Black globes (was Re: [Power Projection] Review)

On Sun, May 11, 2003 at 11:25:01AM -0500, devans@nebraska.edu wrote:

>I'm not sure I'm so much a fan of
>boarding rules or mystic dingus's (as I recall, BG's are ancient
artifacts)

_High Guard_, p.31: "Black globe generators are not available
commercially; they are recovered artifacts installed on a makeshift
basis or experimental versions installed on tech level 15 Imperial
warships." I always interpreted this as "they can be built at TL15, but
many of the ones in service are artifacts".

On Sun, May 11, 2003 at 08:50:51AM -0500, devans@nebraska.edu wrote:

>The reference to 'BG1' is curious, though. It sounds like they may be
doing
>a scale or level system similar to other defenses, but I thought black
>globes came in only one variety, though you could vary the
effectiveness.
>Wasn't the stutter-shutter effect to allow heat dissipation and
outbound
>shots?

Black globes in _High Guard_ started at TL15 (for levels 1-4) and went
up to TL18 (level 9). Each level represents a 10% step in maximum duty
cycle, so a BG-4 could be on for 40% of the time. (That represented a +8
penalty on the 2d6 roll for damage.) However, there was a limited
capacity to absorb energy.

The _Kinunir_ as delineated in _Fighting Ships_ p.19 has a black globe
level 1.

I seem to remember stuff about a "white globe" too, but it doesn't seem
to be in HG - perhaps one of the later supplements mentioned it?

Roger