There was a section I wrote later on regarding the Bussard Collectors and refueling in open space. Impulse fuel would not run out in the course of a battle, or even two, but it would take months of using nothing but impulse power without re-supply. Basically, if it's been a couple of years since your last re-supply you might want to check on topping off the tank.
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Firing Weapons (d10 based)
Target is: Base to Hit Number
at Point Blank Range: 2
at Short Range: 3
at Medium Range: 5
at Long Range*: 7
at Extreme Range**: 9
* Only Frigates and Larger may fire at Long Range
** Only Cruisers and Larger may fire at Extreme Range
Additional Modifiers:
+1 for each point of uncancelled ECM
-1 for each point of uncancelled ECCM
+3 for Target Ship under evasive
+2 for Firing ship under evasive
+1 for each sensor hit beyond threshold
-2 target is tractored by firing ship*
+2 Firing ship is being tractored
-2 Target is at zero velocity
-4 Target Size Class Planetoid
-3 Target Size Class Base
-2 Target Size Class DN
-1 Target Size Class BCH
+1 Target Size Class DD
+2 Target Size Class FF
+3 Target Size Class PF
+4 Target Size Class Fighter
-2 Firing Size class Fighter/PF
+3 Targeting Subsystems
No Modifiers for Cruiser Class Size
* Tractoring allows Early Phaser/Disruptors to target subsystems
Sensors:
Long Range Sensors - Can see ships but not Identify them. Civilian Ships should be broadcasting an Identification Beam.
Boosting Long Range Sensors/Scout Normal - Race Identification, but not ship size or class. Recalls Tagged information.
Scout Boosted - Size Identification, not Class.
Medium Range Sensors - Can see ships, Race, Size and Class Identification, but not Variant. Recalls Tagged Information. Shield Status (up/down).
Boosting Medium Range Sensors/Scout Normal - Variant Identification.
Scout Boosted - Tags target for future encounters. Weapons Status. Shield Status (strength).
Short Range Sensors - Variant Identification. Weapons Status. Shield Status (strength).
Boosting Short Range Sensors/Scout Normal - Tags Target for future encounters. Locates personnel without a homing signal. (if target's shields are down)
Scout Boosted - Reduces Tagging or Location time. Allows for personnel locating while target's shields are up.
Cloak/Sensor Interaction:
Equal Sensor and Cloak ratings have a 50% chance of detection at short range, 20% detection at medium range, and 0% chance of detection at Long Range. Scout Packages and Boosting Sensors add 10% to detection chances at all ranges, the effect is cumulative. Boosting Scout Sensors can detect an equal cloak at a 70% chance at short range. For Each rating difference, add 10% in favor of the higher rating. A level 4 cloak hiding from a level 3 sensor, has only a 40% chance of detection, while a level 6 sensor looking for the same cloak has a 70% chance of detection at short range.
Navigational Deflector - Ships equipped with a Deflector may move freely through a dust cloud or nebula. They may also redirect larger objects without using a tractor beam. Costs 1 Power Point at all times, unless damaged or destroyed.
Deflection Field - Ships not equipped with a Navigation Deflector have this system instead. Unlike a Nav Deflector, it can be turned off and on, at the cost of 1 power point while on. It may not be used as a deflection beam.
Cloak - All Romulan Ships, and most Klingon Ships after the tech trade are equipped with a cloaking device. A cloak renders the ship invisible to sensors. Until Sensor Tech 6, there are three sensor locks possible regarding a cloaked ship. No Lock: Ship is completely invisible, no weapons may be fired upon it, although area of effect weapons (Proxy Phasers/Torpedoes or Disruptor Waves) may damage it if it enters the area of effect. Partial Lock: Ship is detected, but no weapons lock is available ("We have a blip on the motion sensors.") Cloaked ship may be fired upon but only by Area of Effect Weapons. Full Lock: Cloaked ship is detected and weapons lock is available. After Sensor Tech 6, the Partial lock is gone, to be replaced by a Full Lock.
Partial Lock: Clock detection results in a Partial Lock unless one of the following conditions are true about the detecting ship.
- Sensor Tech is 6 or greater
- Sensor Tech is 2 or more levels higher than the cloak level
- Sensor Tech is 1 level higher than the cloak level AND is a Scout Package
- Sensor Tech is equal to cloak level AND is a Boosted Scout Package
Scout Package: The Scout Package is an extra set of sensor pallets that allows for more detailed sensor readings. A scout package essentially give the ship equipped a one level higher sensor suite, in addition to the anti-cloak benefits and extended range sensors.
ECM/ECCM:
Ship Sensors can put out electronic counter-measures (ECM) to disrupt enemy targeting systems, and ECCM to overcome the jamming and get a more precise weapon lock.
Sensor ratings: All ships have a sensor rating which is the maximum energy that can be put into ECM/ECCM combined. Scout Channels can put additional power into ECM/ECCM.
Meta Game:
All ships have a max tech level. The represents the furthest a ship can be refitted. Ex: Federation Constitution Class has a max tech level of six. When level seven Phasers are developed, the Constitution may not deploy them, and is considered obsolete. But that does not mean that the ship needs to be retired immediately, it will just be consistently outmatched by newer ships that can exceed tech level 6.
Shields: Most Ships have some form of protective shielding. Shields provide protection against weapons, radiation and transporters. Shields have an associated Tech Level that tells how effective the shield is against incoming fire. An incoming weapon has it damage reduced (to a minimum of one) by half the tech level of the shield. Any remaining damage is applied to the shield facing absorbing the hit. Once the shield fails, any remaining damage is applied to the hull. If there is no shield facing the incoming fire (whether by design or by damage) full damage from the weapon is applied to the hull. A downed shield provides no damage reduction benefit.
Rebuilding/Repairing/Reinforcing Shields: Each Individual shield may only be reinforced to 150% of normal strength. For each point of power diverted to shields it rebuilds/repairs 1 point per turn. Once Rebuilt, each point provides one point of reinforcement. Repairing shields take the energy but do not come back online until the shield can provide at least 5 points of protection. (provided the shield could provide at least that much to begin with, otherwise the shield comes back online with only half its maximum rating)
Shield/Transporter Interaction: Shield provide complete protection from transporters while up. Higher level transporters may break through shields. Transporters 3 levels higher than the target's shield level ignore the target's shields completely.
Radiation: Normal Background Radiation does not damage ships or crew. There are three different types of radiation that does. Corrosive, Poisonous, and both. Poisonous Radiation kills the crew, but leaves the ship and systems intact, while Corrosive Radiation affects shields and hull, but not the crew. As long as all shields have 1 point of strength, no radiation will affect the hull or the crew. Fighters and Shuttle craft that do not have shields may not be deployed in any radiation environment.
Nebulae: Nebulae are dense dust clouds, most have some sort of radiation associated with them. Travel through a Nebula is hazardous, a Nav Deflector or a Deflection field must be active otherwise a ship takes x/2 damage to the forward shield every turn, where x equals the ship's speed. Shuttles and Fighters lack any kind of deflector system and thus may not enter a Nebula, if deployed in a Nebula they are immediately destroyed. The combination of dense dust, radiation and energy halves all sensor and weapons range.
Dust Clouds: Less dense than a Nebula. Dust clouds are usually associated with asteroids and planetoids without a strong gravitational field or an atmosphere. (they can also be associated with nascent space programs without an effective trash disposal program) Dust clouds can also occur around very strong gravitational fields such as the rings of gas giants. These dust clouds do not obscure sensors, but can reduce or destroy weapons fire through them. A ship not protected by a deflector takes x/5 damage per turn where x is the ships speed. Shuttles and Fighters are designed to be able to maneuver around these particles, therefore they make avoid rolls, if they pass their piloting skill roll, they take no damage for that turn, if they fail they take the normal amount of damage.
Asteroids: Block line of sight and weapons. If you run into them, they will do damage. The damage done depends on the size of the asteroid and the net speed of the collision.
-Size 1: Impact deals 2 x net speed of damage to the ship, Asteroid is destroyed.
-Size 2: Impact deals 4x net speed of damage to the ship and the Asteroid.
-Size 3: Impact deals 8x net speed of damage to the ship and the Asteroid.
-Size 4: Impact deals 16x net speed of damage to the ship, Asteroid is unaffected.
-Size 5: Impact deals 32x net speed of damage to the ship, Asteroid is unaffected.
Damage:
Once a ship's shields are down (or penetrated by a shield penetrating weapon), there are three different types of damage a ship can take. The two most common are hull and system damage. These types of damage degrade a ship's performance, but can be repaired through Damage Control. The third type of damage is superstructure damage. Superstructure damage can only be repaired at a repair facility. Each System and Hull hardpoint has one or more superstructure boxes supporting it. After the hardpoint has been destroyed, subsequent hits on the same hardpoint inflict damage on the superstructure. Once the supporting superstructure for the system or hull has been destroyed, the system cannot be repaired except at a repair facility.
Crew:
Each ship has a minimum crew requirement. This is the minimum number of Command, Science and Engineering crew the ship requires to operate. A ship with fewer crew loses access to some systems, while a ship with more than the minimum can repair more systems, and provide a buffer against crew killing hits. A ship requires a minimum of 3x the minimum crew numbers to operate normally in the strategic game.
-Command: Officers that provide the smallest section of the crew, but without them, the ship wouldn't run. A ship below the threshold suffers no penalties unless the count reaches zero.
-Science: Officers in charge of the labs and medical facilities. A ship below this threshold loses sensor range and accuracy, along with the ability to recover crew points.
-Engineering: Officers that repair the ship and maintain its systems. The more of these officers the more repairs that can be performed at the same time. If this threshold is lost, a ship can no longer repair. If the crew count goes to zero, engines go offline.
-Security: Provides defense against boarding. No penalty for having no security, except that Kirk, Spock, McCoy and one redshirt could seize control of your ship. And that redshirt would still somehow die.
Consumables (Meta Game only):
Every Starship FF sized or greater has to worry about the health and well being of their crew. Crews require food and water, in addition to life support daily. Medical supplies are necessary to heal injured crewmen, in addition to quarterly physicals and work related accidents. Every ten crewmen requires one unit of food and water per day, and every one hundred crewmen requires one unit of medical supplies per week.
All ships store these and other consumables in cargo bays. Cargo bays take up a significant portion of most Starships and nearly 99% of freighters. Torpedo casings are stored in special cargo bays near their launchers, but extra reloads can be stored in the general cargo bays.
Food and Water: 1 unit = 1 cargo unit
Medical Supplies: 20 units = 1 cargo unit
Probes*: 10 probes = 2 cargo units
Torpedo Casings*: 5 Torpedoes = 2 cargo units
Spare Parts: 1 unit = 1 cargo unit
Industrial Replicator: 5 cargo units
Food Replicator: 5 cargo units
Replication Material: 2 units = 1 cargo unit
Fabricators: 10 cargo units
Anti-matter**: 1 unit = 1 cargo unit
Deuterium**: 1 unit = 1 cargo unit
*Launchers have inherent storage for these items, they only count against cargo space if the launchers are full, and the captain wants to carry a few more.
**Anti-matter and Deuterium must be stored in special containers. If a ship is carrying more than it's typical amount of fuel, storage space must be dedicated in the general cargo bays at a rate a 1 unit per 10. To prevent contamination of the rest of the cargo.
Replicators:
In the early 24th Century, Replicators replaced Fabricators as the principal method of manufacturing repair components. The process of creating the components was made faster and with less waste, allowing for starships to function away from resupply for longer. Some items, such as torpedoes, cannot be replicated and forced ships to still carry extras. Antimatter was also impossible to replicate, but the reduced storage space required for other components, which could now be made as needed, allowed for more dedicated storage.
Fabricators:
Anticipating the exact needs of a starship for general maintenance was near impossible, and for combat purposes was impossible. The development of Fabricators in the early 22nd Century allowed for the engineering crews to make parts as needed. The fabrication of parts took time, though, and the quality of the part depended on the skill of the engineer. The better the engineer, the less waste produced when creating the part.
Food Replicators:
Shortly after the development of the Industrial Replicator, Food Replicators replaced galleys, resulting in a more uniform menu across the starfleets. Food Replicators cost more energy to use than a galley, but with less waste, and the availability of fresh food at any time of the day. Any leftovers can be recycled, instead of being thrown away, as it was with the galleys and Food Selectors.
Food Selectors:
Selectors appeared briefly on Starships in in the 23rd Century. The idea was to make galleys and chefs obsolete. The limited selection offered by the Selectors was unpopular, prompting a return to galleys. Selectors wasted less than Galleys, but was unable to recycle, and the effect on stores was minimal.
Bussard Collectors: Free floating hydrogen in open space is difficult to find, but near rogue planets or in a planetary system, Hydrogen is in abundance. If these devices are operational, a ship can refuel its Deuterium tanks simply by passing by a planet in the system.
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That wraps up everything. The Weapons section is probably obsolete, but as I said, I am writing down everything I wrote. Something written down may spark a debate on an idea change, maybe something that I had previously thrown out because it didn't make sense looking at it later, may make perfect sense to someone else. Impulse fuel should indeed be an element to the game, the Romulan Bird of Prey couldn't continue it's rampage of the border stations because it was running out of fuel. That the Enterprise arrived to confront it was a concern, but it was not the reason they were withdrawing. After the Enterprise had its Warp Drive disabled with its encounter with the Doomsday Machine, Impulse fuel was a concern as it tried to out run the planet killer. Even after the destruction of the planet killer, Kirk ordered the ship to minimum headway to conserve the fuel they had left.