just came across these as I was going through the oold hard drive and thought I would share them again on the new boards. Tried my best for balance and to make them interesting enough to play. These can be moved around over a mech like in Star Wars, and slowly regenerate damage they take. They don't offer a lot of soaking ability, but may help especially with raider type mechs or guerilla fighters who can't stop to repair their mechs often and take small amounts of damage as they retreat. Enjoy! :)
Battletech Energy Shields
These are the newest in Battlemech defensive technology. They were derived from two different but related sources. One was the Blue Shield Project designed by an NAIS group on Solaris VII. The other involves the EMP and Jump fields that envelope jump ships and their drop ships during interstellar travel to protect them in hyperspace.
They are also highly inspired by other works of science fiction and well… this is the future damnit! It is a highly technological society at constant war. I want shields to satisfy my sci-fi nerdiness. It is important to note that these are for my friends and I to enjoy and although we don’t live close enough to each other to play together, we enjoy discussing the possibility with each other. Every once in a while we are able to get together for the holidays, and sometimes get a chance to play Battletech! We like stuff like this. If you like them, please enjoy as well; but this is not a thread to discuss the likelihood or possibility of a Battletech energy shield, but how to implement it into a private game. Thank you! ïŠ
First of all, I had several expectations while designing the shields. It had to be balanced far and above anything else. In Battletech, balance would generally mean it should almost be underpowered as it is more of an experimental technology at worst, and a just plain new technology at best. Either way it is more of a novelty than a proven technology. Second, I wanted something that could be maneuvered around the Battlemech like in many science fiction stories/movies. They could either be spread thinly but evenly across the entire mech’s frame. Or they could be concentrated over breached or weakened areas. The quote “Shields up! Double front!†keeps haunting me and I must appease the voices. Third, they must be compatible with existing technologies so that any mech may feasibly mount them. Fourth, they must be simple and available to all forces (i.e. Clan, House, Periphery, Comstar/WOB, etc…) therefore the “story†of how they came to be within the universe must easily explain how this ultimately very simple yet new technology fell into everyone’s hands at once, possibly a discovery by internet geeks who posted it all over YouTube in the 31st century. ;)
So here goes…
Battletech Energy Shields:
All shields have “hit points†just like armor points. A shield stops all incoming damage until all shield points are destroyed over that particular location. Critical hits rolled against a location that have not actually breached the shields are ignored. No unit with active shields may ever hide. The energy signature is too powerful. Although theoretically a unit could have active shields and active Null Signature Systems, the Null Signature would be useless while the shield is on. You could mount both, hide and then turn off the Null Signature System, turn on the Shield, and engage in battle though. This could possibly make a nice raider mech as shields can self repair over time (as long as they haven’t taken critical hit damage). All shields take one full turn to power up. If a mech is shut down or has its shields off for some reason, it must spend an additional turn powering up its shield. As long as shields have taken no critical hit damage, they always come on line with full “hit pointsâ€. A mech or vehicle powering up its energy shield must remain motionless and fire no weapons that turn while the shield calibrates to the form of the mech. An aerospace fighter has a bit better go of it as it can be in motion (in space only) but not changing velocity. It must either leave the atmosphere or land to power up its shields again. It can make no maneuvers or weapon attacks during this time. Up to ½ of the shields “hit points†may be positioned over one location. Each full turn that a unit takes no actions, the energy shields recharge one “hit pointâ€. If any part of the energy shield ever takes critical damage the entire system is destroyed and ineffective until it can be repaired by a technician. There are 2 types of shields, light and heavy.
Light Energy Shields:
Mass: 2 Tons
Crits: 1 each location on the Battlemech except for the head. 1 each location on an aerospace fighter. Vehicles take 4 critical locations.
Shield Points:
Battlemech: 22, this is enough to evenly spread 2 points over each Battlemech hit location including the rear torsos.
Aerospace Fighter: 12, this is enough to evenly spread 2 points over each location including engine and cockpit. If the rules have changed for aerospace fighters please let me know. It has been a long while since I’ve actually played and I have old rules that I am not positive are current.
Vehicles: 8 or 10, depending if the vehicle has a turret. Same though, it totals 2 per location.
VTOLs: 10, the rotors may be covered by a shield believe it or not. Pretty much the same.
Heat: 4 heat while active. Vehicles must mount heat sinks and power amplifiers to compensate for this heat buildup and energy usage.
Heavy Energy Shields:
Mass: 3 Tons
Crits: 1 each location on a Battlemech except for the head and torsos. The Torsos each take 2 criticals. Aerospace fighters take 2 critical spots each location except the rear which only takes up one slot. Vehicles take 5 critical locations.
Shield Points:
Battlemechs: 33, this is enough to evenly spread 3 points over an entire Battlemech. This includes the rear torsos.
Vehicles, VTOLs, Aerospace Fighters: basically the same. Enough to have 3 points spread over each location.
Heat: 8 heat while active. Vehicles must mount heat sinks and power amplifiers to compensate for this heat buildup and energy usage.
