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<blockquote data-quote="(Psi)SeveredHead" data-source="post: 1737439" data-attributes="member: 1165"><p>I'm sure you noticed the "super-Amazing" firepower weapons in Alternity Warships. IMO spaceship weapons need a total rewrite. They need to be standardized, using a balance technique that doesn't depend entirely on wealth. (Alternity used "hull points" and "power" to balance weapons and other pieces of starship equipment as well as it's cost.)</p><p></p><p>I suggest writing stats that look a bit like this:</p><p></p><p>Mass Cannon (ultralight) - damage etc.</p><p>Mass Cannon (light) - damage etc. Something you'd find on a kroath sphere (subtype fighter).</p><p>Mass Cannon (superheavy) - damage etc. Really, a mass cannon (or laser, or whatever) being fired by a dreadnought should be more powerful than one fired by an escort vessel.</p><p></p><p>You might not need to use up so much space either; maybe each firepower category simply doubles the damage, or something like that.</p><p></p><p>My suggestion is to use the weapon dice x 10 (being sure to change something like d4+2 to xd8) but that doesn't solve the problem of Stun/Wound/Mortal. Of course, this will go up with the size of the firing ship.</p><p></p><p>For armor, increase the hardness (by a set amount) for each level of "armor tougness".</p><p></p><p>Needless to say this makes a fight between a large vessel and a small one not last too long ... assuming the big ship hits. But that's kind of the point.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Use both. Easier for everyone concerned.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Hallelujah! I tried to stat out the fighter pilots, and found I couldn't, unless he's really multi-classed.</p><p></p><p>Speaking of which, I'm unsatisfied with point-defense vs missiles. It shouldn't be a flat out 20% block. There should be a skill roll involved.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Please don't bother with this. No player can afford a ship anyway, so giving out costs/Wealth DCs is kind of pointless. I'm sure you'll do it anyway, but honestly I can't ever recall actually using the cost of ship systems when building Alternity ships.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>This needs to cost something - I forget if it did cost anything in Alternity. Maybe each level of computer system would take up a weapon slot, or a sensor slot, or something like that?</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Hmmm...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Hmmm...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>No need - I've done something similar and it works out very easily. The trick is to use the Star Wars size system (instead of making 90% of the ships Colossal). On "starship scale" a fighter is Tiny (I think), a fleet carrier is Large and a dreadnought is Colossal.</p><p></p><p>With the exception of Ultralights, they all fall into one size category - eg superheavy is colossal. Heavyweight is Gargantuan, Mediumweight is Huge, Light is Large...</p><p></p><p>As a result, you don't actually need to know the dimensions of an Alternity ship. You know it's class (eg heavy ship) so you know it's in the Gargantuan Range (1024-2048 feet in it's largest dimension).</p><p></p><p>Needless to say, this changes a few things, like the bonuses granted by targeting systems, autopilots, grapple checks, pilot checks...</p><p></p><p>Using sizes like this makes fighters really hard to hit... that's why you have point defense guns. They wouldn't suffer size penalties to hit.</p><p></p><p>One last thing, I'm trying to work out a different Missile system. I didn't like the one in Warships (the salvoes were cool, but the excessive range calculations) but I didn't like the one in Future either. I think I'll have them force Pilot checks (against a certain DC) for half-damage.</p><p></p><p>Actually, here are the sizes (Star Wars gives them in metric).</p><p></p><p>Dimunitive: 16-32 feet. Launch.</p><p>Tiny: 32-640 feet (10-20 m*). Fighter, orbital shuttle, courier.</p><p>Small: 64-128 feet. Fast freighter. (I assume a cutter and strike fighter would fit in here.)</p><p>Medium: 128-256 ft. Escort, scout.</p><p>Large: 256-512 feet. Light ships.</p><p>Huge: 512-1024 feet. Mediumweight ships.</p><p>Gargantuan: 1024-2048 feet. Heavyweight ships.</p><p>Colossal: 2048+ feet. Superheavy ships.</p><p></p><p>* In case you wanted to avoid a step of math.</p><p></p><p>PS you'll notice that the star freighter and colony ship actually fall in to the Gargantuan category. You could just bump them to Colossal if you wanted - that makes things easier. (Minotaurs are only 7 feet tall but they're still Large. See my logic? <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> )</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="(Psi)SeveredHead, post: 1737439, member: 1165"] I'm sure you noticed the "super-Amazing" firepower weapons in Alternity Warships. IMO spaceship weapons need a total rewrite. They need to be standardized, using a balance technique that doesn't depend entirely on wealth. (Alternity used "hull points" and "power" to balance weapons and other pieces of starship equipment as well as it's cost.) I suggest writing stats that look a bit like this: Mass Cannon (ultralight) - damage etc. Mass Cannon (light) - damage etc. Something you'd find on a kroath sphere (subtype fighter). Mass Cannon (superheavy) - damage etc. Really, a mass cannon (or laser, or whatever) being fired by a dreadnought should be more powerful than one fired by an escort vessel. You might not need to use up so much space either; maybe each firepower category simply doubles the damage, or something like that. My suggestion is to use the weapon dice x 10 (being sure to change something like d4+2 to xd8) but that doesn't solve the problem of Stun/Wound/Mortal. Of course, this will go up with the size of the firing ship. For armor, increase the hardness (by a set amount) for each level of "armor tougness". Needless to say this makes a fight between a large vessel and a small one not last too long ... assuming the big ship hits. But that's kind of the point. Use both. Easier for everyone concerned. Hallelujah! I tried to stat out the fighter pilots, and found I couldn't, unless he's really multi-classed. Speaking of which, I'm unsatisfied with point-defense vs missiles. It shouldn't be a flat out 20% block. There should be a skill roll involved. Please don't bother with this. No player can afford a ship anyway, so giving out costs/Wealth DCs is kind of pointless. I'm sure you'll do it anyway, but honestly I can't ever recall actually using the cost of ship systems when building Alternity ships. This needs to cost something - I forget if it did cost anything in Alternity. Maybe each level of computer system would take up a weapon slot, or a sensor slot, or something like that? Hmmm... Hmmm... No need - I've done something similar and it works out very easily. The trick is to use the Star Wars size system (instead of making 90% of the ships Colossal). On "starship scale" a fighter is Tiny (I think), a fleet carrier is Large and a dreadnought is Colossal. With the exception of Ultralights, they all fall into one size category - eg superheavy is colossal. Heavyweight is Gargantuan, Mediumweight is Huge, Light is Large... As a result, you don't actually need to know the dimensions of an Alternity ship. You know it's class (eg heavy ship) so you know it's in the Gargantuan Range (1024-2048 feet in it's largest dimension). Needless to say, this changes a few things, like the bonuses granted by targeting systems, autopilots, grapple checks, pilot checks... Using sizes like this makes fighters really hard to hit... that's why you have point defense guns. They wouldn't suffer size penalties to hit. One last thing, I'm trying to work out a different Missile system. I didn't like the one in Warships (the salvoes were cool, but the excessive range calculations) but I didn't like the one in Future either. I think I'll have them force Pilot checks (against a certain DC) for half-damage. Actually, here are the sizes (Star Wars gives them in metric). Dimunitive: 16-32 feet. Launch. Tiny: 32-640 feet (10-20 m*). Fighter, orbital shuttle, courier. Small: 64-128 feet. Fast freighter. (I assume a cutter and strike fighter would fit in here.) Medium: 128-256 ft. Escort, scout. Large: 256-512 feet. Light ships. Huge: 512-1024 feet. Mediumweight ships. Gargantuan: 1024-2048 feet. Heavyweight ships. Colossal: 2048+ feet. Superheavy ships. * In case you wanted to avoid a step of math. PS you'll notice that the star freighter and colony ship actually fall in to the Gargantuan category. You could just bump them to Colossal if you wanted - that makes things easier. (Minotaurs are only 7 feet tall but they're still Large. See my logic? :) ) [/QUOTE]
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