New FT Ideas: The Kraelj Dampening Field.

Hello All: I've been coming up with a new race for my own personal FT
Universe. One alien power for my background is the Kraelj Community: A
theocratic society made up of an insectile race who abhor violence. Their
small ships are armed with needle beams and equipped with high thrust drives.
One device that I am dreaming up is their Dampening Field: An energy field
that drains power from nearby ships, preventing them firing or maneuvering and
protects it from fighters and missiles..

Rules:

MASS: 10 COST: 30

Against Ships:

The dampening field generates affects ships within a six inch radius of the
generating vessel. Any ship that ends it's movement in a field can not fire
during the combat phase nor can it use any thrust during the movement plotting
phase in the next turn. (The ship will continue to drift along on it's current
heading and velocity.) It will remain this way until the ship drifts outside
of the field or the field is deactivated (either it is turned off or destroyed
in a threshold
check).  There is a  downside to the field:   Although it is insulated
from the field's effects, it draws so much power that it also prevents
the generating ship from using other weapons and/or maneuvering.  The
generating ship must note that the field is activated in their orders.

Against Fighters:

Any fighter group that ends up in a dampening field can not attack or move
until it has somehow left the influence of the field.

Against missiles:

SMB's can not attack ships that have an active dampening field.

Well, what do you guys think? Any comments or critiques?

I guess you'd use one to damp the vessal and a pack of ships to needle it to
death? All in all an interesting weapons, altho I might change it so that the
ship could fire upto half it its weapons use half its thrust.
-Stephen

> Mark wrote:

> Rules:

Including friendly ships?

> (The ship will continue to

OK. As long as friendly ships are affected as well :-)

> Against Fighters:

Should be the same as for fighters (ie, missiles - including SMs, MTMs
and SMPs - do not work at all inside the dampening field).

As long as all units, friend or foe, inside the field are affected equally I
don't see any serious problem with it. You're immune from
missiles, fighters and point-blank direct-fire attacks, but you can't
shoot back at all :-)

Later,

> MASS: 10 COST: 30

[snipped rules]

This actually sounds as if it might be a workable concept. The points cost and
mass wound have to be playtested to get the actual values, however.