This is not my complete idea... that won't be ready until a system for combat is more finalized. Anyway, I know that my ideas for ship construction were on the old board, so I'll repost the idea here.
Ship construction consists of a few steps. First is determining the Hull. Then you add components. Lastly you determine the ship's stats by adding up the abilities and functions of the components.
1) Step One: Hull Design
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A ships Hull is basically how big it is, and how much you can put in it. By itself a hull is just a metal framework with walls, hallways and the like. This also covers sealing against vacuum/pressure/etc.
Game stat wise the Hull determines the ship's size category (the terms for that are not finalized at this point) and the ship's Hit Dice number.
Pricing works in two ways. There is a base cost for a ship size, then an individual cost per Hitdice. This means larger ships get more and more expensive very quickly.
2) Step Two: Determine Components
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Components are the parts inside the ship. Engines, power cores, sails, cockpits, cargo bays, weapons, defensive systems, hydroponics bays, etc. For every Hit Die a ship hull has, it has one component slot. Smaller components use no slots (unless you get more then one) while larger ones use multiple slots.
Now, each component has some basic information attached to it.
TYPE: Is it a weapon, a defensive system, power source, propulsion system, etc.
SIZE: How many slots does it fill?
POWER: Does it use external power? How much? What type (magic, electrical, torc, psi) Or does it provide power? how much, what kind etc.
COST: What is the standard price?
TECH & MAGIC LEVEL: when designing a setting, you have to set the technological level and magical level. Components above that level have not been invented yet. Some parts use both magic and tech at different levels.
------ Possible Modifiers ------
SPEED POINTS: How much speed does this part provide. A scale is used so that larger vessels with single or small engines don't move much. Big engines or lots of small ones are needed to get real speed for a big craft.
LIFT: This section says how much lift the component provides. A vessel can hover in gravity if all its lift is at least equal to its Hit Dice. Some systems might have a negative lift. This would be heavy systems that make it harder to give a ship lift. If a ship's lift is less then the Hit Dice, then it must move forward to stay aloft. The comparison between the two would probably be the best way to determine Min Speed. Also, a craft with a total negative lift could not fly in gravity (so those big engines for big space crafts will result in crafts that must stay in space)
HANDLING MODIFIER: Does this system make flying easier or harder?
LIFE SUPPORT: How many people does this component provide air for? Food? etc. For simplistic purposes, we can say a life support system counts for air, food, and water at the same time. (well' just say it includes food stores and air scrubbers, etc)
ATTACK MODIFIER: Does this (generally weapon) component make it harder or easier to attack. Most often this descriptive attribute only applies to that weapon, but some parts might make all attacks more or less accurate, such as a targeting computer.
ARMOR: does this part provide armor to the ship? generally this is armor, but sheilds might use this. A sub type might be need [armor, deflection, dodge, insight]
DAMAGE REDUCTION: Does this component provide better and sturdier structure to the craft? These systems don't often stack with each other.
OTHER: I could go on for a long time here, but more or less, anything that could be put on a magic item, psionic item, character, or monster can end up on a ship.
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DESCRIPTION: This the location for descriptive text about how this system works, is built, etc.
3) Step Three: Calculate Ship Stats
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Once we have a ship stat block finalized, I will be able to put together a system for building that stat block from the components. I hope you can see how that works from what I have above.
Ship construction consists of a few steps. First is determining the Hull. Then you add components. Lastly you determine the ship's stats by adding up the abilities and functions of the components.
1) Step One: Hull Design
--------------------------------------------------
A ships Hull is basically how big it is, and how much you can put in it. By itself a hull is just a metal framework with walls, hallways and the like. This also covers sealing against vacuum/pressure/etc.
Game stat wise the Hull determines the ship's size category (the terms for that are not finalized at this point) and the ship's Hit Dice number.
Pricing works in two ways. There is a base cost for a ship size, then an individual cost per Hitdice. This means larger ships get more and more expensive very quickly.
2) Step Two: Determine Components
--------------------------------------------------
Components are the parts inside the ship. Engines, power cores, sails, cockpits, cargo bays, weapons, defensive systems, hydroponics bays, etc. For every Hit Die a ship hull has, it has one component slot. Smaller components use no slots (unless you get more then one) while larger ones use multiple slots.
Now, each component has some basic information attached to it.
TYPE: Is it a weapon, a defensive system, power source, propulsion system, etc.
SIZE: How many slots does it fill?
POWER: Does it use external power? How much? What type (magic, electrical, torc, psi) Or does it provide power? how much, what kind etc.
COST: What is the standard price?
TECH & MAGIC LEVEL: when designing a setting, you have to set the technological level and magical level. Components above that level have not been invented yet. Some parts use both magic and tech at different levels.
------ Possible Modifiers ------
SPEED POINTS: How much speed does this part provide. A scale is used so that larger vessels with single or small engines don't move much. Big engines or lots of small ones are needed to get real speed for a big craft.
LIFT: This section says how much lift the component provides. A vessel can hover in gravity if all its lift is at least equal to its Hit Dice. Some systems might have a negative lift. This would be heavy systems that make it harder to give a ship lift. If a ship's lift is less then the Hit Dice, then it must move forward to stay aloft. The comparison between the two would probably be the best way to determine Min Speed. Also, a craft with a total negative lift could not fly in gravity (so those big engines for big space crafts will result in crafts that must stay in space)
HANDLING MODIFIER: Does this system make flying easier or harder?
LIFE SUPPORT: How many people does this component provide air for? Food? etc. For simplistic purposes, we can say a life support system counts for air, food, and water at the same time. (well' just say it includes food stores and air scrubbers, etc)
ATTACK MODIFIER: Does this (generally weapon) component make it harder or easier to attack. Most often this descriptive attribute only applies to that weapon, but some parts might make all attacks more or less accurate, such as a targeting computer.
ARMOR: does this part provide armor to the ship? generally this is armor, but sheilds might use this. A sub type might be need [armor, deflection, dodge, insight]
DAMAGE REDUCTION: Does this component provide better and sturdier structure to the craft? These systems don't often stack with each other.
OTHER: I could go on for a long time here, but more or less, anything that could be put on a magic item, psionic item, character, or monster can end up on a ship.
------------
DESCRIPTION: This the location for descriptive text about how this system works, is built, etc.
3) Step Three: Calculate Ship Stats
--------------------------------------------------
Once we have a ship stat block finalized, I will be able to put together a system for building that stat block from the components. I hope you can see how that works from what I have above.
As I said in another post, I have plenty of ideas for components to contribute, but my first priority is to write up a chapter on setting creation (including magic and tech levels), followed by a chapter on character creation. Since Morrus is threatening to pull the plug, I'm aiming to get them down as soon as I reasonably can. I'm going to be too busy to do much with them in the immediate future, but once I get over the mountain of work that's stacking up, I expect I can sketch each chapter out in about 2-3 weeks.
