Directed Energy Weapon Countermeasure

[The Brain]

Something I keep meaning to import and finally found my stats for...

Directed Energy Weapon Countermeasure

"No we are not calling it a sandcaster! This a spacecraft defensive countermeasure system. That makes it sounds like some kind of dune buggy. Now get out of my office!"--Pre-Republic archeological data file

In the misty time of legends before the Republic or even the invention of hyperdrive and repulsors space faring races engaged in combat with themselves. These early battles involved quite primitive vessels by today's standards. Soon after this a lesson was learned, early spacecraft predating ray shielding and lacking the luxury for the mass required for hulls to be armored to withstand laser beams (the new cutting edge weapon of the day)don't last long. So the Directed Energy Weapon Countermeasure (DEW-C) was developed to at least reduce the punishment dealt out by these deadly beams.
At its heart the DEW-C consisted of a launcher and automated sensor system aiding a live operator or even a primitive droid (or in desperate cases a manual operator only no fire control bonus) calibrated to detect hostile fire control systems and preemptively deploy a canister of ablative material between attacker and target. After launching the canister detonates deploying a cloud of ablative material to absorb or at least degrade the incoming energy before impacting on the defending vessel. Early DEW-Cs used iron or steel granules or ball bearings sometimes with an addition ablative coating to improve its effectiveness in more advanced models. This material proved both economical for a disposable projectile and allowed the use of an electromagnet system built into the canister to compensate for the cloud to over disperse from its initial explosive deployment. The final most advanced models employed a system based on tractor beam technology replacing the electromagnet system allowing the use of more effective non-ferrous materials. However at this time ray-shielding technology had become effective and economical enough to render DEW-Cs to considered obsolete.

Early Model DEW-C
Mass: 4 tons
+2 to hull value vs. Energy
Fire Control: +2
Ammo: 20 (1 shot counters 1 energy attack)

Advanced Model DEW-C
Mass: 3.5 tons
+1d to hull value vs. Energy
Fire Control: +1d
Ammo: 25 (1 shot counters 1 energy attack)

Game notes: DEW-Cs are deployed as a reaction skill vs. the gunnery skill of the attacker. The DEW-C skill is quite rare now, esoteric beyond even that of Archaic Starship Piloting.

[MrNexx]

What I think of:

Dream mess
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[Bren]

[CRMcNeill]

[Sutehp]

[Bren]

[CRMcNeill]

I dont recall the episode name or number, but it was the episode where Babylon 5 broke with the Earth Alliance and Earthforce cruisers attacked the station. In the opening sequence of the battle, you can see one of the cruisers firing a short range weapon that stops an enemy attack just short of its hull. Again, no specifics...

Also, as far as the OP, a more high-tech version might use disruptor weaponry, and just technobabble that the blast from a disruptor works against energy as well as matter...
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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

[garhkal]

Well, there is precedent in some way for this, with the blaster dispersing gas that can be used in character scale combat. So i like that abative stuff.
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