GURPS Starships line errata (and some observations)

[Mailanka]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

It's a good reason, mind you. Spend your missiles on Typhoons and you have little way to hurt the bigger ships the missiles are actually for. Although in the actual Star Wars paradigm you wouldn't use the torpedoes against tie-fighter any way because because you can't hit tie-fighters with torpedoes

The way the standard space combat systems handles missiles is weird anyway. Unless I'm really missing something, very slow missiles are actually better than very fast ones, except for the fact that point defense has an easier time taking down the slow ones... but (in the case of laser-based point defense), there's no difference between a super-slow TL 7 missile, and a super-fast super-missile. Warp Missiles apply a penalty, and nothing else do.

There's also no "time to target" in the basic system, though there is in the tactical combat. So a typhoon might have a super easy time avoiding a missile in the tactical combat system, compared to how well it can avoid it in the basic combat system.

[ericbsmith]

Originally Posted by Mailanka

The way the standard space combat systems handles missiles is weird anyway. Unless I'm really missing something, very slow missiles are actually better than very fast ones, except for the fact that point defense has an easier time taking down the slow ones... but (in the case of laser-based point defense), there's no difference between a super-slow TL 7 missile, and a super-fast super-missile. Warp Missiles apply a penalty, and nothing else do.

Missile and Gun damage is multiplied by relative velocity in miles per second (mps); so the faster the missile is traveling the more damage it's going to do. See p. SS1:61.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by Mailanka

The way the standard space combat systems handles missiles is weird anyway. Unless I'm really missing something, very slow missiles are actually better than very fast ones, except for the fact that point defense has an easier time taking down the slow ones... but (in the case of laser-based point defense), there's no difference between a super-slow TL 7 missile, and a super-fast super-missile. Warp Missiles apply a penalty, and nothing else do.

With regards to the attack rolls, yeah, that's accurate. Higher closing speed makes intercepts harder.

The reason speed hurts ballistic attacks but usually not beams is the speed-range sum thing. Ballistics, being guided, ignore range, and so they wind up paying for speed penalties pretty easily. Whereas beams are (almost) always expected to be eating at least 100 miles of range penalty, at which point a target has to be quite extremely fast to pose a problem.

Originally Posted by ericbsmith

Missile and Gun damage is multiplied by relative velocity in miles per second (mps); so the faster the missile is traveling the more damage it's going to do. See p. SS1:61.

That is important in some cases, though usually not against fighters.

[Mailanka]

Originally Posted by ericbsmith

Missile and Gun damage is multiplied by relative velocity in miles per second (mps); so the faster the missile is traveling the more damage it's going to do. See p. SS1:61.

Yes, I knew this. I'm talking about something else.

A standard missile has a minimum velocity of 1 to 2. We'll use 2. This means it doubles its basic damage, which is nice. It's ability to hit, though, is a combination of its relative speed and its accuracy. A TL 9 missile is accuracy +1 or +2, and because of its speed, -3 to hit. Thus, you're at -1 or -2 to hit. For the purposes of point defense, a laser is at -0 to hit your missile (based on speed alone).

A super missile " with 100G+ accelerations may optionally
be available (usually if similar accelerations are standard for
spacecraft)" A TL 9 super-missile is psuedo-velocity. By default, you treat base velocity, for purposes of damage, as x10. That's pretty great! But the accuracy remains +1 to +2, and the speed changes your ability to hit to -12, so your ability to hit is -10 or -11. And lasers are at... -0 to hit your missile (based on speed alone). So your speed has removed accuracy and gained nothing in terms of evading point defense. Fortunately, it does increase the damage substantially compared to the standard missile, as you point out.


But...

Damage is not based on the speed of the weapon alone. That's the minimum velocity. Super missiles suggest that they should exist if similar acceleration exists for space craft. The idea is, of course, that your missiles need to be able to hit the enemy ship! A missile travelling at 1-2 mps is never going to be quick enough to hit a ship racing around at 50-100gs! So what does a ship racing around at 50-100gs mean? It means you should be on the Standard Scale at 20 seconds, or at the distant scale at 1 minute.

The standard scale at 20 seconds has a base relative velocity of 10 mps. The distant scale at 1 minute has a 30 mps base relative velocity. This means that a basic missile fired from a ship does 10x damage (in the first scenario), is still at +1 or +2 for accuracy and is at -6 due to speed, for a total of -5 to -4. A beam weapon point defense is still at -0 to hit you.

So, if you're in a standard scale, 20-second turn scenario, which is considered the standard for something like a super missile, and you have a super missile, you're less likely to hit me and you'll do the same damage as I'll do if I fire a missile back at you.

The real reason to have the super missile is because you shouldn't be able to connect with the super-fast ship with a normal missile, but I don't think the core system really covers that well.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by Mailanka

A super missile " with 100G+ accelerations may optionally
be available (usually if similar accelerations are standard for
spacecraft)" A TL 9 super-missile is psuedo-velocity. By default, you treat base velocity, for purposes of damage, as x10. That's pretty great! But the accuracy remains +1 to +2, and the speed changes your ability to hit to -12, so your ability to hit is -10 or -11.

Not quite right. Super missiles get +3 to acc (p68). It still comes out to a net loss though.

Originally Posted by Mailanka

The real reason to have the super missile is because you shouldn't be able to connect with the super-fast ship with a normal missile, but I don't think the core system really covers that well.

I can't find anything to cover it either. Obviously it'll come out in the tactical system...at the scale involved, regular missiles are basically bombs with better sAcc.

[weby]

Space ships 2

Maltese Falcon
additional Errata:

The table is missing ^ in TL field as the 10^ is the correct TL

[weby]

Spaceships 3

Admiral-class
Additional errata:

Has 2 Fuel tanks with 15mps listed delta-V each but the table says 1G/15 mps. It should be 1G/30 mps (or if the missing module is fuel tank 1G/45 mps.)

[ericbsmith]

Samson-Class Grappler Ship
SS4:23
Had only one core system. Fixed by adding an extra Fuel Tank

Helldiver-Class Armored Lander
SS5:14
Emergency Ejection System not allowed in Core Control Room.

Vredefort-Class Asteroid Mine Station
SS6:17
Station requires 60 technicians; need to increase accomodations to facilitate them.

Aquarius-Class Interstellar Supertanker
SS6:23
Occ is 14ASV but the crew breakdown lists 19 crew. The easiest fix is to add 4 more cabins, reducing Steerage Cargo to 9,880 tons.

Lewis-Class HSTV
SS8:19
Can't have Weapon Battery in [Core]. Easiest fix is to swap the [Core] Smaller SM System with one of the Fuel Tanks. Alternatively replace the Weapon Battery with a Fuel Tank and add a Smaller SM System in the hull with one Weapon Battery and two Smaller SM Fuel Tanks.

Steptoe-Class Debris Recovery Vehicle
SS8:23
Fusion Rocket require SM+9 at TL9. Ship must be TL10.
Rear Smaller SM Light Alloy Armor has only dDR 2.

[weby]

Spaceships 8

Von Braun-class

Has three factory modules total each requiring a power point, but only two power points produced: Solar Panel Array (one Power Point) and Fusion Reactor (de-rated; one Power Point).

The simple fix would be to replace the de-rated Fusion Reactor with a full version. Alternatively, but making less sense, it would require a note that only 2 of the factory modules can be operated at the same time.

[scc]

Originally Posted by weby

Spaceships 8

Von Braun-class

Has three factory modules total each requiring a power point, but only two power points produced: Solar Panel Array (one Power Point) and Fusion Reactor (de-rated; one Power Point).

The simple fix would be to replace the de-rated Fusion Reactor with a full version. Alternatively, but making less sense, it would require a note that only 2 of the factory modules can be operated at the same time.

I'm pretty sure that when your ~.75 AUs from Sol a Solar Panel Array outputs two Power Points