How to make space combat more survivable?

Almenac · 07-09-2019, 01:15 AM

I've read through Spaceships 1 and 4 and lots of forum threads, both old and new. All of them point to the same direction: GURPS spaceship combat is really deadly. A phrase I've seen more than once is "Eggshells armed with hammers", mostly when talking about missiles. Apparently a single fighter craft can take out a capital ship without some crazy lucky shot just because how the damage and armor math works.

Real space combat would be quite deadly, I get it. In fact, realistic space combat would probably be even deadlier with heat accounting and using more realistic ranges.

Problem is that this translates poorly to a space faring campaign that would involve at least some space combat. Basically when you're at the receiving end of a missile, your whole crew is dead.

GURPS is a deadly system, but these situations don't come up so often in another genres. If your horse is shot under you, you might die falling down, but not necessarily. If your getaway car gets riddled with bullets, it might go badly, but there are states between fine and fireball.

I'm not the first one to have a problem with this. So my question is, what are the community best practices to mitigate this issue? How can I run a campaign where characters can be part of space battles where capital ships exchange broadsides, ships take hits and get damaged, but blow up only when they're really damaged. I'm looking for a system where you can shoot up a ship so badly they can't escape and then board them.

Thanks in advance!

(BTW, I'll also post this on Reddit's GURPS subforum).

07-09-2019, 01:15 AM	#1
Almenac Join Date: Dec 2018	How to make space combat more survivable? I've read through Spaceships 1 and 4 and lots of forum threads, both old and new. All of them point to the same direction: GURPS spaceship combat is really deadly. A phrase I've seen more than once is "Eggshells armed with hammers", mostly when talking about missiles. Apparently a single fighter craft can take out a capital ship without some crazy lucky shot just because how the damage and armor math works. Real space combat would be quite deadly, I get it. In fact, realistic space combat would probably be even deadlier with heat accounting and using more realistic ranges. Problem is that this translates poorly to a space faring campaign that would involve at least some space combat. Basically when you're at the receiving end of a missile, your whole crew is dead. GURPS is a deadly system, but these situations don't come up so often in another genres. If your horse is shot under you, you might die falling down, but not necessarily. If your getaway car gets riddled with bullets, it might go badly, but there are states between fine and fireball. I'm not the first one to have a problem with this. So my question is, what are the community best practices to mitigate this issue? How can I run a campaign where characters can be part of space battles where capital ships exchange broadsides, ships take hits and get damaged, but blow up only when they're really damaged. I'm looking for a system where you can shoot up a ship so badly they can't escape and then board them. Thanks in advance! (BTW, I'll also post this on Reddit's GURPS subforum).