Commentary:
I really like the idea of Jump Tapes providing a bonus. I'm thinking that in the MgT framework, they should provide a limit to how severely an Astrogation roll can fail by. That is, with a cassette you can never get a
worse result than "marginal success" (rolling exact target number) regardless of the actual dice roll and mods. If you roll higher than that, you get better precision than the pre-computed flight plan.
This only applies to the astrogation skill check for a normal jump. The engineering and pilot checks are separate matters.
If you're not starting the jump from where the cassette expects you to be (out of position after a space combat, or a failed Pilot skill check), failure is possible, but the tapes still provide a +1 DM in that case.
If you're attempting a jump from inside the 100D line, good luck (in MgT it's a
really bad idea; in CT the survival odds are almost decent,
if you can finish the jump with J1 fuel afterwards to save yourself).
Yeah, house rule -- but MgT doesn't include them so they're house-ruled in anyhow.
Where was I? Oh, right.
I need to shift the start time of your post -- Jon would have started calculating at
2156, as soon as we knew of the change of plans.
He's done by 2200, and Puch needs to bring the ship around to the new heading.
Game Mechanics:
Engineering:
2000: Setting drives for jump to Roup after 2100, assuming
Nova I and
Skipping Stone arrive on schedule.
Easy (4+), 1Dx10 minutes.
+DMs: Int (+2), Skill (+3). The only question here is how long it takes and the degree of success!
Success roll: [5,6] +2, +3 = 16. Beat it by 12!
Duration roll: [3] = 30 minutes. Doesn't even need to shift timeframes to beat the incoming missiles!
2030: Resetting drives for postponed jump to Roup (jump called off because they chose to shoot down the missiles). Deadline: 2215, when
Wyvren will be back at the edge of firing distance.
Since this is a repeat of the previous task, base duration will be identical, and (2D-2)% of the previous effort can be applied toward this one.
Also, the high success roll of the previous attempt provides a +2DM because it's effectively a chained task.
Success roll: [5,5] +2, +3 +2 =17. Beat it by 13!
Duration (credit) roll: [1,2] (and I'll allow a +2DM from the effects of the success roll) : 4; that is, 40% of the task was already done in the first attempt.
30 minutes * 60% = 18 minutes.
2050: Drives are ready again for the jump to
Roup, and holding for the boats and drones to get back home (at 2115-2130).
2055: Captain Puch calls Annic Nova, tells them to hold off on jump prep until he hears back from Coordinator Preston.
2100: Captain Puch calls again, tells them to prep for jump at the last possible minute (2215) pending whatever Preston can pull off (he's got the use of the Type S and a pilot for it, but operational security concerns limit him to saying only that "help is on the way").
2115: Slow, methodical reset for another go at bringing the drives up for the jump to Roup. Not even going to roll success, just duration.
Roll: [2]. Drives are ready again and holding at 2135... but they can defer the final capacitor top-off until it's needed.
Commentary:
2140: And there's the cavalry at
Island Two's far-side airlock. The crew starts wiping storage drives and incinerating crypto stuff, then boards
Spinward Poni for the trip to Jump Limit and Boughene. We'll need to hang around as long as possible to see if they're followed.
2150: Security Coordinator Abernathy returns Scout Denius' call. We don't have to take Scout Ketonic to Roup, just any Scout Base. They'll figure out what to do with her there -- in particular, whether she can take ghost-chasing leave (she wants to travel with
Annic Nova in hopes of finding the dead girl's father or other relatives, in order to get some closure).
There's a Scout base at Boughene. This means we can accomplish the "prisoner transport" tasking along with the "verify safe passage for Dame Irhinri's crew" objective by going there. And we don't have any generic freight (contracted Cr1000/jump stuff) that's headed to Roup so we're free to shift destinations.
Cue
your post 149, but starting at 2156, not 2206. Calculations complete at 2200, hand off the required bearing to Captain Puch, and the required jump drive power level to Chief Doen at 2201.
I'm surprised that MgT doesn't use Pilot skill in the Jump task chain. This implies that it doesn't matter which way a ship is pointing when it Jumps (or maybe only that the required maneuvers are trivial).
I want to show off the ship's weird maneuvering, so I'll include it anyhow.
