Okay, getting back to big naval ships as seen in the Traveller setting:
Simplify: I'm basing on CT Book 5 since it's what I know best, is fairly simple, and I think will do the job with minor tweaks - minor being defined as a simple-to-execute change that will deliver a big-ship setting. No offense to traditionalists, the RAW are plenty fun but support a different outcome. The thread as I understand it is about coming up with a system that promotes the big ships that the setting presents as dominant.
Size Matters: We want rules that support big ships. So:
- Drastically reduce the spinal mount multiple damage rolls: one extra roll for every OTHER rating after 9. A and B get one extra roll for a total of two, C and D get two extra, E and F get three extra ... S and T get 9 extra.
- Reduce the number of extra rolls by the value of the meson screen; it is after all causing some of the mesons to decay prematurely. I think I miscalculated in my original post on this. S and T get 9 extra for a total of 10. Should we say you will always get at least one roll, or you will always get at least one extra roll?
- Revise the "Fuel tanks shattered" result. No ship designer in his right mind makes a ship that will lose all of its fuel volume in one hit; they'd put fuel in multiple tanks in different parts of the ship so destruction of 1 doesn't destroy all. I've seen a lot of different ideas on this, not really wedded to any one. Maybe the craft loses a quarter of its tankage, capping at a maximum 1000 Td fuel tankage lost? Or maybe a maximum 10,000?
- Revise the "Crew N" result. MT already proposed a workable change. Divide the crew into sections, 1 section for every 1000 Td of craft or fraction thereof (1200 Td is two sections). Upon reduction of the crew factor to less than half of the original number of sections, the craft may no longer fire its weapons or attempt repair, although it may use its passive defenses, maneuver, or jump.
I think that's adequate. I don't like the
"Ship Vaporized" result, but that's mainly because I can't think of anything on a capital ship that would actually vaporize it, as opposed to simply gutting it and leaving a derelict, so that's more of a semantic quibble. Takes a huge amount of energy to vaporize that much armor.
However, we've nerfed Particle Accelerators in the process: they were always anemic because of armor, and now they get half as many damage rolls. it might be worthwhile to craft a rule to compensate them:
- Particle accelerators receive a damage roll bonus equal to 1/100 the EP put into them: A/B/C receives a -5, D/E/F receives a -6, G/H receives a -7, J/K/L receives a -8, M/N/P receives a -9, Q+ receives a -10.
Range Matters: I don't see a need for change here, although point blank is appealing. If the Sword Worlders can't hit jack at 25,000 km, maybe let them close to point blank range and rule that computers make no difference there; it's a bloody Sicilian knife fight in which they'll be hurt badly because their armor and weapons aren't as powerful, but at least those Impies will know they've been in a fight. Makes the initiative roll very important. Might make fighters too nasty though. Needs work, I think.
TL Matters: I think we're good there, though there's an argument for never letting tech level make it completely impossible to achieve a hit. There's also an argument against it, so it needs some thought. Or, see above.
People Matter: An interesting idea. Maybe, in a TCS-style campaign game, provide a certain number of pilots, captains, and so forth of specific skill levels and let the player decide how to allocate them.
Agility Matters: Maybe too much. I've never been too thrilled about a heavily armored fighter dancing as gracefully as an unarmored one for the same EP, but resolving that conundrum may take us too far from simplicity, so probably best not to rock that boat.
Power Matters: I don't see a need for change here other than noting that the design rules make low tech merchantmen unprofitable, but that's not an issue for this. Maybe a completely different set of cheap but bulky fuel-hungry power plants?
Tactical Stance: We sort of already have that with the initiative roll. The side that has the advantage in meson weapons tries to keep at close range.
If you're playing on a hex map, it gets more interesting: playing on a hex map means you lose the initiative rule and the breaking off rule (at least I can't see a way to make them work), and you or your opponent may decide to split a fleet, bringing some to short range while leaving others to rain down missiles at long range. There's really no way to NOT let someone do that if you're on a hex map; the point of a hex map is to let people play maneuver combat. You can't stop someone from splitting their forces if they choose, there are no special rules to the situation, and nothing stops them from eventually rendezvousing and merging. Each group in its own hex functions as a line and reserve, so the craft in reserve would still receive protection regardless of the disposition of the opposing fleet, and the opposing fleet can shoot at both groups, though only able to hit craft on the line. There are several different map scales:
- Book 2 has 1000 second turns, so 5000 km hexes; that's how far you can get at 1g in 1000 seconds. Planets may occupy a hex or even leak over into neighboring hexes; it's a good idea to assume you're flying above or below them on the hex map, (unless you specifically choose to land), because normal admirals don't crash their fleets into worlds and that's a terrible way to end a game. (Lasers are -2 beyond 250,000 km, -5 beyond 500,000 km. Missiles are on the board as little flying craft and can be shot at as such, which is not feasible for a fleet combat but might be practical if you're using CT High Guard for a 1-on-1 with smaller craft. Other weapons are not defined.)
- Book 5 has 20 minute (1200 second) turns, so 7200 km hexes. Short and Long range are unknown values.
- MT also has 20 minute turns but tries to use 25,000 km hexes. I have no idea how they do that, but it does give an idea of weapon ranges. ("Planetary range" is 50,000 km. Lasers are -1 beyond that, missiles are +1 beyond that, fusion and plasma weapons can't fire beyond that so within 50,000 km is Book 5 High Guard's short range. Mesons are treated differently, presumably to make them less lethal in MT, but that's not relevant to this examination.)
You could combine the values: lasers have no penalty within 50,000 km (10 hexes on the 1000 second map, 7 on the 20-minute map.), -1 from 50,000 to 250,000 (11 to 50 hexes), -2 beyond that. It's really not worth looking at ranges in excess of 250,000 km (51+ hexes) unless you're trying to do something really unusual, but you can allow the laser shot at -5, though I wouldn't allow other weapons aside from maybe a particle beam to shoot beyond 250,000 km.
However, playing on a hex map requires at best that you use that three-counter method Mayday uses to keep track of vectors, and that can be a major headache if you're doing anything but hovering over a world protecting/invading it. I much prefer abstract. On abstract, you can add some tactical flair by assuming the two fleets are hovering over a world defending/attacking it, and the world is in the defender's reserve, i.e. craft in his reserve can land and be safe from combat while they repair or break off by hiding in the ocean, but if you break through then you get to attack the planet, which may be a victory condition.
