Build:Internal Force Fields
8.23 Internal Force Fields
Cost: 1 x Size
Power Requirement: 1 Power per round per 3
Strength per force field
Available: 2105
Star Fleet vessels have the ability to generate force fields, also known as containment fields or security fields, anywhere in the ship for protective or defensive purposes. For example, force fields are used to seal off Engineering in the event that the warp engine accidentally starts venting dangerous gases, to keep prisoners in the brig, to seal off sickbay to prevent a contagious disease from spreading to the rest of the crew, or to block off a corridor to prevent an invader from reaching the bridge.
A ship can generate a force field anywhere within its hull; although normally kept as small as possible to help maintain field integrity, they can be large enough to, for example, seal off the entire bridge. Any internal force field generator can create fields rated in Strength from 1 to 10.
A force field functions much like a shield. It has a Protection rating equal to twice its Strength, and a Threshold equal to its Strength, but unlike ship’s shields the Protection is only decreased by damage which exceeds the Threshold. When sufficient force (from attacks, an individual’s strength, or the like) is applied to a field, it resists until the force is enough to break it down and/or overload the local field emitters.
The internal force field emitters occupy 1 x Size in SUs (for the entire network). It costs 1 Power per round for every three points of Strength a force field has; thus, to erect a level 10 force field across a corridor costs 3 Power, while using the same force field generator to erect a level 3 force field would only cost 1 Power. At the Narrator’s option, erecting a force field around a large area (say, the entire bridge) may cost +1 Power per round.
Cardassian: The Cardassians refer to their containment fields as neutralization fields. A neutralization field resembles an ordinary internal force field, but adds a device called a neutralization emitter to the system. This device allows the ship to generate the force field at lethal frequencies. Anyone who touches a neutralization field suffers injury. This extra feature causes Cardassian internal force fields to cost more SUs (2 x Size, instead) than standard force fields. If necessary, the crew can turn off the neutralization feature, converting the containment fields to ordinary force fields.