• Registered: 2008-01-26
  • Posts: 4

Topic: Ship Design: Maximum Shield Rating

Hey all,

I'm pretty new to the game, me and my wife are using the shipbuilder.xls to quickly create a couple of fleets to play with.  I must of missed the rule about the maximum shield rating a ship can have, because I get some funny values when using a shield rating > 6 in the shipbuilder. 

Thanks all.

  • Registered: 2005-03-29
  • Posts: 859

Re: Ship Design: Maximum Shield Rating

Strictly speaking, the highest normal level for shields should be 5, as that means that an opponent has some chance of penetrating your shields with one die roll.

Plus, if you look at the DRat calculation, it should make things clearer...

  • Registered: 2008-01-26
  • Posts: 4

Re: Ship Design: Maximum Shield Rating

Yup, that makes a lot of sense now.  The reason we were using shield values >6 in the first place was because we were trying to create a starbase.  The idea was, you'd only be able to hit on a min/max roll with a final result of 7-9  Are there any suggestions out there for creating such a scenario?

  • From: Denver, CO
  • Registered: 2005-03-27
  • Posts: 3,578

Re: Ship Design: Maximum Shield Rating

Some earlier printings left out this statement on page 28:

"There is no upper limit to a starship's engine rating (aside from SU constraints). No ship may have a shield rating greater than 5."

It had become such a self-evident thing for long-time players than when doing the rewrite, I must have forgotten to mention it... smile

If you enter a number of shields in the shipbuilder greater than 5, it automatically assumes you are using the "screens" option.

Effective shield ratings of 6+ are POSSIBLE, although I don't know how desirable they are. If you want to try a shield rating of 6, the starship defensive rating (DRAT) calculation should be made as if the shield rating is 5.33.

Daniel Kast
Majestic Twelve Games
cricket@mj12games.com

mj12games's Website