Vehicle Combat

[Greywind]

There is also http://www.sfbonline.com/index.jsp

[NuSoardGraphite]

Vehicles (and people) which are using continuous movement will move "in between" phases even on the off segmemts.

 

How to determine how far they move in each segment, take their movement then multiply it by their speed score, then divide by 12. The result is how many hexes they move in each segment.

 

For example, a starfighter with flight movement of 30"(×8) and a speed of 4 can move a total of 120" (960") per turn. Per segment that is 10" or 80" non combat speed.

[NuSoardGraphite]

double.

[Nolgroth]

Vehicles (and people) which are using continuous movement will move "in between" phases even on the off segmemts.

 

How to determine how far they move in each segment, take their movement then multiply it by their speed score, then divide by 12. The result is how many hexes they move in each segment.

 

For example, a starfighter with flight movement of 30"(×8) and a speed of 4 can move a total of 120" (960") per turn. Per segment that is 10" or 80" non combat speed.

 

And hope your battlemat is big enough to show it. One of the main reasons I love my VTT is that I can expand the playground's size a lot. Enough that I don't have to work about having enough room for a space battle.

[NuSoardGraphite]

And hope your battlemat is big enough to show it. One of the main reasons I love my VTT is that I can expand the playground's size a lot. Enough that I don't have to work about having enough room for a space battle.

You just change the scale of the hexes when their movement gets that high. 10"(80") just divide by 10 for 1"(8") per segment.

[WistfulD]

You just change the scale of the hexes when their movement gets that high. 10"(80") just divide by 10 for 1"(8") per segment.

This is actually where we're a little intimidated about vehicle combat. All the arc of fires and who is facing who. We'd like to use the dogfight rules, except it really penalizes someone who put a lot into high speed unless they make a phenominal roll. 

[NuSoardGraphite]

Its not that difficult once you decipher the system. And HERO includes a lot of ways to add as much or as little detail that you want to simulate your battles.

 

The bonuses from high speed makes sense. If one vehicle in a dogfight is significantly faster than another, it essentially sets the tone for thr dogfight. Because if the faster vehicle waants to disengage from the fight, the slower vehiclencan essentiallu do nothing to stop them. But at thensame time, to engage in an active dogfight, if one vehicle is significantly faster than another, it is going to have to slowdown at least somewhat to engage the slower vehicle (imagine an F-22 trying to engage a sopwith camel with gunfire while dogfighting)

[NuSoardGraphite]

Double post

[Greywind]

The faster vehicle isn't always trying to disengage. Sometimes they are trying to engage.

[WistfulD]

Its not that difficult once you decipher the system. And HERO includes a lot of ways to add as much or as little detail that you want to simulate your battles.

 

The bonuses from high speed makes sense. If one vehicle in a dogfight is significantly faster than another, it essentially sets the tone for thr dogfight. Because if the faster vehicle waants to disengage from the fight, the slower vehiclencan essentiallu do nothing to stop them. But at thensame time, to engage in an active dogfight, if one vehicle is significantly faster than another, it is going to have to slowdown at least somewhat to engage the slower vehicle (imagine an F-22 trying to engage a sopwith camel with gunfire while dogfighting)

 

Which bonuses for high speed? I'm talking about the fact that the vehicle with higher speed doesn't get to roll more to-hits unless they roll really well on dogfighting, where-as high speed person-to-person nets you extra attacks every turn. This seems to make Speed less valuable.

[NuSoardGraphite]

Which bonuses for high speed? I'm talking about the fact that the vehicle with higher speed doesn't get to roll more to-hits unless they roll really well on dogfighting, where-as high speed person-to-person nets you extra attacks every turn. This seems to make Speed less valuable.

I said higher speed, but i meant "faster movement" aas the faster vehicle gains bonuses against the slower vehicle.

 

The reason they dont get more shots off is because usually you get one chance to fire at an opponent as you pass by them while circling unless you are able to initiate a stable tail chase which is detailed in the system.

 

I would actually give a +1 bonus to a vehicle with a higher speed score (provided the pilot could match it) For every point of speed difference because the higher spd vehicle can maneuver more often (i.e. turn tighter maybe)

 

And while the dogfight system itself is very basic, there are quite a few things you can do to flesh it out. For example i give vehicles a Maneuverability characteristic. This is how many Movement Skill Levels the vehicle possesses which improves the vehicles chances in dogfight combat (see The Ultimate Vehicle for how MSLs affect vehicle operation)

[WistfulD]

Oh, we're messing around with lots of different options. The dogfight rolls effect your ability to stay out of arcs of fire. We've riggered the damage and body system to have a Structural Integrity score instead of Body. It's 1/2 the normal Body, but you usually lose 1-2 points at a time. Hits over 1/2 your resilience score (which = your original body, and is raised or lowered seperate from Structural Integrity) do 2 points and do damage to a random ship system. Fighters can fly inside enemy capital ship shields and target specific subsystems. The more we deviate from the basic Hero rules, the more fun it is getting, but the less likely I'll ever be able to turn it into a campaign sourcebook. :-P

[NuSoardGraphite]

Everybody always wants to deviate from the normal damage/body system in Hero when it comes to vehicles.  I don't understand it, but it's very common.

[WistfulD]

I think it has to do with the fact that, once you start having bodies scores and comparable RKAs that high, things start looking like a video game life bar. Having those damage rolls from 15 shots total 103 instead of 96 and killing your vehicle because it has 100 body has no emotional weight. We'd rather have basically 3 levels of damage-- light, heavy, and severe, and having 10-12 hp of that caliber.

[Christougher]

Well, rather than recreating damage systems, here's an idea I'm working on for my Master of Orion game.  Each ship has an Engineering skill (or Well Put Together or Structural Integrity or something like that), and every time the ship takes damage, a skill roll is made.  Failing the roll means some system or another is damaged, with the skill roll (and possibly number of systems) modified by the damage taken.

 

Chris.