Re: More needle beams stuff on [Stargrunt-Fullthrust] Digest Number 149

On Fri, 23 February 2001, Glenn M Wilson wrote:

> Okay, other then play balance, which is valid, what logic disallows 
> Needle Beams from hitting 'core systems' in ships?  

My reasoning (and I'm not sure if this is official or anything) is that
"core systems" are treated like other systems for the threshold
mechanic, but are, in fact, "critical hits". If you've played "Silent
Death", there are points on the hull chart where you lose weapons,
systems, or test for critical hits. When you get to a critical hit box,
you roll randomly on a chart to see what happens. This mechanic is
replicated in Full Thrust as the core system option in the threshold
mechanism. 

The core systems are systems in the sense that they are "things to
check" during the threshold procedure. In actuality they aren't physical
systems on the starship, but an abstraction of a critical hit. It's an
unlucky occurance. It's not really a system that can be hit by damage,
but a "happinstance" that you check for after the ship has taken a
certain amount of damage.

You can't target a "warp core breach". A warp core breach is a situation
that can happen, statistically, after a ship has taken a certain amount
of damage. The same with the other core systems.

So, you can't target the warp core with a needle beam. But, if a ship
takes enough general damage, there is a statistical probability that a
core system was damaged.

That's my way of thinking, anyway. 

Allan Goodall - agoodall@canada.com
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