D20 Future: Ship Building (HD/Weight etc.)

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

There aren't any rules in D20 Future for hangars, however

Well, I assume you can convert cargo into hangars, but most of the larger vessels don't have a whole lot of cargo space - not enough to carry even a squadron of fighters in many cases.

Plus, I'm still trying to find rules for troop transports.

 

[kingpaul]

I was thinking about this, and its been to long since college that I've done this type of problem.

Has anyone thought of taking the stat block values as variables with the DC as the answer and done a multiple regression analysis? You can then determine (hopefully) what the weight of the entries are wrt cost.

 

[Ralts Bloodthorne]

Swarmhiver Transport [PL 7]​

The Swarmhiver is a tried and true, if obsolete fighter carrier. It is capable of FTL speeds, and carries a compliment of 100 fighters, 4 rescue/recovery craft, and 40 Raven-III Dropships.
The Swarmhiver may launch 20 fighters, 1 r/r craft and all 40 dropships in a single round, and is capable of flooding a planets atmosphere with fighters that provide coverfire for the incoming groundtroop dropships.
It's lightly armed for a cruiser class vessel, but still possesses the weaponry to subdue starports or hammer at planetary defense batteries.

• Type: Cruiser Class (formerly superheavy)
• Subtype: Carrier
• Size: Colossal (-8 size)
• Tactical Speed: 3,500 ft (7 sq)
• Defense: 11
  • Flat Footed: 7
  • Autopilot Defense:+8
• Hardness: 30
• Hit Dice: 2,000d20 (40,000 hp)
• Initiave Modifiers: +6
• Pilot's Class Bonus: +5
• Pilot's Dex Modifier: +4
• Gunner's Attack Bonus: +9
• Length: 7,500 feet
• Width: 2,600 feet
• Hieght: 1,200 feet
• Weight: 700,000 tons
• Targeting System Bonus: +8
• Crew: 4,200 (expert +8)
• Passenger Capacity: 1,000
• Cargo Capacity: 300,000 tons
• Grapple Modifier: +16
• Base Puchase DC: 90
• Restriction: Military (+3)

Attack

Attack of Opportunity
Point Defense Systems (2): 5d12x10

Standard PL 7 Design Specs
Engine: Thrusters, Intertia Compensators, Particle Impulse Engine
Armor: Cerametal
Defense Systems (13): Particle Field, Repair Drones, Light Fortification, Displacer, Stealth Screen, Point Defense System (x2), Decoy Drone Launcher, Radioation Shielding, Self Destruct System, Improved Autopilot System, Sensor Jammer, Chaff Launcher
Sensors (3): Class V Sensor Array, Improved Targeting System, Class IV Sensor Array (redundant backup)
Communications: Drivesat Comm Array, Internal Comm System
Weapons (13): Plasma missile batter (5), Mass reaction missile battery (5), Fire linked antimatter guns (2), Heavy Mass cannon
Grappling Systems: Grapplers, Tractor Beam Emitters


OK, I gotta make a store run, so I'll be back in about 3 hours, and I'll finish this then.

BTW-I doublechecked the mechanics and starship examples since May. There is NO rules for hanger decks or troop bays, or many other things. Several things don't make sense, like my version of d20 Future doesn't say if you get batteries of weapons at a reduced cost (5 weapons = 4 slots) or not, or if a battery is counted as one slot (in which case, why use normal weapons at all), and I can't remember off the top of my head if firelink has a cost beyond weapon for weapon.

I think I may have twigged onto something. It looks like roughly 18 fighters per weapon slot dropped into bays, but I can't be sure. There's a lot of fudging.

Honestly? Wait for Blood & Space II by RPGObjects, and see if that fits your needs. That's what I'm waiting for.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Swarmhiver Transport [PL 7]​

The Swarmhiver is a tried and true, if obsolete fighter carrier. It is capable of FTL speeds, and carries a compliment of 100 fighters, 4 rescue/recovery craft, and 40 Raven-III Dropships.
The Swarmhiver may launch 20 fighters, 1 r/r craft and all 40 dropships in a single round, and is capable of flooding a planets atmosphere with fighters that provide coverfire for the incoming groundtroop dropships.
It's lightly armed for a cruiser class vessel, but still possesses the weaponry to subdue starports or hammer at planetary defense batteries.

• Type: Cruiser Class (formerly superheavy)
• Subtype: Carrier
• Size: Colossal (-8 size)
• Tactical Speed: 3,500 ft (7 sq)
• Defense: 11
  • Flat Footed: 7
  • Autopilot Defense:+8
• Hardness: 30
• Hit Dice: 2,000d20 (40,000 hp)
• Initiave Modifiers: +6
• Pilot's Class Bonus: +5
• Pilot's Dex Modifier: +4
• Gunner's Attack Bonus: +9
• Length: 7,500 feet
• Width: 2,600 feet
• Hieght: 1,200 feet
• Weight: 700,000 tons
• Targeting System Bonus: +8
• Crew: 4,200 (expert +8)
• Passenger Capacity: 1,000
• Cargo Capacity: 300,000 tons
• Grapple Modifier: +16
• Base Puchase DC: 90
• Restriction: Military (+3)

Attack

Attack of Opportunity
Point Defense Systems (2): 5d12x10

Standard PL 7 Design Specs
Engine: Thrusters, Intertia Compensators, Particle Impulse Engine
Armor: Cerametal
Defense Systems (13): Particle Field, Repair Drones, Light Fortification, Displacer, Stealth Screen, Point Defense System (x2), Decoy Drone Launcher, Radioation Shielding, Self Destruct System, Improved Autopilot System, Sensor Jammer, Chaff Launcher
Sensors (3): Class V Sensor Array, Improved Targeting System, Class IV Sensor Array (redundant backup)
Communications: Drivesat Comm Array, Internal Comm System
Weapons (13): Plasma missile batter (5), Mass reaction missile battery (5), Fire linked antimatter guns (2), Heavy Mass cannon
Grappling Systems: Grapplers, Tractor Beam Emitters


OK, I gotta make a store run, so I'll be back in about 3 hours, and I'll finish this then.

BTW-I doublechecked the mechanics and starship examples since May. There is NO rules for hanger decks or troop bays, or many other things.

Yeah, I wish they hadn't cut so much stuff out. I wonder if they would have included that stuff from Warships... or maybe make it available later.

Several things don't make sense, like my version of d20 Future doesn't say if you get batteries of weapons at a reduced cost (5 weapons = 4 slots)

It still takes up 5 slots.

or not, or if a battery is counted as one slot (in which case, why use normal weapons at all), and I can't remember off the top of my head if firelink has a cost beyond weapon for weapon.[/quo8te]

I don't recall either.

I think I may have twigged onto something. It looks like roughly 18 fighters per weapon slot dropped into bays, but I can't be sure. There's a lot of fudging.

No, I think you're wrong, if you're trying to elicit a pattern from the rules... not that you didn't try, but if you look at the Future carriers, they have the same amount of weapons as everything else of their Hit Dice.

Honestly? Wait for Blood & Space II by RPGObjects, and see if that fits your needs. That's what I'm waiting for.

If it's Modern-compatible (eg uses Modern's classes) then I will be happy. (Actually, I could just ignore their classes if they're not Modern-compatible.)

In any event my biggest problem is that the most balanced part of the book - mutations - has a point system whereas everything else has a slot system. Unfortunately not all things that take up a slot have the same worth, so it's really easy to cheese the system.

Plus, the only big difference between a small spaceship and a big one are hit points. A big ship might have 9 weapon slots (one of the two carriers) which is about three times better than an assault fighter, but look at the hit points. Not that it makes a huge difference... in Alternity you'd have to be amazingly lucky to get your hands on anything bigger than a frigate.

 

[Ralts Bloodthorne]

Dreadnought (PL 7)
1,200 HD
4 fire linked cannons
battery of 4 mass cannons
2 fire linked mass reaction missiles

Star Carrier (PL7)
1,000 HD
Battery of 5 mass cannons
Battery of 4 antimatter guns

Superheavy Starships: 1 weapon per 150 HD

Dreadnought
1,200/150 = 8 slots
10 weapons.

Star Carrier
1000/150 = 6.67
9 weapons.

Hmmm, doesn't add up.
Now, if batteries cost a single weapons slot...

Dreadnought: 7 weapons

Star Carrier: 2 weapons.

That leaves us with 4 troop bays for the star carrier.

Some fudging? Just a bit.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

1 troop bay = 1 weapon slot? I guess. That's still a lot of fighters though, based on size (so superheavy? 1 weapon = 18 fighters. Yikes!)

Because a fighter's weapon is nearly as powerful as any other ship's weapon, this sort of breaks carriers, doesn't it?

However, let's look at the PL 6 fleet carrier. It's heavy, and heavy ships have 1 weapon system per 50 HD. It has 150 HD so it should have 10 weapons. It has a battery of 5 guns (5 weapons?) and 2 batteries of 2 missiles each (4 weapons?) adding up to 9 weapons.

The battleship is expected to have 8 weapons, but it only has six. Weird.

What about ultralight ships? How many troops do you think would fit in a troop bay (if a troop bay replaced one weapon slot)? According to my calculations, 1 weapon slot gives you 20 troops, and any troop carrier should still have at least one weapon.

For fighter capacity, I looked at cargoes. It increases at a specific rate for heavy ships, but the figures are all over the place for superheavy ships.

 

[kingpaul]

Has anyone thought of taking the stat block values as variables with the DC as the answer and done a multiple regression analysis? You can then determine (hopefully) what the weight of the entries are wrt cost.

Well, here's what Excel spat out at me.

 

[C. Baize]

Well... I'm looking at Blood and Space II, now (some final edits before release), and it's definitely D20 Modern/Future compatible.