[Spaceships] Starfire to GURPS conversions?

[mlangsdorf]

I've got access to the 3rd and 4th edition of the war games, but its been a while since I read the novels. My memory is pretty good, though.


In Spaceships terms, I'd suggest the primary weapons as:

Force Beams are Heat Beams. They exist in Capital size as Major Batteries and as normal size Secondary Batteries.

Primary Beams are Graviton Beams with relatively low energy, about 1/6th to 1/10th the energy of Force Beams. They ignore shields and armor, though.

Lasers come in three styles: basic, X-Ray (used in Crusade), and Heterodyne. I think the later books may have type 2 Heterodyne. Starfire X-Ray Lasers likely correspond to UV Lasers, and Heterodynes correspond to X-Ray lasers.

The E-beams used by Gorns are similar to Graviton beams, but without the shield penetration.

Bug Plasma guns are Plasma.

Most missile/rocket launchers are multirole grav guns that also can be used to fire small missiles of the same caliber (so from something SM-4 smaller). Capital Missile launchers are full size GURPS Spaceships missile launchers.


Defensively, Starfire ships depend on armor that block all attacks except P-beams and E-beams, and ablative, Opaque shields that block all attacks except lasers and P-beams


Drives are pseudo-velocity, reactionless engines. They can reach ~1/10 the speed of light, depending on ship size (fighters are faster, and depending on edition, so are destroyers and frigates). Battleships, superdreadnoughts, and even larger ships are slower. Military drives are more compact and have higher peek speeds, but commercial drives can run slower. The Gorns use engine tuners that increase peak speeds by 15% but radiate the crews (with the Gorns can handle). At some point, someone develops improved tuners that are safe.

Ships don't require Stardrive Engines. Anything entering a warp point exits on the other side. Jump transit time is nearly instantaneous.


Size-wise, fighters are SM+5. A battlecruiser sized carrier requires about half its space to carry 42 fighters, so each Spaceships space holds 4 fighters making the carrier a large SM+9. Battleships and superdreadnoughts would be roughly (small) SM+10. Monitors and supermonitors would edge toward SM+10 or SM+11. Destroyers would roughly SM+8. Bug gunboats (and scout pinnacles) would be SM+6.


As far as ship design goes, military engines should take 1-3 spaces, armor and shields should be 2-6 spaces, and the rest should be weapons, hangars, or other military systems. Life support, crew quarters, and command spaces are at most 1-2 spaces on most ships.


Hope that helps!