Redshift Photon Deenergizer



The Redshift Photon Deenergizer is a defensive measure against lasers. It works by reducing the energy of the incoming photon beams. Even as the photons are redshifted, the heat output isn't augmented, since already infrarred photons will become even lower energy.

History
Assaulted by the Clan invasion, the Draconis Combine saw the need to rapidly revive this Terran Hegemony technology only barely described in recovered memory cores. The urgency of the task made success decisive, since the Ghost Bear forces made heavy use of lasers in combat. With ComStar refusing to disclose further info, at first the process was sluggish and the prototypes error prone. But finally, thanks to the genius of scientist Takashi Mureshita, the art of the Redshift Photon Deenergizing was rediscovered. With it a potent, if somewhat over-complicated, piece of technology came to light once again - or to darkness, as its workings reducing laser intensity would have it.

Timeline

 * Prototyped: 2721
 * Advanced: 2724
 * Production: 2729
 * Extinct: 2894
 * Reintroduced: 3052

Comparative
It is similar to the Blue Shield Particle Field Damper for PPCs, though it produces heat when forced shut down instead of damaging the unit. The other difference is that the Photon Deenergizer has a variable weight, thus it is lighter on light units, but much heavier in heavy units since it has to protect a greater area and volume.

Game Rules
Appliable to: BattleMechs, IndustrialMechs, Combat Vehicles, Support Vehicles, Aerospace Fighters.  In game terms, the Photon Deenergizer occupies one critical slot in each location, excluding the head in 'Mechs, and weighs 10% of the unit's total weight (normally rounded down to the nearest half-ton so a 33 to 37 tons unit would have a 3.5 ton Redshift Photon Deenergizer from the rounding from 3.3 to 3.7 tons, unless fractional tonnage is enabled).

All damage from and by non-capital Laser weapons is reduced by half (rounded down) to a minimum of one point. This includes lasers fired by the unit in a turn the Redshift is active.

When mounted on a ground unit, the Photon Deenergizer can only operate without error for a total of six turns of play. After that, there is a chance that the system will fail. On turn 7+, the controlling player must roll 2D6. If the roll is less than (2 + # of turns past 6) the system fails. For example, on turn 10, the Photon Deenergizer will fail on a roll of 6 ( 2 + (10-6=4)) or less. The Photon Deenergizer can be activated or deactivated in the End Phase of any turn. If a Photon Deenergizer runs for three turns and is then deactivated, note that the system only has three turns of error-free operation left -- deactivating the system doesn't restart the RSPDE's error-free state at 0. If the system fails, it shuts down, generates 5 heat points in the mounting unit, and will not provide its protection for the rest of the scenario (though it may be automatically “cleaned” between scenarios with no additional expenditure of time or effort).

If an active Photon Deenergizer suffers a critical hit, the system immediately fails, and inflicts five points of heat on the mounting unit. Inactive Photon Deenergizer critical slots (turned off or shut down by previous damage to the system) that are damaged are destroyed normally, with no heat addition. The Redshift cannot turn on without all of its original parts.

If mounted in a unit without a Fusion or Fission engine, the Photon Deenergizer additionally requires a Power Amplifier that weights 10% of its own weight. In any case, if the engine is destroyed or disabled, the component is disabled as well, as it cannot operate without an energy source. In this case no extra heat is generated.

If a non-heat tracking unit would get the 5 heat, instead each member of the crew receives 1 damage -and must check for consciousness- due to the extra internal heat in their operating stations.

The Photon Deenergizer starts the game active in mounted units, unless the player explicitely declares otherwise.