NEW TECH SYSTEMS
The race with the majority of PU in a system, and also a race's home system, as long as they comprise 25% or more of the PU can build their racial tech at fixed SY and SYM in that system. SY and SYM mounted on ships, as well as planetary industry may not build racial tech.
Pressurized Hull (PH): This system allows a ship to enter the atmosphere of a gas giant, and hide there - they can be detected only at 10% of the usual range, not at all if the enemy in unfamiliar with the technology, and has not previously encountered gas giant life forms! Must be placed inside armor, after datalink but before all other systems. It can be jury rigged on a 1-8, but that has a 5% failure chance, cumulative per day when in use - failure destroys the ship! 1HS, 50% hull cost TL 5, construction tree
This tech is basically to allow ships to hide inside gas giants, and thus is ideal for ambushes, hiding ships behind enemy line, etc. Kinda expensive, but can be very powerful if used right.
Clamshell Bays(#): Double size for non-advanced hulls. This tech holds ships much as @ does, but internally - they may not be targeted until at least some of their protecting # have been destroyed. Each # can hold 5HS of ship or 4 Bb points of small craft. Small craft may only be carried while they are at GQ, and only small craft on the ship involved. Docking takes 10 minutes, but release is as-per @ racks. A (PH) equipped ship can carry ships unharmed into a gas giant, but may not release them there, even if they have (PH). 2HS, cost 35 TL 6, construction tree
This allows several applications. It can allow you to transport smaller ships across maser nebulas, or (as it’s “primary” function) hold small ships in a dedicated gas-giant transport, allowing you to have those ships - or indeed small craft - in a gas giant without having to spend on PH for your entire fleet.
Note: PH and # are ONE racial tech between them!
Particle Charge Chamber(PCC): This allows "charging" of particles for an adjacent capital energy beam. It may be charged in place of firing the capital energy beam in any givern turn. If a 1 is rolled to hit when firing, the energy beam does not fire and the (PCC) burns out. If hit while charged, the ship suffers 2 points of extra energy damage. When it works, it adds one to the damage the capital energy beam does. 1 HS, cost 20 TL 6, Ec tree
Essentially, this is for making capital energy beams even nastier at close range. Slightly risky, but it can help plenty as well…especially in the early stages of warp point assaults.
Shieldboost Pod(SB): Shields added are in the initiative phase of any given turn or before any salvo, and last the rest of the turn, after which the pod burns out even if not hit! If destroyed before it is used (excluding the time it is actually being used), then the carrying ship will lose one engine in its front-most engine room per pod destroyed. XO mount shield branch at TL 4. May be externally mounted only.
TL 5 SBa 2 XO/MSP +1 shield
TL 7 SBb 3 XO/MSP +2 shield
This is great for ships which expect to engage in long range, slow weapon duels, or swarm ships which want slightly more survivability when charging the enemy’s LRM ships.
Quark Cannon(QC): Range 8 beam weapon, using beam to-hit table. Does 2 damage, one of which skips shields. Counts as a beta SRM against small craft. 4HS, cost 70 Unique TL 6 item
An unusual weapon, it is essentially a quite long ranged SRM, it makes a worthy alternative to lasers or force beams at any but point blank range.
Shieldwall(Sw): The shieldwall totally regenerates at the end of every turn, although once reduced to zero, all Sw on the ship are destroyed. Placed after normal shields, but before anything else. 5 points per 2HS, max 2 HS of shieldwall per 40HS of ship (FRD). May not have normal shields and a shieldwall raised at the same time! It takes a full 24 hours for Sw generators to recover from being knocked down and to function again! 2HS cost 50 shield branch at TL 7
Shieldwalls are best for long range LRM duels, if the enemy cannot generate enough damage on one ship in the turn to knock the shieldwall down, then they have effectively not done ANY damage. If it IS knocked down, having no shields until the start of the new turn can be nasty, but it is quite small.
Cloudships
Cloudships is a branch off construction at EL5, and increases with research,
but NOT above EL!
5% of standard systems have an extensive comet activity, and should be noted
as such when this race surveys them for the first time. Cloudships are
fast (3 faster than the fastest Ic drive available to the race), but are
non-warp point capable.
Cloudships can gather some resources in any syste, but gather more in systems
with HGT's, comet activity or especially nebulas. The Cloudships are not
armed, although they have one of the best normal D systems the empire has
and have 20 HTK.
Cloudships are CFN operated, and cannot be commanded to do anything other
than gather resources. They may not mount CFN weapons or carry cargo. They
generate resources every month - these are not multiplied by any asteroid
belt bonuses, but ARE in the GSV.
The TL5 Cloudships for normal systems, those with comets or HGT build as per
a 40HS ship, and cost 500MC. In a normal system, only one can work and it
makes 10MC a month. In systems with comets, 2 can work and make 20MC each.
In systems with HGT, 2 can work, and make 20MC each - -1MC per 10% of the
HGT being populated, with a minimum of 10MC.
The TL6 Cloudships for Dark and Reflective nebula build as 60HS and cost
1000MC. In Dark nebulae, 3 can work the system and make 100MC each. In
Reflective nebulae, 4 can work and also make 100MC each.
The TL7 Cloudships for Emission nebula build as 80HS and cost 1000MC. Four
can work a system, and they make 150MC each.
The TL8 Cloudships for Maser nebula build as 100HS and cost 1500MC. Five
can work a system, and they make 100MC each. They are immune to the energy
damage of the nebula, but only have 10 HTK.
An idea taken from the “Cloudships of Orion” novels (great books, heh). Their ability to turn otherwise generally annoying nebula systems into paying propositions is good, if they do require a moderate initial investment. They are poor investments in a normal system. They require transfer by @ rack or assembly in the target system if you don’t have SY facilities in the system, since they can’t cross warp points.
Long Range Point Defence(Dl): May protect the carrying ship or any ship it is datalinked to within 2 hexes.
Acts as a standard D system against small craft. It may only double up on incoming missiles. It is treated as a normal point defense system for purposes of capital weapons. Dl point defense tree at SL4
4 Dla 3HS, cost 30 2 shots at 4
8 Dlb 3HS, cost 65 3 shots at 4
Obvious applications.. it’s bulky and doesn’t have many shots, but it does allow a ship to cover it’s datagroup against enemy LRM fire.
Network Multi-Targeting(Mn): This system acts as Mx, where x is 1 per n datalinked Mn ships. Only datalinked ships within 2 ships count for n. Electronics branch at TL3.
3 Mna 1HS, cost 10 n=4
6 Mnb 1HS, cost 20 n=3
10 Mne 1HS, cost 30 n=2
Useful for swarm races. For example, if you have 12 datalinked ships with Mnb, then it’s cheaper to install the Mn on the ships than even M2, and they effectively get M4 from it. However, this is reduced as ships are forced out of datalink range or are destroyed, and individual ships get no benefit from a Mn system.
Defense Tracking Computer(DTC): Linked PD units can ignore the first -1 penalty to their interception roll. They do NOT have a higher base to-hit than normal! D branch at TL4
4 (DTCa) 1HS, cost 50 can link with max. 2 D/Dc
6 (DTCb) 1HS, cost 75 can link with max. 3 D/Dc
9 (DTCe) 1HS, cost 100 can link with max. 4 D/Dc
Fairly expensive, but very useful if for example the enemy uses lots of Ptc or Rc, with the attendant to-hit penalties against standard point defense. Less useful for capital point defense, except against kinetic weapons.
Transit Efficiency Unit(TEV): Negates the innate penalty for using J drives, and thus useful on J-equipped warp point assault units. 6 (TEV) 2HS, cost 25% engine cost +1TSA. A J item at TL6.
Surge Protector(SP): Engine upgrade against those pesky ADM using races. ADM branch at TL6
6 (SPa) 0HS, 10% engine cost ignore ADM hit on D10 roll of 1-4
9 (SPb) 0HS, 15% engine cost ignore ADM hit on D10 roll of 1-6
Accelerated Launch Bay(AL): Fighters/Gunboats launched from an AL get +3 move, but they may not turn in the first 3 hexes of their movement. They may chose to forgo the movement and thus the turn restriction. Boat Bay branch at TL7.
7 (ALa) 2HS, cost 40 affects max. 2 following Bf or Bg
9 (ALb) 2HS, cost 60 affects max. 3 following Bf or Bg
Er..not amazingly useful, actually. In close combat, the ability to give an extra move boost might be helpful, though, if it lets your small craft reach firing range in one turn.
Shield Kick Generator (SKG): When the ships last shield is destroyed, ignore any remaining damage from that weapon hit (NOT salvo), and mark the SKG unit as destroyed. A ship may only mount one shield kick generator.1HS, cost 30. Shield item at TL5
VERY useful when you are being fired on by weapons like capital plasma torpedoes, close range kinetics or even capital force beams. It’s not really very useful against enemies who use relatively low damage weapons.
Towed Scan Array (TSA): These are Y and Yc, with a light station-keeping drive field. A ship with one tractor (two for a Yc) suffers -1 speed and +2TM, but can use the equivalent sensor. It is destroyed by any hit, and is hit as the towing spacecraft - which CAN protect it with it's point defence. They cost two times the cost of the normal onboard instalation, and may NOT scan. They can be dropped at the start of any turn, in which case they become inactive and are treated as an AP, until a friendly ship tractors them again.Y items, auto parallel developed 1 TL higher!
Towed Yc are expensive, but the ability to tow a Y on a patrol can be really helpful for a short range weapon craft which otherwise would only carry short range scanners.
Datalink Leader/Slave (Zl/Zs): Both Zl and Zs can be placed anywhere on the ships involved! Zl creates a datalink between itself and ships based on numbers of hull size as noted. Zs itself has NO inherent datalink capacity, and if the Zl they are datalinked with is destroyed, they lose all link capacity. Forming links takes 30 minutes, and may not be done in battlefield conditions. One advantage is that the ships with Zs must be within 2 hexes of the Zl carrying ship, although NOT within 2 hexes of each other! Ships mounting either Zl or Zs may not mount any other datalink. A race with Za may not develop Zc (not!!!). Z branch at TL5
5 Zs 1HS, cost 15
5 Zla 8HS, cost 125 Ships as per Za
8 Zlb 8HS, cost 150 Ships as per Zb
11 Zle 7HS, cost 200 Ships as per Ze
This is like the old Z2C /Z2 from ISF. The master ship has to mount a LARGE, expensive installation, but then the other ships have only a small installation to mount. The problem is, of course, if someone destroys the ship mounting the Zla.
Datalink Jammer (JAM): (JAM) may be turned on/off at the start of any turn. All datalinks within the area of effect, including small craft squadron datalink, are nullified by a (JAM) system. However, when it is turned on, the craft mounting it must immediately be pointed out to the enemy. (JAM) mounting craft will AUTOMATICALLY be hit by "HARM" missiles, and if they mount datalink, they lose it while the (JAM) system is on. Electronics branch at TL6
6 (JAMa) 4HS, cost 40. 3 hex radius effect
10 (JAMb) 4HS, cost 50. 4 hex radius effect
Like the old ?2 from ISF, but shorter ranged. It degrades enemy LRM fire significantly, but it’s a fair sized installation, and it negates the craft’s own datalink. However, used correctly, it can really cause havoc - in warp point assaults, for example.
Note: I never got round to making the rules for HARM guidance.
Scan Shield (SC): Scanning ships are fully aware they have data holes in their scan, but have no data on what they are missing! Shield branch at TL4. [req: electronics SL5]
4 (SCa) .5HS, cost 25 System to right may not be scanned
7 (SCb) .5HS, cost 15 System to right may not be scanned
Sure, it’s not that cheap and it uses space, but when you REALLY don’t want the enemy getting scans on your ?a, Kca or similar…
Inertial Net (Ni): Range 8, to hit as-per energy weapon. On a hit, the targets speed next turn is reduced by 2 (minimum 1), and any left over move towards turning is removed. Further Ni hits in the same turn have no effect! T branch at TL6
6 (Nia) 5HS, cost 50
9 (Nib) 4HS, cost 60
It slows stuff down. This has obvious uses....from slowing the approach of swarm ships, to bogging down a warp point assault to simply making it harder for an enemy ship to get you out of it’s blind spot.
SC ECM packs (SCdp): Uses 4 internal space on a fighter, or one internal weapon space on a gunboat. -10% shot defense. Small craft weapon item at TL 7.
Sure, it means you lose some firepower, but when you’re using small craft LRM’s, who really cares…it DOES make you more resistant to enemy fire.
Drive Field Expander (DFE): Maximum one per ship, may not combine with normal ED fire against one salvo! EDM branch at TL6. [req: EL6]
6 (DFEa) 3HS, cost 40 Acts as 1 EDM versus one salvo per turn
9 (DFEb) 4HS, cost 70 Acts as 2 EDM versus one salvo per turn
EDM’s are nice, but they also use 5XO racks each, and are one shot. This allows you to not carry large amounts of EDM’s, and still resist a large amount of enemy LRM fire.
Guidance Beam (Tg): Interfaces with up to 40HS of launcher. Designate a target in the tractor beam phase, and the launchers recieve +1 to hit versus that target, which must be within range. Td can automatically break one Tg link, then roll
as-per normal to break others. T branch at TL3
3 Tga 2HS, cost 25 range 5
5 Tgb 2HS, cost 45 range 7
8 Tge 2HS, cost 70 range 9
Based on the Alkelda Dawn Presser Missiles. Longer ranged than a normal tractor beam, but it can’t drag ships around. It’s ideal for LRM ships with no shorter-range weaponry, they gain some effectiveness at short range.
Kinetic Kill Warheads (KR): KR warheads are a capital missile warhead, but they only do 1, not 2 damage. When they hit, however, roll 1D10 - on a 1-2, they do a deep hit, ignoring up to 50 armor and 50 shields. Rc item at SL6.
It means that your capital missiles do less damage, but there’s a 20% chance that it will punch through the enemy armor / shields and do some internal damage. That can be invaluable against larger enemy ships.
Dogfighting Fighters: DFF are 1 faster, but have half the external space of normal fighters and suffer twice the speed penalty. Their shot defence is 10% lower. Parallel dev with normal fighters, 1 Sl higher
Fast, hard to kill.. and not much use against enemy large craft. Armed with their internal weapons, they can make an impact on an enemy fighter or gunboat strike.
Pinnace: Cost 50, 6 boat bay points speed 7, damage points 2, 110% shot defence, 20tH sensors, 7 days endurance, 250 csp storage. For +10MC when built, remove 50 csp storage and add 2 anti-fighter dice to range 4, all round. Boat bay tree item at TL5
From ISF, a way to scout through warp points without risking a ship if you don’t have recon drones or gunboats. Armed pinnaces can shoot at enemy small craft and drones. Sure, they use a large boat bay each, but they can also be used to carry cargo long distances.
Note: May be adopted as a normal tech item.
Flack Battery(Df): D branch at SL5
5 Dfa 2HS, cost 15 PD, 2 shots at 3, anti-small craft as Dca
8 Dfb 2HS, cost 30 PD, 2 shots at 4, anti-small craft as Dcb
Similar to normal point defense, but more expensive. They sacrifice a shot in return for greater anti-small craft protection, great when you don’t have your own armed small craft for protection.
Sandcasters(Ls): Fires five shots, used after movement, each lasts one entire turn. 12 MSP each, reloading may NOT be done in combat. One is required per 30HS of ship, and they must all expend a charge to protect the ship that turn. All laser fire from the protected ship also suffers the to-hit penalty. L branch at SL6
6 2HS, cost 20 -2 to all laser hit roles when used
9 2HS, cost 30 -3 to all laser hit roles when used
A way of protecting your ships against enemy laser fire for a short period of time. While hardly foolproof, it makes for example a warp point assault into heavy laser batteries a lot less scary. You have to beware mounting heavy laser weaponry alongside it, however, as it also ablates your own laser shots.
Massdriver(Kd): A kinetic weapon, with kinetic to-hit roles. Weapon Tree. (From ideas on the list, thanks guys..)
SL0 Dka 3HS, cost 25
SL3 Dkb 3HS, cost 35 Acts as Dkb or Da in any given turn
SL7 Dke 3HS, cost 50 Acts as Dke or Db in any given turn
Damage:
System Range
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Dka 2 2 1 1 1 1
Dkb 3 2 2 1 1 1 1
Dke 3 3 2 2 1 1 1 1
A kinetic SRM / point defense cross. Actually, it’s not amazing at either, being less effective than force beams (given it’s lower to-hits) but able to fire on incoming missiles when there is the need. Ideal for smaller ships which would otherwise not be able to mount both another SRM and a point defense unit, and missile ships for which a dedicated SRM may well use too much space.