Hammer's Slammers and starships

[pasuuli]

So, thumbing through the Hammer's Slammers book, I didn't see much in the way of explaining star travel. There's a half-page plus near the very front, explaining in vague terms about star travel, but no good crunchy rules.

From what I gather, star travel times are different in HS. The range is wider: from very slow, to very fast. It's possible to travel to a nearby star in mere hours with the best equipment, whereas more primitive stuff may take weeks.

So what's the best way adapt MGT starships for HS? Ideally, I'd prefer to keep the Traveller starship designs as-is, but simply redefine jump drive characteristics to represent the HSU (Hammer's Slammers Universe).

This gives me a ready-made set of ships to pick up and use. No fiddling around required.

Something like this (making up numbers on the fly):

TL   Velocity
9    1 parsec per 30 days
10   1 parsec per 10 days
11   1 parsec per 3 days
12   1 parsec per day
13   1 parsec per 8 hours
14   1 parsec per 2.5 hours
15   1 parsec per hour

Unlike Traveller, ships probably use fuel slowly, needing a yearly recharge... all that fuel might not be hydrogen, but rather a combination of reactor, fuel rods, battery banks, and who knows what. I don't know. What do you think it should be like?

 

[Rockymountainnavy]

I can't recall off the top of my head where the HS stories were influenced by starship travel, except for maybe during the civil war on Bailey's World when Steuben ran down offworld arms suppliers. If you have that story then maybe that can give you some "canonical" data.

After re-reading the text box on travel, it sounds awfully like regular Traveller to me.

Keep it simple..HS is about the ground battles, not space.

 

[MongooseMatt]

As has been said, Slammers is not really about the space travel - the game begins when you touch down, and there is no need to keep track of time as there often is in the Third Imperium.

Just decide on which world a war is going to happen next, and start playing!

 

[Travellingdave]

Your numbers look reasonable to me. I doubt there are many TL9 drives around and I get the feeling from the HS book that anything over TL13 is pretty rare.

I can't remember if HS starships have grav drives or not. Can they land without aerodynamic surfaces and vector thrust? I seem to recall that they can, although obviously the technology was not applicable to armored vehicles. Perhaps the drives could not be reduced below a certain size -- something to note for your small craft.

Another aspect that seems vague: Do powerguns work in space (I can't imagine why not) and how would they be represented in the rules? I'd probably make them the equivalent of fusion or plasma guns (relatively short range/high damage). Whether or not you want to account for ammo supplies is up to you.

 

[pasuuli]

As has been said, Slammers is not really about the space travel - the game begins when you touch down, and there is no need to keep track of time as there often is in the Third Imperium.

Just decide on which world a war is going to happen next, and start playing!

Of course, that's the crux of the matter -- I'm so steeped in Traveller and Babylon 5 I can't imagine a system where there's no treatment of orbital bombardment or struggle for orbital superiority, or interceptor ships to prevent ground assaults in the first place.

And yet, HS *is* all about the ground combat; everything else is "already taken care of" from the game's point of view. I.E. it's not about the orbital battles and strategies, it's about the gropos.

I see three potentially cool adaptations using Hammer's Slammers, because I see HS as a gritty setting:


First, I see a 2300-like environment, without the 2300 label.

Second, I see a Starship Troopers-like environment, again with the serial numbers filed off.

Third, I see an Aliens-like environment, sans official patented angle of course.


Heck, the latter two are so relatively space travel light that they and Hammer's Slammers could re-use the same interstellar travel model. And if that model were tuned right, it could suit 2300AD too.


And... I think my TL-versus-velocity suggestions are still too fiddly. It might just be a matter of Jump # = light years per day, or something.

 

[SnowDog]

Yes, HS is all about ground combat but I'd still like to see at least orbital/aerospace article/supplement. As Matt said the action starts when you hit the ground and while this may be the case in most of the times then what about when you are making a combat drop and want to use dice instead of just telling how the landing goes? Same applies to taking off if things are getting grim.

I know that these things should and could be handled dramatically (by just telling how things go) but sometimes it would be fun to get tactical on this part of game, too.

 

[Rockymountainnavy]

"Interface" rules are spread out over several supplements and can be put together for some fun.

Mercenary has Ground Forces Versus Starships on page 73. I personally think the divisor of 50 may be a bit much for powerguns, but I am still playing with that.

High Guard has ortillery options (see pages 48-51). There are rules buried in there for firing against mobile ground targets but the damage rules need some tinkering. For instance, under Ortillery Railgun the text states "[a] single hit from an ortillery railgun is like a tactical nuclear strike." Yet the damage table on p.51 shows 8d6 or 12d6 depending on battery size. I can find no exchange for going from starship-scale weapons to vehicle/personal scale; so I make it an area attack across a 10x10 grid.

Supplement 6: Military Vehicles has several designs that can be used for orbital insertion. This is especially easy for the grav vehicles. After looking at this supplement, with vehicles up to 7000 m3 (or 500dton) it really calls into question the Merc rules. For myself, I consider Small Craft as vehicles for ground combat purposes. In the Hammer's Slammers world this seems to fit as powerguns can sweep the skies of all your smaller fighters, satellites, grav flyers, and the like.

 

[AndrewW]

There's also the re-entry (jump capsules, depending if you go by the text or the stats) on the Light Assault Transport in Supplement 2: Traders and Gunboats for troop deployment.

 

[Rockymountainnavy]

After saying I couldn't find it I did! In the Pocket Rulebook see page 151. Basically, you multiple damage by 50 to get damage from starship-scale against personal targets (just the opposite of firing Ground Weapons at Starships).

This makes ortilley VERY deadly...at 8d6 (average 28 total) you get 1400 (!!!) hits. In the HS Universe, I would at least try to give the powerguns a chance to shoot it down (break it up?) before impact.

 

[Infojunky]

Keep it simple..HS is about the ground battles, not space.

In the Slammers universe if it Flies it Dies. Even relatively small powerguns are capable of hitting targets in orbit. So opposed landings are gonna be a bitch.

With that there is reference to "bombers" popping out of transit to deliver their load and then immediately going back in to transit to avoid ground fire.

 

[ShadowDrake]

In that same vein, though, orbital ships can easily hit ground targets. Also, if powerguns are that accurate and powerful, how can you ever land on an enemy planet with reasonable defenses?

 

[Infojunky]

In that same vein, though, orbital ships can easily hit ground targets.

It is still far easier to hit a ship than it is to hit a ground target. Tanks get ground cover/clutter, while ships don't.

Also, if powerguns are that accurate and powerful, how can you ever land on an enemy planet with reasonable defenses?

Land out side of LoS? Think Normandy. As I said opposed landings are gonna be a bitch.

But as indicated the Universe isn't a Navy Universe.

 

[ShadowDrake]

Yeah. I was browsing this thread to help give me ideas to keep my semi-traveller ground pounders in business once someone pointed out the destructive (and accurate) powers of ortillery.

I suppose (Hammers universe or otherwise) massive amounts of decoys spread with the drop pods and troopships, plus (optional) orbital support, with immediate emphasis on destruction of AAA sites is the order of the day.

 

[brionl]

First off, none of the Hammer's Slammers stories have any planetary assaults. You don't get one planet invading another one, it's all fighting between different countries/factions on the same planet.

Secondly, the star ships generally aren't under the control of either combatant, they are neutral parties. They are a lot more expensive and rare than the usual in Traveller, so you generally won't get the ship owners to risk their ships in a combat zone. There are surface to orbit weapons that can take out recon satellites and weapon platforms, as well as the power guns that can shoot down incoming ordnance. So for most of the stories, unless one side has overwhelming tech superiority, it's pretty much a no-go zone in low orbit.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

I have found that the 50:1 ratio between Starship and Vehicle damage to be totally broken.

I use 10:1 and am seriously considering lowering it to 5:1.

Vehicle grade fusion guns should be able to damage a starship. They may not be able to kill it, but they should be able to damage it.