Need help with Manueverability

[El Mahdi]

Alright this is what I have at this point:
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Rating Examples[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]0 Ox Cart, Cog, Small Barge, Large Naval Vessels[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]1 Barge, Caravel, Fishing Boat, Antique Car[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]2 Rowboat, Cabin Cruiser Boat, Galleon, Bus, Armored Truck, Tractor Trailer, Forklift, Stage Coach[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]3 Limousine, Armored Truck, Warship, Trireme, Longship, 2 Horse Chariot, Tank [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]4 Coastal, Corvette, Sloop, Snowmobile, Compact Car, Jeep, Pickup[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]5 Sedan, Prop Plane, Large Helicopter, Powerboat, Bomber[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]6 ATV, Transport Helicopter, Speed boat, Dune Buggy[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]7 Sports Car, Police Cruiser, WW2 Fighter, Learjet, Small Helicopter [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]8 Dirt Bike, Jet Ski, Hydrofoil[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]9 Racing Bike, Formula 1 Car, A-10[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]10 F-14[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]11 F-18, F-15[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]12 F-16, F-22[/FONT]
Any thoughts?

F-14 and F-15 are going to be about the same in maneuverability, which is somewhere in between an F-4 (horrible) and F-16 (the best). The F-15 and F-14 are very similar in weight, power and aerodynamics (excepting the F-14's wing sweep in supersonic flight - of which such speeds are almost never used in dog fights). An F-18 is more equivalent to an F-16 in maneuverability (though I think an F-16 can still out-turn it - or under-turn it). The F-22 is in a class by itself and able to outmaneuver even an F-16. It's scary bad. There isn't a plane in the sky that can touch it. The F-35 is probably somewhere in between the F-15 and the F-16 in maneuverability (though the F-16 is probably still better as the F-35 is pretty big and heavy). But that's just purely maneuverability. An F-16 likely wouldn't have a chance against an F-35 due to it's advanced sensors and targeting, and of course it's stealth.

So, probably more like this:

10. F-14, F-15
11. F-35
12. F-16, F-18
30. F-22

 

[Janx]

Generally, the longer the vehicle, the larger the turn radius

the faster the vehicle is going, the larger the turn radius

Additionally, GW's example of a predator chase assumes both are going at their maximum speed. In real chases, speed varies, and you MIGHT hold some speed in reserve for when you really need it.

Or, you might be coming from a standstill to chase the moving prey. So while you may be faster, you have to accelerate to intercept.

Also, there is the matter of expenditure of energy, you might not be able to keep up faster speeds for as long (consider the cruising warp speed of the USS Enterprise and the in-a-hurry speed that Scotty always warned was going to tear the engines apart).

 

[garrowolf]

For one Nexus is not set up to map out chases or combat. It's more cinematic and less wargame. So things like turn radius, acceleration/deceleration rating are not needed. You just need to know how fast it is and how manueverable in general. Specific manuevers and turns are just covered by the general drive rolls.

I never liked RPG systems that tried to give a manuever by manuever check for chases. I just need to know in general if it is predator or prey and the terrain. For instance in a dogfight the jets are moving in so many different directions as they try and shoot each other that mapping it would be pointless and just slow the fun down. Things like the kinds of turns and how close they got to each other are a part of the description of the manuever from the players and the GM.

Part of the point of the Nexus system is to speed up the game by reducing the number of rolls that the players make. There should be only one roll per action.

[MENTION=59506]El Mahdi[/MENTION] - Thanks! That's what I was looking for! 30 may be a little high but I am going to expand that scale farther with more science fiction ships. I figure that ships with contragrav would allow for even higher manuever ratings. Many starfighters have the ability to rotate in place but they don't actually move as much atmospheric fighters since they can't bank off the air resistance. Also they seem to be changing direction when travelling in a straight line or they will end up with too many vectors. Basically I want to have starfighters on the same chart but not make them impossibily high since they have a different set of issues to deal with.

I'm still trying to figure out how to do this.

Any thoughts?

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

If you have access to Spycraft (1.0) it has rules for vehicular combat that avoid most of the issues with the d20 Modern system. It doesn't force you to track every turn, for instance, has neat maneuvers and terrain modifiers. One turn could consist of driving through a graveyard, with the PCs being forced to avoid running over the monks tending it.

 

[garrowolf]

Haha, that's a funny image!

 

[Hand of Evil]

There are math formulas for figuring it out.