I'd have to think about this one.
It sounds to me that, with this system, you're essentially giving each hit a fixed chance (depending on the number range you allow) to ignore shields. And that, in turn, is essentially equivalent to giving each weapon a fixed bleedthrough rate at which damage will bypass shields - except in very short engagements. I'm not entirely sure I like that, but as I say, I'll have to think.
Random observations:
The critical hit system already encourages you to put as many small weapons bays as you can on a ship. A ship with 35 weapons bays (or about that) would be the favoured loadout under this system. I'm just noting that - not sure if it's good or bad yet. With each bay firing every five seconds, it's only going to take you two and a half minutes at most to find that three figure frequency.
In principle humans should be able to do all ship jobs, to encourage cooperative play. But cycling the number manually between each shot would be a bit tedious for a human, especially if he has to actually type it into a field.
In Star Trek, where I think this idea came from, getting the enemy's shield frequency right is very rare: you really have to by privy to special information beforehand. You don't "get lucky". Kirk only managed in the film because Khan didn't really understand Starfleet protocol. In Hazeron, any situation where you know the enemy's shield frequency beforehand, you'll also be able to switch the shield off outright and permanently.
Transporters should logically follow the same system. The transporter has a slow activation cycle, but the NPC crewman would keep dialing until he got through and you were able to beam across.
If cities can't lower their shields, can they change their frequencies, or are they permanently vulnerable once cracked?
It sounds to me that, with this system, you're essentially giving each hit a fixed chance (depending on the number range you allow) to ignore shields. And that, in turn, is essentially equivalent to giving each weapon a fixed bleedthrough rate at which damage will bypass shields - except in very short engagements. I'm not entirely sure I like that, but as I say, I'll have to think.
Random observations:
The critical hit system already encourages you to put as many small weapons bays as you can on a ship. A ship with 35 weapons bays (or about that) would be the favoured loadout under this system. I'm just noting that - not sure if it's good or bad yet. With each bay firing every five seconds, it's only going to take you two and a half minutes at most to find that three figure frequency.
In principle humans should be able to do all ship jobs, to encourage cooperative play. But cycling the number manually between each shot would be a bit tedious for a human, especially if he has to actually type it into a field.
In Star Trek, where I think this idea came from, getting the enemy's shield frequency right is very rare: you really have to by privy to special information beforehand. You don't "get lucky". Kirk only managed in the film because Khan didn't really understand Starfleet protocol. In Hazeron, any situation where you know the enemy's shield frequency beforehand, you'll also be able to switch the shield off outright and permanently.
Transporters should logically follow the same system. The transporter has a slow activation cycle, but the NPC crewman would keep dialing until he got through and you were able to beam across.
If cities can't lower their shields, can they change their frequencies, or are they permanently vulnerable once cracked?