4th Edition Vehicles

[Tenchi2a]

Originally Posted by Nemoricus

I suggest not waiting for Vehicles. It’s been in development for years and I wouldn’t expect to see it soon.

The game I am running is going to be a conversion of Shatterzone into the GURPS system.

The reason for this is while I like the core system for Shatterzone, the ship combat system is trash and almost impossible to run.

As for GURPS the vehicle rules are good, but the Starship constructions rules in "Spaceships" will not work for Shatterzone.

So the choice is to wait for Vehicles 4e or go back to the Shatterzone core rules and just try to avoid using spacecrafts for anything but transport.

So I understand what you are saying, I was just trying to get an idea when Vehicles 4e was coming out.

So from what I have just read it looks like I'm going to have to go back to the Shatterzone core rules.

[Nemoricus]

Originally Posted by Tenchi2a

As for GURPS the vehicle rules are good, but the Starship constructions rules in "Spaceships" will not work for Shatterzone

Since I'm curious about this, how about starting a thread on the issues you have with Spaceships and see if people can help you modify them?

[Tenchi2a]

Originally Posted by Nemoricus

Since I'm curious about this, how about starting a thread on the issues you have with Spaceships and see if people can help you modify them?

The issues I have with Spaceships are vast when it comes to Shatterzone.
The weapons rule do not working with Shatterzone.
The armor rule do not working with Shatterzone.
The Front, Center, and Rear slotting rules either leave to many empty spaces or take-up more slots then the game allows.
There are just to many to work through and overall its not worth the time.
I may look into the Traveler:Interstellar Wars and see if its system will work as a hold over, but I don't want to waste peoples time trying to fix Spaceships when I have been try every way under the sun for a month now.
Thanks for the offer.

[Tenchi2a]

And I just want to be clear that I am in no way saying that Spaceships is a bad book.
Like all of the work that David L Pulver does it is well done.
I have and love Vehicle 3e it just doesn't work well with 4th ed.
The issues is that it does not work for everything like Traveler:Interstellar Wars or Shatterzone.
This is not a fault of the book as it is hard to make a generic system at that page count that can handle every setting.

Spaceships: 63 pages of game and construction rules.
Vehicle 3e: 199 pages of game and construction rules.

There is no comparison.
So I hope no one including Pulver takes this as an attack on Pulver work.

[cosmicfish]

Agreed. My only problem with spaceships is that 3ed had a truly generic, universal vehicle design system and 4ed doesn't. It is like going from D&D to GURPS and then back to D&D again - nothing wrong with the simpler system but it closes a lot of doors.

[TheSkywise]

You know what I’ve always found amazing about GURPS? That the freelance designers, and regular employees, of GURPs openly and honestly talk about their products, both good and any short comings. And the level of respect the buying consumer has for them. It’s all on the forums. It’s a true love of the product and is why I always use this system. And I respect you guys for it. You take criticism well and explain the rationale behind the decisions made. It’s very refreshing.

That being said, I have been patiently waiting for GURPS Vehicles. While I understand it’s a big project, is there any chance of maybe publishing a GURPS Vehicles lite? Maybe using the basic rules that you know work? You know, so we can build basic cars and planes, etc. I’d buy that and be happy as I wait for the full treatment to come out. I’ve been fudging vehicle stats for awhile now, and it works as long as the game group has fun, but I’d really like to get a little more depth even if it doesn’t cover everything. Just a thought... Keep up the great work.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by TheSkywise

That being said, I have been patiently waiting for GURPS Vehicles. While I understand it’s a big project, is there any chance of maybe publishing a GURPS Vehicles lite? Maybe using the basic rules that you know work? You know, so we can build basic cars and planes, etc. I’d buy that and be happy as I wait for the full treatment to come out. I’ve been fudging vehicle stats for awhile now, and it works as long as the game group has fun, but I’d really like to get a little more depth even if it doesn’t cover everything. Just a thought... Keep up the great work.

Are you just talking about modern vehicles?
Just use real world stats for them, DR is the only thing thats we have to guess at. Where Vehicles will come in real handy is fictional vehicles of all types.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Refplace

Just use real world stats for them, DR is the only thing thats we have to guess at. Where Vehicles will come in real handy is fictional vehicles of all types.

What's your source of real world stats for handling bonus and stability rating?

[Gnaskar]

Originally Posted by whswhs

What's your source of real world stats for handling bonus and stability rating?

At a glance:
Cars have stability rating 4, bikes 2, planes 3, and helicopters 2.
Cars have +0 handling, bikes +1, Heavy wheeled -1, Light Planes have +2, modern planes +0, and for helicopters it varies a bit more.
"Sports" variants tend to have a relative +1, especially bulky vehicles may have a relative -1.

[Jobe00]

Originally Posted by David L Pulver

The manuscript for GURPS Vehicle Design was submitted late last year. Due to its length and complexity (at least equivalent to the original in scope of the design rules), I gather it may take a while - probably several months - for SJ Games to evaluate it, and, should they decide to publish it, for it to proceed through editing and production.

Any update on this at all? Any hope it will ever see light of day?