Strength Cost in High and Ultra Tech Campaigns

[Rindis]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

For something like Star Trek where beings with great personal ST sometimes show up )not just Kligons but Data too) but it wouldn't be worth the cost I'm more likely to go with chargen by concept and general power level achieved than just give everyone equal cp.

My thought for Star Trek was that alien racial templates should normally get 'Cinematic ST', which would be ST 'only for wrestling/knockback/chewing the scenery' (destroying equipment, opening stuck doors...). Which I've never gotten around to trying to price.

Probably should include Lifting ST in that, but you don't see a lot of high-ST aliens carrying around a lot of heavy equipment. You do see them bending phasers, destroying monitors, maybe putting a dent in a wall.... Similarly, punches from them don't seem to do a lot more damage, but people go flying, have problems breaking a hold, etc.

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

How much are Warp and Telecommunication worth when everyone has a transporter on their ship and surface to orbit communicator in the pockets?

Telecom turns into an Equipment Perk for your built-in com badge.

There's still a little bit of value in a self-contained transport, though. Consider all the times the ship can't transport you because the shields are up. (The other usual reason, the barbarians that hit you over the head and take your communicator away, doesn't apply once you drop a point on your Perk.) Transporter chambers are too big and complicated to turn into a Perk.

Your integral Warp is might still be stuck with the interfering environmental conditions, though, unless you do want to pay more points for it to have it work more reliably than Federation tech when it comes to mysterious minerals and arcane atmospheres. Q doesn't have those sorts of problems, for instance. Q-portation could be worth something.

[GodBeastX]

Are people watching different Star Treks than me?

Star Trek is NOTORIOUS for wrestling and fist fights! Go ahead and search youtube, endless close quarters fights with fists, brawn and more. Weak people just get choked, flipped, grappled and held, etc.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

Q doesn't have those sorts of problems, for instance. Q-portation could be worth something.

Q-portation would be so hard to duplicate wit Warp if you sweated the details that I'd probably just slap a +300% Cosmic on it and dispense with further beancounting.

You could spend 100pts on Warp and end up with something a lo9t less capable than a ST Transporter. Low orbit would be -7 and 1 second of preparation would be another -5 and if you have the blind Enhancement it'd be 2 FP per point of penalty to offset those minuses.

I don't really like the way Warp works.

[ArchonShiva]

If your players see no reason to buy ST, let them not buy any.

When did an adventurer ever need a man-portable gatling laser, anyway?

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by ArchonShiva

If your players see no reason to buy ST, let them not buy any.

When did an adventurer ever need a man-portable gatling laser, anyway?

I have a vague memory of an original series episode where they brought in a heavy power tripod mounted phaser to blast through an obstacle.
I don't think I dreamed it.

[weby]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

I have a vague memory of an original series episode where they brought in a heavy power tripod mounted phaser to blast through an obstacle.
I don't think I dreamed it.

I think so too.

But the normal total away team gear seems to be normally:
Normal uniforms for everyone. (maybe 1-2 lb each)
The mini communicators for everyone. (negligible weight each)
hand phasers for everyone. (maybe 1 lb each)
the doctor has a med scanner and the mini knitter tool. (both way less than 1 lb)
the science officer has a tricorder. (maybe 1 lb)

and that is it!

Average carried weight is less than 5 lb/person apparently, so a ST 5 character would likely be unencumbered..

[Rupert]

In my Traveller campaign the player have been putting strength on combat-type characters fairly aggressively.

Now, part of that is their love of space armour and excessive weapon loads. However, even once they got to the point where they had enough ST to handle the load, they put more on. They like the Hit Points, the knockback resistance, and the ability to man-handle NPCs with more normal ST levels.

Even if phasers just leave little piles of dust on the floor the Hit Points are still useful in a Star Trek game - many opponents won't have them, and there's all that environmental damage from control panels frying, from falls, and so on.

Different people and tables will weigh these values differently, but IME players are willing to live with over-priced Striking ST and even also over-priced Lifting ST in order to get at the Hit Point and 'Max Hit Point' components of ST. If anything Hit Points at 2/level are underpriced for my group.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

I have a vague memory of an original series episode where they brought in a heavy power tripod mounted phaser to blast through an obstacle.
I don't think I dreamed it.

The Cage/Menagerie. This was in the Captain Pike era and lasers may have been the Enterprise's main armament.

The personal weapons were lasers too. We saw them again in "What are Little Girls Made of?". Probably old fashioned stuff being used out in the boonies.