ASIF
Concept: All starships use structural integrity fields to hold the ships together during warp travel and against the intense energies thrown at a ship in combat. This is done transparently in previous grades of technology, more or less enabling the ship to take damage according to the DAC. The ASIF takes this to a new level by actually giving an amount of defense against damage.
Cost: The ASIF costs the same as the cost of going from minimum shields to full shields. For SC4 units, the cost is 1/2, SC3 is 1, SC2 is 3. The power may come from any source. The power may come from reserve power.
Operation: The ASIF is raised or lowered at the same time and same manner as standard shields are raised and lowered. The ASIF may be raised and lowered independently from other shields. It may not be raised in response to combat damage. An operating ASIF may be reinforced in response to combat damage (see Reinforcement below) The ASIF may be raised and lowered under the same rules as normal shields. The ASIF is independent form other shields on the ship. It may be raised regardless of whether the ship is using full, minimum or no shields.
Procedure: The ASIF is a single 360-degree shield that blunts penetrating damage by shielding some or all of the columns of the DAC. The ASIF display on the ship's SSD shows the shield boxes designated for the DAC columns it defends. When a point of damage would normally be done to a column protected by an undestroyed ASIF box, a box on the corresponding column of the ASIF display is marked off instead. When all boxes for the column are marked as destroyed, damage is allocated normally using established DAC procedures. The player must record damage to the ASIF before recording any damage to the corresponding column of the DAC (or deeper columns). He may not choose to let some damage through.
Reinforcement: The ASIF may be reinforced by either general or specific reinforcement. It may be reinforced in response to combat damage. All reinforcement is cut in half, round fractions down. Reinforcement fills in the ASIF starting from the deepest columns working out toward the "A" column. Each column must be filled in before reinforcement can fill in the next column. If the "A" column is entirely filled, the reinforcement adds onto the "A" column.
EXAMPLE: An ASIF with all its "A": column boxes destroyed as well as 4 of 6 boxes of its B column, is reinforced with 6 points of specific reinforcement. All 4 points of "B" column damage would have to be filled in before any reinforcement would defend the "A" column. Since the reinforcement is cut in half, the "B" column gains 3 points of those 4.
Repair: Both CDR and energy allocated to Damage Control may be used to repair ASIF shield boxes (if so designated at Energy Allocation). The cost is twice that of regular shield boxes. By the X1 rules, 1 point of power allocated to Damage Control will repair 1 shield box. Under these circumstances, 2 points of Damcon energy will repair 1 ASIF box. The ASIF box repairs similarly to reinforcement. All deeper ASIF columns must be repaired before a shallower one may be repaired.
EXAMPLE: An ASIF has been destroyed down to the "D" column, which has 4 points in it and has taken 2. 6 points of power is allocated to Damage Control, repairing 3 ASIF boxes. The two "D" column boxes must both be filled in before any "C" column boxes can be filled in. Result is 2x "D" column boxes and 1 "C" column box get repaired.
Sample ASIF Chart: ISC XCC: This Chart shows
8 boxes of protection to the "A" and "B" columns,
7 to "C" and "D",
5 to "E", 4 to "F",
3 to "G" and
2 to "H" and "I".
Balance:
1) Reduction - ASIF uses the "leaky shield" rules, allowing 1 out of every 5 hits through.
2) Reduction - Transporters are considered to be blocked as if by a facing shield or general reinforcement when the ASIF is powered, raised and has any undestroyed boxes in the "A" or "B" columns.
3) Reduction - Eliminate the "A" column hits. They duplicate ground covered by shields anyway.
3) Improvement - The ASIF can be repaired at the same rate as other shields.
4) Improvement - Reinforcement to a ASIF is not cut in half
5) Improvement - Reinforcement and/or repairs may be made to a new column if there is at least one box in a previous column. EXAMPLE: If we have a ASIF with its "D" column down by 2 boxes and have repaired 3 ASIF boxes, we could skip repairing more "D" row boxes (there's) 2 already there, repair 1 "C" column, box, which would enable repairing one "B" column box, and finally repair one "A" row box. The "A" row could then be reinforced if needed or repaired further in a future turn.
