(RD.1) Daetharian Outworlders Background

The Daetharians are a liquid-like metallic race of beings of mysterious origins, who occupied a small part of Romulan space before the Romulan use of warp technology.   Due to the liquid metal nature of the Daetharian species much data seems to indicate that they are of an artificial intelligence, although that conclusion has yet to be verified.  The location of any sort of Daetharian home world is unknown and it is widely believed that they have intergalactic origins.  Contact with Daetharian ships tended to occur mostly near the rim of the known galaxy along Romulan, Tholian and Klingon borders, and incidents with these races happened on occasions before the entire Daetharian fleet was forced out of Romulan territory with the rise of warp technology in that area and a resulting conflict known as the Daetharian Exile. 

After the rise of warp technology in the Romulan Empire, Daetharian presence in that territory dwindled to one or two sighting per year, as the fleet had relocated to the Galactic Core - finding the mineral rich, organic poor characteristics of this vast territory more to their liking. Almost immediately after arriving the Daetharians encountered the Za'Cahri - another extra-galactic race that had recently settled in the area - and proceeded to wage an on again off again war of attrition against them. This constant fighting remained even during the Andros Invasion as it was thought that the Daetharians were in fact helping in the Andro conquest - although this has never been verified - but raises the suspicion that the Daetharians may have come from the Andromida Galaxy.

Throughout the galaxy Daetharian ships are identified by their Romulan given codenames - with the exception of the "S" Series which were classified by the Za'Cahri. It is unknown how the Daetharians themselves classify their vessels.

(RD.R0) DAETHARIAN FLEET REFITS

(RD.R1) FLEET “P” REFITS
    Most Daetharian ships began refitting some of their phasers around Y175 to phaser-1’s in an attempt to keep on pace with the Za'Cahri.

(RD.R2) IMAGE/TRACKING DESTABLIZER REFITS
    After leaving Romulan space, the Daetharians made an attempt to copy the dreaded Romulan cloaking device.  Technology had been stolen from captured Romulan vessels and analyzed for future reference.  Although the Daetharians were unable to duplicate the Romulan cloaking device, they did manage to produce the Image/Tracking Destabilizer which they began installing on their ships after Y169.

(RD.2) AGONIZER CRUISER (AGC):   One of the largest class encountered by other races, the Agonizer, when properly refitted, is perhaps the Daetharians most deadly pre- "S-Series" vessel.  The two side mounted EMD’s can cause serious devastation to enemy ships at close range. Unlike other older Daetharian ships, the AGC has a respectable amount of phaser power.

(RD.3) EXECUTIONER CRUISER (EXC): Smaller than the Agonizer and produced in greater numbers the Executioner was used heavily during the Romulan Occupation and subsequent exile. The Executioner is considered the workhorse of the Daetharian fleet.

(RD.6) AGGRESSOR (AGR): Based on the Agonizer hull, the Aggressor scrapped the duel side-mounted EMD's in favor of a single forward arc EMD. Used exclusively to capture Galactic and Core vessels, the AGR carried a full compliment of boarding parties and transporter facilities.

(RD.4) BLACK HOOD WAR DESTROYER (BWD): One the smallest of Daetharian ships encountered, the BWD serves as a cruiser escort and is often reconfigured for scouting and transport purposes.  A bit expensive to be considered an attrition unit, the Black Hood still was produced in large numbers.

(RD.5) HOOD SCOUT (HS): The only known scout vessel employed by the Daetharian fleet, the Hood Scout was based on the destroyer hull and never received the “P” refit.

(RD.7) NEEDLER (NED): Mass produced and used as an semi-attrition unit, the Needler was often used in suicide missions, giving further evidence that the Daetharians may be of artificial intelligence.   Tactically, the NED was known to charge straight towards its opponent unleashing all energy from its single forward arc EnMass Driver before being blown to bits. A huge of amount of these vessels were lost during the Romulan Occupation and the economic setback of such losses contributed to the eventual Daetharian Exile.

Due to the sturdy resistance of the Za'Cahri Stronghold the Daetharians began to produce updated versions of their warships in an attempt to completely eliminate them. These new classes were based around a new hull design and boasted greater firepower.

(RD.9) NEW WAR CRUISER (CW): The first ship in the second series, the New War Cruiser was produced in relatively large numbers and saw much action against the Za'Cahri, Prometheans and Andrium.

(RD.11) RCA RAPTURE CRUISER: Deployed in small numbers, this cruiser offered added extra drone defense against the Za'Cahri and Prometheans.

(RD.12) WAR DESTROYER (DW): Used mainly in escort roles, the War Destroyer made up the bulk of the Second Series warships.

(RD.13) DREADNOUGHT (DN): The rarest of rare Daetharian ships, the DN was intended to spearhead the final drive into the Za'Cahri stronghold. This vessel was designed with anti-drone tactics in mind and as such boasted numerous point defense phasers to fulfill that role.

    The EnMass Driver (EMD) is employed by the Daetharians.  It is unknown whether this device was derived from Romulan Mauler technology or if the Romulans developed the Mauler after encountering the Daetharians.  The EMD uses an initial matter/anti-matter reaction to power the device, which is then operated by transforming inert matter into a powerful direct-fire beam using additional battery power.

(ED.1) DESIGNATION
 Each “EMD” box on the SSD represents one EnMass Driver.  Each is recorded and fired separately.

(ED.11) An EnMass Driver is destroyed on FLAG hits on the DAC.

(ED.12) The repair cost of an EMD is 7.

(ED.2) ARMING PROCEDURE

(ED.20) PROCEDURE: EnMass Drivers are fired by the following procedure. Two units of energy is allocated to each EMD which is to be fired.  This “charging” is done during the Energy Allocation phase or by using reserve power. 

(ED.21) SOURCE: Energy to charge an EMD may come from any source. Energy to fire the weapon can is augmented  from battery banks as indicated on the SSD.

(ED.22) FIRING: EMDs are fired during the Direct-Fire Weapons Fire Stage of the Impulse Procedure.  There is no counter for an EMD bolt. Their effect is determined by die roll and recorded immediately.  When the EnMass driver is fired energy is expended from the battery banks as shown on the SSD.  The bank need not be fully expended in this manner - any or all energy stored in the batteries may be expended.   The total energy coming from the battery banks is multiplied by 3 then modified by the die roll on the EMD chart to get the damage result.

(ED.23) RATE: A given EMD can fire multiple times per turn as long as it has energy stored in the necessary battery banks. There is no delay between firings, although the EMD could only fire once per impulse.

(ED.24) HOLDING: Charged EMDs may be held for no cost if the weapon was not fired during the previous turn. If the weapon was fired (even once) during the turn then it must be rearmed before firing again. Energy stored in the battery banks connected to the EnMass driver is held normally as per battery rules (H5.3).

The Daetharians developed this device in an attempt to duplicate the Romulan Cloaking Device.  Due to insufficient data and a basic misinterpretation of Romulan technology, the Daetharians failed to reproduce the Cloak but instead developed a highly efficient ECM generator.  After the development of this technology the Daetharians began refitting their ships to include it.

(GD.1) OPERATION OF THE IMAGE/TRACKING DESTABLIZER

(GD.11) OPERATION: The ITG is turned on or off during the Activate/Deactivate Cloaking Device Step of the Cloaking Device Stage of any impulse.

(GD.111) Turning the device on begins the fade-out procedure (GD.14)

(GD.112) Turning the device off begins the fade-in procedure (GD.15)

(GD.113) An ITD can only be turned on one time during each turn and can only be turned off one time during each turn.  No unit can have more than one Image/Tracking Destabilizer.

(GD.114) If the ITD is activated/deactivated near the end of a turn, the fade-in/fade-out effect carries over into the next turn.

(GD.115) The player can stop/reverse the fade-in or fade-out procedure during any Cloaking Device Stage, but the ship must then fade-in (or out) the same number of impulses that it has already faded (in or out).  Once reversed, that specific fade cannot be reversed again.

(GD.116) If a ship does not allocate energy to operate the ITD, it begins to fade-in on impulse #1 of that turn.

(GD.117) If the ship was operating a ITD on one turn and pays the energy to operate the ITG during Energy Allocation to continue the operation, the ship remains under the effect of the ITD.  It is not exposed at the end of each turn as the captain reallocates the ship’s energy.

(GD.118) An ITD can be deactivated involuntarily under certain circumstances: e.g. destruction by a hit-and-run raid (D7.85), or lack of power resulting from energy balance due to damage (D22.0).  In these cases the ship begins to fade-in on the next Cloak Stage as per (GD.131).

(GD.119) POWERING AN ITD: The Image/Tracking Destabilizer is charged during the Energy Allocation Phase using 4 points of energy from any source.  The ITD cannot be charged using reserve energy.  Energy spent to charge the ITD must be allocated during Energy Allocation.

(GD.12) ACTIVATING THE ITD: If the device is not operating, the owning player may announce that it has been turned on during the Cloaking Device Stage of the Sequence of Play.  The ship immediately begins the fade-out process (GD.121)

(GD.121) FADE-OUT: Immediately after the ship activates the ITD it receives 2 points of ECM and an additional 2 points of ECM each impulse during the Cloaking Device Stage during each of the next 3 impulses.  The fade-out procedure covers a total of 4 impulses (including the impulse of activation) and produces a total of 8 points of ECM.   The ship benefits from these points for the duration of the operation of the ITD.   The ECM generated by an ITD is in addition to any ECM that may have been produced through EW points during energy allocation.  The ECM produced by an ITD CANNOT be transferred and used as ECCM.

(GD.123) The 8 points of ECM generated by an ITD are in addition to any ECM points that the operating ship can normally generate on it’s own.

(GD.13) DEACTIVATING THE ITD: If the device in operating, the owning player may announce that it has been turned off during the Cloaking Stage of the Impulse Activity Segment of any impulse. At that point the ship begins to fade-in (GD.131).

(GD.131) FADE-IN: Immediately after the ship deactivates the ITD it looses 2 points of ECM and looses 2 additional points of ECM for each of the next 3 impulses.   The fade-in procedure covers a total of 4 impulses (including the impulse of deactivation) and results in the loss of 8 points total of ECM.

(GD.14) NEGATIVE EFFECTS ON A SHIP USING AN ACTIVE ITD: The ship operating an ITD is under a number of restrictions.

(GD.141) TARGETING OTHER SHIPS: If and when a ship fires it’s direct-fire weapons while operating the ITD the ECM being generated by the ITD is counted as if the target ship were generating that amount of ECM. (example: the ship is in it’s 3rd impulse of fade-out and the ITD is generating 6 points of ECM.  The ship decides to fire some phasers at an enemy ship.  The weapons procedure is calculated as if the target ship had 6 points of ECM.)  Only the ECM being generated by the ITD is counted as a penalty for these purposes (example #2: same as above, only in this case the firing ship had also allocated 4 points of EW as ECM during energy allocation, bringing the total amount of ECM up to 10. The firing procedure is calculated as if the target ship had 6 points of ECM, not 10.)

(GD.142) SEEKING WEAPONS: A ship operating an ITD cannot launch or control seeking weapons during any point of the ITD operation, including the fade-in/fade-out periods. This includes shuttles launched on a seeking course, but not manned shuttles or fighters.

Note regarding rule (GD.142): the Daetharians do not operate fighters or seeking weapons. This rule is included to cover all bases in case players wish to adopt the ITD to another race, or play in a campaign where the Daetharians do have seeking weapons and/or fighters.

(GD.15) LOCK-ON: Operation of the ITD in no way affects Lock-On procedures. All ships targeting a vessel with an active ITD continue to so without penalty. All seeking weapons tracking a ship with an active ITD continue to do so without penalty. Operation of an ITD only generates additional ECM bonuses, it has no other effects (other than where noted).

Sean J. Young < youngsea@msu.edu >