Table of Contents
Energy Management System
A product introduced by Lazarus Consortium.
About
Essentially, a controller for energy regulation, allowing operators to decide where they want to shunt energy at any given time. Usually broken up into three to five quadrants: weapons, shields, engines, FTL and core systems.
Usually these kinds of testing controls aren't surrendered over to users for fear the extra control would leave the operator vulnerable or even naked to attack - hence a one-size-fits-all approach is usually taken.
Cost: 50KS
How it works
Basically, EMS reads the generator management and electrical management software and forces instructions at the machine-code level via code interrupt exploits which are dynamically discovered by the onboard AI. While it is a hack, the interface is very clean and polished and it is very usable. In the hands of an experienced operator, the machine in question can be pushed to its maximum potential.
In Roleplay
Operation
If a player has this software installed on their unit (which may be illegal), the player can shunt energy into one or more systems from other systems in order to gain minor perks in performance before entering the action phase of their dialog-turn (that is, the exchange in dialog they make between themselves and other players).
A 'shunt' takes one dialog turn in roleplay to take effect, with the exception of defensive actions (in effect, the dialog turn AFTER the action is performed, meaning the action needs time to prepare) and the effects are usually very noticeable.
At any point, however, the energy can be re-balanced immediately, though energy in the capacitors the different systems pull from may not have usable amounts during that turn, depending on the GM's discretion. In this sense, players can't abuse the system wildly.
Naturally, GMs can deny the operation of EMS for plot purposes at any point they wish, since it relies on a hack to operate and hence isn't entirely stable to begin with. It may also be detected and removed by maintenance-crew prior to operations, with GMs denying its use outright in their plots.
Example
| Example 1: | |
|---|---|
| Turn & Player | Post |
| Player (1) | Aeisu's eyes danced about the sensor palette in her helmet, identifying oncoming fire. Knowing she had no chance to evade and wouldn't normally survive the shot, she dumped energy into her shields and took up a defensive posture, hoping for the best. |
| GM(1): | The beam smashed into her like a thick tide, taking her with it. A deep deafening roar filling the cockpit with bright light in her interior visor. The barrer-indicator in her HUD steadily dropped as the beam completely encompassed her. |
| Player (2) | Aeisu could feel her ears ringing with how tightly her teeth were clenched. Her eyes didn't dare leave the indicator and she kept perfectly still. Praying. |
| GM (2) | And then darkness. The armour ceased shaking. It was over. The barrier barely held out - high voltage flashes arcing across the exterior of the spherical barrier as the barrier-indicator gradually began recovering. |
| Player (3) | It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the lack of light, skimming the sensor-palette and doing a quick threat-scan. Sensing there would be no second shot, she balanced the energy and burst into motion, immediately returning fire on the target. |
| Example 2: | |
|---|---|
| Turn & Player | Post |
| Player (1) | Aeisu flat out couldn't keep up with the target. Every time she moved to evade, it had already evaded her fire and already had a targeting solution. If either of them were hit, it would surely spell certain doom. Predicting this outcome, she dumped as much energy as she could into weapons and mobility, even at the cost of life-support and shielding (which wouldn't be much help anyway) and went on the offensive. |
| GM (1) | A sudden heaviness flickered through Aeisu's belly as she felt the G-forces of this extra performance which went beyond what the limiters could handle. It was the equivalent of going from baby-steps to surgically precise leaps like a flea, hopping back and forth. |
| Player (2) | This was good, she told herself, despite her sense of breathlessness. Estimating the position of the target on her next turn, she brought her rifle and took a shot. |
| GM (2) | Aeisu trained a bead on the target faster than she would have expected and was lucky enough to put the round in the right place - the golden bead displacing the cloud-cover and sinking its way into the target's chest, which exploded with a brilliant flash of light and a falling umbrella of scrap. |