Ablative Shields

Greetings all, 

When I first picked up FT, one of the few things that I didn’t like was
screens; most sci-fi defensive shields are portrayed as being ablative
(ie --
shot away bit by bit), and FT screens didn’t seem to fit the “image.”
After
playing FT a while, I’ve changed my mind about screens, but I still
thought
it might be interesting to try and simulate “conventional” sci-fi
shields.
Whether these shields absorb damage from torpedoes, missiles, etc. is up
to
you. 

Scott Field

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Shields (Ablative) -- there are three classes of shield generators; all
classes work the same, but have different strengths, cost and mass. Each
ship
may only have one shield generator.

Standard shield generator:  Strength equal to 1/3 the ship’s mass.
   [Cost = 1 per ship mass; Mass: = 5]
Inferior shield generator:  Strength equal to 1/6 the ship’s mass.
   [Cost = 1 per 2 ship mass; Mass: = 2]
Superior shield generator:  Strength equal to 1/2 the ship’s mass.
   [Cost = 3 per 2 ship mass; Mass: = 8]

Initially, shields absorb all damage a ship takes, but each point of
damage
subtracts one from the shields’ strength (calculate damage as against
an
unscreened ship). The way I record this is by making "hash marks" in the
top
right corner of the ship record box, outside the ship outline. Once the
shields have been reduced to half strength, draw a line under the hash
marks
you’ve made and continue marking damage underneath the line, but half
of the
damage from each attack gets through to the ship itself and is recorded
as
normal damage. Round odd numbered damage in the shields’ favor, so a
ship
getting hit for 3 damage would absorb 2 points with its shields and take
1
point of structural damage. Once the shields’ strength has been reduced
to
zero, all damage is applied to the ship normally. 

Example: a 32-mass cruiser installs standard ablative shields, at a cost
of
16 points and 6 mass. The shields have a strength of 11 (32 mass divided
by
3, rounded off). The first 6 points of damage the cruiser takes will be
absorbed by the shields; after that, half damage will get through to the
ship. Once the shields have been reduced to zero, then the cruiser will
take
full damage.

I allow damage control parties to attempt to repair shields. (“Scotty,
I need
more power to the shields!”) Each successful repair roll on the shields
restores 1-3 points of strength to the shields up to half strength. Once
the
shields are above 1/2, each successful repair roll only restores 1
point. 

Note that the shield generator itself may still be knocked out as a
result of
threshold checks or needle attacks; if it is, then shields are
completely
down until/unless the generator can be repaired by damage control teams.
If
the generator is repaired, the shields will be restored at whatever
strength
they had before they were knocked out. 

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Londo: “This is like being nibbled to death by, uh ... what are those
Earth
creatures called? 
    Feathers ... long bill ... webbed feet ... go `Quack?’ ”
Vir: “Cats.”
Londo: “Cats! I’m being nibbled to death by cats!”