Heavies and Energy Shields

[Rev. Sylvanus]

Scenario: I have a melee Heavy minifig that is dual-wielding two bastard weapons (1.5"); the Heavy also wears a shield projector on his back that produces 2 energy shield dice.

Question: For the purposes of power limits, does each bastard weapon subtract 1.5" when used or 1"? That is, when the Heavy is standing still, he has the effective power limit of a 2" Creation (i.e. 4" of weapons). If the fig swings both bastard weapons in a single turn, does that count as 2" used or 3" used? Can he activate the energy shield just once, or twice as a result?

~ Rev.

[stubby]

This sounds like 3" to me, unless there's an angle I'm not seeing.

So if he's standing still, he can:

Swing both weapons in one turn (3"), and use one of the energy shield dice once (1")
Swing one weapon (2"), and use both energy shield dice once (2"), or use one energy shield die twice (2")
Use no weapons, and use both energy shield dice twice (4") or one die four times (4")

[Rev. Sylvanus]

Well, that even answers a question I didn't have! I did not realize that the same shield die could be activated more than once a turn; I had been assuming they worked like SD and were 'spent' for the turn once used. Now I like energy shield options even more!

Tangentially, new question. Flying units may only activate their own size in inches of weapons per turn. Does this apply all the time? Or only while flying? If the Heavy from the previous example had wings, could it still swing 4" of stuff while its feet are firmly planted on the ground? Could a fighter jet fire a bigger payload while 'parked'?

[stubby]

Well, that even answers a question I didn't have! I did not realize that the same shield die could be activated more than once a turn; I had been assuming they worked like SD and were 'spent' for the turn once used. Now I like energy shield options even more!

Just remember that unlike SD, they're not voluntary; if you've got 2 shield dice activated and an enemy hits you with two 1-point pebble attacks, you're down four Power whether you wanted to spend that Power or not, unless you've got a guy spending his Action to monitor Shields and control their response to every attack.

Or did I take that out in the last revision? I guess I took that out. Never mind, I guess Shield use is voluntary now. I should probably add a note to clarify that you have to declare how many levels of Shielded apply before your opponent makes the Damage roll.

I should also add a note that if you're Shielded and there are no more dice in the opponent's Damage roll, then one level of Shielded will eliminate any remaining damage number.

Tangentially, new question. Flying units may only activate their own size in inches of weapons per turn. Does this apply all the time? Or only while flying? If the Heavy from the previous example had wings, could it still swing 4" of stuff while its feet are firmly planted on the ground? Could a fighter jet fire a bigger payload while 'parked'?

At least how it works in my mind, atmospheric Flyers (as opposed to the space kind; space Flyers are not subject to this limitation) have to have lighter structures in order to fly, so they're not able to carry Armor Plating or heavy power sources the way that ground tanks and such can. When they're on the ground, they're not spending as much power on propulsion, but unless they can go through some kind of mode shift (and feel free to design creations that can go through a cool transformation) then they're still that light kind of structure that is designed for atmospheric flight.

On a unit with wings, Compensating would still add 1" of Effective Size - so if it's on the ground standing still, rather than having the Power of a 1" Flyer, it would have the Power of a 2" Flyer.