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Plasma Torpedoes in Star Trek
Plasma Torpedoes in Star Trek
The main reference for this weapon is the classic Star Trek episode Balance of Terror. This is a classic World War II submarine battle transferred to space. The normal submarine torpedo is substituted with the Plasma Torpedo. This weapon has a very powerful punch but looses yield with range. Its also not clear if its a guided weapon but the Enterprise seems unable to escape it in reverse.
Plasma torpedos are a type of powerful torpedo weapon based on enveloping high-energy plasma. It was employed by various military forces, including those of the Romulans. Plasma torpedos lose destructive energy with range. Guidance of the weapon is unclear, but in Balance of Terror the weapon does track the Enterprise to some degree as it reverses course. Range up to 200,000 km.
Plasma Torpedo in action
Plasma Torpedo in action
Plasma torpedos are a type of powerful torpedo weapon based on enveloping high-energy plasma. It was employed by various military forces, including those of the Romulans. Plasma torpedos lose destructive energy with range. Guidance of the weapon is unclear, but in Balance of Terror the weapon does track the Enterprise to some degree as it reverses course. Range up to 200,000 km. It is unclear in the episode how fast the enterprise is moving but it seems to be at impulse speed. We can conclude that unlike the photon this is a sub-light weapon.
In Strange New Worlds the Balance of Terror incident is re-imagined. There is a lot wrong with this treatment compared to the original. The Romulan ship is far too manoeuvrable and moves too fast and de-cloaks in an instant. The plasma weapon moves too fast and the encounter happens at point blank range. These are all treatments to make the action exciting for a modern audience, but it loses the tension of the original. The clip does show the power of the weapon on a ship with shields and takes out Kirk's ship with one hit.
Plasma Torpedoes in Full Thrust
Plasma Torpedoes in Full Thrust
The plasma torpedo is based on the wave gun in the More Thrust rulebook. The system fires a plasma charge that expands as it travels along its line of flight, causing damage to any vessels in its path. The plasma torpedo may fire only along the main axis of the carrying ship, ie: in a straight line bearing directly forward along the ship’s current course. The ship may not fire any other weaponry in the turn that it fires the plasma torpedo, and also counts as unshielded through its entire frontal arc while the weapon is being fired.
The plasma torpedo burst has a “life” of only one turn. Its full range is 36″; over the first 12″ move a 2″ diameter template along the line of fire, at 12″ to 24″ the template expands to 3″ diameter, and then from 24″ to 36″ it expands again to 4″ diameter. This all happens in the one turn, after which the template is removed. Any ship touched by the template during its flight suffers damage:
Range Dice
0-12″ 4D6
12-24″ 3D6
24-36″ 2D6
Note that this damage is equal to the actual score rolled, eg: in the middle part of its flight (with a 3″ template) it might roll 4, 1 and 5 for a total of ten damage. There are no defences against plasma torpedo fire – neither shields nor armour reduce the damage inflicted.
The plasma torpedo needs to be charged prior to firing: each turn that the player notes the weapon is charging, they roll one die and note the result down; when the accumulated rolls reach six or more the weapon is fully charged and may then be fired at any time. Alternatively just make it take two turns to charge the weapon if undamaged and three turns if damaged.
Firing the plasma torpedo totally discharges the capacitors, which must then recharge from zero again. If the plasma torpedo is knocked-out by a threshold roll while it is charging or charged, the carrying ship suffers damage equal to the current charge in the weapon’s capacitors.
Note that a ship fitted with a plasma torpedo may apply thrust or change course in the same turn that it fires the weapon.
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