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MadBeardMan
December 2nd, 2018, 23:28
Greetings All,

It feels great to be back (sorry I was away, if I told you the full news you'd think I was mad coming back...), anyway.

This Thread is for Starships.

What I want to do, start small, then over time build them up.

I added 'Worlds' in the last big update, so the next update 1.0.8 will add 'Starships' as a sidebar button.

This is to allow Starships to be added as data, ie no Combat Tracker etc, just the basics.

For example:

Hull: 100 Tons
Configuration: Streamlined
Hull/Structure: 2/2
Weight: 100 Tons
Cost: 2,200,000 Cr.

Armour:
Type: Crystaliron
Value: 4 points
Weight: 5 tons
Cost: 400,00

And so on.

Thinking 'aloud' I'd create the data, ie Hulls, Hull Configuration, Hull Armour, Hull Armour Options.

This would allow in the future for ships to be 'built' within the ruleset.

I welcome all thoughts on this, start easy though and build up.

Cheers,
MBM

esmdev
December 3rd, 2018, 00:14
My thinking is that it might be better to start with a drag and drop sort of ship builder. Nothing complicated just parts that can be dragged into the ship sheet. It will make it easier in the long run to build out starships without having to redesign down the road. I think it should at least start with the minimum information available on page 115 of the 1E core rules. Don't need to start with the cost and tonnage calculations but the main information would be useful.

The principle reason I think that the drag and drop would be good is that so many different people use so many different starships for different campaigns. Some of the earliest adventures had a far trader that was so old and beat up that it could only manage Jump-1.

Starships in the combat tracker aren't super necessary at this point. My main concern is having enough information readily available like cargo, necessary crew positions, what number of passengers, maneuver and jump. I've been thinking about how starship combat would work within the FG structure and the ships would have to be treated like PCs with crew members doing skill checks and things, it seems super complex and maybe more so than is really needed for an VTT. I was originally thinking it would probably work better but after I gave it some thought it would be more like building a wargame mini-game into a tabletop RPG simulator which seems excessive.

Of course the other thing I sometimes forget is that Traveller players can be kind of excessive to an obsession but as a less obsessive person I'm good without the starship combat unless you have some sudden inspiration and desire to jump down the rabbit hole. :)

MadBeardMan
December 3rd, 2018, 00:16
My thinking is that it might be better to start with a drag and drop sort of ship builder. Nothing complicated just parts that can be dragged into the ship sheet. It will make it easier in the long run to build out starships without having to redesign down the road. I think it should at least start with the minimum information available on page 115 of the 1E core rules. Don't need to start with the cost and tonnage calculations but the main information would be useful.

The principle reason I think that the drag and drop would be good is that so many different people use so many different starships for different campaigns. Some of the earliest adventures had a far trader that was so old and beat up that it could only manage Jump-1.

Starships in the combat tracker aren't super necessary at this point. My main concern is having enough information readily available like cargo, necessary crew positions, what number of passengers, maneuver and jump. I've been thinking about how starship combat would work within the FG structure and the ships would have to be treated like PCs with crew members doing skill checks and things, it seems super complex and maybe more so than is really needed for an VTT. I was originally thinking it would probably work better but after I gave it some thought it would be more like building a wargame mini-game into a tabletop RPG simulator which seems excessive.

Of course the other thing I sometimes forget is that Traveller players can be kind of excessive to an obsession but as a less obsessive person I'm good without the starship combat unless you have some sudden inspiration and desire to jump down the rabbit hole. :)

Oops time for sleep, darn, I'll read this tomorrow evening and make a plan, want to get a proper plan before I code much, hence why start on the simpler PSI stuff.

Cheers,
MBM

LordNanoc
December 3rd, 2018, 10:15
Hmmmm ... I've been scratching my head about this as well, for a while.

I like the idea of a mini starship construction in the form of drag and drop but what I really think would be helpful is the ship as a PC-like entity for the combat tracker. You can always add the standard skills that comes with the equipment (like laserguns -> gunnery). If the player don't have those skills, they will not be allowed to roll them, or can only roll them with a deficit only (neg modifyer).
I think that would be easier to implement, than programming all that checking which people are on what ship and what skills they have.

The other thing I wonder is, how the whole maneuvering thing works on the map. A basic map would be nice, something to put the tokens on and help with that somehow. But I think the more you try to automate something (thrustvector, firing ranges etc) the more difficult it gets to program this.
This is honestly something I'm not understanding completely in the rulebook. Investing "thrust" to change course and/or do maneuvers like dodge... a scout class S has only 2 thrust ... there's not much to invest, is there? :D

Whatever, I honestly think this'll be a tough nut to crack for you, MBM.

superteddy57
December 3rd, 2018, 13:31
Well could do it two ways. Have the party's ship on the Party Sheet so the whole can keep track of their own ship. Then for the GM, have a way of keeping track of NPC ships and potentially add to combat tracker. The GM doesn't need a full work up, but enough for the information from the books to run combat or even feed the party new data for new purchases (like that happens often lol).

esmdev
December 3rd, 2018, 15:53
I think that the first thing we need to do is get the starship information into the ruleset. I feel like adding starship combat should be way down the line, as it will require a whole lot of extra work (think 2nd combat tracker for ship statistics as opposed to character statistics). I'm all for adding it down the road but at the moment just getting a ship builder and ship data into the ruleset would be my focus. Baby steps. :)

MadBeardMan
December 4th, 2018, 07:35
Morning All,

Thanks for the replies.

I think first thing, to add a 'Starship' window, like the Vehicle window. Allow things like the Hull, Hull Armour to be linked to data.

Let's start there first.

I'm working again tonight on the PSI development, I'll finish that this week and get it out then look at the Starship stuff.

Cheers,
MBM

I'm working on PSI tonight agai

backwardoracle
December 4th, 2018, 12:51
I'm all for the drag N drop build, with a few core examples (ships that a pc might get in char gen) that can be upgraded as players get more resources. if that could then be exported into a stat sheet to place in the combat tracker it would be sweet. Remember to add a box for GM info, for those "unknown" things about those 2nd hand starships

The Starfinder ship design method is pretty straightforward and a simple flowchart could help GM's & Pc's take actions at relative points

Trading, would be a very useful addition but would need to be heavily automated with drag N drop options, to add to the ships cargo hold, currently I have most of this data prepared in advance just flipping up the image of whats available.

As for ship combat, not necessarily a priority, for myself I have made a hex starmap with weapon ranges radiating from the center (the pc's ship) and move the npc ships accordingly.

esmdev
December 9th, 2018, 20:35
It seems like the starship side of Starfinder development just slipped backwards to the beginning, how will that effect Traveller development?

MadBeardMan
December 9th, 2018, 20:40
It seems like the starship side of Starfinder development just slipped backwards to the beginning, how will that effect Traveller development?

It means I'll build it, so will take longer, but fear not...

esmdev
December 9th, 2018, 22:10
Sounds like a most excellent plan. This way you can do it your way and thus better integrate it with what you already have. :)