I've just put together some detail on some of the rules questions that I've come up with on my first look through the rules. Unsurprisingly, character generation was the first thing I read through in depth as I did a dummy run of rolling up a character. Page numbers referred to match those in the the PDF and hardcopy. The first is a contradiction of statements, the second two are a bit more... grey.
Thoughts and comments appreciated!
1. During a character's first career term, do they get a skill roll (on the career's tables) as well as the level-0 skills from basic training?
(Assuming first career, not a re-enlistment changing careers.)
Problem: There is a contradiction in the character generation chapter of Core Rulebook 1.
Flowchart on page 10 states:
"If this is first term of Career, go through Basic Training, Otherwise, choose a skill table and roll"
While stated on page 16 (Skills and Training, para 1)
"Each career has four or five types of skill table associated with it – Personal Development, Service Skills, Specialist Skills (divided into three sub-tables corresponding to assignments), Officer Skills and Advanced Education. In each term you spend in a career, pick one of these tables and roll 1D to see which skill you increase."
Bold highlights are my emphasis. In the first excerpt "otherwise" suggests one option or the other for the first term. In the second excerpt "each" doesn't indicate any such differentiation. Which is meant to be correct? (This is not the same issue that's dealt with on the errata document on Google, where it refers to page 16.)
2. Gaining skills from Connections.
Page 17 of Core Rulebook 1 discusses "The Connection Rule"; the specifics of gaining skills are in the third paragraph:
"If an event can be linked between two Travellers in this way, then you both get one extra skill of your choice. You may gain a maximum of two free skills from the connections rule, and each connection must be with a different Traveller. For each connection you make, you may gain any skill, but cannot bring a skill above Level 3 using this rule nor may you take the Jack-of-all-Trades skill."
As written, there is no mention of any restriction on which skills can be chosen; a Drifter could choose Leadership or Advocate, skills not included within the Drifter career. I don't see that as being impossible of course, but do we know if that's the actual intention? (A follow on question would be if skills are meant to be restricted to the current career, whether they are rolled as normal or chosen, but that's only relevant if such a restriction was intended.)
3. Vehicle weapon stats, specifically Light Autocannon, seem... strange.
Core Rulebook 1 p122 gives the damage rating of the Light Autocannon (a vehicle mounted weapon of 20-25mm calibre) as 1D. I initially wondered if ground vehicles had a 'damage scale multiplier' in the same way that spacecraft do (Core Rulebook 2 p33), but it seems not so after re-checking the rules. Is the 1D damage rating for the Light Autocannon a typo? A normal assault rifle or ACR inflicts 3D damage from a much smaller calibre round (in contemporary terms effectively a 5.45, 5.56 or 7.62mm round) and that's without the consideration that most 20-25mm cannon shells have a HE or AP effect in addition to their actual kinetic energy. Three times the damage of the Light Autocannon? Really?
But what should it be? The weapon listed as 'Cannon' (effectively a MBT cannon equivalent) has 8D as a damage rating, so making the Light Autocannon 1DD would make that more powerful than a tank gun (and still capable of autofire!). So I began to think the vehicle weapon ratings were just a bit... wrong. A tank's main gun (8D) is twice as powerful as a shotgun (4D)? (Even taking blast effect into consideration, seems unlikely.)
I'm considering (if I ever use vehicle weapons in a game, which I don't actually plan to!) that I'd give the Cannon and the Light Autocannon the Destructive trait, giving that second D to the damage rating, and tone down the tank cannon's rating so that it doesn't exceed that of the Fusion Gun (of 3DD).
Thoughts and comments appreciated!
1. During a character's first career term, do they get a skill roll (on the career's tables) as well as the level-0 skills from basic training?
(Assuming first career, not a re-enlistment changing careers.)
Problem: There is a contradiction in the character generation chapter of Core Rulebook 1.
Flowchart on page 10 states:
"If this is first term of Career, go through Basic Training, Otherwise, choose a skill table and roll"
While stated on page 16 (Skills and Training, para 1)
"Each career has four or five types of skill table associated with it – Personal Development, Service Skills, Specialist Skills (divided into three sub-tables corresponding to assignments), Officer Skills and Advanced Education. In each term you spend in a career, pick one of these tables and roll 1D to see which skill you increase."
Bold highlights are my emphasis. In the first excerpt "otherwise" suggests one option or the other for the first term. In the second excerpt "each" doesn't indicate any such differentiation. Which is meant to be correct? (This is not the same issue that's dealt with on the errata document on Google, where it refers to page 16.)
2. Gaining skills from Connections.
Page 17 of Core Rulebook 1 discusses "The Connection Rule"; the specifics of gaining skills are in the third paragraph:
"If an event can be linked between two Travellers in this way, then you both get one extra skill of your choice. You may gain a maximum of two free skills from the connections rule, and each connection must be with a different Traveller. For each connection you make, you may gain any skill, but cannot bring a skill above Level 3 using this rule nor may you take the Jack-of-all-Trades skill."
As written, there is no mention of any restriction on which skills can be chosen; a Drifter could choose Leadership or Advocate, skills not included within the Drifter career. I don't see that as being impossible of course, but do we know if that's the actual intention? (A follow on question would be if skills are meant to be restricted to the current career, whether they are rolled as normal or chosen, but that's only relevant if such a restriction was intended.)
3. Vehicle weapon stats, specifically Light Autocannon, seem... strange.
Core Rulebook 1 p122 gives the damage rating of the Light Autocannon (a vehicle mounted weapon of 20-25mm calibre) as 1D. I initially wondered if ground vehicles had a 'damage scale multiplier' in the same way that spacecraft do (Core Rulebook 2 p33), but it seems not so after re-checking the rules. Is the 1D damage rating for the Light Autocannon a typo? A normal assault rifle or ACR inflicts 3D damage from a much smaller calibre round (in contemporary terms effectively a 5.45, 5.56 or 7.62mm round) and that's without the consideration that most 20-25mm cannon shells have a HE or AP effect in addition to their actual kinetic energy. Three times the damage of the Light Autocannon? Really?
But what should it be? The weapon listed as 'Cannon' (effectively a MBT cannon equivalent) has 8D as a damage rating, so making the Light Autocannon 1DD would make that more powerful than a tank gun (and still capable of autofire!). So I began to think the vehicle weapon ratings were just a bit... wrong. A tank's main gun (8D) is twice as powerful as a shotgun (4D)? (Even taking blast effect into consideration, seems unlikely.)
I'm considering (if I ever use vehicle weapons in a game, which I don't actually plan to!) that I'd give the Cannon and the Light Autocannon the Destructive trait, giving that second D to the damage rating, and tone down the tank cannon's rating so that it doesn't exceed that of the Fusion Gun (of 3DD).
