High Guard is Here!

[snrdg121408]

Hello Codnottiere,

There's no air resistance in space; you just have to ensure the ordnance doesn't get torn off during high gee manoeuvres.

Yep, a fighter or combat craft designed for space only has to worry about high gee maneuvers, however a streamlined fighter can enter the atmosphere which means the ordnance needs to air resistant too. But then I do tend to go to deep in my games.

 

[AndrewW]

In some areas I'm a bit tight that the numbers match up in this case the rules have power requirements for systems that when totaled exceed the listed power plant power out. Calculating the power used based on whether the jump drive or maneuver drive would give a better picture.

There are a number of ships that don't have enough power to do everything at the same time, including jump. This is by design.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

In some areas I'm a bit tight that the numbers match up in this case the rules have power requirements for systems that when totaled exceed the listed power plant power out.

You probably do not need to power J- and M-drives simultaneously, but you need some reserve power, e.g. for any weapons installed, or other modifications. So I do not think the produced power is even supposed to match consumed power exactly.

 

[GarethL]

Why bother to build a power plant capable of running two systems that by the rules can not be run at the same time. The maneuver drive can not be used in jump space without bad events happening. If he jump drive is engaged inside the D limit bad things happen. If the maneuver drive draws more power than the jump drive scale the power plant to the maneuver drive plus all the other systems installed using power. If the jump drive needs the most power then use the jump drive. .

There are edge cases where it can be useful - if you are fleeing an attack and trying to jump you'll probably want to continue using the M-Drive whilst spinning up the J-Drive... And that means that you'll need to shut down the turret and sensors because that plus the core systems is 60 power right off the bat.

Also worth noting that power criticals can reduce powerplant output - so damage or poor maintenance can result in less output - a little spare capacity ensures that you should be able to return home for a repair at least.

 

[Jeraa]

There are edge cases where it can be useful - if you are fleeing an attack and trying to jump you'll probably want to continue using the M-Drive whilst spinning up the J-Drive... And that means that you'll need to shut down the turret and sensors because that plus the core systems is 60 power right off the bat.

Also worth noting that power criticals can reduce powerplant output - so damage or poor maintenance can result in less output - a little spare capacity ensures that you should be able to return home for a repair at least.

You can power down half the basic ship systems with no problem (High Guard pg 16, Core Rulebook pg 144). So 20 Maneuver drive + 20 jump drive + 10 basic systems (half normal) + 2 sensors +1 turret = 53 of the 60 Power a scout produces. The only other thing that would normally be added to that in combat is the power draw of whatever weapons the turret mounts.

If you had to, you could reduce the power to the M-drives. Reducing their output from 2g to 1g would still give some maneuverability, and save 10 Power for use elsewhere. Then the scout would only be using 43 of the 60 Power it has available.

Powering down unnecessary ship systems during combat (halving the power drain of basic ship systems) would probably be standard procedure. It can also explain the "jump dimming" tradition.

 

[Condottiere]

Since this is a Vilani tradition, I'd speculate the Solomani over engineered their ships, so they were never short of energy.

The Vilani used streamlined versions, or perhaps their power plants were inefficient.

The energy required for transition wasn't properly allocated, and the jump drives suck the juice from the general pool.

 

[phavoc]

What other powered ship systems would be providing you with additional power? You have your inertial dampener that would be required to maintain internal conditions. You have life support (which would include lights, warer, atmosphere, power for doors, etc). You wouldn't have power from weapons. You should still need power for sensors and commo.

 

[EldritchFire]

Possible type found.

Page 23 in the Critical Hits on Large Ships sidebar, the example critical hit at the bottom rounds down to a severity 2 crit, whereas the rules for crit severity on page 158 of the CRB says severity is rounded up. Therefore, the example should bea severity 3 crit, not a severity 2.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

Page 23 in the Critical Hits on Large Ships sidebar, the example critical hit at the bottom rounds down to a severity 2 crit, whereas the rules for crit severity on page 158 of the CRB says severity is rounded up. Therefore, the example should bea severity 3 crit, not a severity 2.

I tried that too. Rejected with prejudice.

http://forum.mongoosepublishing.com/viewtopic.php?p=900702#p900702

 

[EldritchFire]

Are antimatter torpedoes supposed to have the Radiation trait? The antimatter missiles, antimatter bomb-pumped torpedoes, and the multi-warhead antimatter torpedoes all have the Radiation trait, so I assume it was just an oversight.

 

[GarethL]

It isn't stated explicitly, but I am guessing that this rule:

A salvo is all the missiles launched by a ship against a single target in the same combat round

Is now superseded by something like this:

A salvo is a group of missiles all with the same thrust value launched from one ship to the same target. If missiles with differing Thrust values are launched on the same turn then group missiles into salvos with the same Thrust value.

 

[Jeraa]

High Guard introduces different types if missiles that are more accurate, carry more fuel or are faster, but these rules suit all missiles included in this Core Rulebook. If a ship launches different types of missile at the same target in the same round, then all the missiles of each type are counted as a different salvo.

The core rulebook assumes only standard missile are being used, so as far as it is concerned all missiles do have the same Thrust. The core rulebook rule is just a general guideline, while the High Guard rule is the complete rule.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

It would be difficult to resolve ECM, PD, and missile attack unless the missiles are of the same type.

So I would assume it would be "A salvo is all the missiles launched by a ship, of the same type, against a single target in the same combat round."

Generally we want to launch large salvoes, so launching many different types, hence many small salvoes, makes them more vulnerable to ECM and missing the target, so this should not invite ridiculous exploits.

 

[Hopeless]

When will the hard copy be available?

 

[Reynard]

I saw November up front.

 

[snrdg121408]

Hello Reynard,

I saw November up front.

Based on the PDF release I would guess December, unless the pre-orders work out better.

 

[Hopeless]

Much obliged!

 

[-Daniel-]

Hello Reynard,

I saw November up front.

Based on the PDF release I would guess December, unless the pre-orders work out better.

November or December I don't care. I can wait for it. I have the PDF to use for now. :mrgreen:

 

[GarethL]

So, big ships are immune from crits resulting from small weapons.

How does this work with missiles?

Bigger launchers don't seem to have bigger missiles (torpedoes oes aside for a moment), they simply launch bigger raids.

Logic would therefore suggest that they inflict crits lije turret weapons? But this means they can only cause crits through attrition, which also seems unreasonable.

I guess this does protect ships from auto-crits (adding salvo size to attack rolls does make the 6+ effect likely for large raids), but then again, high effect means a lot of hits - something that should score crits even against big ships.

Thoughts?

 

[AnotherDilbert]

How does this work with missiles?

The question was asked during beta. It was never answered to my knowledge.

Large missile salvoes are always technically crits. They can also easily make enough damage to produce high Severity crits. Large ships would be easy to mission-kill with a few large salvoes, i.e. a few Severity 6 crits. That does not seem to be the intent of the rules, so I would assume missiles cannot produce crits on large ships.

Perhaps we could treat missiles as turret weapons and torpedoes as small bay weapons. Large ships would be immune, but smaller ships would be very vulnerable?