D20 Based Space game

[SoberIrishman]

Gonna have some of both. I think I've worked out a system of rating different ships. Just have to figure out all the ships. I'm thinking a simple set of stats: Size, Speed, Maneuverability, Shields, Weapons. Each ship will get a rating between 1 and 6 in each category. For example a ship with a size rating of 1 would hold 1-3 people and a ship with a rating of 6 might have a crew of 5,000.

[Gryphon]

I was looking at your classes and i think it would be better if they were alignments instead, classes should be like :

Marine
sniper
agent or spy
Starship captain
Hacker
starship engineer
ect.
just a thought.

[Alexander Tau]

For StarShips Sensors and Computer Power are really important things. Space is so vast that even finding another Ship is a big deal. And the interplay of Sensors and Cloaking technologies can be one level of combat.

How large your Computer is can determine how many things it can handle at once, and how well of course. Combat in space is such a long range affair and things move so fast that human reflexes are just not up to it.

Ok so it looks cool to see Han blasting away at TIE fighters. But anything a human could hit in that fashion would be toast to a good automated system.

Weapons...

In Space you could make use of very different sorts of weapons. Perhaps many that specific effective ranges in bands. They have a minimum and a maximum. If there were a nice variety of these in the game people could have Ships that fought best at different ranges.

If a Ship that is all close in weapons takes on someone who wants to be shooting a 1 million KM away you have a battle of maneuver.

Charging your Torpedos...

One idea that I thought worked well in space combat was that of variable charge torps. Put 1 minute of power into them you have a basic weapon. But 10 minutes and you have a nuke. Go longer and you have a planet killer.

Warhead is not the only thing that uses power. So along with variable charge comes variable speed and other things. It defensive shield would be the third. So you put a bunch of energy into a Torp and you set how much is used for those three things.

Speed...

It is hard to have a fight if your enemy can leave at any moment. But if you are going to travel even between Solar Systems you need to be able to exceed Light Speed by many times. My answer for this has usually been accelleration. If it takes an hour to break the speed of light you make it much harder to escape.

The faster Ship will always be able to get away but at least a fight can be forced and pressed.

They say that battles at Sea are only held by mutual consent, in Space that is even more true.




A.T
(-)

[Gryphon]

A.T i like what your idea about the weapon system but i think that it would be better if for each one of your turns you get a certain number of points based on your level and the level for your ship and your skill of Spaceship knowledge you can use these points to charge your weapons or your engine or repair your shield ect.

[mythlord]

When you guys finish making the rules I'd love to help playtest it, maybe once i get LoC rules all figured out I'll help work on this with u guys :p

Do like what you've got so far sober

[Darren]

For speed: I've always preferred jump drives myself that require time to charge up, and of course time to plot the coordinates of the jump itself. You can still run and dodge, but you can get into a situation where when your jump drive activates you can escape and he can't follow, but his normal drives are superior to yours and thus while your jump drive isn't charged he chooses the range of engagement (well to an extent you dive into an asteroid belt and his choice of range is a bit more restricted).

For computers and piloting: While things in space do happen quickly with the jump drives and in system drives they don't happen nearly so fast (as you no longer need to be capable of even getting near light speed). Add into that missiles and other homing weaponry and only the cannons at dogfighting range become questionable as to whether a human could move them fast enough, but with augmented pilots, or even non-human ones it's definitely possible, plus of course continuous beam energy weapons, rather then discrete projectiles.

[Alexander Tau]

Gryphon,

That sort of system works just fine. Usually it is Power that you get each Turn and you can allocate it where it is needed. But Character Skill controls can work too.

Darren,

Having to charge up Jump Drives works too. I just rather like the idea of really travelling through Space. Especially doing so at extreme velocities.

You can of course make your HyperSpace work anyway you wish but to me it takes away the 'terrain of space'. Having to plot a course that worries about Solar Systems, Nebulas, and that Sun that might be going Nova, that is all part of the experience.

If you plot a course for use in an aircraft you take a map and mark waypoints. Visible terrain or other features that you can spot along the way. When you fly the plotted course you watch for the waypoints and keep track of your course. Weather matters a lot and you keep an eye on it all the time. It can force you to alter course or land quickly. Flying is a very enjoyable experience and you really feel the land you fly over. You are part of the sky.

Instead you take off, build up speed and fly into a Portal. Put the craft on auto and wait. Fly out the other end and get ready for landing. Efficient and safe, but dull.

I once made a stand-alone game where all of Space was covered in huge overlapping zones of energy. There were 5 different types each with somewhat different properties. To travel and fight you had to make proper use of the different energies and use the terrain thus created to your advantage. It made combat very interesting. But it gave Space, which is mostly just empty, some serious terrain.


A.T
(-)

[SoberIrishman]

Interesting ideas, guys. I like the idea of adding sensors to stats for ships. For space travel, I think I'll go with the idea that ships can make hyperjumps, but not from any place to another. If there were a set of points were you had to navigate from one point to another and then another to get to where you want to go, that might make a good mix. As for computer power, gonna go with that's a moot point, they have handhelds that can do more than our supercomputers. Basic ship computers can still operate faster than the ships can respond. Flight/Piloting(Dex) will be a skill that has an effect on ship piloting. As for weapons, since this isn't meant to focus on ships and ship combat, I think it would be better to limit it to one type of weapon system for now. Don't want to make this game too complex in the begining.

[Alexander Tau]

Well as far as the computers goes the point was a relative comparision. It would be an added level of combat but not really that important. But the Ship with the more powerful computer would have a decided advantage.

But just tossing ideas to ya not married to any of them. *grins*


A.T
(-)

[Guest]

Add in Ridiculous speed, and I'll be happy

[SoberIrishman]

What about Luduacris Speed? It comes in plaid.

[Guest]

We must have the speed of plaid!

[SoberIrishman]

The Speed of Plaid is now available in certain select Starships. Thank you for your patience in this matter. Pocal your ship is the third one on the right, the one actually named "The Speed of Plaid".

[Gryphon]

ok so we got the races, classes (witch i think that "Hacker" should be one of them), skills, ships and equipment. I think we should start on the cybernetic upgrades:
each upgrade has 3 lvls with each lvl the price will go up and the bonuses will to.

robotic arm right: str +1 at lvl1, +2 at lvl2, +3 at lvl3
robotic arm left: str +1

Robotic leg right: speed +0.5 str+1 at lvl1, +2 at lvl2, +3 at lvl3
Robotic leg left : speed +0.5, str +1 at lvl1, +2 at lvl2, +3 at lvl3

cybernetic eyes: Dex +1 at lvl1, +2 at lvl2, +3 at lvl3

cybernetic brain implants : int or wis +1 at lvl1, +2 at lvl2, +3 at lvl3 ( the payer chooses between int or wis, you have 2 slots for the cybernetic brain implants)

I did not put at what lvl your char must be to buy the different upgrades because we have not created a leveling system yet hopefully that will come soon
Note:I welcome creative criticism.

[SoberIrishman]

They seem a little powerful for feats, but I guess it would depend on the cost as to whether they're overpowered. As for leveling up, I would use the D&D 3.5 edition experience chart for determining levels.