Terry Mixon
Emperor Mongoose
Mongoose not following their own build rules? ::starts searching for the shocked face emoji::
Excel Ship Designer v2025.07.22
- Thread starter Arkathan
- Start date
Sigtrygg
Emperor Mongoose
Rule: (-1)
the game company can make up any old cobblers regardless of their own rules as written or setting details to date, even if it contradicts a book that is meant to be the final word; a new edition, that is not a new edition, just format, errata, minor tweaks, and art update, can contain major changes in the rules in said book.
I don't think it is intentional, I just think the game is now so complex that no one writing it knows it as well as the fan base, they don't take into account our... commitment.
D&D 5e was a deliberate attempt to return to basics of a sort, simplify, and build again.
Mongoose needs a new edition of Traveller.
And yes, I will buy it, even a deluxe edition, with typose, errata, and rules that are changed in the very next supplement or adventure
the game company can make up any old cobblers regardless of their own rules as written or setting details to date, even if it contradicts a book that is meant to be the final word; a new edition, that is not a new edition, just format, errata, minor tweaks, and art update, can contain major changes in the rules in said book.
I don't think it is intentional, I just think the game is now so complex that no one writing it knows it as well as the fan base, they don't take into account our... commitment.
D&D 5e was a deliberate attempt to return to basics of a sort, simplify, and build again.
Mongoose needs a new edition of Traveller.
And yes, I will buy it, even a deluxe edition, with typose, errata, and rules that are changed in the very next supplement or adventure
J. L. Brown
Emperor Mongoose
I am trying to build a Fleet Sensor Picket, and just to maximize the number of available Sensor actions I bought 'Robot Crew'. I have hundreds of robo-sensor-operators, but they apparently do not count towards the number of allowed sensor actions. Only sophonts listed in the 'required crew' column (and all of them require staterooms, Life Support, etc) seem to count.
Terry Mixon
Emperor Mongoose
Robo sensors for the win!
J. L. Brown
Emperor Mongoose
Yeah, it is an old concept that I am revisiting -- a 7500 dTon ship that packs in as many 'Extra Sensor Stations' as physically possible. I can get more than 500 robo-sensor-crew, which should be enough to put a dent in 'massive waves of missiles' fleets -- but if they do not count as allowed to take a sensor action, then it is a bit pointless.
[Edit:] Also please note -- Robo-crew are limited in the difficulty of the tasks they are allowed to attempt. TL-10 'Advanced' robot brains can attempt up to 10+ (Difficult) tasks. Electronic Warfare & Jamming vs incoming missiles and torps is listed as (CRB Update, p 173):
So this should easily be within the capabilities of the robots involved. I am also inclined to think that the 'Military Countermeasures Suite' (+6) and 'Enhanced Signal Processing' (+4) might apply.[/Edit]
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Terry Mixon
Emperor Mongoose
I’ll have to redo my 7,500 ton Sorcerer EW platform to use robots.
Arkathan
Emperor Mongoose
I didn't think to hook the robots up to the sensops tally. Shouldn't be hard, but it will count any robot that has the sensor skill and add the number of those bots to the sophont crew for purposes of sensors.
J. L. Brown
Emperor Mongoose
Thank you!
I did not check, but maybe other Robot Crew could use the same treatment. Although -- only Sensor Operators have a large effect.
Arkathan
Emperor Mongoose
I think steward is the only other skill that will have an effect, but if anyone thinks of anything, speak up before I get the other parts of this update working.
Terry Mixon
Emperor Mongoose
I think all of the associated skills for robotic crew should count against the crewing requirement, though astrogation might be a special case and NOT count (or have a toggle?). Steward has special case scenarios that the robots should help with for luxury passengers, though.
Robots are crew, too! Though perhaps a toggle for robot crew to count/not count in addition to the astrogation case?
I only requested viewer access as you don't need others mucking about in the guts.
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J. L. Brown
Emperor Mongoose
You need 'Officers' and 'Medics' based on the number of crew. Robots should be able to fill those roles; but do not need them, so counting them directly as though they are sophont crew might not be right. And filling some of the crew slots with robots should reduce all of the above requirements.
On military ships, where it is assumed that there are three watches, one Robot could probably fill three crew slots by working continuously.
Also -- it looks like the calculation for number of gunners is doing something odd.
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Terry Mixon
Emperor Mongoose
The number of robot crew should reduce the headcount for medics as well as fill the role for living beings. Admin is already being listed. Leadership and persuade are the only skills not explicitly detailed. That would need to be added.
Or maybe robots don't need officers. They are pretty much self-operating. Maybe robot crew reduce the headcount for officers leading them.
Technetium 98
Cosmic Mongoose
At risk of being difficult - does that interact with military/civilian crewing requirements? Military craft need three so their stations are always manned, but robots don't need sleep. Suppose that applies for virtual crew/gunner as well, actually.
Hm. Robots can operate on a continuous basis, but you still need multiples of them for redundancy, error-checking each other. The old computerized "tell-me-three-times" routine. I can see arguments either way. Maybe a single robot could cover continuously, but you'd still want at least one backup to cover for maintenance downtime.
MasterGwydion
Emperor Mongoose
If you are doing maintenance, you are probably not using the Pilot Robot to fly around with the engines open. The Pilot would need maintained on the same schedule as the ship.
Edit - Or the self-maintenance function to never require them to be maintained.
J. L. Brown
Emperor Mongoose
Robot Handbook Update, p 108 makes it clear that 'maintenance' is only needed once per year and takes only 1D6 hours. Having even just one extra Robot crew for each position seems like overkill.
MasterGwydion
Emperor Mongoose
Yeah, but if you don't "maintain" your house by cleaning your house often then the mechanical parts of your house will stop working as effectively. Or changing light bulbs. Or oiling hinges. etc.
Also, your quote from the RH is for maintaining robots, not maintaining a ship.
J. L. Brown
Emperor Mongoose
Explain to me how my comment on maintenance required for Robot crew is intended to imply anything about maintaining a starship? I was responding specifically to (quoted in my comment for clarity) an idea that 'Tell Me Three Times' was a potentially correct approach to Robot crew.
MasterGwydion
Emperor Mongoose
You maintain both with your workshop as that is where the "Maintenance tools" are kept. Better if you have a Robotics Lab, but it is not actually needed.
