I never took Mayday seriously, if for no other reason then the time scale, but it might be more appropriate a model for a simplified CRT in a trading game.
How to do a ship combat module?
- Thread starter robject
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A planet that is Amber Zone from an effective pirate blockade might spend quite a bit more to get their goods/passengers through.
Conversely, if you go with LBB2-77 it's MORE dangerous to go to the profitable planets, so you would run the hard runs building up until you can 'cash in' on the really profitable stuff.
Cargo Speculation is the bankroller, Starship Combat/Upgrading is the Money Sink. They are linked, and need a working ratio for the OP's project.
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
Pirates have operating costs; privateers tend to be subsidized.
Perhaps if they critically need Computers. 6 of them at 4MCr each selling for 10x the rate at 240MCr. Good work when you can get it. Worth risking 10MCr in damage.
53 tons of Grain?
Not so much.
Walt Smith noted 25 years ago that the target for pirates is small craft.
Everything else isn't worth the crapshoot. Sure, there is valuable cargo, but if it's not common, then it's not worth it.
Tipping over a UPS truck in the hopes of finding gold bullion against the risk of jail ain't generally worth it. Some may try out of the lack of a brain, but that makes for a short career.
Everything else isn't worth the crapshoot. Sure, there is valuable cargo, but if it's not common, then it's not worth it.
Tipping over a UPS truck in the hopes of finding gold bullion against the risk of jail ain't generally worth it. Some may try out of the lack of a brain, but that makes for a short career.
The latter reminds me of an old James Bond movie...
I was thinking those Corsair encounters that crop up once in awhile. Are they interested in your cargo? Probably not. In my mind, if you're not likely to have a small craft, they probably won't bother trying to subdue your ship.
I assume of course that pirates have a reason to harass players' ships in Traveller.
Not sure that my plan for this same question makes any sense for anyone else, but here it is. I'm going to have every PC roll for thier ship duty; gunnery, engineering, etc. Every success they get give the captain a +1 with thier overall roll. Ships are opposed, with reasonable modifiers for technology or numerical imbalance. However, numbers are secondary to the story.
Spinward Flow
SOC-14 1K
I'll agree that this is one area where Traveller is a bit lackluster.
Mediocre ships with good crews ought to be superior to good ships with mediocre crews.
The fact that crew skills are such a relative "non-factor" in combat performance is something of an oversight in how LBB Traveller handled ship to ship combat (the "real" stress test of ships and their crews).
Ship combat ought to be a Team Sport ... not a 1v1 between commanders.
Mediocre ships with good crews ought to be superior to good ships with mediocre crews.
The fact that crew skills are such a relative "non-factor" in combat performance is something of an oversight in how LBB Traveller handled ship to ship combat (the "real" stress test of ships and their crews).
Ship combat ought to be a Team Sport ... not a 1v1 between commanders.
Others just have generic DMs based on crew quality. Green -1, Regular 0, Crack +1. And then they may have rules show how a crew goes from Green to Regular to Crack (typically deployment time) back to Regular to Green (typically due to combat losses).
You're right... really, all the rules needed was some encouragement in that direction. "Players should be encouraged to attempt to improve their odds in various ways during combat."
...Although really, CT is a complete skeleton in EVERY respect. Isn't that what gives it its staying power?
Amongst the OSR and FKR, yes.
For many of us? The setting is the draw, not the rules.
For others still, it's the multiple modules.
Me? I basically reinvent parts of Mega from CT sources with slightly different assumptions...
Spinward Flow
SOC-14 1K
I don't know that I buy that- between Gunner Interact and the Evade programs engaging the gunners vs. pilots, with the computer operator sweating the computer phase shutdowns keeping it running and the engineer trying to keep power up or better yet excess power for Double Fire, there is plenty in the original rules for the crew to do.
Heck, if you think about the combination of Gunner Interact and Predict vs. Evade DMs, the crew can often determine if the 500000-900000km range is even in play. Get advantaged enough, and the better skilled crew can shoot in that range while the opponent cannot.
