OTU Only: Types of Big Ships

[salochin999]

I understand Risperdal's good for that too.

IMTU so is painting the elder sign on the outside of the ship

 

[Carlobrand]

IMTU so is painting the elder sign on the outside of the ship

Ah! Yes, that's actually better than Risperdal for some situations.

 

[Travellerspud]

A manned picket is a wealth of plot complications.

Better take a week to ten days to get out to a useful range, but I get your point. The Apollo missions were indeed a cramped couple of weeks, and it was probably a bit tense at times. Choose your crew wisely.

At that point "your mileage may vary" based on rules used. The rules I use allow missile-form sensor platforms, which are cheaper, smaller, and more disposable than manned vehicles. That said, manned pickets are great plot devices.

about the new Orion space capsule...

"When it becomes fully operational, Orion's crew module will be able to carry four people on a 21-day mission into deep space or six astronauts for shorter missions. By comparison, the Apollo crew modules held three astronauts and were in space for six to 12 days. Orion's crew module is 16.5 feet in diameter and Apollo was 12.8 feet in diameter, NASA said."

 

[aramis]

And the orion is less efficient than the Dragon... 7 men, slightly lower weight, equipped for soft landing on dry land, and 14 days endurance without external support.

 

[robject]

[FONT=arial,helvetica]

Originally Posted by robject
Hope you don't mind the formatting - I have added comments to your list in bold (easiest way i could think to do it).

• 1. A unit is one or more ships, depending on the representational strength of the unit notation. One counter is one BCS, one squadron of fighters or escort ships
• 2. Attacks are unit to unit, with the result being (a) no effect, or (b) unit destroyed. There is no damage tracking. A ship is dead or alive.Too lethal, and limits the options for retreat. If the combat system is based on FLUX or the T5 task system then you can add a few extra results that degrade overall ratings - don't track individual damage to each system just apply a blanket DM based on damage. After sustaining a certain number of hits flip the counter for much reduced ratings, at this point you should be thinking of retreat to conserve assets or hope to win before final destruction. This system could be as few as - damaged - flip - dead, or you could add light damage -2, heavy damage -4, flip, dead - that sort of thing.
• 3. Hexmat-based. I'd go with range band and add the hex mat as an option
• 4. No vector movement.I'd have it as an option for the truly "involved"
• 5. You can only move a few (1D?) units per turn.I don't like this.
• 6. No hard-coded TLs. Capabilities and session DMs reflect TL advantages or disadvantages.TL is something that will have a major impact on the BCS maker, but the combat system can ignore TL - it should be rating vs rating.
• 7. Line-of-fire for most weapons. This allows defensive formations.Agreed.
• 8. Meson guns do not need line-of-fire: they can fire through obstacles. This emulates a TL advantage.Agreed
• 9. Torpedo salvos are launched units. They do not need line-of-fire.... but they must move each turn after launching or be discarded.Agreed
• 10. Squadrons permit concentrated attacks.Agreed
• 11. Squadrons permit selective damage. This allows defensive formations.Not sure what you mean by this
• 12. Units that are not in a squadron have a maneuver and attack bonus.Considering the coordination bonus that T5 ACS get from certain systems I would have thought it makes more sense to give a lone ship a penalty.
• 13. Attacks are one or more 1D rolls. Maybe.And we get tot he crucial question - is it going to be a FLUX roll or a task based system or something completely different?
• 14. Goals include assault, occupation, escape, neutralizing some number of units, etc.

[FONT=arial,helvetica]Thanks for commenting on these, Mike. I've adopted some of your suggestions -- for now:[/FONT]

[FONT=arial,helvetica]1. [/FONT][FONT=arial,helvetica]One counter is one capital ship, or one squadron of secondaries.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica]2. "Blanket DM" damage chits. That's a possibility.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica]3. Range bands, with a hex and "surface" adaptation (with ranges in hexes/cm).[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica]4. Marc likes vector movement, so I suspect I'd better start brainstorming about this.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica]5. Non-total unit activation can keep the "passive" side engaged by shortening the time between phases / rounds. It also forces the phasing player to be more effective in his action choices - it makes them worth more. And it doesn't have to feel contrived -- it can work to emphasize other aspects of the game (initiative, crew quality, leadership, handicapping, etc).[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica]6. In Traveller wargames, relative TL difference is the thing. Make it leverage relative differences and the game is inherently adapted to the entire span of TLs.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica]7. Line of fire for most weapons.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica]7a. Spines Fire Nose-ward. Batteries Bearing for other weapons.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica]8. Meson guns ignore #7.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica]9. Torpedo salvos are launched units. They must move each turn after launching or be discarded.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica]10. Mass fire is possible under certain circumstances (squadron formations? flanking manuevers?)[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica]11. When a squadron takes damage, the owning player decides which ships take the damage. (Screening)[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica]12. Lone ships can do things that squadrons cannot. They have a place in the game.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica]13. I don't know the attack task mechanic. T5 ACS uses tasks, Flux, and even 1D in defensive circumstances.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica]14. Goals include assault, occupation, escape, neutralizing the enemy, etc.[/FONT]
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[salochin999]

5. You can only move a few (1D?) units per turn.

This made me think of a use for Fleet Tactics skill i.e. each admiral can activate that number of units per round. This would possibly give a high skill admiral too much of an advantage for a one-off battle but in a campaign with different admirals or a one-off battle with one side outnumbered it could be interesting.

 

[Ulsyus]

One counter is one capital ship, or one squadron of secondaries.

If you're using counters, I recall fleet actions in the boardgame World In Flames used a counter for one capital vessel, a pair of cruisers, or a squadron or more of destroyers. The system worked well, and even enabled groups of heavy cruisers to take on lone capital raiders out in the Atlantic...