Shield Recharging / Damage Revision

[Ning Leihrec]

I’ve always felt that shields should recharge slowly rather than require repairs unless the shield generator itself is damaged. All too often a freelance job paying all of 10,000 credits gets spent on repairing a couple of blown shield dice when the ship itself is otherwise unscathed. I've GMd several such spacer runs where the shields were more of a cost hazard than a protection benefit. I’ve revised the starship damage table to reflect rechargeable shields, and edited the controls ionized description which, in the RAW, describes shield penalties, which doesn't make sense being that controls are only ionized once the shields are completely knocked out. Also, under my house rule, damage of 0-3 only causes 1 pip of shield loss rather than a whole die. Standard shield generators recharge at a rate of 1 pip per hour of non-combat flight, or inactivity. Light damage may knock out a full die of shields, and heavy damage has the potential to damage the shield generator which requires repairs in accord with the shield repair rules as written. Below are the damage chart revisions. My changes are in all caps.

Shields blown.
A shields blown result means that the ship loses -1 PIP from its shields total. This loss lasts until the shields RECHARGE AT A RATE OF 1 PIP FOR EVERY HOUR OF NON-COMBAT FLIGHT, OR INACTIVITY. If the ship has no dice remaining in shields (or had no shields to begin with), the ship suffers the controls ionized result.

Controls ionized.
A controls ionized result means that the ship's controls are temporarily overwhelmed by power surges. The ship loses -ID from its maneuverability and weapon fire control for the rest of that round and the next round.
If a ship is suffering from as many controls ionized results as the ship has maneuverability dice, the ship's controls are frozen for the next two rounds. The ship must maintain the same speed and direction for the next two rounds; it may not turn, fire weapons, or take any other actions, making the ship an easy target for enemy gunners.
The pilot must still make the piloting rolls or the ship automatically crashes (if there's anything to run into) or goes spinning out of control.

Lightly damaged.
UNCHANGED

Heavily damaged.
Heavily damaged ships have taken a much more serious amount of damage. If a heavily damaged ship is lightly damaged or heavily damaged again, it becomes severely damaged. Roll ID to see which system is affected.
1. Ship loses -2D from its maneuverability. (If the ship's maneuverability has already been reduced to OD,the ship suffers a -2 Move.)
2. Ship loses a weapons' system in one fire arc. Randomly determine which one. All weapons of that type and in that fire arc are rendered inoperative due to a major power surge or system failure.
Example: A Star Destroyer has 60 turbolaser batteries: 20 to the front, 20 to the left fire arc and 20 to the right fire arc. A lucky shot takes out the front fire arc turbolasers, although the left fire arc turbolasers and the right fire arc turbolasers are still fully operational.
3. Weapons system destroyed. All of the weapons of one type in the same fire arc are destroyed by a series of power overloads. The gunners take damage. (See "passenger damage.")
4. Hyperdrive damaged. Increase all astrogation difficulties by +10 until the drive is fixed with a Moder- ate repair roll and one hour of work.
5. Ship loses -2D from its shields. If the ship has no dice remaining in shields the SHIELD GENERATOR IS DAMAGED AND MUST BE REPAIRED FOLLOWING THE STANDARD SHIELD REPAIR RULES AS WRITTEN. SHIELDS CANNOT REGENERATE UNTIL THEN. IF THE SHIELD GENERATOR IS ALREADY DAMAGED OR THE SHIP HAS NO SHIELDS TO BEGIN WITH IT SUFFERS 2 CONTROLS IONIZED.
6. Ship suffers a -2 Move.

Severely damaged.
UNCHANGED

[Naaman]

Sounds good to me. What about hooking the shields up to a charger to help it recharge faster.

Just a thought I might have as a PC.

[Savar]

How this work with back up shields?

[Ning Leihrec]

That's a thought, Naaman. I also considered more advanced shield generators recharging at a quicker rate, maybe 1D per hour instead of 1 pip. I don't think they should recharge quickly enough to be useful in combat however. For that you'd need backup shields like the Mon Calamari use. And, Savar, it seems to me that backup shields should recharge slower than primary shields. Maybe half as fast?

[CRMcNeill]

You could also just change the wording of Shields Blown / Controls Ionized into Shields / Controls Ionized, with the attendant -1D penalty for 1 round now applied to Shields first, followed by Controls once Shields are reduced to 0D. Then just combine #5 on Lightly Damaged with Shields Blown to retain the effect.

EDIT: Or, if Shields Ionized doesn't work for your version of the SWU, call it Shields Weakened or Shields Depleted, or something similar. The key point is just making the -1D penalty from Shields Blown a temporary issue, rather than something requiring repair to use again.
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[Savar]

I always thought that the shield was to the emitters, that is why it required a repair roll and parts.

Over loaded generators would be the higher levels of damage.

Your idea is that the generators fill a bank that powers the shields, that works also. Then the Mon Cal shields just have a bigger bank rather then twice the emitters then generators.

I would say with backup that the recharge rate stats the same, it just with double the dice needing to be restored it takes twice as long.

[Ning Leihrec]

[CRMcNeill]

A couple of points...

1) a fast recharge rate is actually consistent with the EU, at least insofar as the X-Wing novels and, IIRC, the Timothy Zahn books.

2) experienced SW D6 gamers are already familiar with the ionization mechanic of losing 1D for 1 round. I understand the basics of what you are trying to do, but your system of tracking losses by the pip per hour of noncombat flight would likely be the first part of this rule that an already busy GM would discard to expedite gameplay.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[Naaman]

Most likely by giving the ship enough off-camera "time" to fully recover between fights.

[Ning Leihrec]

[Naaman]

I tend to have a similar philosophy when it comes to equipment: restrictions exist for the purpose of lending significance to each choice: in my blaster combat thread, this is the major theme, and I see more potential for back up shields being luxurious or even a mark of status among ceftain spacer types.

[garhkal]

That makes me wonder. IN GG6 all we see for shield generators is a cost and tonnage it takes for them to be installed. BUT never an availability rating.
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Luwingo_Spince]

[Ning Leihrec]

Thanks. The SLAM is a good reference.

[RyanDarkstar]