Major Rakal's Romulan Review #58: Facilitating understanding of Facilities; Part 4: Everything else

(09/13/1998)

Aefvadh! Although reporting cards may be the most important use of facilities, they do have other assets, like shields, weapons and repair capabilities. A little belatedly, here is part 4 of the series...

FACILITATING UNDERSTANDING OF FACILITIES, PART 4: EVERYTHING ELSE

Shields
All facilities have SHIELDS, similar to ship SHIELDS, which protect them from attacks. Like a ship, a facility will be damaged if attacked with total WEAPONS greater than the facility SHIELDS; destroyed if damaged a second time before being repaired (currently there is no way to repair a damaged facility); and destroyed by a direct hit if attacked with total WEAPONS greater than twice the facility SHIELDS. For example, a Romulan Outpost with SHIELDS of 32 will be damaged if attacked with WEAPONS of 33, destroyed if attacked with WEAPONS of 65, and unaffected if attacked with WEAPONS of 32 or less.

Any personnel aboard or "in" a facility that is destroyed will be killed.

Planet facility SHIELDS protect only the facility itself (which may be attacked by ships in orbit) and any personnel "inside" the facility. Space facility SHIELDS have a second function: to protect ships docked at the facility, by extending 50% of the facility SHIELDS to each docked ship. (The Husnock Outpost extends only 25% of its SHIELDS.) For example, a Romulan ship with SHIELDS of 8 docked at a Romulan Outpost will gain 16 SHIELDS from the outpost for a total effective SHIELDS of 24.

Any number of docked ships may be protected in this way, without reducing the facility's own shield protection. You pay a price for that protection, though - a docked ship cannot fire its WEAPONS, even in retaliation.

Outpost and station SHIELDS (but not headquarters) may be enhanced by Plasmadyne Relays, but not by Nutational or Metaphasic Shields, which are limited to ships.

A space facility will protect any ship docked there, regardless of affiliation or ownership. Of course, you may not dock at your opponent's outpost (though you may dock any compatible ship at your own outpost), and docking at a Nor is limited by the text of the docking sites (number of staffing icons, compatibility, and presence of a V.I.P. in the crew or a Computer Skill aboard the docking site affect your ability to dock).

Currently, Nors are the only facilities which have WEAPONS. They can defend themselves by returning fire or counter-attacking, and a Nor youcontrol can initiate battle if you have a leader in Ops. An attacking or defending Nor may join forces with undocked ships at its location to target one enemy ship or facility.

Repairs
Damaged ships may be repaired by docking at an outpost and remaining there for two full turns, except for the Neutral Outpost, which has no repair facilities. Repairs may be effected instantly at any outpost, including a Neutral Outpost, if a Spacedock event is played on the outpost.

Damaged ships may also be repaired by docking for two full turns at a Docking Pylons site on a Nor. This is the only site that allows repairs.

Planet facilities cannot repair ships, because you can't dock there.

Transporters
All facilities have transporters unless their text says otherwise. You may beam your personnel from a facility to a ship, or to a planet at that location, or vice versa, using the facility transporters. Nors are an exception; you are not allowed to beam to or from a Nor unless a card allows it. So if you want to beam from a Nor to a planet, you must walk your personnel onto a docked ship, undock the ship, and then beam down from the ship.