Voyager's uber cool transphasic torpedoes

[buck rogers]

Transphasic Armor and Torpedoes;
Rules: Transphasic Armor is like shield grid and simply adds the Blind Luck trait to the ships shields. Transphasic torpedoes enables a starship performing the target system maneuver to fire a modified photon torpedo with transphasic enhancements which ignores the shield threshold of any ship it is fired at and automatically reduces the system targeted to off-line. If the warp system is targeted it causes a catastrophic core breach destroying the ship out right. Otherwise the torpedoes function much as regular photon torpedoes. A Mk. 95 launcher is also required to fire the torpedoes.
Description: The torpedoes use standard torpedo casings and give off a golden hue when fired. The armor materializes around the outer hull of the ship in sections conforming to the hull. The generators are fitted over the phaser banks of a ship. When activated the armor materializes around the ship.

I don't know for sure what the armor was called but it wasn't called transphasic armor onscreen I just hung that little name on it cause it sounds good and its better than just calling "armor".

[chroniton33]

in the episode end game the armor was deployed from ablative armor generators. seems to me that would make it ablative armor
that kept replacing it self as it was destroyed. just my thoughts on the subject.

[buck rogers]

It did seem to come from the generators mounted over the phaser banks, but it seemed more like shields than ablative armor. Also Voyager seemed to go through a "batmoble" like tranformation when she deployed her new spiffy armor, which we have never seen the Defiant or Enterprise E go through. I'm not saying that the armor doesn't have the some characteristics of ablative armor. Its just that it seemed way more powerful than the ablative armor we're used to seeing, more like Polarized Hull plating. Since Polarized Hull plating has a rating similar to shields I figureed maybe that the armor I hung the "Transphasic" on the armor, so you would be able to tell the difference between it and regular ablative armor Voyager used was similair. Ablative armor as represented in the game couldn't have stood up Borg weapons the way that armor did. Anyway it doesn't seem like Starfleet is to hip on adding this technology to its ships anyway.

[Sea Tyger]

Another idea is to call it "regenerative armor," to reflect that it's more like regenerative shielding. I'd like to see your mechanic for that component.

I went back to the Starships book to figure out how to work the mechanic of transphasic torpedoes. The description of the Borg cube would indicate that the Narrator basically decides when the PC's weapons no longer affect the cube. Perhaps transphasic torpedoes act as Quantum torps, but are immune to Borg adaptation.

Just a thought.

[Sarge]

IMO, transphasic torpedos are similar to the Federation phasing cloak from TNG's "The Pegasus". The torpedo shifts to a quantum state in which it doesn't interact with our universe. Then it flies through shields and armor, shifts back to our universe and detonates inside the target.

[buck rogers]

Yup That's what I figured they did too Sarge. Regenerative armor is also a cool name for the armor. I just wanted to distinguish between ablative armor and this armor. We might also mention it was designed by Wayne Enterprises out of Gothom City

[Sea Tyger]

Originally posted by Sarge
IMO, transphasic torpedos are similar to the Federation phasing cloak from TNG's "The Pegasus". The torpedo shifts to a quantum state in which it doesn't interact with our universe. Then it flies through shields and armor, shifts back to our universe and detonates inside the target.

Okay, then. It sounds like the mechanic would be a Blind Luck-type edge. The torps use the quantum penetration values.

Blind Luck (transphasic torpedoes...ignores threshold ratings), Battle Scarred (torpedoes).

As for Regenerative Armor, maybe it's an edge that provides Hull Plating with a threshold value (say, 2/5) that can, like shields, be improved. Regenerative Armor also has its own damage track (equivalent to the shield damage track).

I can't remember if the Voyager was able to have its shields on while the armor was deployed (I seem to think that they couldn't). If that was the case, then I would say that you would only use the higher of the two thresholds when calculating damage.

Another alternative to the armor is that its an edge that provides a +1 threshold that remains even when the shields are down.

[buck rogers]

I like the torpedo blind luck trait idea, except for one thing how else would you explain the ability to totally obliterate a Borg Cube with only a single torpedo. The second took two torpedoes I admit but this is still quite impossible (within the game mechanics as they stand) to even knock out the engines of a cube with only two quantum torpedos, much less destroy one. This was the reason for the special rules concerning transphasic torpedoes. As for the regenerative armor it still has to stand up to repeated assaults from Borg vessels. That is what I was thinking about when I created the stats for it besides the blind luck trait as it is fit that idea well

[buck rogers]

I also think chroniton torpedoes like the ones used by the Krenim Imperium & the Temporal Weapon ship, would also be somewhat similiar to transphasic torpedoes, but more like what you are describing. These weapons would have the blind luck trait as described above. They ignored the threshold of shields but didn't do catastrophic damage as transphasic torpedoes did to the Borg cubes. Just a thought. Unless the Narrator just rules it blows up for dramatic storytelling, which is perfectly okay. But if you want maintain a wee bit more structure and uncertainty these mechanics don't hurt.

[Robbert Raets]

Y'know, to use an RPG cliche, I seriously think those transphasic torpedoes are 'broken' rather than 'uber-cool'.

Just FYI.....

[buck rogers]

Unless you're out cruising around and get caught by a fleet of Borg Cubes on a vengence crusade to wipe out the federation! Then you'll want those weapons on hand. Unless you think being a drone is cool.

[Typhonis 1]

Question is CAN the Federation duplicate the technology from 20 year5s in the future ?

[tmutant]

It should be fairly easy to reverse engineer something with it's foundations in your own technology, when you have a working model in hand. Question is, would the Temporal Prime Directive guys let you keep it?

[buck rogers]

I think that if Voyager's crew could implement the modifications in the field that it could indeed be duplicated. As far as the Temporal Prime Directive thats another story, although Janeway is an admiral now so....