Gemini Ascendant Campaign

[Nolgroth]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

Oh yeah, is the Big Ooops going to be a complete surprise, or are the events leading up to it pretty well understood by just about everybody involved?

[Starwolf]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

Oh yeah' date=' is the Big Ooops going to be a complete surprise, or are the events leading up to it pretty well understood by just about everybody involved?[/quote']

 

It's a big suprise...

 

Here is the basic issue equipment that everyone gets for free. You can add to these items using your Resource Points.

 

You can delete items as you please. But be careful... one of the main tropes of post apoc is scrounging equipment, and while this seems like a lot, you can go through it fairly quickly...

 

In addition to these items as I mentioned each character will receive a piece of Signature Equipment that fits your character type/background.

[Starwolf]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

Starwolf' date=' I sent you my preliminary draft of my character. Let me know how it looks from the GM perspective.[/quote']

 

I'll look it over ASAP and get back to you

[Starwolf]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

Starwolf' date=' I sent you my preliminary draft of my character. Let me know how it looks from the GM perspective.[/quote']

 

The character looks great, and I like the pic a lot

[Starwolf]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

The Walkin' Dude is Randall Flagg' date=' [/quote']

 

I thought the movie sucked, but the book was over the top. It is one of the few novels I have ever read that actually gave me nightmares. I started dreaming I was being chased through a cornfield...

 

Well you know

[Starwolf]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

K... Last post for the night.

 

I have added the siganture equipment to Agent Garrison and LCDR McCormick...

 

and sent the HDCs out

[Starwolf]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

Tentative start date for the Guardians... 18 October, 2007 depending on the status of the GA story arc...

 

Now I need to find a countdown clock I can put on my website... you know countdown to APOCALYPSE...

[solron915]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

K... Last post for the night.

 

I have added the siganture equipment to Agent Garrison and LCDR McCormick...

 

and sent the HDCs out

 

I like what you did with Lcdr McCormick and the signature weapon is cool. Now to see how the rest of these non-coms shape up and the civilian as well.

[Starwolf]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

Ok after giving it some thought, the group is assigned a single prototype vehicle... the M2000 Chariot - Urban Squad Level Fighting Vehicle. The designers took elements of the M2A3 Bradley fighting vehicle, the Stryker IFV, and a class A motorhome, and incorported them to create the Chariot.

 

The Chariot is 24 feet long, 12 feet wide, and has an 11 foot clearance.

 

The HDC file will follow shortly

[Nolgroth]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

Ok after giving it some thought, the group is assigned a single prototype vehicle... the M2000 Chariot - Urban Squad Level Fighting Vehicle. The designers took elements of the M2A3 Bradley fighting vehicle, the Stryker IFV, and a class A motorhome, and incorported them to create the Chariot.

 

The Chariot is 24 feet long, 12 feet wide, and has an 11 foot clearance.

 

The HDC file will follow shortly

Pretty!

[solron915]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

Ok after giving it some thought, the group is assigned a single prototype vehicle... the M2000 Chariot - Urban Squad Level Fighting Vehicle. The designers took elements of the M2A3 Bradley fighting vehicle, the Stryker IFV, and a class A motorhome, and incorported them to create the Chariot.

 

The Chariot is 24 feet long, 12 feet wide, and has an 11 foot clearance.

 

The HDC file will follow shortly

 

I like it.

[RPMiller]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

Hopefully one of us is a mechanic and has combat driving... I can man the gun no problem.

[Nolgroth]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

Hopefully one of us is a mechanic and has combat driving... I can man the gun no problem.

I got the Combat Driving handled. Uh, for the rest there is Everyman.

[Starwolf]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

Untrained Skill rolls are 6- (house rule)

Familiarity and Everyman Skills are 8-

Note that CSLs, SLs, and PSLs, don't apply to these skills...

 

I haven't seen all of the characters yet, but Nol is right about Combat Driving being covered, and untrained or everyman skills.

[ghost-angel]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

Guess I'll be adding Mechanic to my character sheet.

 

I'm almost done with the characters personality and background bits too.

[Starwolf]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

Guess I'll be adding Mechanic to my character sheet.

 

I'm almost done with the characters personality and background bits too.

 

[solron915]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

 

So we have a driver and a mechanic or is there any more mechanics or drivers . I guess we'll see.

[Nolgroth]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

Switching gears back to Space Opera for just a moment, I noticed some things while doing prep work tonight. Let's just say I'm smacking myself in the forehead in that "could've had a V-8" way. So be prepared for things to get a little rough.

 

Now that we have had the opportunity to field test the Dogfighting house rules, how are they working out? Starwolf's and Ghost-Angel's opinions are of particular interest, though anybody with one is welcome to chime in.

 

Also, I've been thinking about movement and scale in MapTools. I think that if we scale the Space hex up to 200 meters, we can keep movement relatively sane and still map it out. Movement rates and near targeting range would be divided by 100 to get an idea of just how many scale hexes ships move or weapons reach.. I even have a spreadsheet built that tells me how many (space scale) hexes per segment a given ship is traveling.

 

I am relishing the opportunity to fine-tune the Dogfight rules.

[Nolgroth]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

Oh and remind me that we are starting out on Segment 3, Dex 19 of Turn 5 (or 4?) next session. Wade, Sam and Doc (held action) went last on Segment 3, Dex 20.

[ghost-angel]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

Are we moving Sam up to SPD6, or keeping her locked on the Speed of the ship at 5?

 

I think, so far the dogfights are going well - if a bit slow.

 

Some suggestions to speed it up.

Segment 1 - Skills Vs Skill Piloting Rolls, this sets the relative DCV/OCV for the ships.

Once a Gunner gets a Lock on a target unless they change have the Lock stick (unless they switch targets).

 

Pilots may, on their Phase, attempt to maneuver to increase OCV of a gunner, increase DCV vs 1 or more targets (per standard Star Hero Combat Maneuvers), Shake a Lock (forcing a gunner/pilot to Relock a target). This keeps the SvS rolls down and smooth things out.

 

If you're not doing a maneuver, the Pilot simply needs to move the ship the desired hexes/direction - no roll needed - to also help speeds things up.

 

Maneuvers, any maneuver, would incur the standard Roll Penalty. Defensive Maneuver can get a +1 DCV vs a single target for example. p215-217 of Star Hero. I think this will help justify the 16 to 18- Comat Piloting Rolls that Aces have without providing insane bonuses to their gunners - who already come in at 16 to 18- on their Lock and can get some pretty good OCV Bonuses from that alone.

 

OCV Bonuses from Lock last until the gunner finds a new target, destroys the current target, or the current target successfully Evades.

 

Some of these have more repercussions for single pilot fighters though Assuming it takes a 1/2 Phase Action to acquire Lock.

 

Mostly I'm looking at ways to cut down on all the Rolling and subsequent Adding Of Dice.

 

Short Form:

Segment 1 - Skills vs Skill to set Relative DCV for the Turn

Pilots may: 1/2 Phase Maneuver/Movement, Full Phase Maneuver/Movement.

Gunners may: 1/2 Phase Acquire Lock, 1/2 Phase Attack

 

Single Pilot Fighters have to balance out that 1/2 Phase has to be spent moving the ship, and if no Lock then 1/2 Phase gaining Lock, once Lock is achieve it is in effect until Evaded or Switch by Pilot/Gunner.

 

that make sense?

[Nolgroth]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

Are we moving Sam up to SPD6' date=' or keeping her locked on the Speed of the ship at 5?[/quote']Sam's Speed will be capped at whatever the ship is or 6, whichever is lower. In the case of Mercury, it is 5.

I think, so far the dogfights are going well - if a bit slow.

I agree, but two things to consider; there are a crap load of combatants and each one is subject to the Terran Empire massive defenses syndrome. Even with that though, it is going much slower than I would have wanted.

 

I also have to agree that, while in theory SvS rolls are neat, the actual application is tedious. Looking at the Dogfight rules in Star HERO, I'm thinking that is the way to go. I think we should at least try those rules to see how they compare. In fact most of your suggestion seem to come directly from those rules so either you're being subtle or you have similar ideas to the authors.

 

The only thing is that I still want Turrets to be sub-vehicles that are attached to the main vehicle. I don't think that a turret should suffer the same penalties due to size that the master vehicle suffers (say for its spinal weapon).

 

Hmmmn.

 

Thursday, we're converting back to Dogfight/Space Combat rules as per Star HERO pages 212 to 212. I'm tending toward Dramatic Movement with nods towards Realistic Movement. Use the Starship Maneuver table.

 

As a slight modification; Turrets are going to continue being sub vehicles attached to a "master" vehicle. Turrets will have their own Characteristics, Powers, etc. and can be targeted individually from the "master" vehicle.

 

I am somewhat torn on what to do about the DCV adjustment based on size. For defense, the Turret has a base DCV of its master vehicle plus any bonuses based on Size difference. For attacks, the Turret uses the base DCV of the target. It doesn't gain any bonuses for being smaller than another vessel, nor does it take penalties for being part of a larger vessel.

 

Thoughts?

[Nolgroth]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

Interesting. If I am reading the rules right, the ship's Main Computer INT is used to obtain Sensor Lock then the gunner uses the ship's OCV plus bonuses to attack. I suppose bonuses would come from CSLs, Combat Maneuvers and Starship Maneuvers that provide a bonus.

 

That means the extra skill levels in SysOps are going to have to be converted over to CV levels. Sorry.

 

It also means that I have to create the Main Computer for the ship. For purposes of combat, the AI counts as a distinct entity from the Main Computer and would be limited by the Main Computer if it were ever to use the ship's weapons.

 

Where is that Size difference DCV chart again?

[Starwolf]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

I am somewhat torn on what to do about the DCV adjustment based on size. For defense, the Turret has a base DCV of its master vehicle plus any bonuses based on Size difference. For attacks, the Turret uses the base DCV of the target. It doesn't gain any bonuses for being smaller than another vessel, nor does it take penalties for being part of a larger vessel.

 

Thoughts?

 

The idea of using flat DCV for turrets has merit. It will certainly speed things along. As to the DCV of the turret itself. Unless the turret is actually a "true" saperate vehicle I would not worry about it's DCV, just use the mother vessels. The hit locations will handle whether a particular turret is struck. Unless the shot is a placed shot against the turret in which case an appropraite Hit location penalty to OCV seems appropriate.

[Starwolf]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

Where is that Size difference DCV chart again?

 

I typed it directly into the ORPG ship dice roller node... Easiest would be to open the node and cut/paste it into a word doc, or where ever you are keeping your combat charts.

[Nolgroth]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

I typed it directly into the ORPG ship dice roller node... Easiest would be to open the node and cut/paste it into a word doc' date=' or where ever you are keeping your combat charts.[/quote']Thanks!