Should the W-era (warp-refitted) ships have had shields from the start? Eh - thematically I don't love it, and would prefer to see 'earlier' versions without shields, and have them added as a refit at some point early in their lives. What would they have to boost their defenses before shields, though? Well...a proposal...

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(D4.121) Polarized Armor. During Energy Allocation, ships with armor that lack shields, or do not raise shields (either unable or unwilling to), may allocate energy to polarize their armor plating. The energy grid used to polarize the armor on unshielded ships is a direct predecessor of the later shield grids, which retain this capability when not used in their shielding capacity
(D4.1211) Polarized armor is not shielding, and operates in no way like shielding. It does not block transporters, etc.
(D4.1212) Each point of armor costs 1 energy, from any source, to polarize. Armor may not be partially polarized - all armor must be polarized or none can be. Ex: a Federation CL with 6 armor would take 6 energy to polarize the armor.
(D4.1213) When dealing damage to polarized armor, each armor box takes 2 damage points to destroy (excess damage is ignored). Ex: a Romulan Warbird, with 5 points of armor polarized, taking 7 damage, would mark off 3 armor boxes to cancel 6 points of damage, and the 7th damage point would be ignored.
(D4.1213) If using (D17.0) Tactical Intelligence, whether armor is polarized or not is only detectable at level L: SPECIFIC DISCRIMINATION.

By Douglas Lampert (Dlampert) on Friday, August 28, 2026 - 11:31 am: Edit

There are still ships with armor into the general war period, and this is better than general reinforcement under the common case that you're about to take fire through a down shield facing.

It also allows you a substantially better defense if you drop a shield for a transporter operation.

If the rule worked as proposed, it would still be used in the general war era. (In fact, due to the much better power curves of middle years-general war era ships it would be used more then than in the early years.)

Early W ships do little enough damage that armor alone might well be sufficient for their defense. If something has to be added, it needs (IMAO) to be clearly inferior to general reinforcement, as that largely replaced it.

By Ramon Snir (Ramons) on Friday, August 28, 2026 - 12:10 pm: Edit

"(excess damage is ignored)"

Interesting interaction with Mizia, where 7 + 7 = 12. That assumes the firing ship doesn't know the target's armor is polarized. If it did, it wouldn't bother splitting its fire into separate volleys, knowing it isn't going to score internals anyway.

That's especially meaningful since a single point of excess damage is a relatively big percentage of the small amounts of damage W-ships do in one volley.

P.S.: that last rule number should be (D4.1214)

By Xander Fulton (Dderidex) on Friday, August 28, 2026 - 12:19 pm: Edit

@Douglas - I think you might have mis-read some of the details of the proposal.

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...and this is better than general reinforcement under the common case that you're about to take fire through a down shield facing.

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P.S.: that last rule number should be (D4.1214)

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By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Friday, August 28, 2026 - 12:32 pm: Edit

Historically-speaking, it's noted that the Paravians seemingly never used armour and always had some form of shield technology.

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In Federation space, the Vulcans, Rigellians, and Orions do not have armour on their respective W-era hulls, though they each have a degree of cargo space instead (which provides a comparable degree of "padding" in combat).

In the case of the Rigellians and Orions, this is due to their respective focus on trade.

As for the Vulcans: given how long they as a species had possessed non-tactical warp capability as of Y1, I would certainly expect them to have refined their starship designs to the point of no longer seeing the use of armour as "logical", even by what the other Federation planets would consider to be the Q-era.

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The question as to exactly when (non-Paravian) Alpha species and empires had access to... some form of shield technology is, in my view, a topic for a different thread.

By the S- and W-eras, however, I see no issue with the "general" use of shields, as outlined on the current crop of SSDs.

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In any case, I might suggest that "polarizing the armour" sounds a little too close to a concept from the post-1979 Franchise for comfort...

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EDIT: I should also note that, as shown here, "armour" on most metal-hull ships is comprised of a series of diamond-shaped energy dampers, each of which is fused as it absorbs incoming weapons fire.

There are a number of exceptions. For example: in the case of the silicate Trobrin Empire over in Omega, their ships have discrete armour belts of various types of rocks... which the crew can eat as a spare food source!

By Xander Fulton (Dderidex) on Friday, August 28, 2026 - 12:45 pm: Edit

[Delete: dupe]

By Xander Fulton (Dderidex) on Friday, August 28, 2026 - 12:46 pm: Edit

[delete: dupe]

By Xander Fulton (Dderidex) on Friday, August 28, 2026 - 12:47 pm: Edit

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By the S- and W-eras, however, I see no issue with the "general" use of shields as outlined on the current crop of SSDs.

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The question as to exactly when (non-Paravian) Alpha species and empires had access to... some form of shield technology is, in my view, a topic for a different thread.

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By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Friday, August 28, 2026 - 03:21 pm: Edit

I would not necessarily agree with the concept of the W-era in the Alpha Octant being less worthy of attention than the Y-era.

Sure, there are cases (such as the move from the D3 to the D4) where most of the changes are evolutionary, rather than revolutionary.

But then, in places like the early ISC, each warp-driven planetary fleet has its own distinct design template (and heavy weapon type) from one another, which are distinct in turn from the "two-prong" Navy and Police ships of the Y-era.

Either way, "boring" or not, I would not be in favour of adjusting the shields on the current crop of S- or W-era Alpha SSDs.

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Now, if you want to consider a more distinct developmental path, the odds of finding it are much higher outside of the Alpha Octant than within it - certain outliers like the Nicozians notwithstanding.

While the majority of Omega factions have "standard" shielding rules - even if the type of hull said shields are protecting can be anything but - there are several factions (such as the Sigvirions, the Souldra, the Ryn, and the Branthodons) with more distinct defensive systems on offer.

Out in the LMC, most local factions use a multi-layer shield system, which has its own Early Years iteration detailed in Module C5.

And in Triangulum, the various playtest factions in Module E2 and in Captain's Log #23 have their own distinct options:

Plus there are the extra-galactic Andromedans and Juggernauts, who can show up in several different settings to cause trouble.

So, if the limits imposed in Alpha are a problem, I might recommend going boldly to these more distant regions of space, to see what you might find - or, perhaps, where you might have more room to add something new!

By Xander Fulton (Dderidex) on Friday, August 28, 2026 - 03:35 pm: Edit

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I would not necessarily agree with the concept of the W-era in the Alpha Octant being less worthy of attention than the Y-era.

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By Stewart Frazier (Frazikar3) on Friday, August 28, 2026 - 09:30 pm: Edit

Hmmmm, interesting thought, the early shields are 5-box types, which explains why everyone's minimum shielding is 5-boxes.

One c0uld argue that some empires would be only 4 and some could be 6 but that might would also affect their minimum shielding later on (at least early on once trading starts).

By Jeff Anderson (Jga) on Friday, August 28, 2026 - 10:46 pm: Edit

Xander? On a gut level, this idea sounds downright juicy to me, and it's something I'd LOVE to see in the SFU.

It actually irks me to say this, but we've got forty years of the Game, now, and this is something that impacts one of the very first things IN the game; the original Romulan WB and WE; two ships with armor. I'm sorry, but that's just too much Game history to unravel.

On the other hand, if someone were to come up with a squirrely threat, either something completely out-of-the-blue (like a Coreward Race, something from one of the "Off-The-Federation-And-Empire-Map-Exploration-Zones," an "Out-Of-Nowhere" universal threat for Alpha or Omega Octants, or maybe a new threat to the Magellanic Powers), or a new race for the Simulators, and they want a new, unique defense system, I'd LOVE to see this implemented there

By Xander Fulton (Dderidex) on Friday, August 28, 2026 - 10:53 pm: Edit

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the original Romulan WB and WE; two ships with armor. I'm sorry, but that's just too much Game history to unravel.

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By Xander Fulton (Dderidex) on Monday, August 31, 2026 - 10:47 am: Edit

Given AI usage discussed in another thread, figured I'd use this as an example.

I took my original rule proposal in the OP, and gave it context of the SFB rulebook. This is the AI's verbatim response - note that I'd definitely change a few things, here, not least of which 'reduce its length, because HOLY CRAP', but...yeah, this is straight AI making SFB rules, for your consideration...

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(D4.121) POLARIZED ARMOR. During Energy Allocation, a ship equipped with armor [D4.12] may allocate energy to polarize its armor plating. A ship may use this procedure only if it is not operating any shields during that turn. The energy grid used to polarize armor on early ships is considered a technological predecessor of the shield grids later developed by most empires. Modern shield grids retain this capability when not being used to operate shields.

(D4.1211) ARMOR, NOT SHIELDS: Polarized armor is not shielding and does not otherwise function as a shield except as specifically stated in these rules. In particular, polarized armor does not block transporters, does not prevent boarding by transporter, does not provide a shield facing, does not provide shield reinforcement, and does not count as a functioning shield for any rule which specifically requires shield boxes.

(D4.1212) ENERGY ALLOCATION: One unit of energy is required for each undestroyed armor box on the ship at the time of Energy Allocation. All of the ship's undestroyed armor must be polarized; armor cannot be partially polarized.

A ship with six undestroyed armor boxes therefore requires six points of energy to polarize its armor. A ship with fewer than its original number of armor boxes remaining pays one point for each remaining armor box.

Energy allocated to polarized armor is expended for that turn whether or not the armor is subsequently damaged. No energy is refunded for armor boxes destroyed during the turn.

A ship which has polarized its armor may not activate, raise, or operate any shield during that turn. Similarly, a ship which allocates energy to operate any shield may not polarize its armor during that turn.

A ship cannot begin polarizing its armor during an impulse. Dropping or losing shields after Energy Allocation does not permit a ship to begin polarizing armor unless the required energy was allocated during Energy Allocation.

(D4.1213) DURATION: Polarization remains in effect for the remainder of the current turn. Armor repaired during the turn does not become polarized until the beginning of the following turn, when energy may be allocated for it normally.

Unless otherwise specified, armor is not polarized during a turn for which no energy was allocated for polarization.

(D4.1214) POLARIZED ARMOR DAMAGE: When a damage point reaches polarized armor, each armor box requires two damage points to destroy. Two damage points destroy one armor box; three damage points destroy one armor box and the remaining one damage point is ignored. Four damage points destroy two armor boxes, and so forth.

Fractions of armor boxes do not exist. Damage points which do not complete the destruction of an armor box are ignored and are not recorded as partial damage.

Example: A Romulan Warbird has five armor boxes and has polarized its armor. A volley of seven damage points reaches the armor. Three armor boxes are destroyed, absorbing six damage points, and the seventh damage point is ignored. No damage reaches the interior.

Example: A Federation CL with six armor boxes has polarized its armor. A volley of three damage points reaches the armor. One armor box is destroyed and the remaining one damage point is ignored. The other four armor boxes remain undamaged.

(D4.1215) EXCESS DAMAGE: When polarized armor is penetrated, all damage points required to destroy armor boxes are deducted first. Any damage points remaining after all available polarized armor boxes have been destroyed proceed as internal damage under (D4.13).

Example: A ship with three polarized armor boxes takes eight damage points after its other defenses have been resolved. Three armor boxes absorb six damage points and are destroyed; the remaining two damage points become internal damage.

(D4.1216) ARMOR REPLACES SHIELDS: For purposes of damage allocation, polarized armor is effective against damage which would otherwise proceed directly to the ship because no shield is operating. It is therefore applied before internal damage is determined.

This includes damage from direct-fire weapons, seeking weapons, terrain, and other effects which normally score damage directly against a unit without operating shields, except where the applicable rule specifically states that its effect requires a shield or affects shields only.

(D4.1217) DAMAGE TYPES WHICH IGNORE ARMOR: Polarization does not alter any weapon or system which specifically bypasses or ignores armor. A weapon which explicitly causes internal damage, ignores armor, or affects only shields is resolved according to its own rule.

(D4.1218) SHIELD-SPECIFIC WEAPONS: Weapons which affect only shields, such as Shield Crackers [E16.0], cannot damage, discharge, or otherwise affect polarized armor unless their individual rules specifically state otherwise. Polarized armor is not treated as a substitute shield for such weapons.

(D4.1219) REINFORCEMENT: A ship polarizing its armor may not use Specific Shield Reinforcement or General Shield Reinforcement during that turn. Energy allocated for polarized armor is entirely separate from shield reinforcement.

Polarized armor does not receive the transporter-blocking effect of General Shield Reinforcement [G8.23].

(D4.1220) TRANSPORTERS: Polarized armor does not interfere with transporter operations. A ship may use transporters normally through polarized armor, just as conventional armor does not block transporters [D4.12, G8.2].

No shield need be dropped merely because polarized armor is present.

(D4.1221) CLOAKING DEVICES: Polarized armor has no special effect on cloaking devices. Any restrictions imposed by the cloaking device itself, including restrictions involving shields, remain unchanged.

(D4.1222) DAMAGE ALLOCATION: Damage which is stopped by polarized armor does not enter the Damage Allocation Procedure [D4.2]. Damage which penetrates polarized armor is resolved normally by that procedure.

Critical hits are determined normally from damage which actually reaches the interior. Damage absorbed or ignored by polarized armor cannot produce an internal critical hit.

(D4.1223) TERRAIN AND NAVIGATIONAL HAZARDS: Polarized armor may absorb ordinary damage points caused by terrain or navigational hazards when those damage points would otherwise be scored directly against a unit without operating shields.

For example, asteroid, ring-material, and dust-cloud damage may be absorbed by polarized armor.

Polarized armor does not, however, satisfy a rule which specifically requires a functioning shield for protection. Effects which check the status of a shield rather than simply scoring damage points are resolved normally against the ship.

Thus, polarized armor does not substitute for shields when determining protection from radiation zones [P15.0], nor does it otherwise prevent an effect which specifically requires one or more functioning shields.

(D4.1224) TERRAIN WHICH ALTERS SHIELD OPERATION: If terrain restricts or modifies the operation of shields, polarized armor continues to function according to these rules unless the terrain rule specifically prohibits armor, energy damping, or comparable defensive systems.

In particular, a terrain rule which merely reduces shields to minimum strength does not automatically reduce the effectiveness of polarized armor.

(D4.1225) ENVELOPING AND MULTI-DIRECTIONAL WEAPONS: If a weapon's damage is divided among shield facings, polarized armor is applied after that weapon's damage-distribution procedure has been completed and before any remaining damage is treated as internal damage.

Polarized armor is not divided into six armor facings unless specifically stated by the weapon or unit's rules.

Accordingly, armor which has not been designated as directional is treated as a single pool of armor boxes.

(D4.1226) DOWN OR DROPPED SHIELDS: A ship may polarize its armor in a turn in which all shields are down or dropped, provided it meets the Energy Allocation requirements of (D4.1212). However, polarization cannot be initiated merely because shields are subsequently destroyed or dropped during the turn.

A shield that is down or dropped does not become functional merely because polarized armor is operating.

(D4.1227) REPAIRS: Polarized armor is repaired only by whatever repair procedures specifically permit armor to be repaired. This rule does not create a general armor-repair capability.

A repaired armor box cannot become polarized during the turn in which it is repaired unless another rule specifically permits it. At the next Energy Allocation, the repaired box is included in determining the energy required to polarize the ship's armor.

(D4.1228) ENERGY BALANCE: Polarization is treated as energy allocated to a ship system for purposes of (D22.0). If the energy assigned to polarization becomes unavailable under the provisions of that rule, the corresponding armor is no longer polarized for as much of the affected turn as the lost energy requires under those procedures.

(D4.1229) SPECIAL ARMOR: This rule applies to conventional armor as defined in (D4.12). Armor systems which already have special damage-allocation rules are governed by those rules unless they specifically permit or require the use of Polarized Armor.

In particular, this rule does not modify the special armor procedures for Jindarian asteroid ships [D25.0], starbases [R1.1D], or any other unit whose armor is governed by a special rule.

(D4.1230) DETECTION: Except when using (D17.0), the status of polarized armor is treated as known information and the owning player must announce when armor is polarized or ceases to be polarized.

When using (D17.0) Tactical Intelligence, the fact that armor is polarized is not directly detectable until Level L: SPECIFIC DISCRIMINATION.

At lower levels of Tactical Intelligence, polarized and unpolarized armor have the same electronic signature for purposes of identifying the ship's armor status. This does not prevent the opposing player from deducing the possibility of polarization from observed damage results or other information normally available under (D17.0).

At Level L, the observing player is informed whether the target's armor is polarized at that time.

(D4.1231) TACTICAL INTELLIGENCE: The presence of polarized armor does not alter any other information provided by (D17.0). The number of armor boxes remaining, and the amount of damage inflicted upon the ship, remain subject to the normal Tactical Intelligence rules.

(D4.1232) STANDARD DAMAGE PROCEDURE: Unless another rule specifically provides otherwise, the complete sequence against a ship with polarized armor is:

1. Resolve any applicable shields or other defenses which are actually operating.
2. Resolve any General or Specific Shield Reinforcement which is actually functioning.
3. Resolve damage against polarized armor, if operating.
4. Apply remaining damage as internal damage under (D4.13) and (D4.2).

The purpose of this sequence is to make clear that polarized armor is an alternative to shields, not a second set of shields.

(D4.1233) EXAMPLE: A ship with six armor boxes has polarized all six. It receives a 13-point volley with no operating shields. The first 12 points destroy all six armor boxes. The thirteenth point proceeds to the Damage Allocation Procedure as one internal damage point.

If the same ship instead receives nine points, four armor boxes are destroyed and one damage point is ignored, leaving two armor boxes intact and causing no internal damage.

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By Xander Fulton (Dderidex) on Monday, August 31, 2026 - 12:30 pm: Edit

...and before anyone asks, no I can't really provide a link to the prompt for this.

Obviously the SFB rulebook is not publicly posted anywhere, nor has any AI model 'trained' on it, so it's only referenceable in your personal document library as context for a prompt - assuming you own a copy. Which I do, obviously, so it can reference that - you may not, so my prompt won't work for you.

It's interesting to see what it does get right and where it goes astray, though. I'm not sure I'd mention the possibility of armor repair without citing the Jindarians are basically the only spot that's relevant.

As verbose as it is, it also misses calling out a few 'ignores shields' cases, such as Spearfish Drones (which obviously don't bypass armor of any kind, so...*shrugs*)

And the mix of referencing rule numbers by either brackets or paratheses is odd - not sure why it ends up doing that.

As mentioned, I'd probably fine-tune the output a bit, maybe try another model, but I wanted to provide the raw output for reference. (And this is, indeed, the raw output - I asked it to format the bold text appropriate for the BBS, and it did all that itself). So, for 'just provide the context and a prompt'...

...it's pretty impressively solid for 5 seconds of human work.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Monday, August 31, 2026 - 04:10 pm: Edit

There is an error, look at the example of a FEDERATION OCL (my added designation) the second example in (D14.1214), it has six armor boxes and is hit by three damage points, destroying one shield box and leaving FOUR (not five) armor boxes.

Also note that there is no explanation of what happens if the armor is not "Polarized". Does the armor still absorb damage? or not?

By John Christiansen (Roscoehatfield) on Monday, August 31, 2026 - 04:38 pm: Edit

SVC's last questions are very valid. (D4.12) defines the ships with armor, and this includes SBs, BATSs, and BSs. A SB has 40 armor boxes and 76 power boxes without power modules. That's a huge chunk of power for armor that must be polarized or none can be. Also, since the armor cannot be polarized while shields are up, this rule will almost never be used by any unit with shields.

I think more thought is needed here. Just as different sized ships have different shield costs, this armor might follow a similar pattern. Maybe add some benefit to units with Positional Stabilizers active. Also, on SBs, the armor wouldn't be hit until some power has been lost, making its polarization even more expensive.

By Xander Fulton (Dderidex) on Monday, August 31, 2026 - 04:42 pm: Edit

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There is an error, look at the example of a FEDERATION OCL (my added designation) the second example in (D14.1214), it has six armor boxes and is hit by three damage points, destroying one shield box and leaving FOUR (not five) armor boxes.

Also note that there is no explanation of what happens if the armor is not "Polarized". Does the armor still absorb damage? or not?

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By Ken Kazinski (Kjkazinski) on Monday, August 31, 2026 - 08:33 pm: Edit

As this would be a system, shouldn't most of the rules be a Gxx and in that format, with the D4 rules specific for damage allocation?

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Monday, August 31, 2026 - 10:45 pm: Edit

I'm very much opposed to the concept of using any form of generative AI to "create" future SFB (or FC, or F&E, or...) game rules.

It's one thing to advise a human contributor as to what kind of things are, or are not, possible in the game universe - either from an "engineering" perspective, or in terms of what ADB as a company can add which keeps within the bounds outlined by its various licencing agreements. It's quite another for an AI system to do the same.

Plus, credit can be given where it is due when a human contributor adds something of note to the SFU. I'm not sure the same would ring true for an AI-generated text...

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So far as the rule letter-ing is concerned:

Other "non-standard" armour systems currently in print, such as Ryn ceramic-composite armour (OD1.0) or Triangulum neutronium armour (DN102.0), are each listed under the "combat" sub-category.

So, this, in and of itself, would not be an issue here.

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That said, personally-speaking, I am not in favour of this proposed system being made to have historically existed in the "pre-modern" Alpha Octant.

If it were to be made a thing for a "new" empire or faction in some non-Alpha setting, for whom it can be incorporated as a part of their technological toolkit from the outset, that's another story.

But even then, it should perhaps be re-named to something less evocative of a system seen on-screen aboard the NX-01.

By Ken Kazinski (Kjkazinski) on Saturday, September 05, 2026 - 06:05 pm: Edit

I have been giving the rule numbering some thought, OD1.0, OD2.0 and DN1xx are systems that rely on the combat rules in D4.0. Jindarian armor is rule D25.

My perspective is that these rules should either be in the G series for systems or rule D27 and not put in the D4 rules which are specific to combat.