ALTERNATE TECH
Shieldwalls(Sw): a shield branch at SL7
Once they are developed, either these or normal shields must be chosen as a *NOT* for future development!
Shieldwalls are a form of shield, which bleed energy that hits them off, as harmless radiation. However, their capacity to do this is finite, although fast. They totally discharge the energy which has hit them between turns. However, if they *are* overloaded, they catastrophically collapse, totally burning themselves out.
Shieldwalls are limited in power because of their physics. They naturally form an open-ended cylinder, and take power to bend arround a ship. They cannot be generated in an atmosphere, and the size of ship determines how powerful the shieldwall may be.
Shieldwalls can be a maximum of 1 point per 15HS - 30HS for merchant ships, 12HS for advanced ships whose natural shape is longer anyway. @ racks interfere with shieldwalls, generate the shieldwall as normal then reduce it by 1 point per @ rack.
Each point of shieldwall uses 1HS of the ships hull (for Sw). It must be placed immediately after normal shields, but before ANY other systems, even datalink. In any given turn, either normal shields OR the shieldwall may be functioning, as the two systems interfere with each other. In terms of taking damage, they count as shields.
7 {h} Sw 1HS each 20 cost
11 {c} Sw1 2/3HS each 25 cost
i.e.
Destroyer, 30HS - 2pt shieldwall will be 3 HS
Superdreadnought, 165HS - 11pt shieldwall will be 11HS
(Note: I have chosen to err on the side of caution, maybe, but these things are potent in LRM combat, where damage each turn may be small - it stops the ship being "chipped away". One idea is to make a % of the ships hull involved, and raise the shieldwall values They are seriously useful for a large ship fleet, anyway)
Hybrid Armour(Av): an armour branch at SL7.
Once they are developed, either these or normal armour must be chosen as a *NOT* for future development!
This armour is an energy/matter hybrid, which has several useful properties. Firstly, it takes normal damage from energy beams, which may NOT skip it. Secondly, it stops the pentration mode of NORMAL lasers (presision lasers may still work through it!).
7 {h} Av 2/3HS each 9 cost
11 {c} Av1 1/2HS each 12 cost
15 {c} Av2 1/3HS each 15 cost
Network Multi-Targeting(Mn): a branch of the electronics tree at TL4
It is useful for whe a large number of ships are datalinked and want a large tracking capacity without having to pay for a large number of expensive targeting units. In any one turn, either a Mn unit or normal M unit(s) may be active on a ship, and only one Mn may be mounted on any single ship.
Mn gives tracking of x/y targets (FRD), where x is the number of Mn units in the datalink in question, firing togeather, and y is per system generation as below-
4k Mna 1HS 10 cost y=4 [req: M2]
7 Mnb 1HS 20 cost y=3 [req: M5]
11 Mne 1HS 30 cost y=2 [req: M8]
One for the swarmers.. (yes, it's cheap, but when you start shedding ships from your datalink, then you lose the capacity to fire on lots of targets, usually RIGHT when you need it - and remember, a ship with Mn knocked out of datalink has an useless system, and no multi-tracking capacity!)
Datalink Leader/Slave(Zl/Zs): a Z branch at SL5
If it is developed, then the Zc branch becomes NOT. If Zc is developed, this becomes NOT.
Both Zl and Zs can be placed anywhere on the ships involved, ala Zc. 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, and Zl cannot link to anything but another Zl system or Zs. In any given datalink, of there are multiple ships with Zl, then the squadron link will survive as long as at least one ship with Zl does.
5 Zs 1HS, 15 cost
Zla 8HS, 125 cost, Ships as per Za
8 Zlb 8HS, 150 cost, Ships as per Zb
11 Zle 7HS, 200 cost, Ships as per Ze
(A revisit of the ISF command datalink, with twists)
Variable Force Beams(Fv): F branch at SL 8
Fire as either one mode or the other in any turn!
8 {k} Fva 6HS, cost 75 Fb/Fpa
11 Fvb 6HS, cost 125 Fe/Fpb
13k Fvca 9HS, cost 180 Fca/Fpca
15 Fve 6HS, cost 160 Fi/Fpe
(Yes, the ISF varyable force beam. It makes sense, but I want to think of something ELSE for the other SRM branches..price MAY need to be increased, but its standard force beam perfomance is well behind for the SL, so I've made it low)
Pulse Lasers(Lu): L branch at SL 7
Pulse lasers are rapid-fire laser mounts. While they do less damage than most lasers of equiavelent generation, there are times when rate of fire is more important - for example against swarms, or engaging small craft!
All pulse lasers have ROF2, and when both shots are fired at small craft, they get 1 additional dice. If they make a focused attack, then both shots from any given pulse laser must do so.
7 {k} Lua 4HS, cost 60 Lb
10 Lub 4HS, cost 100 Le
12k Luca 7HS, cost 100 Lca
14 Lue 4HS, cost 140 Li
(Hrm, ok..this is my try for "something different" with lasers..)
EMP Energy Beams(En): E branch at SL9
These energy beams are preceeded by a broad range burst of EMP. This can temporarily disrupt shields, if they are not too strong, and allow the energy beam to function even through them, *although* damage is reduced by half when this happens (FRU), the shields taking no damage if penetrated, and the usual energy beam damage otherwise!
9 Ena 5HS, cost 75 Eb, pass through 20 shields
11 Enb 5HS, cost 90 Ee, pass through 40 shields
13 Enca 8HS, cost 200 Eca, pass through 40 shields
15 Ene 5HS, cost 135 Ei, pass through 60 shieldsf
( My "something different" for Energy beams. Not as useful as one might think, given that shields tend to be knocked down early on, and it's NOT good for swarms, because their big targets typically have think shields. Still, it will be valuable in many situations.)