Shielding against Ion damage...

[garhkal]

Ok. by the book, Ion cannons ignore shields. It is one of the main reasons they are feared... Many a time i have players asking if they could tinker with their ship (and many did get shield engineering/ship engineering) to make them protect against ions.... Eventually for one group i caved in, stating it would require 4 straight heroic+15 rolls to modify the shield genereator for ION protection, but when it was used for that, it would NOT protect against anything else.... 6 straight heroic+30 rolls though, would allow it to be protecting against both at the same time..

A) do you think that was a just call?
B) WOULD you allow something like that?
C) how would you do it??
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[Endwyn]

I would say that the PC's should engineer a type of shields that can handle an ion shot. That kind of roll would still be difficult and require research, but if it wasn't difficult the tech would already be available at some price level.

The easier way would be to have a shielded power source; even if it's only able to power certain systems. Since ion disrupts energy; perhaps they can jury rig up a system that allows them to "power down" before the ion shot disables them - they could power back up the next round. Of course, the balance point would be being defenseless against other attacks that round.
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[Tahlorn]

Can you say Faraday Cage? That is the type of real-world device used to avoid this type of damage, though scaling may be an issue.

The stop the ionization damage, you would need something for the power to disiapte across. This could be a Faraday's Cage, but the only problem with that is for it to work, it has to compeltely enclose the structure. And if that happens, then no electrical signals (radar, scanners, comm) could get out as well. So it would need to be something that would turn on / close right as the blast got to the ship, then turn off / open right afterwards, so as to not mess with the systems.

[Jedi Skyler]

What if they had a shielded backup power system that was rigged to kick on immediately in the event power was interrupted? In fact, could that system also have part of its resources devoted to restarting the primary power plant? Sort of lending itself to the restoration of power throughout the ship. Possible? Not possible?

[Argamoth]

How about some kind of isolating sheilding just for the circuits of the ship?

[Jedi Skyler]

Yeah, I'm wondering how it might be narrowed down so it gives the best protection but doesn't necessarily take up half the ship or add half again the ship's weight.

If you just have the circuits shielded, wouldn't you then also have to shield the shielding unit for those circuits? If that goes, it might take the circuits themselves out without another ion blast.

[Grimace]

Okay, this is how I would handle the whole thing.

1. Your call, you have to live with it. I don't think I would have allowed simple die rolls(albiet heroic die rolls), but also a hefty credit expenditure should be invovled, as well as a lengthy process with lots of trial an error. I consider Ion cannons as the "great equalizer", as both good guys and bad guys have to deal with the negative effects of ions and neither one or the other should have an easy out from the consequences of taking on ions. So I would have said something like the following:
First roll, Heroic+15, cost 500,000 credits, and one month of testing/trails
Second roll, Heroic +20, cost 1,500,000 credits, and two months of testing/trails
Third roll, Heroic +30, cost 3,000,000 credits, and four months of testing/trails
Fourth roll, Heroic +40, cost 5,000,000 credits, and a whole year of testing/trails.

Only then, can they create ONE prototype version of an "ion proof" instruments for a ship. Any one of the rolls fail and the money is still lost for that roll, but the whole testing thing starts over! Basically, testing shows the thing to be faulty at it's core, so all must be started from scratch. Of course, the skill require to do all of this is an advanced skill, Starship Engineering.

Even after completion, if word got out, which it would, there would be people gunning for those parts. Do you know how beneficial something like that would be? There would be ISB crawling all over, rebel intelligence operatives, bounty hunters, crime bosses, everyone and their grandmother (probably literally) would want to get it.

Basically, I would make it torture for the players to have something like that, as I consider it unbalancing. I wouldn't deny them the chance to make it, but honestly, if it was easy/cheap, then someone would have done it long, long ago. Thus, my exorbitant expenses and time taken to come up with a working model.

Mind you, they'd still have to refit their entire ship with these parts, so even after the year and a half of research, and 10 million to come up with working parts, they'd still have to gut their ship and put in the ion proof equipment. Essentially, I'd make this into a full fledged project for the group, so they understood how complex such a thing really is to make, and how important it is. That would give them even more reason to understand why everyone would want such a thing.


To more directly answer your questions, I'd go with the following:
Your call to make 4 heroic rolls to create shields that resisted ions only, but not other weapons, was decent. Couldn't argue with the reasoning much, and still offers a weakness that they have to deal with. Six rolls for a completely ion proof shielding system AND regular shielding system, I don't agree with. I would have at LEAST doubled the number of rolls.

I would also not allow shields to do the trick, as I mentioned above, but would require equipment to resist ions, not shields that did that.

As to how I would do it, see above.

[Jedi Skyler]

That's pretty well thought out, Grimace. I think I might have to agree with you about the difficulty of getting such equipment. I mean, if Imperial Star Destroyers, built by an Empire that would spend unlimited credits on such large-scale vessels and weapons, couldn't have such a device included in its arsenal, then it stands to reason that the thing couldn't be done- at least not by any conventional means. It'd have to be highly experimental (like the prototype you mentioned) and probably therefore prone to mishaps (like the Falcon- one of the best ships around, but only when it's actually WORKING!)

[Trusty]

I think the whole research process would take years and lots of money before any sort of mechanics and technical prowess (and even more money) came into the whole project.

As all the parts would be new, there would need to be a manufacturer...not just random wires, programming, and some sort of casing... That would require business deals.

And not too mention, the only sure fire way to spounge an ion shot is to weigh down the ship by reinforcing the hull. And then, make all the tweaks to the sublight engines, hyperdrive, ship systems, whatever to compensate.
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[Boomer]

What was assigned for difficulty was good. But time and costs are not being taken into account.

As for the faraday cage, that has all the problems mentioned before, plus it only works against EMP. Ion weaponry does the same as EMP but works on a completly diffrent principle.
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[Argamoth]

I'm not thinking of an actual enegry-type sheld for the circuits, but more like a non-conductive casing. Like a thick PVC pipe that the wires go through, and the pipe has some kind of ground on the outside. Without a ground it would probably just add armor vs. ion damage, not make it invunrible.

[Jedi Skyler]

Ah. The low-tech approach. Not a bad idea, if it will work...

[garhkal]

[Jedi Skyler]