Spence

No problem, I'd hate to do the Sub thing myself. They have benefits, but overall I'll let them have it.

Pretty much true. It is one of those things you cannot comprehend unless you see it. On board my ship, I live in an 86 man berthing. The racks are stacked three high and you cannot sit up when in one. The head (bathroom) has 7 showers, 6 urinals and 8 toilets. A shower is about two-three minutes of water once a day. The shower heads have valves so you can cut the water off and on without messing with the adjustments, get wet, turn water off, lather wash, turn water on, rinse, you're done. By the by the standard apartment livingroom is large enough to be a 24 man berthing. All of your laundry underway is done as group. All mixed into one big machine and sorted latter. Chiefs and Officers can put their laundry into individual meshbags which are all washed together. After cruise my "whites" are usually grey and all of my clothes have that distinctive metallic "ship smell" and I usually throw everything away and buy new. Back in the eighties one of the southern states, Mississippi I think but am not sure, wannted to lease old troopships to serve as temperary prisons until the new facilities were completed. Some of the ultra far left socialist Congressmen and women went on a "factfinding" trip and determined that the living conditions were too far below standards for the average rapest and murderer to endure. We have standards of decency in this country you know. Well the funny thing is they never saw the actuall troop berthings. What they toured was the actual quarters of the live aboard crew. They were too stupid to realize that they were saying that active duty sailors have lower standards of living than convicted criminals. And the Dems wonder why most military, especially Navy, dislike them If you live near a naval base, see about getting a tour. It may surprise you but they are really easy to get. Most ships like to show off

Love pulp! I saw the trailer at Return of the King. made me dig out my cpoy of Justice Inc and Daredevils.

Also smaller is better. The smaller the crew, the less "people in charge". Which means the fewer officers. Now don't get me wrong, I know so really good "O's" , but since I have had the "pleasure" to serve aboard a carrier as ships company, I have discoverd where all of the political types went. A carrier is generally a battlegroup flagship underway. Because of that we will have at least one admiral aboard, sometimes more than one. We will also have more Commanders than were in the navy at the height of WW2 , all this means they are all coming up with "improvements" so they can stand out and advance. That even impacts the enlisted because the new advancement system has established quotas based on total number of personnel. With a small number of a certain rank, say 10, it is easy to determine who is the best and who is the dirtbag. But when you have to choose who is number one from 400 individuals who all have completely different jobs and work for 19 different bosses it all becomes politics. In general each of the posisions listed above, except for some of the specific ones that cannot be delegated, are actually performed by a group of enlisted personnel with the "O" supervising.

Weapons and such I actually think they were right on with the "low tech" approach. And for this series it makes perfect sense. LordGhee has some really valid points for the real world, but. Quote: "Two, Super computers which allowed the focus to be calcated quickly enough and three the chemcal laser which was powerful enough for the job." The new BSG series is based on a civ that had barely survived being annilated by intellegent machines. Adama was absolutely against any kind of network. In fact the overall sense was that any computer very far above a calculator was not really well thought of. Now the vipers (Mark II?) shot a lot of rounds down range and saturated the area so the enemy (cyclon or missle) would run into it and go boom. Kinda like the current phanlanx system we use now. The Cylons on the other hand like guided stuff, hence the missles. As for other high tech, sheilds and such. All would need extensive networks and computer logic systems to maintain. Hmmm... and it all makes sense to me....

All I can say is "awesome"

For a really great idea for airships that are non-magical and not zepplins find a copy of Lin Carters book "Sky Pirates of Callisto". It was an adventure pulp like ERB's "John Carter of Mars" I first read in the late '70's. Really really GREAT idea for lowtech airships.

For me I try to make the focus fit its type. For instance, in this case the focus is a necklace. I wouldn't allow it to be considered inaccessable unless its effect fits. A necklace that is obvious and flops around has to be Obvious Accessable, if it is obvious, but say fuses to the heroes neck or sinks into him/her when active, then it can be Inaccessable. But there has to be a reason it is considured Inaccessable other than wanting the Focus bonus without the drawbacks.

All I had to go on was the movie critic's and so far they have all hated it (that I've read/seen). Keeping this in mind I went in expecting a REALLY GOOD MOVIE. I was not disappointed. I really enjoyed it. Over the years I have developed an extreme dislike for movie critics that seem to think people go to movies for ethical/moral education. For myself, I go to be entertained. If the movie is scifi, fantasy or adventure/war related and the critic's hate it, it's usually good. Now if they say they like it before the first weeks box office is in (and they can see how well everyone likes it), it will probably be a really crappy show.

I zoomed in on the picture and was reading (sort of) the back cover of FH. I'm not positive, but I believe it says there are mass combat rules/guidelines. Did I read correctly? Spence

I don't know about conversions to hero, but he did some outstanding work with LUGTrek before WotC bought them out and killed the game. Here is a link to a free download of Spacedock and four of the ship supplements. http://www.trek-rpg.net/trek/index2.htm It is a starship construction manual for StarTrek. Even if you don't play in the Trek universe, you'll want it. I'd love to see a similar book (books?) for Terran Empire, at least in layout.

My version was "Flight limited to within 3 feet of a surface". The hero's flight was telekinetic based and he had to be close to "something" in order to levitate himself.

AAARrrrrgggghhhhhh!!!!!!! :mad: :mad: All these titles and only four. FOUR! I haven't read..... :( All I can say is someone better get to writing.

Now that is something I'd like to see.

Most of my favorites are already listed but.... Insurrection Crusade In Death Ground The Shiva Option The first two ( I & C ) are complete stories each describing complete campaigns. IDG and TSO are part one and two of a single campaign/war. The emphasis of the stories is Fleet actions. Fleets with a capital F. These are really good reads, especially if you like fleet level carnage Also John Ringo's series A Hymn Before Battle, Gust Front, When the Devil Dances and Hell's Faire are pretty good. And last but not least all seven of Debra Doyle and James D. MacDonalds Mageworld novels are really good scifi.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Kick and shots per minute Yup.....I think I'll go outside shoot myself now. Did I mention I graduated high school in Arkansas........ This has been a good thread... and there were no arguments or politics either...wooohooo!!!

It does. When I find it I'll make available the plans for a deep space salvage tug/transport I made for LUGtrek Using "Spacedock". Twas before the "coming of the evil ones".

Re: Re: Re: Enough Power to Destroy A Planet? Doesn't carry Hero!!??? Only one thing that can be done. You'll have to move!

Re: Re: Re: Kick and shots per minute I have a little .50 cal BP rifle, and you are right that its recoil isn't that bad. But the .58 cal I fired had a more substantial kick, more than I expected based on my .50. I never had the oportunity to fire anything BP .70 or better, but I have been told that it really packs a whollop. I would really like to hear from someone who has actually fired a .70 to .76 cal BP rifle or musket. Right now I am going by hearsay and reading, but nothing can replace first hand experience.

Now I could go for some of that. Once I get all the way unpacked I would be glad to share some of my deck plans. They are done with Campaign Cartegrapher.

Steve, Geoff Speare, Apologies. I didn't realize I never responded when you answered me. Thank you Spence

Lots of detail usually translates to a very large book regardless of medium. Just a thought, but have you considured pitching the basic city and map first and then the secret GM style stuff as a second book. That way when everyone buys the "basic" city it would only be all the public knowledge stuff. The one reason I never really used a "bought" city as a GM no matter how well done, was everyone would buy a copy and read it. That is what happened to MC. Everyone read the GM Vault. So I just use it as a guide for making my own. As soon as I find the box with my copy of Campaign Cartegrapher (add-ons) I'll start mapping.

GURP's Age of Napoleon? I may have to get that one. How is it? How crunchy?

Re: Re: Re: Kick and shots per minute OK I get it. I was confused until you mentioned stands. You're thinking of the 1600's. I'm thinking after 1700. Gustavus Adolphus had lightened (is this a word?) the musket and abolished the stand. Introduced the paper cartridge eliminating the soldiers need to prepare his own. Reduced the line to six ranks and had helped introduce the bayonet as a viable weapon. All around 1630ish (???) I really wish I had my books here. The period I am leaning toward see's the total elimination of the pike from the battlefield. Most nations had adopted three ranks as the optimal depth of a firing line (except the British who had transisitioned to two ranks). Think American Revolution to mid 1800s. Valmy, Waterloo, Quatre Bras, and on our side of the pond, Alamo. Moviewise think The Patriot or Sharps Rifles. For my campaign idea it will be pre-percussion cap, so the advanced weapons will be flintlock. Muskets will be the most numerous, but rifles will exist. My reasoning is this allows a firearm to be effective but limits them to the point the adventurers will need to fall back on blade weapons, swords and such. The Pike and Musket era is also pretty interesting too. I just haven't spent as much time on it.

Re: Kick and shots per minute Yes and no. IIRC while the kick was more substantial, but it was more absorbed by the shooter's shoulder. In a long duration engagement, in addition to fatigue, the resultant bruising could actually be severe enough that it would reduce a troopers combat effectiveness. I have read accounts that speak of soldiers who were physically incapaciatated from bruising or actualy broke their collarbones. One of the standard British musket was a "Standard No. 11 Bore" or .76 caliber. The French of the same period used a .70 caliber. The desease or the doctor. Battle field surgery was brutal. But for my purposes I am going to conveniently ignore the grittier aspects for a more heroic feel