In some of the later years, the various races began experimenting with a new form of defensive screens. The idea was for a self-repairing shield system, that would allow a few extra points af energy to be freed up for use, instead of using that energy to repair shields. This option was not available before Y181. Throughout these rules, the term REGEN is used. It is, and can be substituted for, Regenerative Shielding.
D25.1 Designation of Shields
Regenerative shields are shown exactly as they are on the SSD. Having
regenerative shields costs 10% of the ships BPV, and adds 2 boxes to
the SSD marked REGEN. These boxes can be destroyed by hit and run
raids, very large hits (30+) to a single shield, and by flag hits on
the DAC. Also see (D25.21). As far as number, position, and status are
concerned, there is no change except in operation.
D25.2 Operation
D25.21 Damage: Regenerative shields absorb damage as regular
shields do. However, anytime 30+ points of damage hit a shield, roll
a D6, and on a one, one of the REGEN boxes is marked off. The REGEN
boxes can be repaired. If both boxes are destroyed, the ship can only
run shields at minimum strength until at least one box is repaired.
(Note: If both REGEN boxes are destroyed, the ship also loses the
regenerative advantages until repaired.)
D25.22 Reinforcement and Repair: Regenerative Shields can be reinforced as regular shields can, and can be repaired through the normal means available. It requires 5 points of continuous damage repair.
D25.23 Dropping Shields: Regenerative Shields can be dropped as usual.
D25.24 Detecting Strength Of Shields: REGEN strength is known as regular shield strength is under the appropriate rules. It can also be detected wether the shields are regenerating(i.e. repairing themselves).
D25.3 Energy Cost of Regenerative Shields
REGEN does not change operating costs or levels.
D25.4 Determining Which Shield Was Struck By Enemy Fire
REGEN does not change these rules.
D25.5 Dropping Shields
REGEN can be dropped as per the regular rules.
D25.6 Leaky shields
REGEN installed on ships before Y190 were susceptible to this rule,
after Y190, ignore this rule.
D25.7 Regeneration
REGEN was developed to allow the captain to free up some energy during
a firefight, and to help keep at least a minimal amount of shielding
around the ship. As the shields will in effect repair themselves, a
few points of power can be used for other purposes than repairing a
few shield boxes.
D25.71 Automatic Operation: REGEN will automatically, and without declaration, repair shield boxes. It will regenerate the damage at the end of the turn, during the damage control step. If for some reason you do not wish the shields to repair, then a verbal declaration must be made to that effect.
D25.72 Speed of Regeneration: REGEN repairs a number of Shield boxes on each shield equal to the current (Damage Control Rating / 2).
D25.73 Restrictions: REGEN will not regenerate any kind of reinforcement, it will not regenerate shield boxes that were not operating(i.e. the inactive shield boxes of minimum strength shields.). It will not regenerate more shielding than the ship has. (I.E., if the ship had 30 points of shielding, then REGEN will regenerate to that point, and stop.)
D25.74 Shields Affected: If more than one shield has damage, calculate the regeneration effect for each shield in turn. This system works on a shield by shield basis, not one effect for the entire ship.
D25.8 Crash Repair
REGEN can be turned off and then back on to regain lost shield
strength. To do so, at least two shields must be down and one REGEN
box destroyed. During the operate shields step the ship must drop its
remaining shields. Damage control has to have been allocated to the
damaged REGEN box (Note: You still cannot allocate DC in expectation
of its being destroyed. Any form of Damage Control can be used.). At
the end of the turn, during damage control, the RS box is repaired.
During the Operate Shields step, the ship rolls a D6, and if a 1-2
comes up, All damaged shield boxes are erased (This is the only
exception to the rule that states that shields cannot be dropped, then
raised to repair all damaged boxes.), a 3-4 gives 3 shields full
strength(allocated to the three weakest shields first), and 5-6 is a
failure. If the roll fails, the the shields remain down for 1/4
turn(8 impulses), and when they come back online, they are still
damaged. This can only be attempted if a REGEN box has been
destroyed. After the Crash repair attempt, the shields must still be
raised as usual during the operate shields step.
Z25.0 Designers notes
I want to thank John H. Kim for posting this material to his page,
and allowing others to play with some of the toys I occasionaly come
up with.
This is version 2.0 of these rules, and John's remarks were a major part of the rewrite. Some things he didn't like are not changed, however. This is why. He remarked that putting Regen on ships like a battleship, would leave the ship extremely vulnerable if both regen boxes were destroyed, as a ship of that size on minimum shields doesn't have a chance. I agree, but didn't change it for reasons of balance. This frees up a fair amount of energy that would otherwise be used to keep the shields up. Such a freedom has its price. His other concern along this line was that H&R raids could get lucky and destroy the boxes easily. That is true, but if the target has shields up, the H&R cannot be performed. This system will reduce the amount of time the shields are down. However, this is an optional rule. If you do not like it, simply do not use it.
The other problem was with the crash repair system. This is the very essence of power conservation. It can only be done if at least one regen box has been destroyed, and two shields are down. It allows all of the shields to be repaired at once, if you are good with dice. This does not cost more energy for less effect. For example, the Shield #1 of a CA is around 30 points strong(I think), under normal shield repair rules, to completely repair a shield down from fire would cost 60 points of energy. Using Emergency Damage Control, it costs 4 points to bring the shields back online. That is a very impressive power saving. And yes, regular shield repair can still be used if you really want to, or if the crash repair attempt fails.
Also, the rate of regeneration has been changed, but I'm not sure if this rate is too fast or slow. If too slow, simply allow it to repair an amount equal to Damage Control. If too fast, require that all points repaired be allocated to specific shields(i.e. it only repairs an amount of shields equal to Damage Control on the entire ship.)
I will gladly accept any comments anyone has about this system. More will be on the way, just as soon as I can type them up.