Starship Sizes: Changing the Assumptions

Crew Size

How do you determine the smaller crew sizes? Example, the creation of fighters with a crew of 1?

Did some quick testing with my play-test crew as they were coming over anyways today. We like the intent of the -1d6 for targetting "smaller scale" ships, but it seems a bit arbitrary. It also breaks apart when you start looking at undersized and standard scale ships that are actually the same tonnage. I would think the best way is simply to scale Defense based on absolute size (regardless of scale). So.. perhaps defense 25 for 51-999, Defense 30 for <50 tons. (High defense values won't matter because they will have low soak)

I'm curious Morrus, if I may be so bold, why the different scale system? I'm an admirer for the simplicity of the starship construction approach you took. As such, I believe the best approach would be to simply to create:

The templates/number needed for the craft <1000 (which isn't covered in the main book).
A formula for classes 19+...

Sample:

under or equal to 50 tons, starfighter, Crew 1, CU15, Defense 30, Fuel 1, Initiative +2d6
51 to 300 tons, support craft, Crew 2, CU25, Defense 25, blah blah
301 - 999 tons, blah, CU 40, Defense 22, etc etc
<standard construction rules cover the rest>
Above size 18, +50,000 tons, +200 MCr, +500 crew, +500 CU, -1 Def, +900 fuel, Init -4d6

Thats it! Then you can use the next 2-3 pages to create specialty components that would be available for the 0-X size classes only and maybe a couple of really massive components too. You won't need a separate chart sheet for scales-sizes then. Basically, extending your current system to cover the bounded lower range (1-1000) and provide a scaling simple formula for things above 500k

Crew divides/multiplies by the same factor, to a minimum of 1.

I agree that the weakest aspect of this approach is that vessels with the same tonnage can have different "scales" - for that reason, my initial inclination was to cut off the table columns at the points where they overlap.

Increasing DEFENSE by 3.5 is pretty much the same thing as applying a -1d6 attack penalty. Certainly extending the DEFENSE scale would also work; my main aim was to write something very short and simple though, and not have to design a ton of new components. That's one of the main reasons it's there in the "fan creations" area rather than in a more official location.

Crew: So does that mean? Perhaps I missed a rule in the main starship construction guide, but does that mean undersized craft are crew/10?

Main point discussion:

Ok, so lets avoid new components and use "scales", I agree with your initial feeling that you should cut off the table where overlap occurs. I feel this should be very explicit such that you would have, for example:



* = This is mostly the rules you have in-place now - with two minor changes that clean up things nicely and preserve balance.
Weapon damage should scale down, but not up automatically otherwise that's double the effect for only half the benefit.
Oversized ships should by treated as simply larger standard ships.

What this would look like, is the table above, plus the following 3 simple points:

*Microsized ship weapons do a maximum of 1D6 to Minisized/Undersized scale ships, and 1 damage to standard/oversized scale ships.
**Mini/undersized ship weapons do a maximum of 1D6 to standard/oversized scale ships.
***Above size 18, for every 50k tons, Class increased by 1, add +200 MCr, +500 crew, +500 CU, -1 Def, +900 fuel. Init becomes -4D6.

In my humble opinion, this would be the best way if you want to keep scales. Yes I purposely proposed the class divisors 1, 2 and 4 not 3!

The only issue you'd have to worry about is the absolute sized components. I'm not worried about shields or armour, you know - the scale is smaller so obviously they'll be more effective (less surface area, etc). What is concerning would be things such as sensors, living quarters, cargo space, etc.. that really shouldn't "scale" down with size. So we would need to put some explicit limits on which components

Nerhesi said:

Crew: So does that mean? Perhaps I missed a rule in the main starship construction guide, but does that mean undersized craft are crew/10?

Click to expand...

It's in the download we're talking about - the scaling draft rule.

***Above size 18, for every 50k tons, Class increased by 1, add +200 MCr, +500 crew, +500 CU, -1 Def, +900 fuel. Init becomes -4D6.

Click to expand...

Generally, the game's design philosophy (including ships hull sizes) is that the scale expands as you progress up it.

Generally, the game's design philosophy (including ships hull sizes) is that the scale expands as you progress up it.

Click to expand...

Oh I see what you're saying now. So the scale shouldn't always progress by 50k tons, it should jump to 75k, then maybe 100k, and so on.
Ok - add 2-3 more rows?

I'm just worried about intrinsically making larger things more powerful (except for small craft, because they're not and they match the whole Wing Commander, Starwars, etc flavour). Larger things/craft will benefit from more space anyways