[Spaceships] Converting Star Control spaceships (more spirit than letter)

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Kissamies

You know, there used to be a page about GURPS Star Control some guy made. Too bad it doesn't seem to exist any more. It had a lot of stuff I didn't agree with, but it would have been very good for mining ideas. I remember some of it. I think it was mostly race templates.

I searched for quite a while, and I think it's down. Some broken links and other wreckage, but no survivors.

Originally Posted by Kissamies

Also, you probably know of this wiki already, but here's the link in case you don't: Ultronomicon

Yeah, nice source, though I need to replay SC2 to get some of the more detailed info (e.g. Kohr-Ah reply to The Words).

Originally Posted by Kissamies

IIRC, that guy had the most advanced guys, such as the Ur-Quan, Chmmr and Yehat at 11, most of the others at 10 and more primitive ones, especially those who had been uplifted, like Shofixti by Yehat and some of the Hierarchy races, at 9.
I think you are on the right track. Just play it loose with TL and don't be afraid to snag a higher TL gizmo if it fits the setting. The Yehat obviously have force field tech, for example, at least at starship scale. Precursor tech is obviously 12^ and beyond.

GURPS TLs are very harsh. 1 or two TLs of difference will make a mess of the weaker ship immediately. Besides, it's easier to scale armor and engines that way.

Originally Posted by Kissamies

Remember, that on SC2 it costs some fuel to fly around in star systems. Lander uses fuel too. I can understand wanting to avoid the headache, though. The SC3's Warp Bubble Transport always sounded to me much like the regular scifi warp drive, as described in GURPS Space p.40. It just can take the fleet along the ride. I don't think it needs a separate 'space'.

There's like a 0.3 fuel cost per landing, but flying in-system is free. As for the Warp Bubble, this is where I'm planning the diverge my campaign from the canonical SC timeline. Remember the Androsynth vanishing *somewhere*. They learned to *go and return*, and this time, they are the ones behind the big precursor vessel and the expedition. Makes for much more fun politics (some more notes in the Nomad Fleet thread).

Originally Posted by Kissamies

I'd say keep the small ships like the Skiff and Shofixti Scout small and make the big ships a little bigger.

Any bigger and Skiffs will die in one shot from PD fire. Luckily, the Shofixti haven't joined the expedition, so I don't need to worry about those gummybear-piloted nukes.

Originally Posted by Kissamies

There's also the inertialess propulsion. High Handling stat perhaps. It is certainly very maneuverable. Besides the Pkunk Fury, the best ship to make Mycon eat its own plasmoids. Don't know about the HyperSpace Shunt. Maybe using it could randomly rearrange the Skiff's Range with every other spacecraft.

I used the Pseudo-Velocity feature for them. So they don't worry (much) about Collision damage.

Originally Posted by Kissamies

I agree. Better range, though.

Prolly. Tractors are very, very weak in GURPS anyway, compared to EVE or SC2.

Originally Posted by Kissamies

Could be treated like an explosion, I guess. Or something that automatically hits at Point-blank range. Could be still dodgeable. With penalty, I suppose

Yeah, but what system?

Originally Posted by Kissamies

Maybe treat as weird short ranged missiles that can dodge.

The bubbles you mean? They just don't make much sense in the first place. I guess I can get away from the issue by saying that all Guardian blueprints are lost, and that the Flagship is the Androsynth ship in this expedition.

[Kissamies]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

...though I need to replay SC2 to get some of the more detailed info (e.g. Kohr-Ah reply to The Words).

It's probably all here: http://www.sa-matra.net/quotes/kohr-ah/

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Kissamies

It's probably all here: http://www.sa-matra.net/quotes/kohr-ah/

Thanks. This one confirmed the Perk/Quirk level Racial Memory of the race, as well as added the implication that Ur-Quan do not lie (or at least so they say; seems plausible though).

[vicky_molokh]

I started figuring out the ratios between ships. Here's the way I'm trying to do it:

The baseline assumptions are that the Kzer-Za Autonomous Fighter is SM+4, Arilou Skiff is SM+6, and the Kzer-Za Dreadnought is SM+9. Some scaling comparisons:

dHP:
Fighter 15
Skiff 30
Dreadnought 100

dDR per system:
Fighter: 3 Streamlined.
Skiff: 7 Streamlined.
Dreadnought: 30, unstreamlined.

Weapons:
Fighter Spinal Particle Beam: 4d(2); average dDamage 13; average penetration 26; must use precision attacks to scratch a Dreadnought, but still dangerous in numbers with proper capital ship support.
Skiff LASER: 6d burn (2); average dDamage 20, average penetration of 40 dDR.
Dreadnought 'Fusion Blast' (RAW Spinal Particle Beam + Gravitic Focus): 3d*5 (5); average dD 50; average penetration 250 (!); potentially one-shots a Skiff.
(It can do twice that w/o the Gravitic Focus, but I'm not sure I want that much damage anyway.)

I also figured I must use Pseudovelocity for collision purposes, because otherwise even a puny fighter hitting a capital ship will do enormous damage.

[vicky_molokh]

Here's my take on the Dreadnought

TL	Spacecraft		dST/dHP	Hnd/SR	HT	Move	LWt.	Load	SM	Occ	dDR	Range	Cost
10^	Kzer-Za Dreadnought	100	-1 / 5	12	2G	3,000	204[1]	+9	44ASV	30	1x	$371.8 M			
Length: 70 yd. (210 ft.)   Crew Requirement: 13 [2]   Power Points: +6 / -7   Air Performance:  Speed: 400 mph / 2G   Hnd/SR: -1/5

Front Hull Systems
1. Armor - Nanocomposite - 30 dDR
2. Control Room -  Computer: C4 Comm/Sensor: 8 Stations: 6
3. Open Space - 2 Areas
4. Power Plant - Fusion (+2PP)
5. Habitat - 20 slots - 2 Luxury Cabins, 10x Sickbay = 1 Clinic, 3 Generic Science Labs
6!. Weapon Battery - Spinal
Core. Habitat - 20 slots - 40 Cramped Cabins

Central:
1. Armor - Nanocomposite - 30 dDR
2. Fuel Tank - 150t
3!. Hyperdrive
4!. Factory, right next to the hangars in the rear hull (for fixing fighters)
5. Power Plant - Fusion (+2PP)
6. Power Plant - Fusion (+2PP)
Core: Weapon Battery - Spinal

1. Armor - Nanocomposite - 30 dDR
2!. Reactionless Engine - Hot (1G)
3!. Reactionless Engine - Hot (1G)
4. Hangar Bay - 50t/min, 100t total
5. Hangar Bay - 50t/min, 100t total
6. Weapon Battery - Spinal

5 Airlocks (Capacity: 5 persons each), CAMPAIGN OPTIONS: Electro-Mechanical Computers, SHIP OPTIONS: Artificial Gravity, NOTES: [1] Load Includes: 4.4 tons of Crew & Passengers, 200 tons Hangar Bay Capacity, [2] Crew Requirement: 6 Control Stations, 1 Medical, 6 Lab Worker, FUEL USE: [3] Any Fuel, REACTIONLESS ENGINE: [4] Pseudo Velocity

Weapon Battery:
Front - Spinal Particle Beam w/Gravitic Focus
Power 3GJ, Range S/L, damage 3dx5 burn rad sur (5), sAcc -1*, Rcl 1, RoF 3 (per minute)

And here's the fighter:

TL	Spacecraft		dST/dHP	Hnd/SR	HT	Move	LWt.	Load	SM	Occ	dDR	Range	Cost	
10^	Autonomous Fighter	15	0/4	12	3G/c	10	0.1[1]	+4	1+0SV	3	$1.27M
Length: 10 yd. (30 ft.)   Air Speed: 4,300 mph   Air Hnd/SR: +4 / 5   Crew Requirement: 1 [2]   Power Points: +6 / -3

Front Hull.
1. Armor
2!. Spinal Mount A
3!. Spinal Mount B (I'm departing from RAW by allowing a dual-spined construction)
4. Defensive ECM
5. Defensive ECM
6. Defensive ECM

Central:
1. Armor
2. Control Room, 1 Station, ejectable
3. unspecified (might put in something useful)
4. Power Plant - Fusion (+2PP)
5. Power Plant - Fusion (+2PP)
6. Power Plant - Fusion (+2PP)
Core A!: Spinal Mount
Core B!: Spinal Mount

Rear:
1. Armor
2!. Spinal Mount
3!. Spinal Mount
4!. Reactionless Engine - Hot (1G)
5!. Reactionless Engine - Hot (1G)
6!. Reactionless Engine - Hot (1G)

SHIP OPTIONS: Streamlined, Winged, Gravitic Compensators, Emergency Ejection Seat, NOTES: [1] Load Includes: 0.1 tons of Crew & Passengers, [2] Crew Requirement: 1 Control Stations; Pseudo Velocity

Spinal Mounts - Dual Beam Weapons (using dual particle beams to make their damage meaningful against capital ships around SM+9)
Particle Beam 
Power 10MJ, range C/S, damage 4d burn rad sur (5), sAcc -1*, Rcl 1, RoF 3 (per minute)

[vicky_molokh]

Just noticed that nobody can do two Gunnery tasks in a single turn, so there's no point in the dual-spine build for the fighters. :(

[vierasmarius]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Just noticed that nobody can do two Gunnery tasks in a single turn, so there's no point in the dual-spine build for the fighters. :(

I thought you could fire a set of identical, fixed weapons in the same arc as a single attack, with x2 RoF?