At the risk of starting an old thread...
I am looking at an experimental species that has ablative shields. That is
screens that provide a set amount of protection each TURN until the generator
is destroyed.
Thus, my question: What would be a fair value for the shields to provide? I
want the cost and protection to be equivalent to human screens. I am not so
concerned about the mass.
My initial thought was about 3pts per level. This has the correct feel when it
is one ship on one ship. However, I have seen screens stop MUCH more than
that in a turn when attacked by a beam-heavy fleet. Especially when
multiple ships attack a single ship in a turn.
I had thought about 3pts per attacking ship, but rejected this on two reasons:
1. Hard to justify 2. Seems Cheesy 3. Makes a ship virtually immune to small
ships with 1 or 2 weapons.
Thanks in advance,
> Brian wrote:
I am looking at an experimental species that has ablative shields. That is
screens that provide a set amount of protection each TURN until the generator
is destroyed.
Thus, my question: What would be a fair value for the shields to provide? I
want the cost and protection to be equivalent to human screens. I am not so
concerned about the mass.
My initial thought was about 3pts per level. This has the correct feel when it
is one ship on one ship. However, I have seen screens stop MUCH more than
that in a turn when attacked by a beam-heavy fleet. Especially when
multiple ships attack a single ship in a turn.
I had thought about 3pts per attacking ship, but rejected this on two reasons:
1. Hard to justify 2. Seems Cheesy 3. Makes a ship virtually immune to small
ships with 1 or 2 weapons.
---
I take it you are trying to match the mass and cost characteristics of the
current shield systems. The ablative shield has a fixed value of shield hits
regardless of the number of beams directed at it, where the current shields
are fully protective for all incoming beam fire.
Current shield technology
Expected hits No shields 1 shield 2 shield
6 dice 4 3 2 18 dice 12 9 6 36 dice 24 18 12
So yes, a 36 dice beam attack will suffer 6 less points of damage per shield.
It's like setting a discrete value to a linear function. You could set the
ablative shields at 3 hits per level and then not restrict the number of
shield systems that the race could use. (That could get very cheesy!)
> Thus, my question: What would be a fair value for the shields to
I would suggest a value related to the MASS of the shield generator. This
allow bigger ships to shrug off more damage, and keeps things balanced with
standard screens MASS/POINTS ratio wise.
Setting the value at - say - 3 is much too arbitrary, and allows for
abuse.
Figure this is most comperable to "regenerating" armor, so say...
Shields - 3 MASS, 6 POINTS per level
...would be a good point from which to start playtesting.