09-04-2016, 07:25 PM | #1 |
Join Date: May 2016
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Help: Space Combat?
Although I usually love the amount of detail that goes into GURPS books, Spaceships has me really stumped. I can't figure out how to do the organize phases of battle (scanning, negotiation/fighting, retreats etc.) and I'm not sure what the many bonuses and penalties would be. They're in the book, but I'm just not sure when to use +2 for a celestial body silhouette vs +24 in deep space, and what the combat effectiveness of guns vs launchers vs lasers vs particle beams.
I'm really excited to make space combat work... but I'm lost on the how. Does anyone have a chart or some advice to clear things up? |
09-04-2016, 07:42 PM | #2 |
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Yukon, OK
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Re: Help: Space Combat?
This blog has some playtest examples.
http://mailanka.blogspot.nl/2016/07/...rs-primer.html
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09-04-2016, 08:29 PM | #3 |
Join Date: Jul 2008
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Re: Help: Space Combat?
I'm extremely pessimistic about the gaming usefulness of Spaceships combat. Just noting that here, I'm going to try to leave that alone and stick to technical answers...
Unfortunately, I'm not sure where to start. You haven't been very specific about what you're looking for, and some of the answers are likely to be extremely circumstantial. For instance, I don't think realistic space engagements very likely to have any of the phases you mention - ships are likely to know where the opponent is and decide whether or not to shoot them long before they close in, and withdrawing is either unlikely to be possible (in a low-relative-velocity engagement) or completely involuntary (in a fast pass). Which should not impede you from playing a game where those things do happen, but you need to lay out more of what you've got in mind... I can answer the +2 vs. +24 modifier question though! The +24 is for when the background behind the target is the darkness of. The +2 is for when the background is a planet, star, moon, etc. I'm not sure if there's any circumstance where you don't get at least the +2, except maybe if you are also not in plain sight.
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09-04-2016, 09:25 PM | #4 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Austin, TX
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Re: Help: Space Combat?
I have some write-ups of space combats here:
http://noschoolgrognard.blogspot.com...n%20Chronicles They're long, but detailed and go into calculated the dice rolls and the logic of the various decisions.
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09-04-2016, 10:53 PM | #5 | |
Join Date: May 2016
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Re: Help: Space Combat?
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09-05-2016, 07:53 AM | #6 | |
Join Date: Aug 2007
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Re: Help: Space Combat?
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It was low velocity hard science TL10 with nuclear pulse drives and even though they were on a closing heading it was possible for the ships to make major burns in opposing directions lateral to their current vector and leave each other's weapon range while also not moving towards any other targets from either side. Surrender with boarding and such like would have been much harder to negotiate. This goes to the difficulty of even vaguely realistic space pirates.
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09-05-2016, 09:53 AM | #7 |
Join Date: Jul 2009
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Re: Help: Space Combat?
I think Spaceships has a similar image problem to the Basic Set -people assume it to be a comprehensive RPG system, when it's more of an RPG engine for depicting a variety of SF genres and subgenres, with a base in realism. You need to edit, snip and activate switches to make your own workable system.
Why don't you start by describing the sort of military paradigms you'd want to see in action (e.g., flavor, pacing, weapons and engagement ranges, time scales, presence/absence of SF tropes like boarding, ramming, dogfighting, etc.), and we'll see how best to depict that. |
09-05-2016, 01:05 PM | #8 | |
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Shropshire, uk
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Re: Help: Space Combat?
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As for procedures etc the best examples I have found so far are probably the mlangsdorf write-ups that have already been recommended they are my current guide for how you actually run a battle. Other than this just fool around with the system a bit do what mark and mailanka did and throw some sample ships at each other. It is not something I would normally recommend but it does seem to help get a feel for both the rules and the background options. |
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09-05-2016, 01:10 PM | #9 | |
Join Date: Aug 2008
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Re: Help: Space Combat?
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09-06-2016, 03:27 AM | #10 | |
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Shropshire, uk
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Re: Help: Space Combat?
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Given the difficulties with piracy, capture and ransom seems to be the way to go anyway and if physicaly taking control of ships is too hard pirates might cut out the capture bit all together in favour of extortion effectively 'pay up or get shot up'. If this is too impersonal for game use the assumptions still allow the same kind of intimidation tactics to force an uncontested boarding. Guns might be a valuable tool for this with (normaly completely ineffective) long range fire being used to 'pollute' potential escape vectors and dictate the targets tactical options. In many settings both options will probably exist with many gangs switching between the two modes based upon operating conditions. This seems particularly likely if piracy overlaps with political terrorism (not nessecarly an unrealistic assumption). |
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help me out here, space combat, spaceships |
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