MasterGwydion
Emperor Mongoose
Anyone know where the rules are for repairing Starship Quirks? I figure some such as repairing Hull Damage are self explanatory, but what about stuff like "-1 to all repair attempts" or "Doubled Maintenance Costs"?
How are Starship Quirks repaired?
- Thread starter MasterGwydion
- Start date
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
Replace components.
Geir
Emperor Mongoose
Not at all in the rule book, but perhaps a creative Referee might allow bad quirks to be 'bought out' by ship shares. But still, disturbing psionic echoes might require, um, setting controls for the heart of the sun (or something about a Pict in a cave... I get the older Pink Floyd stuff messed up in my head, perhaps for understandable reasons).
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
A good mechanic might actually locate the exact source of the quirk, and eliminate it, relatively inexpensively, without taking the ship apart.
Yes, that might make sense from a realism point of view. But that pretty much defeats the point of the system for gameplay. The intent of the mechanic is not to replicate some damaged thing that needs repaired, it is to bring out the story potential of that popular trope, the quirky vehicle that behaves in some inexplicable way that you just get used to and compensate for.
If you don't want that in your game, then don't waste time on this mechanic. IMHO.
Geir
Emperor Mongoose
The Drinaxian Companion had a whole convoluted system to 'fix' the Harrier. Kind of a pain in the butt for record keeping and it just seemed like a method to kneecap the machine.
But... if you want to have fun with quirks, use them as story ideas: Finding that Droyne smudge expert and convince him (her?/them?/it? - I don't get Droyne gender at all) to help, or locating that part for the discontinued radiation shield (okay fabricators make that less plausible, but riff off that for something that fits, so to speak), or hacking into the SPA database to remove the black listing. Also, quirks ought to be a hidden set of rolls with the less obvious gradually revealed - don't want the players to know the database is bad and about those dreams about the gaping demon-filled hole in space ahead of time.
But... if you want to have fun with quirks, use them as story ideas: Finding that Droyne smudge expert and convince him (her?/them?/it? - I don't get Droyne gender at all) to help, or locating that part for the discontinued radiation shield (okay fabricators make that less plausible, but riff off that for something that fits, so to speak), or hacking into the SPA database to remove the black listing. Also, quirks ought to be a hidden set of rolls with the less obvious gradually revealed - don't want the players to know the database is bad and about those dreams about the gaping demon-filled hole in space ahead of time.
OldGuy59
Mongoose
The "Droyne Smudge Expert" wouldn't travel alone. It would be a Drone (Aydirsoth), accompanied by a few others to support him. A Leader (Aykrusk) or Sport (Praytsirv) as the Human/Droyne negotiator, a Technician (Ayssath) for the gear and any equipment for determining the extent of the psionic source, perhaps a Worker (Aydin) or two to tote the gear and luggage.
Or a Zhodani? A 'Medium' or a team that could 'investigate' the issue and sort it out.
Or a Zhodani? A 'Medium' or a team that could 'investigate' the issue and sort it out.
Geir
Emperor Mongoose
And plant a listening device or two.
Or maybe they're there to remove the malfunctioning psionic thought reading machine left behind by a previous team of 'investigators'.
It's explicitly part of chargen, so you can't completely avoid it, and while some of the traits do fall into that trope, others are bad enough that the PCs either need to remove them fast or junk the ship because it's either actively hazardous or hurts its own core purpose (Leaky Reactor Core and Black Listed being two big culprits).
Moreover, "fix the fixer-upper" is as much a trope as "stick with the junk ball because it's familiar", and there's nothing wrong with treating the quirk system as part of the former.
An easy and inexpensive fix probably shouldn't be a given, though: quirks are usually there to provide a cost discount, and if they were a simple fix then someone else would have already done it. In most cases it'll mean replacing the affected system. For things that don't have a system cost (and aren't purely reputational or intangible) like the tainted cargo bay or maintenance doubling, I'd use the PoD Harrier issues as a baseline.
I'll grant you that the chart is terrible and I wouldn't use the one in the book, especially for a PC's mustering out benefit. In fact, I'd basically forgotten that they thought you should use it for that. That chart was clearly written for "buying a used ship at a discount during play" and would be okay for that (though some of the entries are meh for that too). PCs could research it, check the ship out, make an informed decision (if they want to do the work).
Dumping it on a player in chargen entirely at random is kind of dumb, especially since even the age of the ship (aka number of quirks) is random. There's no guidance to adjust the mortgage if your hapless player rolls enough quirks to have a 100 yr old ship. Ending up with 5 or 6 quirks as if the ship was older than its first mortgage's duration, but the player still has a mortgage payment as if it was bought new?
The same problem with "how much to fix the sensors" also applies with "how long does it stay well maintained?" and where does that good rep actually apply and how long before folks realize its under new management?
Anyway, my answer was incorrect as you pointed out, because I'd blotted out the chargen issue. But, imho, quirks that go with a PC's hard earned benefit shouldn't be crappy, they should be fun. And if the player likes the idea of a fixer upper/ancient ship, that should be reflected in their mortgage (and fixing it should generally be tricky and involve adventures).
For the vast majority of campaigns, it doesn't matter if you've paid 0, 10, 20, or 30 years of your 40 yr mortgage. It only matters what you are paying per month. Most campaigns that aren't time skipping would struggle to cover 10 game years.
Dumping it on a player in chargen entirely at random is kind of dumb, especially since even the age of the ship (aka number of quirks) is random. There's no guidance to adjust the mortgage if your hapless player rolls enough quirks to have a 100 yr old ship. Ending up with 5 or 6 quirks as if the ship was older than its first mortgage's duration, but the player still has a mortgage payment as if it was bought new?
The same problem with "how much to fix the sensors" also applies with "how long does it stay well maintained?" and where does that good rep actually apply and how long before folks realize its under new management?
Anyway, my answer was incorrect as you pointed out, because I'd blotted out the chargen issue. But, imho, quirks that go with a PC's hard earned benefit shouldn't be crappy, they should be fun. And if the player likes the idea of a fixer upper/ancient ship, that should be reflected in their mortgage (and fixing it should generally be tricky and involve adventures).
For the vast majority of campaigns, it doesn't matter if you've paid 0, 10, 20, or 30 years of your 40 yr mortgage. It only matters what you are paying per month. Most campaigns that aren't time skipping would struggle to cover 10 game years.
ottarrus
Emperor Mongoose
In my games, if the crew has not started playing the campaign yet, I allow them to 'pay off' quirks with ship shares.
I divide the quirks into 'major' [problems with the engine and power plant] and 'minor' [pretty much everything else]. Major quirks cost two shares to fix, minor quirks cost one.
Once the campaign begins, however, you have to go the 'repair shop' route: find a shipyard to do the work, get an estimate, figure out if you have the cash, etc.
And don't forget that damage to the ship in play can CAUSE quirks to happen too! [I don't use that one very often... only if someone chooses to do something really dumb on purpose]
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
Ship shares are basically resources, with monetary value.
ottarrus
Emperor Mongoose
With 'monetary value' but not a specific credit value.
This is why I allow players to choose to use them to fix their current ship or use them as a source of future in-game income.
MasterGwydion
Emperor Mongoose
This mechanic is currently the only way to buy a ship that is not at full price. (or full price with the standard ship design discount).
I prefer using the quirks from the Robot Handbook for quirks of random old ships they come across.
Geir
Emperor Mongoose
That sort of works, but requires a bit of interpretation. How do you apply 'Delusions of Grandeur'?
ottarrus
Emperor Mongoose
You got two basic choices for that one...
Choose CAREFULLY
Attachments
Yeah, but the "quirks" (bit if a misused of that term as few if any of those results are quirky rather than full on flaws/benefits
) on a ship the players choose to buy are things they can evaluate before they buy the ship if they do their due diligence. I don't generally like the specifics of the table, but conceptually its fine. I would generally make repairing them cost more than they saved if they just throw money at it. Or, more likely, require some kind of adventure because that's what the game is about When I think "quirks" for a ship, my reference is from The Imperial Fringe, a classic traveller campaign/adventure. It has this example for the ship the players have:
Peculiarities: The major fault of the type S scout/courier is its air system. Although of respectable quality for life support, it begins to smell after about three weeks of use. Thereafter, the smell becomes increasingly obnoxious, and most crew members find the smell intolerable after six weeks. The problem can be corrected by flushing the air system, which operation costs Cr1,000 for parts and components. Temporary respire may be obtained (for about a week) by replacing the system's air filters (at Cr200). Both these processes also require a plentiful supply of breathable air. Instead, the entire air system may be replaced with a better model; it costs Cr70,000 and requires sacrificing one ton of cargo space.
This does everything I think a quirk system should do. It creates a problem that is interesting rather than dangerous. It has a noticeable but mild negative effect (effectively an extra Cr1000/month for maintenance) and a permanent solution with a real cost. And, importantly, it's all defined clearly.
MasterGwydion
Emperor Mongoose
Do you remember the old "Are you sure?" prompt on some older systems? Think of that, but times 10.