Gurps Vehicles

[Mailanka]

Originally Posted by David L Pulver

I hope to deliver a final draft early in the new year (and then it will be up to production). Lots of "bits" to deal with but the heroic playtesters have now designed dozens of vehicles of all types with reasonable success (and some failures, which I'm fixing) so the system is certainly "mostly functional" at this point

Holy crap, wow, that's fantastic news. Oh sure, there's still GOBS of time between when you turn in the final draft and when it hits the shelf, but there's a light at the end of the tunnel now. I honestly didn't expect to see VDS before late 2012, and now, it sounds like we might just see it in 2011. That's amazing.

[Kage2020]

Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company

Out of date, overelaborate, and missing material or incorrect in a few areas. The architecture rules in LTC3 will be easier to deal with.

Thanks for the clarification. As noted it's been a long time since I looked at the document, so I'll put the 'ole tail between the legs, stop barking and go and sniff another tree. ;)

[hal]

Originally Posted by Kage2020

Thanks for the clarification. As noted it's been a long time since I looked at the document, so I'll put the 'ole tail between the legs, stop barking and go and sniff another tree. ;)

I'm hoping that by LT3, we'll see something that can do as much as the architecture rules did for GURPS 3e. I still (hopefully) have the old article on file that can be recovered, as my last computer died unexpectedly. I've a drive image of it - but the software that took the drive image doesn't seem to work as advertised :(

But no, you weren't exactly barking up the wrong tree in your recollections ;)

[Kage2020]

The shameful thing is that I think I still have the file. It's just on a computer that I don't have access to due to uninsulated walls and the fact that the builder's thought that it would be a bright idea not to put heating in the room. Ah well.

No worries either way. It's all good. :D

[Mgellis]

Originally Posted by David L Pulver

I hope to deliver a final draft early in the new year (and then it will be up to production). Lots of "bits" to deal with but the heroic playtesters have now designed dozens of vehicles of all types with reasonable success (and some failures, which I'm fixing) so the system is certainly "mostly functional" at this point

This is wonderful news. I've been looking forward to this book for a while.

I don't know if you're aware of this, but I've been publishing a bunch of 4e GURPS Vehicles in JTAS which are basically real world vehicles (mostly from World War II and the Cold War) using my "best guess" calculations for things like DR, Hnd/SR, etc. with the serial numbers filed off and some Traveller-appropriate fluff text added. One of the articles (and another I just sent in...in fact, that one has a 20,000-ton light carrier) features destroyer-sized warships, so perhaps my designs will reveal potential issues with large vehicles and vessels.

In any event, I wanted to let you know they're there in case you didn't know about them. Please use and/or improve the material if you want. I hope it is helpful.

Mark

[Tomsdad]

Originally Posted by MrBackman

If SJG would give VDS the attention it deserves maybe they should pay the man working on it, neh?

.

Hence my offer of ransoming ;)

[walkir]

Originally Posted by David L Pulver

Vehicle Design is moving on. A major revised draft was created, and has been undergoing extensive playtest and multiple revisions the last few months. Still some bugs to iron out. (This draft DOES include complete vehicular weapon design, based on a simplified version of the small arm design rules draft I worked out with Hans a while back.)

One of the reasons for delay is I've been concerned the rules are too complex. However, SJ Games tell me that feedback favored complex rules aimed at people who like tinkering with the system, and have indicated that's what people want, so complexity is good. The current rules are similar to the previous system in the complexity level. In fact, the combination of cramming material from all the supplements and aspiring to greater realism means it is certainly more complex than the original book on its own; some of the math formula are actually a tad beyond "cube roots" (like "raise it to the power of 0.2") in a few small instances - mainly in the formula for water vehicles, in order to properly handle how the combination of water resistance and wave making resistance affect speed, to give better results. (There are also a chapter full of guidelines for simplifying things, chucking the whole approach, and just assigning stats). As always, these rules are, however, just a simplified model. They''re complex and long because they try to do everything and get somewhat reasonable (one hopes) results in the process.

I should have read that in a few hours, that would have been the best start into 2011. ;) But then, I'll be outside then anyway. When you say "all the supplements", do you mean 4e (I remember you said using the stats from UT/HT will be a viable option, which is very good), 3e (Mecha, robots...), maybe even the "GURPS Vehicles 2nd Edition Additions" from the net (I absolutely love drag reducing surfaces) or all of them?

The VDS rules do generate the stat block from 4e. (They also add a few optional stats for extra detail, and because you need them to find out why vehicles were built that way.) They also add a number of rules variations and options.

I hope to do a SPACESHIPS-type system for much faster design of vehicles (and indeed have a rough draft of that for cars and tanks), but SJ Games would not want me to proceed with that sort of thing until VDS is done.

(VDS takes a while since it's a huge project, taking thousands of man hours; it earns me no money at all while I work on it, so I have to alternate working on occasional other books and articles in the mean time to support myself.)

I think I speak for a lot of people when I say please take your time. Gearheads may demand the book, but if delays mean improvements, we'll accept them. I don't think you'll fall into the trap of trying to perfect it while delaying it idefnitiely, anyway.

Spaceships is... sufficient, but vehicles is fun. I had to buy a second copy because the old one fell apart from use...

[Mark Skarr]

Originally Posted by walkir

Spaceships is... sufficient, but vehicles is fun. I had to buy a second copy because the old one fell apart from use...

And that's why I'm looking forward to the PDF!

[Stripe]

Originally Posted by David L Pulver

Vehicle Design is moving on.

I want an autographed copy. When people ask me who my favorite author is, I sometimes say David L. Pulver just to throw them.

Robots was my favorite GURPS book ever, and I loved Mecha too. Vehicles was cool, but I didn't get into it as much. I spent hours upon hours designing robots. Will I be able to accomplish the same results with the new VDS?

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by walkir

IWhen you say "all the supplements",

I suspect he means the companions mostly.