2e Vorlon Beam Deflection?

[LordClinto]

Give them shields and AA, and bump all the ships up a PL.

I second that!

Who wouldn't want their one man diplomatic transport to be the same PL as an Omega or Primus! :lol:

Just kidding!

 

[emperorpenguin]

The first episode where the White Star is seen, which, IIRC is Matters of Honour (Season 3, ep1).

wasn't that episode, just checked

 

[Alexb83]

Hmm, possibly Ship of Tears or War Without End, then.
I just remember Sheridan saying 'as my grandfather would say - cool'

 

[tneva82]

The first episode where the White Star is seen, which, IIRC is Matters of Honour (Season 3, ep1).

wasn't that episode, just checked

War without end, part 1 I think.

 

[Alexb83]

War without end, when it gets hit by a blast from the shadow fighters. Ah, good one Tneva

 

[captainsmirk]

I would definately not make it shields, it is tied into the ships gun, there is no evidence for an all encompassing shield on Vorlon ships.

The special action seems the way to represent it, and it should only work against attacks coming at the front arc as well.


Nick

 

[tneva82]

War without end, when it gets hit by a blast from the shadow fighters. Ah, good one Tneva

Benefit of having only last 3 seasons with me on England. I remember those 3 seasons pretty well

 

[Sulfurdown]

Actually, wasn't the superior hulls of both the Vorlons and Shadows interpreted as the "Damage Resistance" system and the living hull became the Self-Repair and Adaptive Armour systems?

As I recall both the Shadows and Vorlons displayed some kind of shielding technology, the Vorlon shields seemed to stand off weapon hits from the vessel while the Shadow shields seemed to be a lot closer to the ships (I'm thinking of the one e-mine shot by the Narn that splashed a ripple of energy over the Shadow ship hulls at Gorash). Both, however, were left out of Call to Arms so far.

 

[Alexb83]

Well, I get the impression that shadow shields are being included as well as a 'stalling' system for if they get hit by enough beams. But vorlon 'shields' are easy enough to add, hence the suggestion.

 

[sidewinder]

Your just assuming that the weapon is making the shield. And if vorlons got shields they would probably just be something similar to the abbai ones, only more powerful. I find it funny everyone wants vorlons and shadows to be uber without paying the price.

 

[cordas]

It's simple - you just make it a special action or a thing to do in lieu of firing (so yes, you can't shoot that turn). But you intercept the first d6 AD of beams shot against you, or something like that.

I like that idea, I would even go as far as allowing the VHC to decide to soak the beam, after all of the beam AD have been rolled (and beam re-rolled) but before the damage die are rolled.

The fact that the ship looses the ability to fire either of its guns (I would say its Discharge gun, just the name of the weapon suggests it could do this, but if you want to argue its the lightening gun I would say it becomes too expensive to ever use) for that turn (assuming it hasn't already fired) is enough of a cost that it offsets the bonus it gets from being able to soak up 1 beam hit.

 

[Alexb83]

Your just assuming that the weapon is making the shield. And if vorlons got shields they would probably just be something similar to the abbai ones, only more powerful. I find it funny everyone wants vorlons and shadows to be uber without paying the price.

Just going visually, the weapon appears to make the shield, yes. And it wouldn't be the first time such an intuitive leap had been made

They already have lower hulls, less 'real' damage, fewer ship options, less AD, shorter range, single arcs on every ship, slower speeds, fewer special actions...

Isn't the price already paid for what they get? (I would certainly say so, yes) Also, the suggestion I made gives a clear price for what you're getting - you sacrifice your potential firing for a turn, but gain a defensive effect. Link it to the no. of AD that the ship has in the first place (it can deflect as many AD as it could normally fire) and it's even cooler.

'Energy field' - A vorlon ship may, in lieu of firing for the turn, charge its weapon systems to form a defensive field in its forward arc. The ship gains a number of 3+ saves equal to the number of AD in the weapon whose fire is being sacrificed this turn. Any types of hit suffered from weapons fired towards the front of the vorlon ship may be intercepted (including beams).

 

[katadder]

sure why not- i would love to fire at vorlons without them firing back. would give me chance to get behind them where they cant fire back and where their weapons wouldnt be able to intercept.

in reality its better for the vorlons to fire their nasty weapons and destroy the big ships shooting at you then to try go turtle, that never works for long.

 

[cordas]

sure why not- i would love to fire at vorlons without them firing back. would give me chance to get behind them where they cant fire back and where their weapons wouldnt be able to intercept.

in reality its better for the vorlons to fire their nasty weapons and destroy the big ships shooting at you then to try go turtle, that never works for long.

Agreed, but I am sure on one occasion in a hunderd you would fire your weapon to stop a beam rather than to attack the opponent. Your oppoent has just fired his beam and due to some amazing dice has managed to score 20 hits (have seen this done once), the Vorlon player then goes ahhh very nice, but my disharge gun fires and stops that 1 super roll... 8)

Really unfair and uberpowerful in that one circumstance..... YES but hey they are ancients and supposed to be uber powerful, in normal game play they ain't gonna pull this card from their sleeve.

 

[katadder]

apart from if you wanted to do the deflection thing as an SA you would have to declare it in the move phase, not after seeing what your opponent rolls.

 

[Alexb83]

That's not a problem - the idea of this is to give you some protection from the umpteeen 25 inch+ beams whilst your stupidly short ranged, slooow ships crawl into their own firing range.

Biggest problem I've found with Vorlons is that they get mauled at range, whilst struggling to get to fire, and when they are in range they get torn apart by the ubiquitous TL or DD (or both) secondary batteries.

 

[emperorpenguin]

but we see this "shield" used against Shadows. Try not firing your gun at the Shadows and their 18" weapon and they'll be behind you, shooting with an undamaged ship with turreted weapon, free from return fire

 

[Alexb83]

Yes, but we also see a Vorlon destroyer tear a Shadow ship apart with one blast, and then a few Vorlon Fighters taking apart another Shadow Ship. Let's take the range/firepower interpretations of ACTA with a pinch of salt when comparing them to the series, shall we?

 

[emperorpenguin]

yes but why give them their anti-shadow shield when you'd not use it versus shadows?

 

[cordas]

apart from if you wanted to do the deflection thing as an SA you would have to declare it in the move phase, not after seeing what your opponent rolls.

but we see this "shield" used against Shadows. Try not firing your gun at the Shadows and their 18" weapon and they'll be behind you, shooting with an undamaged ship with turreted weapon, free from return fire

My option of how this would work is that it wouldn't be a SA, it would be a specail weapon trait that allows it to fire defensively in the opponents shooting step. I would fluff it that the Vorlon realised the shadow had gotten lucky and rolled a large handfull of hits (precise TD) and decided to forgo its shooting, using its gun instead as defence, knowing that it would probably have to target something else next turn, but at least it would be alive next turn.

I think Alexb83 (speaking from reading his posts) has a different idea of how this should work, which seems to be a SA declared Interceptor rule. Alexb first mentioned the idea of how it should work, I just liked his idea and ran off in my own unique direction with it .