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

[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?

[Kissamies]

Originally Posted by vierasmarius

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

The rules say that they should be in the same battery, but I choose to interpret the rules so that if they are identical fixed (or spinal in this case) they can fire as a single attack without actually being in the same battery.

[vicky_molokh]

It seems like to emulate the feel of the ship comparisons, I'll need to use some optional rules/house rules. Here's what I think is needed:

Gradual Closing and Retreat
A ship doing a successful Closing with an Attack Vector or Engaged result does not automatically get into Close range. Instead, such a ship reduces range by one class (X->L, L->S, S->C). It may opt to reduce its Margin of Success by 3 [or should it be 4 or 5?] (before choosing Advantaged, Engaged etc.) to reduce range by one more range class.
Likewise, Retreat only moves the ship away from the engagement area by one range class, plus one for each +3 (or +4 or +5?) on MoS.

Nerf Missiles
Missiles are deadly in the classic rules. Thus, they get several nerfs that reduce their effectiveness (but they're still pretty good).

• Normal missiles get no armor divisor.
• Missiles with frag warheads (yes, those are special warheads, replacing the Proximity Fuse option) do get the +4 to hit and ×10 to the maximum number of hits, but they get a 0.1 armor divisor, making them into anti-fighter flak weapons.
• This being a setting with Elctro-Mechanical Computers, missiles are rather dumb. Under no circumstances can a homing missile dodge, sneak, or target specific hit locations (this is similar to how Homing Innate Attacks work) - roll randomly. It is possible to shoot a missile as a rocket, allowing the gunner to aim for weak spots or specific system, but then it gets the Acc of a dumb cannon round, and must be done at Point-Blank or Close range.
• A rare case where a missile is Guided, it requires a gunner per missile for the whole duration of its flight (negating any RoF of that launcher), may Dodge as if it has Hnd+0, and has a maximum number of turns of activity equal to the number of Range classes it needs to cross to reach maximum range (1 for C, 2 for S, 3 for L, 4 for X), must choose Closing each turn (it cannot fully turn off its engines); it doesn't have the endurance to turn around and get another pass on a failed Ballistic Attack unless it has range X and was fired at range P.
• RAW nukes are unavailable, as otherwise they would dominate warfare. I guess I can handwave it through different laws of nature, saying that large missiles are nukes, it's just that their explosions don't do much damage in this world.
• With reactionless pseudovelocity drives being standard, the missile damage is explosive or directed explosive, not kinetic. Relative velocity is treated as 1 (for bullets too).

Ship survivability

• Ships have Hardened armor against Missiles (see above) and Particle Beams for free.
• All ships have compartmentalization and robust builds that provide Damage Reduction 2 after DR.
• (Not sure) systems are damaged after losing 10% of the ships HP, disabled at 50%, and destroyed at 100% (or after being disabled twice). A damaged system experiences minor malfunctions, but keeps going with minimal effort on the part of the engineers; it becomes disabled a short while after combat. This is definitely cinematic, but otherwise a single hit from a Skiff (LASER of 6d(2), or 20 dDamage on average) will easily disable any system on a Cruiser (dHP 50, dDR 15).
• The Surge effect only works for EM Disruptors. Electronics may be dumb, but they sure are robust.

[vicky_molokh]

My take on the Cruiser

TL	Spacecraft		dST/dHP	Hnd/SR	HT	Move	LWt.	Load	SM	Occ	dDR	Range	Cost
10^	Earthling Cruiser	50	-1/5	13	1G	300	16.6[1]	+7	16ASV	15	1x	$26.9 M			

Length: 30 yd. (90 ft.)   Crew Requirement: 4 (optionally up to 15) [2]   Power Points: +2/-3
Air Performance:  Speed: 300 mph / 1G   Hnd/SR: -1/5

Front:
1. Armor - Nanocomposite
2. Control room (3 people)
3-5. Habitats (2 cabins each)
6. Weapon Battery - Spinal (Front)
Core: Habitat (2 cabins)

Central:
1. Armor
2. Engine room (adjacent to Rear Hull)
3!. Weapon Battery - Secondary
4!. Hyperdrive (Fuelpipe to Rear)
5. Multipurpose or whatever appropriate array (depends on model)
6. Cargo Hold (15 tons of stuff or missiles).
Core: Spinal Battery (Front)

Rear:
1. Armor
2. Reactionless Engine - Hot
3. Power Plant - Fusion
4 and 5. Fuel Tanks (the cruiser is longer-ranged than other ships in the setting).
6. Spinal Battery (Front)

3 Airlocks (Capacity: 3 persons each), CAMPAIGN OPTIONS: Electro-Mechanical Computers, SHIP OPTIONS: Artificial Gravity, Emergency Ejection Pod, Total Life Support, NOTES: [1] Load Includes: 1.6 tons of Crew & Passengers, 15 tons of Cargo, [2] Crew Requirement: 3 Control Stations, 1 Workspaces, but also up to 11 gunners. FUEL USE: [3] Any Fuel, REACTIONLESS ENGINE: [4] Pseudo Velocity

Habitats contain bunkrooms for 16 people, often hot-bunked.

Qty	Mount		Weapon	Options	Size	Range	Damage	sAcc	Rcl	RoF	Shots
1	Front - Spinal	Missile 	32 cm	X	6dx8	+5*	1	3	15
10	C. Sec. Turret	LASER		10MJ	S	4d burn	+0	1	6†
* sAcc includes +2 for being a fixed mount, † RoF is x2 for being Improved	

Note that ideally the turrets are manned by 10 crewmen. Unlike the original game, the more crew is firing the turrets, the more useful the weapon can be.

[vicky_molokh]

Tried out Tactical Combat yesterday.
With some specifics in place, it seems to reproduce the feel of the original game very closely.
Notably,

• 1 minute turns,
• 1000-mile hexes (so Earth is 4 hexes in radius/8 in diameter)
• Boost drives giving a top speed of 1 hex per engine, and an acceleration of a half-hex each (i.e. 1 Thrust Rating per engine).
• Facing change rate reduced to 1 face/minute for a typical SM+9 ship, 2 for +8, 3 for +7.
• Missiles need a total rehaul. Since most weapon ranges are between 1 and 10 (depending on size and type), missiles should have a max speed around 6, an acceleration somewhere around 3 hexes (as if they had 6 engines), and a turn rate dependent on model (cruiser missiles around 1 or 1½, Mycon plasma and Eluder BUTT launcher around 2, Marauder blades 3). Missile damage/RoF ratio is still scary, and thus needs considering. Also, missiles are moving at their own independent velocity, regardless of the launching craft's velocity.
• I'm heavily considering making all ships Unkillable up to -5×HP, though I'm not sure whether to make them roll HT past that or mark them destroyed at that point. Otherwise they look too fragile.

[Bizud]

Hi all, I don't know if anyone is still checking this thread but I too was looking for the GURPS Star Control site mentioned earlier in the thread and found it at the good ol' Internet Archive.

http://web.archive.org/web/200104060...gsc/index.html

Hope this helps or is at least interesting. :)

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Bizud

Hi all, I don't know if anyone is still checking this thread but I too was looking for the GURPS Star Control site mentioned earlier in the thread and found it at the good ol' Internet Archive.

http://web.archive.org/web/200104060...gsc/index.html

Hope this helps or is at least interesting. :)

Welcome to the forum.

Saw that, but it's mostly outdated by now (4e). I do have some notes on races and ships (more than posted in this thread, but very disorganized). I kinda gave up on organizing them when I figured I won't be able to get enough players for the campaign.

On a related note, you might be interested in a way to make these fellas actually playable in a campaign. I think I also have notes on the other 4e-ified and made-playable races somewhere.

This is the discussion that concerns the campaign type intended for my SC½ chronicle.