[FT] Shields and Screens

As a part of my ongoing,
never-to-be-finished-or-even-put-into-a-playble-form, personal universe,

I've been working on ideas for Shields (as opposed to screens) for FT.
Standard screens (at least in MY Universe, and yes, the skies are awfully
pretty there) are essentially intense magnetic fields, capable of deflecting
plasma or particle beams under ideal circumstances.
Ideal, in other words, for the relatively low-tech Terrans.  My
Imperials, on the other hand, have access to better, more effective,
technology. I was originally going to represent this by allowing them to use
Class 3 screens, but the current discussion shields and hardened systems has
led to an entirely different idea.

Submitted for your (dis)approval: Shield Generators. (Please forgive
the disjointed nature of these notes--this is all very impromptu.)
			     *****
Shield Generators are rated anywhere from 1 to 6 points; this rating is equal
to the amount of damage that the shield can absorb each turn.

ANY damage that a ship suffers from an attack is first applied to its shields,
regardless of the source of this damage.

A successful Needle Beam attack against a shielded ship will do One point of
damage to the shield.

Each point of damage that a shield stops reduces its strength by one point.

Any damage that exceeds the shield rating is applied to the ship, as normal.

Every time that a shield's rating is exceeded, the Shield Generator must

make a threshold check. If this check is failed, the generator goes
down, and must be repaired before it can function again--Damage Control
parties will be capable of these repairs.

Any shield that has a functioning Shield Generator may attempt to
regenerate its shields-this attempt occurs at the beginning of the turn,

before Orders are written.

To regenerate a shield, the player must roll one die.
        1-2 One Point is recovered.
        3-4 Two Points are recovered.
        5-6 Three Points are recovered.

And that's it. Simple, eh?

Class one shields would be pretty useless, but the higher ratings could be
pretty effective, I think.

I can certainly see making use of directional shields, but I don't think

that I would want to be bothered with the resulting paperwork. But that's just
me. Does the basic idea seem workable, though? I'd want to

add a row of boxes to the SSD to help keep track of the current shield
strength, or perhaps just add a d6 to each shielded ship's base, but that
should be all of the extra effort that you would need.

> John C wrote:

> As a part of my ongoing,

> Submitted for your (dis)approval: Shield Generators. (Please forgive

> the disjointed nature of these notes--this is all very impromptu.)

Your shield generators sounds good. I just might use them on my own
ships...when I get the fleet book! (my local hobby store is trying to order
it, but the two distributors they deal with order from Geohex when they feel
like it...)

Some questions to ponder: How big are they? How about 2 for strength 1, 4
spaces for strength 2, then 8, 12,16, 20 for 3, 4, 5, and 6 respectivly. How
much do they cost? What happens if someone mounted two? Would the second only
come up after the first went down? Or could they operate togather, adding
their strengths? Does an operating shield attempt to stop everything, or only
"energy" weapons? (a la starwars)?

[Snippity Snap]

> Your shield generators sounds good. I just might use them on my own

Thanks. And the Fleet Book is invaluable. If it had stats for EFSB style Beam
Generators it would be perfect.

> Some questions to ponder:

I haven't figured out the cost/mass yet--I was writing at work, and had
no access to the rules so that I could do "comparison designing" if that makes
any sense. I'll try and work upon that this evening.

Only one Shield Generator can funstion at a time. A second one, installed as a
backup system, would certainly be possible, though. I would not want
to have "stacked" shields--have three class 4 shields operating at once
would be somewhat absurd, and ripe for abuse.

And yes, shields will stop EVERYthing directed at them, both energy and
kinetic kill weapons. I want them to be more advanced and effective than
screens.

> Shield Generators are rated anywhere from 1 to 6 points; this rating is

This seems a little unbalancing unless they're going to have an extremely
hefty mass and pricetag as well.

> A successful Needle Beam attack against a shielded ship will do One

Likewise, this virtually eliminates the Needle Beam as an effective weapon. I
would say that Needles would either be unaffected by shields (it's tough
enough to hit with one of those suckers) or cause an immediate threshold
check.

> Each point of damage that a shield stops reduces its strength by one

A check at what level? Same as the ship's current damage track would be my
guess, but I still think that makes them a bit too effective.

> Any shield that has a functioning Shield Generator may attempt to

At longer ranges, this will make damaging a shielded ship virtually impossible
without concentrated fleet firepower, and force a close engagement. It also
favors SMLs, Scatterguns, and other weapons which do much better at closer
ranges.