Re: [FT] WotW #10 Damage Shields (Was Real Shields) (long)

----- Original Message -----
From: Charles Taylor <charles.taylor@cableol.co.uk>
To: <gzg-l@csua.berkeley.edu>
Sent: Saturday, June 16, 2001 8:07 PM
Subject: Re: [FT] WotW #10 Damage Shields (Was Real Shields) (long)

> Well, this one's gone a bit quite - most of the arguments seemed to
> revolve about the effects of adding a defence to weapons that did not
> previously have them - and the effect of relative effectiveness of
> weapons of a 'defend against all' shield.
>
> So granted an omnipotent defence will cause problems - as everyone
would
> want one - having a number of specialist defences againsts different
> types of attack should cause less problems - if they are made
exclusive
> - maybe.
>
> In summary:
>
> Damage Shield - in some ways this is like the 'armour generator'
> proposal - as written, it defends against everything.
>
Which would require someone with better maths than me to work out a
balancing mass level Vs weapons it defends against.

> Globular Shield - firstly - why does it KO the ships FTL drive for 2d6
> turns after it is switched off? As it cannot be used with anything
else
> - I'm not sure it would see much use.
>
Probably to stop people jumping in and out (especially out), instead
having
to stay and fight.

> Mass/Energy Shield - again a 'defend against everything' - and it
could
> slow the game time (beams will need resoving indivdually).
>
How about works like a normal screen against beams, and a damage/kinetic
screen against others (K guns etc).

> Pinpoint screen - first thought _why_ can it block area effects? - I'd
> remove this ability.
> Also - I think its a bit unwieldy.
>
Because it worked like that in macross (put the pinpoint sheilds between
your ship and the blast wavefront and hide behind it).

> Void Shield - effectively works like regenerating armour - so as
Oerjan
> says - works better of bigger ships with more crew.
> I've already proposed one possible solution to that - another would be
> to remove the regeneration dependence on damage control (and hence
ship
> size) - each damaged void shield box is regenerated on a roll of 6 on
> 1d6 (roll for each damaged box, during damage control phase).
> Assuming an average game length - it should be possible to come up
with
> a reasonably balanced cost.
>
> In terms of genre - I don't believe I've ever seen a Kinetic weapon
used
> in Star Trek - so Trek genre designs don't need Kinetic protection :-)
> - ok, the piblished PSB for deflectors says they would defend vs.
> kinetics - but the published PSB doesn't match the observed effects
> either :-).
>
>
> Any further comments?
>
> Charles
>
> --
BIF

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