Ship Screens

[branford]

After reading High Guard, I am confused as to thee number of screens that a ship may have active at any given time. On HG, p. 50, it states that a ship may only have power plant / 2 screens active (presumably with a maximum of 3 with a level 6 power plant). However, on HG, p. 65, its indicates that at TL 15 a ship can combine up to 6 active nuclear dampers or meson screens (or 4 at TL 14), which would imply that such a ship had a level 12 power plant (or level 8 at TL 14), an apparent impossibility under the current rules.

Further, do the rules as written allow an indicated number of screens of each GROUP (damper, meson screens and shields) to SIMULTANEOUSLY remain active, or do the rules permit only a combined total of x number of screens to be active.

Thanks.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

Reread the paragraph about Screens on page 65. It explains the apparent difference.

... defensives screens scale with the size of the ship. A capital ship will need a larger screen projector to protect itself. Only one screen generator needs to be installed per ship, but extra generators can be installed as backups or to provide a stronger screen.

The comment on page 50 is for STANDARD size ships (<3000 tons). For capital ships, you use the PP limit per the table on page 64 (max of each type of screen) and the table on page 65 based on TL for the maximum combination of screens possible.

So for a TL 15, PP5 Capital ship:

Per table on page 64: 5 screens per type are allowed.
Per table on page 65: 6 Nuclear Dampers, 6 Meson and 3 Black Globe.

So, for your capital ship, it could have 5 Nuclear Dampers, 5 Meson Screens and 3 Black Globes all active at the same time.

Alternately, a TL 12, PP6 Capital ship:
Per page 64: 6 screens
Per page 65: 1 Nuclear Damper, 1 Meson and 0 Black Globes

So this ship could only have 1 Nuclear Damper and 1 Meson Screen on at a time.

Whichever table provides the lowest allowed screens is the one you use.

The example on Page 50 provides the answer to the "each screen or all screens" question. The example specifically states that the limit is per screen type. But again, this is for "adventure class ships" not Capital Ships.

Hope that helps.

 

[branford]

Thank you. Your explanation was quite helpful.