2/3 : How can a Referee get to grips with Space Combat - for both Adventure Class ships and (larger) Naval Ships?

[MasterGwydion]

Yeah, that's a problem. If your players make the kind of money running a ship costs and then turn that their personal expenses, they seem ungodly rich. On the other hand, if they are doing "typical" adventurer jobs based off a ship, they'll go broke pretty fast.

My players and I aren't interested in counting individual credits, so we use an abstract "Wealth" type mechanic. They don't mind some income being in personal scale and others being in ship scale. But that's not gonna be a solution that everyone likes.

When I run a game, I tend to have 2 types of games, depending on what the players want to play. In one type they have a ship, complete with all of it's expenses and money-making potential. These games tend to be ship-centric and ship to ship combat is at whatever level needs to happen to put their income vs expenses dynamic at a level the party needs to accomplish it's goals over time. The other type of game, the players do not have a ship, so if they need to travel, that becomes an expense, but otherwise it is more of a planet-based game and the economics tend to be more in line with personal funds without needing extra work to balance it out.

 

[Vormaerin]

A surprising number of people overlook the idea of PCs travelling commercial. Players don't have to have a ship of their own.

 

[Condottiere]

They could.

Usually, as popsicles.

 

[MasterGwydion]

A surprising number of people overlook the idea of PCs travelling commercial. Players don't have to have a ship of their own.

Agreed. If you use Our planet as an example, most government/corporate agents fly commercial even if their organization has private craft available. These are mainly used for extremely high-ranking individuals. Hell, even soldiers in the US military fly commercial if it is not on a deployment. Having PCs without a ship is a vastly underused game type IMO.

 

[Vormaerin]

Having a space combat when the PCs are passengers can be fun. Fill in for injured crew, serve on damage control parties, form up to repel boarders, help the stewards keep other passengers from freaking out. Definitely a different perspective.

 

[Sigtrygg]

I would argue that back in CT days not having a ship was the default assumption.

A scout would have to be lucky - to survive to mustering out and then to roll for the use of a ship 1 in 6
A merchant would have to be really lucky - to achieve the rank of Captain so they qualified for the +1 bonus needed to get the merchant ship 1 in 6 chance.

 

[MasterGwydion]

I would argue that back in CT days not having a ship was the default assumption.

A scout would have to be lucky - to survive to mustering out and then to roll for the use of a ship 1 in 6
A merchant would have to be really lucky - to achieve the rank of Captain so they qualified for the +1 bonus needed to get the merchant ship 1 in 6 chance.

This makes Me wonder about the economic assumptions most of Us make in regards to the amount of interstellar trade that is actually going on in Charted Space, since you are correct. Most of the design for CT would seem to directly imply a setting where Adventure Class Ships are not as common as We assume that they are based on Our modern understanding of trade in Charted Space.

I would assume that achieving Rank 6 in CT was not easy to accomplish without either dying or having a character be completely unplayable. lol. This would lead Me to believe that most ships in general and ACS specifically, are not privately-owned., at least not in the time of CT.

With the new MgT2 rules though, everybody and their brother, sister, cousin, and distant relation can have a ship or part ownership in one.

In My mind, that changes the dynamics of Charted Space more significantly than any other single change outside of Jump Torpedoes. lol

 

[AndrewW]

Having a space combat when the PCs are passengers can be fun. Fill in for injured crew, serve on damage control parties, form up to repel boarders, help the stewards keep other passengers from freaking out. Definitely a different perspective.

Doesn't even have to be during combat. Murder mystery on the liner, hull breach from hitting an asteroid, mutiny on the Beowulf, unruly passengers, viral outbreak, contraband cargo. All sorts of possibilities for passengers to help (cause chaos) a ships crew.

 

[Vormaerin]

I would argue that back in CT days not having a ship was the default assumption.

A scout would have to be lucky - to survive to mustering out and then to roll for the use of a ship 1 in 6
A merchant would have to be really lucky - to achieve the rank of Captain so they qualified for the +1 bonus needed to get the merchant ship 1 in 6 chance.

Yeah, the fiction players experience has changed quite a bit since the 70s. Almost every "space" sci show or book these days has the crew have a ship. Firefly, Cowboy Bebop, Dark Matter, every Star Trek, a lot of Star Wars, etc. The ship is often practically a character in itself.

Old style 60s and 70s space novels tended to have a lot more "go to planet and have adventures" where the ship wasn't actually an important feature, if the protagonist even had one.

At least, that's how it feels to me.

 

[Vormaerin]

Doesn't even have to be during combat. Murder mystery on the liner, hull breach from hitting an asteroid, mutiny on the Beowulf, unruly passengers, viral outbreak, contraband cargo. All sorts of possibilities for passengers to help (cause chaos) a ships crew.

Yes, but this is a thread about space ship combat

 

[MasterGwydion]

Yes, but this is a thread about space ship combat

To keep space combat straight in My head, I usually just keep a piece of paper and a pencil handy. Here is what I keep track of on the paper.

Enemy ships
Their distance relative to the travellers
Their initiative number
Their remaining HPs and a quick note as to any crits they have taken

Beyond this I just make 3"x5" index cards for random ship and crew stats. I keep them in a little box and pull them out as needed. I have cards on probably 200 different Adventure Class Ship designs and crew configurations. I just counted. 12 of them are variations of the basic combat stats and crew skill levels of a Beowulf-class Free Trader.

This just helps everything run smoothly in the moment. Then I can use any brainpower that I may have left to deal with whatever crazy shenanigans that My players throw at Me out of left field in the middle of combat.

Not sure if this is what the OP was looking for or not.

 

[Vormaerin]

I just play Mayday. (just kidding. But that's what I did in the 80s )

 

[IanBruntlett]

Thank you for all replies. As a little thank you, here is the PDF of my extended contents for High Guard Update 2022. Hope someone finds it useful Let me know of any typo's / errors...