For me, when I want simulation gaming I use systems specifically designed for it. For me, Traveller is for role playing. Others may be able to speak of the alternate more tabletop simulation like combat systems that have come out for Traveller. I believe Mongoose Tripwire may be something along these lines? Perhaps this is where better ideas than mine may be found?
Lets start off with what I think is a commonly shared opinion that the basic rules are quite unsatisfactory for simulating large scale combat, especially with a combination of troops vehicles and ships.
That said, I try to find options that don't alter rules before making changes.
Note that, as I said already, I don't use Traveller for combat simulations so everything is just some ideas and concepts and not even well thought out let alone play tested. Perhaps it will give someone some ideas though.
First concept(rules based):
Solomani666 said:
Given the current rules, a Fusion Z gun or an Orbital Defence Cannon will do "0" damage to a parked starship.
The Orbital Defense Cannon can do 20d6 damage. Average of 70 points. At 50:1 this could still be a point of damage and a point of damage is all that is needed to get a single hit.
Before you get into the whole that isn't enough to penetrate the armor issue...
The weapon has Ultimate-AP and ignores a number of points of armour equal to five times the number of dice it rolls for damage. That is 20dice or 100 points of armor. If you apply the 50:1 to this too, that does drop it to 2 points.
Some ships have little to no armor, like a Heavy freighter or
even a corsair, but for an example of a Free Trader which happens to have the
same armor of a mercenary cruiser, they do have 4 points of armor. Do I expect a one shot kill from a single defensive canon? Not me. How about at max damage? 20x6 = 120 points At 50:1 that is 2.4 points if we don't round - is there a rule that says anything about rounding? With 2 points of armor penetration... That is .4 damage. Consult table, hmmm there is a line for 0 damage. There is a line for 1-4 damage. It's not uncommon that one has to be a GM and make a ruling. Rule that any fractional damage over 0 equals a hit? Ok, maybe I'm stretching it, but this single weapon is so close to scoring a hit on a ship with 4 armor.
(I underlined the above to point out that a free trader, especially armed, is not just a cargo ship. It's meant to be able to hold it's own against similarly sized combatant ships and thus it is not a surprise that they are not easily damaged and can take out ground units easily.)
First concept + Mercenary (rules based):
it is possible for multiple weapons to all target the starship simultaneously, and the cumulative effect can inflict damage. Every additional ground weapon beyond the first can add half its damage dice to the total before dividing the total by 50 in order to calculate damage.
So, instead of a single defense canon, how about a group of defense canons?
The point is that I think it is quite possible with or without some imaginative use of the rules to turn away that Free Trader with a small group of these weapons. Perhaps no house ruling alteration of the 50:1 ratio needed. A large group of these weapons could possibly make even something more substantial think twice about how impervious their vessel is.
Second Concept (Some creativity but not altering rules)
Lets start out with some basics and some terms I'll be using.
1) For ships, a combat turn lasts six minutes. I'll call combatants that use six minute rounds, well, "ships".
2) For troops and I believe combat vehicles a combat turn lasts six seconds. I'll call combatants that use six second rounds "ground units".
I've seen many discussions about the damage ratio between ships and ground units but what about the difference in the time for a combat round?
Should ground units act 60times for every ship action?
If so, one possibility is instead of modifying the damage ratio how about allowing the ground units to accumulate damage every 6 seconds until they have a complete ship combat round, then divide by 50.
So what if this means some guy with a dagger can possibly damage a ship. In role playing terms, give someone 6 minutes unhindered to find some week point and perhaps they can take out a sensor or damage a turret or cut a fuel line or pry off a panel.
Second Concept + Mercenary(Some creativity)
Ok, so you thought 60 rounds for ground troops was a bit much? From Mercenary we get:
It is worth noting that starship weapons are not designed for engaging ground targets and so their rate of fire is painfully slow, able to fire weapons only once every three Combat rounds
So maybe you make it 3 rounds of ground combat combined firing for every one ship firing?
