First, apologies to Moggy and Chuut. I haven't been home much this week, and thus it has taken me forever to see your notes.
Second, Chuut raises an interesting question: "What are drogues? Are they some kind of rogue drone?"
Well, obviously someone hasn't purchased ADB's new Star Fleet Battles supplement, module J2: Heavy Fighters. It was released in Oct of 2002, I believe, and should still be in your favorite hobbey store. Still, Chuut hit it on the head first try. In Day of the Eagle (Coming "soon" to a D2 near you) there will be a chance each time you fire a drone that it will go "rogue" and target your own ship. You will need to watch your defenses closely, so you can pick off any drones you fire that might turn and begin tracking you. This will add a great deal of excitement and risk to combat on the D2.
For Day of the Eagle, the chance of a drone going rogue will be small; about 30% chance per drone. I'm thinking of really kicking it up a notch though (bamn!) , and making the chance 70% for my next server:
Death of the Kitties.
<crickets chirp>
<cats hissing angrily>
What, no one is laughing? Oh, you kitties have no sense of humor.
Well, gather 'round, best beloved, and I'll tell you all about the real answer. Drogues are towed weapons arrays, dating all the way back to submarine warfare in WWI. They were first invented for use on starships by the Klingons, who wanted to find something that could match Kzinti drone launch rates without having to rely upon scatterpack shuttles. Of course what the Klinks could invent the Cats could copy, so in the end the Klinks still lagged behind in drone launch ability.
What the Cats could copy everyone else could copy as well, and by the time the Kzinti got around to offering drogues to the Federation the wiley flatheads had already created their own. (The Freds claimed their drogues were superior, best beloved, because their workers were paid fair union wages. But that is neither here nor there.) More drogues soon followed as each race in the galaxy found a need to supplement their starships' firepower.
So What Kind of Drogues Are in Day of the Eagle, coming soon(er or later) to a D2 near you?Never fear, best beloved. Your favorite race of the three will get their fair share of droges. Current models include:
1)
The phaser drogue: Armed with a phaser 2 and a phaser 3, this towed array offers general purpose firepower supplementation. All races use the phaser drogue. Shooting the enemy is just too much fun not to.
2)
The drone drogue: Does the galaxy not have enough cheese? <long-suffering sigh> The drogue is used only by the Flatheads and carries two six-drone vollyes of short-ranged warp homing drones.
3)
The AWS drogue: Invented by the Gorn (who just love ground combat) this drogue carries six gravity sleds which can carry an anti-matter warhead to important places. Important place like where all those annoying pointy-ears live on that planet you want dead. This drogue was quickly copied by the Roms who immediately fell in love with planetary bombardment of civilian populations. The Flatheads felt this weapon offended their sensibilities so they never use it, but that's
THEIR problem.
4)
The Plas-D drogue: The Feds use a lot of nasty, pointy-tipped drones on their ships and (most especially) their fighters. This caused the Roms a lot of bother, since drones are not something their fleet is well designed to counter. One solution was the Plas-D drogue, which could carry 8 charges in stasis cannisters before needing to be hauled in and reloaded. This drogue was quickly copied by the Gorn, when they realized just how many icky Gladiator fighters the Roms could carry on their Vulture Heavy Carrier. (That many Gladiataors wasn't something the luggage fleet was designed to face.....)
5)
The HEAVY drogue: Looking for further ways to enhance the firepower of their line cruisers, the Rom and Gorn both developed a drogue capable of housing three type F torpedos. Who invented it first is a matter of debate, with both sides blaming the other of "escalating" first. Not to be outdone, the Feds invented a Heavy drogue capable of carrying 12 type 1 drones, though its launch rate was limited.
HOW DO DROGUES OPERATE?Drogues operate from your shuttle bay, and are hooked by a special tractor tether. This means you give up one of your shuttles. When in the shipyard, you will have the choice of trading in one of your shuttles for a drogue. You may only change in one shuttle.
The equipment needed to operate the tether and service a drogue replaces the equipment needed to convert a shuttle to either a WW or a suicide, so the bay can no longer be used for that purpose. If you keep your shuttle, it can thus only be used as a standard shuttle. Your fleet high command has decided that this tradeoff is worth the extra firepower you can get from a drogue. And who are you, best beloved, to question High Command? Now get out there and die for the Emperor (or racial equivalent).
Only frontline cruisers may carry drogues. Carriers, auxiliaries, and command ships may not. Carriers and auxiliaries alreayd have enough special equipment to keep track of. As for command ships, their extra firepower is not for use on in combat but for use in protecting their valuable command and contorl facilities. High command has decided that an extra WW (just in case) is far more able to protect these assets than would be a drogue. Again, who are you, best beloved, to question High Command? (No, no, don't make faces. It might freeze like that.)
Drogues aren't especially easy to use, can only withstand about 10 points of damage, cannot manuever themselves, and will slow down your cruiser when you tow them. However, when used properly they can prove a valuable asset. Hopefully they will prove to be fun. They will at least be a new toy to play with. (Along with the Rom and Gorn carriers, Heavy Bombers, and
real Flathead fighters.)
Happy Warmongering!
-Herr Burt
Topic: Day of the Eagle: All about Drogues (Read 10128 times)