Gemini Ascendant Campaign

[Nolgroth]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

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' date=' 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.[/quote']Done and done!

[Starwolf]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

I will have that power consumption chart for the Mercury we discussed, ready to share by gametime also so that we can have a quick reference for END expenditure

[Nolgroth]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

I will have that power consumption chart for the Mercury we discussed' date=' ready to share by gametime also so that we can have a quick reference for END expenditure [/quote']Cool.

[ghost-angel]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

Sam's Speed will be capped at whatever the ship is or 6' date=' whichever is lower. In the case of Mercury, it is 5.[/quote']

 

Someday Sam will get to pilot a ship that's up to her ability.

 

RE: converting SysOp:Targeting Skill Levels to Combat Skill Levels - no problem, that turns her +6 Targeting into +4 OCV.

 

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.

 

 

Little bit of both.

 

I like Turrets on large ships being Separate from the main ship. I would say it doesn't have to be modeled as a Vehicle, Maybe just a Computer whose Speed represents Fire Rate and simply Rule any system with a dedicated Sub-Computer may act independent of the main Ship/Computer - and then only apply that Sub-Computer to appropriate Turrets (i.e. the Gemini cannot have a Sub-Computer added onto it since it does not have a "turret" merely a "weapons array") - this nicely circumvents all kinds of possible issues; Like a Vehicle trying to pay for a Vehicle (which it can't do).

[RPMiller]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

What if the turret is manned instead of run by a computer, a la the Millennium Falcon? Then it would be solely based on the gunner correct?

[ghost-angel]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

What if the turret is manned instead of run by a computer' date=' a la the Millennium Falcon? Then it would be solely based on the gunner correct?[/quote']

 

To clarify - I'm not suggesting the Turret be run by a Computer, merely have Computer Stats (INT/SPD) - a gunner must be present to "operate the computer" or rather Man The Weapon. The Computer has no effect beyond providing a Refresh Fire Rate (based on Speed) and to decouple the Turrets Speed from the Ships Speed. The computers INT can act as the simile to Vehicle DEX.

[RPMiller]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

That makes sense.

[ghost-angel]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

I figure, if you're going the Vehicle route you need to build a Computer anyways to target, why not just remove the middle man, build a separate Computer dedicated to the Turret, let it act independently and go from there.

 

This has the added bonus of easily allowing the Main Computer (of the Ship) to "Take Over" so the Turret can be remotely operated should someone so desire (bridge controlled Weapons Station anyone?).

[Nolgroth]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

All good ideas. My big thing is that, yeah, a sub-computer could run the turret but so could Joe crewman as well. A sub-computer/processor dedicated to each turret makes a lot of sense.

 

It would need INT, DEX, SPD just like a regular computer, but would only have the skills necessary to target the guns in the turret. Nice idea ghost-angel. Very nice idea.

 

I was thinking a separate vehicle or perhaps a limited form of Duplication to represent targeting and destroying the turret without necessarily needing to overcome the defenses of the main vessel. The Force Fields would still be a prime issue, but the DEF of the Turret may not be as high as the Hull. It may also not have the luxury of Ablative armor either. What do you think?

 

I like where this discussion is going. I think we may actually be onto something.

[Nolgroth]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

Some notes for today's game.

 

1. I went in and placed macros on all the ships as well as some button macros that reference the ones on the tokens. Instead of doing that for each of the individual fighters, I deleted the existing tokens and modified one token with all the goodness. I then copied that. The upshot being that some of the token positions may be shifted.

 

2. I changed the scale to better fit what I had in mind. This may have also caused some slight variance in where the tokens are vs where they were.

 

3. Starwolf, since you are the pilot, I need a Movement rate somewhere between 0" and 3060" (the max you could be going at Combat Velocity with the number of phases you've had). For comparison, the enemy ships are traveling about 320" Movement.

 

4. ghost-angel, since you are the gunner, with the test idea of making the hex scale larger without increasing the scale of movement or weapons, you should know that you have a range of 11 scale hexes with the Particle Cannon on Near Targeting mode. With the Sustained Beam mode, that reaches out to 65 hexes. I'm going to assume no range penalty since it would be rather cumbersome to worry about. Hooray for the freebie.

 

5. END is going to be enforced. Per a conversation with Starwolf, the Mercury had nowhere near the END it needed to be functional in combat. I have upped the ante so to speak but there must still be some conservation. The new END Reserve is 1200/800. You are currently sitting on 800 - whatever END was spent in Segment 3 on Movement, Cloak, Force Field and whatever other systems are running (a minimum output of 158 END with a hypothetical max of 224 END as you didn't fire weapons in Phase 3, but you did use the Transport Device.)

 

6. I need to add the Transport device to the Mercury writeup. (Doh!) Figure that it has a Space scale of 13" up to 8 people and or 8x mass

 

7. As a side note, I never looked at the Skills section of the Cruiser and Fighter HDC files I was using. They both have CSLs for Ranged Combat. Expect those CSLs to be used in this session. (Doh! again.)

 

8. It is a good idea to air any protests or comments before the game. I realize a whole lot of conditions have changed between last session and now and I would completely understand any apprehension about changing our methodology. I think, for the most part, things are going to run way smoother.

 

9. I'm going to set up the server before hitting the sack. If you want to tweak your token for any reason, you should have ample opportunity between now and game time.

[Starwolf]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

I would say we are at 120" and accelerating, I had come to almost a stop to beam the others back aboard, so I had to re-accelerate once that was done , and IRRC it has only been one phase since then...

 

Which begs the question... are we going to use the acceleration/decceleration rules from SH/TUV?

 

When jockeying for position in a dogfight... we should have a mechanism where facing relative to your opponent has an affect on what combat options are available. For instance in a SvS roll if I succeed and have the speed/turn mode to attain a rear position (I'm on his 6), then my opponent should have some limited options like, only weapons with a rear arc can fire, and/or to avoid getting dusted he might need to dodge (jinking), or some defensive manuever...

 

An effective tactic fo thr fighters would be to get an opponent (me) to target one of them then manuever during the chase so that while I am occupied with him... his wingman can line up a shot on my 6. Sort of lead me into the line of fire. This deadly combination is one of the reasons wingmen exist in the first place. In this scenario, I am forced to either defend against the wingman thus allowing my opponet to escape, or press my attack and be vulnerable to his buddy...

[Nolgroth]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

I would say we are at 120" and accelerating' date=' I had come to almost a stop to beam the others back aboard, so I had to re-accelerate once that was done , and IRRC it has only been one phase since then... [/quote']Good enough. I had imagined you were doing a fly-by, but this is just as good.

 

Which begs the question... are we going to use the acceleration/decceleration rules from SH/TUV?

Are you referring to your Flight speed as Acceleration? If so, then yes.

 

When jockeying for position in a dogfight... we should have a mechanism where facing relative to your opponent has an affect on what combat options are available. For instance in a SvS roll if I succeed and have the speed/turn mode to attain a rear position (I'm on his 6), then my opponent should have some limited options like, only weapons with a rear arc can fire, and/or to avoid getting dusted he might need to dodge (jinking), or some defensive manuever...

Yeah, this should be common sense for the most part. For this session we are using the REAL rules so that we can cut down on dice rolls. Summary;

1. No die rolls unless a specific maneuver is used. No SvS at this point.

2. Before you can fire with full OCV, a Target Lock must be acquired. Ship's Computer INT-based PER. Target Lock stays until vessel leaves Line of Sight, is Destroyed, or performs Shake Lock maneuver.

3. Uh, I think that's it. I wish I had really sat down with the rules before because they are quite elegant. Another example of me running of on a lark to test an idea. I do that.

4. See Pages 212-220 (though the juicy bits are around 215-216) of Star HERO.

Edit 5. Many of the traditional Combat Maneuvers are translatable to Starship combat.

An effective tactic fo thr fighters would be to get an opponent (me) to target one of them then manuever during the chase so that while I am occupied with him... his wingman can line up a shot on my 6. Sort of lead me into the line of fire. This deadly combination is one of the reasons wingmen exist in the first place. In this scenario, I am forced to either defend against the wingman thus allowing my opponet to escape, or press my attack and be vulnerable to his buddy...

Indeed yes, as per the Starship Maneuver chart, the most ships you can have a bonus to DCV against is four and the most an OCV bonus is one. Let's not forget Multiple Attackers rules (which I had) that also can apply.

[RPMiller]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

Just wanted to let you all know that b16 for MapTool was posted today. All kinds of changes. There are a couple from us. You can now save your tokens. Also, you can now enter stun: [4d6h] body: [4d6b] into the chat or a macro and it will calculate stun and body. No, it doesn't roll twice. That is just the script that they went with. It is suggested that you put this in your macros to make it easier. They are working on a more elegant solution, but at least they have it in there now. I have suggested that they need to do a reverse version for killing attacks, but I have no idea when that will get added in.

[Starwolf]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

I was just chatting with Nol in his server, and for tonight we are staying with b14. We will test then possibly make the jump to b16 or b17 after tonights game. I think it really depends on the portability of the campaign file.

 

There are also other REALLY cool developments... saving tokens, a table/dice rolling script, and the Hero Dice thingy... I am excited

[Starwolf]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

When we do make the jump, I am going to need an assist in acquiring the ZIP files, as I can't download from the RPTools sites... Also can I request that someone grab the latest Token tool for me as well. Once I get them I'll post them to my website for others that have the problem (it is a known problem over on the RPTools site).

[RPMiller]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

I can give you whatever files you need, but I'm not sure how to get them to you.

 

I agree about waiting to upgrade, it looks like b16 is getting quite a few tweaks so b17 maybe a better bet.

[Nolgroth]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

I still have Abyss, though I don't run it for MapTools. I can get and host the latest builds for you.

[Merovign]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

WRT The New Game, I'm planning on having driving, mechanical and electronics skills.

 

I think we'll be pretty well-covered in that regard.

 

I'll send the character when I've got a "working draft," it's been slow going and I've concentrated mostly on character history and less so on getting the numbers / math done.

 

Nolgy just lent me the Ultimate Martial Artist. Heh. Heh. Heh.

[Starwolf]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

I still have Abyss' date=' though I don't run it for MapTools. I can get and host the latest builds for you.[/quote']

 

That would rock...

 

I appreciate both you and RP for helping...

[Starwolf]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

WRT The New Game, I'm planning on having driving, mechanical and electronics skills.

 

I think we'll be pretty well-covered in that regard.

 

I'll send the character when I've got a "working draft," it's been slow going and I've concentrated mostly on character history and less so on getting the numbers / math done.

 

Nolgy just lent me the Ultimate Martial Artist. Heh. Heh. Heh.

 

[ghost-angel]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

I'll post any/all versions on my webserver space for everyone in case reinstalls are needed.

 

Nol - on the ships Ranged Skill Levels - if you're not going to use Range convert them to 2pt OCV Skill Levels (same cost, correct rule, more elegant).

 

RE: Turret Sub-Computers, it is not and never was an intent that the Sub-Computer would be able to run the turret. It is not an AI, simply a Terminal. The idea was to just unclutter everything - I'm one of those who goes for maximum-gain-minimum-effort. You already need the Computer for the Targeting aspect per Ship Combat. As for separate Turret Defense if it's different from the Ships simply make it a Limited Power: Armor Plating, Turrets Only (-1). If it's LESS than the Ships Defense then split that into a Partially Limited Power Armor Plating X-DEF + Armor Plating Y-DEF (Not On Turrets -1) Now all you have to do is buy all the turrets as +5 Equipment Doubling: Turrets.

 

I may be just a few minutes late depending on how long a meeting with a financial person takes.

[Starwolf]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

Thanks GA

 

Oh Yeah... lateness will have consequences

 

 

 

[Nolgroth]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

Thanks GA

 

Oh Yeah... lateness will have consequences

 

 

 

Not to mention ridicule from your peers.

 

No just kidding.

 

Financial partner sounds serious and all that good stuff. See ya when you get there.

[ghost-angel]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

What are the chances the GM would allow Sam to have Precise Sprayfire II (Ultimate Skill p86) for Vehicular Weapons?

[Nolgroth]

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

What are the chances the GM would allow Sam to have Precise Sprayfire II (Ultimate Skill p86) for Vehicular Weapons?

The GM really has to consider that one. All I can say is ouch. I'll think about it.