Space Combat

[Beck's]

Hi all!

My players recently got their hands on a pirate ship and are now going to "work" as privateers themselves. I thought to myself "Well, if they really want to...why not...after all they're aware of the risks."

Now, as the topic says I'm thinking about what rules to use for the inevitable result of their job. High Guard was designed for fleet battles and thus it is not quite as detailed as one would wish for battles where usually only around three ships take part in. I like the rules from book 2 (except for the computer rules) but what to do if they're fired upon with plasma guns or particle accelerators? Or when they encounter a Kinunir-class ship (with its black globe) on anti-piracy mission? Last time I improvised....but since raiding other ships is now their main occupation I'd like to have some written rules.

Are there any "official" (from JTAS or other magazines) or house rules covering the implementation of advanced weapons, armor, shields etc. into the rules from book 2?

Thanks in advance,
Christopher

 

[Beck's]

Hi all!

My players recently got their hands on a pirate ship and are now going to "work" as privateers themselves. I thought to myself "Well, if they really want to...why not...after all they're aware of the risks."

Now, as the topic says I'm thinking about what rules to use for the inevitable result of their job. High Guard was designed for fleet battles and thus it is not quite as detailed as one would wish for battles where usually only around three ships take part in. I like the rules from book 2 (except for the computer rules) but what to do if they're fired upon with plasma guns or particle accelerators? Or when they encounter a Kinunir-class ship (with its black globe) on anti-piracy mission? Last time I improvised....but since raiding other ships is now their main occupation I'd like to have some written rules.

Are there any "official" (from JTAS or other magazines) or house rules covering the implementation of advanced weapons, armor, shields etc. into the rules from book 2?

Thanks in advance,
Christopher

 

[far-trader]

Check out "The Role-Playing Space Combat System" in the Archives of the BITS website, it might fit your needs.

 

[far-trader]

Check out "The Role-Playing Space Combat System" in the Archives of the BITS website, it might fit your needs.

 

[mike wightman]

Here are my house rules for using HG weapons and armour in CT.

plasma guns:
range less than 250mm +2 to hit
double listed laser range penalties
successful hit causes 2 damage rolls.

fusion guns:
as for plasma guns except a hit causes 4 damage rolls.

Particle accelerators:
halve laser range penalties, round up
ignore sandcaster penalties
successful hit causes 5 damage rolls (3 normal, 2 radiation)

Armour

To penetrate armour roll over the armour factor on 1d, DMs + weapon damage in excess of 1.

Notes:
I allow weapons of the same type in a turret to be linked and fired at the same time; you stand more chance penetrating armour, but you only get the one to hit roll and if you miss you miss with all the weapons in the turret.
I use the SS3:Missiles rules for missiles and the radiation damage table in the supplement for nuclear missile and particle accelerator radiation damage.

 

[mike wightman]

Here are my house rules for using HG weapons and armour in CT.

plasma guns:
range less than 250mm +2 to hit
double listed laser range penalties
successful hit causes 2 damage rolls.

fusion guns:
as for plasma guns except a hit causes 4 damage rolls.

Particle accelerators:
halve laser range penalties, round up
ignore sandcaster penalties
successful hit causes 5 damage rolls (3 normal, 2 radiation)

Armour

To penetrate armour roll over the armour factor on 1d, DMs + weapon damage in excess of 1.

Notes:
I allow weapons of the same type in a turret to be linked and fired at the same time; you stand more chance penetrating armour, but you only get the one to hit roll and if you miss you miss with all the weapons in the turret.
I use the SS3:Missiles rules for missiles and the radiation damage table in the supplement for nuclear missile and particle accelerator radiation damage.

 

[Beck's]

The rules from BITS were written for T4, but still there are some interesting parts. I like the rules for the use of sensors although they have to be modified since CT only knows the difference between military and civilian sensors.

Sigg, your house rules pretty much solve my problems. Thanks for sharing them.

 

[Beck's]

The rules from BITS were written for T4, but still there are some interesting parts. I like the rules for the use of sensors although they have to be modified since CT only knows the difference between military and civilian sensors.

Sigg, your house rules pretty much solve my problems. Thanks for sharing them.

 

[mike wightman]

Have you seen the simple fix for sensors?

Assume military sensors are TL15, model 9, while civilian sensors are TL8, model 1. Add the two numbers together.
8+1=9 which = range of 0.5 light seconds
15+9=24 which = range of 2.0 light seconds

Therefore add 0.1 light seconds range per TL above 8 or per model above 1.

Sensor model is equal to computer model.
(more later, have to go and eat)

 

[mike wightman]

Have you seen the simple fix for sensors?

Assume military sensors are TL15, model 9, while civilian sensors are TL8, model 1. Add the two numbers together.
8+1=9 which = range of 0.5 light seconds
15+9=24 which = range of 2.0 light seconds

Therefore add 0.1 light seconds range per TL above 8 or per model above 1.

Sensor model is equal to computer model.
(more later, have to go and eat)

 

[mike wightman]

For added complication try these rules.

The ranges above are for active scans. Passive scans have a quarter of the above range.

Ships have a passive (radiated) signature equal to half of the power plant number (round down) or the maneuver rating used during that turn. Planetoid hulls reduce the radiated signature due to the power plant by 1, buffered planetoids reduce it by 2. This reduction is not applied to the signature due to maneuvering.

The ship's passive signature is multiplied by 0.25 light seconds and subtracted from its range to decide if it is within the sensor range of a scanning vessel.
e.g. a ship with a passive signature of +3 is detected if it moves to within 1.25 light seconds of a ship with military sensors (TL15, model 9).

Ships have a reflected signature based on hull size and configuration USP:
less than 100t, -1
100t-999t, +0
1000t+, +1
5000t+, +2
USP
1-3, +0
4-6, +1
7-9, +2
The ship's reflected signature is multiplied by 0.25 light seconds and subtracted from its range to decide if it is within the active sensor range of a scanning vessel.
e.g. a ship with a reflected signature of +1 is detected if it moves to within 2.25 light seconds of a ship with military sensors (TL15, model 9).

Once a ship has been detected it can be tracked out to 3 light seconds, but once it moves beyond the sensor's autospot range (modified by target signature) then a roll of 8 or more on 2d is required to maintain the target lock.
DMs:
+ signature for the sensor type
+ gunnery skill (or navigation -1)
- 1 per 0.25 light seconds outside autospot range.

Notes:
these rules are based on the Traveller 2300 game Star Cruiser.
If you want to play cat and mouse then I would recommend changing the scale of LBB2 combat to 30cm = 1 light second, it fits better on a table top
1 G maneuver changes vector by 1cm.
laser to hit range modifiers become:
25cm+, -2
50cm+, -5
and add
75cm+, -8

 

[mike wightman]

For added complication try these rules.

The ranges above are for active scans. Passive scans have a quarter of the above range.

Ships have a passive (radiated) signature equal to half of the power plant number (round down) or the maneuver rating used during that turn. Planetoid hulls reduce the radiated signature due to the power plant by 1, buffered planetoids reduce it by 2. This reduction is not applied to the signature due to maneuvering.

The ship's passive signature is multiplied by 0.25 light seconds and subtracted from its range to decide if it is within the sensor range of a scanning vessel.
e.g. a ship with a passive signature of +3 is detected if it moves to within 1.25 light seconds of a ship with military sensors (TL15, model 9).

Ships have a reflected signature based on hull size and configuration USP:
less than 100t, -1
100t-999t, +0
1000t+, +1
5000t+, +2
USP
1-3, +0
4-6, +1
7-9, +2
The ship's reflected signature is multiplied by 0.25 light seconds and subtracted from its range to decide if it is within the active sensor range of a scanning vessel.
e.g. a ship with a reflected signature of +1 is detected if it moves to within 2.25 light seconds of a ship with military sensors (TL15, model 9).

Once a ship has been detected it can be tracked out to 3 light seconds, but once it moves beyond the sensor's autospot range (modified by target signature) then a roll of 8 or more on 2d is required to maintain the target lock.
DMs:
+ signature for the sensor type
+ gunnery skill (or navigation -1)
- 1 per 0.25 light seconds outside autospot range.

Notes:
these rules are based on the Traveller 2300 game Star Cruiser.
If you want to play cat and mouse then I would recommend changing the scale of LBB2 combat to 30cm = 1 light second, it fits better on a table top
1 G maneuver changes vector by 1cm.
laser to hit range modifiers become:
25cm+, -2
50cm+, -5
and add
75cm+, -8

 

[davidence]

How might one use HighGuard agility with the vector based combat rules? Any ideas?

 

[davidence]

How might one use HighGuard agility with the vector based combat rules? Any ideas?

 

[daryen]

Sigg,

Those weapon conversions are beautiful. Can I steal those for my website? (Crediting you, of course.)

 

[daryen]

Sigg,

Those weapon conversions are beautiful. Can I steal those for my website? (Crediting you, of course.)

 

[daryen]

dence,

The easiest (and, IMO, best) way is to simply use agility as effective maneuver.

In other words, a ship with maneuver 4 and agility 1 will only operate as if it had maneuver 1. A ship with agility 0 is effectively immobile.

Obviously, when using emergency agility, then the ship gets to use its full maneuver rating for movement.

For the price of a little more complexity, keep track of energy usage. If enough weapons are turned off to increase the agility rating, then the ship can use the temporary agility rating. Of course, if you do this, you need to keep track of PP damage and reduce energy available, too!

 

[daryen]

dence,

The easiest (and, IMO, best) way is to simply use agility as effective maneuver.

In other words, a ship with maneuver 4 and agility 1 will only operate as if it had maneuver 1. A ship with agility 0 is effectively immobile.

Obviously, when using emergency agility, then the ship gets to use its full maneuver rating for movement.

For the price of a little more complexity, keep track of energy usage. If enough weapons are turned off to increase the agility rating, then the ship can use the temporary agility rating. Of course, if you do this, you need to keep track of PP damage and reduce energy available, too!

 

[Beck's]

Again, thanks for your replies!

These ideas sound great! BUT...
To make sure I didn't misunderstand you: the signatures (passive/active) are actually added to the respective range of the scanning ship, aren't they?

Your examples:
A Ship with a passive signature of +3 (Probably using 3g to gain speed. It had only a passive signature of +1 if it didn't accelerate that turn - assuming it has got a power plant 3 to support its 3g thrusters (3/2 rounded down)) encounters a ship with military sensors on passive mode (range 2.0 light seconds divided by four equals 0.5 light seconds). The passive signature adds 0.75 to that (3 x 0.25 = 0.75). So we've got a detection range of 1.25 light seconds.

The scanning ship running active sensor scans would give us the normal range of 2.0 light seconds, to which 0.25 light seconds are added (+1 active sig times 0.25). Resulting in a detection range of 2.25 light seconds.

Another aspect of detection...how do the sensors of the ship that is being scanned affect the detection range? Does active scanning automatically reveal your presence or does it increase the range at which you are detected by a certain factor? (The classic traveller rules only say that maintaining radio silence halves the detection range and that being in orbit and maintaining radio silence results in 1/8 of the detection range)

I think about leaving the vector-thingy aside and just using range-bands (one range band = 10.000km, one light second = 30 range bands) as proposed in the German Traveller Edition, to make things less complicated. Guess it's best to ask the players for their preferences.

 

[Beck's]

Again, thanks for your replies!

These ideas sound great! BUT...
To make sure I didn't misunderstand you: the signatures (passive/active) are actually added to the respective range of the scanning ship, aren't they?

Your examples:
A Ship with a passive signature of +3 (Probably using 3g to gain speed. It had only a passive signature of +1 if it didn't accelerate that turn - assuming it has got a power plant 3 to support its 3g thrusters (3/2 rounded down)) encounters a ship with military sensors on passive mode (range 2.0 light seconds divided by four equals 0.5 light seconds). The passive signature adds 0.75 to that (3 x 0.25 = 0.75). So we've got a detection range of 1.25 light seconds.

The scanning ship running active sensor scans would give us the normal range of 2.0 light seconds, to which 0.25 light seconds are added (+1 active sig times 0.25). Resulting in a detection range of 2.25 light seconds.

Another aspect of detection...how do the sensors of the ship that is being scanned affect the detection range? Does active scanning automatically reveal your presence or does it increase the range at which you are detected by a certain factor? (The classic traveller rules only say that maintaining radio silence halves the detection range and that being in orbit and maintaining radio silence results in 1/8 of the detection range)

I think about leaving the vector-thingy aside and just using range-bands (one range band = 10.000km, one light second = 30 range bands) as proposed in the German Traveller Edition, to make things less complicated. Guess it's best to ask the players for their preferences.