C-Note

Neither.  Going for a "Pandorum" type of scenario.  Cryopod failure resulting in a percentage of the colonists going crazy/violent/cannibal.  Going to keep the campaign "alien-free" for a little while before springing the full galactic Lovecraftian cosmic horror on them!

That's how I recently began a campaign taking place in the near future. The solar system is colonized similar to The Expanse. In the past century, interstellar probes identified several terraformable planets within 20 light-years of Earth. The first interstellar sub-light colony ships were launched within the last 20 years and are still en route. Not even a hint of alien life, anywhere.  And then, Dr. Nels Bergenholm invents the Hyperdrive.

Contact has been lost with the Santa Maria, the massive colony ship en route to Barnard's Star. During the last message, screams of terror were heard before the transmission was cut off.

The player's ship, the Windfall Prophet, has been retrofitted with the experimental Bergenholm Hyperdrive. Their mission is to intercept the Santa Maria to determine what happened.

As you mentioned, starship combat rules.  Star Hero 6E punted it to the never-created 6E Vehicles book.

Recoverability is a modifier on a Focus, as is breakability. I wasn't clear with my statement. I don't believe that Focus is the way to go since the Killing Attack is inherent in the weapon, not "Focusing" a power of the character.

So I want to create an "unbreakable" magical dagger as treasure. The characters won't be spending character points on it.  I don't think it's an Unbreakable Focus as it is not recoverable if they lose it.  Do I simply NOT use the "Real Weapon" limitation, or is there another preferred method to make it "unbreakable"?

I can't figure out how to calculate damage for this. I understand that a charge is a "Move Through" or "Move By", a heavy lance is 2D6KA base, and a heavy warhorse has a STR of 30 and 20m of Running, but this is where I am stuck.  Also, is it the rider or the mount taking damage from the move through/move by?

The plethora of rules options make ship to ship combat laborious.  Are there any examples of starship combat using Hero rules?

Some questions: 

What if the crew (the players) have different SPDs than the ship? What effect does that have?

Can the ship make a full move and the gunners still fire?

If the ship is travelling at non-combat speed, can the gunners still fire? Will they suffer the same non-combat OCV penalty as the ship?

If a ship has multiple weapons, can they all be fired at once? Combined Attack or Multiple Attack?

etc.

Star Hero makes reference to a book, "Hero System Vehicles", which doesn't seem to exist.

I reposted my corrected "Gazelle" file above on Post #33. There were some minor errors discovered during gametime such as MegaScale movement having both Combat and Non-Combat velocities.  Also the "Explosion" Advantage on the Plasma Torpedoes was from 5th Edition. It was corrected to the "AoE Explosion" Advantage from 6th.

Yes, this one. http://www.farfuture.net/Contents%20CDROM%20Traveller%20HERO.pdf

You emailed me the corrected GAS-7 file.

I built the original years ago using 4th Edition. It was upgraded to 6th after purchasing Traveller Hero and cherry-picking some of your killer design ideas.  Obviously, some differences between the "official" Traveller universe and mine, a lot of which my players are responsible for.

Here is a (modified for my campaign universe) Gazelle-Class Close Escort that my Star Hero players have been cruising around in.  I created a Hero Designer template which combines Vehicle and Computer Characteristics in order to avoid needing a separate write-up for each.

Gazelle Close Escort.pdf

Strawberry Girls - French Ghetto

Strawberry Girls - American Graffiti

Alabama Thunderpussy - Whore Adore.  Riff after crushing riff. NOT for the faint-of-heart. 

Thanks for posting Steve's reply here. I did not have an opportunity to do so. Regarding minimum distance, I would rule in my game that the shortest distance you can move using FTL Travel is 1 Phase at 1/12th lightspeed, or 25,000km. No half-moves as per 6E1 225 and the assumption that it takes a full turn to "accelerate" to lightspeed.

Hi Steve,

If base "FTL Travel" is purchased (1LY/Year) with "Usable as a Second Mode of Movement: Flight" (Active Point cost: 12), is the flight speed 10m or 12m?

Also, what is the minimum distance that can be travelled using the "FTL Travel" power? 1 light-second?

If a character/ship has multiple levels of FTL Travel, what is the shortest distance they can move using the power?  Is it 1 light-second (300,000km)?

Thanks. I understand it's "legacy code". Were there reasons it was kept for 6e?

I'm sure this has been discussed before but my search didn't turn up anything current. 1m of Flight with Megascale 1m=1,000,000km is 3 points, and approximately lightspeed for a SPD 4 character or ship (2x lighspeed non-combat).  "Faster-Than-Light Travel" as a Power feels like it was shoe-horned into the Hero System. If I'm missing something in the mechanics, please let me know.

5th Edition had INT, EGO, and PRE as optional characteristics for Vehicles.  Does this functionality exist in 6th Edition, or is a separate Computer/AI necessary to achieve this?

Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion has many different incarnations across the Multiverse: Elric, Hawkmoon, Corum, Erekosë, John Daker, Jerry Cornelius, etc.

How would you design something like this in Hero?  Multiform and Extra-Dimensional Movement with No Conscious Control?  Completely separate and unconnected characters? Something else in between?

I never understood where all the "steam" came from whenever a ship took structural damage.  They take a hit and steam starts venting from somewhere.  What the hell are they using steam for on a 23rd century starship?  "Scotty, I need more power!"  "Captain, I'm shoveling coal as fast as I can!"

Just wanted to necro-thread this ancient post with an interesting bit of Lensman/BSG crossover fan-fiction.  It's only half a page, but it's a howler.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4249637/1/The-Immigrant-Problem

"Doc" Smith's Lensman novels are my all-time favorites. Anyone ever think about a HERO campaign set in the Lensman Universe?

Also, how is the GURPs Lensman sourcebook? Any useful info that could be adapted to a Star Hero campaign?