Shipbuilding in ISW vs Spaceships

[Wonazer]

My concern with TL11+ was one my players brought up: death was inevitable. They realized that TL11 energy weapons were brutal. Short of everyone wearing space armor and having personal shields, a solid shot would end them. I dialed my game back to TL9 (with a few exceptions) as it seemed more reasonable (and survivable).

Is "eggshells and hammer" worse than "plink, plink, plink, red mist"?

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Wonazer

My concern with TL11+ was one my players brought up: death was inevitable. They realized that TL11 energy weapons were brutal. Short of everyone wearing space armor and having personal shields, a solid shot would end them. I dialed my game back to TL9 (with a few exceptions) as it seemed more reasonable (and survivable).

Is "eggshells and hammer" worse than "plink, plink, plink, red mist"?

You've managed to bewilder me. I was talking about spaceship combat in Spaceships. That's where the "eggshells with hammers" thing came from. Damage in Spaceships is generally the same across TLs if everything else is equal. Armor divisor does go up but DR does too and if you add Force Screens it more than doubles.

Now you're talking about personal combat and i fiind your player's concerns difficult to understand as well. In UT (until you get to TL12^Disintegrators) lethality to unarmored targets goes _down_ when you switch from TL9 projectile weapons to higher TL energy weapons. A TL11 Heavy Blaster Pistol does 4d damage or an average of 14 pts. That's a weapon the size of a .44 magnum. A standard 9mm cop gun from TL8 loaded with HP does 13.5 pts of wounding. A TL9 15mm Magnum does 4d+1 P++ or 30 pts of wounding to an unarmored target. A TL 9 Gyroc does 6D P++ or 42 pts of wounding and that's with non-explosive rounds.

The lower RCL and hgh ACC of energy weapons can get a target in trouble with multiple hits but that's not the "one solid shot" you mentioned. You won't find Gurps combat with Piercing weapons at lower TLs notably more survivable.

[Wonazer]

This is why I love gaming these days as opposed to the early 90s when I started. I can communicate with people who are either smarter or more experienced (or both). I was determined to prove you wrong. I fired up a spreadsheet and began building a weapon vs DR table.

Just as a proof of concept, I ran the numbers for common pistols vs common flexible armors for TL 9-11.

	                       Die Averages  vs Reflex  vs Nano  vs Mono
TL9 10mm Pistol 3d pi+		                0          0	    0
TL9 Gyroc Pistol 6d pi++	               18     	   6        0
				
TL10 Gauss Pistol 3d (3) pi-	                3	   3	    1
TL10 Laser Pistol 3d (2) burn	                8	   7        6
TL10 Heavy Laser Pistol 4d (2) burn            12	  11	   10
TL10 Gauss Shotgun Pistol, 8d pi++             32	  20	    8
				
TL11 Blaster Pistol 3d(5) burn sur	        9	   9	    8
TL11 Heavy Blaster Pistol 4d(5) burn sur       13	  12	   12

You were right.

I didn't even get into trauma plates in vests, clamshells, rigid, or sealed combat armors, let alone SMGs or rifles... Actually, I'm going to add in rifles and other weapons just to see what the common target (still only accounting for common flexible armors for each TL) would take on average.

Here's a link to the Google Sheet.

So, all that being said... How do I keep combat balanced for a party that has...

• a pilot in flexible armor and a pistol
• a marine with space armor and a gauss rifle

I worry that, at any TL, anything that could threaten the Marine would vaporize the rest of the party. How do you handle situations like this?

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Wonazer

• a pilot in flexible armor and a pistol
• a marine with space armor and a gauss rifle

I worry that, at any TL, anything that could threaten the Marine would vaporize the rest of the party. How do you handle situations like this?

Have somebody at the entrance port to a civilized world tell the marine he can't take all that stuff through the gate. :)

When you're not dealing with civilized worlds have the opponents concentrate on killing the marine first.

This has actually happened to me in a Mongoose Traveller game. I mustered out of the Marines with a suit of powered armor and a plasma gun but the first world we went to I couldn't carry anything more than a stun gun though customs. Actually the only things I ever got to use the plasma gun on were psionic trees.

[Wonazer]

Yeah, I was figuring things like that. I figured I could occasionally catch the Marine without his armor. I'm also planning ahead for things like cover and line-of-sight for the non-Marines in the party -- basically, put them in situations that are potentially advantageous and put it on them if they get shot. Hehe