Stations

[Thkaal]

I have considered the stats for space stations. I've considered essentially that a station is nothing more than a very very very large capital ship with no jump drive and very small maneuvering drives.

Anyone else have similar thoughts?

 

[AndrewW]

I have considered the stats for space stations. I've considered essentially that a station is nothing more than a very very very large capital ship with no jump drive and very small maneuvering drives.

Anyone else have similar thoughts?

Certainly could work that way. Depends on what you want to do with it. Would be possible to do without a maneuver drive at all, depending on needs.

 

[BP]

Good point AndrewW - high orbit or non-planetary orbiting (like, Lagrange orbits, etc.) stations could probably do without their own drives - and spacecraft/tugs could always be used for original deployment and perhaps even orbital adjustments (solar or planetary).

 

[rust]

What would be nice for large stations would be some additional gear sadly not mentioned in HighGuard: ...

I usually import these from GURPS Traveller Starships, which has many
good additional options that can easily be adapted to the MGT system,
from hospitals to plazas to swimming pools.

 

[Thkaal]

GT?

I've been out of the loop of Traveller since TNE because ... well...i thought it was just...wrong.

 

[rust]

GT?

GURPS Traveller:

http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/traveller/

 

[Bygoneyrs]

Guys you don't have to bother with the numbers crunching for building a Space Station, just design the floor plan and who cares about the specs? In the 34+ yrs of playing, I have NEVER EVER had someone ever ask..."Hey can I see the stations Specs so I can see if the station is properly powered or not". Get real GMs, just design it and run with it. No one will know, or should know, and ....just to tell you the truth ...your players don't care either. As long as it fits the feel that you need who cares. Get the general size, shape and have a drawing of what it looks like and a general floorplan as needed for your situation and run with it.

Penn

 

[rust]

No one will know, or should know, and ....just to tell you the truth ...your players don't care either.

You obviously do not know my players. :lol:

They have a tendency to plan and prepare their activities very well, and to
use all the information they can research - which means that I have to de-
sign at least all the information that would plausibly be public.

Besides, as Somebody noted, designing the entire station - or any similar
location - gives an impression of what it is like and the necessary familia-
rity to handle it even when the players do something unexpected.

 

[The Chef]

Rust, dont answer this next question cos i know you will say yes of course,

but do people go through the same processes to build ground installations?

I'm with Bygoneyrs on this one as my players neither care or worry about such details, hell they barely know what shape the ship they fly in is! so i would just say a station is huge, with big doors and lots of traffic...

Chef

 

[BP]

Personnally, right on the fence (or maybe both sides) on this one.

One - the more detail, the more there is to work with from a RP standpoint (is there a garbage chute on the other side of that wall princess?), the better.

Two - we are dealing with fictional settings - the only rules are in our heads.

Three - I like to 'design' things.

Four - but if I 'design' everything, then there is less for my players to 'design' from their own imagination.

Five - I'm too lazy to design everything.

Six - I want my cake and to eat it to. With sprinkles.

Conclusion - a good general design supplement would go over well (what's in a station, percentages and scales). A highly crunchy one - on the order of say High Guard - doesn't make much sense, unless one is planning to have stations duking it out with other stations and spaceships, or on having PC's finance them. Some general numbers - volumes to support personnel and population for various levels of comfort (minimal, normal, excessive) and various facilities (spacecraft repair, construction, etc), might not go amiss.

 

[rust]

Rust, dont answer this next question cos i know you will say yes of course,
but do people go through the same processes to build ground installations?

You might be surprised, because my answer would be "no". :lol:

Ground installations are very much different from spaceships and space
stations, because they have external supplies. For example, there is no
need for a big enough power plant, only for a spot where the power cable
enters the installation, and so on.

Most of the necessary technical infrastructure that makes a plausible spa-
ce station somewhat difficult to design is not needed for a normal ground
installation, it is either "somewhere below" the actual installation, outside
of the installation (e.g. a park, a sports field, etc.) or in some other, often
far away building (e.g. the city's main power plant).

So, for most ground installations all I design is a floorplan with notes whe-
re the various "supply lines" enter or leave the installation.

 

[BP]

Again, well put! (And I gotta start adding supply feed locations to my ground structures - thanks rust!)

I would add that the benefits of atmo are fairly tremendous!

Reducing/eliminating the power and facilities otherwise required to produce a livable environ - beathable air, temperature and humidity control, safe pressure, and radiation protection, etc.

 

[Dave Chase]

Rust, dont answer this next question cos i know you will say yes of course,

but do people go through the same processes to build ground installations?

I'm with Bygoneyrs on this one as my players neither care or worry about such details, hell they barely know what shape the ship they fly in is! so i would just say a station is huge, with big doors and lots of traffic...

Chef

Of course rust answered no.

He has me build his ground stations.

LOL

or at least one of his ground bases.

Dave Chase

 

[rust]

He has me build his ground stations.
LOL
or at least one of his ground bases.

Yep, and he recommends your excellent modules. :lol:

 

[Thkaal]

Guys you don't have to bother with the numbers crunching for building a Space Station, just design the floor plan and who cares about the specs? In the 34+ yrs of playing, I have NEVER EVER had someone ever ask..."Hey can I see the stations Specs so I can see if the station is properly powered or not". Get real GMs, just design it and run with it. No one will know, or should know, and ....just to tell you the truth ...your players don't care either. As long as it fits the feel that you need who cares. Get the general size, shape and have a drawing of what it looks like and a general floorplan as needed for your situation and run with it.

Penn

Actually, not so. In one game I ran (another system), the characters had cobbled together a fleet in order to attack a space station. However, they did some intel first and wanted information to determine what it had by way of weapons and armor and shield strength. So yes, space station info CAN be important.