Inertial Compensators/Dampers as Core System

Assumption: Such technology is rampant in the ships of 2185. It is
reliable, or at least has a reasonable failure fall-back so crews don't
go "splut". It is necessary to sustain up to Thrust 6 or 8 accel, and is part
of the drive mass for those ships.

But here's an interesting (I think) variant:

Intertial Compensators Core System: SSD Icon: Make up what you like. I think
an apple in a box would make Mr.Newton happy. Effect: When Inertial
Compensators are hit, that's bad news. The part of the ship that limits the
effects of gravity on the crew is damaged. That's
not a good thing. Immediately roll a further D6. On a roll of 1-5, the
"Inertial Flywheels" wind down slowly, thus having no immediate effect. On a
six, they give out catastrophically. In this instance, if the ship applied
more than 4 points of combined thrust in the last turn (count pushes and
thrusts and rotations), this loss may cause crew losses and ship damage. If
the combined thrust total exceeded 6, make an extra threshold check for all
systems (including another core systems check!) needing a 6 to have an effect.
In any event, if it exceeded 4, check for each crew unit by rolling a d6 and
adding 1 for every point over 4. If
the total is 6+, that crew unit is dead. Assuming this doesn't kill off
the crew completely or wreck the ship, the ship has future problems.
Henceforth, it can only apply 2 or 3 units of combined thrust in a turn
safely. It may apply 3 units of thrust, but only for 1 turn periods. Then it
must drop to 1 or 2 combined thrust points for a turn. Any time these thrust
limits are violated, a roll must be made for each crew
unit, and a +1 added for each "above-the-limit" thrust point used (ex -
if in a limit 2 turn, and 4 thrust are applied, the roll is at +2). For
each 6+ generated, the crew unit dies. If the ship exceeds its speed
limit by more than two, a threshold check must be applied (can be resolved
together with other thresholds at the end of the turn).

It is rumored the KV have better dampers and better back up systems and so
they may be immune to this core system hit. UNSC ships may also have this more
advanced variety of damper system, and so also be immune.

This type of system would be especially prevalent on older warship designs.

I like this idea. However, you could include it's effects in the life support
systems outage. Until life support is repaired: Every time that a ship
maneuvers roll a d6. The player must roll OVER the combined total of thrust,
pushes and rotations (rotations count 1 per clock face) [Example: 1 point MD,
1 point push and a rotate of 3 would give a total of 5: good chance of
squishing some of your crew.]. For every number you miss by, cross off a
damage box with a crew factor [*]. If you run out of damage control parties,
the entire crew is dead. Also, future threshold checks are made as if the ship
only had boxes on the line with the remaining crew indicators. The ship below
lost the inertial dampeners to a threshold check. It then failed (by 2) a
check when it maneuvered (loosing 2 additional crew factors). It now makes
threshold checks as if it had one damage row left.

xxxxxxxxXx x0000x0000 000x00000 00*00000*

-----
Brian Bell
brian_bell@dscc.dla.mil
bkb@beol.net
http://members.xoom.com/rlyehable/ft/