THE CORE WORLDS
OUTWORLDER SHIPS
(CWR1.1) HEAVY CRUISER (CA):
The Outworlder Heavy Cruiser was an unorthodox opponent to face in combat. Armed with Two Mauler-Like En Mass Drivers, opposing Captains would expect the Outworlder Heavy Cruiser to close in on them. However, the Outworlder Heavy Cruiser would often surprise adversaries and throw off their game by launching En Mass Torpedoes from those same En Mass Drivers. Six Heavy Blasters and Two Light Blasters supplemented the Outworlder Heavy Cruiser’s fire. When the Outworlder Heavy Cruiser would go on the defensive, it would activate its Image Tracking Destabilizer, gaining Electronic Counter Measure Protection for the duration. The Outworlder Heavy Cruiser also carried a Hyper Warp Drive, an unusual type of Warp Engine that allowed the Outworlder Heavy Cruiser to hurtle forward at an unbelievable rate.
DESIGNER NOTES:
The first thing that needed to be done was to replace the standard Phasers with Blasters. However, as noted in the Core World Designer Notes, the original Heavy Blaster was redesignated as a Medium Blaster and a new Heavy Blaster was designed. Therefore, the Outworlder Heavy Cruiser was given 6 Heavy Blasters and 2 Light Blasters to make it comparable to the Federation Heavy Cruiser.
The next thing that needed to be seriously analyzed was the En Mass Driver. This was the Outworlder’s Heavy Weapon, so, despite its Mauler-like characteristics, it needed to be equivalent to a Disruptor or Photon Torpedo as much as possible.
It was clear from the En Mass Driver Damage Matrix that this Heavy Weapon had a Phaser Range-of-Effect Damage Distribution, meaning that it automatically hit at certain ranges. This was a huge advantage that needed to be considered. Neither the Disruptor not the Photon Torpedo were auto-hit weapons.
Looking at the Damage Output, my initial thought was that it was too little for a Heavy Weapon. Using a Full Bank of Batteries (3), the En Mass Driver could generate a Maximum of 18 Points of Damage at Close Range. Since the Outworlder Heavy Cruiser only had 2 En Mass Drivers (with limited Firing Arcs), this meant the Total Heavy Weapon Damage Potential was 36 Points maximum. Comparing this to a Federation CA, we see that 4 Overloaded Photon Torpedoes can generate 64 Points of Damage maximum. So the En Mass Driver seemed woefully inadequate to me in terms of Total Damage Potential.
To fix this, I changed the Battery Banks from 3 to 4, allowing the En Mass Driver to yield as much as 24 Points of Damage at Close Range. With two En Mass Drivers, the Outworlder Heavy Cruiser could potential generate 48 Points of Damage, which was closer to the Federation Heavy Cruiser’s 64 Points of Damage.
But then I recalled the Frequency of Firing for the En Mass Driver. It could fire Every Turn, even with Multiple Shots per Turn (limited by Battery Power). This means that the En Mass Driver should be compared against the Disruptor more than the Photon Torpedo. With the original amount of Battery Banks set to three, the En Mass Driver could score up to 18 Points of Damage at Close Range and accumulate 36 Points of Damage (with two En Mass Drivers) per turn. This was comparable to the Klingon D7’s four Disruptors which could score a maximum of 40 Points of Damage per Turn. So I reduced the En Mass Driver’s Battery Banks from 4 back to their original amount of 3.
It should also be noted that the En Mass Driver uses Standard Firing Arcs, even thought it is a Mauler-Like Weapon. As Maulers have a very limited Firing Arc, this difference was yet another huge advantage for the En Mass Driver in combat.
The Image Tracking Destabilizer functioned like a Limited Cloaking Device. It provides additional ECM to the Outworlder Heavy Cruiser. The only thing that I focused my attention on was the cost in energy to use. It seemed low, much lower than the varying Romulan Costs for activating their Cloaking Devices. However, given that this device was not as effective a Standard Cloaking Device, I left the power cost as is.
The Hyper Warp Drive was an interesting tactical device that allowed the Outworlder Heavy Cruiser to jump ahead, but only in a straight line. I can only presume that this was to gain a position to fire its En Mass Driver’s up close. The energy cost to use this device seemed correct and the other features of the device made sense. The only change I made to the Hyper Warp Drive was to give it an actual box on the SSD, so it could be destroyed by a FLAG Hit. I felt that a device which provided this much advantage should be able to be destroyed during the battle, thereby limiting the Outworlder Heavy Cruiser in combat the more it took damage.
Lastly, I had to examine the Overall Tactics of the Outworlder Heavy Cruiser. Unfortunately, given the nature of the En Mass Drivers, it seemed that their tactics were somewhat of a one-trick pony: Close and Fire. This reminded me of the Ymatrians (who i like in concept) and didn’t sit well with me. I needed to give the Outworlder Heavy Cruiser something else to work with, to expand its tactical game on the battlefield. This became the En Mass Torpedo.
It made sense to me that a Mauler-like Heavy Weapon could also be developed to such a degree that it could shift its energy formulation to create a type of Plasma Torpedo. I know this is all techno babble, but it serves my purpose in this case. The En Mass Driver can now create En Mass Torpedoes which function like Plasma Torpedoes, but have the Damage Multiplication Matrix of En Mass Drivers. The En Mass Torpedoes can also Envelop, Shotgun, and become Pseudo Torpedoes.
The addition of this Seeking Weapon feature to the En Mass Driver will not increase its Overall Maximum Damage Output (36 Points per Turn), which remains the same even if it creates En Mass Torpedoes instead of firing as a Direct-Fire Weapon. However, it allows the Outworlder Heavy Cruiser to engage its opponent on a more tactical level, using En Mass Torpedoes as a means to dissuade the enemy from closing, launching En Mass Torpedoes and then following them to close, or launching En Mass Torpedoes and then activating its Image Tracking Destabilizer. There are many tactical possibilities with the addition of En Mass Torpedoes and those possibilities are limited only by the imagination of the Outworlder Captain.
In conclusion, the Outworlder Heavy Cruiser utilizes direct-fire weapons which can fire every turn like a Disruptor. However, these same direct-fire weapons can also generate seeking plasma torpedoes. The Image Tracking Destabilizer functions as a Limited Cloaking Device. And the Hyper Warp Drive gives the Outworlder Heavy Cruiser another tool to tactically surprise an opponent by closing the range much faster than expected.
EN MASS DRIVER (EMD):
* May be fired every turn, even multiple times during a turn, as long as the weapon is charged and battery power remains in the appropriate bank. The En Mass Driver may not be fired more than once per impulse
* In order to be fired, the En Mass Driver must be charged with two points of energy during Energy Allocation. This energy can come from any source.
* The charging energy (two points) may be held from turn to turn at no cost (if the En Mass Driver has not been fired yet).
* Battery Power from a Bank of Linked Batteries must be used to augment the En Mass Driver. The player can use all of the Battery Power within a given Bank or just part of it. The amount of Battery Power that is used is then MULTIPLIED BY 3 and further modified by the En Mass Driver Table to calculate the final damage based on a die roll. The original two points of charging energy is not added to this calculation.
EXAMPLE: An Outworlder Heavy Cruiser has charged one of its En Mass Drivers and fires it, using two points of Battery Power from a linked Bank of Batteries. These two points are MULTIPLIED BY 3, resulting in 6. A die is then rolled at Range 3. The result of the die roll is 4, which is 150%. The 6 is then multiplied by 150%, yielding 9 points of damage which is then applied to the facing Shield.
* En Mass Drivers may not be Overloaded in any way.
* En Mass Drivers are destroyed on TORP Hits on the DAC.
Treat En Mass Drivers as Maulers in all other respects not noted above.
EN MASS TORPEDOES
* En Mass Torpedoes are generated by En Mass Drivers.
* When calculating the damage scored by an En Mass Driver, multipy the amount of Battery Power used by 4, not 3. This total is then modified by the percentages on the En Mass Torpedo Warhead Strength Table.
* Battery Power from the appropriately linked Bank of Batteries must be used upon launching an En Mass Torpedo. Note that the Battery Energy is separate from the Arming Energy used over Three Turns.
* To create an En Mass Torpedo, the En Mass Driver must be armed over Three Turns.
* The cost to create an En Mass Torpedo is 2+2+3 with a Hold Cost of 1.
* The cost to create an Enveloping or Shotgun En Mass Torpedo is 2+2+6.
* The cost to create a Pseudo En Mass Torpedo is 1+1+1 with a Hold Cost of 1.
* A Standard En Mass Torpedo cannot be created while a Pseudo En Mass Torpedo is being created or being held.
* There is no limit to the number of Pseudo En Mass Torpedoes that can be created by an En Mass Driver, but only one can be created at any given moment.
* There is no Bolt function for En Mass Torpedoes, since the standard direct-fire application of the En Mass Driver fulfills this application.
* En Mass Torpedoes, Pseudo, Enveloping, and Shotgun function like their Plasma Torpedo equivalents.
* En Mass Torpedoes can be distracted by Wild Weasels and take Phaser Damage like Plasma Torpedoes.
* There is no Accelerated Arming (DP1.93) for En Mass Torpedoes.
* En Mass Torpedoes can launch even after the En Mass Driver is destroyed, just like a Plasma Torpedo.
Treat En Mass Torpedoes as Plasma Torpedoes for all other instances not noted above.
IMAGE TRACKING DESTABILIZER (ITD):
* The ITG is turned on or off during the Activate/Deactivate Cloaking Device Step of the Cloaking Device Stage of any impulse.
* Turning the device on begins the fade-out procedure (GD.14)
* Turning the device off begins the fade-in procedure (GD.15)
* An ITD can only be turned on one time during each turn and can only be turned off one time during each turn. No unit can have more than one Image/Tracking Destabilizer.
* If the ITD is activated/deactivated near the end of a turn, the fade-in/fade-out effect carries over into the next turn.
* The player can stop/reverse the fade-in or fade-out procedure during any Cloaking Device Stage, but the ship must then fade-in (or out) the same number of impulses that it has already faded (in or out). Once reversed, that specific fade cannot be reversed again.
* If a ship does not allocate energy to operate the ITD, it begins to fade-in on impulse #1 of that turn.
* If the ship was operating a ITD on one turn and pays the energy to operate the ITG during Energy Allocation to continue the operation, the ship remains under the effect of the ITD. It is not exposed at the end of each turn as the captain reallocates the ship’s energy.
* An ITD can be deactivated involuntarily under certain circumstances: e.g. destruction by a hit-and-run raid (D7.85), or lack of power resulting from energy balance due to damage (D22.0). In these cases the ship begins to fade-in on the next Cloak Stage as per (GD.131).
* The Image/Tracking Destabilizer is charged during the Energy Allocation Phase using 4 points of energy from any source. The ITD cannot be charged using reserve energy. Energy spent to charge the ITD must be allocated during Energy Allocation.
* If the device is not operating, the owning player may announce that it has been turned on during the Cloaking Device Stage of the Sequence of Play. The ship immediately begins the fade-out process (GD.121)
* FADE OUT: Immediately after the ship activates the ITD it receives 2 points of ECM and an additional 2 points of ECM each impulse during the Cloaking Device Stage during each of the next 3 impulses. The fade-out procedure covers a total of 4 impulses (including the impulse of activation) and produces a total of 8 points of ECM. The ship benefits from these points for the duration of the operation of the ITD. The ECM generated by an ITD is in addition to any ECM that may have been produced through EW points during energy allocation. The ECM produced by an ITD CANNOT be transferred and used as ECCM.
* The 8 points of ECM generated by an ITD are in addition to any ECM points that the operating ship can normally generate on its own.
* If the device in operating, the owning player may announce that it has been turned off during the Cloaking Stage of the Impulse Activity Segment of any impulse. At that point the ship begins to fade-in (GD.131).
* FADE IN: Immediately after the ship deactivates the ITD it looses 2 points of ECM and looses 2 additional points of ECM for each of the next 3 impulses. The fade-in procedure covers a total of 4 impulses (including the impulse of deactivation) and results in the loss of 8 points total of ECM.
* The ship operating an ITD is under a number of restrictions.
* If and when a ship fires it’s direct-fire weapons while operating the ITD the ECM being
generated by the ITD is counted as if the target ship were generating that amount of ECM. (example: the ship is in it’s 3rd impulse of fade-out and the ITD is generating 6 points of ECM. The ship decides to fire some phasers at an enemy ship. The weapons procedure is calculated as if the target ship had 6 points of ECM.) Only the ECM being generated by the ITD is counted as a penalty for these purposes (example #2: same as above, only in this case the firing ship had also allocated 4 points of EW as ECM during energy allocation, bringing the total amount of ECM up to 10. The firing procedure is calculated as if the target ship had 6 points of ECM, not 10.)
* A ship operating an ITD cannot launch or control seeking weapons during any point of the ITD operation, including the fade-in/fade-out periods. This includes shuttles launched on a seeking course, but not manned shuttles or fighters.
Note regarding rule (GD.142): the Daetharians do not operate fighters or seeking weapons. This rule is included to cover all bases in case players wish to adopt the ITD to another race, or play in a campaign where the Daetharians do have seeking weapons and/or fighters.
* Operation of the ITD in no way affects Lock-On procedures. All ships targeting a vessel with an active ITD continue to so without penalty. All seeking weapons tracking a ship with an active ITD continue to do so without penalty. Operation of an ITD only generates additional ECM bonuses, it has no other effects (other than where noted).
* The ITD is part of the ship and cannot be destroyed.
HYPER WARP DRIVE (HWD):
* The Hyper-Warp Drive is activated during the Displacement Device Stage of any impulse. Any movement obtained through this operation is determined and done immediately. The HWD only effects the ship using it. No other units are affected by an individual HWD, not even other Otherworlder ships. The activation of the HWD does not need to be pre-plotted,
it can be used on any impulse during the turn.
* When the HWD is activated the ship in question moves anywhere from 1 to 4 hexes (owning players option) directly straight ahead. (off the #1 shield facing). The ship cannot turn or sideslip as part of this “jump”, it must move straight ahead.
* Using the HWD counts as a “turn” as if the player had made a turn on the impulse of operation. The number of hexes moved during the “jump” has no effect on the turn mode – a new turn mode begins at the end of the jump. In other words, after using the HWD the ship will not be able to turn again until it fulfills it’s complete turn mode.
* The movement gained by an HWD is true movement and is affected by all things that normally affect movement (i.e. web hexes, ESG’s, planets, asteroids, mines, etc.). The impulse in which a ship uses a HWD the ship is considered moving at speed 32 for purposes of speed related interactions (asteroids, mines, etc.).
* The HWD is charged during the Energy Allocation Phase using 3 units of Warp Power in each of two consecutive turns. The HWD must be charged in this 3+3 fashion only. The HWD may be used on the second turn of charging.
* AWR cannot be used to charge a HWD. Reserve Warp cannot be used to charge a HWD. Energy must be allocated during Energy Allocation using true Warp Power only.
* A ship cannot use or power a HWD if more than 50% of it’s original warp boxes have been destroyed.
* The Hyper-Warp Jump Drive charge may not be held, instead it uses the “rolling delay” method. If the HWD is not used on the second turn of charging the first turn of charging is lost, the second turn of charging effectively becomes the first turn, and energy is allocated during Energy Allocation to complete arming on the “new” second turn.
* At the end of any turn in which a ship used a HWD, one warp box is destroyed on each warp engine. These boxes can be repaired normally.
* The Hyper Warp Drive is destroyed on FLAG Hits on the DAC.
HEAVY BLASTER (BLH):
* Costs 1 Point of Energy to Fire.
* Uses a Blaster Capacitor that works like a Phaser Capacitor
Treat as Phasers in all other respects not noted above.
LIGHT BLASTER (BLL):
* Costs 0.50 Points of Energy to Fire.
* Uses a Blaster Capacitor that works like a Phaser Capacitor
Treat as Phasers in all other respects not noted above.
