FTL rate of movement for GURPS SPACESHIPS

[hal]

When I was handling FULL TRUST campaigns back in the day when it was JUST the original FULL THRUST rules - there wasn't all too much to difference the smaller ships from the larger ones. The "mass rules" were different for that game, but I recall working on that problem so as to give a reason for having "Scouts" that were smaller. They could get to a trouble spot faster, scout things out and possibly even return. The larger ships, taking longer to arrive, were massive firepower platforms, but if they took longer to arrive - it allowed for smaller ships of a destroyer class or corvette class or what have you, to engage in smaller ship actions.

Is it worth it to have for use with GURPS SPACESHIPS? Can't say, it would be up to the GM or player to suggest to a GM "Hey, what are the implications of this".

In the end? It is an idea being tossed out there for any who might like it enough to try it. If even one person gives it a shot, or it gives someone an idea on how to customize their own FTL ratings for their games, I can rest happy that a few electrons died for this.

;)

Seriously though. What WOULD be the implications?

As was pointed out, it would allow for smaller ships to make good couriers. It would also perhaps allow for smaller ships to be able to outrun the larger ships?

Suppose you had a 300 ton hull flee a star system with a 1,000 ton hull in hot pursuit. Let's say that they're both trying to reach a destination that is 3 light years away. The 300 ton hull will take 9.38 days to reach its destination. The 1,000 ton hull will take 11.94 days to reach its destination.

That makes a difference no? If the ability to have FTL-2 makes it such that you halve the time taken, if both have FTL-2, the smaller ship STILL retains an advantage.

Now suppose we're dealing with a game universe where the GM uses reaction drives, or solar sails or what have you, no "reactionless" drives at all? What if the "FTL limit of a star is based on solar masses and the limit was 2 AUs x Solor Masses?

Now we have something Traveller-like in that ships can approach up to a give point, but then have to rely upon good old fashioned newtonian movement.

For every ship system that is given up for FLT drives, the ship's fighting capabilities become weakened. But take a hard look at what happens when dealing with a Dreadnaught class ship at say, 30 million tons.It would take 93.88 days per light year of travel. Even with FTL-5, that Dreadnaught will take 18.77 days to arrive. Compare this with the 300 ton hull taking only 9.39 days to travel the same distance.

In the end, it is an easy way to handicap the larger ships in speed where FTL is concerned. Some might not like that idea (many probably won't). That is, until they need to be on a FAST ship. Fast and Fragile, or Slow and sledgehammers? <shrug>

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by hal

In the end, it is an easy way to handicap the larger ships in speed where FTL is concerned. Some might not like that idea (many probably won't). That is, until they need to be on a FAST ship. Fast and Fragile, or Slow and sledgehammers? <shrug>

I generally have FTL drives give more speed when you have more of them and/or put more power into them (assuming they're designed for that - or even if they're not if you're willing to risk Bad Things happening). My current rule is: [Power Points used by Stardrives]^0.5 x 5 lightyears/day (round to the nearest whole number), and you can have any mix of Stardrives and Super Stardrives, but they have to all be in the same hull section. Thus the most speed you can get is with seven Super Stardrives, consuming 14 power points, for 19 LY/day (and as at TL10-11 it takes four power plant systems to power these drives, 55% of the ship is just FTL drive and power for it). Most ships just have drives good for one or two points, and thus 5-7 LY/day.

I think most fast ships will tend to be relatively small, because most of the time you don't need to move massive amounts of stuff very fast at considerable expense. There will be some fast larger ships, of course - the rich might well pay for faster travel, the military will probably like some decent sized ships capable of fast interventions, etc., but most big ships won't, IMO, be especially fast.