Are GURPS Tech Books released in wrong order / badly planned?

[Kalzazz]

3e Robots is an Awesome book, it is absolutely great . . . . I would love to see something simple like that released for making 4e robots, battlesuits and cyborgs oh my

Spaceships baffles me no end, I guess that is because spaceships are just much more complex than robots maybe, but it makes me sad

So I guess that in some ways UT is trickier if you want to have spaceships, since I don't get those at all

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Kalzazz

3e Robots is an Awesome book, it is absolutely great . . . . I would love to see something simple like that released for making 4e robots, battlesuits and cyborgs oh my

Spaceships baffles me no end, I guess that is because spaceships are just much more complex than robots maybe, but it makes me sad

So I guess that in some ways UT is trickier if you want to have spaceships, since I don't get those at all

Again, spaceships are fine as a product line. Cool, even. But they break down if combined with UT in some ways - notably, UT Commando Battlesuits are almost good enough to pit them 1-on-1 against SM+4 to SM+6 spaceships (assuming the commando gets a thruster pack and a missile launcher of some sort).

[Kalzazz]

I'll admit I find Spaceships to be extremely hard to follow and use, to the point of my sci fi games having no space combat or spaceships being used as anything more than taxis

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Kalzazz

I'll admit I find Spaceships to be extremely hard to follow and use, to the point of my sci fi games having no space combat or spaceships being used as anything more than taxis

Spaceships can be overwhelming if taken all at once. But they're very good. Basically, you divide your ship into 20 chunks, and decide what those chunks should be (3 armour units and a control room, some guns, some engines, some cargo holds etc.). If you're running Space Op(e)rah, you can skip the dV calculations and just use superscience drives with a fixed top speed and a single FTL drive type (BSG-style jump drive is probably the simplest, non-narrated hyperspace is a close second).

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Spaceships can be overwhelming if taken all at once. But they're very good. Basically, you divide your ship into 20 chunks, and decide what those chunks should be (3 armour units and a control room, some guns, some engines, some cargo holds etc.). If you're running Space Op(e)rah, you can skip the dV calculations and just use superscience drives with a fixed top speed and a single FTL drive type (BSG-style jump drive is probably the simplest, non-narrated hyperspace is a close second).

I would strongly dispute that it's very good for combat. The basic idea of system-based shipbuilding is nice, but a lot of the Spaceships rules are seriously problematic.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

I would strongly dispute that it's very good for combat. The basic idea of system-based shipbuilding is nice, but a lot of the Spaceships rules are seriously problematic.

Yet I haven't seen a better one that wouldn't be too cumbersome. Rogue Trader spaceships rules come close, and are better for their specific setting, but as I said, they're limited to emulating one specific setting.

G:SS has their share of murphies, but they're better thought-through than, say, Magic/Grimoire or even UT.

Oh, basic spaceship combat is very meh, but once you figure out tactical, it's quite OK.

P.S.: If you're in the mood, I'd be quite curious to see the list of problematic rules and possible quick fixes for spaceships. I know I made a few threads on the topic in days past, but I wonder what others would list.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Yet I haven't seen a better one that wouldn't be too cumbersome. Rogue Trader spaceships rules come close, and are better for their specific setting, but as I said, they're limited to emulating one specific setting.

G:SS has their share of murphies, but they're better thought-through than, say, Magic/Grimoire or even UT.

Oh, basic spaceship combat is very meh, but once you figure out tactical, it's quite OK.

P.S.: If you're in the mood, I'd be quite curious to see the list of problematic rules and possible quick fixes for spaceships. I know I made a few threads on the topic in days past, but I wonder what others would list.

That'd get long. I suggest spinning a new thread if you want to. I'll certainly participate in it.

I rate it as so badly broken that I'm not sure how to fix it, so we're in somewhat different places on this.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

That'd get long. I suggest spinning a new thread if you want to. I'll certainly participate in it.

I rate it as so badly broken that I'm not sure how to fix it, so we're in somewhat different places on this.

Started, awaiting replies.

[Kalzazz]

I really liked Grimoire, and it followed the same format as Magic and all, I had no problems dropping it into my games at all. Ultra Tech I will definitely give has some major complexities to me in building robots for instance though I think need help

[cmdicely]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Oh, basic spaceship combat is very meh, but once you figure out tactical, it's quite OK.

Personally, I find basic spaceship combat quite OK, but tactical combat has some gigantic, and fairly fundamental, problems (the biggest one being that 2D tactical space combat -- especially with missiles or more than two ships -- is fundamentally a broken idea [it makes about as much sense as having a 1D "tactical" combat system for ground combat], and the relationship of turn ability to time scale is broken pretty badly.)