Listlurker
First Post
Charles Rice, the main designer of "Blood and Space" was kind enough to answer some questions I sent him about the newly-released "Blood & Space" PDF. For those who might also be wondering the same things I was, I reprint his answers here:
Question: Is this small-hull individual crew number a crew minimum or a crew maximum?
The text doesn't really say. It's a minimum. I personally dont feel maximums should be an absolute. I think there are too many factors that come into play, including, at some point, free cargo space! So, I would say, use your discretion, but in general, if a small ship (one with crew sizes in the individuals range, rather than in crew units) has 20 people on the bridge all doing things, they should ALL take minuses. However, one reason I didn't pin it down, is because of how many different options PCs have for ships in the rules. Facilities give room for more crew, and the cargo cost of additional weapons also includes room for 1 crew unit per weapon.
The chart on page 57 lists 5 as the crew number for a Civ2 size hull -- but the Hermes-class Courier vessel example has that particular ship's crew max listed as 1.
Is this a typo, or is 5 a "max crew allowable for the hull size" number?
Well... the short answer is, it's a typo. Any ship which lists its crew size in individuals can be piloted by a single person. Keep in mind however, that moving a ship is a Move action for pilot, and so is turning it, so unless the pilot has the Dogfighting feat, he wont be able to have the ship move, turn AND attack if only one person is at the helm.
Do the Passenger numbers represent the number of
individual Passengers allowed, or do the numbers represent the max number of Passenger units a ship can carry?
For the moment, it's individuals.
The author also explained that ships with faster-than-light drives don't need a secondary, sublight engine installed to travel at sublight speeds. So long as the FTL ship keeps its ACC below +20 (the speed of light in the B&S rules), it's operating at sublight speeds.
Thanks again to Charles. Hope this helps others as it has helped me,
LL
Question: Is this small-hull individual crew number a crew minimum or a crew maximum?
The text doesn't really say. It's a minimum. I personally dont feel maximums should be an absolute. I think there are too many factors that come into play, including, at some point, free cargo space! So, I would say, use your discretion, but in general, if a small ship (one with crew sizes in the individuals range, rather than in crew units) has 20 people on the bridge all doing things, they should ALL take minuses. However, one reason I didn't pin it down, is because of how many different options PCs have for ships in the rules. Facilities give room for more crew, and the cargo cost of additional weapons also includes room for 1 crew unit per weapon.
The chart on page 57 lists 5 as the crew number for a Civ2 size hull -- but the Hermes-class Courier vessel example has that particular ship's crew max listed as 1.
Is this a typo, or is 5 a "max crew allowable for the hull size" number?
Well... the short answer is, it's a typo. Any ship which lists its crew size in individuals can be piloted by a single person. Keep in mind however, that moving a ship is a Move action for pilot, and so is turning it, so unless the pilot has the Dogfighting feat, he wont be able to have the ship move, turn AND attack if only one person is at the helm.
Do the Passenger numbers represent the number of
individual Passengers allowed, or do the numbers represent the max number of Passenger units a ship can carry?
For the moment, it's individuals.
The author also explained that ships with faster-than-light drives don't need a secondary, sublight engine installed to travel at sublight speeds. So long as the FTL ship keeps its ACC below +20 (the speed of light in the B&S rules), it's operating at sublight speeds.
Thanks again to Charles. Hope this helps others as it has helped me,
LL
