Traveller: IW Combat

jo11yroger · 10-12-2011, 02:49 PM

I am currently running a 4e Traveller:IW -based game, and had some questions about the starship combat rules. I'd like to hear your takes on workarounds.

One note: I really like the rules. The vector combat is awesome.

1. It seems like any ship that can accelerate at more than .1G can dodge equally well (1/2 pilot's skill) - an indomitable, for example, can dodge as well as a fighter, and will probably have a much better pilot. Is there some way I can scale the dodge roll by acceleration? Size? Should I?

2. Ramming seems both (1) too easy for the attacker and (2) too destructive. A 20 dHp human light fighter, with 1 relative velocity, ramming an indomitable, will inflict 150d * 20 damage, or an average roll of 11500 damage. The indomitable has 400 dDR and 300 dHP - even if I divide the damage by 10, this 1 83 ton, $22M fighter will destroy a 190,000 ton, $32 BILLION dollar battleship. Additionally, the roll is a quick contest of skill between the fighter pilot at +12 (Indomitable's size modifier) and the indomitable at normal... And the indomitable doesn't get to dodge. By these rules, the fighter is both more lethal and harder to evade (assuming it survives point defense fire) than a laser? Heck, a missile with a relative velocity of +1 is more effective as a kinetic kill weapon than a shaped charge (300 dice of damage versus an effective 120 dice).

Any thoughts about how to mitigate this?

- rob

10-12-2011, 02:49 PM	#1
jo11yroger Join Date: Apr 2011	Traveller: IW Combat I am currently running a 4e Traveller:IW -based game, and had some questions about the starship combat rules. I'd like to hear your takes on workarounds. One note: I really like the rules. The vector combat is awesome. 1. It seems like any ship that can accelerate at more than .1G can dodge equally well (1/2 pilot's skill) - an indomitable, for example, can dodge as well as a fighter, and will probably have a much better pilot. Is there some way I can scale the dodge roll by acceleration? Size? Should I? 2. Ramming seems both (1) too easy for the attacker and (2) too destructive. A 20 dHp human light fighter, with 1 relative velocity, ramming an indomitable, will inflict 150d * 20 damage, or an average roll of 11500 damage. The indomitable has 400 dDR and 300 dHP - even if I divide the damage by 10, this 1 83 ton, $22M fighter will destroy a 190,000 ton, $32 BILLION dollar battleship. Additionally, the roll is a quick contest of skill between the fighter pilot at +12 (Indomitable's size modifier) and the indomitable at normal... And the indomitable doesn't get to dodge. By these rules, the fighter is both more lethal and harder to evade (assuming it survives point defense fire) than a laser? Heck, a missile with a relative velocity of +1 is more effective as a kinetic kill weapon than a shaped charge (300 dice of damage versus an effective 120 dice). Any thoughts about how to mitigate this? - rob