Ooh Ooh, I was asking about subs 

One way might be to simply give the sub player a few markers to represent his hull.  One being actual, the others representing "dummy" signatures.  You can rule out the fake counter versus the real thing by having an opposing enemy ship or FAC come within a certain distance of the thing, or by targeting it with weapons fire.  Apply a gunnery penalty to hit each?  Once a fake/dummy counter has been hit, it's removed from the table. 

The real sub could also reveal itself the moment it opens fire.

For techno-babble, I don't know.

I was thinking that aether-subs would float about in the lower tendrils of the ether layer where larger ships travel. They could only attack with torpedoes and would only be susceptible to aether-depth-charge attacks, or in keeping with what's already around, patterns of charges (mine factors). Submarines would only track hull and thrust hits for damage and could not (this is prior to WWI, after all) mount guns. Because the sub-ether lacks gravity defying properties of proper ether, submarines could only travel very slowly and could not actually stop without coming up into the proper ether. Perhaps keeping in tune with early submarine warfare, the submarines would suffer a penalty firing torpedoes up through the sub-ether to hit shipping?

I picture aether-subs to look about as stripped down as Brigade's Pirate torpedo nefs (without the spar at the front). The miniatures could simply be put on a half height flying stand to represent their sub-ether-ness.

Just my two cents.

Mike B.

Well I love the idea of a sub.  And I don't think every bit of kit has to be reverse engineered from some other superior race.  We invented the lightening projectors and the FAC, for crying out loud, without the Martians hittin' us with such doo-hickeys.  The Commies are the only ones with heat rays.

I kind like the idea of a hull being able to slip in and out of different layers of the ether.  The first experiments could have gone horribly wrong....

Note that the rough ideas for rules that I posted would work just as well for an inviso-power sub as for a sub-ether diver.  The tech fluff is largely irrelevant to the game mechanics in this case.  A true "stealth" sub (whether disguised as a rock, or just painted fancy) would probably require different rules, though, with more of an emphasis on spotting ranges and the like.

For me, a sub that can't perform the equivalent of "diving" (ie becoming hard to hit without special weapons, and having restricted attack options) or "surfacing" isn't really a sub.  Part of that requirement should include some kind of time limit on how long you can stay under...maybe the inviso-cloak overheats rapidly, or the sub-ether is just plain dangerous to loiter in, or whatever...but you should have to surface or face damage at some point.

Rich

Okay...THAT I can see making sense within the setting.   In fact...it could work well into some of the other stuff I'm rattling around in my head with the Icelanders.  :twisted:   
I'd think, at first at any rate, that the light bending effect would only be effective from a single arc (or at least leaving the aft aspect open) and for the smaller ships.  As the tech is further refined through WWI it becomes easier to generate the power to shield larger vessels...though, for myself, I'd have a hard time justifying anything larger than a typical heavy cruiser sized hull.

I assume since the power plant and fixtures for this tech are going to be pretty...extreme...that a 15-20% SU requirement would be reasonable?  dunno how to base the points cost since it provides both an substantial offensive and defensive bonus.

what would be the drawbacks to equal out the benefits?  no armor allowed for the sub (BAV 0) since it interferes with the bending effect and energy mesh embedded in the hull?

Instead of blowing up, can we have the risk of crew casualties adding up?  Some kind of poisoning, be it radiation, heat, etc etc..........

Really, it would stress the horrific side effects of crude technology.

Am I the only actual submariner on the forum? Just curious....

Anyway, as to technobabble:

"How can they make ships that evade our telescopes, lookouts, and Heat Scopes? Quite an interesting bit of kit that..."

"The Aether is what makes extended flight through space possible, as without it, we'd have to rely on simple rockets to move. Rockets require reaction mass, and that can run out very quickly over the distances between the planets."

"The Aether can be pushed against, like the sea can, making our sails and props interact when energized properly via the Aetherdrive apparatus. Subs take a slightly different approach, using the Aether itself to bend light and heat radiation"

"The only problem is one of power, really.- that, and avoiding being fried like a fish in a pan. Super-aetheric screens must concentrate enormous quantities of Aether into a small area in order to work. While we can sense the Aether wake, it's not nearly accurate enough a thing to target a main gun at. That means that the power plant must be must larger than the one aboard a dreadnought - just to hide a frigate sized ship."

"You must realize, also, that a normal ship radiates a lot of heat from it's Zero Point Accumulators as they operate - you've been in the engine rooms. They aren't covered with soot anymore, but they still largely resemble the 'Black Gang' that shoveled coal in our old paddlewheelers. That heat can kill, as can the radiations that emanate from the Electron Piles that are the core of the Accumulators"

"Normally, the radiations are low enough that they can be ignored, and we can space the engine room in such a way as to use the ship itself to absorb it. Super-aetheric screens concentrate that, while deflecting the lighter radiations that we use to see the ship with. They use lead shielding in some of them, taking up even more precious space."

"Add into all this the fact that - while under the screen - super concentrated Aether also drags on their hull almost as much as the oceans of Earth would - so they are unable to build up any momentum, making them terribly slow. This makes them hard to hit, but slow, short-ranged ships. And the larger they are, the more power is required"

"If I double the hull size, I need EIGHT times the power to achieve the same result ...have I totally confused you, or do you think you understand it?"

--------------------------

Needed Tech:
AetherScope, Super-aetheric screens, Radiation Shields, Heat Sinks?

I'd like to call them something else besides 'submarines', if someone can come up with a suitably Edwardian name....'Subaether ship' is a mothfull.

Another note, a 'Sub Tender' could carry in a squadron of small subs, making it as powerful as a FAC carrier....

I like the techno fluff, You know sub aircraft carriers will be fun    Just dup a load in the middle of someone's convoy and watch the fireworks.

As for a name looking at history what about ethier:

Turtles (Worlds first sub.) cicra 1775

Or prehaps more fitting

Nautilus/Nautili? (Personaly I like this one)

Don't forget "depth charges".
:wink:

Aetheric Shock charges were developed as a means to 'flush out' enemy Benders.     These torpedo-like affairs consist of a small propulsion system and a very large capacitor similar to those used in a lightening gun.  Not meant to be incredibly accurate, the charge is fired in a desired direction and travels until it's time-delay fuse zeroes.  The capacitor discharges and super-charges its area-of-effect.  If a Bender is present in this area it may be damaged or forced to 'surface' in order to avoid cooking its crew.

SU cost, similar to a torpedo.
Range: Set at time of firing.  Max of 9" suggested.
Area-of-effect: 1" diameter +1" per damage multiplier. (so a d8/x1 charge would have a 2" diameter AOE and a d8/x5 charge would have a 6" diameter AOE.)
To Hit: Rolled normally with whatever penalties apply from the ether shield if the Bender is in the AOE. 
DMG: Rolled as a torpedo on a d12 if the hit is successful in addition to a -1 per damage multiplier to the time the Bender may be submerged without cooking the crew.  If the hit misses, the crew cook time is reduced by -1 regardless of the charge damage multiplier if the Bender is in the AOE.
Cost: same as a torpedo I'd think.

Optionally: The AOE could be 1" per damage multiplier of the charge and the damage and cook-out time penalty set at a single d12 roll and -1 respectively if within the AOE.

"Crew cook time"?