QUESTION: How Things Work ...

[whulorigan]

Perhaps I am just missing where this is explicitly stated, but in the "How Things Work" sections, Globes and Dampers have a number of very versatile options that can be applied to them, but there does not seem to be a guideline as to how many can be applied to a given device (i.e. can you arbitrarily choose any that you want when installing the device, or are these options examples of stage effects, and if so, how would adding one of these options increase the TL and/or size of the device)? Some of them, such as White Globes, Stasis Fields, and Proton Conversion, are (or seem to be) explicitly identified on the TL chart as being more advanced TL devices (but others are not specific).

Also, on p. 392, Tractor/Pressors are said to be "grav-based remote manipulators", which would seem to contradict the statement on p. 395 that says Tractor/Pressors are part of the Damper Series (and "Option Kinetic" on P. 397 which develops Tractor/Pressors as Damper-based).

Are Gravitics and Damper Technology being considered to be under the same "base technology" even though they are based upon different fundamental forces?

 

[Reban]

I'd ignore the explanation on p392 as it was written well before How Screens Work which unified a lot of information and made Tractor Pressors part of the Damper series that adds and removes kinetic energy.

There's also a slight mismatch between the Screen range effects detailed in How Weapons Work for defenses and the Screen Range Effects p394. I'd recommend that you design Starship Mounts using ACS and Vehicle or Personal mounts using p394.

As for the Globes, the options mostly depend a lot on components installed on the ship already. To make sure the design complies with TL you'll have to pay close attention to p403. and ACS p343 Defenses.

 

[whulorigan]

Thanks. I'll see if I can muddle my way through it.