This time it was a 400-ton Laboratory ship, re-figured by pirates, called "The Wheel O' Death" with a turret with 2 missile launchers and 1 sand caster, and a second turret with 2 pulse lasers. Fighting it were 2 200ton-Yachts, the "Howell" which had a mssile rack and sand caster, and the "Trump" which had 2 beam lasers.
Both sides detected one another, and so were set at 30 inches apart with a vector of 4. Since the yachts had more ships, they got to decide who went first, and they choose themselves.
Turn 1
Both sides accerlate 1" to a 5" vector but remain out of range.
Turn 2:
The Trump reaches long range and fires 2 beam lasers, which miss.
The Howell launches a missile and protective sand.
The Wheel fires 2 missiles and 2 pulse lasers at the Trump. The lasers miss.
Turn 3:
The Trump and Howell reach short range. The Trump fires 2 beam lasers, which miss. The Howell launches sand and another missile.
The Wheel O' Death maintains vector and fires 2 pulse lasers at the Howell, which miss. And 2 missiles vs. the Trump.
Turn 4:
The Trump uses its lasers to intercept one of the missiles approaching it.
The Howell launches another missile. The missile it launched on turn 2 impacts the Wheel for 6 hits, damaging its computer (twice), the jump drive, the missile turret, and 2 hull hits.
The Wheel O' Death fails its damage control attempt. One of its earlier missiles strikes the Trump for 3 hits (power plant, fuel, cargo) and 2 others hit the Howell for 6 hits (turrret, computer, hold x2, hull x1, fuel x1)
Turn 5
Now as the ships are flying away from each other, the Trump repairs its power plant. The Howell repairs its turret and launches a missile.
2 previous missiles strike the Wheel. One does 2 hull hits. The other does 2 fuel hits, 1 computer hit, 1 hull hit, and a turret hit.
At this point the Wheel O' Death might possibly escape but has not chance of winning. Another missile hit might be really bad news.
LESSONS LEARNED:
The -1 to hit with lasers vs ships from 100 to 400 tons, is crippling to laser fire. Generally speaking the laser fire this battle was compeltely weak, only managing to get one hit (on a missile). I'm definitely going to have to say a natural 12 is automatically a hit. Also, the big lesson is that if you have a crappy computer, and crappy gunners, then your lasers are going to miss....a lot.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Space Ship Play Test 1
I drew 2 starships out of my deck of examples to do a playtest battle. They were exactly evenly matched, so that was good. It was the 200ton Yatch "The Bonanza" and the 200 ton Safari Ship "The Livingston" each had 1 turret with a missile launcher and a sand caster. They each had maneuver-1, and computer-1.
I tried out my sensor/detection/surprise rule and that worked pretty well. Neither detected the other round 1, but round 2 the Livingston detected the Bonanza without being detected, and so the Livingston got surprise on the Bonanza, and began the battle coming in from the right-rear, about 6 inches away, with both ships at a 4 inch vector.
Turn: 1:
Both sides fired a missile at the other and launced sand for protection. However, since the missiles were following the ship's vector, the Bonanza's missile was "going the wrong way" and had a lot to overcome. Livingston keeps steady vector, Bonanza accelerates to 5 inches.
Turn 2:
The Livingston's first missile strikes the Bonanza, knocking out its cargo, maneuver drive, computer, ATV and air/raft. Livingston launches 2nd missile, but keeps steady vector to keep sand protection.
The Bonanza crew repairs the maneuver drive. Its first missile does not reach the Livingston. It launches a second missile.
Turn 3:
Livingston's 2nd missile is still in flight. Livingston launches 3rd missile.
Bonanza accelerates to 6 inches. Bonanza's first missile finally hits the Livingston, the sand does not protect, the attack does 1 hull hit and knocks out the computer. Missile 2 is still in flight, missile 3 is launched.
Turn 4
Livingston continues forward on its vector. It's second missile impacts the Bonanza for 4 hits: hitting the ship's boat, the turret, the computer (again) and making 1 hull hit. At this point it is clear that the Livingston has won the battle.
LESSONS LEARNED:
I am certainly glad I did this battle first. The vector movement is fun--and Newton is a hard master. The biggest eye opener is how much a pain in the ass vector movement is for MISSILES. I ony had 2 missile launchers in operation, and only 5-6 missiles were launched, but that is far too many to keep track of. I'm going to have to say that missiles are launched one turn and impact at a set time in a later turn, and not track them on the map, I just can't imagine tracking a Patrol cruiser launching 6 missiles a turn at a Mercenary cruiser launching 12 in return.
I am also going to have to tighten up some of the damage descriptions, to determine what is destroyed and what merely damaged.
I tried out my sensor/detection/surprise rule and that worked pretty well. Neither detected the other round 1, but round 2 the Livingston detected the Bonanza without being detected, and so the Livingston got surprise on the Bonanza, and began the battle coming in from the right-rear, about 6 inches away, with both ships at a 4 inch vector.
Turn: 1:
Both sides fired a missile at the other and launced sand for protection. However, since the missiles were following the ship's vector, the Bonanza's missile was "going the wrong way" and had a lot to overcome. Livingston keeps steady vector, Bonanza accelerates to 5 inches.
Turn 2:
The Livingston's first missile strikes the Bonanza, knocking out its cargo, maneuver drive, computer, ATV and air/raft. Livingston launches 2nd missile, but keeps steady vector to keep sand protection.
The Bonanza crew repairs the maneuver drive. Its first missile does not reach the Livingston. It launches a second missile.
Turn 3:
Livingston's 2nd missile is still in flight. Livingston launches 3rd missile.
Bonanza accelerates to 6 inches. Bonanza's first missile finally hits the Livingston, the sand does not protect, the attack does 1 hull hit and knocks out the computer. Missile 2 is still in flight, missile 3 is launched.
Turn 4
Livingston continues forward on its vector. It's second missile impacts the Bonanza for 4 hits: hitting the ship's boat, the turret, the computer (again) and making 1 hull hit. At this point it is clear that the Livingston has won the battle.
LESSONS LEARNED:
I am certainly glad I did this battle first. The vector movement is fun--and Newton is a hard master. The biggest eye opener is how much a pain in the ass vector movement is for MISSILES. I ony had 2 missile launchers in operation, and only 5-6 missiles were launched, but that is far too many to keep track of. I'm going to have to say that missiles are launched one turn and impact at a set time in a later turn, and not track them on the map, I just can't imagine tracking a Patrol cruiser launching 6 missiles a turn at a Mercenary cruiser launching 12 in return.
I am also going to have to tighten up some of the damage descriptions, to determine what is destroyed and what merely damaged.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Campaign Thoughts
The trouble with Traveller is the wide variety of directions a campaign could go: mercenary, pirates, merchant-adventurers, guys bumming around in a scout ship looking for trouble. I think that when we start, maybe we'll do a space battle, then a ground battle, all with pre-gens. Then, roll up actual characters once people know what's what. Then we'll see if the party has its own ship or not and whether their all gun-monkeys or space dudes or a mix.
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Small Ship Universe
In the original form of Traveller, ships were limited to 5000 tons (each ton equalling 14 m3, the volume of 1 ton of liquid hydrogen), but with military ships practically limited to about 2000 tons. Most ships players could get their hands on were 100-800 tons.
When High Guard, book 5, came out, the limit was raised to about 1,000,000 tons. In additon to the adventurer sized ships, now all the militaty main fighting vessels were 10's of thousands of tons, up to a million tons.
Apparaently, people fought huge battles using gigantic ships in tournaments and set-pieces. But for me, this took the focus away from PC level action. In original Traveller, if you got a mercenary cruiser, it could potentially stand up to any naval vessel you'd meet, but once High Guard ships were in play, it went from a useful naval vessel to something that really didn't qualify even as a naval escort.
In various interweb discussions, the Big Ship people claim that if the worlds aren't building huge expensive ships, they'd just be swamping the PC's in hordes of smaller ships. I say, phooey. I find the small ship universe much more appealing. I prefer a loose, distant, corrupt imperium that cobbles together everything on the frontiers, to one that is omnipresent, tight and is aware and invincible. THe small ship universe means the stuff players do iin their ships can actually count for something.
When High Guard, book 5, came out, the limit was raised to about 1,000,000 tons. In additon to the adventurer sized ships, now all the militaty main fighting vessels were 10's of thousands of tons, up to a million tons.
Apparaently, people fought huge battles using gigantic ships in tournaments and set-pieces. But for me, this took the focus away from PC level action. In original Traveller, if you got a mercenary cruiser, it could potentially stand up to any naval vessel you'd meet, but once High Guard ships were in play, it went from a useful naval vessel to something that really didn't qualify even as a naval escort.
In various interweb discussions, the Big Ship people claim that if the worlds aren't building huge expensive ships, they'd just be swamping the PC's in hordes of smaller ships. I say, phooey. I find the small ship universe much more appealing. I prefer a loose, distant, corrupt imperium that cobbles together everything on the frontiers, to one that is omnipresent, tight and is aware and invincible. THe small ship universe means the stuff players do iin their ships can actually count for something.
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Star Ships
Coming up with a set of Startship rules has turned out to be pretty straight forward. I wanted to do "Vector Movement" the way that Classic Book 2 did, and it turns out that the stand-alone game "Mayday" explained a way to do that which is much simpler than the original form.
I'm thinking that I want to stick to the original Book 2 "Small Ship Universe" where the biggest ships are about 5000 displacement tons (not the million plus of High Guard). I may whip up a few rules adding fusion guns and partical accelerators to the basic game, and lumping several turrets into a battery for larger ships.
I'm thinking that I want to stick to the original Book 2 "Small Ship Universe" where the biggest ships are about 5000 displacement tons (not the million plus of High Guard). I may whip up a few rules adding fusion guns and partical accelerators to the basic game, and lumping several turrets into a battery for larger ships.
The Traveller Depth
The thing about Traveller is that there is such a huge amount of material. There was Classic Traveller (9 "Books", 13 "supplements", 13 "adventures", 6 "double adventures", 7 'games" and a bunch of other stuff), MegaTraveller ( a rework of the system, with a big shake up of the campaign universe, much of the stuff compatable with Classic, much not), Traveller: The New Era (several books, none of the crunch compatable with the other 2), Traveller 4 (new system, partially compatable with CT), GURPS Traveller (looks of books, but it was GURPS), Mongoose Traveller (in print now, very similar to CT but somewhat moderninzed), Traveller d20 (had the traveller vibe, but was d20), and the initial files for Traveller 5 (on a CD).
I have them all. Not every piece from every edition, but at least the core book and 3-4 books from each.
The damnest thing is that each one of has awesome bits and not awesome bits.
Classic Traveller: is lean and loose, but has some weird intersections and holes. It has 2 different starship design and combat sets of rules. The designs are fun, but the basic system has computer rules that are way too 1970's, and the advanced system is made for huge squadron battles and abstracts away all the movement. The personal combat system works for the basic weapons, but gets really broken when you add the additional high tech weapons from Mercenary.
Striker: was a 15mm miniatures game for fighting small scale battles in the Traveller universe. It contained rules for integrating into regular Traveller, and had a complete design sequence for vehicles, which the main rules did not have. I've always loved Striker. The design sequence is not fast and easy, however. It's probably harder to design a Striker truck than a CT space battleship. However, I've probably collected more than enough vehicles from the interwebs to not need to worry about desiging any more.
MegaTraveller: is an excellently integrated whole, but impossibly clunky in certain areas (combat and craft construction especially). It has the best vehicle book (101 vehicles)
TNE: okay that's the one I'd just as soon ignore completely.
T4: good character generation and combat, and the best weapon book (Emperor's Arsenal), but the books are of widely different quality--some excellent (Emperor's Arsenal, Mileau 0), some are the absolute worst (Starships, First Survey, Emperor's vehicles). The Weapon book and the Vehicle book, don't even have compatable statistics. There's one other really annoying feature. The most common roll you make is 2 and a Half d6's/ I really hate that half die business, and it almost wrecks the game.
T5: interesting features, but far, far too crunchy.
T20: I just don't want to deal with d20 NPC's anymore. It do the best at allowing starships, vehicles and personal weapons all interact with the other levels of carnage.
Mongoose Traveller; is actually pretty good. I only have one or two books, and really don't want to invest in the whole range again. I don't think it adds all that much to one of the other versions.
GURPS Traveller: I liked the StarMercs book alot, but am just not a GURPS guy.
What am I thinking? Right now, I think I'd like to play a Classic Traveller base game. I'd replace the personal combat rules with stuff from Striker. I'd add a few rules from MegaTraveller to give the characters a few extra skills during character generation. I'd use High Guard (CT book 4) for ship design, but cobble together rules from various editions to get a space combat system that allowed for maximum PC input.
I have them all. Not every piece from every edition, but at least the core book and 3-4 books from each.
The damnest thing is that each one of has awesome bits and not awesome bits.
Classic Traveller: is lean and loose, but has some weird intersections and holes. It has 2 different starship design and combat sets of rules. The designs are fun, but the basic system has computer rules that are way too 1970's, and the advanced system is made for huge squadron battles and abstracts away all the movement. The personal combat system works for the basic weapons, but gets really broken when you add the additional high tech weapons from Mercenary.
Striker: was a 15mm miniatures game for fighting small scale battles in the Traveller universe. It contained rules for integrating into regular Traveller, and had a complete design sequence for vehicles, which the main rules did not have. I've always loved Striker. The design sequence is not fast and easy, however. It's probably harder to design a Striker truck than a CT space battleship. However, I've probably collected more than enough vehicles from the interwebs to not need to worry about desiging any more.
MegaTraveller: is an excellently integrated whole, but impossibly clunky in certain areas (combat and craft construction especially). It has the best vehicle book (101 vehicles)
TNE: okay that's the one I'd just as soon ignore completely.
T4: good character generation and combat, and the best weapon book (Emperor's Arsenal), but the books are of widely different quality--some excellent (Emperor's Arsenal, Mileau 0), some are the absolute worst (Starships, First Survey, Emperor's vehicles). The Weapon book and the Vehicle book, don't even have compatable statistics. There's one other really annoying feature. The most common roll you make is 2 and a Half d6's/ I really hate that half die business, and it almost wrecks the game.
T5: interesting features, but far, far too crunchy.
T20: I just don't want to deal with d20 NPC's anymore. It do the best at allowing starships, vehicles and personal weapons all interact with the other levels of carnage.
Mongoose Traveller; is actually pretty good. I only have one or two books, and really don't want to invest in the whole range again. I don't think it adds all that much to one of the other versions.
GURPS Traveller: I liked the StarMercs book alot, but am just not a GURPS guy.
What am I thinking? Right now, I think I'd like to play a Classic Traveller base game. I'd replace the personal combat rules with stuff from Striker. I'd add a few rules from MegaTraveller to give the characters a few extra skills during character generation. I'd use High Guard (CT book 4) for ship design, but cobble together rules from various editions to get a space combat system that allowed for maximum PC input.
The Bug
I know I haven't posted here for a long while. Winter time is always the worst for me for getting enthused about anything. I also was enjoying just playing in Andrew's campaign and not thinking about the world of rules and campaign management for awhile. Now that spring has returned and my return to head chair approaches, the "Workshop" beckons and I'm starting to spend time tinkering again.
However, my interest has taken it's most horrifying and terrible form, a malady I call "The Bug", i.e., "Travelller Fever." For some strange reason, The Bug has not manifested itself in actual play with our game group out of proportion to anything else. We did do the Playtest Campaign for D20 Traveller, the creation of which I was deeply involved with. We also did a Striker miniatures battle a long time ago. Perhaps I sublimated The Bug into Space Bastards, and Space Bastards d20. In any case in the last 13 years I seem to not have done a real Traveller campaign at all. Now I have the Bug. We'll have to see how it develops.
However, my interest has taken it's most horrifying and terrible form, a malady I call "The Bug", i.e., "Travelller Fever." For some strange reason, The Bug has not manifested itself in actual play with our game group out of proportion to anything else. We did do the Playtest Campaign for D20 Traveller, the creation of which I was deeply involved with. We also did a Striker miniatures battle a long time ago. Perhaps I sublimated The Bug into Space Bastards, and Space Bastards d20. In any case in the last 13 years I seem to not have done a real Traveller campaign at all. Now I have the Bug. We'll have to see how it develops.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)