MGT Only: Can i get Rebel Galaxy in my traveller?

[Blue Duke]

For those that haven't played it Rebel Galaxy is awesome....its like firefly if serenity was a dedicated light warship (corvette). what i love about the capital ships is that they slug it out age of sail style. i want to figure out if i can bring that kinda combat into traveller....and also fit out the ships that way in my traveller setting.

The ships have a small number of turret hardpoints, dedicated broadside hard points and then missile hardpoints, the starting ship for instance has 2 turret slots, six broadside ports (3 per-side) and 4 missile ports (2 per-side) if i remember right. Is it in any way possible/would it massively screw stuff if i tried to build my ships this way instead of 'ALL THE TURRETS !' that traveller seems to enjoy ?

 

[pendragonman]

As a case of rules for your personal Traveller Universe, there is no one who says you can't.

On the other hand, if you are wanting to produce a product to sell you need rights agreements from the Rebel people as well as Marc Miller (or if you are using Mongoose strictly, you might need theirs as well).

 

[flykiller]

i want to figure out if i can bring that kinda combat into traveller....

sure. just say maneuver drives represent, not acceleration, but max speed. then you'll get nice slow-moving boats that drift by each other blasting away ....

 

[robject]

sure. just say maneuver drives represent, not acceleration, but max speed. then you'll get nice slow-moving boats that drift by each other blasting away ....

...and require most weapon emplacements to be on the sides of the ship, rather than the front or rear. Aggregate them into batteries (perhaps grant a DM+1 when using groups of 3, and a DM+2 when using groups of 10?) instead of individual turrets for faster play.

 

[flykiller]

...and require most weapon emplacements to be on the sides of the ship, rather than the front or rear.

tch tch tch. dude, you're thinking aero/hydro-dynamically. in space there's no reason ships can't fly line-on (what you would call "sideways").

 

[aramis]

tch tch tch. dude, you're thinking aero/hydro-dynamically. in space there's no reason ships can't fly line-on (what you would call "sideways").

Actually, there ARE several reasons

1) increased cross-section along movement axis means increased rate of microasteroidal impacts

1.1) setting a snall but armored end profile is cheaper than a long wide one. This is not accurately reflected in game, but it is real physics.

2) ships are built with an axis of thrust. While the AG/IC can compensate, the drives are built to mostly push one direction. If that's not convenient for the formation, it can be a major issue.

3) all ships have an axis of maximal fire, sometimes several. This axis needs be pointed at the target for maximal effect. This may or may not coincide with formation axis and/or thrust axis

4) Most ships will have some central target acquisition system; this is going to be optimized for one of the maximal fire axises, at least if the architect has a clue.

 

[robject]

tch tch tch. dude, you're thinking aero/hydro-dynamically. in space there's no reason ships can't fly line-on (what you would call "sideways").

In Plain Old Traveller, you're right. Plankwell, eh?

I recall a homegrown SF RPG "Spheres", which presumed a special, expensive, thick and dense material that formed an actual physical "shield" to protect fast-moving ships from space debris across interstellar distances. Her ships tended to have radial symmetry and taper starting from the shield.

 

[Blue Duke]

no intention to produce a product - this is just for the home game, it seems like i just need to restrict most of the heavy weapons to batteries (and then figure out if i can get turreted gauss weapons )

 

[flykiller]

In Plain Old Traveller, you're right.

... (blink) ... is there any other kind?

I recall a homegrown SF RPG "Spheres", which presumed a special, expensive, thick and dense material that formed an actual physical "shield" to protect fast-moving ships from space debris across interstellar distances

well "plain old traveller" has never concerned itself with any of that. though I do.