Are Black Globes Worth The Cost? [Answered]

[Solomani666]

I can see some use for them such as:

Infiltrating a system and taking the enemy by surprise. (Then you only need one.)

On a dedicated torpedo ship. (Kept far away from the front lines of the battle.)



Since they take damage from incomming and out going fire and have a tendancy to explode catastrophically I really don't see much use for them.

Have I missed something?


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[DFW]

The way they are laid out in MGT they seem to be early prototypes that aren't ready for deployment except maybe as a last stand item.

 

[AndrewW]

The Darrians have some uses for them.

 

[rust]

Have I missed something?

In my experience the best use for early black globes is at a means to es-
cape from the battlefield with a damaged ship while under enemy fire. At
least in my universe they are useless for infiltration missions, because a
microwave sensor can easily spot the "moving hole" in the cosmic back-
ground radiation.

 

[Solomani666]

I think I get it now. They add 2 (up to 3) points of armour per 10% flicker rate, and the can be turned off. Very cool. At TL16 I may allow 4 generators giving a flicker rate of 60% adding 12 or 18 additional armor points for that turn. Awesome!

 

[barnest2]

One generator can be set at 60% flicker. Would that not be 12 to 18 points on it own?

 

[far-trader]

I think Solomani666 is saying that at TL16 the BG flicker value will be improved to 15% and by cycling 4 of them in sequence the effect will be a 60% flicker value. It's an interesting idea. I wonder (and would probably rule myself) that there wouldn't be interference though. Screw up your timing just a little and overlap two BG fields... sounds like a recipe for a huge explosion

 

[locarno24]

I think I get it now. They add 2 (up to 3) points of armour per 10% flicker rate, and the can be turned off. Very cool. At TL16 I may allow 4 generators giving a flicker rate of 60% adding 12 or 18 additional armor points for that turn. Awesome!

Indeed - save for its effect on outgoing fire. Probably the best use for a black globe system is paired up with a Rapid Fire spinal mount - the extra few points of armour won't do too much to a spinal shot, and you can blink the shield up or down depending on whether the main gun is charged or not.

 

[Solomani666]

Flicker rate is determined by the number of generators.
3 at TL15 so I figure 4 at TL16.
High Guard page 50.


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[Solomani666]

I think I get it now. They add 2 (up to 3) points of armour per 10% flicker rate, and the can be turned off. Very cool. At TL16 I may allow 4 generators giving a flicker rate of 60% adding 12 or 18 additional armor points for that turn. Awesome!

Indeed - save for its effect on outgoing fire. Probably the best use for a black globe system is paired up with a Rapid Fire spinal mount - the extra few points of armour won't do too much to a spinal shot, and you can blink the shield up or down depending on whether the main gun is charged or not.

EXACTLY what I had in mind for my 1 Mton dreadnought!


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[Solomani666]

One generator can be set at 60% flicker. Would that not be 12 to 18 points on it own?

Max is 10% for 1 generator.
HG page 50.

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[Solomani666]

I think Solomani666 is saying that at TL16 the BG flicker value will be improved to 15% and by cycling 4 of them in sequence the effect will be a 60% flicker value. It's an interesting idea. I wonder (and would probably rule myself) that there wouldn't be interference though. Screw up your timing just a little and overlap two BG fields... sounds like a recipe for a huge explosion

See HG page 50.


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