[Spec-Wep idea] Gravity/Magnetic weapons (Fed?)

posted on October 22nd, 2015, 1:00 pm

Had a funny little idea recently that I thought might be worth mentioning (partly inspired by a similar-ish ability in Sins Of A Solar Empire for countering fighters).

The 'weapon' is a device that puts a strong gravity or other magnetic force into an area (perhaps through a probe?). The Federation might've originally developed it for veering asteroids away from planets etc, but such a device could also have a lot of potential military applications;

• Send weapons (especially torpedoes) off target as they enter the gravity field.
• Pull in fighters from the local area in to crush them, collide them with the source (that was what the Sins ability did) or hold them in place.
• (As maybe a veteran version of above) A source that can pull larger ships in, like a black hole did to disabled ships in vanilla; even if not strong enough to crush the ships the damage from dragged ships colliding in the middle would be significant.
• Send out repulsing waves in an area that push ships within a radius away (handy for disrupting fleet formations).

Thoughts or comments welcome. Was ironically thought up initially as an anti-Hydran weapon for the Lyrans (I was playing SFC at the time and the Hydrans love their fighters) but felt the idea suited the theme of 'non-weapon weaponry' that the team wanted to go with for the Feds; it would in actuality be a peaceful tech, but Starfleet couldn't help but think 'well since we have it around'.