Technology Rules

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Star Wars Legacies

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General Technology Level

Technology can be harsh and unforgiving. Sometimes it can be downright dangerous to use. Even doors can be dangerous. For the most part technology is fairly utilitarian, with little bells and whistles added. There are exceptions: sleek, ultra-modern Nubian yachts are a statement of wealth and status. Mon Calamari designs are decidedly alien and an interesting mixture of utilitarian and aesthetically pleasing. Coruscant is a planet-wide city that uses ultra-modern architecture and aesthetics to show off its place as the crown jewel of the Galaxy.

But when you get away from opulent wealth, the Galaxy has a more rugged side. Moisture Farms operate in the barren deserts of Tatooine, hardened settlers used to an unforgiving home. Sand People raids are common. Poor get taken advantage of. The sinkholes of Utapau house thousands living precariously on the edge of cliffs. Even Naboo, a natural gem in its own right, has an ugly disparity in the quality of life between her frontier settler human inhabitants and the Gungan. Tech in the galaxy reflects those disparate ways of life.

While the Sith Empire has spent the last five centuries tightening its grip on much of the civilized galaxy, many worlds beyond its borders have been left to languish and stagnate. The Sith military is a mighty force to behold, with hundreds of capital ships strewn across the galaxy, its troopers armed and armored with the finest of modern weapons and its pilots helming sleek high end starfighters. Rebels and Mandalorians alike, meanwhile, have developed forces of their own, preferring more utilitarian designs to the elegance of Imperial forces. The rest of the galaxy is largely on its own, with the mid and outer rim manufacturers thriving in a galaxy once again rife with turmoil.top


Personal weaponry takes many forms. Blasters have solidified themselves as the go-to weapon across the galaxy, and has long since left beyond archaic technology like Pulse Waves and Slug Throwers. Wealthy individuals may have the latest civilian carbine design or a plantinum-plated hold out blaster, but by far the most popular civilian weapon is the everyday blaster pistol, of which many millions are produced every year in countless varieties of makes and models. Pulse Wave and "Ray Gun" tech has seen a sharp decline in the preceding centuries, and are slowly being relegated to museum pieces- with the advances in both blaster tech and modern armor material, the weapons are practically useless in combat if you could even manage to find ammunition for them. Slug Throwers doggedly persist, mainly due to their rugged adaptability and prevalence on the fringe frontier worlds of the galaxy, and their place in certain niche markets. The newest developments on the market include weapons like disruptors- powerful overcharged blasters that rumor has it can disintegrate targets on contact.

Vibroblades of various types remain popular throughout the galaxy- most examples are combat knives, though some militaries have stores of vibroswords. Phrik or Cortosis-weave blades are quiet commonplace for battling Force Users and their lightsabers, however, armor made of these materials still remains exceedingly rare, and so only one or two components of armor are ever made with lightsaber-resistant metal - typical pieces include the gauntlets, or pauldrons. In addition, despite advances in armor technology, even the best armor can stand up to only a few shots before failing. Light armor would be a vest, medium armor would cover the torso and some appendages, while heavy armor would cover most of the body. Despite the common perception, "heavy" armor merely reflects the suit's coverage of the body, rather than being able to tank a dozen rounds.

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Ship-based weaponry has remained much the same as it has for hundreds of years, since defensive tech has kept up with any advancements in lasers and blasters. Most ships are equipped with some kind of defensive weaponry- usually a light laser cannon or two- while military and law enforcement vessels often mount numerous medium or even heavy cannons to fight off enemy powers or pirates (a ceaseless problem no matter the era). Starfighters often carry a small store of torpedoes or missiles, and capital ships can mount large and incredibly powerful turbolasers.

Hyperspace Navigation Beacons exist as a navigational aid and to warn of dangers to ships. While commonly seen in the Galactic Core and along major trade routes due to Imperial influence, the outer reaches of the galaxy only have enough of them to mark extraordinary dangers. Much of the Mid and Outer Rims remain uncharted, along with Wild and Unknown space. Travel and exploration in these regions with the lack of available maps and absence of hyperspace beacons is extremely dangerous, though discoveries of resource rich worlds and long lost artifacts can also be highly profitable for the adventurous.

Fighters have become increasingly advanced as improvements are made in both hyperdrive and shielding technologies. Some manufacturers have begun mounting small hyperdrive units or shield generators on their fighter product lines (though rarely both) and fighter compatible hyperdrive rings or sleds are becoming less rare- though they still remain prohibitively expensive for mass fielding. This newfound variety has been a boon to anyone looking to field fighters, from the Sith Navy to the Rebels to criminal elements and local defense forces all over the Galaxy. While piloting a lone Starfighter across the galaxy as a personal transport is an uncomfortable and slow moving prospect- for the first time in history it's finally possible.

Communications are handled by Hyperwave Buoys, dedicated platforms devoted to handling large amounts of communication and relaying them at FTL speeds across the network. Access to the Buoys is possible only through dedicated hyperwave transceivers. If one has the power to spare, tightbeam transmissions can be sent from a ship or ground facility to nearby systems, though the range is severely limited without the Buoy system acting as relays. In addition, the prevalence of these Hyperwave Bouys outside of the Core is rare. The vast majority of Outer Rim systems cannot afford to build or maintain such expensive and complicated stations. Those that do, however, have them well-guarded. This means that outside of the Core, real time long range galaxy-spanning communication is impossible. Most ships are limited to inter-sytem communication, and long distance communication is beamed at speeds somewhat faster than typical hyperspace travel.
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Stealth on ships is focused on reducing detectable emissions, through the use of a combination of light absorbing coatings, internal heat sinks, and engine baffles. The technology to design and produce an effective stealth ship is expensive and complicated. Only major militaries (read: Main Factions) have the needed resources to attempt it. Furthermore, the energy emissions from anything larger than a corvette are simply too massive to mask. While stygian crystals exist, making a ship truly invisible to sensors and the naked eye is only theoretical and is considered neigh impossible.

Personal shielding of any kind is extremely rare. Exotic designs like Gungan handheld shields are rarely seen outside their species' control. Body-encompassing personal shields are in the theoretical stages, though many arms and armor manufacturers are rushing to perfect the technology and market it before their competitors . Even then, technical limitations prevent shields from defending against both kinetic and energy attacks. It must be one or the other.

Cybernetics exist, though they are utilitarian in design and somewhat crude in appearance. A missing limb can be replaced, if one has the cash, and the cybernetic limb can grant all the old capabilities of the missing organic limb. Large-scale bodily replacement, like turning someone into a cybernetic super-soldier, is too impractical and risky to even try.

Even more exotic technology such as cloning, nanotech, gravity weapons, to name a few, are either impossible or found only on select worlds. Weapons of mass destruction, from atomic bombs to superlasers are universally banned by the civilized races of the galaxy, but the intrepid and sinister may find a few lying around, buried in forgotten vaults or lost on decades old battle fields and hidden research labs.
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Friendly Reminders

1) BROWSE THE APPROVED BOARD
Before plopping down a fancy blaster rifle or ship, read the stuff other people have written. Look for a piece of gear that suits your needs. Do a quick search in the board using some simple keywords - pistol, freighter, fighter, etc. Please make some use of it. I'm finding myself less and less willing to approve different shades of the same basic blaster pistol, so please take the time to read the board. If nothing else, it'll give you insight into what is approved and what is not. If it's just the appearance of something that you don't like, consider making a generic tech profile for it with your new picture of choice.

2) Stick to the Templates
Deviation from the templates is not allowed - the more you tweak and fiddle with a template to make it look 'shiny', the harder it is for the tech team to read it. We can and will reject it outright for failing to follow the templates! So again, please make sure you follow the templates!

3) Listen to your fellow members
Like a few other boards, the Tech Profiles are commonly "self-moderated" by members of the community. While they don't have the same authority as the Admins or mods, a fair number of them have been on the site for a long time and have a good idea of what will get approved and what needs work. You aren't required to heed their word, but please don't be rude to them if they say something might not fly.
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Da Rules
Advanced Tech
  • Advanced Tech Basics: Advanced Tech is anything that is either more powerful than other items in its class, contains any deviations from the Tech Rules (burst fire pistols or medium damage slug-throwers, for example), or items that are especially uncommon or rare (like Zyggerian shock whips or Wookie bowcasters). Advanced tech allows you to create rare and powerful items that can bend the normal rules and exceed the normal standards, providing a wide array of both story opportunities and tactical advantages- if you're willing to put in the work.
  • Tech Plots: Any tech marked as "advanced" will require an approved tech plot to build, buy, steal, or otherwise obtain. Typical Tech plots are between one thread (for fairly common advanced weapons or unusual armors) to three threads (for advanced tech freighters or other ships), though some items may require even more, and thread difficulty and danger may be taken into account. When submitting Advanced Tech write-ups, it's recommended you include a "suggested" thread count in the submission itself. Tech plots can be submitted in the character plots subforum.
  • Bounty Turn-In: As an alternative to tech plots, each bounty turned in by your character can be used as a "bounty credit", which is essentially equivalent to one threads worth of tech plot. You may cash in multiple bounties for "higher tier" advanced tech.
  • Record Keeping: You must list acquired Advanced Tech in your character sheet. Any listed advanced tech should be linked to the completed tech plot that awarded it, or to the bounties that were turned in in-lieu of a tech plot.

Armor and Worn Tech
General Armor Rules
  • Armor rules apply to all item worn on your body (ie; armor plates and helmets, but also jump boots and goggles)
  • The more protective coverage and functions your armor has, the heavier it will be. A combat vest might be 2-5kg, but a full suit of heavy armor would be around 30-40kg. Weight makes fancy maneuvers difficult and increases exertion.
  • Lightsaber resistant materials like Phrik or Cortosis of armor quality are highly expensive- many are heirlooms. You can have 1 or 2 minor pieces made of those materials (ie; a pair of bracers or a gorget (not both), but not a breastplate or a full helmet)
  • Protective Armor Material must be substantial- Plasteel or Duraplast plates or the like. Thin materials like armorweave must be backed by something more solid- an armorweave cape or suit jacket will not provide protection from any significant hit.
  • All armor material, regardless of composition, provides the same standard protection rating against each category of weapon strength:
    • Light: Armor will almost completely attenuate damage from a light weapon, with only moderate discomfort from heat or kinetic impact bleeding through. Subsequent hits in the same vicinity of the first will cause increasing damage (ie; in line with medium effects).
    • Medium: Armor will save someone from a direct hit from a medium damage weapon, but with moderate bleed through. Even glancing blows can cause intense discomfort, while direct hits to the head or chest can cause serious injuries even through the armor. Being knocked down or spun by a direct hit in an armor plate is common, and the bleed through damage often causes minor burns, bruising, and sometimes actual bleeding.
    • Heavy: This is the most extreme type of damage modern handheld weapons can deal. Armor will only provide a small amount of protection against heavy damage, mostly by attenuating it enough that prompt medical attention can save the victim. Glancing blows can cause minor burns and bruising and impart kinetic impact, and the bleed through damage from direct hits can cause serious and potentially fatal wounds.
    • Melee: Modern armor is primarily designed to protect against heat transfer associated with modern blaster weapons. Phrik/Cortosis Weave, or similar "hardened" material covered armor areas can withstand 1 direct strike from a melee weapon or lightsaber, but otherwise armor provides no significant protection against modern melee damage.
Armor Coverage and Tech Functions
  • Armor types are: Light, Medium, Heavy, or Special.
  • Special is a category for all worn suits and tech that do not quiet fit with the following armor rules, such as environmental suits that provide no protection but carry unique functions. "Special" Armor always needs to be submitted for approval.
  • Coverage Allowance by Type: Light armor can have 1-3 areas of coverage. Medium provides 4-5, and Heavy armor provides full body coverage in all 6-7 regions (think Stormtrooper). Again, you are not required to use all allowed coverage slots. You could choose to forego the helmet with your medium armor if wearing it gives you a headache. Forgoing additional coverage slightly reduces weight and mobility penalties.
  • Protective coverage regions and the areas they govern are standardized as such:
    • Head: Front and back of the head and neck.
    • Torso: Chest and abdomen.
    • Back: Upper and lower back.
    • Upper Arms: Front and back of upper arms, elbows, and shoulders.
    • Lower Arms: Hands, wrists and forearms.
    • Upper Legs: Groin, front and back thighs
    • Lower Legs: Feet, shins and calves, knees.
  • All armor submissions must describe in detail the areas covered within each region. This coverage must align with the photo and description. (ie; Torso: A duraplast chest plate that covers the chest. Feet: Plasteel Shin guards. etc.) 100% coverage of all body parts, and joints is practically impossible.
  • Functions by Type: Light armor may have 5 functions, medium armor may have 4 functions, and heavy may have 3. That is a limit, meaning you do not have to have 2 or 4 functions for it to be considered light or heavy if you don't want to. You can have armor without functions if you want to lighten your load.
  • Maneuverability: Light armor allows you more space for tech and is very maneuverable, allowing you to flip around and perform acrobatics with relative ease, but it will never be as agile as being unarmored. Medium armor provides you more protection and some tech, but is somewhat restrictive and tiring to wear for long periods and especially during heavy exertion- no real acrobatics, but you could probably dodge around alright. Heavy armor (ie; Stormtrooper or Clone armor) provides full body protection at the expense of more limited space for attaching tech functions- it is also very taxing to wear, meaning that most people do not walk around in it unless they expect battle, and it is practically impossible for anyone but the most skilled and experienced fighters to perform any sort of acrobatics in. Medium and heavy armor also hamper the usage of mobility increasing Force Powers such as Force Speed and Jump, making them more taxing and less effective.
  • Quality of Life: Features for certain alien species or characters with specific medical or biological needs are not counted as functions. These features include things such as a cold blooded creatures temperature regulator, or a severely wounded characters respirator that allows them to breath normally, or a Gand's methane tank. These features cannot provide ANY practical function outside of allowing your character to live normally on a day to day basis.
  • For balance reasons, Force Users are not permitted to make use of armor functions. This does not apply to "quality of life" features
Approved and Advanced Tech Functions
  • The tech team has provided a stock of pre-approved armor functions (both advanced and non-advanced) for use. New submissions for this list may be submitted using the "Other" template.
  • If your armor conforms with all of the above rules and restrictions AND uses ONLY tech functions from this pre-approved list or other approved tech functions, you DO NOT NEED TO SUBMIT IT FOR REVIEW. This means you can write it up to conform to your preferences, stick it straight into the generic tech board and start using it immediately.
  • Armor featuring specialized or unique tech or functions that do not fit into the pre approved or advanced categories must be submitted as normal in the unapproved tech board for review by the tech team.
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Weapons
General
  • Submission Guidelines: Weapons that conform strictly to the following guidelines and have no special or unusual features, attachments, effects, etc, may be posted as generitech and do not require a tech submission and review. Any deviations from the following will require a submission.
Melee Weapons
  • Lightsaber-resistant materials such as Phrik and Cortosis weaves are considered fairly common, and are standard for military grade melee weapons. Very rarely would you find yourself with a vibroblade that cannot withstand a lightsaber, but many outer rim built weapons and non-powered options do not meet this standard. Custom weapons must be made of a lightsaber resistant material to count as such.
  • lightsaber hilts cannot be made out of lightsaber resistant materials due to unusual interactions between the metals and the kyber crystals (and more importantly pvp balance).
  • Non-vibro weapons are still a common sight in some parts of the galaxy. Strikes from these weapons are considered equivalent in damage to standard vibroweapons.
  • Kyber crystals are the only acceptable focusing crystal for lightsabers. The myriad legend crystals are not available, and do not confer any advantages or bonuses in combat.
Ranged Weapons
  • Ammunition: Pistols may not hold more than 15 shots. Rifles and Carbines may not hold more than 30 shots. Machine Guns and Repeaters may not hold more than 50 shots in a magazine or powerpack, but may be attached to external power sources for additional capacity.
  • Range: For pistols, the maximum range is 50 meters; rifles and repeaters 150 meters; for sniping weapons 500 meters. All weapons deal no damage beyond their maximum range.
  • Fire Rate: The standard action for all pistols, carbines, and rifles is semi-automatic. Only repeaters have burst or automatic fire modes as standard. Modern Blasters must cycle energy and blaster gas between shots, resulting in a standard fire rate for semi-automatic weapons of two-shots per second, and for automatic weapons up to 5 shots per second.
  • All ranged weapon projectiles/beams/bolts travel at the same effective speed of 35m/s.
  • All ranged weapon projectiles/beams/bolts must be capable of being either blocked/dissipated or deflected by lightsabers.
  • Damage: Ranged weapon damage is categorized as Heavy, Medium, and Light, or Special.
    • Light: Light damage is typically dealt by slugthrowers, rapid fire weaponry like light repeaters, concealable "hold-out" blasters, or other similar weapons. Direct hits to very sensitive areas of a beings anatomy from these weapons can sometimes be fatal, but typically they only cause moderate burns or piercing damage to unprotected flesh, light wounds to limbs, and minor damage on glancing blows. This damage causes serious distraction and can be seriously impairing if left untreated over time.
    • Medium: This damage type is the most common, and represents most blaster weapons and equivalents. Direct hits to sensitive areas are often fatal, and even glancing blows to limbs can cause moderate injury consisting of large burns, bleeding, and intense pain. Prompt medical attention is usually enough to save someone from the damage caused by these weapons, but multiple unprotected strikes are often fatal.
    • Heavy: The rarest but most devastating damage type, heavy weapons are highly dangerous and fatal to most of their victims. This category is reserved for unique weapons like bowcasters, disruptors, defensive emplacements, or some illegally modified weapons. Glancing blows to unprotected flesh can cause very serious wounds that often require rapid medical attention to avoid permanent damage, and direct hits are often fatal. Luckily, these weapons are usually slow firing and difficult to obtain
    • Special: This category includes stun weapons and anything else that does not fit easily into the regular damage categories, and "special" weapons must thoroughly describe their effects in the tech submission.
Stun Weapons
  • Stun weapons use the same categories of strength as other weapons (light/Medium/Heavy) in addition to the "Special" category, with non-damaging stun effects approximately equivalent to the strength of a regular weapon. Armor will attenuate a hit to the same degree it protects against regular damage. Stun bolts have a unique "bleed-through" effect of their own- if you are wearing armor and get hit in the chest you'll fell some effects akin to an electric shock, ie pain, numbness, tightening and/or spasms of the muscles. The pain and spasms are enough to break a force-user's concentration. A shot to an extremity would cause a localized effect. So an arm hit would feel the effects of that hit, and would radiate up into the shoulder as well. If you are not wearing armor, you'll lose full control of that limb for 2-3 posting rounds. Shots to the unarmored face/torso are a KO. Lightsabers can dissipate stun bolts, but not deflect them. These rules also apply to similar functioning weapons, such as non lethal sonic weapons. Dedicated stun, sonic, and other "status effect" type weapons are always require a tech submission.
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Explosives
  • Range, Radius, and Trigger: Thrown explosives have a standard blast radius of 5 meters unless otherwise specified. Like all thrown weapons, the maximum range of the grenades vary based on the strength and skill of the thrower. It should be noted that grenades are not exactly "precision" weapons, and often bounce or roll somewhat unpredictably when striking the ground or other solid surfaces. Most grenades use a standard four (4) second timer from activation to detonation, but many also offer modes for detonation on impact. Remote detonation can be possible with the right gear.
  • Fragmentation Grenades - "Frag" grenades are by far the most commonly used and least expensive grenade in the galaxy, outpacing all other types combined. They operate on a simple concept: a charge is set off propelling fragments of metal in all directions. The concussive force of the explosion doesn't do much damage, although it can throw a victim several feet. The shrapnel released by the explosion can cause severe injuries and is potentially lethal of the target is totally defenseless, but it is mostly ineffective against armor plating.
  • Concussion Grenades - Concussion grenades are similar to flashbangs and work on almost the exact opposite principle of fragmentation grenades. The outer shell is specially formulated to disintegrate with a brilliant flash of light when the grenade is detonated. At the same time, the concussive force of the explosion disorients and damages the hearing of individuals caught in the blast radius. These grenades are (usually) non-lethal. Disorientation is total for the first posting round, and steadily improves back to normal by the 3rd round.
  • Smoke Grenades - Smoke grenades have various uses, from marking targets or drop zones to covering or obscuring troop movements. When activated, smoke spews from the grenade and fills a 5 meter radius over the course of 15 seconds, and disperses in about 2 minutes, depending on wind and other environmental conditions. The grenade comes in various sizes, shapes, and colors, but all designs still have the same effectiveness and use. The smoke is generally harmless to any organic life form, though it may cause some mild discomfort and irritation to sensitive sensory organs.
  • Plasma Grenades - One of the more evil constructions of warfare, plasma grenades create a brief-living cloud of superheated plasma. The heat is intense enough to cause third-degree burns to exposed flesh, lesser burns to covered flesh, and entirely destroy the protective qualities of armor plating. These very expensive grenades are illegal in almost all systems. Simply carrying them can land a person in prison, or worse. Arms dealers or smugglers that ship plasma grenades often face even stiffer penalties. Plasma grenades are always advanced tech.
  • Thermal Detonators - Easily the most potent and high-priced hand-held weapon on the market, thermal detonators pack a punch. Unlike other grenades where their effectiveness drops off the further one gets from the grenade, the thermal detonator does the same amount of damage throughout the blast radius. Even heavily armored soldiers fear these weapons - and rightfully so. A thermal detonator is capable of ripping through armor plate and causing heavy damage to the tissue beneath. Non-military possession of them carries a lengthy prison stay in many systems. Thermal detonators are always advanced tech.
  • Breaching Charges - Breaching charges are used to bust down doors or thin walls. They are typically a square plate, small box, or strip of explosives that affixes to a surface via a variety of adhesives. The explosive force is faced inwards and can knock a door off its hinges or put a reasonable-sized hole in a suitably thin wall. Unless a person is right next to the breaching point, people in the room are not going to be injured by the explosion.
  • Demolition Charges - These aren't grenades, but merit mention. Demolition charges are large bricks of explosive. The bricks are large enough that typically only one with it's shell and accompanying detonator system would fit in a regular sized backpack. A team of people equipped with demolition charges can cause a large swath of destruction. These are by no means precision explosives, and typically used against hardened fortifications. In the past they've also been used by boarding parties to cripple capital ships. Needless to say, possession of these formidable explosives is highly illegal. Demolition Charges are always advanced tech.
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Ships and Vehicles
General
  • Classification: We use the Anaxes War College System for defining ship classes.
  • Player Characters may not own capital ships. Capital craft are owned exclusively by approved factions. They may not be used in PVP threads or in actions targeting other factions unless approved by the Admin Team as part of a Faction Plot, Battle, or other authorized circumstances. Outside of these restrictions, capital craft can be freely used as RP settings.
  • Crew Complement: Only starfighters, pinnaces, and some small light freighters or similar craft are capable of being fully operated by a single pilot. Most ships require a minimum complement of at least two to operate effectively. While many ships up to small capital craft can technically be flown by a single helmsman, the controls for other vital systems such as sensors, the nav-computer, weapons, and engineering are too much for a single operator, drastically reducing the operating efficiency of the vessel. Ship submissions should describe the minimum number of crew required to lift off and float around, and the optimum number needed to effectively crew all systems.
  • 'True' Cloaking devices (ie, stygium crystal based/invisibility) are not allowed, however sensor and emissions masking technology is available.
  • If your ship doesn't have it in the description or equipment sections, it doesn't have it. So if there is no mention of escape pods in the profile, your crew is out of luck if the ship goes down. That said, very basic things that are 100% essential to ship operation (life support, computers, short-range radio, toilets) don't need to be listed.
  • Add-Ons and Custom Equipment:A wide array of custom equipment and add-ons can be made for ships of all classes by creating a submission using the "Other" tech template and including all the relevant information. Ship add-ons are usually advanced. Upgrading a ship using add-ons like this is preferable to submitting one-off or otherwise unique ships.
Vital Ship Systems Defined
  • All ships are considered to have basic functional necessities such as life support, engines, a sealed environment, a hatch or ramp, short range sensors, fuel tanks, short range coms, etc, unless otherwise specified. All other items must be listed, up to and including things like shields and escape pods.
  • Engines: If a ship wants to move, it needs engines. These draw power directly from the main reactor, and are the single biggest consumer of power, second only to the hyperdrive. On smaller ships, the reactor and engine systems are often bundled into one piece of hardware or compartment. On the exterior of a ship, most people only see the engine cowlings, which cover most of thmore fragile thruster body. On larger ships, if the engine thrusters are damaged, it probably won't destroy the entire ship. Explosives can cause minor secondary explosions which can damage nearby hull sections (obviously this is quite bad for small ships such as starfighters). Damage control typically involves shutting down power to a damaged/ruined thruster to prevent further secondary explosions, extinguishing any internal fires, and temporarily patching any damaged hull sections. For all ships, sublight engines are used at extreme high altitude and in space, while repulsorlifts and small maneuvering jets handle all in-atmosphere movement.
  • Sublight Speed: Average Starfighters travel at speeds up to 100MGLT, and only the fastest and most lightly armed interceptors get much beyond that, while an armored and heavily armed bomber moves about 80MGLT. A very fast light freighter could do 75-80MGLT, but typical cargo haulers and passenger ships move at 50MGLT. Military Corvettes average 60MGLT and capital ships and giant bulk freighters get progressively slower as they get larger.
  • Shields: Most modern shields consist of layers of both ray, particle, and concussion shielding which together protect against a wide variety of damage sources, from space debris to missiles and lasers. "Standard" or "Civilian" Light shields typically provide one round worth of damage protection from an equivalent sized craft, medium (aka average or unspecified) shields provide two rounds, and Heavy shields provide three rounds of protection. Unusually intense fire (such as multiple rapid attacks from a single enemy or regular fire from multiple enemies, or from larger and more heavily armed ships weaponry) can considerably shorten their lifespan or wipe them out all together, while taking fire from smaller ships can lengthen their lifespan and mitigate some of the potential bleed through damage. "Military Grade" shields are standard on most capital ships and some smaller purpose built craft, and "military" shields provide one additional round of protection against equivalent ships. In emergencies, power can be diverted from one half of the ship's shielding to another half to gain an additional round of protection at the cost of damaging emitters and leaving the rest of the ship open to damage. Bleed-through damage will occur when shields are around 50% strength, and can cause disruptions to other vital systems at random. Shielding systems are complex beasts- once shields are taken down in a thread it takes a concentrated and lengthy effort to repair and test the extensive electrical systems involved in their use, preventing them from being reactivated in the same thread.
  • Armor: Armor on spacecraft typically is only seen on cruisers or above, as the added weight puts considerable strain on smaller engines, but is sometimes used to add protection to slow moving smaller ships like bombers and landing craft. Armor is typically found around critical areas such as the bridge, hangar bays, and around the reactor. A thinner layer of armor can coat the rest of the ship, providing it protection against smaller weaponry such as missiles, regular torpedoes, and laser cannons. If a turbolaser hits this thinner layer of armor, the plating can hold, though subsequent shots will do more and more damage. The main benefit is armor helps prevent widespread damage from a turbolaser blast. Armor will protect a ship from localized bleed through caused by failing shields, and provide 1-2 rounds of reduced damage after shields have failed.
  • Communications: Ships and Vehicles are capable of communicating via either short-range intra-system communication or long-range comm systems. Short range communications are typically line of sight based and are only useable between ships within the same system. Long-range communication takes more power and the existence of dedicated relay stations. In the further reaches of the Galaxy, especially unexplored space, long-range communication is not possible. Communications can be intercepted with listening stations, or jammed at short ranges by a ship or station with sufficient transmitter power- usually defensive space stations or ships of cruiser size and above.
Ship and Vehicle Weapons
  • Weaponry is how ships make war or defend themselves. It covers a wide variety of hardware, and could the subject of an entire lecture. Civilian ships will typically not have weapons beyond a light blaster cannon or turret for defense. Exceptions exist for freighters owned by wealthy enough companies or smugglers, though they run the risk of advertising that they are transporting something valuable if they have weapons. Many systems require special licenses for certain types of ships equipped with more destructive weaponry. Ground based vehicles rarely mount anything larger than a heavy laser cannon or a missile launcher, though pulse wave and turbolaser armed artillery is not unheard of.
  • Air to Ground- Capital ships may not be used against ground based PC's during regular PvP. They may be used in CPvP, as background for a battle setting, or to engage other enemy ships. Fighters , gunships, pinnaces, and freighters (or similar small craft)may be used to strafe ground based targets, including PCs. Turbolasers are the only capital ship-borne weapons that may be used to bombard planets, however the above rules still apply. Missiles, Proton Torpedoes, and Bombs may not be used to directly target ground based PC's regardless of ship class, however they may be used cinematically or to target objectives such as buildings.
  • Laser Cannons - The standard weapon for use on or against Starfighters and most freighters, and the most common vehicle weaponry. They are reliable and do good damage against unshielded targets. They are effective against ships up to and including freighters or some smaller corvettes. Light cannons are primarily effective against Starfighters and shuttles but have a faster fire rate, while heavy cannons can engage capital ships and their blasts cause significant explosions, but are slower to track targets and cycle shots. This category also covers other older or archaic blaster-like weapons like autoblasters, tri blasters, and others, which all deal equivalent damage to light laser cannons. Capital ship laser cannons have maximum effective range of approximately 1km, and non-capital ship laser cannons have an effective range of 500m.
  • Turbolasers - These are the main anti-ship weapons used by warships. Typically they will only be seen on ships classified as Frigates or above, though military corvettes may carry one or two. They are quite inaccurate, and not capable of effectively tracking and engage smaller craft such as starfighters or freighters, though a turbolaser bolt is entirely capable of shredding a starfighter if it makes contact. Turbolasers can be used to bombard ground based targets, but it is impossible to specifically target anything smaller than a large building, making them more useful for flattening city blocks than as close-air-support. The maximum range of Turbolasers is 50km, though accurate fire is only possible at 1km or less, and damage is significantly reduced past 10km, making long range turbolaser fire typically reserved for harassment or orbital bombardment.
  • Ion cannons - Ion weapons are rare and even the smallest are very expensive. They are very efficient at taking down shields, causing double damage for their size, and can cause severe electrical disruptions across a ship without causing much physical damage. Light ion cannons can be used to disable small craft, but are ineffective at damaging capital ships systems without a direct hit on a weapon emplacement or vital system. Ion cannons have the same effective range as laser cannons.
  • Tractor Beams - Tractor beams are used to manipulate other objects in space, most often to assist loading and unloading cargo, diverting navigational hazards, and for Capital ships to manage their docked compliments. They can also be used offensively to trap, hold, and manipulate other ships. Trapped pilots can attempt to "break" a tractor beam lock, but this is very difficult for smaller craft. The effectiveness of a tractor beams hold is determined by the relative mass of the two ships- larger ships can affect smaller ones much more easily than the reverse. A "hit" must be achieved with the tractor beam first, and tractor beams have the same effective range as laser cannons.
  • Missiles- Missiles come in a variety of flavors such as concussion or high explosive, and are designed for both ships and land based vehicles. In regards to ships, they are typically carried by Starfighters to target other Starfighters, and are less powerful against capital ships than torpedoes, however they can be effective against more sensitive areas such as engine thrusters. Their guidance systems are relatively simplistic, and countermeasures or well-timed evasive maneuvers are effective against them. Missiles do not have a set range, but can track a target for up to two rounds, unless the lock is broken by maneuvers.
  • Torpedoes - Torpedoes come in many flavors as well, but are primarily designed to be used capital ships. They are slower than missiles, unguided, and typically launched by strike craft or modified starfighters at close range. They do impressive damage against more vulnerable areas such as engines or communications arrays, but are generally weaker against capital ship shields. Smaller craft such as corvettes can be crippled by a few well-placed torpedoes. Torpedoes to not have a set range, but will travel in a straight line for two rounds unless they strike a target or run out of fuel and explode.
  • Assault torpedoes - These formidable weapons are carried by ships rated at cruisers and above, and are meant to be used if an enemy warship gets too close, or against immobile targets such as stations. They are slow-moving, unguided, but capable of tremendous damage. If an assault torpedo hits an engine the damage could be catastrophic.
  • Bombs - Bombs are only carried by bombers, as you might guess. There are varieties of them, but the most common by far are regular, energy-damage dealing proton bombs. Bombs are typically used against frigates and above, unless a captain isn't confident he can win a shooting match against a ship smaller than a frigate. They are designed to be used against specific targets such as weapon emplacements, engines, communications arrays, the bridge, weakening the shields etc. You typically aren't going to be using bombs to destroy a ship instead of using lasers or turbolasers.
Hyperdrives and Interstellar Travel
  • Hyperdrives: The Hyperdrive consists of the drive itself as well as the tied-in navigation computer and are required for hyperspace travel. Starfighters and many other small craft cannot be equipped with hyperdrives due to size and power constraints. The nav computer console takes up significant space, and so ships equipped with them are usually a two man effort or more to crew effectively. Some starfighter designs with integrated hyperdrives and nav computers exist, but operating the nav computer systems while performing other maneuvers is exceedingly difficult.
  • Hyperdrives Ratings: Hyperdrives are rated from 1.0 to 10.0 (or higher), and this number reflects both how long it takes for the navicomp to properly plot a course as well as the length of travel time. Ratings of 3.0 and below are typically only found in military vessels as the more complex software and hardware are quite expensive. Average civilian vessels have Hyperdrives rated at 5 or 6, while speeds slower than that are typical for giant drone barges or older cargo haulers. Navicomps require a number of rounds equal to the hyperdrive rating to safely plot a course, and the pilot must put the ship on the correct heading indicated to make the jump (this allows savvy defenders to block likely escape routes). For calculating length of travel time (optional) please see the extended guide to Hyperspace travel.
  • Safety: Hyperdrives have a large number of built-in safety protocols designed to conform with existing laws and accepted safety regulations. It is a standard galactic law to drop out of hyperspace at least 200km away from a planet's atmosphere to avoid undue disruption to the atmosphere. Additionally, there is a failsafe designed to prevent a ship in hyperspace from crashing into another ship, planets, or any other large object which casts a gravity shadow. This failsafe isn't perfect, while it would drop you out early enough to avoid smashing into a sun's surface, there is still a tremendous swath of space around a sun that is still quite deadly.
  • Forget about Safety!: Safety protocols can be overridden at great risk. You MUST contact a tech admin or mod if you wish to do the following: Engage the hyperdrive before calculations have finished, Override the gravity-well failsafe, Engage the hyperdrive from in-atmosphere or within low planetary orbit, Chart new hyperspace lanes or avoid mapped hyperspace lanes entirely, or any other uses that would be foreseeably dangerous.
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Faction Tech
  • Faction Tech is any tech that is fielded primarily or exclusively by a main or independent faction. This includes things like a factions proprietary warships and fighters, ground vehicles, and standard issue weapons and armor.
  • Faction tech is typically "standard issue" items that are fielded en masse, primarily to NPCs. As such, it's capabilities should be limited in scope and realistic for mass issue- ie; standard issue armor should have few or no functions, and standard issue weapons should not have a significant number of gadgets or alternate fire modes. Any items submitted as Faction Tech will be evaluated by this standard.
  • Faction Tech can only be submitted by a Faction Leader, and all faction tech must be approved by the Tech Team. This means that Faction Tech CANNOT be posted as generitech.
  • If you wish to create faction tech for a faction that does not have Faction Leader, please contact the tech team for options.
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Specialty Tech
  • Specialty Tech (different from Advanced Tech) is any tech that is sufficiently more advanced than existing tech that it gives a powerful tactical advantage over other existing factions or forces. Examples would be niche specialty warships or dreadnaughts, high end stealth tech, or any sort of superweapon.
  • Specialty Tech requires a multi-thread plot to develop involving multiple participants, and may only be initiated by Indie or Main Factions.
  • All threads used in a Specialty Tech plot must be Open/PvP giving external powers a reasonable opportunity to intervene.
  • Specialty Tech plots must be approved by the Tech Admin in addition to the plot team. You must detail what exactly you wish to develop and an outline of the plot arc, and which threads the different phases of development will take part in. A typical Specialty Tech Plot should be 3-5 threads, but may require more.
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Misc Rules
  • Unique Tech: Creating new tech that is unique to your character, only produced by your character, and so forth, is highly discouraged. Tech submissions should be available to anyone, although you are welcome to create rare tech that is highly difficult to obtain (through tech plots). Unique or custom versions of approved tech can and should be posted as generitech instead.
  • If your submission is not in the "spirit of Star Wars", the staff reserves the right to archive it. in fact, we reserve the right to archive it for any other reason too. So for example, if a submission is quite clearly a Halo or Mass Effect knockoff it doesn't really fit in the Galaxy Far Far Away and will probably get archived. Same goes for blatant min-maxing, making carbon copies of OT or prequel era canon ships, and other similar issues.
  • If an issue is raised with your tech, the staff reserves the right to archive it effective immediately. This applies even if you're currently using it in a thread, which means you will no longer be able to use it in that thread.
  • Cybernetics: A broad range of Cybernetic implants and body parts are available as non-advanced tech, but they are expensive, require frequent maintenance, and carry a risk of health complications. Standard cybernetic replacement limbs or organs throughout the galaxy are crude, obviously mechanical, and confer no special abilities or strength- they are simply replacements. "Synth-Skin" coated and other high end cybernetics capable of passing as organic matter (Lukes hand, for example) are very rare and very expensive, and require highly skilled technicians to install. Any replacement parts that confer special abilities or tools must be submitted as advanced tech using the "other" template.
  • Droids: Droids should be submitted using the "Other" template. While a very wide variety of droids exist (astromechs, pilot droids, pit droids, service droids, battle droids, etc), fully autonomous robots are still in their relative infancy. Droid brains can rarely handle more than one primary programming set at a time, forcing most constructs into one specific niche usage. While infrequent memory wipes can result in cascading errors and "quirks" that resemble organic beings personalities, true Artificial Intelligence is not currently possible. Limits in servo motor technology means that most droids are relatively slow moving and not very agile. While players are welcome to create Droid characters, they must be based on an approved Droid design and the Tech Team will have to approve of any deviations between the Tech and Character profiles.
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Q: I still don't understand how you guys approve tech.

A: First, that's a statement not a question. Second, we generally look at certain criteria.
  • How does this affect timeline technology as a whole? Is it too advanced for thousands of years before the Prequels? Does it introduce something new? If so, how well developed is this new tech?
  • Is this gun/ship/armor clearly designed to give one PC or one faction a decisive advantage over everyone else? Is there a function that's absurdly powerful?
  • Is this piece of tech blatantly min-maxed?
  • Are we going down the old road of an arms-race with tech submissions?
  • Is it Star-Warsy? If you couldn't plop your submission into a scene in Rogue One without it looking out of place, it's probably not a good idea.

Q: My tech was archived by a mod/admin, can I argue with them about it?

A: No. Tech Team rulings are final. If you believe a ruling or determination is the result of some undue bias against a particular player, it should be reported directly to one of the Site Owners. Bias against individuals will be handled seriously, but you also can't go around a mod's back and ask the Tech Admin to take a look at an archived piece of tech just because you disagree with a decision.

Q: My tech was approved a week/month/1,000,000,000 ages ago, and now someone says it needs "fixing", what gives?

A: So in the 6th Timeline, tech was pretty broken, and each tech admin had their own way of doing things. This lead to a lot of weird continuity errors, so to speak. There was a lot to overhaul with the old system, and we're still working out kinks on how to continually improve the tech rules/guidelines. Plus, we're all human. Sometimes a piece of tech slips by, or gets used in a way that's broken. In which case we will correct the issue. With the newest Timeline all previous tech was archived to give us a "clean slate" and anything you want to adapt and re-use will have to be resubmitted.

Q: I still don't understand Generic Tech. What makes it Generic?

A: A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself "Can everything in this submission be replaced with 'pistol with mother-of-pearl handle'?" ie. do the changes you made from a basic version of that ship/gun/armor add nothing even somewhat special to the approved submission's functionality? If no, it's probably Generic. Think "re-skin". See the Generitech Rules and Guidelines for more details.


Q: What's the difference between mods and Tech Admin?

A: The Tech Admin retains exclusive right to make rulings on tech usage, changes to the tech rules, and the handling of disciplinary matters. Tech mods monitor the tech boards and evaluate new tech submissions.
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