Shadow scream

[Shadow Queen]

would of thought theyd have a scream rule like in the show

 

[WereRogue]

Yeah, something similar to the Psi-Corps rule would be easy to adopt.

-Ken

 

[Da Boss]

Yopu can never have too much Shadow stuff - love the scream but thats just me


Made up this for my Darkness rising beacuse of it

Shadow Mindflayer Battle
The rise of telepaths within the younger races at the instigation of the Vorlons was not stopped by the destruction of the Narn mindspeakers or at the conclusion of the last Great War. As the Swiftfire was evolved to combat the swarms of Minbari fighters so the Mindflayer was conceived to combat telepaths with there own kind. The assistance of Earth has meant a steady flow of dissidents for integration in these ships and Shadows now feel ready to face the Minbari in open battle.

Speed: 8 Turn: SM
Hull: 6 Damage: 40 (10)
Craft: none
Special Rules: Atmospheric, Self-Repair 2D6, Shields 10/5

In Service: Weapon Range Arc AD Special
Psychic Scream 12 T 6 Super AP
Molecular Slicer Beam 18 F 2 Beam, Precise, Triple Damage

Special: This ship is immune to Telepathic Disruption
Psychic Scream: Upon a successful hit, the MindFlayer will not cause any damage. Instead, it will inflict a –4 penalty on all Crew Quality checks made by the target for the rest of the turn and all of the next. A Psychic Scream has no effect on a ship with active Shields, Vorlons or Ancients but can not be intercepted.

 

[Alcibiades]

I am very new to ACTA but a long time fan of the series. My first two ACTA fleets are ISA and Shadows.

Derinna's comments got me thinking about the series and ultimately, I went back a rewatched a number of episodes featuring Shadow attacks. Certainly the attacks were accompanied by "the Scream" which seemed to shake the morale of the opposing crew. Wanting to give the Shadows a little more character, we house ruled the following:

Shadow Scream - SA available to Shadow Ancients and Young. Targets all enemy ships within 24"/18" respectively. Any enemy ship that loses an opposed crew quality check has their CQ reduced by one for the rest of the turn (not cumulative). The Shadow ship rolls once for its CQ and compares it to all targetted vessels. Ships with CQ6, Vorlons and Ancients are immune.

Haven't had a chance to see the effects yet, but will be putting it to the test this weekend. Ideally, it may throw the ISA's scouting out a bit.

Thoughts/input would be gratefully received.

 

[Burger]

So does the scream only work in atmosphere?

Or is it actually a broadcast sent out to disrupt the opponents comms devices? If so, just give Shadows a Comms Disruptor and call it "scream".

 

[Locutus9956]

It's telepathic surely. They refer to it as a 'scream inside your head' or something along those lines at one point I seem to recall.

 

[Burger]

Ah fair enough - it is accompanied by an audible scream though since we can hear it too... I'm fairly sure I heard it coming from my speakers not in my head!

 

[Alcibiades]

Burger, I see the scream as having more of an impact on crew morale and efficiency as opposed to having any affect on a ship's hardware. I liken it to the scream of the Nazguls from LOTR.

 

[Burger]

The point I am making is that in space, nobody can hear you scream... even if you're an Ancient being. If the scream is purely audio, then how does it traverse the vacuum of space?

It must be either transmitted through Comms devices, or as Locutus said, telepathic in nature.

 

[Sulfurdown]

Ah fair enough - it is accompanied by an audible scream though since we can hear it too... I'm fairly sure I heard it coming from my speakers not in my head!

How could you tell if it was the speakers or in your head?

 

[Da Boss]

The point I am making is that in space, nobody can hear you scream... even if you're an Ancient being. If the scream is purely audio, then how does it traverse the vacuum of space?

It must be either transmitted through Comms devices, or as Locutus said, telepathic in nature.

probably the same way as all the other noises get heard in space on tv / films :wink:

I liked the scream - quite soothing - but maybe thats just me

 

[Stonehorse]

The point I am making is that in space, nobody can hear you scream... even if you're an Ancient being. If the scream is purely audio, then how does it traverse the vacuum of space?

Just like an attack which dosen't cause a hit, can by pass a shield :wink:

The Scream idea is good, I think Alcibiades idea is a good representation of how it would work.

 

[nekomata fuyu]

I'd be tempted to just have it as a -1CQ penalty whilst within a given distance of a Shadow ship. 12" maybe?

 

[katadder]

B5 space you can hear everything from shadow screams, explosions and engine noise
but then B5 space is also very colourful and even greeny yellow if you go brakiri space.

 

[Ripple]

I kinda like the SA idea. But I think the Ancients should have access to most of the SA's now. The restricted lists made sense before when the ships were really different in how they took damage and didn't degrade, but now? I don't know, just more things to do with the old scary races.

Ripple

 

[Methos5000]

I kinda like the SA idea. But I think the Ancients should have access to most of the SA's now. The restricted lists made sense before when the ships were really different in how they took damage and didn't degrade, but now? I don't know, just more things to do with the old scary races.

Ripple

They pretty much have access to all the ones they can use:
Vorlons:
Activate Jump Point: Can use it
All Hands on Deck: auto repairs crits so unneeded.
All Power to Engines: Can use it
All Stop: Can use it
All Stop and Pivot: Can use it
Close Blast Doors: Can't use it but all but one Vorlon ship only have 1 weapon system and perhaps the Vorlons don't have blast doors to close.
Come About: Can use it
Concentrate All Fire-power: Can't use it but doesn't apply to beams anyway
Give me Ramming Speed: Vorlon ships can't be crippled so doesn't apply
Initiate Jump Point: Can use it
Intensify Defensive Fire: Can't use it. Not sure why though, would be a good one when weapons dont have an arc and are being swarmed by fighters.
Run Silent: Can use it.
Scramble Scramble: Short of a refit no Vorlon ships currently carry fighters.
Stand Down and prepare to be boarded: Can't use it. Perhaps a balance since it cant be used against Vorlons either? Though I suppose since it mentions boarding that could be why they can't use it.

Shadows:
Activate Jump Point: Shadows don't use Jump Gates
All Hands on Deck: auto repairs crits so unneeded.
All Power to Engines: Superb Manueverability replaces this
All Stop: SM so they don't need it.
All Stop and Pivot: SM so they don't need it.
Close Blast Doors: Can't use it. Perhaps Shadows don't have blast doors to close.
Come About: SM so they don't need it.
Concentrate All Fire-power: Can't use it but doesn't apply to beams anyway
Give me Ramming Speed: Shadow ships can't be crippled so doesn't apply
Initiate Jump Point: Can use it.
Intensify Defensive Fire: Can't use it, but Shadows don't have AF
Run Silent: Can't use it. Not sure why really.
Scramble Scramble: Shadow ships can start with all their carried fighters on the table anyway so it doesnt really need this one.
Stand Down and prepare to be boarded: Can't use it. Perhaps a balance since it cant be used against Shadows either? Or the Shadows don't take prisoners. Though since it mentions boarding perhaps thats why they can't use it.

So there are only a couple SA that the Shadows and Vorlon fleets can't use. Im not sure why it doesn't list what SA the Ancient ships can use.

 

[Right Hand of God]

The Shadows can use Run Silent according to page 137 of the fleet book.

The Vorlons cannot use All Power to Engines, page 133 of the fleet book

 

[Court Jester]

I think a simple rule like...

• All enemy ships within 8" of Shadow Ships (Young or Ancient) suffer a -1 to their crew quality (minimum 1) and enemy Fighters within 8" suffer -1 dogfight.

Would work just as well.

 

[Methos5000]

The Shadows can use Run Silent according to page 137 of the fleet book.

The Vorlons cannot use All Power to Engines, page 133 of the fleet book

My bad. I was reading both at the same time, alternating back and forth I must have mixed a couple up.

That being said I'm not really sure why the Vorlons can't use APtE, I thought they could in 1st Ed. I can understand the Shadows not having it because they have better movement rules.

Also I suppose the Shadow scout can benefit from Concentrate all fire but I suppose that they felt a SA that only 1 ship could use wasn't needed...

 

[Da Boss]

Also I suppose the Shadow scout can benefit from Concentrate all fire but I suppose that they felt a SA that only 1 ship could use wasn't needed...

well you could also say they are the most used and make up a 1/4 of the avialble ships not counting the fighters. They will form the majority of fleets in scenarios and battles.........