Hello fellow spacers

[warmaster40k]

Hi Warmaster40k here, this is a handle I use on multiple forums so we may have met, but for those who have not, hi Im warmaster40k, as you can tell I'm a 40k fan since I was a young lad of 12, and I have been playing rpgs for just as long. I got started in the D6 Starwars 2nd Revised, and I have a army of Orks no hummies in my collection. I am soon to be 27, and have ammassed a largish collection of RPGs, movies, videogames and books. Now what brings me here, well in my collection (which includes basic, expert, ad&d first and second, 3rd, 3.5, and 4th, had essentials but gifted it to a kid I use to baby sit to continue the tradition) as well as a large catalogue of Palladium Books... I got a lot of games I probably will never play.

Any way I also acquired a copy of this strang tome, it was solid black, with ammusing line art, and a character generation system that included a chance of death. With algebraic formulas peppered through out the book, I was intimidated, it did not help that the Stat line read 549B6C. Yes I'm talking about the 1982 hardback version of Classic Traveller.

Well, after stumbleling around the Internet, you know those places, tvtropes, wikipedia, youtube, Encyclopedia Dramatically, D4Chan, I kept coming across this strange game, it kept saying stuff like amazing, nothing beats, deadly, old school. Well I decide that the DnD clones get enough press what about the Father of Science Fiction roleplay. Well I girded my loins, grabbed my dice and proceeded to to read and roll my way through the book. To my shock character creation was quick, painless, almost enjoyable. Then combat not that bad especially when I wrapped my head around the whole range bands thing. Then the game started to scare me once again with... starships and spcae combat. So I pulled my pants up, tilt my cap to the side, and filled my belly with that daring do and gumption. If I can teach my self every edition of D&D (is it four or six or ten, it gets confusing), every RPG by Kenzerco (Aces and Eights has a special place on my shelf), then by golly I'm gonna learn me some traveller.

 

[aramis]

You'll find that the various editions share pretty much only world gen, the basic ideals of character gen, and the rich setting.

And which of the 10 officiall flavors is best is hotly argued.
(Classic 77, Classic 81, Megatraveller, The New Era, T4, GURPS Traveller, T20, Mongoose Traveller aka MGT, Hero Traveller, T5)
Or if Mix-n-Match is best...
Or "ProtoTraveller" (CT core, Book 4, supplements 1-4, and adventures 1-4 only).
Or Homebrew (eg: WODTrav - Traveller using the Storyteller system).

 

[warmaster40k]

I only have Classic Traveller, and I'm trying to wrap my head around the starship combat system but something feels like its missing. Like hull points or what the heck is a sandcaster how does it work, what is the difference between the various weapon systems, and how does a samophlange fit into it all.

 

[aramis]

I only have Classic Traveller, and I'm trying to wrap my head around the starship combat system but something feels like its missing. Like hull points or what the heck is a sandcaster how does it work, what is the difference between the various weapon systems, and how does a samophlange fit into it all.

Sandcaster fires a canister of "sand." It should be, IIRC, a 25mm circle, moving with the same vector as the launching ship. Laser fire through the marker takes a penalty.

No hull points, per se, but as an option, you can import the 4 hull hits rule from Mayday. (Mayday is the boardgame version of Bk2 Ship Combat.)

In all seriousness, my first CT house-rule was a ship was destroyed when all three drives were reduced below A, and the hull had taken 1 hit per 100 tons.

 

[Carlobrand]

I only have Classic Traveller, and I'm trying to wrap my head around the starship combat system but something feels like its missing. Like hull points or what the heck is a sandcaster how does it work, what is the difference between the various weapon systems, and how does a samophlange fit into it all.

Samophlange? The goblin doohickey?? You let goblins onto your ship???

In a nutshell:
The laser is a beam weapon that hits if you roll good. Base roll and DMs are in the book - one of them being a penalty if it passes through a cloud of sand. Hit the target, you get one roll on the damage table.

The missile amounts to a teeny little 50kg. ship (well, boat) that chases the target around after launch. The Book-2 rules addressing them are incomplete: nothing there about acceleration or duration, or else I am successfully and repeatedly missing the mention (which does happen from time to time). Anyway, hit with a missile and you get several rolls on the damage table - how many depends on the warhead.

If I recall correctly, the combat system evolved from a similar GDW game, "Mayday," and it can be helpful to read those rules to fill in the gaps. There is also Special Supplement 3 - Missiles (SS3), which fills in some of the blanks; this is preferred if you have it. Both rules describe building missiles, so you can design something with a lot of maneuver potential but a low-power warhead or something with limited delta-V and a big warhead.

Lacking that, your basic missile (SS3) is a 5G5 limited acceleration, radio sensing, proximity detonation missile with a 30kg HE warhead - puts out 6 hits (6 rolls on the damage table) if you can get it to target without having it destroyed. If it runs through a cloud of sand while moving, it has to roll 2d6: on a 12, it's destroyed.

5G5 means it can accelerate up to 5Gs per turn but has only enough fuel for a single 5G burn; it basically hits automatically if the target's within 500 mm when it moves, otherwise it misses. The first number tells you how much power the engine can deliver, the second tells you how much fuel you have - in this case, enough to change your vector by a total of 5 G's. (Some engine types allow you to set your thrust lower so you can get two or more turns out of the fuel.)

OR

5G5 means it can accelerate up to 5Gs per turn and has enough fuel for five 5G burns. [Errata 07]

The discrepancy was because there was an Errata release in which the game's designer elected to revise the way fuel was handled. Makes missiles wildly more interesting - in a "threat to your continued existence" way. Best to negotiate the rule with the person sitting across from you before starting the game, so you don't get into an argument two minutes into the battle.

Limited acceleration means ... honestly, I don't know. Mayday offers rules that sound very much like it maneuvers just like a ship until it runs out of fuel, then mentions another engine type that maneuvers just like a ship. SS3 introduces some weird fuel use formula that makes no sense to me. I've always just played it that you could turn the drive on and off but can't change the thrust level, (the engine description's sandwiched between a continuous-burn engine that has to constantly thrust at the rated acceleration until it hits or runs out of fuel, and a discretionary-burn engine that can modify acceleration just like a ship). However, that's more of a house rule just to be able to do something besides argue about it. Maybe Aramis can explain it more clearly.

Radio sensing [SS3] means it detects and homes on radio emissions, whether broadcasts of the target or radar signals emitted by the launching ship and reflected by the target; the system also allows the missile to be directly controlled by the launching ship and flown into the target. Radio sensing's vulnerable to ECM.

Proximity detonation means it blows up when it gets close, doesn't have to hit. Proximity detonators are also vulnerable to ECM, but you only have to get within 25mm of the target on the combat map, which makes maneuvering the missile a lot easier. Contact detonation is available (as are other types) and is not vulnerable to ECM, but it requires you to plot a movement that passes through the target, which is tricky when you don't have complete control over the missile's thrust.

There is no hull point system. Hits poke holes in your ship, damaging systems. When a system takes damaged, it's reduced in rating: a Power Plant C becomes a Power Plant B, and so forth. Ship's function is recalculated to the "new" rating - in other words, you're slower. If a maneuver drive goes below the minimum rating for a Maneuver 1 in that ship, the ship can't maneuver; ditto the jump drive. Power Plant becomes a bottleneck - if your power plant's rating after damage is less than your maneuver or jump drive, the ship's rating is based on the power plant rating (a Broadsword takes a power plant hit, reducing plant from M to L; the ship can only thrust at 2G or make a jump-2, even though those systems are undamaged). Computer hits result in increasing chance of a transient (and often inconveniently timed timed) computer malfunction. Fuel hits result in loss of fuel, eventually rendering you powerless (though I think you can fire missiles). Turret hits knock out the turret and its weapons.

Stuff can be repaired in battle, resulting in rather lengthy and frustrating battles (and the prevalence of house rules on the subject), but an object destroyed in a critical (a roll of 12 on the damage table) can't be repaired. Object is to swiss-cheese your opponent out of the fight, usually by degrading him until you can break off and run for it, since it's intended to be part of an RPG and is often some random encounter interfering with your plans. Or persuade him that giving up the cargo would be less expensive than taking more damage and maybe risking a more serious outcome, if you're pirating. Or, maybe get lucky with a crit and take out the crew or make him explode - but of course you face that same risk.

Me, I prefer High Guard.

 

[aramis]

other way... mayday is essentially extracted from book 2.

 

[Frankymole]

Sandcaster fires a canister of "sand." It should be, IIRC, a 25mm circle, moving with the same vector as the launching ship. Laser fire through the marker takes a penalty.

But The Traveller Book uses range bands (as does Starter Traveller), not vectors or millimeters... I never quite got the hang of how sand works for ships that change range bands.

 

[aramis]

But The Traveller Book uses range bands (as does Starter Traveller), not vectors or millimeters... I never quite got the hang of how sand works for ships that change range bands.

not for ship combat... only Starter used range bands in space combat.

 

[warmaster40k]

What does goblins have to do with a samophlange, unless the Thundercats ran into them. Well I just ran my first session of Classic Traveller, hopefully I can get a better hang of it down the line. Funny thing is currently ran a session for 2 players and both of them mustered out after a single term due to not being able to reenlist. One is a crook turned crook on anourher world, the other is a former Army Captain that mustered out with a low berth passage and a mid berth, and is currently a police officer.

 

[BlackBat242]

The Samophlange is a goblin-made component and a running gag in the on-line "massive multi player on-line fantasy role-playing game World of Warcraft.


A factoid I just learned myself via Google, as I had not heard the word before either.

 

[warmaster40k]

The Samophlange is from a series of hilarious outakes from the original thundercat series, its not a true parody as it was from a original recording of the show. That said WoW probably has a group of nerds in its staff that like to insert obscure references. I'm not linking the outtake as its NSFW and you can do it on your own.