RE: Nannite Torpedo

I think nannites fall in to the same category as time machines and 
teleportation; once discovered would get rapidly and  wildly out of
hand.

Great as a plot device, bad in a game setting.

Michael Brown

-----Original Message-----
From:	Izenberg, Noam [SMTP:Noam.Izenberg@jhuapl.edu]
Sent:	Monday, May 17, 1999 6:31 AM
To:	'FT List'
Subject:	Nannite Torpedo

Jesse Casey's Plasma jet Cannon goosed the developers at the Midbar
Skunkworks into refining a languishing pair of designs for a 'long
duration
effect' weapon. Rather than a big blast that fades over several turns,
the
Nannite weapons build do potentially hideous damage over time, though
there
is always risk.

Nannite Torpedo- A derivative of the Pulse Torpedo, The NT launches a
barrage of destructive Nannites against the  target. On each turn after
sucessful impact, the nannite invasion consumes more of the target's
armor,
hull, and systems in a frenzy of self-replication. In the damage table
the
numbers A/B/C... represent damage done on first, second, and thrid turn,
etc. Damage is divided between Armor and hull, round up for armor, down
for
hull. Successful Damage Control roll kills the nannite invasion, making
the
ship immune to further nannite attack this combat. Additional Nannite
Torpedo hits beyond the first reduce damage control roll by 1. Ships
destroyed by nannite attack are  completely unsalvageable.Mass, Cost,
range
bands,	and to-hit are the same as for pulse torps. If hit, roll on the
table below for damage. If the NT is damaged by threshold, there is a 1
in 6
chance that the casing on a torpedo will crack and launch an invation on
the
carrying ship (roll on the NT table).
		     Die  Roll		Damage
		     1			  No effect (Nannites destroyed
on
impact)
		     2-3		  0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 4*
		     4-5		  1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 4*
		     6			   2 / 3 / 4 / 4*
*(in table below) Damage is 4/turn for each  subsequent turn.

 Nannite Missile - Mass 2, Cost 6, Range/Speed as More Thrust Missile.
Effect is a nannite attack on the target ship, as with Nannite Torpedo.
Roll
on Nannite table if missile hits.

Noam