Psionics and ship combat - a concept

[dalthor]

I've been tinkering with an idea, and am posting here to get some feedback. This is specific to my Varan campign; IMTU it is still in the Mikail sector, just outside of known space. It is now a sample faraway sector on Traveller map. See the link in my .sig if you want the basic premise.

Some basic facts to set the stage for this -- it is part of a possible future campaign scenario.

1) I'm using T5 for all practical purposes.

2) Psionics exist IMTU, and are basically as described in the T5 BBB. There is no stigmata to Psions, and they operate within reasonable guidelines - more on that another time.

3) Some questions are unanswered - see my post, #292, in the errata thread, as well as the Psionics and the laws of Physics thread:

http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showthread.php?p=466824#post466824
http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showthread.php?t=31903

4) IMTU, linking via telepathy, and using charataeristics shift allows a group of Psions to work together, increasing power, control, and abilities. This is akin to several people combining skills on a task.

5) I don't care if you allow Psi or not, I'm positing this specifically for my campaign. I just want your thoughts, and suggestions. Don't wanna hurt your feelings or anything, but lets limit the discussion to the matter at hand.

6) THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

Now, all that being said, here is the idea.

The originator of the idea has talent in Characteristic shift (borrow strength, dex, or whatever from another being), mentation (basically telepathy), and teleportation.

He seeks highly adept Psions (strength 10+) that have Teleportation as a talent. He puts together a team, and they practice linking. As the initiater of the link, he "borrows" Psi talent and endurance, increasing his own power, during the link. The telepathic link allows them to work together as one mind - a hive mind, if you will.

That combined strength could allow them to teleport a large mass, such as a starship, a good distance without much difficulty. It would be a LOT harder to do as an individual, but it is possible.

Now, assume they are gadding about, and run into a hostile ship. The team links, and works together to teleport the ship (several times) to confuse the enemy, make his weapons miss, and ultimately blow his fanny to kingdom come.

Right now, this is a small group of individuals, working on their own. They have no government backing, this is just something they are tinkering with, as a prelude to going into a situation where they are VASTLY outgunned.

What do you think of the idea?

If you were the target, how would you (actually, how could you???) defend against it?

How long would it take for somebody else to figure out what the Psions were doing?

How would they then defend against it?

I'm trying to get some ideas, and need outside thoughts on this.

Thanks!

Ed

 

[Magnus von Thornwood]

Nice.

Well.

First off, nice way to use Shift as a Gestalt. I have been working on the same thing, but completely missed using the Shift for it, excellent work.

As to your questions. I would see mines and self-guiding missiles being even more useful than they already are. As to figuring it out, not long of teleport is already known, longer if t-port is a new thing.

 

[Ulsyus]

Really interesting idea!!

If you were the target, how would you (actually, how could you???) defend against it?

How long would it take for somebody else to figure out what the Psions were doing?

How long to figure it out would depend on whether there were survivors who lived to tell the tale. A bit of crowdsourcing might solve the problem fairly quickly, depending on the crowd (accessibility, size, clearance, etc).

For the former, how many times to they (the PCs) have to flip about? A target could look at distances teleported and work out a max and min distance then look for probable locations they'll appear at next, possibly firing missiles to be in the vicinity of where the vessel will be next considering the number of times its fired, it's likelihood of doing damage, its survivability on being hit, and so on.

What about if the team have a nuke missile. They teleport the ship in close, then from their vantage point teleport the nuke missile in on the target vessel so it has minimal time to deploy dampers and counter-missile fire before being hit by the nuke?