A few newbie questions

[The Envoy]

I really tried to get some answers using the search function, but that failed.

So being new to Traveller, I have some questions:

1.) My players would like to add a medical bay to their custom ship, but such a module is not mentioned in the core book.
How much should it cost? How much space will it take up? Are there certain feats to consider?

2.) I would like to add shield systems to the game as I think that's quite a cool option to have on a space ship. Did anyone create house rules for this? I already made up my own, but I am not sure whether they are overpowered or underpowered. :?
Shield systems start at TL 16 regarding my house rules, that's for sure!

3.) Anti-rad drugs: If a player suffered rads and didn't take the drug in time (it states 10 minutes after the radiation was suffered), is there no other option to get rid of the radiation? This sounds like something that inevitably causes a character's death after a certain period of time.

4.) Reactions (Parry, evade etc): What I dislike about the reaction system is that if a player gets attacked, he is not doing a roll to evade / parry. This creates the feeling of powerlessness. Or better said: Allowing a player to do a roll for his reaction creates the illusion of control.
Do you have experiences with alternative rules that allow such kind of reactions? If so, what was your feeling about it?

 

[GypsyComet]

1.) My players would like to add a medical bay to their custom ship, but such a module is not mentioned in the core book.
How much should it cost? How much space will it take up? Are there certain feats to consider?

Lab space (in High Guard) can be used as a sickbay.

2.) I would like to add shield systems to the game as I think that's quite a cool option to have on a space ship. Did anyone create house rules for this? I already made up my own, but I am not sure whether they are overpowered or underpowered. :?
Shield systems start at TL 16 regarding my house rules, that's for sure!

The "Screens" section in the Core Book has a couple specific types, and High Guard has the Black Globe.

3.) Anti-rad drugs: If a player suffered rads and didn't take the drug in time (it states 10 minutes after the radiation was suffered), is there no other option to get rid of the radiation? This sounds like something that inevitably causes a character's death after a certain period of time.

The quick treatments stop long-term damage. If it gets to the point of long-term damage, some time under more advanced treatments (see the injury and anagathics sections in character generation for some hints) will be needed.

4.) Reactions (Parry, evade etc): What I dislike about the reaction system is that if a player gets attacked, he is not doing a roll to evade / parry. This creates the feeling of powerlessness. Or better said: Allowing a player to do a roll for his reaction creates the illusion of control.
Do you have experiences with alternative rules that allow such kind of reactions? If so, what was your feeling about it?

A reacting character is paying a "price" for the automatic result (a -1 later, for example). I might consider allowing a roll to negate the cost of the reaction, but not one to activate the benefit.

 

[AndrewW]

There's a Med Bay in Supplement 10: Merchants & Cruisers on pages 90 and 96.

 

[Hopeless]

I really tried to get some answers using the search function, but that failed.

So being new to Traveller, I have some questions:

1.) My players would like to add a medical bay to their custom ship, but such a module is not mentioned in the core book.
How much should it cost? How much space will it take up? Are there certain feats to consider?

The supplement "Golden Age Starships Compilation 1-5" mention a Sickbay massing 8 tons and costs MCr2 and is listed as holding enough room for 4 patient beds and a small operating theatre filled with extensive medical equipment (Page 14 of Golden Age Starships 3: LSP Modular Starships if you want the specific page or using the pdf) odd I never noticed that discrepancy before the T2300 rulebook mentions an Autodoc but not a Sickbay I suspect you could just convert a single spare stateroom into your sick bay and simply pay for a medical kit until they can afford the MCr2 cost of the sickbay, hey same page for the sickbay also mentions Autodoc (TL12 takes up to 0.5 ton and roughly 0.04MCr these are portable not sure whether they're wheeled or repulsorlift ala Star Wars).

2.) I would like to add shield systems to the game as I think that's quite a cool option to have on a space ship. Did anyone create house rules for this? I already made up my own, but I am not sure whether they are overpowered or underpowered. :?
Shield systems start at TL 16 regarding my house rules, that's for sure!

How about using Screens?

My first game I ruled the ship's boat that carried the PC's to their destination has screens, as best I remembered when they were fired on I simply checked to see if they overwhelmed the screens whilst they were busy trying to shoot the internal weaponry that had turned upon them!
(It was loosely based on the opening scenes of the Phantom Menace where the diplomatic team's ship was blown up in the hangar bay of the massive ship the talks were being held on. The game made more sense at the time but it was the first game I ran of Traveller!
If memory serves I think it was just that the damage failed to beat the screens defence at the time well for a few rounds long enough for the spare characters left aboard to deal with the internal weaponry.
You could just mark these up 1 to 5 for example and each level costs the same as a Screen but each successive +1 grants and extra 2d6 to roll against the damage being inflicted that round with a screen failing each time they fail the roll and the damage exceeds its threshold)

3.) Anti-rad drugs: If a player suffered rads and didn't take the drug in time (it states 10 minutes after the radiation was suffered), is there no other option to get rid of the radiation? This sounds like something that inevitably causes a character's death after a certain period of time.

Page 141 in the Pocket Traveller rulebook explains that.

4.) Reactions (Parry, evade etc): What I dislike about the reaction system is that if a player gets attacked, he is not doing a roll to evade / parry. This creates the feeling of powerlessness. Or better said: Allowing a player to do a roll for his reaction creates the illusion of control.
Do you have experiences with alternative rules that allow such kind of reactions? If so, what was your feeling about it?

I've only run a couple of Traveller games but you could rule if the targeted player has held their action they can dodge the attack by diving behind something and making an Athletics check with a difficulty matching how well the attack hit (in short doing better than the actual attack) to see if they were able to evade the attack.

Unless they're surprised I see no reason why the character's Dexterity DM not be applied as a difficulty to the attacker's roll has anyone else thought of others ways of handling this?

 

[dragoner]

Unless they're surprised I see no reason why the character's Dexterity DM not be applied as a difficulty to the attacker's roll has anyone else thought of others ways of handling this?

Sometimes I have run a melee with an opposed task roll, esp with grappling; running, evading, diving for cover must be stated at the beginning of gun combat, I will not allow dodging a bullet or laser beam after it has begun.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

Reactions (Parry, evade etc): What I dislike about the reaction system is that if a player gets attacked, he is not doing a roll to evade / parry. This creates the feeling of powerlessness. Or better said: Allowing a player to do a roll for his reaction creates the illusion of control.
Do you have experiences with alternative rules that allow such kind of reactions? If so, what was your feeling about it?

Mongoose Traveller connects the two fighting characters together. Dodge, parry are do-able. Not sure why you would would want to do it the GURPS way where two players stand in separate rooms dancing with themselves (one is attack rolling, while the other is defense rolling).

If you feel you need to roll when attacked though, roll for a Melee skill check. Give yourself Melee(Dodge), Melee(Parry), Melee(Evade), and Melee(Etc.) skills.

 

[Condottiere]

I'm starting to peruse through a supplement called Merchants and Cruisers.

I don't know if they're specific to Darrian vessels, but a sickbay is four tons and costs a million credits.

And a medical bay, eight hundred thousand credits. My guess is that you estimate what you can plausibly stuff in there, and that military versions may even have bunk beds.

 

[locarno24]

Re 'Shields' - it depends on how you want shields to work.
In a sci-fi setting, shields generally follow one of two mechanics; either they have a pool of 'damage resistance' which can be abraded by incoming fire (like Star Wars deflectors), or they have a flat 'damage reduction' which can prevent you taking damage in the first place (like Honor Harrington 'sidewalls' or Dune 'shields').

Many are a combination of the two.

In traveller terms, damage resistance means hit points, damage reduction means armour value. Notes from a similar thing we've done:

The simplest way to do shields is to use High Guard reinforced hull. It adds extra hit points that can be abraded by normal gunfire, but still allows hits to 'flash through' and cause external damage.

I've seen a couple of house rule versions where this was developed more, but that's the best currently-in-the-rules option for shields which stop damage dead then burn out (star trek/star wars shield style) rather than stay on indefinitely but just reduce the impact (harrington sidewall style)

Essentially, an internal component which is a % of ships volume per shield point.

Adds an extra set of shield hit points which must be dropped first.

Hits against the shields are worked out at an armour value equal to the TL of the shield generator (which defined its price).

Shields do not recover within the timescale of a battle

If a ship takes enough damage to overload its remaining shields in a single hit or barrage, any surplus damage does not carry over to the hull. Any subsequent hits in the same volley strike the hull and their damage versus the ship's normal armour value is worked out as normal.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

My players would like to add a medical bay to their custom ship, but such a module is not mentioned in the core book.
How much should it cost? How much space will it take up? Are there certain feats to consider?

Make some room on the ship and buy medical beds, chairs, tables, examiners, etc for that area.

 

[steve98052]

1.) My players would like to add a medical bay to their custom ship, but such a module is not mentioned in the core book.
How much should it cost? How much space will it take up? Are there certain feats to consider?

Others have mentioned several options for size and price. As for using them, the book notes that Medic-2 is enough skill to be a practicing doctor, and Medic-4 is enough to be a famous doctor. The rules others mentioned may include rules for automated sick bay, but I don't have a lot of the Mongoose books. If you or your friends have non-Mongoose Traveller books, they're probably compatible, particularly Classic Traveller and GURPS Traveller.

2.) I would like to add shield systems to the game as I think that's quite a cool option to have on a space ship. Did anyone create house rules for this? I already made up my own, but I am not sure whether they are overpowered or underpowered. :?
Shield systems start at TL 16 regarding my house rules, that's for sure!

Traveller defines three types of shields: nuclear dampers (which can prevent nuclear warheads from functioning), meson screens (which reduce or block meson weapons), and the TL15 Black Globe, which absorbs all weapon fire targeted on it and stores it in capacitors (which can explode if the Black Globe absorbs too much energy). More advanced Black Globes are found at TL16 through TL20, and other types of shields may exist at higher tech levels.

There are other defenses: sandcasters reduce beam attacks, repulsors (bay weapons not described in the basic book) can deflect missiles, lasers can be used in point-defense against missiles, and armor is a last line of defense.

If you're trying to preserve traditional Traveller feel, it's best not to add other sorts of defenses, unless they're based on Ancient artifacts. That way they seem like more of a prize to players, because they can't just buy them off the shelf. (Additionally, if you find that they're unbalancing, you can have them break down without concern that they'll be replaced.)

A good way to model a new sort of defense, whether it's something players can buy or have to discover, is to take something from the existing rules and make it work better. Simple examples are nuclear dampers and meson screens that are much smaller than the standard 50 dtons, but with the same effects. Another example would be a device that offers protection like armor, but without a dton requirement other than that of the device that generates the shield -- but with a necessary condition such as a functioning power plant, the need to drop it when firing some types of weapons, etc. It's a good idea to play-test any new technology with a mock combat before allowing it.

3.) Anti-rad drugs: If a player suffered rads and didn't take the drug in time (it states 10 minutes after the radiation was suffered), is there no other option to get rid of the radiation? This sounds like something that inevitably causes a character's death after a certain period of time.

Accumulated radiation is eventually fatal, so it's a good idea to avoid exposure to radiation. As the table says, short-term exposure exceeding 50 rads causes damage, and lifetime exposure over 150 reduces endurance (though the table doesn't indicate penalties beyond loss of 4 endurance).

Advanced medication might restore lost endurance, but that's specialized enough that it doesn't fit into the basic rules. I'd treat long-term radiation treatment like anagathic drugs, but with fewer restrictions and lower cost because it targets a specific problem rather than aging in general.

4.) Reactions (Parry, evade etc): What I dislike about the reaction system is that if a player gets attacked, he is not doing a roll to evade / parry. This creates the feeling of powerlessness. Or better said: Allowing a player to do a roll for his reaction creates the illusion of control.
Do you have experiences with alternative rules that allow such kind of reactions? If so, what was your feeling about it?

Characters have the option to react to as many attacks as they're aware of, trading away initiative and reducing their attack for a comparable reduction in their opponent's attack. The decision of whether to react strikes me as a significant influence on his or her combat situation. Making the player roll to react effectively adds randomness to the player's ability to avoid an attack, not an improvement in control over his or her situation.