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.