Vehicle constructin idea...

[Turanil]

Now the level of a vehicle (level is a base name... needs a new one) is determined by size. larger vehilces have more levels.

Sorry, but I disagree with that. Just compare a Ferrari with the most basic of Ford : they are the same size, but I think a Ferrari can be seen as a level 15 car, while the Ford is a level 4 car (I don't want to know what a level 1 car may be :\ ).

Maybe the size of a vehicle implies a minimum and maximum level ? With the Ferrari example, a 30th level car would be all terrain four wheel drive, sportscar with nice look, 5 seats, etc. all of this at the same time, which is in fact impossible.

Otherwise, I give you again my other idea, that I already gave on another thread : multiply hit-die (i.e.: hit-points) by the size category modifier.
As such, lets say that a small jet-fighter (only one pilot, no passengers) has 6d10 for 30 hit-points. Since it is (say) x5 size multiplier, it has a total of 150 hit-points. In the meantime, a star destroyer (of star-wars) has a x1000 size multiplier, for a total of 30,000 hit points. However, the hull locally has no more than the basic 6d10 hit points, so when doing 30 or more of damage you pierce the hull. As such, with the jet fighter you will probably affect the pilot or the engines, or the life support; while with the star destroyer, you locally damage, but basically the ship is unaffected (nonetheless, you could board in, using the hole done...)

In any case, have you progressed the work ? Maybe you could do it in a word document and post it there, so people can read it, then add their suggestion and coments and send it back to you.

 

[BlackJaw]

First of all level here is a bad name because it is too close to the concept of character levels as a "value" concept. Yah, a sports car is more expensive better car (if you value speed) but they also don't hold up well in crashes (or say being shot at) because they built with light thin materials. a larger sedan is comicaly called a tank because it is so much more durable. What I'm trying to say is that a vehicle's level has nothing to do with it's over all greatness... it just as to do with how much you can put in it. there is a limit to how much you can place in a single vehicle of a given size... now not all vehicles use the full limit (a ford has less engine and special features then a high end sports car), but there is a CAP. Thus you wouldn't likely have a level 1 car and level 15 car... you'd have cars of variant hit dice... but level 1 vehicles would be very small (medium sized objects) and likely have only a handful of features.

What I was not intending to imply by using words like "level" or "class" is that they advance with XP. these are objects and thus are paid for with gp/etc. Cost is the best way I can think of to balence the them, otherwise they would need ECLs, & CRs... etc... which is a pain if they customizable/configured type items. You pay for them based off number and type of hitdice, and many specail other systems cost extra money as well (like weapons, sheilds, etc).

The only reason i used the words "level" and "class' is because this system is closer to that way of thinking then to the point buy system that has been in the works (or slated, or argued over) for more then a year. These are not true levels how ever. I'm still looking for better terms then that because they are only somewhat similar to levels, not actual character levels and classes (or anything easily mistaken for that).

Anyway: really fast cars are not "level 15 or 20" while slower or cheaper (not so good cars) are 1-5. A 1-5 hit dice vehicle is actualy (under the system I use) something closer to a motorcycle in size. It's medium sized, and can take damage around that level. Jet packs and smaller rocket bikes. Level (or think of it as hit dice) has to do with how much can you fit in the vehicle's hull or frame, and thus with how big is the vehicle.

Each size group has a range of hit dice, so a basic ford would have something closer to min hitdice while a high end sports car would most likely have a few more. Hit dice helps to determine cost (so the ford will cost a lot less).

The main point here is that how much of what you can put in a vehicle has to do with size. You can't cram tons of large guns onto a small craft with big engines and a ton of armor. Its too much, so we tie how much you can do with a vehicle to hit dice, and hit dice to size. Now a Huge vehicle (about right for a small personal airplane) will have good deal of hit dice possible (it is a range to pick from... while a super star destoryer (starwars) can be filled with a lot of interior space. tons of smaller guns, hanger bays for smaller fighters, personal space, com gear... etc etc etc. it would have hitdice in a comicaly large number (but because systems in the vehicle are customizable and based on number of hit dice, this lets you fill it with rooms, life support, guns, hanger bays, repair shops, etc etc etc.

 

[tecnowraith]

Ok let's do an example. Let us use a vehicle concept from either the TV show Viper or Spy Hunter. With the rules that Blackjaw has right. Try building either these two vehicles.

As for a different, change class to "model" and maybe level to "upgrades".

 

[Turanil]

About terms...

PS: do you have a better name then class and level for ranks of vehicle sub-functions?
Example: 12 hd vehicle might be Engine 5, Weapon 2, Armor 2, Support 3. Those arn't classes, (although it is similar) so what do we call those? Similarly would those be levels in those "Classes?" I think they should be called ranks or something like that...

What about "Emphasis" for class. I mean: Weapon-emphasis = 5 upgrades, Armor-emphasis = 2 upgrades.

About the idea that hit-die is related to vehicle's size, and you have up to a certain amount of space to put things inside. What about miniaturization? For example, let say a basic cannon is Medium-size, and to have more firepower you need a basic Large-size cannon. In some cases you could purchase a better but more costly technology giving the firepower of a basic Large-size cannon in the volume of a basic Medium-size cannon. How do you implement this ?

 

[BlackJaw]

What about "Emphasis" for class. I mean: Weapon-emphasis = 5 upgrades, Armor-emphasis = 2 upgrades.

About the idea that hit-die is related to vehicle's size, and you have up to a certain amount of space to put things inside. What about miniaturization? For example, let say a basic cannon is Medium-size, and to have more firepower you need a basic Large-size cannon. In some cases you could purchase a better but more costly technology giving the firepower of a basic Large-size cannon in the volume of a basic Medium-size cannon. How do you implement this ?

Emphasis works. Thanks.

Miniterization has not been considered... that's an interesting concept. maybe a price increase for a one step down in size... or more likely an extra cost for a 1 step increase in weapon damage (allowing your to get more from a smaller weapon, or to buy a smaller weapon that does damage as a larger one)... although that option doesn't help much for miniterized anything else...