Ship Repair Rules - Calling All Travellers!

[MongooseMatt]

We have a Core Rulebook reprint coming up on the horizon. No great changes planned, but we wanted to get some opinions on the spacecraft repair rules.

What would you like us to do with these, if anything? What would you like to see there (page 159)?

 

[Nelphine]

I like increased cost, and would like to see it stay.

 

[MasterGwydion]

As many issues as I have with this rule or that rule, I am aware of no changes that need to be made to the repair system.

Edit: Oops! I lied. Make the check for repairing crits and hull use the chart to determine how many tons of spare parts are needed. That way, a better engineer saves you spare parts on both crits and hull, not just one.

 

[Condottiere]

Depreciation, and salvage value.

For insurance purposes.

 

[Galadrion]

Depreciation, and salvage value.

For insurance purposes.

And ship resale - aka, what do I do with my old ship when I'm buying a bigger one?

 

[Limpin Legin]

What would you like us to do with these, if anything? What would you like to see there (page 159)?

My pitch might be along the lines:

Properly repairing a critical hit requires not only an Engineer or Mechanic check (1D hours) but also spare parts.
Page 159.

Also requires adequate tools, otherwise it would be like having bullets without a gun. But a sensible referee would include that. Just makes the game more slick, if the writers mention it regardless.

Properly repairing a critical hit requires not only an Engineer or Mechanic check (1D hours) but also spare parts. The Effect of the check determines how many spare parts are required, minus the Severity of the critical hit.
Page 159.

Repair duration should not solely be dependent upon character intervention (Eng or Mech check). Should also factor in the severity of damage as a DM sort of thing, when calculating duration of repair. As the Repair rules stand, it looks like Severity is only used to influence the number of spare parts required. Really, Severity implies number of spare parts, and number of spare parts plus character intervention implies duration of repair, IMO. Or did I not read that right?

A destroyed weapon or item of equipment will need to be completely replaced, and cannot be repaired using spare parts.
Page 159.

3D printed component part(s)? Or even a jury-rigged, frankensteined, or cobbled together solution(s)? Might take more hours than it is worth, but if there is a will, then there is a way ...

 

[MasterGwydion]

My pitch might be along the lines:


Also requires adequate tools, otherwise it would be like having bullets without a gun. But a sensible referee would include that. Just makes the game more slick, if the writers mention it regardless.



Repair duration should not solely be dependent upon character intervention (Eng or Mech check). Should also factor in the severity of damage as a DM sort of thing, when calculating duration of repair. As the Repair rules stand, it looks like Severity is only used to influence the number of spare parts required. Really, Severity implies number of spare parts, and number of spare parts plus character intervention implies duration of repair, IMO. Or did I not read that right?


3D printed component part(s)? Or even a jury-rigged, frankensteined, or cobbled together solution(s)? Might take more hours than it is worth, but if there is a will, then there is a way ...

With good enough (both in size and complexity) Fabricator on board, sure, but a good enough Fabricator to print a whole turret and weapons for the turret? I doubt most non-military ships would carry something like that.

 

[Limpin Legin]

With good enough (both in size and complexity) Fabricator on board, sure, but a good enough Fabricator to print a whole turret and weapons for the turret? I doubt most non-military ships would carry something like that.

Could be. Haven't established whether the whole turret was damaged, or just part(s) (as per the quote). Yeah, the whole thing weighs tons, and that suggests limitations on moving something that big from a fabricator to the installation site. However, who said that the fabricator has to be on the ship? Could be the crew solicited help from elsewhere? Also, who said non-military meant that the crew didn't have military/mercenary/pirate aptitudes?

There again, the Core rulebook doesn't mention a "fabricator" or "3D printer" as being a thing, and I guess that could be why there is a cut off.

 

[Limpin Legin]

Could be. Haven't established whether the whole turret was damaged, or just part(s) (as per the quote). Yeah, the whole thing weighs tons, and that suggests limitations on moving something that big from a fabricator to the installation site. However, who said that the fabricator has to be on the ship? Could be the crew solicited help from elsewhere? Also, who said non-military meant that the crew didn't have military/mercenary/pirate aptitudes?

There again, the Core rulebook doesn't mention a "fabricator" or "3D printer" as being a thing, and I guess that could be why there is a cut off.

Plus quote mentions "an item of equipment", as well as weapons, which could mean something that is small but equally valuable.

 

[Sigtrygg]

It is high time for the shipboard makershop to get a mention in MgT. It is a glaring omission from the Third Imperium setting as described by Marc W Miller.
Wafer tech - brain scans are no longer destructive by TL15
Fusion+ (now mentioned in SOM at least
Makershops.

 

[Sigtrygg]

Ok back on topic - page 159 you say?

I have yet to see a ship data block include the tonnage of the spare parts carried, so are we to assume ships carry no spare parts routinely? Or are those spare parts "virtual tonnage" subsumed into the general tonnage of the drives and other ship systems?

So - how many tons of spare parts does a ship get for free without having to account for them? How many spare parts come with a new ship as part of its engineering loadout? How many spare parts can a makershop (I refuse to call them fabricators ) produce in a given timeframe? Is the cost for replacement spare parts a universal or should it be based on the system damaged?

 

[AndrewW]

It is high time for the shipboard makershop to get a mention in MgT. It is a glaring omission from the Third Imperium setting as described by Marc W Miller.
Makershops.

A workshop (which has been around in some form since 1st edition, just wasn't in High Guard) could be considered as one. Which should have an effect on ship repairs if one isn't at a shipyard.

 

[Geir]

Just a reminder of my earlier suggestion: at least let the Critical Hits table at the bottom be used for hull repairs as well, and it would probably be good.

The "how many spare parts come with the ship?" question is a can of (parts?). Sort of like High Passengers and their cargo ton. Probably tracked more in omission than compliance. If we sort of borrowed Martin's SU thing and assumed a ton per hundred tons as 'included' and make Traveller pay for replacing that stockpile after the fact, then that might be easiest. And like the airlock, office, and ship's locker not accounted for, make it another on-off part of the 'bridge' volume (at least that's how I see the bridge volume).

Also, assuming the fabricator exists in a workshop or a shoebox-sized one sits in the ship's locker and you have 'printer glue' to make bigger parts, then spare parts can be a generic starport purchase rather then wiring of various gauges, washers, tubing, piezo-electric thingees, etc .

 

[agentwigggles]

heheh
printer glue

Anyway.
My big issue, is that its pretty binary. Which is good in a way.
I would like Crit Hull Damage, to have the Severity be a DM- to the repair roll. And I would like to spend additional whole spareparts to act a DM+1 to the roll. And make it explict that you can spend the additional spareparts after the roll.

I would like to see an expansion on temp fixing critical damage, but for out of spaceship combat.
It takes one sparepart and this is seperate and does not count a sparepart used during combat temp critical hit fixing.
Engineering or Mechanics EDU vs 8 1d6 hours
When a skill roll that is done with using the afflicted ship, roll 2d6 If the roll is under or equal to the Severity+1 of the highest Severity Critical Hit that has been temporary repair, that critical hit is no longer temporary repaired.
If the skill roll that is done with using the afflicted ship and uses the ship system that is being temporary repaired, the roll gains a DM+1.
Every time a skill roll is done with the afflicted ship, after the first roll the roll gains a DM+1. This value can be removed by repairing the critical hit system or by redoing the temporary fix with additional sparepart cost.

So a free trader has Fuel Severity 3, and M drive Severity 4.
The crew makes a pilot roll. So that requires a 2d6 under or equal to 4+1. Because pilot roll is making use of the M drive this is an additional DM-1 for 2d6-1 under 4+1. So thats an average roll of 6. 6 isnt 5 or less. So the M drive doesnt asplode as thrust is applied to the ship.

 

[agentwigggles]

Or do the above but using 1d6 roll under. That would be cleaner.

 

[IanBruntlett]

Whatever you decide, please make the edits available on the Downloads - Traveller FAQ and errata

 

[Terry Mixon]

Whatever you decide, please make the edits available on the Downloads - Traveller FAQ and errata

Compiling things like the sensor rules into a document could be done there as well.

 

[IanBruntlett]

We have a Core Rulebook reprint coming up on the horizon. No great changes planned, but we wanted to get some opinions on the spacecraft repair rules.

What would you like us to do with these, if anything? What would you like to see there (page 159)?

Any chance of getting bookmarks built into the reprinted CRBs?

 

[Terry Mixon]

Any chance of getting bookmarks built into the reprinted CRBs?

That would be nice. And compile the core rule sets like sensors so we don’t have to go hunting.

 

[phavoc]

We have a Core Rulebook reprint coming up on the horizon. No great changes planned, but we wanted to get some opinions on the spacecraft repair rules.

What would you like us to do with these, if anything? What would you like to see there (page 159)?

I'd split the explanation into two parts - hull and systems. Hull damage can be patched to hold air, but armor points could only be repaired using actual armor replacement parts (so either an engineering ship or a yard). Ship systems can be jury-rigged, but some sort of point-system should be employed (maybe tonnage, or some hull percentage for points?) using onboard spares. By default a ship carries X points in spares, a workshop gives you X+Y points in spares. You could carry more points as cargo if you wanted to (important for ships not planning on heading back to civilization any time soon).

I'd also put some verbiage in there about salvaging parts/points from other ships. There's really not much out there on how that would normally work, and you had a tussle with a pirate (or are pirating yourself) it'd be nice to know what you might expect to get off the other guy to patch your own ship up.