Originally posted by Bhoins:
Here is my temporary solution. Playtesting it currently and will be having players playing with at least part of it within the month.
Rule change 1. No ship weapons have a crit multiplier greater than x3.
Good idea, those d20 weapons(Fusion, Meson) are nasty enough as it is.
Rule Change 2. Spinal mounts don't get a bonus to crit threat number.
Something else I have done in my house rules.
Rule Change 3. Lose the Gunnery skill and replace it with BAB. ("Standard Naval Gunners" would lose the Feat "Skill Focus (Gunnery)" and add the Feat "Martial Training." (Doesn't quite make them equal to Marine gunners but not far behind.)
Something I was pondering. Even using the skill ranks gives gunners heinous ability. BaB would be good. I was wondering what to do with Gunnery. I was thinking make it a kind of Technical skill since it would be limited to that anyway if not used to shoot at things. Maybe have the gunner use it to overpower a weapon like the engineer? (Max of double current USP or 9, whichever lower)
Also some kind of synergy bonus for to hit rolls. I was thinking +1 for every 4 or 5 ranks.
Rule Change 4. Throw out the flat 16 dice damage for all spinals and replace it with the factor number of dice the way the rest of the Starship weapons work. (Gives you a reason to actually pay for the bigger guns.)
I have also changed the to hit modifiers for spinals in my game. They should not be so accurate! The bonus is ((USP-10)/3)+10 round up.
Heres the chart:
</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">Type USP To Hit
A-C 10-12 +10
D-F 13-15 +11
G-J 16-18 +12
K-M 19-21 +13
N-Q 22-24 +14
R-T 25-27 +15</pre>
Also, I apply negative modifiers for spinals if the ship cannot maneuver well enough. -2 to hit for each point of agility under 6. I figure agility is a measure of how fast a ship can whip around, so a ship with a lower agility is going to have a tougher time whipping its nose in your direction to fire off that spinal.
Rule Change 5. Eliminate the "if you fly off the map, even if the guy shooting at you is one hex behind you, then you got away rule" and replace it with rolling mapsheets like Mayday. If you are more than 2 times the max range of your enemy's active sensors then you can decide to break off.
Bah! Never liked that. If the ship is persuing and you get to the edge of the map, add more map! The only time your get away is if your speed greatly exceeds the persuer or if you can jump out.
That is where I stand right now. Any suggestions?
Any ideas as to what this will do to Starship combat? [/quote]Some other things I have done.
I personaly like the HG system, so I have added the rule where if the weapon USP exceeds the Hull USP roll an extra critical. In the T20 system, you would roll on the "Special" subtable for internal damage rolls. Reduce the number of these hits by 1 for every 2 points of AR. Meson guns use Meson AR (explained below)
Spinal guns do more than just one roll on the internal damage tables for each USP over 9. (Type A does 2 internals, B does 3, etc...) This is reduced one for one by AR.
To make capital ships a bit more survivable, I have decided to make Meson screens more effective by taking the screens USP and doubling it. USP 1 screen acts as Meson AR 2, USP 2 is 4 MeAR, all the way to MeAR 18 for the type 9.
Critical hits do not ignore AR in my game, instead the dice are multiplied and AR reduces it accordingly. If for some reason the AR still reduces dice to zero, the critical still scores one full dice of SI damage. Also, x1 weapons assume full dice. The rolls for internals and specials are also multiplied. At least one special internal roll is scored on a crit.
I've been playing with this system and it seems to work, for now. I tested this at the highest end of the spectrum (which is where most systems fail) using a Tigress v. Tigress as example. Type T meson Spinals, USP9 Meson Screens and Agility 6. And a relatively decent crew. With all the bonuses a Capital ship can give you (Cap'n's Leadership, Sensor Lock, etc...) Theres a danged good chance it will still hit the other Tigress (Meson AC 10 -4(Config) -4(Size) +6(Agility) +18(Meson AR) = 26), considering +15 for the Weapon, no penalty for agility, +5 from the cap'n, and +9 from the sesor lock. +29, and thats before we figure out the gunnery crew's skill. Don't roll a one. (Mind you thats a far cry from the obscene +45 or so)
Okay, so if the meson can train on you, it will hit you. And if it does? 15 on 20 will crit, with a confirmation roll being pretty automatic(again don't roll one). What happens on a normal hit?
Before any SI are rolled, I check for "Specials" as this can pretty much end the need to roll SI. The Type T vs. Hull Size V(500Kdt) will do no Auto Specials.
The Type T will do 18 additional internal rolls, but these will be soaked by the screen (Me AR18)
This leaves 1 internal to roll, and 9d20 SI. It's going to sting, but not vape the ship.
Between the Meson Screen and the Nuke Damper, assume any radiation damage to be soaked.
Critical?
Roll on the special table regardless.
Internal rolls are ramped up to 54! Subtract from AR 18 leaves 36! (Owtch)
SI damage is 81d20 - 18, 63d20 (Yikes!)
Result of Crit:
1 Special internal hit roll (with a chance of vape)
36 Internal rolls (and yes, you can roll another special via that)
SI damage range 63-1260 with an average of 630.
Radiation damage on a crit will have an effect! so that's insult to injury. With 850SI the ship will most likely become derlict, but not instantly vaped.
