Re: Ion Cannons

 
 Brian Bell wrote:
 
>>No nasty remarks but I think it would benefit from two things:
>>1.  Force some kind of order (start with systems "on the side" hit
from/or 
>>systems that can fire into side hit from)
>>2.  Disruption of fire control/manuevering or something.  The ion
cannon 
>>fired from Hoth sure affected the Star Destroyer.  I think maybe for 
>>each hit scored, one firecon is disrupted for 1 turn?
 
>I agree, an order is required. Since we are talking destroyed (as
needle 
>gun) as opposed to damaged (and repairable as threshold roll), I would 
>also suggest other limitations: 
  >- 1 arc of fire only.
  >- limit firing rate when mounted on ships (similar to the wave gun).
 
 When I was working on these stats for the Ion Cannon, my goal was an 
 beam-like weapon that damaged systems instead of damage points.  The SW

 RPG seems to treat them that way.  Needle Beams are a much more 
 specialized type of weapon than I wanted Ion Cannons to be.
 
 I thought about the scene in Empire where the Hoth Ion Cannon hits the 
 Star Destroyer rationalizing that this planetary based weapon was much 
 larger than any ship mounted weapon.  The when hit, the SD veered off 
 course and did not fire.  Was that a typical effect of Ion Cannon
damage 
 or only one of many possible effects?	I did not want to limit its
effects 
 to only fire cons and movement so threshold type rolls could have the
same 
 results as seen in the movie but could have many other possibilities. 
I 
 first thought about changing the threshhold roll needed to damage
systems 
 but I did not want all systems on a ship marked off due to to a light
hit, 
 so I set a general threshold roll level but limited the number of
systems 
 damaged to how may 'hits' were obtained.  I did not want to force an
order 
 in which systems roll, either by type or by facing as this is not done 
 anywhere else in FT and as I remember it, the lightning effects covered

 the whole SD when hit in the movie.  I tried to counteract the high 
 potential damage by allowing the damaged ship's player to try and force

 the damage to specific systems (low priority systems with weaker surge 
 protectors), but the final call on what is damaged is still up to the 
 dice.	I thought about having fire cons and screens being more
susceptible 
 to damage but to keep it simple, I decided to keep all systems equal.
 
 Damaged, not destroyed.
 I also stated it incorrectly that systems were destroyed. I should have

 said systems marked off due to Ion Cannon fire are damaged but should
be 
 repairable (new fuses, reset circutbreakers, reroute power, etc).
 
 Thats my background to why I set them up as I did,
 
 Dean Gundberg
 dgundberg@bcbsnd.com