Re:FT-SV ships

Beth wrote- (my replies with *)

G'day,

 >My idea is for SV ships to be able to
 >consume a disabled ship, converting
 >it to either energy (say a ratio of 10 mass
 >to 1 energy point), or biomass (same ratio).

If you gave them wombs of the right size (along the lines of large bays
for
human ships, so 1.5x what they were going to hold) I'd let them already.

*
No, I was thinking about a big, tenticalled space ship that goes along
disabling ships, then ripping them into pieces and consuming them. There
was
in one of the stories one of the alein ships almost as big as a planet,
that
was eating a planet, and they had to use planet smasher nukes (VERY BIG
ONES) to take it out. The above idea would be good for capturing and
consuming a ship without going to the effort of disabling it first (or
killing all the crew, just eat them alive with their ship. I think this
quallifies for the sicko idea of the month? <G>).
*

 > there could be a bio-construct that flies
 >onto the hull of a ship, and rips the ship
 >apart physically. I leave it to others to think up
 >stats for these ideas, or to shoot them
 >down in flames <G>.

Well as a start, you could adapt the leech torpedo, so it absorbs hull
boxes per turn instead of doing damage. So how about this:

Parasite Pods
These pods are related to the leech pods, but do damage by absorbing
hull
mass rather than just mangling it. They require 6 points and 1 biomass
to
create and they may be fired at any target that falls within the fire
arc
of the pod launcher. The range and to hit mechanism is as of the lance
and
leech pods.
When a parasite pod hits its target it absorbs one biomass and does one
point of damage straight away. On every subsequent turn it continues
this
pattern and absorbs one biomass and does one damage. The parasite pod is
none penetrating and must consume all of the armour before moving on to
the
hull. The removal of parasite pods is done in the same way as for leech
pods.
A parasite pod may also voluntarily drop off. In the orders phase this
is
noted and during movement the pod detaches and sits in space. At this
point
any ship that wants access to this collected biomass must come and pick
it
up. If the pod has a total mass of 6 or less than normal drone wombs may
be
used to pick it up, if it is larger then special large wombs are
required.
Until it is picked up it may be attacked by fighters or targeted by
defensive fire (PDS, Class 1 beams, Scatterpacks, Pulsers, Spicules and
Interceptor Pods) within 6". Every hit taken reduces the mass of the pod
by
1. A detached pod has a limited self-defence capability. For every 6
mass
it may have EITHER one stinger with an in-built supply of 1 PP OR 1
spicule. Note, if the pods are large enough to have multiple stingers
this
does NOT mean that one stinger may lend its PP to another stinger and
increase its range.  The stingers on parasite pods are restricted to 1
PP
each.

I'm not sure if 6pts for the initial launch is enough given the extra
capabilities out the other end, but maybe the fact it becomes a target
itself balances that out. I also went with one damage and 1 absorbed per
turn as I was thinking of mass conversion issues, but I guess you could
switch to a straight two mass absorbed per turn. That should probably
knock
up its cost though as it'll get larger faster and be potentially harder
to
kill off at the other end I'd guess. Anyway just a few quick thoughts

Beth

*
Hmm, I would use a 2 mass consumed off of a tech ship (human/KV) is 1
biomass point, to represent the pod eating metals, plastics, ceramics
etc,
and having to digest/separate with ensimes (Wheres the spell checker?)
elements it wants, from what it doesn`t (bits it doesn`t, it craps into
space. 2nd sicko idea, debris field of alien waste biomatter/et s*!t,
what
stats for impacts?<G>). Against PH ship, being organic, I would allow 1
mass
of ship=1 mass of biomatter.
*

BIF
"yorkshire born,yorkshire bred,
strong in arms, thick in head"

PS-3rd sicko idea- a SV ship can eject a scattergun type round from the
rear
of the ship at any time during play, for use against fighters, following
ships in it`s blind/aft arc (this is sick, your ship has just been
dumped on