THIS MESSAGE CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS FOR THE B5 EPISODE "Walkabout"
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> Adam Delafield <A.Delafield@bolton.ac.uk> wrote:
I don't know about BREWs intercepting beams, but I agree about the charging.
> So you still have a central power store. The only things that draw
Based on Walkabout, I'd say that the central power store holds enough
to open a jump point AND fire the BREW - how about assuming that
the jump drive holds 6 points, and each BREW holds its own class (or possibly
class * 2). Also, BREWs can be fired with less than full power, doing reduced
damage (pumping more energy into the WhiteStar's BREW enabled it to do more
damage, not having enough energy reduced its damage). Finally, Lenir (sp?)
seemed to be pretty sure of how long it would take to recharge the jump
engines,
so I'd say roll d6 with 1 giving no points, 2-5 giving 1, and 6
giving 2 points, or possibly just a flat number of points per turn.
Is it possible that a ship which opens a jump point gets the energy (or a
fraction of it) back when the point collapses. I'm basing this on the way that
the WhiteStar's jump engines weren't drained when it engaged the first shadow
ship, despite having come through a jump point. Note its possible that the
less advanced races get less of this power back after a jump. Anyone seen
anything that would contradict this idea? (I've only been watching since
"Severed Dreams")
> Minbari BGEW (Big Green Energy Weapon)
eh? The White Star seemed to need to charge its BGEW in Walkabout, in fact, if
it recharged instantly, they wouldn't have needed any help from the G'Tok. Its
possible that the Minbari BGEW simply has a larger power store and recharges
faster than the less advanced versions.
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
I thought the Shadows weapon was a RBPEW (Really Big Purple Energy Weapon)
Date sent: 22-AUG-1996 13:30:38
> THIS MESSAGE CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS FOR THE B5 EPISODE "Walkabout"
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> Still here ?
Yes.
> So you still have a central power store. The only things that draw
> Based on Walkabout, I'd say that the central power store holds enough
No. I think the single power store is quite complex enough. We want to keep it
playable as well as accurate. Also see below about Hyperspace.
> Also, BREWs can be fired with less than
Perhaps 1d6 back is too much. Perhaps 1/2 1d6 round down. And I'd
say that using more power is simply sustaining the beam over multiple turns. I
agree with the idea of firing at a lower setting though.
> Is it possible that a ship which opens a jump point gets the energy
I can't remember whether it was here or on one of the the B5 newsgroups that
someone noted that it seems to be much simpler to open a point FROM hyperspace
than to it. I'd say a ship can come from hyperspace with a full tank so to
speak. (Come out shooting) although this does disagree with a comment from
early season 2. (But hey, it was only a single comment. I think we can ignore
it as a plot device). Perhaps Hyperspace is a higher energy state, so you
simply need to 'fall' out of it, but getting into it is tricky.
> Minbari BGEW (Big Green Energy Weapon)
> As BREW, but it don't need to charge.
> eh ? The White Star seemed to need to charge its BGEW in Walkabout, in
Good point. Recharge faster, say 1/2 1d6 round up. Maximum capacity 8.
(Still only need 6 for a jump though.).
Some good ideas there. I'll include those in a later draught.
HERE BE SPOILERS!
> Adam Delafield <A.Delafield@bolton.ac.uk> wrote:
> >> So you still have a central power store[ can hold 6 pts]
Well, you could just say that its one central store holding enough energy to
open a jump point and fire the BREWs (ie it holds
6+2*total_of_BREW_sizes)
(it has to be larger than 6, otherwise firing the BREW at all would make it
impossible to jump[*]. also it seems reasonable for ships with more BREWs to
have bigger capacitors)
[*] although this might be the case on lower tech ships.
Here's a thought:
When the White Star had emptied its capacitor into the first Shadow, Lenir
said it would take 20 mins to recharge to a point where they could jump. 10
mins later when the other Shadows turned up, they had sixty something percent
of the BGEW charge ("not enough to hurt them"). At this point they should have
had about half of the charge required to jump.
So, half of the charge required to jump is (roughly) 2/3rds of the
maximum power of the WhiteStar's BGEW. So if it takes 6 points to jump, then
the WS' BGEW can use up to 4 or 5 per shot. This would give the WhiteStar a
capacitor of size 10 or 11 if the BGEW can only fire once, or 14 or 16
if they can get off 2 full strength shots - I'd go for 14 myself, with
the BGEW using 4/turn at full power. This would mean that they could
normally only get off 2 full strength shots, but could get an extra 1.5 by
draining thier jump capacitors.
> Perhaps 1d6 back is too much. Perhaps 1/2 1d6 round down. And I'd
[...]
> >> Minbari BGEW (Big Green Energy Weapon)
[...]
> Good point. Recharge faster, say 1/2 1d6 round up. Maximum capacity 8.
I'm not sure that makes much of a difference (2 vs 1.5 per turn on ave)