• Registered: 2005-03-31
  • Posts: 54

Topic: Unreliable or weakened systems

I was thinking (I do that from time to time) about reinforced systems like hull or shields, and I then I made an association with something that Decipher's (now dead) Star Trek RPG ship combat rules uses. In those rules, ships can be designed with reinforced systems OR weakened systems that allow for more space. For instance, a ship with a 'weaker' hull could have more space for other systems like weapons.

I was thinking that maybe such a system could be interesting for Starmada. More specifically, if we already have armor plating, reinforced shields and armored gun batteries then we could have their opposites. You could opt for, say, " weakened shields" which could work this way: every time your roll a 'S' result you make another roll and on a 5 or 6 another shield hit occurs (for a total of two). OTOH the advantage would be that you get more space or lower the total cost of the ship (or both maybe), plus it would add an interesting wrinkle to ship design.

For instance, you could have a ship with lots of weapons for its hull size, but with the "weakened gun batteries" option. Or a ship with a high shield rating (like 4 or 5) but with "weakened hull".

Also, I know this has been discussed before, but what were the pros and cons of having "armored engines"? (where any 'E' hit could be negated by a 5 or 6 saving throw)

Opinions?

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

Re: Unreliable or weakened systems

Hmm...

I can see the weakened weapons option work--maybe a x0.7 space unit modifier? Weakened hull could give you an extra 10% SUs (so a non-hyper unit with weak hull gets 20%) and weakened shields incurs a 0.7 modifier as well?

Armoured engines were discussed as a way to allow battleships the opportunity to stay mobile for longer--as only one or two E hits could cause the pride of your fleet to be a sitting duck...:D

Just my 1 cent (its a special offer--half price)

  • Registered: 2005-04-03
  • Posts: 68

Re: Unreliable or weakened systems

Thematically, I think such options are good to have around.

I did something similar with a piece of "Exposed Engines" special equipment I needed for a set of lower tech ships that needed to capture the essence of the aft-mounted engines found on some Babylon 5 Wars ships I was converting over. I forget what values I used, but it works along the same way that it gives up some space (based on size of engines in this case), but each Engine hit makes a roll, with another engine being destroyed on a '5' or '6'.

But for fitting a specific racial theme it is excellent. It would also be good in a campaign, since it would allow some younger races to get away with a little bit better ships, but at the risk that a good hit is going to make them crumple like tinfoil.

-Tyrel