[FT] UN ship design and UN generally

In reply to several mails.

For the campaign I was planning to run the UN got standard tech plus what I
called "pulse batteries" that had 9" range bands, fired like normal beams but
went straight through shields and did damage in the same way as rail guns. ie
a class 3 pulse beam at 8" rolled 3 dice each doing 3pts damage on
1-3 and 6pts on 4-5 but at 20" rolled only 1 die. For FB say that half
the damage goes through the armour and is applied to the hull. The ships
carried standard beams and shields as well but that was it. The UN was to
control some key systems that all the players used. The UN also explored new
star systems and sold the data to the highest bidder. That was how the players
were to get their start up systems. Each player had so many points to generate
their intial forces but they also had to "buy" a star system with it from the
UN. Maybe this is how the UN has solved its current problem of so many
countries (including the US) owing it money. Anyone transgressing UN rules
(bombarding civilian targets, unrestricted merchant warfare, shooting AT the
UN, etc..) recieved a declration of war from the UN which also informed the
other players that they could now do whatever they liked to the transgressor
and the UN would turn a blind eye. To ensure the "help" of the others the UN
was to offer navigation data and intelligence as well as paying colonies a
visit or two. In short the UN was to a small but very well equiped force that
would manipulate the other players to get what it wanted which was compliance
to its rules.