Updated Vehicle Handbook in the works

[MasterGwydion]

Hm. I'd say that a winch could be either a towing attachment or a crane, depending on size, power, etc. Basically, the vehicle designer would have to decide which it is when designing the vehicle... although that would be an item which could later be modified, I'd say. Basically, the owner could buy a beefier component and swap them out if he wanted... and if the vehicle could handle the upgrade. (Should be able to, if the vehicle's still got the necessary space available.)

Although if you wanted to use it to lift something, as opposed to just dragging it, you'd need to find somewhere and some way to rig it - say, run the cable over a branch or something, or have a pulley/block-and-tackle or the like.

Towing and lifting are the same thing. The only difference is lifting is towing in an upward direction. lol

 

[Condottiere]

 

[Geir]

Added a winch option after my two cups of coffee (and one Google and FAQ reading to see if it made sense). Got up too early and too much excitement watching a 70-metre booster come back and get caught (and the precision landing half a world and an hour way). Already ready for a nap...

 

[ProfGrizzlyJon]

Am I the only person who wants to (has put) manipulator arms on spaceships?

 

[ProfGrizzlyJon]

Following this up with the exact quotes (bolding mine).



So, leaving aside having to use variations of "for unknown reasons" twice in two paragraphs, and tossing in an untrained person somehow "feeling" (with quote marks!) one answer they don't understand is somehow better than all the other answers they don't understand, apparently have Bob the wandering jumpspace cowboy meditating in engineering somehow prevents a great increase of the chances of a misjump.

Hogwash. Honestly, why not just have a pious monk from the local order of jumpspace guides bless the ship for a better outcome? This is tripe and needs to be roundly ignored. Anything pattern wise that a person can see, a computer can see too after having a million jumps ran past the algorithm to get it dialed in. It may take until higher tech levels and be more effective at lower jump numbers but adding a woo-woo factor to a scientific (supposedly) process is ridiculous.

I always attributed it to a latent PSI, which is why biological robots ignore the DMs

 

[NOLATrav]

Will the arms on vehicles be able to catch starships?

For those that may have missed it:

SpaceX Starship test flight achieves ‘chopstick’ landing — CNN

The world’s most powerful rocket launched on another daring test flight from the SpaceX Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas Sunday.

apple.news

 

[J. L. Brown]

....

Manipulator Arms

Manipulator Arm	TL	STR	DEX	Spaces	Cost
Primitive	5	7	TL-3	1	Cr1000
Basic	7	12	TL-3	1	Cr2000
Improved	8	12	TL-2	1	Cr5000
Enhanced	9	15	TL-1	2	Cr10000
Advanced	10	15	TL	2	Cr15000

​

....
Heavy Manipulator Arms

Manipulator Arm	TL	DEX	Spaces*	Cost per Vehicle Space
Basic	7	TL-3	5%	Cr1000
Improved	8	TL-2	5%	Cr2000
Enhanced	9	TL-1	4%	Cr5000
Advanced	10	TL	3%	Cr10000

....

Not sure I mentioned this before, but the 'Primitive' -> 'Superior' scale needs a 'Standard' level.

 

[MasterGwydion]

Am I the only person who wants to (has put) manipulator arms on spaceships?

Technically We already have a weak version of this in HG, pg 58, the "Grappling Arm". It has two versions, which are going to hurt Geir's brain when he starts comparing the ship-scale arms to what he is writing for vehicle-scale arms and realizes that the Grappling Arm would be worse than a TL-5 vehicle-scale arm. lol

 

[Condottiere]

It feels more space shuttley.

There was one carrier ship design that used them to manhandle light fighters.

 

[Condottiere]

 

[Geir]

Technically We already have a weak version of this in HG, pg 58, the "Grappling Arm". It has two versions, which are going to hurt Geir's brain when he starts comparing the ship-scale arms to what he is writing for vehicle-scale arms and realizes that the Grappling Arm would be worse than a TL-5 vehicle-scale arm. lol

I thought about that. Ship scale arms don't, well, they don't scale. Maybe a future JTAS article Or HighGuard'27? Doing a straight extrapolation from the vehicle arms, as much as possible. But in space, it might just be more a question of how big a grip you can get (and I often can't get a grip).

And arm wrestling.
Arm wrestling grappling arms in space.
With optional punching (no idea where you keep digging these up @Condottiere ).
If you liked dogfights, you'll love spaceship melee rules...

 

[Terry Mixon]

If you liked dogfights, you'll love spaceship melee rules...

I thought that was the Vargr melee rules.

 

[J. L. Brown]

I thought about that. Ship scale arms don't, well, they don't scale. Maybe a future JTAS article Or HighGuard'27? Doing a straight extrapolation from the vehicle arms, as much as possible. But in space, it might just be more a question of how big a grip you can get (and I often can't get a grip).

And arm wrestling.
Arm wrestling grappling arms in space.
With optional punching (no idea where you keep digging these up @Condottiere ).
If you liked dogfights, you'll love spaceship melee rules...

So -- the twenty massive robotic arms on the new Vorito highport in Pirates of Drinax don't have any rules. I think the Rule Of Cool has struck again. There seriously needs to be a 'Authors Will Use The Design Rules' editorial policy.

 

[Geir]

Not sure I mentioned this before, but the 'Primitive' -> 'Superior' scale needs a 'Standard' level.

Maybe, but where do you put it, every version is 'Standard' for that Tech Level. I can see (sort of) how it fits into T5's TL Stage progression, but that has it as the equivalent of 'Basic' but 'Basic' is half cost and not as good (but on that table Basic and Generic are exactly the same, but Generic is one TL higher, same cost and efficiency as Basic, so how does that make any sense?)
I would say that Basic = Standard on the current progression

 

[agentwigggles]

Tigress with Percentage of the hull sized arms

 

[Geir]

Tigress with Percentage of the hull sized arms

and claws

 

[J. L. Brown]

Maybe, but where do you put it, every version is 'Standard' for that Tech Level. I can see (sort of) how it fits into T5's TL Stage progression, but that has it as the equivalent of 'Basic' but 'Basic' is half cost and not as good (but on that table Basic and Generic are exactly the same, but Generic is one TL higher, same cost and efficiency as Basic, so how does that make any sense?)
I would say that Basic = Standard on the current progression

I figured between 'Basic' and 'Improved'. 'Basic' items seem to be very limited, early versions -- like 'Basic' robot brains.

 

[Galadrion]

Towing and lifting are the same thing. The only difference is lifting is towing in an upward direction. lol

Once you account for differences in friction, sure. Or the difference when a crane is holding a load still off of the ground. These are two of the differences between theory and practice.

 

[Galadrion]

With optional punching (no idea where you keep digging these up @Condottiere ).
If you liked dogfights, you'll love spaceship melee rules...

Sounds like various space mecha anime to me...

 

[tytalan]

Towing and lifting are the same thing. The only difference is lifting is towing in an upward direction. lol

Not really it takes less force generally to tow than it does to lift.