Ion storms

Ion storms are large charged plasma sub-space temporal anomalies. Ion storms will appear at random and can form anywhere. When they appear they can be of any size and power. Ion disturbances can form in the deep void of spaces just outside of the echo star cluster. They are normally prevented from forming by the stellar winds radiating from the stars of the echo cluster. They are area high speed charged particles that are bounded by a natural warp shell that enables them to travel at faster than light speeds. The energies within the disturbance are constant throughout the disturbance.

Ion storms move along semi-predictable paths at a warp factor ranging from 1-10. The heading vector of a Ion disturbance can not change more than 20 degrees per turn.

Ion storms have two phases:


There are five classes of Ion storms, the class is determined by the voltage of the storm.

Class 1 Harmless Disturbance Voltage is less than 50 meV
Class 2 Moderate Disturbance Voltage ranges from 50 to 99 meV
Class 3 Strong Disturbance Voltage ranges from 100 to 149 meV
Class 4 Dangerous Storm Voltage ranges from 150 to 199 meV
Class 5 Very Dangerous Storm Voltages at or above 200 meV

Storms and disturbances will not harm planets, only starships.

(-e0419)<<< ION Storm >>>
From: FEARLESS WING CRUISER
Ship ID Number: 419
Our ship is caught in
Ion Storm: Claudia
Ion Storm ID # 15
We have been pulled
27 LY off course.
Damage Taken: 0
Crew Killed : 0
Shields are down.

There are two factors that can prevent a ship from being destroyed: mass of the ship and the experience level of the crew.

Next to influencing and possibly damaging ships, Ion storms and disturbances have a number of other effects:

The Resolute and Dark Wing have advanced cloaking mechanisms and are the only two ships that can cloak inside an Ion storm. When cloaked, these ships will not be affacted by Ion storms at all. They will not be dragged along, will not suffer any damage or crew loss, their shields will stay up and they will ofcourse not be decloaked.

Ion storms will not render Chunneling or hyperdrive systems inactive.

(Further information on Ion storms, based on Stefan Reuther's article on Ion Storm Physics can be found on the details page)