Re: [SG] weapons

***
Right. To expand a bit, Traveller was/is the original SF role-playing
game, with a fairly extensive spaceship section.

IIRC, the sand casters' cloud also were to a degree able to absorb beam
weapons and to harm incoming missiles.

Scattergun is a rough (but more powerful) equivalent in FT
***

Showing a foolish leaping-in-without-the-benefit-of-books-handy, I
believe
that the sand's main function was to absorb beam weapon fire. The 'sand'
would vaporize, absorbing the energy.

I'm not sure when, whether in the original rules or later, but the sand
'cloud' followed inertia, so a ship was protected as long as it didn't
have
a course change. If it changes direction, thrusts or retards, and the
ship
would pull out of the protection.

I don't recall much in the way of effect on missles; recall that the
ship
itself might move in the cloud, apparently without effect.

Does an FTII scattergun have effect against beam weapons? Any
persistence
on the table? I'll admit similar concept, but pretty different in
effect.

I'll have to look at PP:Escorts for the mechanism used there for sand
casters.

The_Beast