Uses of 'Rerouting Power' in Starship Combat

[Stan]

I'm working on a custom Star Trek ruleset (had a d6 version inspired by Star Wars d6 rules I played tested several times, but now I've switched over to a custom d100 set of rules I'm quite happy with. Once it's reasonably finished I will publish for peer review).

One thing i'm pondering is adding some more dimensions to starship combat, which leads me to my question.

What sort of examples are there of 'rerouting power' in starship combat? I seem to recall that phrase tossed out many times in various series, but I'm blanking on what the context was. Rerouting power to regenerate shields? Rerouting power to boost warp speed? What types of effects does rerouting power have, especially in starship combat?

[starcruiser]

Scotty redirecting power to the shields in "The Changeling" comes to mind immediately. I know there are a number of examples of that in TOS. Reinforcing shields is a concept heavily featured in the old Star Fleet Battles game system (often to excess).

I could see the same thing being done to get more out of weapons (with possible damage if pushing too hard) and maybe for tractor beams etc...

[Stan]

A related question is: where is the engineer redirecting the power _from_? I suppose engines is one case, or moving power to the aft shields more than forward shields.

[c57d]

FASA had a system whereby you had to assign engine power to shields (fwd, aft etc) , (individual) weapons and movement each turn. Although it was serviceable and made for some interesting ship battles within a scenario, it did not really reflect TOS as seen on screen and I would never use it again.
It did not allow for phaser banks and shields starting high and gradually being worn out or weakened. It was also more positionally tactical than TOS was on screen.
I would personally rather use a more abstract system, perhaps with +'s & -'s to skills, to reflect power being moved by the chief engineer to shore up key and/or failing systems. Chief engineer, perhaps, needing a skill role, with levels of success limiting how much could be moved each turn. And higher levels of success allowing a bit of extra power to be squeezed out of nowhere? "Scotty you're a miracle worker"

[rredmond]

In the show they talk alot about "full power" "diverting power" "secondary power" "emergency power" and "available power." Like it's all one thing. At one point in Tholian Web Kirk says something like divert all power to the shields, except for impulse drive. And in Immunity Syndrome he tells Sulu to divert all power to the shields, and Sulu responds something like but phasers will only be at 50% then!
Doesn't all "power" come from the dilithium crystals or some single source like that?

It's kinda like turning off your car AC to make it go faster?

[c57d]

It is purely supposion, but I always thought that (di)lithium crystals purely converted main power into useable shipboard energy - whether phasers shields or life support etc.
So where did main power come from? I always understood that Matt Jefferies wanted the nacelles held away from the ship in order to protect the crew from radiation etc from the warp units. And so I conclude that most of the main power is from the warp engines via the crystals. I assume that the impulse engines generate a little, after subspace movement is accounted for, but warp is far more. YMMV

[Falconer]

Nov 6, 2021 4:44:19 GMT -5 c57d said:

I would personally rather use a more abstract system, perhaps with +'s & -'s to skills, to reflect power being moved by the chief engineer to shore up key and/or failing systems. Chief engineer, perhaps, needing a skill role, with levels of success limiting how much could be moved each turn. And higher levels of success allowing a bit of extra power to be squeezed out of nowhere? "Scotty you're a miracle worker"

I agree. At least with my group, I have found that the focus during starship combat has to remain on the characters and provide excellent play opportunities for the characters. We use the simple starship combat mechanics from S&S where basically you are just keeping track of distance and a single power stat. Those stats decrease, which ratchet up the tension. The engineer players are always asking me if they can come up with more power by rerouting or whatever. Ideally there should be other issues going on around the ship rather than simple battle in space. Damage that needs to be addressed, troublesome NPCs (or PCs!), etc.

[starcruiser]

I never got the TNG approach of having the dilithium crystals right in the antimatter stream... I'm sorry, I have enough of a 'sciencey' background to know that no matter will survive that.

Anywho - I've often wondered if the 'transtator' physics mentioned in the show a couple of times could have been related to the dilithium crystals. Possibly acting as super efficient (and very high energy) transistors and/or power converters.

Actual power comes from matter/antimatter reactors - and fusion reactors for backup. That energy is then converted and controlled by dilithium (and earlier lithium) crystals. The whole power system, save for some emergency power, has - over time - become dependent on dilithium to convert and manage the ship's energy. This would also explain why loosing crystals is a very bad thing.

[Stan]

Where on the ship is the power plant that hosts matter/antimatter reactors -- is that in the nacelles? Or down in engineering perhaps?

[c57d]

Given that Matt Jefferies wanted all the dangerous/radioactive stuff out on the nacelles away from the crew, that is were I would place the MAM reactors. With a less potent/hazardous reactor for the impulse engines.

[starcruiser]

Yep - "Antimatter Pods" ... "Antimatter Nacelles" etc... The main reactors are meant to be in the nacelles for easy ejection in an emergency and to keep the radiation away from the crew spaces (shielding would also be there but still...).