New Stars to Conquer: an unofficial Triangulum Galaxy thread

[Nerroth]

Messier 33, otherwise known as the Triangulum Galaxy, is the third-largest member of the Local Group of galaxies (which includes the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies, plus their respective satellite galaxies and orbiting clusters and so forth). In terms of distance, M33 is approximately three million light years away from us; though it's only 570kly or so away from Andromeda. While the currently-published data doesn't state this one way or another, this is probably not a good thing for the Triangulum Galaxy; considering just who is known to operate from their larger galactic neighbour...

In terms of Star Fleet Universe publication, the Triangulum Galaxy is at something of a crossroads. At the present time, playtest data on three empires based in M33 can be found in Star Fleet Battles Module E2 (which is now available on e23); while four ships for another Triangulum power was offered in Captain's Log #23 (also now on e23). Along with these files, a pair of ships for one of three E2 powers was uploaded as a separate playtest PDF; proviisional rules for a new type of unit can be found here; while a special countersheet is also available which includes, among other things, counters for all four of the current batch of playtest empires. To cap things off for the time being, an updated errata file includes the current list of edits and changes to the playtest material.

Reportedly, there was a file submitted to ADB a while back by the Triangulum setting's project designer, Francois Angers; which refines the four current playtest empires, and adds in four others for consideration. However, at this point, the Triangulum Galaxy has yet to be selected for formal publication.

(To give an example of how the process worked for a different setting, the Lesser Magellanic Cloud was once offered as a playtest file in SFB Module E1. Eventually, as the ships and rules for the LMC were playtested and further refined, with more units and forces added in, its "formal" publication came with SFB Module C5; at which point, the E1 material became obsolete. Hopefully, at one point, a similar "full" module may one day bring M33 up to the same level someday.)

To try and put a long story short, the main thing to bear in mind is that M33 is not quite bedded down as a formally-published setting, at least not compared to the LMC or the Omega Octant; however, if you are interested in checking out some of the currently-available material (with the caveat that it may be more prone to change than anything you'd see in the other published settings) you may find enough to help inspire some interest in this particular corner of the universe.

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In SFU terms, Triangulum is literally a world apart from most of the settings seen in the Star Fleet Universe thus far. While the LMC and the Omega Octant are each at a remove from the Alpha Octant, there is at least some confirmed contact between them later in the timeline. (Even the M81 Galaxy, much further away from the Milky Way than Triangulum, has a connection to the Alpha Octant courtesy of the Tholians and Seltorians that originally hailed from there.) Triangulum, in contrast, has no direct link to "our" neck of the woods (at least, none that we know about so far); for good or ill, it stands on its own merits, though of course nothing is stopping players from mixing it up with other settings' fleets if they wanted to.

Historically, there were three major threads from the distant past, which have come to overlap in the modern era in many different (and often unexpected) ways.

One major building block was the Old Empire; an enormous realm once run by the mysterious Ancient Ones, whose legacy was benign or malevolent depending on which former subject species you happen to ask. The Old Empire stood for centuries across most of the known region of the galaxy until approximately -Y1000, when a group known as the Saviours (or Usurpers, again depending on who you ask) recruited a number of disgruntled Old Empire subject species and plunged the Old Empire into a devastating civil war. At the war's end, the Empire was shattered, and both the Ancient Ones and Saviors/Usurpers fled to parts unknown; the surviving planets, still divided into rebel and loyalist camps, were forced to spend several centuries trying to establish their own successor states upon the vast carcass of the old one. (Howver, by Y1, even the two largest powers, the loyalist Imperium and the rebel Frigian Kingdom, together only held a fraction of the space the Old Empire had claimed at its height.)

The second, which also took place at around -Y1000, was the establishment of the Helgardian Protectorate in the Triangulum Galaxy. The long-lived Helgardian species had spent ten thousand years building an immense, peaceful realm in their original quantum reality; however, some mysterious process suddenly transplanted their entire home star system, complete with its own Ringworld, deep into an unexplored region of "our" Triangulum Galaxy. After three hundred years spent fruitlessly trying to find a way home, the Helgardians eventually gave up trying, and decided to settle in. At the time, the Helgardians were streets ahead of everyone else (including the Old Empire's successor states) and could have dominated the galaxy if they had been so inclined; however, their low rate of procreation (which allows them to settle only a handful of new colonies every century) coupled with their peaceful-minded outlook meant that they would strive to be no more than the first among equals. So, by Y1, the Helgardian stronghold was by far the most powerful and advanced force in the galaxy; but still had a very long way to go in order to replicate the heights they had managed back in their old dimension.

The third, made possible by the Old Empire's devastating collapse, was the slow rise of a vast array of new species on the Triangulum galactic map. With a vast stretch of unclaimed space lying between the Imperium, Frigians, and Helgardians, and only a bare handful of star-faring enclaves in the midst of all that open territory by Y1, the modern era started with a wide variety of new, young species, on the cusp of making their mark on the galactic stage. Seizing the opportunity to set a good example, the Helgardians offered a series of "Warp Pacts" to several of these emergent planets; granting them the equivalent of Early Years technology (which, though far ahead of what each planet had originally, was still well behind the Helgardians' place on the technology curve) and opening a series of trade routes which the Helgardians hoped would inspire their new protégés into becoming constructive members of the galactic community.

Unfortunately, some things started to happen that the Helgardians had not planned for (and for which the Imperials and Frigians would be less than grateful). Some of the young realms, like the Mallaran Empire, proved to be far more belligerent than the Helgardians had expected them to be; the Mallarans even attempted to attack Helgardian space directly (an act which soon prompted the kind of lesson that taught them, and everyone else, that the Helgardians were not be to crossed.) To compound matters, certain chance events would see warp technology end up in places other than their intended destinations. The most infamous being the case of the Arachnids; a psionically-active parasite species that assimilated the crew of a scout ship sent to study their doomed star system, using their new vessel to escape the nova which destroyed their home world, and to subvert dozens of other species into their Worlds of Union.

But what really shocked the Helgardians was just how quickly the warp technology they had handed out would be reverse-engineered and expanded upon. The Helgardians had expected the younger planets to have the same slow rate of advancement as they themselves went through; instead, the younger powers soon managed to build larger and more powerful ships, new technology types, and even caught up with the Helgardians' modern warp engines by Y120. The Helgardians accelerated the pace of their own technological development as a response to this; but, while they still had a substantial head start in terms of the size and power of their home fleet, they were now, ironically enough, no more than "first amongst equals" in the exact opposite manner to which they had hoped for.

At this point, the published timeline only goes as far as Y122, and the First Great Expansion War (the first large-scale conflict fought with modern warp technology, and the first to include a large number of belligerents on either side); the full scope of Triangulum history is said to extend beyond Y200, something I hope to get to read in a published module sooner or later.

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In terms on on-table game mechanics, there are a number of technologies to consider; some shared by several powers, others unique to one specific empire.

Defensively, the four current playtest powers have standard shields, along with one of two additional systems; an secondary rotary shield system (for the Helgardians only) or banks of micro-thin Neutronium armour (for everyone else). Rotary shields are a kind of porous shield system which Helgardian ships can use to bolster a specific shield facing; something which helps to offset the lower-than-average shield levels they have ordinarily. Neutronium armour works differently than standard armour, in that it is placed specifically to protect certain key systems aboard a ship; hull damage would be inflicted normally, but sensitive systems (like weapon mounts or control spaces) have a limited degree of ablative protection from these hemispheric Neutronium armour banks.

Offensively, there are four known phaser-equivalent weapons; graviton beams (exclusive to the Helgardians), linear accelerators (exclusive to the Imperium), proton pulse emitters (common in the "western" quadrant of the galaxy) and pulse phasers (used more in the "eastern" galactic region). Each empire also has its own heavy weapon types; the Helgardians have scatter-shot particle shotguns, the Imperium operates turret-mounted hypermass autocannons, the Mallarans use direct-fire plasmatrons and seeking Ram torpedoes, while the Arachnids have plasma-like hellfire and hellblazer technologies.

In addition, there are some quirks and options available here and there. The Helgardian crews are a little better at shrugging off crew casualties; both they and the Imperials can opt for battle armour (which acts as a sort of ablative armour for their Marine squads); the Mallarans operate with a Hydran-esque "casual carrier" doctrine, though with only a handul of Viper fighters flown off any given ship; while the Arachnids have the ability to assimilate many other species directly (though not the Helgardians, who are immune; something which has sharply coloured the Arachnids' opinion of that particular species).

In all, the Helgardian Protectorate, the Mallaran Empire, and the Arachnid Worlds of Union are in Module E2, while the Imperium has a four-ship preview in CL23. The four other powers noted as being in the unpublished playtest mix (the Frigian Kingdom, the Human Republic*, the Atrean Directorate and the Valorean Coalition, if I'm not mis-remembering the old post on the matter) would hopefully have their own particular aspects to consider also, should we ever get to see those powers added in later.

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Unlike the other threads, I'm not going to go all-in to try and offer a complete set of weapon or rule ideas. (And not just because I'm drawing a blank with some of them, honest...)

Some of the concepts might take a little time before a good baseline in the official ruleset can be drawn.

For example, the way in which ACtA:SF may handle weapons which in SFB and FC can fire more than once a turn (such as Seltorian particle cannons) would help set a precedent for the likes of Helgardian graviton beams; or even Imperial hypermass autocannons (which technically only fire each chamber once a turn, but have a rule requiring a minimal four-SFB-impulse delay between the firing of each chamber).

Also, if the Hydrans come along with their handy Stingers in tow, the way the rules would govern their trademark casual carrier doctrine would be of direct relevance to how the Mallaran Empire's Viper fighters could (or rather, should) be handled.

So, my personal intention, such as it is, would be to leave this one as a more slow-burning thread; with ideas added to it on a more step-by-step basis, and without a pre-packaged set of unofficial rules offered up-front (the way I did in the Magellanic Cloud thread).

Of course, if anyone reading this has a better sense of how best to adapt this peculiar setting to the ACtA:SF game engine, I would gladly welcome any comments, suggestions, and so forth you may feel inspired to create.

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Ultimately, I would have to admit that, even compared to most of the other non-Alpha settings out there in print form, Triangulum may be the furthest away from being viable. Not only would it need at least one formally-published module to work off of, it would take more of a leap of faith into the unknown than either Omega or the LMC (given the setting's further degree of removal from the Alpha Octant compared to those two alternatives).

Still, I personally believe that M33 has a lot of potential; and hopefully, by the time ACtA:SF has expanded to fill out the bulk of the Alpha setting, there could possibly be time to get the setting off the ground in SFB... if enough people want it to be, I guess.

So, to sum up for now; do any of you think that the Star Fleet Universe take on the Triangulum Galaxy is something you may one day like to see make an impact in A Call to Arms: Star Fleet; and if so, how would you rank the idea compared to other non-Alpha settings (Omega, LMC) in terms of which one you would personally want to delve into the most?


*Yes, there are Humans in the Triangulum Galaxy. A convoy of pre-warp colony ships were sent out in the years prior to First Contact; a space anomaly transferred them to the Triangulum Galaxy in -Y12. These Humans (who had never herd of Vulcans or Andorians, let alone Romulans or Klingons) would sign a Warp Pact with the Helgardians in Y14, and develop their warp technology in a wholly different manner to their counterparts back in the United Federation of Planets (or over in the Federal Republic of Aurora, for that matter). As of this point, there is no way to know if anyone in the Federation (or Federal Republic) ever finds out about the Humans of Triangulum; which may raise the question as to where the portion of the "data tapes" concerning M33 was originally sourced...

 

[Nerroth]

In the LMC thread, I had a separate post for more general technologies shared across empires, and another post for each of the five currently-published empires thereafter.

In a similar vein, I was going to use this post as a "sand-box" for shared tech; though in this case I was intending to go back and add to it on a more gradual, ad-hoc basis.

So, don't expect things to look as presentable as they might be in the other threads. (My apologies.)

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I suppose the first thing to try and nail down would be the banks of Micro-thin Neutronium Armour.

In the current SFB playtest material, each SSD of a ship carrying banks of Neutronium armour has them shown on display; split into forward and aft hemispheric arcs. (Note the way the Mallaran Empire Dreadnought and Frigate Scout show them in this sample pdf.)

Unlike regular armour, Neutronium armour does not work as a general ablative layer of protection. What happens is that, in each volley, the facing Neutronium armour bank absorbs the first die roll of 2-5 and 9-12 on the Damage Allocation Chart. If the same location is rolled again in a single volley, the armour has no effect; so larger volleys can do a better job of getting past the Neutronium armour than lighter ones.

Also note that the rolls that aren't covered (hull, cargo) are hit normally; so the bulk of a ship has no protection from the Neutronium armour (unlike with regular armour).

So, there are a few options I was thinking of, in terms of how to represent Neutronium armour in ACtA:SF:


1. Don't bother. Basically, treat the Neutronium armour as akin to the armour on a Terran-hull Fed light cruiser; abstracted out as part of the ship's overall hull score.

This would be the simplest option, but also the one which least captured the essence of this technology.


2. Create a Neutronium Armour Trait, akin to the current Armoured Trait. In this case, it would be the opposite of the Armoured Trait; rather than making it harder to score actual damage, this trait would make it harder to score critical hits.

While that would essentially be an inverse of what keeps the War Eagle from falling apart, I don't personally like that idea too much. (It might be easy enough to implement in terms of game mechanics, but it might be too generous in terms of how often it works.)


3. Add a separate Neutronium Armour score (between the Shield and Damage scores; in this case, based on the number of front hemisphere boxes on the SSD) to each vessel carrying this system; and add a rule stating that each point of Neutronium armour reduces a given volley's Critical Scores by 1. (With the exception of Crew criticals; since the crew is in the "padding", the Neutronium armour would not benefit them.) However, in this case, once the Neutronium armour runs out, it can't be restored; like with Damage scores, onces it's gone, it's gone for the remainder of the scenario. And it would not protect against Escalation; only from Critical Hits scored from external damage.

This would give a ship with Neutronium armour a benefit against the first few critical hits, or at least those from less hard-hitting volleys; though one which would not last all that long in a fleet environment (such as that you may find in ACtA:SF).

To give an example of how that might look, the Mallaran Frigate Scout in the sample PDF would have:

Shields: 12
Neutronium Armour: 5
Damage: 16/6

If you hit that with, say, 8 Phaser-1s in Kill Zone range, that would be... (rolls randomly here) 5 shield and 2 bypass hits, each with Multihit 2, so drops the Shield to 7 and... (rolls 4 Attack Table dice) lands 2 solid and 2 critical hits. This drops the Damage score to 14, and... (rolls 2 Systems Table dice) 2 Impulse Drive criticals. Ordinarily, this would give a Critical Score of 2; however, we reduce it by 1 (and drop the Neutronium Armour score to 4), giving us a level 1 critical (max speed 10).

So, the used point of Neutronium armour has saved a Critical Hit level (which would have added a further point of damage, and dropped the max speed to 8); but the solid hits on the hull were unaffected (as they may have been with the Armoured Trait).

(Even for larger ships, the ratio may not be all that favourable, even with the armour. That DN in the sample file would have Shields: 36, Neutronium Armour: 16, and Damage: 40/14; the last of which is pretty low as some dreadnoughts go. In that case, the increased protection against critical hits would be a trade-off against the lesser amount of padding the Fury Dreadnought has to keep the ship together.)

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Do any of the three options above seem reasonable enough so far?

 

[Nerroth]

This post is one I've earmarked for the Helgardian Protectorate.

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As a species, the Helgardians are gentle giants. Averaging about seven feet in height, each Helgardian has four arms and four eyes (two on the front of their heads, and two on the back; no doubt prompting more than a few wisecracks by Humans who have dealt with them...) with dark, scaly skin and a vegetarian diet. They are quite strong compared to a Human, but no faster in terms of reaction times. They live for about a thousand years, making them the longest-lived sentient species in the Triangulum Galaxy; however, they have a very low reproduction rate, which limits their population growth. Fortunately for them, their immune systems are singularly effective; so much so that the parasitic Arachnids cannot assimilate them (and, indeed, die in agonizing pain if they ingest the enzyme which is produced to counter any would-be parasite attempting to infect a Helgardian body). Given that the Arachnids are joined together by a psionic mind-link, the scar of this discovery would run very deep indeed...

The Helgardians have a number of advanced technologies unique to them; notably, they are the only known SFU power to have an operational Ringworld, which they built during the ten thousand years they had to work on their first empire back in the old dimension. However, they can be very slow to advance their technology yet further; they have only started to accelerate their rate of development in response to the advances of the younger powers they had helped to climb the technology ladder via the Warp Pacts.

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In terms of starship construction, Helgardian vessels are primarily built for exploration and diplomacy; the idea of building a ship solely for combat came very late to them (once again, in reaction to external pressures). An example for this can be seen with their cruisers; the Vanguard-class Cruiser they started the modern era with has Labs: 8 and eight Shuttles, whereas the later Protector-class Heavy Cruiser (a variant of the C which emerged in Y118) takes out most of these support features in order to add in more weapons and power.

Along with the rotary shields mentioned below, the Helgardians have graviton beams as their phaser-equivalent weapons, and particle shotguns as their main heavy weapons; both are systems unique to themselves.

Graviton beams have a relatively low amount of damage per shot, but in SFB can be fired up to four times in a single turn; but with a minimum eight-impulse delay between shots. They also have three additional firing modes, that each impose a 32-impulse delay after use; burst mode (that allows shots to be taken every second impulse), focus mode (that lowers the effective range to the target for a single shot) and overload mode (that allows a light graviton beam to fire as a medium, or a medium to fire as a heavy). They probably don't need so many options in ACtA:SF, though; maybe just the overload. They also double the damage against small targets (fighters, drones, etc) at a true range of 2 or less; which helps them defend against seeking weapons and attrition units.

Particle shotguns do damage based on how many hyper-warp particle "balls" they can land on a target; four damage points per "ball", and with up to three "balls" per standard shot (or up to six when overloaded). In SFB, the weapon costs 3+3 to arm (or 3+5 to overload); and has an "underload" function that, at 2+2, fires a single "ball". (Smaller targets, such as shuttles or fighters, cannot be hit by a single "ball" in any event, so )

Their population concerns (or, perhaps, their ingrained philosophies) are also seen in their additude against attrition units; the Helgardian Defence Fleet is said to have never developed either fighters or gunboats at all. Whatever future threats the Protectorate may be shown to face once the latter portion of the Triangulum timeline is published, they will have to face them with their starships alone.

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As with the Neutronium Armour above, I only want to try figuring out the Rotary Shielding here for now.

In SFB, the Helgardians are the only one of the four current playtest empires not to use micro-thin Neutronium armour. Instead, they have a somewhat porous rotary shield system; which helps to augment their somewhat weak normal shields.

Rules-wise, you have 2 or 3 RSH generator boxes; each with a capacitor that feeds its given rotary shield. Rotary shields can be given a "standard" strength (one or two points of power from the capacitor generating three or six RSH shield boxes respectively), or a "reinforced" strength (three or four points, producing eight or ten RSH boxes apiece). As this reduced amount of shield boxes per point of power indicates, the RSH runs into the law of diminishing returns at the reinforced level; plus, if you do use the higher level, you have to switch the RSH off to "cool down" in the subsequent turn.

In terms of operation, the RSH draws half of the incoming hits (to the current value of the rotary shield); two or more RSHs can be oriented in the same arc, but rotary shield damage must be shared evenly between them.

Most of the playtest ships, from the frigate to the heavy cruiser, have 2 RSH boxes; the DN has 3. The overall effect of these boxes is to help keep one or more facings somewhat protected, which is handy in duels; but, as you can imagine, can come a cropper in fleet actions.

Here, I have two ideas; one which is more abstract, the other not so much:


1. Add a Rotary Shielding Trait (non-italics), and adapt the Klingon shield rule to allow the Helgardian ship to set the RSH into the F, A, P or S arc at the end of its movement; but only half the number of incoming hits up to the current Shield value.

So, if a ship has 12 shields and takes 30 shield hits in the RSH arc, you'd essentially reduce the number of hits by 12 (the current Shield score) rather than 15 (if you divided the total volley).


2. Add a separate Rotary Shielding score (between the Shield and Damage scores) and show each RSH separately; i.e. the starting scores would be 6+6 (or 6+6+6 for the DN). Each individual score can be placed in the same or different arcs (F, A, P and/or S) at the end of a ship's movement. Incoming damage is halved, up to the combined value of the RSH scores in the same arc; but RSH damage must be divided equally. Burn through hits would be unaffected. BEtS! would be based on the combined Shield and RSH scores, but cannot take the RSH scores above their starting levels.

So, in this case, a Helgardian destroyer would have:

Shields: 12
Rotary Shields: 6+6
Damage: 16/6

At the end of its movement, it places both RSH scores in the P arc. An incoming volley (say, another 8 phasers-1 in a Kill Zone) strike that arc. Roll again... 7 shield hits and 1 bypass hit. With Kill Zone 2, that is 14 points of shield damage and 2 internals. Since the two RSH scores are in the same arc, the overall facing RSH score is 12; so, since half of the combined shield damage is still less than 12, 7 points are taken on the RSH (3 one one, 4 on the other) and the other 7 on the regular shield. So, the ship now has an RSH score of 2+3, and a regular Shield score of 5. (The 2 bypass hits each roll as solid hits; reducing the Damage score to 14.) Any further odd volleys in the same arc must spread the spare point of RSH damage to the higher remaining score, to keep things even overall.

Had only one RSH score been in the F arc at the time, the same volley would have taken down the lone six-point RSH score, and added the balance to the standard Shield score (reducing it to 4 instead).


One thing to bear in mind is how low the standard Shield scores are for Helgardian ships; even their Avenger DN has Shields: 21 and Damage: 44/15. If it had a separate Rotary Shield score, it would be 6+6+6. Or, if it just had an RSH Trait, it would have an "effective" maximum reduction of 21 against incoming volleys; but only in the one arc.

Do either of those sound like they might work okay?


EDIT: Added the first WIP sample cruiser.

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PROTECTOR HEAVY CRUISER - 180 POINTS (CA)

The Protector entered service in Y118, during the First Great Expansion War. The Council was concerned about the war that was rapidly spreading all around them, and wanted a cruiser better suited for combat. The Protector is a heavily modified version of the Vanguard-clasc cruiser, with a large portion of its support facilities ripped out to make room for more weapons and power.

Ships of the Class: None as yet recorded.

Turn: 4
Shields: 18
Damage: 28/10
Marines: 4
Craft: 2 Shuttles
Traits: Agile, Labs 2, Probe 2, Rotary Shielding, Tractor Beam 2, Transporter 2

Weapon Range Arc AD Special
Medium Graviton Beam - F, P 2 -
Medium Graviton Beam - F, S 2 -
Medium Graviton Beam - AH 2 -
Light Graviton Beam - PH 1 -
Light Graviton Beam - SH 1 -
Light Graviton Beam - T 1 -
Particle Shotguns - F 3 -

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[Keeper Nilbog]

Re Mirco-Thin Neutronium Armour.

In the B5 rules, the race called the Drakh had a defensive system called a 'Gravetic Energy Grid' (GEG for short - this reduced damage from each volley (though not critical hits/damage) by it's rating, usually between 1-4). In the 'Powers and Principalities' supplement, the GEG was able to be focused in it's protection, and could be used to stop 'critical hits' though in this mode not damage.

Maybe, if you rated the level and applied it to the protected areas, (say weapons 3), they could be 'free hits' on the critical table. This would allow the protected areas to be less effected by criticals which it seems the system was designed to do.

Just an idea for you.

 

[Nerroth]

I did have the old 1st ed Drakh fleet book (though I think I might have left it back in Ireland), but had drifted away from the game somewhat by the time the red-top 2nd ed books was out. I hadn't realised the GEG had been given such an option; thanks for the tip.

Was the Drakh version from Powers and Principalities ablative, or were its values available each turn? Was the GEG represented as a Trait X score, or did it have a separate line in the ship's core stats? And how well did it work on the tabletop?

 

[Keeper Nilbog]

Worked as a trait (GEG X), and provided full coverage each turn - though as most ships had GEG 2-3 as highest level (only the mothership had 4, and the raiders had 1), with the way B5 handled criticial hits and the amount of AD the weapon systems, it didn't seem to bad (would stop the first hits taken in a volley (?) each time hit). to be fair, never used this version (you had to set it at the start of the game, and thats what you had throughout), so couldn't make a statement about it's effectiveness.

Would suggest that either the trait is ablative, or that it's kept low. Was thinking that it could be given as 'Free' boxes to the appropriate Criticals (if that fits) up to the trait level, so say a Trait 2 ship would have 2 extra critical boxes (which have no negative effect) on it's effected systems - Weapon/Engine/shields etc.

 

[Nerroth]

Hmm.

My original thought was to keep it ablative, and to use the box numbers from the SSDs; but with the caveat that only one box per system per volley can be soaked up as a "free" hit. But, I'm not sure if that would end up being too complicated or not.

Let me take another shot at it:

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Micro-thin Neutronium Armour X: This system was adopted as a secondary defensive measure by a number of empires in the Triangulum Galaxy; it consists of a thin layer of high-density Neutronium, placed so as to provide an ablative means of protection to key sensitive systems aboard the ship.

Each vessel with this Trait has a starting number corresponding to the amount of "free" hits the Neutronium armour bank is able to soak up during the course of a scenario. For any given attack in which one or more critical hits have been scored, the Neutronium armour bank will absorb the first critical hit upon each location from the Systems Table (with the exception of Impulse Drive and Crew criticals, from which Neutronium armour provides no protection); each critical hit so absorbed will reduce the Neutronium armour score by 1. No more than one critical hit per location can be absorbed by the Neutronium armour bank in a single attack. Once the Neutronium armour score is reduced to 0, the effect is lost, and cannot be regained during the course of a scenario. Note that critical hits generated via Escalation are not protected by Neutronium armour; these are afflicted as per the standard rules.

A ship with this Trait does not count as having the Armoured Trait, unless it also has that Trait listed separately; each type of armour is unrelated to the other.

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How does that look?

(If it looks okay so far, I can go back and add it in; if not, it can wait for a better version to come along.)

 

[Nerroth]

This is the post I plan to use as the sandbox for the Imperium.

As noted above, the Imperium considers itself the modern-day successor state to the Old Empire; with several member species, mostly descended from loyalist peoples which had once served that precursor realm, attempting to carry on the legacy of the Ancient Ones.

Unfortunately for them, things aren't going quite as smoothly as they'd like. The level of political intrigue at the Imperial court is such that few Imperators have had the luxury of dying peaceful deaths. Much of the realm's true power lies in a vast, yet ossifified bureaucracy; with the highest posts jealously held by powerful families, each passing their respective posts down from one generation to the next. The Imperium Fleet is little better; while the lower ranks have the hallmarks of a true professional navy, the upper echelons have become as dominated by a core group of families as those of the civilian bureaucracy.

In addition, much of Imperium space is given over to at least half a dozen semi-autonomous provinces; each of which using the same starship designs, but often deploying them in very different ways to how the core Imperium Fleet might do things. Keeping the provinces in check can be a full-time job; even without taking into account the increasing pressures being placed upon both each of them, and the Imperium as a whole, by the new powers springing up all across their long borders.

While the Imperators have found it difficult to accept the upstart young realms as equals, they have been increasingly forced to confront the reality of this fundamental shift in the balance of power within the modern era of the Triangulum Galaxy.

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In terms of starship design, the Imperium (and its semi-autonomous provinces) use a set of ships which each mount a single, central turret perched atop their secondary hulls. (The secondary hulls are flat on top, in order to allow the turret to rotate; the ships also have one or two prongs sticking out the front, and a pair of warp nacelles at the back. There is line art for one of their ships, the CA, on page 74 of Captain's Log #23.)

The turret is perhps the key element to consider; and it's the one I want to look at right now. (The actual weapons mounted on them can wait for the moment.) In SFB, each turret carries the bulk of its ship's firepower; the weapons upon it have a 120-degree firing arc depending on which direction the turret is facing. (So a turret with its business end parked behind the #1 shield has an FA arc, etc.) Ships of cruiser size and larger are restricted from having the turret face directly aft, however.

In ACtA:SF, the way I was thinking of handling it was like this:

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Imperium Turrets: All warships of the Imperium (and its semi-autonomous provinces) are equipped with a turret mounting the Hypermass Autocannon and other systems; the facing of the turret affects the firing arcs of the weapons mounted upon it.

Each weapon mounted on the Imperium ship's turret is noted as having a fire arc of I; the arc (which can be either F, A, P or S) is set at the end of the ship's movement, and cannot be re-adjusted until the end of the ship's movement on the subsequent turn.

Ships of Destroyer-size or smaller, and ships with the Immobile Trait, can use any of the four listed facings; Cruisers and larger non-Immobile ships cannot place the turret in the A arc.

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Does that seem reasonable enough?


EDIT: Added the first WIP cruiser.

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IMPERATOR HEAVY CRUISER - 180 POINTS (CA)

A capable ship, the Imperator-class, like most Imperium ships, is most effective when saber-dancing with its opponent. The turret, mounting most of its weapons, can face anywhere in the front, port, or starboard arcs, allowing the Imperator to conduct an effective fighting retreat. The strong rear shielding can also be used to take advantage of the turret mounted weaponry.

Ships of the Class: None as yet recorded.

Turn: 4
Shields: 21
Neutronium Armour: 12
Damage: 28/10
Marines: 5
Craft: 5 Shuttles
Traits: Agile, Labs 3, Tractor Beam 2, Transporter 2

Weapon Range Arc AD Special
Medium Linear Accelerators - I 4 -
Medium Linear Accelerators - A 1 -
Small Linear Accelerators - F, P 2 -
Small Linear Accelerators - F, S 2 -
Hypermass Autocannons - I 4

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[Myrm]

Neutronium armour - how easy would it work if you morphed the ADD rules into an 'ANti Critical rating'. So Neutronium Armour 3, would mean you could throw 3 dice vs any critical, on any dice roll of 1, or 1-2 or 1-3 depending on the precise nature) you would lose a level of armour. Once gone it doesnt stop criticals any more. You can set the dice fail to get the right level of ablation, and reset it on a turn by turn basis (unlike ADD) if you want, or even an attack by attack rating - so its more akin to Interceptors for B5.

Or even simply make it a suitable number and say it blocks the first N criticals per enemy ship attacking - thats near enough a volley and you can figure out how much it woul be likely to absorb. Really simple is 'Neutronium Armour: the first critical delivered by each weapon system that attacks this ship is ignored'. Over several systems, and so on thats a fair amount of crit absorbance. Eventually a critical hit will get through, larger volleys will be more likely to get through, lots of small weapon systems will fail to penetrate - although it might be a bit tough against a phaser like weapon with only a dice or two per weapon system - to help them you might consider reducing it from Crit to one point damage - so they could eventually get through.

 

[Nerroth]

Before I go on, I just double-checked the DAC; impulse drives are not listed in the first row of damage, so Impulse criticals should probably go unprotected here, too.

(On the other hand, technically there are two warp and 4 weapon entries that are covered; but I wouldn't want to get too generous in saying how many "free" hits per location one should get.)


As to adapting the Anti-Drone idea... I guess that may depend on how best to abstract the Neutronium armour boxes from the SSDs into the kind of score that would work here.

The amount of boxes per ship class can vary slightly depending on which empire is involved; but while there aren't any hard numbers in the current rules, the implication is that the banks are heavy enough to prevent more than a certain amount to be carried by any given ship. (Frigates have been shown to have 5-6 boxes in the FH arc, light cruisers 8-10, dreadnoughts 12-16, and so forth.)

Maybe 1 Neutronium Armour score per 4 (or 5) boxes would be closer?


(Though, I'm not sure going that route would be better than just having a 1-for-1 score with a one-per-location-per-volley rule; but then, I can't say which idea would work best on the tabletop while still accurately representing the gist of the weapon, so.)


Also, are there any thoughts on how the rotary shielding and Imperium turret rules look so far? (As in, do either of the RSH options look better than the other, or should both be thrown out and replaced with something else altogether?)

 

[Da Boss]

I used a version of the P+P redundancy rules for Cyborg ships in one of my supplements - which may also have some elements to nick for your N Armour?

Redundancy: Cyborg ships are very resilient and can absorb considerable amounts of damage before the effects are felt. Any ship with the Cyborg trait has a redundancy trait with the number reflecting the number of critical hits it can ignore per game. When a critical hit is scored on a ship with a remaining redundancy score, do not roll for effect, ignore it and reduce the score by one. Although the ships can regenerate damage over a period of time, this is not nearly as effective as a Shadow or Vorlon Vessel, but does mean it is relatively effective in recovering from damaging effects quickly. Add +1 to all attempts to repair the effects of critical hits.

Rotary shielding - it would work well for one or two ships but could get a bit finicky with a fleet game? Perhaps it would work if there is a play aid that fitted round the stem and showed which arc the shield was active if you see what i mean?

Same thing really with the Turret.....

 

[Nerroth]

I used a version of the P+P redundancy rules for Cyborg ships in one of my supplements - which may also have some elements to nick for your N Armour?

Redundancy: Cyborg ships are very resilient and can absorb considerable amounts of damage before the effects are felt. Any ship with the Cyborg trait has a redundancy trait with the number reflecting the number of critical hits it can ignore per game. When a critical hit is scored on a ship with a remaining redundancy score, do not roll for effect, ignore it and reduce the score by one. Although the ships can regenerate damage over a period of time, this is not nearly as effective as a Shadow or Vorlon Vessel, but does mean it is relatively effective in recovering from damaging effects quickly. Add +1 to all attempts to repair the effects of critical hits.

Looks interesting; the regeneration part wouldn't be an issue here, but the other part might. I,ll have to chew things over a little.

Rotary shielding - it would work well for one or two ships but could get a bit finicky with a fleet game? Perhaps it would work if there is a play aid that fitted round the stem and showed which arc the shield was active if you see what i mean?

I would see there being a specific note on any would-be stat cards for the Helgardian ships; with a place to mark which direction the shield is to be set in for that turn. (If the card was laminated, there could be a set of 4 directions one could circle with a dry-erase marker, or some such.)

Same thing really with the Turret.....

Actually, I think it would be cool if the Imperium ships got minis that cast the turrets separately; with a hex-shaped plug that allowed you to set the front in each different facing...

(Something similar for the turrets on Worb ships in Omega would be cool, too.)

 

[Da Boss]

Rotary Shielding:

I was thinking of something easily visual for both players as there is alot of things to track during a game and if you can see Cruiser Alpha has extra shelding on its port arc rather than having to keep asking.

Something a bit like a printable firing arc template that can just fit round the stem and able to move round ?

Moveable turrets would be cool

 

[Nerroth]

Rotary Shielding:

I was thinking of something easily visual for both players as there is alot of things to track during a game and if you can see Cruiser Alpha has extra shelding on its port arc rather than having to keep asking.

Something a bit like a printable firing arc template that can just fit round the stem and able to move round ?

Maybe; perhaps something teardrop-shaped, with the long end placed over the current arc? Or something like that. (I'm sure someone else could think of a better idea for this.)

Moveable turrets would be cool

So long as it could be made to work, at any rate.

 

[Nerroth]

While I'm here, I figured I'd set up a placeholder post for one of the two other playtest empires currently in print; the Mallaran Empire.

(Once more, you can get a look at the playtest SSDs for two of their ships, the Dreadnought and Frigate Scout, in this pdf.)

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Prior to -Y22, the pre-warp planet of Mallara was a peaceful enough place; until the Great Plague hit, rendering the entire population sterile. With no Clive Owen on hand to help them out, they instead began construction of a new artificial intelligence project in -Y15; referred to by the not-at-all-ominous term "Overmind". While the Overmind was unable to uncover a cure, it was able to do more mundane things; like taking full control of the Mallaran government by -Y10.

In order to preserve its newly-subjugated populace, the Overmind managed to come up with a sort of cloning technology. This knowledge (which it jealously guarded), combined with a psionic subspace transmitter (to be implanted in the brains of every citizen) allowed the AI to not only replicate the bodies and memory engrams of a given individual; it could also judge the loyalty and worth of that person, and decide on that basis whether or not he or she would be granted (a form of) immortality... or find their mental and genetic legacies lost to history. This combination guaranteed the loyalty of the Mallaran public, even as it cost them their free will. However, the cloning process which the Overmind had developed was not without its flaws; for the genetic material involved was severly affected by the law of diminishing returns. Left to itself, the Mallaran genome would be unusable after but a handful of clone-generations.

Exactly how the Mallarans managed to hide all of this from their later Helgardian visitors has yet to be explained; but, in an act of considerable foolishness, the elder species signed a Warp Pact with the Mallaran Empire in Y1. Armed with this new technology, the Overmind was able to pursue a solution to its population problem; by ransacking the gene pools of any inhabited world unfortunate enough to lie within its grasp. Thus the rise of the Empire spelled the end for several pre-spaceflight civilizations caught in its wake; the DNA of these species harvested to form part of the hybrid mix now incorporated into the modern Mallaran "people".

It should also be noted that, so far as has been revealed, this enforced genetic diversity is still no more than a temporary stay of execution; the Overmind has still not managed to perfect its cloning technology, and nor has it gotten around to curing the Great Plague. Thus, the Mallarans must literally expand in order to survive; more than almost any other species in existence, the choice for the Empire is victory... or death.

-----

To pursue these aims, the Mallarans use warships geared for raids and planetary assaults; with loads of Marines, weappons that work best against fixed positions, and commanders and crews with a singular lack of mercy for their opponents.

The Mallarans use proton pulse emitters as their phaser-alikes; a system shared by several empires in the "western" quadrant of the Traingulum Galaxy. There are several PPE types (and mounts); though it seems that the Mallarans only use a certain sub-set of them for thir own use. Presumably, the other PPE-armed fleets have their own weapon combinations.

As for heavy weapons, the Mallarans use plasmatrons; short-ranged direct fire weapons with a lot of close-range punch. Larer, they also developed Ram torpedoes; weapons that move sort of like plasmas, but come in drone-like racks. (Ram torpedoes are rare in that they do more damge if they strike mid-flight than up close; in excahnge for this, Rams cannot turn in SFB, but only sideslip.)

Like the Hydans, the Mallarans have a casual carrier doctrine; many of their ship carry a pair of Viper fighters, with their DN (and close-range heavy cruiser variant) packing 4. The overall numbers per ship are low compared to a Hydran; but the ship itself is more expensive by comparison.

It's not clear just yet if the Mallarans ever build dedicated carriers; but it is stated that they never developed gunboats.

-----

Rules-wise, they can wait for now; I'm in no major rush. (Not least since I'm not quite sure how best to handle those Ram torpedoes...)

But, if anyone familiar with their playtest SFB rules wants to post something, feel free.

-----

EDIT: added WIP cruiser and Viper-2 fighter.

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RAGE HEAVY CRUISER - 180 POINTS (CA)

First flown in Y50, The Rage heavy cruiser is a sleek and powerful ship best used in a standoff position to take advantage of the Ram torpedo’s range, and to support its Viper fighters.

Ships of the Class: Provocateur.

Turn: 4
Shields: 22
Neutronium Armour: 12
Damage: 32/11
Marines: 7
Craft: 2 Shuttles, 2 Fighters
Traits: Labs 8, Quick Launch, Tractor Beam 2, Transporter 2

Weapon Range Arc AD Special
Proton Pulse Emitter-2D - F, P 2 -
Proton Pulse Emitter-2D - F, S 2 -
Proton Pulse Emitter-1D - A, P, S 1 -
Proton Pulse Emitter-1B - PH 1 -
Proton Pulse Emitter-1B - SH 1 -
Proton Pulse Emitter-1B - A, P, S 1 -
Plasmatrons - FH 2 -
Ram Torpedoes - F, P 1 -
Ram Torpedoes - F, S 1 -
Multi-Purpose Defence System - PH 1 -
Multi-Purpose Defence System - SH 1 -

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VIPER-2 FIGHTER - +20 POINTS (Viper-2)

First fielded in Y120, the Viper-2 saw widespread service in the Mallaran fleet by Y122. It incorporated the plasmatron and Ram torpedo weaponry of both of its Viper-1 predecessors (which had come in either seeking or direct-fire variants), making it a more flexible option for Mallaran captains to bring into action.

Turn: SM
Shields: 0
Damage: 1
Marines: 0
Craft: None
Traits: Dogfight +4, Fighter

Weapon Range Arc AD Special
Proton Pulse Emitter-2B - F 2 -
Plasmatrons - F 1 -
Small Ram Torpedoes - F 2 -


-----

 

[Nerroth]

And the last of the four playtest empires so far; the Arachnid Worlds of Union.

-----

Of the various young realms uplifted to space by the Helgardians, the Mallarans above are an example of things not going according to plan. The rise of the Arachnids, in contrast, is exhibit A of how things can happen that were never part of that plan in the first place.

One of the species that the Helgardians signed a Warp Pact with was the Aloola; that deal was done in Y3. Things were more or less by the book until Y24, when an Aloola scout ship entered a star system on the brink of extinction; its sun on the brink of going nova. What the Aloola crew failed to account for, however, was the species of half-inch-long translucent spiders whose home world happened to lie in the doomed sun's orbit. For their part, the Arachnids, seizing this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to escape their imminent demise, managed to capture the ship, assimilate its crew, stuff its holds full of more Arachnids, and escape the system before it suffered its fiery demise.

Each individual Arachnid is capable of assimilating most biological life forms, by entering the body and attaching to the cerebral cortex. Unlike the Sigvirions, a sentient virus in the Omega Octant that can also assimilate various host species, this process does not erase the victim's pre-existing personality; rather, the Arachnid has total control over their new host's body, mind, and stored memories. Eventually, a new combined personality emerges, under the direction of the Arachnid parasite. However, the side-effect of this degree of immersion is the severe strain it places upon the host; most human-esque bodies expire after only two or three years' use, at which point the Arachnid sub-divides into two new Arachnids. These new Arachnids retain the memories of their various hosts, and are linked to the rest of their species through a pervasive psionic link. (It hasn't been stated as such, but I might guess it may be down to the new host species having not evolved on the former Arachnid home world; where one could imagine any native host species as having evolved to account for the Arachnids' presence.)

These pressures have had a significant role in shaping the Worlds of Union in the modern era. In the three years following their escape, they managed to assimilate more than three-quarters of Aloola territory; the remainder lives on as a smaller power known as Tragg's Realm. The Arachnids had been a little too successful, however; they soon found that, with so many of their new hosts dying, they risked running out of warm bodies. Once they grasped this problem, they attempted to "farm" their host species; by leaving them on various colony worlds, and only taking a smaller proportion of them for their own purposes. Despite this precaution, the Arachnids' population needs are far from met; so they are constantly driven outwards. As with the Mallarans, they must expand in order to survive.

In fact, the Mallaran Empire is the greatest rival of the Worlds of Union. From the Arachnid perspective, the Mallaran cloning technology would make for a great population resource; though it's unclear whether or not they are aware of the inherent shortcomings therein. To the Overmind, the Arachnids are an intolerable affront to its aspirations; each clone-warrior lost to Arachnid assimilation is one not able to prosecute the grand genetic harvest of the Triangulum Galaxy. (And speaking of harvests, the Overmind would likely find the various "farm" planets far more pliable once their Arachnid masters are gone.)

However, there is one species which even the Arachnids are wary of; the ancient Helgardians. The Arachnids learned about Helgardian immunity to assimilation the hard way, in Y27; when the Arachnids captured a trading ship from the Helgardians, attempted to assimilate the crew, and promptly dropped dead as a result (but only after several minutes of agonizing pain). The power and influence of the Helgardian Protectorate is such that the Arachnids dare not strike against the stronghold directly; and nor could they prevent the Helgardians from intervening to change the course of the First Great Expansion War, or from subsequently establishing themsleves as protectors of several empires that had been on the losing side of that war. (These acts were taken out of enlightened self-interest; to keep the balance of power such that no armed coalition could attempt to threaten the Helgardians themselves.)

-----

In terms of ships, the Arachnids build somewhat more ponderous hulls per class than their rivals; with Fed- or Gorn-like turn modes. Their pulse phasers (a weapon shared with other "eastern" Triangulum powers) and plasma-like hellfire and hellblazer torpedoes help do the maneuvering for them.

They are said not to develop fighters, but to eventually make use of gunboats instead. No Arachnid PFs are in print just yet, however.

-----

Rules-wise, the one thing to consider would be whether or not to bother giving them any options regarding assimilation.

Basically, they would have a shot of turning any "dead" Marine squads boarding their ships into new Arachnid Marines; though the concept of assimilating entire crews (or colonies) would only work if there were any boarding actions added to the game later on.

There are a number of species that would be immune, however; the aforementioned Helgardians; the Tholians, Hydrans and Andromedans; plus the Trobrin and a number of other Omega species.

-----

EDIT: added WIP CA.

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DRAGON HEAVY CRUISER - 180 POINTS (CA)

Entering service in Y47 as the first heavy cruiser built by one of the young realms of the modern-day Triangulum Galaxy, the Dragon is one of most powerful of its kind, mounting two hellfire torpedoes with enough power reserves to support them well in battle.

Ships of the Class: Submission.

Turn: 6
Shields: 24
Neutronium Armour: 9
Damage: 32/11
Marines: 5
Craft: 4 Shuttles
Traits: Labs 4, Quick Launch, Tractor Beam 2, Transporter 4

Weapon Range Arc AD Special
ER Pulse Phaser - F, P 2 -
ER Pulse Phaser - F, S 2 -
SR Pulse Phaser - PH 1 -
SR Pulse Phaser - SH 1 -
Light Pulse Phaser - T 2 -
Light Pulse Phaser - A 1 -
Hellfire Torpedoes - F, P 1 -
Hellfire Torpedoes - F, S 1 -


-----

 

[Nerroth]

While I'm still not sure how to model the various Triangulum weapon systems, I wanted to see about what the nuts-and-bolts of certain ships might look like in ACtA:SF terms. (If I figure out something for the weapons, I would at least have the arcs and suchlike listed already.)


So, these are sample CAs for the four playtest empires.

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PROTECTOR HEAVY CRUISER - 180 POINTS (CA)

The Protector entered service in Y118, during the First Great Expansion War. The Council was concerned about the war that was rapidly spreading all around them, and wanted a cruiser better suited for combat. The Protector is a heavily modified version of the Vanguard-clasc cruiser, with a large portion of its support facilities ripped out to make room for more weapons and power.

Ships of the Class: None as yet recorded.

Turn: 4
Shields: 18
Damage: 28/10
Marines: 4
Craft: 2 Shuttles
Traits: Agile, Labs 2, Probe 2, Rotary Shielding, Tractor Beam 2, Transporter 2

Weapon Range Arc AD Special
Medium Graviton Beam - F, P 2 -
Medium Graviton Beam - F, S 2 -
Medium Graviton Beam - AH 2 -
Light Graviton Beam - PH 1 -
Light Graviton Beam - SH 1 -
Light Graviton Beam - T 1 -
Particle Shotguns - F 3 -

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IMPERATOR HEAVY CRUISER - 180 POINTS (CA)

A capable ship, the Imperator-class, like most Imperium ships, is most effective when saber-dancing with its opponent. The turret, mounting most of its weapons, can face anywhere in the front, port, or starboard arcs, allowing the Imperator to conduct an effective fighting retreat. The strong rear shielding can also be used to take advantage of the turret mounted weaponry.

Ships of the Class: None as yet recorded.

Turn: 4
Shields: 21
Neutronium Armour: 12
Damage: 28/10
Marines: 5
Craft: 5 Shuttles
Traits: Agile, Labs 3, Tractor Beam 2, Transporter 2

Weapon Range Arc AD Special
Medium Linear Accelerators - I 4 -
Medium Linear Accelerators - A 1 -
Small Linear Accelerators - F, P 2 -
Small Linear Accelerators - F, S 2 -
Hypermass Autocannons - I 4

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RAGE HEAVY CRUISER - 180 POINTS (CA)

First flown in Y50, The Rage heavy cruiser is a sleek and powerful ship best used in a standoff position to take advantage of the Ram torpedo’s range, and to support its Viper fighters.

Ships of the Class: Provocateur.

Turn: 4
Shields: 22
Neutronium Armour: 12
Damage: 32/11
Marines: 7
Craft: 2 Shuttles, 2 Fighters
Traits: Labs 8, Quick Launch, Tractor Beam 2, Transporter 2

Weapon Range Arc AD Special
Proton Pulse Emitter-2D - F, P 2 -
Proton Pulse Emitter-2D - F, S 2 -
Proton Pulse Emitter-1D - A, P, S 1 -
Proton Pulse Emitter-1B - PH 1 -
Proton Pulse Emitter-1B - SH 1 -
Proton Pulse Emitter-1B - A, P, S 1 -
Plasmatrons - FH 2 -
Ram Torpedoes - F, P 1 -
Ram Torpedoes - F, S 1 -
Multi-Purpose Defence System - PH 1 -
Multi-Purpose Defence System - SH 1 -

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VIPER-2 FIGHTER - +20 POINTS (Viper-2)

First fielded in Y120, the Viper-2 saw widespread service in the Mallaran fleet by Y122. It incorporated the plasmatron and Ram torpedo weaponry of both of its Viper-1 predecessors (which had come in either seeking or direct-fire variants), making it a more flexible option for Mallaran captains to bring into action.

Turn: SM
Shields: 0
Damage: 1
Marines: 0
Craft: None
Traits: Dogfight +4, Fighter

Weapon Range Arc AD Special
Proton Pulse Emitter-2B - F 2 -
Plasmatrons - F 1 -
Small Ram Torpedoes - F 2 -


-----

DRAGON HEAVY CRUISER - 180 POINTS (CA)

Entering service in Y47 as the first heavy cruiser built by one of the young realms of the modern-day Triangulum Galaxy, the Dragon is one of most powerful of its kind, mounting two hellfire torpedoes with enough power reserves to support them well in battle.

Ships of the Class: Submission.

Turn: 6
Shields: 24
Neutronium Armour: 9
Damage: 32/11
Marines: 5
Craft: 4 Shuttles
Traits: Labs 4, Quick Launch, Tractor Beam 2, Transporter 4

Weapon Range Arc AD Special
ER Pulse Phaser - F, P 2 -
ER Pulse Phaser - F, S 2 -
SR Pulse Phaser - PH 1 -
SR Pulse Phaser - SH 1 -
Light Pulse Phaser - T 2 -
Light Pulse Phaser - A 1 -
Hellfire Torpedoes - F, P 1 -
Hellfire Torpedoes - F, S 1 -


-----

The entries for rotary shielding and neutronium armour are placeholders for now; as is the "I" arc for the Imperium CA's turret. (There would be two types of turret on Imperium ships; cruisers and larger hulls would be able to turn into the F, P, or S arcs, while destroyers and other smaller hulls can have their turrets face in any direction.)

 

[Nerroth]

EDIT: Obsolete posting.