[Spaceships] VDS Came Early

Langy · 08-18-2011, 07:43 PM

OK, so not really, but the new Pyramid includes a rather excellent article by David Pulver featuring ways to use the Spaceships system to create naval and ground vehicles, so long as they SM+4 or larger. It includes new systems such as internal combustion engines, tracked drivetrains, submarine ballast tanks, and a few others - though it's also missing a few that could be useful, especially for lower-tech designs. Oh well.

Anyways, since it uses the Spaceships design system, it's obviously not going to be perfect. Still, I think it could be pretty useful. Here's an example design I made using it, basically an M1 Abrams tank, built off of an SM+6 (100 ton) hull.

M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank (TL8)

Front Hull
[1-6] Armor, Metallic Laminate (30 dDR, Hardened, $1.2M)

Central Hull
[1-4] Armor, Metallic Laminate (20 dDR, Hardened, $800K)
[5] Major Battery (12cm Cannon Turret, 100 Shots, $600K)
[6a] SM-1 Medium Battery (3x 2cm VRF Cannon Turrets, 3000 Shots)
[6b] SM-1 Cargo Hold (1.5 Tons Cargo)
[6c] SM-1 Fuel Tank (1.5 Tons Hydrocarbon Fuel, $10K)
[Core] Control Room (C3, Comm/Sensor 3, 2 Control Stations, $200K)

Rear Hull
[1-5] Armor, Metallic Laminate (25 dDR, Hardened, $1M)
[6!!] Tracked Drivetrain ($150K)
[Core] Gas Turbine Engine (2 PP, 12 hrs duration, $60K)

Features: None

Code:

TL   Vehicle      ST/HP    Hnd/SR   HT     Move     LWt.    Load    SM    Occ.   DR           Range    Cost         Locations    Notes
8    M1 Abrams    300      -3/6     12x    2/20     70      1.9     +5    4S     2,450/200    480      $4,230K      2CTX         [1], [2]

[1] Has 15 Armor systems, making it 1 SM smaller and multiplying DR by 2.3.
[2] DR is split among several different facings:
-Front: 2,450 DR
-Back: 200 DR
-Top: 250 DR
-Underside: 150 DR
-Left: 200 DR
-Right: 200 DR

It isn't perfect, obviously - its ST/HP is probably too high (due to Spaceships ST/HPs all being twice what they should be for some reason), and the secondary armament is way too big, but it should still be useful for creating generic tanks and stuff, and you could probably modify it a bit to let you make cool cars, too, though you'd need to scale some of the systems down a bit.

08-18-2011, 07:43 PM	#1
Langy Join Date: May 2008 Location: CA	[Spaceships] VDS Came Early OK, so not really, but the new Pyramid includes a rather excellent article by David Pulver featuring ways to use the Spaceships system to create naval and ground vehicles, so long as they SM+4 or larger. It includes new systems such as internal combustion engines, tracked drivetrains, submarine ballast tanks, and a few others - though it's also missing a few that could be useful, especially for lower-tech designs. Oh well. Anyways, since it uses the Spaceships design system, it's obviously not going to be perfect. Still, I think it could be pretty useful. Here's an example design I made using it, basically an M1 Abrams tank, built off of an SM+6 (100 ton) hull. M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank (TL8) Front Hull [1-6] Armor, Metallic Laminate (30 dDR, Hardened, $1.2M) Central Hull [1-4] Armor, Metallic Laminate (20 dDR, Hardened, $800K) [5] Major Battery (12cm Cannon Turret, 100 Shots, $600K) [6a] SM-1 Medium Battery (3x 2cm VRF Cannon Turrets, 3000 Shots) [6b] SM-1 Cargo Hold (1.5 Tons Cargo) [6c] SM-1 Fuel Tank (1.5 Tons Hydrocarbon Fuel, $10K) [Core] Control Room (C3, Comm/Sensor 3, 2 Control Stations, $200K) Rear Hull [1-5] Armor, Metallic Laminate (25 dDR, Hardened, $1M) [6!!] Tracked Drivetrain ($150K) [Core] Gas Turbine Engine (2 PP, 12 hrs duration, $60K) Features: None Code: TL Vehicle ST/HP Hnd/SR HT Move LWt. Load SM Occ. DR Range Cost Locations Notes 8 M1 Abrams 300 -3/6 12x 2/20 70 1.9 +5 4S 2,450/200 480 $4,230K 2CTX [1], [2] [1] Has 15 Armor systems, making it 1 SM smaller and multiplying DR by 2.3. [2] DR is split among several different facings: -Front: 2,450 DR -Back: 200 DR -Top: 250 DR -Underside: 150 DR -Left: 200 DR -Right: 200 DR It isn't perfect, obviously - its ST/HP is probably too high (due to Spaceships ST/HPs all being twice what they should be for some reason), and the secondary armament is way too big, but it should still be useful for creating generic tanks and stuff, and you could probably modify it a bit to let you make cool cars, too, though you'd need to scale some of the systems down a bit. Last edited by Langy; 08-18-2011 at 07:57 PM.