Space Combat

[BP]

So have you played it - and how did you feel about it?

Note - not referring to HG capital ship combat - only regular with or without HG mods.

 

[rust]

I prefer my space combat much more gritty and dangerous - one hit to
the bridge or the maneuver drive, and the ship is a semi-wreck drifting
through space, one hit to the nuclear power plant, and it is a cloud of
debris. :twisted:

 

[BP]

I prefer my space combat much more gritty and dangerous - one hit to
the bridge or the maneuver drive, and the ship is a semi-wreck drifting
through space, one hit to the nuclear power plant, and it is a cloud of
debris. :twisted:

Brutal - :shock:

Okay - that's one meson gun against you... uhm... ah... its a 4.
That's a wrap. (Proceeds to put gaming materials away...)

 

[rust]

Brutal - :shock:

Rather not, when you consider what a dozen megawatt from a laser hit
or the explosion of a nuclear warhead close to the hull really would
do to a starship ...

 

[apoc527]

It's brutal from a player's perspective! Remember, these are PCs here, not grunts in a movie or a book!

 

[rust]

It's brutal from a player's perspective! Remember, these are PCs here, not grunts in a movie or a book!

A matter of "game philosophy", I think.

I do not believe in "scipt immunity" for player characters. In my view any
combat should include a very real risk to get killed, and the player charac-
ters should think at least twice before they decide to take that risk. If they
start an unnecessary fight, or one where the odds are obviously against
them, they are doing something very stupid, and have to accept the po-
tential consequences.

 

[BP]

Brutal - :shock:

Rather not, when you consider what a dozen megawatt from a laser hit
or the explosion of a nuclear warhead close to the hull really would
do to a starship ...

Oh - not say'n it ain't realistic! :lol:

'Course - for multi-megacredits military ships - against even massive lasers realistic defenses of passive, pro-active, active, and reactive nature would be the norm (ablative, wavelength modulating, gaseous migration mitigation, expanding absorption, dispersion, reflection and backscatter medium are all relatively cheap - even existing tech).

One hit to PP destruction - well - detonation of warheads is not equivalent to destroying a nuclear reactor (even fission) - worst case is likely a simple meltdown - which would result in a nice size hole - but only secondary/non-nuclear (but radiation spreading) explosions. (Excepting extreme precision targeting with massive fermtosecond pulses, of course.)

As for actual missiles - that's a different story - though if direct hull contact is avoided the results will be mostly extreme radiation (re: this). And a pressurized ship is in for a world of hurt!

All said - RW is often brutal - and encouraging players to avoid hasty suicide can be a useful refereeing tool - not to mention making adventuring challenging and believable! Your posts reveal an interesting non-OTU setting and I'm sure your players know and appreciate the harsh realities they face. My players always knew they weren't invincible - makes 'em better players (and more cautious - not to mention less psychopathically violent :wink

So do you just mod MGT Space Combat rust? Or go with something completely different?

 

[rust]

So do you just mod MGT Space Combat rust? Or go with something completely different?

I have not yet decided that. For my previous setting I used my own sys-
tem, but since I have built all my ships for my new setting with Mongoose
Traveller, I may well use its space combat system, with the modifications
mentioned above:

- hits that pass through all active and passive defenses and hit the bridge
destroy the controls and the sensors, and the ship can no longer take part
in any combat, except at very short distances,

- hits that pass through all active and passive defenses and hit the maneu-
ver drive immobilize the ship, it starts to drift and becomes an easy target,

- hits that pass through all active and passive defenses and hit the nuclear
reactor destroy the ship.

However, in my setting the usual space combat weapons are particle wea-
pons and nuclear missiles (no lasers), many power plants are fission reac-
tors, the drives are combination hyper-maneuver-drives, and there are a
number of other differences from the Third Imperium setting, so I may
well have to introduce some more, setting specific modifications.

 

[Infojunky]

one hit to the nuclear power plant, and it is a cloud of
debris.

Er, very Star Wars, not very realistic.... The hit depending on wavelength and material might be very violent. But the resulting damage to the plant, not so.

Now hitting fully charged Jump capacitors that is whole other question, or I would like to see....

 

[BP]

So do you just mod MGT Space Combat rust? Or go with something completely different?

I have not yet decided that.

However, in my setting the usual space combat weapons are particle wea-
pons and nuclear missiles (no lasers),...

Ah - I have been solo-experimenting with the MGT rules - and am debating on alternate systems myself.

Getting rid of lasers has quite a bit of merit.

Missiles and slow moving ships (relative to energy weapons) are my biggest believeability hurtle - especially with 6 minute rounds. Can't imagine 10G missiles surviving multiple rounds, even with the best countermeasures.

The rules are fair, and I have been rationalizing them - but explicit game mechanics for common creative tactics are lacking, and multi- and mid-power vessels combats seem dice heavy. I can make it work - but faster pace, damage detail/strategy support, more manuever/skill options and atmo/vacumm handling are calling me...

Infojunky - yeah, definitely need a game mechanic for hitting Jump Capacitors (this also would apply to Black Globe equiped vessels - sorta a Death Star weakness thing!).

 

[rust]

Er, very Star Wars, not very realistic.... The hit depending on wavelength and material might be very violent. But the resulting damage to the plant, not so.

Well, as mentioned above, the starships of my setting use fission reactors
and carry enough fuel for several years of operation, much more than the
critical mass of the reactor fuel. Once a hit evaporates the neutron absor-
bing boric acid and damages the shielding, things can get nasty quickly.

 

[BP]

..., as mentioned above, the starships of my setting use fission reactors and carry enough fuel for several years of operation, much more than the critical mass of the reactor fuel. Once a hit evaporates the neutron absorbing boric acid and damages the shielding, things can get nasty quickly.

Would be a bit of a stretch (unless intentionally setup) - but I'd let it slide purely on cinematic grounds

Assume you are playing a lower/alternate TL setting...

 

[Bygoneyrs]

As with anything I ever get, I have to tinker with it a bit more. At this point it seems to fit, but it might be nice for them or someone to come up with a Alternative set of rules to build a more complex set of optionial rules and/or system that is more gritty and/or less too.

Penn

 

[Randalthor66]

Sorry for being such a newbie, but what is MGT? Is it MonGoose Traveller?

Thanks.

BTW: If you would like to read some interesting space combat fiction, try the Helsfort War series by Graham Paul Sharp (or it could be Sharp Paul, I forget - particularly the first one). The space combat in that seems pretty realistic to me, though I will say I am not an expert by any means.

 

[rust]

Sorry for being such a newbie, but what is MGT? Is it MonGoose Traveller?

Yes, indeed. The abbreviations you are likely to encounter on this forum
include:

CT = Classic Traveller
MT = MegaTraveller
TNE = Traveller New Era
MGT = Mongoose Traveller
GT = GURPS Traveller
OTU = Original / "Official" Traveller Universe (Third Imperium setting)

 

[FreeTrav]

One other abbreviation that you might encounter is RTT, which is also Mongoose Traveller.

 

[Infojunky]

Sorry for being such a newbie, but what is MGT? Is it MonGoose Traveller?

Yes, indeed. The abbreviations you are likely to encounter on this forum
include:

CT = Classic Traveller
MT = MegaTraveller
TNE = Traveller New Era
MGT = Mongoose Traveller
GT = GURPS Traveller
OTU = Original / "Official" Traveller Universe (Third Imperium setting)

ATU = Alternate Traveller Universe
MTU = My Traveller Universe
LLB = Little Black Book, referring to CT rules set which where a set black books.
Book1, Book2, etc... = Core books of the CT edition
T4 = Traveller 4th edition
T5 = Traveller 5th edition
RTT = The Mongoose edition also. Rapidly falling away as it had derisive connotations.

There a bunch more Here...

Oh and my favorite
PGPM = Plasma Gun Pelvic Mount

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

One other abbreviation that you might encounter is RTT, which is also Mongoose Traveller.

HEH! Thats ME!

Actually, I didn't think it was derisive at all, just a bit of fun. I haven't really seen that term used for Mongoose Traveller in a long while. MGT seems to be the accepted abreviation now.

 

[Infojunky]

One other abbreviation that you might encounter is RTT, which is also Mongoose Traveller.

HEH! Thats ME!

Actually, I didn't think it was derisive at all, just a bit of fun. I haven't really seen that term used for Mongoose Traveller in a long while. MGT seems to be the accepted abreviation now.

I didn't either, but I am a Kipling fan, but some of the membership did....

 

[FreeTrav]

One other abbreviation that you might encounter is RTT, which is also Mongoose Traveller.

HEH! Thats ME!

Actually, I didn't think it was derisive at all, just a bit of fun. I haven't really seen that term used for Mongoose Traveller in a long while. MGT seems to be the accepted abreviation now.

I didn't either, but I am a Kipling fan, but some of the membership did....

Nor did I, and I've also read the relevant Kipling. I still use it when I need to specifically refer to Mongoose Traveller, largely because I don't like pulling letters from the middle of a word. It's barely excusable for MegaTraveller, since that was, as often as not, written as one word with the capital in the middle, and also, as often as not, written as Mega Traveller (two words). I don't often find that I need to refer specifically to RTT, though, because I'm either discussing Traveller in the general case, or it's clear from context that it's what's being discussed.

I can see where someone might consider it derisive - but I note that I've never seen any indication from someone clearly associated with Mongoose Publishing that either that individual personally, or the company's official attitude, holds it as such.

And, to me, it captures the spirit of the type of game I liked best when I was a regular player - the exploration-type game, where the INTENT was for the party to "run and find out". And the fact that Mongoose is the publisher made the association almost inevitable.