Hello, I've been off the list for a month or so as I changed my duty stations.
Now I'm in Newport, Rhode Island. I've been thinking of how I'd like to model
the Langston Field in Full Thrust. Here's my idea. Langston Field is an energy
field that absorbs kinetic energy, light energy and most other forms of energy
( gravity in particular is not absorbed and neither are Alderson waves). It
starts out as a black spherical field and will change colors as it gains
energy going from
Black(infra-red radiation) to Violet. At the same time, the field will
attempt to radiate the energy off into space as heat. Most fields collapse
before they reach white. When the field collapses, all of the collected energy
is directed into the ship that it surrounds, destroying it. Additionally, as
the shield gains more energy it becomes harder and harder to manipulate and
maintain. Normally small holes can be temporarily opened for sensors and
weapons to fire out of. As it gets hotter, this becomes more difficult.
Langston Field: Mass: 10 Cost: 60 Full Thrust points. For each Langston Field
generator build four rows of ten diamonds (just like hull boxes) to represent
the field absorption chart. Each Langston Field can absorb up to 40 points of
damage before collapsing. When this occurs, all 40 points go immediately into
the Hull (not armour). Each Langston field can radiate 5 points of damage each
turn (wait a full turn from the first attack to start bleeding). Each Langston
Field can absorb up to 10 points of damage in a single turn, any damage in
excess of this goes into the hull and or armour, this models the burn through
factor where a local spike occurs before the field can distribute the energy.
When the field is on and no damage has been done the ship gains one level of
stealth, this models the active and passive energies being absorbed into the
field. After the first five points of damage this advantage is lost. For each
row filled on the field absorption chart the ship has a negative stealth
shift, due to other ships being able to see this bright shining object even
easier. When the first row on the field absorption chart is filled, the ship
cannot use any passive detection systems. When the second row on the field
absorption chart is filled, the ship cannot use any sensor systems, only fire
control systems on ships it already is tracking. When the third row on the
field absorption chart is filled, the ship cannot maneuver or fire. When the
final row on the field absorption chart is filled, the field collapses, the
generator is destroyed, all 40 points are applied as hull damage, and if the
ship somehow survives, roll an additional threshold check on all systems as if
it lost another hull row. Multiple generators may be purchased and effectively
combine their rows (2 generators give four rows of 20, etc.)
I would appreciate your thoughts.
> Phil wrote:
For each Langston Field generator build four rows of ten diamonds (just like
hull boxes) to represent the field absorption chart. Each Langston Field can
absorb up to 40 points of damage before collapsing. When this occurs, all 40
points go immediately into the Hull (not armour). Each Langston field can
radiate 5 points of damage each turn (wait a full turn from the first attack
to start bleeding). Each Langston Field can absorb up to 10 points of damage
in a single turn, any damage in excess of this goes into the hull and or
armour, this models the burn through factor where a local spike occurs before
the field can distribute the energy. When the field is on and no damage has
been done the ship gains one level of stealth, this models the active and
passive energies being absorbed into the field. After the first five points of
damage this advantage is lost. For each row filled on the field absorption
chart the ship has a negative stealth shift, due to other ships being able to
see this bright shining object even easier. When the first row on the field
absorption chart is filled, the ship cannot use any passive detection systems.
When the second row on the field absorption chart is filled, the ship cannot
use any sensor systems, only fire control systems on ships it already is
tracking. When the third row on the field absorption chart is filled, the ship
cannot maneuver or fire. When the final row on the field absorption chart is
filled, the field collapses, the generator is destroyed, all 40 points are
applied as hull damage, and if the ship somehow survives, roll an additional
threshold check on all systems as if it lost another hull row.<<
These are pre-Motie, non-expanding Fields, I take it.
I'd disagree that the ship loses sensors that quickly. Even when ships are in
violet, they can open a hole to erect a radio mast (to surrender); they could
extend other sensors as well if they didn't mind getting shot for doing it.
When the Field is hot and they lose their cameras, it's because the sensors
aren't protected by the Field and therefore get burned off when enemy lasers
or torpedoes strike. I'm not sure about the "no maneuver and no fire" bit. I'm
also not sure about the "10 points in a turn" burnthrough; I'd rather it were
something like "5 points from a single ship's attack." My
impression is that beam fire doesn't usually cause burn-throughs, it
just heats up the Field, so having three escorts standing off plinking away
with Beam 1's shouldn't do it even if they cause 10 points of damage.
> Phillip Pournelle wrote:
> Langston Field: Mass: 10 Cost: 60 Full Thrust points. For each
I don't know how accurately you're trying to simulate the Langston Field. The
Langston field is an all or nothing proposition when it comes to field
collapse. When it overloads, it completely vaporizes what's inside. Forty
points of damage just wouldn't do it for larger ships. Maybe 3 or more times
the stored energy directed vs the hull. Tactically, this would be interesting
as the decision on when to show the white flag, ie surrender, by dropping the
field would become crucial. Death by field collapse or death by nuclear
warhead and lasers. If turned off, the stored energy would still be there when
the field would be reactivated, with maybe 1 pt per turn removed as radiated
energy from less efficient hull mounted radiators in comparison to the
Langston Field. Radiated energy per turn should vary on the circumstances.
Maybe 5 per turn as standard, 8 if you have a Motie expanding field, and 3pts
if fire is coming in from different arcs, divided into port and starboard arcs
(this reflects that the field is absorbing energy on all sides and has less
available surface area to radiate away energy). Energy would be radiated at
the end of the turn after damage is assigned. On planetary surfaces with a big
enough heat sink (say an ocean), attacking a field protected installation
would require a ground assault (scenarios with vulnerable assault transports
come to mind) to get at the generator or orbital bombardment to such a degree
that the planet becomes uninhabitable. Assuming the Codominium milieu any
movement would make the ship detectable from it's drive flare. Otherwise if
undetected, the ship would remain virtually undetectable if flying ballistic.
Say a 1 in 36 chance if within sensor range. Passive sensors extending out of
the field on booms would keep the ship from being completely blind. These
circumstances would be difficult to achieve as the Alderson points would
typically watched for emerging ships and their drive flares when they started
to move in system. If using some other FTL or system drives, that'll depend on
the technologies used. I assume multiple generators reflects having extra heat
sinks onboard. I don't seem to recall multiple generators operating
simultaneously in the books. I'm rereading Mote right now so I'll see if
there's anything else that comes up.
The Langston field is an all or nothing proposition when it comes to field
collapse. When it overloads, it completely vaporizes what's Not exacty. When
MacArthur's Field collapsed, the hull was still there. Glowing red, as I
recall, and no doubt extremely uncomfortable for the miniatures who were still
aboard, but it wasn't vaporized until after a few more rounds of torpedoes on
the bare hull. I pretty much agree with the rest of the comments, though.
Too powerful for the mass & it starts getting a little complicated for FT (2
sets of damage tracks!).
To simplify it down (and make the game run faster): Use the standard rules for
construction; the first 3 rows of damage is used by only the Langston Field &
the 4th row is the hull of the ship itself. When the Langston field is down,
all damage is applied only to the 4th row, ignoring the first 3. Armour has no
effect on damage unless the field is down or collapses due to a threshold
check.
When buying a Langston field, each level of field 'repairs' 1 hull box per DC
phase of the turn, although you can choose to waive this if it would push past
a threshold. (this can be increase to 2 or even 3 if you want a longer game.)
Mass: 5% per level, Cost: mass x 3
Roll thresholds as they are reached as normal to represent lucky hits &
burnthrough damage. The Langston Field is represented as a core system on the
SSD by a diamond with 1 shield icon for each level. Or alternatively, use the
chain reaction damage from EFSB. If the Field collapses due to core system
roll, the ship immediately takes the current amount of damage again, applied
to both armour & any
remaining field/hull boxes evenly. (ie. A 2nd row field failure will
destroy the ship unless it has a least 1 armour box, usually more. A
3rd row field failure will destroy the ship unless it has at least 20%+1
armour boxes.)
'Neath Southern Skies - http://users.mcmedia.com.au/~denian/
Commodore Alfred K Hole - RNS Indy's Folly (CB)
Task Force Admiral Peter Rollins - RNS Waterloo (MKW)
Fleet Admiral Alberto Doyle - NKV Vesuvius (LFI)
> -----Original Message-----
> On Sun, May 16, 1999 at 08:18:03PM -0400, Laserlight wrote:
That was the modified expanding version -- I seem to
remember a comment that the field had expanded to the point the field's
collapse didn't impact on the hull.