Quote:
Originally Posted by Icelander
Thanks.
Unfortunately, we don't have a 4e successor to the weapon design parts of Vehicles (nor do we have a 4e GURPS Vehicles). I don't know how close the 3e system is to reality or to 4e GURPS stats.
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I've always thought that the whole is equal to the sum of its parts. The disconnect between the hitpoints calculated for a wall of oak versus a ship of oak alone shows that there is a problem with how 4E does things. Having a ball hit the one side of a hull, push through, and then hit a cannon's carriage, and come to a rest inside the other side of the hull should indicate that the stuff INSIDE the ship but not connected TO it, also has a part to play in the grand scheme of things. BEAT TO QUARTERS miniatures rules goes about it simply enough:
When damage accumulates to a given level, you detail a gun going silent. Maybe damaged, maybe crew not sufficient to handle it, or what have you, but its ability to fight is degraded. Ditto with sail damage. You might do sufficient damage to hit a mainsail on the mast, and bring the entire mast down, or you might do sufficient damage that the topgallants are dysfunctional.
I created a basic table of Sail speeds based upon sail state (how many sails are up) and the wind angle of attack - but recent reading of sailing skills indicates to me that sometimes ALL sails hoisted actually slows down the ship a little because the foresails on the foremost mast, causes the bow of the ship to dig deeper into the water as it moves forward, increasing drag and slowing the ship down.
HEART OF OAK is still available not only as a PDF, but also as an actual brand new book. At less than $10 for Heart of Oak (the book) or $18 for the trilogy (Heart of Oak, Tradition of Victory, and Promotions and Prizes). If nothing else, I would suggest making the purchase of the PRIVATEERS AND GENTLEMEN books for your library to help with creating your own method of representing hulls and damage. The ship movement rules are worth using. Having some extra background might be helpful as well.
In all, the reason I liked BEAT TO QUARTERS by Command Decision is that each gun was accounted for. A 32 lbr cannon would inflict 32 points of damage. The game uses a salvo system where you roll percentiles, multiply that by the salvo, with modifiers to the roll due to range etc, and that is how many hits score. It can easily be adopted to GURPS where you roll against the gunner's skill, and if procuring a hit - do damage.
Or, you can simply do a narrative in the tradition of Patrick Obrian and simply narrate the battle with little imput by the player characters in any real meaningful way. Either they do a critical thing and influence the battle, or they don't.
Case in point: Player characters fire their cannon three times and secure three hits. Based on the rules for the miniatures game, that is sufficient to secure a gun damage result. I'd be able to say "The first two shots don't seem to produce much in the way of results, but that third shot seems to have silenced the 64 lbr Carronade that's been dealing devastating damage to your ship. Your fellow gun crew raise a lusty cheer at your successful shot". Too bad your hearing is filled with the ringing of cannon shot after cannon shot after cannon shot, the eyes watering with cordite clouds drifting about, your sweat pouring down your body, and your voice hoarse from the shouting as you fight your enemy."
GURPS MASS COMBAT doesn't really have the feel. GURPS rules for vehicles as written doesn't even come close to that. Knowing that the British Navy had blood bounties on men killed in an enemy ship is something you don't find in many books. Knowing that it could take YEARS before any of your prize money finds its way to your hands, is sobering. Having to deal with half pay because your character was beached due to a lack of ships to man and the nations being at peace is something the GM can throw at his players. Best of all, imagine a Naval officer in his Royal Majesty's Navy, being beached, and offered a privateering commission - doing more as a privateer than as a naval officer, and finding that none of what he did matters to the navy. He wasn't technically a Royal Navy officer at the time he did his deeds worthy of song!
Granted, this doesn't entirely help with age of sail piracy a century earlier, but for me, getting your hands on a copy of ICE PIRATES! is worth the effort. RUN OUT YOUR GUNS (also by ICE might be better for your desires) - all worth adapting for use with GURPS SWASHBUCKLERS. The Maps in RUN OUT YOUR GUNS (if you can ever score a copy on eBay) is enough to make you salivate. *sigh*
Ah well, I'm not helping with this post, so I'll behave and bring my post to a close...