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Totally Not An ISB Agent
Ensign
Joined: 06 May 2020
Posts: 38
Location: New Brunswick, Canada
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 Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2020 12:34 pm Post subject: Reentry and Shields |
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| I have a question for the group. If a ship was entering a planet's atmosphere at too high a speed and was taking damage from the heat of reentry, would putting up the shields help to mitigate that? |
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Raven Redstar
Rear Admiral
Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 2648
Location: Salem, OR
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| Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2020 1:29 pm Post subject: |
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I would say, in most cases, yes.
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
Joined: 05 Apr 2010
Posts: 16320
Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.
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| Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2020 1:49 pm Post subject: Re: Reentry and Shields |
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| Totally Not An ISB Agent wrote: | | I have a question for the group. If a ship was entering a planet's atmosphere at too high a speed and was taking damage from the heat of reentry, would putting up the shields help to mitigate that? |
Unfortunately, the way the rules are structured don't really allow this to be factored in, although it should certainly be a factor. It has long been my contention that particle / navigation shields are a huge factor in SW ships being able to operate in-atmosphere, by fine-tuning the shape of said shields to create low/no-drag aerodynamic envelopes around craft that are obviously not aerodynamic.
Ultimately, it just becomes a handwave to explain why ships travel so slow in atmosphere (even an A-Wing can just barely break the sound barrier - 1234.8 km/h - at All-Out) yet so fast (relatively speaking) in space itself. Obviously, for there to be anything remotely resembling realistic space travel, there has to be some sort of transition from space-travel mode to atmospheric mode, but the WEG rules are vague on exactly how and when that happens.
I suppose one could rule that a ship in space has to slow to a Space of 1 (Cautious Speed) in order to make the transition, which works the other direction as well (a ship transitioning from Atmosphere into Space) must start effectively from a dead stop. This actually works well with some scenes in the EU where ships in orbit ambush ships taking off from the planet by choosing an orbit specifically designed to maintain sufficient velocity to overtake a target before it can accelerate enough to get away (the Falcon's departure from Duroon in the opening pages of Han Solo at Star's End, and Luke's escape from Poderis in The Last Command).
Excellent screen name choice, BTW.
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Whill
Dark Lord of the Jedi (Owner/Admin)
Joined: 14 Apr 2008
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Location: Columbus, Ohio, USA, Earth, The Solar System, The Milky Way Galaxy
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garhkal
Sovereign Protector
Joined: 17 Jul 2005
Posts: 14213
Location: Reynoldsburg, Columbus, Ohio.
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| Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2020 3:35 pm Post subject: |
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Thing is, not all ships even have shields.. And they still go in/out of atmosphere...
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Grimace
Captain
Joined: 11 Oct 2004
Posts: 729
Location: Montana; Big Sky Country
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| Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2020 7:23 pm Post subject: |
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Yes, many ships without shields still go in and out of atmosphere, but the OP mentioned "at too high of speed". I would imagine a ship without shields would generally take it easy coming into atmosphere to handle the friction heat build-up that would occur.
The last thing you want is to lose part of your hull plating when you're coming in "hot" through the atmosphere. (Cue Serenity: *Klang* "What was that? Is my ship falling apart?" Pilot - "Uh...we may have a problem here.") |
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
Joined: 05 Apr 2010
Posts: 16320
Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.
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| Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2020 7:50 pm Post subject: |
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That's where particle shields would come in, since they're already counted as part of the ship's hull. Obviously, their absorptive ability isn't going to be infinite, and multiple layers of shielding would be useful in offsetting any burn through, but at that point, it's just a matter of figuring out the Damage mechanic based on how many SUs/round the ship is traveling. Maybe convert the SUs moved into pips, convert to D in Damage and roll it against the ship's Hull?
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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.
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garhkal
Sovereign Protector
Joined: 17 Jul 2005
Posts: 14213
Location: Reynoldsburg, Columbus, Ohio.
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| Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2020 3:47 am Post subject: |
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That could work. The faster you're coming in, the more damage your ship has to soak..
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Random_Axe
Lieutenant Commander
Joined: 11 Sep 2013
Posts: 102
Location: Toronto
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| Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2020 6:19 pm Post subject: |
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| Sounds like a great story hook somewhere in here... or at least an encounter hook. |
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garhkal
Sovereign Protector
Joined: 17 Jul 2005
Posts: 14213
Location: Reynoldsburg, Columbus, Ohio.
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| Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2020 1:27 am Post subject: |
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One of my modules, has folks crashing into a planet, cause of the atmosphere, acting like going through a massive EM field, shutting their ship down..
Looking at this thread, i am wondering, if maybe i should have included rules for going through the atmosphere fast, and burning the ship up.?
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
Joined: 05 Apr 2010
Posts: 16320
Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.
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| Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2020 10:37 am Post subject: |
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| garhkal wrote: | | That could work. The faster you're coming in, the more damage your ship has to soak.. |
Okay, some thoughts...
My initial idea is a decent starting place, but doesn't work because it would allow large ships like star destroyers and such to crash-dive an atmosphere because their high Hull and Shield ratings would allow them to soak the Damage, when their far larger size should result in the absorbing far more heat.
As such, it would probably be better for a ship entering atmosphere at speed to take Damage equal to their own Hull + 1 pip per SU moved that round.
From there we'd potentially be getting into greater air density causing more damage at lower altitudes, as well as aero-braking maneuvers in a planet's upper atmosphere.
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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
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Whill
Dark Lord of the Jedi (Owner/Admin)
Joined: 14 Apr 2008
Posts: 10435
Location: Columbus, Ohio, USA, Earth, The Solar System, The Milky Way Galaxy
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| Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2020 8:06 pm Post subject: |
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| garhkal wrote: | One of my modules, has folks crashing into a planet, cause of the atmosphere, acting like going through a massive EM field, shutting their ship down..
Looking at this thread, i am wondering, if maybe i should have included rules for going through the atmosphere fast, and burning the ship up.? |
Sure. Why not?
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Totally Not An ISB Agent
Ensign
Joined: 06 May 2020
Posts: 38
Location: New Brunswick, Canada
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| Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2020 4:16 pm Post subject: Re: Reentry and Shields |
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| CRMcNeill wrote: | | Excellent screen name choice, BTW. |
| Whill wrote: | | Welcome to the Pit! |
Thanks to both of you. 
There are some good ideas posted here. I've been mucking about with this for a while, and I have some thoughts that I'll be posting soon (and by soon, I mean sometime in the next week or three). I just need to get my thoughts organized so that I can explain them in a way that isn't rambling, incoherent, and flying off in tangents in all directions.  |
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garhkal
Sovereign Protector
Joined: 17 Jul 2005
Posts: 14213
Location: Reynoldsburg, Columbus, Ohio.
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| Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2020 1:33 am Post subject: |
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Oh, and you are totally an ISB agent..
Welcome to the club! 
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Totally Not An ISB Agent
Ensign
Joined: 06 May 2020
Posts: 38
Location: New Brunswick, Canada
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| Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2020 9:03 pm Post subject: |
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| garhkal wrote: | Oh, and you are totally an ISB agent..
Welcome to the club! |
Thanks, but there's no Imperial agents here. <shifty eyes> |
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