Ion Cannons

 Seasons Greetings all;
 
 With the impending release of the Star Wars Trilogy Special Editions
(US  
 release dates of 1/31 for SW, 2/21 for TESB, and 3/7 for RotJ) it is
time 
 to dust-off the FT-Star Wars conversions.
 
 One of the weapons often mentioned in this universe is the Ion Cannon.
I 
 have not seen a FT conversion of an Ion Cannon that fits my vision of
this 
 weapon that damages systems but not structure, so I created the my own.
 
 -Ion Cannon-
	Mass	   Cost     Dice Rolls 0"-10"	10"-20"    20"-30"
 Light	 2	 5+2/arc		2d6	  1d6
 Heavy	 3	 8+3/arc		3d6	  2d6	     1d6
 
 Firing is handled the same as beam batteries.	Hits are calculated the 
 same as beams (1-3 no hits, 4-5 1 hit, 6 2 hits).  Armor and screens do

 not reduce hits.  Hits calculated do not mark off damage boxes but 
 instead are the potential number of systems destroyed by threshold
rolls 
 caused by the Ion Cannon hit.	A threshold roll of 5-6 indicates the 
 system was destroyed.	Once the number of systems destroyed equals the 
 total number of hits rolled, no more threshold rolls are made.  The
order 
 in which systems have threshold rolls is up to the target ship's
player.  
 Each system can only be rolled for only once due to hits from a single 
 ship's fire.  There is the potential that no systems will be destroyed
if 
 hits are made.  If a second ship hits the target ship with Ion Cannon 
 fire, a new set threshold rolls would commence.
 
 Bio-ships and similar ships without internal systems would take damage 
 equal to the hits rolled (shock damage).
 
 Comments? Questions? Nasty remarks? Should screens reduce hits like
beams?
 
 This version of Ion Cannons is kinda like an EMP missile and close to
an 
 alternate weapon for the Sa'Vasku that I saw in this list's archives (I

 had already worked most of this out before I saw the Sa'Vasku weapon).
 
 More playtesting of Ion Cannons would help so I hope that some of you 
 equip your fleets of Star Destroyers with these Ion Cannons.
 
 Dean Gundberg
 dgundberg@bcbsnd.com