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Conceptual USP: XSP (Extended Ship Profile)

robject

robject

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I agree that the High Guard USP is terse, dense, bigger than a brain can wrap itself around easily, and inflexible.

How about, then, an Expanded Ship Profile that conveys the same information, but without encoding.

Aramis' suggestion in the next post inspired this generic XSP or ESP format:

Code: 
MM-SCMJ NAME AND MISSION xxxxxxxxx  BCr xxxx xxxk tons  TL xx
NOTES xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Offense      USP  Batt   Bear       Defense             UCP           
------------ ---  ----   ----       ------------------- ---
Ortillery     xx    x      x        Armor <TYPE>         x
PA            xx    x      x        Nuclear Damper       x
Meson Gun     xx    x      x        <TYPE> Screen        x
Beams         xx    x      x        <TYPE> Sand          x       
<TYPE> Salvo  xx    x      x        Anti-Missile Def.    x
Jump Damper   xx    x      x        <TYPE> Globe         x
Trac./Pres.   xx    x      x        Grav Scrambler       x
Inducer       xx    x      x        Mag Scrambler        x
Disruptor     xx    x      x        Elec Scrambler       x
Stasis        xx    x      x        
DataCaster    xx    x      x        
Rail Gun      xx    x      x

UPDATE: Perl script attached for doing highly abstract ESP ship creation.
 

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Last edited:
robject said:
I agree that the High Guard USP is terse, dense, bigger than a brain can wrap itself around easily, and inflexible.

How about, then, an Expanded Ship Profile that conveys the same information, but without encoding.

Example for the purposes of bickering over:

Code: 
CB-BS94 Kokirrak V Battle Cruiser   BCr 100  100k tons  TL 20
Hop-2

PA Spine              18
Disintegrators         6, bearing = 3
Inducers               8, bearing = 4
Particle Accelerators  16, bearing = 8
Salvo Racks            14, bearing = 7
Stasis Projectors      4, bearing = 2
Tractor/Pressors       32, bearing = 16

Armor                   20
Anti-Beam Defense       9
Meson Screen            3
Nuclear Damper          4
Proton Screen           2
White Globe             1

Passengers 0, Low 0, Cargo 500, Troops 1000, Crew 250
Click to expand...

Reasonably useful, and reformatted a little, will print nicely in 12pt on a 3x5 card. (Namely, go to column labels for UCP, Batts, and Batts bearing.

Code: 
CB-BS94 Kokirrak V Battle Cruiser   BCr 100  100k tons  TL 20
Hop-2
Offense      USP  Batt   Bear        Defense             UCP          
PA Spine     18     1      1        Armor               20
Disint.       6            3        Anti-Beam Defense    9
Inducers      8            4        Meson Screen         3
Part. Accel  16            8        Nuclear Damper       4
Salvo Racks  14            7        Proton Screen        2
Stasis Proj   4            2        White Globe          1
Trac./Pres.  32           16
 
OK, let's toy with that...

Code: 
MM-SCMJ NAME AND MISSION xxxxxxxxx  BCr xxxx xxxk tons  TL xx
NOTES xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Offense      USP  Batt   Bear       Defense             UCP           
------------ ---  ----   ----       ------------------- ---
Ortillery     xx    x      x        Armor <TYPE>         x
PA            xx    x      x        Nuclear Damper       x
Meson Gun     xx    x      x        <TYPE> Screen        x
Beams         xx    x      x        <TYPE> Sand          x       
<TYPE> Salvo  xx    x      x        Anti-Missile Def.    x
Jump Damper   xx    x      x        <TYPE> Globe         x
Trac./Pres.   xx    x      x        Grav Scrambler       x
Inducer       xx    x      x        Mag Scrambler        x
Disruptor     xx    x      x        Elec Scrambler       x
Stasis        xx    x      x        
DataCaster    xx    x      x        
Rail Gun      xx    x      x
 
aramis said:
Reasonably useful, and reformatted a little, will print nicely in 12pt on a 3x5 card. (Namely, go to column labels for UCP, Batts, and Batts bearing.

Code: 
CB-BS94 Kokirrak V Battle Cruiser   BCr 100  100k tons  TL 20
Hop-2
Offense      USP  Batt   Bear        Defense             UCP          
PA Spine     18     1      1        Armor               20
Disint.       6            3        Anti-Beam Defense    9
Inducers      8            4        Meson Screen         3
Part. Accel  16            8        Nuclear Damper       4
Salvo Racks  14            7        Proton Screen        2
Stasis Proj   4            2        White Globe          1
Trac./Pres.  32           16
Click to expand...


Exactly! Then in notes the other things. To flush out the ship

But with hop line it should give Hop/Jump then G then Agility... Then Crew & Troops or Marines.Then Fuel, then Cargo and or Magazines.

Like this: Jump-4 4G Agility-0 Ship Troops-20 Fuel-100 Cargo-200 etc

Under the weapons shelds info the small craft on the ship.

But what was presented was perfect for weapoms and defences.
 
robject said:
OK, let's toy with that...

Code: 
MM-SCMJ NAME AND MISSION xxxxxxxxx  BCr xxxx xxxk tons  TL xx
NOTES xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Offense      USP  Batt   Bear       Defense             UCP           
------------ ---  ----   ----       ------------------- ---
Ortillery     xx    x      x        Armor <TYPE>         x
PA            xx    x      x        Nuclear Damper       x
Meson Gun     xx    x      x        <TYPE> Screen        x
Beams         xx    x      x        <TYPE> Sand          x       
<TYPE> Salvo  xx    x      x        Anti-Missile Def.    x
Jump Damper   xx    x      x        <TYPE> Globe         x
Trac./Pres.   xx    x      x        Grav Scrambler       x
Inducer       xx    x      x        Mag Scrambler        x
Disruptor     xx    x      x        Elec Scrambler       x
Stasis        xx    x      x        
DataCaster    xx    x      x        
Rail Gun      xx    x      x
Click to expand...

Perfect.... This works well. But config issues do effect targeting and weapons effects.So that ought to be mentioned along with tonnage. But this is vast improvement over the current style in Megatraveller/TNE/T4/T0.
 
I whipped up a Perl script to give me a quick way of demo-ing the format. A demo "design".

Note the Quick Ship Profile code:

"CB" = mission = Cruiser, Battle (a misnomer here).
S = size class S (arbitrary at the moment, actually rules dependent).
U = hull configuration (unstreamlined).
6 = 6G.
3 = J3. Backwards from typical expectations, I know.

Code: 
CB-SU63 Tigress                    BCr 454   577 ktons TL 15

Offense         USP  Batt  Bear    Defense             UCP
--------------- ---  ----  ----    ------------------  ---
Beam             9     9     5     Armor                5
Meson Gun       30     1     1     Grav Scrambler       5
Missile Salvo    9     9     5     Meson Screen         5
Ortillery        9     9     5     Nuclear Damper       5
Particle Accel   9     9     5     Point Defense        5
 
robject said:
I whipped up a Perl script to give me a quick way of demo-ing the format. A demo "design".

Note the Quick Ship Profile code:

"CB" = mission = Cruiser, Battle (a misnomer here).
S = size class S (arbitrary at the moment, actually rules dependent).
U = hull configuration (unstreamlined).
6 = 6G.
3 = J3. Backwards from typical expectations, I know.

Code: 
CB-SU63 Tigress                    BCr 454   577 ktons TL 15

Offense         USP  Batt  Bear    Defense             UCP
--------------- ---  ----  ----    ------------------  ---
Beam             9     9     5     Armor                5
Meson Gun       30     1     1     Grav Scrambler       5
Missile Salvo    9     9     5     Meson Screen         5
Ortillery        9     9     5     Nuclear Damper       5
Particle Accel   9     9     5     Point Defense        5
Click to expand...

Much better.
 
robject said:
I whipped up a Perl script to give me a quick way of demo-ing the format. A demo "design".

Note the Quick Ship Profile code:

"CB" = mission = Cruiser, Battle (a misnomer here).
S = size class S (arbitrary at the moment, actually rules dependent).
U = hull configuration (unstreamlined).
6 = 6G.
3 = J3. Backwards from typical expectations, I know.

Code: 
CB-SU63 Tigress                    BCr 454   577 ktons TL 15

Offense         USP  Batt  Bear    Defense             UCP
--------------- ---  ----  ----    ------------------  ---
Beam             9     9     5     Armor                5
Meson Gun       30     1     1     Grav Scrambler       5
Missile Salvo    9     9     5     Meson Screen         5
Ortillery        9     9     5     Nuclear Damper       5
Particle Accel   9     9     5     Point Defense        5
Click to expand...

The list of engines may be backwards to normal trav, but maneuver has much more immediate effect on combat.

Maybe replace jump with Agility, and put jump in the notes?
 
pendragonman said:
The list of engines may be backwards to normal trav, but maneuver has much more immediate effect on combat.

Maybe replace jump with Agility, and put jump in the notes?
Click to expand...

I'd keep Jump (its useful information when planning long range strategy and grouping of ships to operate as a unit or not) but agree info about Agility is needed...
 
These are lacking hull configuration, computer, power plant, agility, and emergency agility. All things that affect combat, at least in B5.

Or are we not talking B5 here?
 
My script now saves and loads "designs" in a native text-serialization format.

Example. First, the "ship" ESP in my script:

Code: 
robs-mac-mini:~ rje$ perl bcs.pl Sulaco
Found CB-SU44-Sulaco.bcs
Loaded CB-SU44-Sulaco.bcs
*** BCS *** Sun Nov 15 22:09:57 2015
CB-SU44 Sulaco                     BCr 318   523 ktons TL 15

Offense         USP  Batt  Bear    Defense             UCP
--------------- ---  ----  ----    ------------------  ---
Beam             8     6     3     Armor                2
Meson Gun       20     1     1     Meson Screen         4
Particle Accel   9     8     4     Nuclear Damper       5
Tractor/Pressor  7     5     3     Point Defense        6
main > bye

Now the data file:

Code: 
{
  'size' => 'S',
  'maneuver' => '4',
  'mission' => 'CB',
  'jump' => '4',
  'name' => 'Sulaco',
  'config' => 'U',
  '' => undef,
  'ktons' => '523.974496850515',
  'tl' => 15,
  'bcr' => '318.443539714242',
  'defenses' => {
    'Armor' => {
      'ucp' => 2
    },
    'Point Defense' => {
      'ucp' => 6
    },
    'Meson Screen' => {
      'ucp' => 4
    },
    'Nuclear Damper' => {
      'ucp' => 5
    }
  },
  'weapons' => {
    'Beam' => {
      'batt' => '6',
      'usp' => '8',
      'bear' => '3'
    },
    'Tractor/Pressor' => {
      'usp' => '7',
      'batt' => '5',
      'bear' => '3'
    },
    'Particle Accel' => {
      'batt' => '8',
      'usp' => '9',
      'bear' => '4'
    },
    'Meson Gun' => {
      'bear' => '1',
      'batt' => '1',
      'usp' => 20
    }
  }
}
 
whartung said:
These are lacking hull configuration, computer, power plant, agility, and emergency agility. All things that affect combat, at least in B5.

Or are we not talking B5 here?
Click to expand...

You're right: the notes line, or one like it, is needed for Computer, Power, and Agility, as well as the usual HG liner notes. Config is up there in the top, right after the mission code, sandwiched between the size code and maneuver rating.
 
robject said:
You're right: the notes line, or one like it, is needed for Computer, Power, and Agility, as well as the usual HG liner notes. Config is up there in the top, right after the mission code, sandwiched between the size code and maneuver rating.
Click to expand...

Could you drop me a note when you have a working program or sheet? I would like to try to play with it abit if you don't mind. But I generally like what I see.
 
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