Re: GURPS Spaceships Design Spreadsheet
 

Two things you can do with Auxiliary Craft:
1) Create ships that are smaller SM than can be designed using the Spaceships rules. The three canonical examples in the existing ships are the Life Pod, Drop Capsule, and Stealth Capsule from the Designers Notes.
2) Create "dummy" ships to fill your Hangar Bays and Vehicle Docks without having to fully stat them up using the Spaceship rules. Especially useful for creating a Carrier and then fleshing out the small craft later.


Superscience ships also can't have Superscience Force Screens and Reactionless Engines. Auxiliary Craft are just another accessory, and if you install one on a non-superscience ship you are essentially stating that the ship is Superscience. So, yes, I like the filter. If you don't then either make the ship Superscience or click the checkbox "Don't filter systems by TL" in the upper-left corner of the design table sheet.

Re: GURPS Spaceships Design Spreadsheet
 

Okay, that makes sense. An "Auxiliary Craft" has to be created there and saved to a "Saved Ships" sheet before it can be loaded from one. A few things though:

1. On the "Design Table" when you enter the TL and SM values the other stats cells are filled with default values that are adjusted later by adding systems, design features and switches. Why can't these default values be generated on the "Auxiliary Craft" sheet too? (Empty cells only, of course.)
2. AFAIK the Lwt. is always determined by the SM. It shouldn't be adjustable.
3. There should be a validity check on the load so it doesn't exceed the LWt.

I guess that means no aircraft carriers equipped with secret flying saucers then. Pity. (Although I suppose they would give the carrier a superscience capability. ;-) ) And hangars don't have a "concealed" option ... yet. (Hint, hint.)

Re: GURPS Spaceships Design Spreadsheet
 

Those default values are generated based on the rules in Spaceships. While they hold true for the Spaceships design system the general GURPS rules don't require a given SM ship to have a specific Mass. In fact, the vehicles in various GURPS source books, or future vehicles for that matter, will not necessarily follow the SM -> Ship Mass paradigm from the Spaceships rules. I suppose I don't see an issue with filling in a default Lwt based on SM if the Lwt hasn't already been filled out, however I see no reason to "lock" it to the ship mass from the Spaceships rules.

I guess that's probably true, and easy enough to implement.

Re: GURPS Spaceships Design Spreadsheet
 

Minor HTML Output bugs: 2 of the   indents for sub-system locations don't have closing semicolons. Also, there is a weapons table header output when there are no weapons.

Re: GURPS Spaceships Design Spreadsheet
 

Version 2.0 Release Candidate 18
-More bug fixes, most notably the HTML output bugs
-The Aux Craft sheet will now set craft Lwt when you select SM if a value isn't already set; the Load will be limited to values between 0 and the Lwt.

You can download the spreadsheet here:

Excel 2000 (RC18)
http://gurpsland.no-ip.org/zip/SpaceshipsV2.zip (5.1 MB)
http://gurpsland.no-ip.org/zip/SpaceshipsV2.7z (~2.5 MB)

Excel 2007 (RC18)
http://gurpsland.no-ip.org/zip/SpaceshipsV2-2007.zip (~6.3 MB)
http://gurpsland.no-ip.org/zip/SpaceshipsV2-2007.7z (~6.2 MB)

OpenOffice 3.3.0 (RC9)
http://gurpsland.no-ip.org/zip/SpaceshipsV2-Ooo.zip (~2.1 MB)
http://gurpsland.no-ip.org/zip/SpaceshipsV2-Ooo.7z (~1.9 MB)

Re: GURPS Spaceships Design Spreadsheet
 

Just loaded it up. Weird. Before I imported my saved ships, I clicked the "Design Table" button while on the "Optional Rules" sheet and ended up on the "Unofficial Ships" sheet. Went to the "Design Table" via tabs, added a saved ships sheet, imported mine from the old file, clicked the "Design Table" button and ... ta-da ... actually ended up on the "Design Table". So that's one bug fixed. I think. :( Nope, it's back.

Quick question about Collapsible Fuel Tanks: Can it be pumped into a normal Fuel Tank while it's being used?


EDIT: Thanks for the recharging rules for "Energy Banks". But you lost the label for that optional rule section. ;) Also, how do we apply power profiles to the different modes (charging, discharging, neutral)? BTW, reading from the "Jump Drive" rules (SS1 p.41) a 1 FTL jump requires 1PPh (Super Stardrives charge their internal capacitors twice as fast). An pre-charged external fast discharging Energy Bank could remove the charging time from this. This could be applied to other Stardrive types too; 1 PPh/FTL to enter/leave hyperspace or initiate warp drive.

Re: GURPS Spaceships Design Spreadsheet
 

Today, some questions I somehow missed in our earlier discussion of Modular sections.

1. What is the difference between a "Dual Standard" and "Large" module?
2. How long does it take to attach/detach modular sections?
3. Can a "ship" module be tele-operated after separation from a control room in the other section(s)?
4. Could a module have an "Extradimensional Interface" (SS7 p.8) to reduce its external size and mass so it could attach to a smaller main ship?

Re: GURPS Spaceships Design Spreadsheet
 

A "Standard" module is -1 SM smaller than the ship and takes up either the entire Front or Center section of the ship. A "Large" module is -0.5 SM smaller than the ship and takes up both the Front and Center sections of the ship. A "Dual Standard" is exactly what it sounds like - it is two "Standard" modules each -1 SM smaller than the ship and it takes up the Front and Center sections of the ship.


I could make up some numbers for this, but my made up numbers aren't going to be any better than your made up numbers.

I don't see why not. It would need an engine and a Control Room (with or without control stations), but a module could certainly be designed to be an independent ship designed to operate on it's own or to be tele-operated. Think, for instance, the Enterprise-D from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Or the Prometheus Class from Star Trek Voyager.

Dunno. Depends on how you think Extradimensional Interfaces work. I don't see why a module couldn't have an ExDI, the main issue with calculating performance is whether or not the ExDI stuffs the mass away into the extra dimension or not. If the SM+1/+9 ship still has the mass of a SM+9 ship then it's going to be extremely difficult for it to be mounted on a SM+1.5 or SM+2 ship, since it'll act like an anchor slowing it down (unless the larger ship also has an ED interface, packing away enough engines to push the SM+1/+9 ship)

Re: GURPS Spaceships Design Spreadsheet
 

Okay, two modules instead of one. Perhaps the description should be changed from “A "Dual Standard" module takes up the entire Front and Center Hull sections,” to “"Dual Standard" modules take up the entire Front and Center Hull sections,” to clarify this.

Right, GM determined. You know, maybe I should stop complaining about sci-fi series that don't predetermine all their tech limits up front.

Or the original Enterprise in the classic series (according to the first Technical Manual and blueprints anyway). Uhmm, am I showing my age?

I think that covers normal space operations. How the extradimensional mass/size of an ExDI module would be handled by external Stardrives, Exophase Fields, Parachronic/Time Flux Drives or ExDIs would very much be another "GM determined" decision. ;)

Re: GURPS Spaceships Design Spreadsheet
 

Ehh, that wasn't really designed to be a ship with modular sections so much as it was a design for continued operations after a catastrophic failure, allowing the saucer to detach from the engine section.

Do you want to implode the universe? Because that's how universes implode.