Topic: Star shells
I have a campaign I'm trying to draw up for IS that fits between The Merchant War and the next supplement -- dated 1911 to early 1912. It's a relatively minor conflict that will involve my vision of slightly upgraded Japanese and Chinese fleets. Obviously, it's an unofficial kinda thing. The idea is the Japanese are alarmed by the Empress exile's constant demands regarding the the territories Tokyo is holding "in trust," and by the fact that Taiwan has gained access to the KF cluster (the Merchant War has opened the doors to that resource), allowing it modernize its small ether fleet. I know Wasserstahl has military applications that go beyond the IS rulebook (land and sea based war machines). That's why the stuff's in such high demand and ether fleets now have an actual impact on political developments down on Earth.
One piece of tech I was working on might supplement the standard searchlight rule, and centers on the idea of a ship using its secondary mounts to fire star shells/flares/whatever to illuminate surrounding space.
kaika -- Japanese word for bloom?
Where the searchlight rules give you a number of beams based on hull size, these would give you a number of rolls dependent on how many secondary mounts your ship possesses. Say your ship has 8 Secondaries. You might get four rolls, regardless of the firing arc. Or you might get the normal arc limitations. I dunno.
The player deciding to employ this kind of kit would roll to-hit just as if he were targeting a ship. He would pick a spot on a map, determine range and treat it as if it has an armor value of "0." If he "hits" he has illuminated a point on the map 3" in diameter (use a small mine template). If he misses, he rolls a D12 die to determine direction of scatter, and moves his template a certain distance (say 2" for every point by which he missed).
The downside is that 1.) secondaries used for this purpose cannot be used to attack opposing ships in the same turn and 2.) any ship in that affected radius is illuminated, so there's a chance that you will highlight one of your own vessels to the opposition.
Neither primaries or light guns can be used to illuminate the board. But this technique CAN be used to supplement your onboard searchlights.
Example: A Senjo class cruiser wants to target the Tai Zhou, which is 14" away. That requires some hefty rolls by its searchlights, and the beams aren't up to the job. The Japanese player has one more chance. He has four secondary mounts, so he can get two attempts at using his star shells. He needs to roll a 5+ (base target # of 3 plus 2 for range), and lands one shot while rolling a "2" on the other. One shell is wildly off target.
Stupid?
