RockyMountainNavy
SOC-12
I bought the new Mongoose Traveller Supplement 6: Military Vehicles. Included is a vehicle design system (VDS). Military Vehicles claims to be an upgrade to Supplement 5: Civilian Vehicles but that is not true. The VDS is the same in both books, right down to the examples. Oh, the images change but that isn’t enough not to feel cheated. I picked up both these books using a 20% off coupon at my FLGS – should have saved it! Of the two vehicle books, the layout in Military Vehicles has more mistakes (fonts go crazy!). Looks like Mongoose Publishing was in a hurry to put it out and didn’t take due diligence.
The VDS itself is a straight-forward “modular” approach. I wish Mongoose had been a bit more straight-forward in the instructions – the conversational approach used is not as effective in communicating a step-by-step process. Bullets would have been fine. Here is where those repeated examples are useful; they are what really explain how the system works.
Several items are missing, such as the cost of additional ammunition or the mass of decoys. Another item that I find annoying is the weapons themselves. The VDS has a selection of weapons to choose from to use for building your vehicle, but if you want to fight your vehicle you can't because none of the range modifiers needed for combat are in this book. So I guess I have to buy the Central Supply Catalog to get that?
There are also numerous comments on various forums about how the VDS does not produce “historical” results. For myself, I am not as concerned about “historical” accuracy as I am about “relative” accuracy – i.e. does the VDS create vehicles that “relatively” seem accurate in how they interact with each other. I am still looking for that answer.
What Military Vehicles does give you is examples. Good for a GM assist, but beware. Some of the vehicle builds just don't make sense to me. I admit this is partially because of my own bias - I am more a hard sci-fi type. That said, some of the designs seem, well, just wrong. For example:
After constructing my first vehicles (a Tech Level 9 battle tank in two variants; hover and grav) I tried to compare it to those found in the Mongoose Traveller alternate universe Hammer’s Slammers book. This exercise illustrated for me just how different the vehicles are. I was not expecting many differences since vehicles in Hammer’s Slammers were supposedly based on the VDS – the product description even claims “all vehicles created using the Traveller Vehicle Creation System.”
The first difference I noticed is the vehicle hit location tables. In the Mongoose Traveller Core Rulebook, used by Military Vehicles, the vehicle hit location table is a 2d6 system that scores damage irregardless of facing. In Hammer’s Slammers, the hit location table is a d6 roll based on facing. With a little bit of extrapolation (and exploration of the book) you can back-engineer the hit system the developer used, but would it not have made sense to have the newer, more detailed hit location system as part of the (alleged) upgrade? Hammer's Slammers has several other upgrades, such Expanded Damage Rules that replace the normal Core Rulebook rules. Why are these not in Military Vehicles?
In Hammer's Slammers, vehicles have a computer rating and can load various software programs, much like spacecraft or robots/drones in the Core Rulebook. But in Civilian and Military Vehicles, all you have are sensors which are described in general terms only (except the MCC which does have a Computer/1 that is not part of the VDS...). Again, why is this upgrade not in Military Vehicles?
So do I recommend buying Military Vehicles? If you absolutely have to see the example vehicles then yes. If you are comfortable making your own vehicles then I would recommend buying either Civilian or Military Vehicles (one, not both) for the VDS. Which one you choose should be determined by your adventuring group style. Make sure you buy the pdf version...don't overspend for this one! If you are into vehicle combat then make sure you get Hammer's Slammers too as that is the real vehicle combat upgrade.
The VDS itself is a straight-forward “modular” approach. I wish Mongoose had been a bit more straight-forward in the instructions – the conversational approach used is not as effective in communicating a step-by-step process. Bullets would have been fine. Here is where those repeated examples are useful; they are what really explain how the system works.
Several items are missing, such as the cost of additional ammunition or the mass of decoys. Another item that I find annoying is the weapons themselves. The VDS has a selection of weapons to choose from to use for building your vehicle, but if you want to fight your vehicle you can't because none of the range modifiers needed for combat are in this book. So I guess I have to buy the Central Supply Catalog to get that?
There are also numerous comments on various forums about how the VDS does not produce “historical” results. For myself, I am not as concerned about “historical” accuracy as I am about “relative” accuracy – i.e. does the VDS create vehicles that “relatively” seem accurate in how they interact with each other. I am still looking for that answer.
What Military Vehicles does give you is examples. Good for a GM assist, but beware. Some of the vehicle builds just don't make sense to me. I admit this is partially because of my own bias - I am more a hard sci-fi type. That said, some of the designs seem, well, just wrong. For example:
- All Terrain Assault Vehicle – with an off-road speed of 18 kph
- Anti-PERSONNEL Tank (??)
- Mobile Command Center (MCC) with 2x Computer/1 that occupy no space yet weigh 10 kg and cost 200 Cr. There is no Computer/1 in the Optional Components or Miscellaneous Equipment and Upgrades sections of the VDS. Even if you use the Core Rulebook, a TL-8 Computer/1 should cost 250 Cr each for a total of 500 Cr (after all, we know the military never gets a discount on items!)
- Scout Buggy – described as “fast” but again only a top off-road speed of 26 kph
- Spy Plane – the illustration looks awfully like the plane from the movie Firefox (but uncredited)
- Coastal Submarine – with 8 hours of fuel
- TL-9 Corvette – with 18 hours of fuel
After constructing my first vehicles (a Tech Level 9 battle tank in two variants; hover and grav) I tried to compare it to those found in the Mongoose Traveller alternate universe Hammer’s Slammers book. This exercise illustrated for me just how different the vehicles are. I was not expecting many differences since vehicles in Hammer’s Slammers were supposedly based on the VDS – the product description even claims “all vehicles created using the Traveller Vehicle Creation System.”
The first difference I noticed is the vehicle hit location tables. In the Mongoose Traveller Core Rulebook, used by Military Vehicles, the vehicle hit location table is a 2d6 system that scores damage irregardless of facing. In Hammer’s Slammers, the hit location table is a d6 roll based on facing. With a little bit of extrapolation (and exploration of the book) you can back-engineer the hit system the developer used, but would it not have made sense to have the newer, more detailed hit location system as part of the (alleged) upgrade? Hammer's Slammers has several other upgrades, such Expanded Damage Rules that replace the normal Core Rulebook rules. Why are these not in Military Vehicles?
In Hammer's Slammers, vehicles have a computer rating and can load various software programs, much like spacecraft or robots/drones in the Core Rulebook. But in Civilian and Military Vehicles, all you have are sensors which are described in general terms only (except the MCC which does have a Computer/1 that is not part of the VDS...). Again, why is this upgrade not in Military Vehicles?
So do I recommend buying Military Vehicles? If you absolutely have to see the example vehicles then yes. If you are comfortable making your own vehicles then I would recommend buying either Civilian or Military Vehicles (one, not both) for the VDS. Which one you choose should be determined by your adventuring group style. Make sure you buy the pdf version...don't overspend for this one! If you are into vehicle combat then make sure you get Hammer's Slammers too as that is the real vehicle combat upgrade.