In one sentence...

Morrus

Well, that was fun
Staff member
Starship combat, or more specifically cinematic starfighter combat.

In most if not all RPGs I've seen, when the PCs climb into a vehicle, they get given a whole new set of stats for the vehicle, which are often slightly modified by the character's capabilities. The net effect is that it is the vehicle that is the important part of the whole, with the character being much less important.

Conversely, if we look at the Battle of Yavin, we have a dozen or so members of Red Squadron, all in effectively identical ships. But Luke Skywalker gets hit twice in the battle and yet survives to complete his run, while Porkins' just blows up for no great reason. (Other Reds die with one hit, while Wedge survives a hit with damage, and Red Leader survives one hit and dies on a second.)

Model that in SWSE, though, and you find that the difference between Luke's ship and Porkins' is marginal - there's maybe a point of Reflex defence in it, and a change of BAB, but that's about all. The rules presented just don't match the fiction we see.

So, what I would like to see is a system where when the character climbs into the vehicle, the character's stats are modified slightly to allow for the characteristics of the ship, rather than the other way around. And proceed from there.

(Of course, that only works for small one-man fighters. As soon as you get a second PC in a ship, the model becomes screwy. That's why I would like a professional to solve those problems for me. :) )

I think that's a decent idea -I might even borrow it! It would only work for roughly equal fighter capabilities, though - a modern jet fighter vs. a Sopwith Camel is pretty much going to be decided solely by the tech.
 

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delericho

Legend
I think that's a decent idea -I might even borrow it! It would only work for roughly equal fighter capabilities, though

True...

- a modern jet fighter vs. a Sopwith Camel is pretty much going to be decided solely by the tech.

Of course, it depends how 'cinematic' you want to go - c.f. John McClane vs the jet in "Die Hard 4.0". Not that I would recommend that as an example for, well, anything really. :)
 

Morrus

Well, that was fun
Staff member
True...



Of course, it depends how 'cinematic' you want to go - c.f. John McClane vs the jet in "Die Hard 4.0". Not that I would recommend that as an example for, well, anything really. :)

You know, the more I think about it the more I love this idea. On my sci-fi game I'm writing right now, large starships work but as yet it does not handle fighters that well. I think this is the solution I was looking for - when you get down to a class O-I vessel, you treat it more as the armour and weapons you're carrying than a vehicle you're inside.
 

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