New playtest rule for Star Fleet Battles Module F2: Vudar
Copyright © 1998 Amarillo Design Bureau
Do not forward or repost without ADB permission.

Rule written by Stephen V Cole to solve the problems with Vudar ships losing their weapons when they lose their impulse engines; the ionic capacitor can CONVERT non-impulse power into impulse power (giving a little time).

(H93.0) IONIC CAPACITORS

    All Vudar ships and bases have an "ionic capacitor." This is a special energy storage and conversion system (actually a network of smaller capacitors) used to convert power to Impulse power and to provide energy to the Ionic Cannon, Ion Pulse Generators, and Ion Storm Generators.
    Ionic Capacitors operate in a manner similar to but both separate and different from Phaser Capacitors; the two systems are not connected. Ionic Capacitors do not need to be "energized" as phaser capacitors do. Some other systems [e.g., ESGs (G23.24)] also have capacitors; these are not linked to or part of the ionic capacitor if both are on the same ship such as an Orion ship. The Ionic Capacitor is not shown on the SSD.
    Ion Cannons, Ion Pulse Generators, and Ion Storm Generators are, collectively, known as "ion-based weapons". If at some future time a new Ion-based weapon is added to the game system, it will be designated as such and will be treated as such despite not being listed in this edition of this rule.
    This Ionic Capacitor is in addition to the one built into the Ion Pulse Generator.

(H93.1) ENERGY HELD
(H93.11) BASIC: Energy can be held in the Ionic Capacitor from one turn to the next and (once converted to Impulse Power) can be withdrawn during any impulse to operate the ship’s Ion-based weapons. Energy can never be withdrawn for any other purpose (e.g., movement); exception Energy Balance due to Damage (D22.15); See (H93.33). While all energy withdrawn from the Ionic Capacitor is Impulse Power, and can only be used for ion-based weapons, and it can be used for that portion of the power needed by an ion-based weapon which is not specifically required to be impulse power.

Example: To fire an Ion Cannon (standard load) requires one point of Impulse Power and one point of "other" power. The Impulse Power could come from allocated Impulse Engine power, from Reserve Impulse Power, or from the Ionic Capacitor. The "other" point of power could come from any of those sources, or from any reserve power, or from any allocated power.

(H93.12) LIMIT: Ionic Capacitors have an absolute limit as to how much power they can hold. The capacity of the Ionic Capacitor is equal to the total amount of Impulse power required to fire each of the ship’s Ion-based weapons (standard load) one time, rounded to the next higher whole number. For example, the Vudar DW with three Ion Cannons (1 point each) and one Ion Pulse Generator (four points) has an Ionic Capacitor with the ability to hold seven points of power.

Exception: When using the Advanced Rules (or higher), Fractional Accounting (B3.2) is used and the capacity of the capacitor is exactly equal to the energy required to fire the ion-based weapons (do not round up). Note, there currently are no Vudar units which require fractional points of power.

(H93.13) ALLOCATION: Energy can be added to the Ionic Capacitor as allocated power during the Energy Allocation Phase (B3.0) or by using Reserve Power (H7.0) during the Impulse Procedure and Record-Keeping Phases. Any type of power can be added to an Ionic Capacitor but only Impulse Power can be withdrawn from it. Any non-Impulse power sent to an Ionic Capacitor must remain within it until it is converted (H93.14).

(H93.14) CONVERSION: Non-Impulse energy allocated to an Ionic Capacitor is converted to Impulse energy exactly 32 impulses after it is allocated. Impulse energy allocated to an Ionic Capacitor does not require conversion and is available immediately.

Example: Warp power sent to the Ionic Capacitor during Energy Allocation of Turn #6 could not be used on Turn #6 [although it would take up space in the capacitor; see (H93.22)] but would be converted into Impulse Energy during the Energy Allocation Phase of Turn #7 and could be drawn from the Ionic Capacitor for use in Ion Cannons or IPGs during Turn #7 (or any later turn).

Example: Reserve power sent to the Ionic Capacitor on Impulse #20 of Turn #3 could not be used during Turn #3 or during the first 19 impulses of Turn #4. It could, however, be used during or after Impulse #20 of Turn #4. Note, however, that if Reserve Impulse Power were sent to the Ionic Capacitor, it could be used immediately as it does not require conversion.

Tactical Note: The Ionic Capacitor would seem, at first, as simply a way for a Vudar Ship to create more Impulse (i.e., ion) power than it normally would be able to, or to continue to fire its ion-based weapons after all of its impulse engines are destroyed. There is more to it than this, however. In effect, the Ionic Capacitor becomes yet another source of a special type of "reserve power" and can, for example, allow a ship to attack at a higher speed by banking energy for the weapons on a previous turn.

Note that the maximum amount held will probably be less than the maximum amount the Ionic Capacitor can hold.

(H93.2) ENERGY USED
(H93.21) GENERAL USE: Impulse power drawn from an Ionic Capacitor can be used to arm (and fire) any ion-based weapon on the ship. This power can be used for that portion of the power which must be Impulse Energy, for any non-warp portion of the required energy, and/or for Overload Energy.

Power from an Impulse Capacitor can never be used for any purpose except arming an ion-based weapon; exception: see (H93.33).

(H93.22) CAPACITOR IS NOT REQUIRED: Impulse energy to fire Ion-based weapons need not come from the ionic capacitor, but may be drawn from this source. (H93.221) Energy cannot be allocated or sent by reserve power to the Ionic Capacitor unless that system has the capacity to hold it. If the Ionic Capacitor is still full from the previous turn, no power can be allocated to Ionic Capacitor. (H93.222) Reserve impulse power could be used to fire an Ion-based weapon by either applying it directly to the weapon or by applying it to the capacitor and then taking power from the capacitor for the weapon, within the restrictions of the rate of fire and (H93.14).

(H93.223) If the capacitors are full when reserve power is applied and ionic weapons are fired, it is assumed that power was drawn from them and simultaneously replaced with the reserve power. Note that the reserve power in this case could be non-impulse (H93.14), example #2.

(H93.23) ANY ION-BASED WEAPON: The energy from the Ionic Capacitor can be used to fire any ion-based weapon of the ship, within the restrictions of the rules. It is therefore possible, without applying additional energy to the capacitor, to draw energy from the Ionic Capacitor during one turn in order to fire a particular ion cannon and then, on the next turn, to draw energy from the capacitor to fire the same ion cannon again (assuming sufficient energy remains in the capacitor).

Example: a Vudar DW has three Ion Cannons (and one IPG) and therefore its Ionic Capacitor can hold seven units of power. Assuming that the capacitor was full and that all power had been converted to Impulse power, the ship could fire its "A" ion cannon seven times (once per turn, assuming the non-Impulse portion of the required energy was allocated from other sources) without needing any other Impulse power.

(H93.3) OTHER RULES
(H93.31) DESTRUCTION: If an ion-based weapon is destroyed, an equivalent portion of the Ionic Capacitor is also destroyed. Any energy in the destroyed portion is lost. Naturally, players may consider the uncharged (i.e., empty) elements to be destroyed first. If an ion-based weapon is repaired, an equivalent portion of the capacitor is also repaired (although it is uncharged). If all ion-based weapons have been destroyed, the entire Ionic Capacitor is considered destroyed (although it could be repaired as part of repairing each weapon).

(H93.32) TIME LIMIT: Power can only be held in an Ionic Capacitor for 25 turns. If the power is not used in that time, it is lost and cannot be recovered. The Ionic Capacitor could, however, be recharged without penalty. See (E2.32) for more detail on this function.

(H93.33) ENERGY BALANCE: See (D22.15) for a possible way in which power could be taken from the Ionic Capacitor. For this purpose, Ionic Capacitors are treated as Phaser Capacitors; there is no "priority" between Phaser and Ionic Capacitors for this purpose.

(H93.34) MOVEMENT: Impulse energy in Ionic Capacitors can in no way be used to perform any movement or movement related function, e.g., sublight maneuvers, erratic maneuvers.