!” Option?
Yeah, I'm going to have to chime in on the "not fond of additional accounting" side of things. This looks to me like a solution in search of a problem
Again, my thanks to you all for the discussion.
The original idea for this system was as a special something for a race that uses all plasma weapons, primarily as a way of reducing the energy cost of them using the Early Years Plasma Blaster as their analogy of an offensive phaser.
I do agree that, for Canon races, this sort of system would cause more headaches than contribute positively to the game experience.