What do you want in a ship write up?

[d.b.gamedesign]

I'm finally getting back to work on publishing another ship. So I have a simple questions for you all.

What do you want in a ship description / deckplan? I'm not after complains of what you didn't like about other ships (i already read that thread), I want to know what you WANT in a ship.

 

[FreeTrav]

I want color text that will make this design not seem like Just Another <Insert Ship Type Here>. Why should I choose a Kenworth-class 400-ton J2 trader over a Daimler-class 400-ton J2 trader?

I want "stat sheets" that provide actual information about the ship, without resorting to looking up just what "Jump Drive A" or "Continental Range" means, in another volume.

I want deckplans that can be used for miniatures scenarios. Incidentally, I think this is where Europeans got it right, and Americans got it wrong - the ISO A series sizes handle reductions much better than the ANSI series, and if I'm not totally off the wall, 25mm plans on A4 paper reduce nicely to 15mm on A5.

I want deckplans that make sense for the intended use. Putting Engineering or the cargo hold between the passenger staterooms and the passenger common facilities is just plain nonsensical.

Ideally, I want variants of any given ship, e.g., that hundred-year-old J2 passenger liner has been taken to a yard, stripped down and refitted, and is now a J1 cargo transport - give me stats and deckplans for both the liner and its reincarnation as a cargo transport.

 

[IanBruntlett]

I'd like to see:-
1. Sensible floor plans - if its a big ship, having a rough idea of where things are is enough for me.
2. Pictures in 3D and with some idea of the ship's size. Something I can show players and say "this is what you're flying" or "this is what's on the starboard bow".

HTH


Ian

 

[iainjcoleman]

I want deckplans that make sense for the intended use. Putting Engineering or the cargo hold between the passenger staterooms and the passenger common facilities is just plain nonsensical.

This x1000.

Deckplans should show some evidence that thought has been given to how people will live and work in this space, and to how safety and security on board the ship will be maintained. I am staggered by the number of times I see obviously daft layouts, like having a shared common area for passengers and crew, or even a passenger stateroom, right next to the bridge. Do these people want to be hijacked?

 

[Mithras]

Seconded for varients ( http://www.museumstuff.com/learn/topics/Lockheed_C-130_Hercules::sub::Variants ). Because varients of aircraft in the real world are prolific and interesting .... and every varient is essentially a new use for that ship type ...!

 

[far-trader]

Just a quick wants list:

Design Sheet - Meta Game - full design worksheet showing features, tonnage, costs, etc. and detailing the process noting which book or books and any house rules, exceptions, fudges, etc. were used along with designer notes explaining the same.

Colour Text - In Game - description of the ship and history, could be any number of styles, from sales brochure, through historical accounts, to current operational example, or more than one even.

Variant Notes - Meta/In Game - possible options for the design.

Picture - Ship alone or in a scene presented as a picture of it from forward quarter on.

Plan Views - Exterior port, starboard, bow, aft, dorsal and ventral showing surface features, plain and suitable for custom colouring and graphics.

Deck Plans - Interior layout (detail and presentation varying by size of ship*) within the hull shape for each deck, including any variants and optionally a blank layout for custom detailing.

* not cluttered, not fuzzy, not coloured to the point of distraction and ink wasting paper soaking, and not too small, ideally in a format suitable for scaling up to miniatures scales

Crew Roster - Sample crew, full through minimum, noting jobs and ranks as required, one line notes for large crews/ships, more detailed for smaller ships with full NPC workup.

 

[DFW]

Well, first of all the design should make logical sense for the intended purpose. Ie: No Bounty Hunter ships (that have a stated purpose of catching skipped star ships that have fled the sub-sector) that only have J-1 and thus can't chase skipped ships.

With the primary requirement taken care of, full compliance with the rule books (unless a VERY plausible explanation is detailed) for the design. Stats in standard format. Ships <2000t having a detailed deck plan of all areas. External views sufficient to tell where airlocks and like are located. PDF version.

 

[middenface]

Interesting... some interesting suggestions in there.

I have a question.

What ships do people want?

 

[FreeTrav]

Interesting... some interesting suggestions in there.

I have a question.

What ships do people want?

That's ultimately going to be a campaign-specific question, but in general, *I* am going to want ships that can be run by a PC party without having to hire three times their number in redshirts.

 

[DFW]

*I* am going to want ships that can be run by a PC party without having to hire three times their number in redshirts.

Ya know, I cut down crew attrition by 70% when I changed the uniform color to blue... 8)

 

[far-trader]

What ships do people want?

That's ultimately going to be a campaign-specific question, but in general, *I* am going to want ships that can be run by a PC party without having to hire three times their number in redshirts.

Seconded.

I see "ships" (in this context) as more another member of the party. A special NPC. So it has to be small enough to work with the actual player characters, without burdening the ref with too many red-shirts. A couple or so are fine, and if your game is one where players have more than one PC then a larger crew is doable, especially if the roles are different. Like a small merc cruiser, with each player having a ship crewperson and a merc member.

I don't see a lot of use in creating "ships" (in this context) much over 800tons. Any large ships are better suited in my opinion as ship-to-ship combatants (no need for deckplans or details) or stages for an adventure as a one off location, needing only small details.

Sensing another area of the question, what "types" of ships do people want is a question that usually comes up in these discussions as well. That's also a game/campaign dependent question. It could be merchant ships for a trade game, small fighting ships for a merc game, exploration ships for a scout game, research ships for a science game, or something else entirely. A good design would be one with variants of each to allow custom use in more games, even permitting the players to change the game while keeping the same old trusted hull. Merchants who make a killing on the speculative trade markets, laying up the old Trader hull for an overhaul and conversion to a Merc ship as war looms, then retiring and refitting it as a Scout ship to explore the new territory the war has opened up. For example.

 

[FreeTrav]

A good design would be one with variants of each to allow custom use in more games, even permitting the players to change the game while keeping the same old trusted hull. Merchants who make a killing on the speculative trade markets, laying up the old Trader hull for an overhaul and conversion to a Merc ship as war looms, then retiring and refitting it as a Scout ship to explore the new territory the war has opened up. For example.

... which gets right back to my comment about 'variants' in my first response in this thread...

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

Double-Triple-Quadruple check the stats and make SURE they are RIGHT. Same for the deckplans: no missing sections or too many squares for the tonnage.

I prefer ships in the 100-600 ton range since that is PC scale ships.

Take advantage of all of the options in HG IF THEY MAKE SENSE FOR THE DESIGN. If it is expected to fight, then Reinforced Bulkheads are a must for vital systems.

Variations by TECH LEVEL would also be nice. If it is a TL-11 design, what cool things could be changed for an upgrated TL-12+ version?

AMMO storage for weapons that need it!

 

[middenface]

Double-Triple-Quadruple check the stats and make SURE they are RIGHT. Same for the deckplans: no missing sections or too many squares for the tonnage.

!

Yeps thats something I've learn't the hard way.. sometimes a second pair of eyes helps.

I try and get the tonnage v square close or close enough. Bear in mind that ship is not a box, the hull curves and slopes - so that will allow for what appears as extra tonnage.. Fitting fighters into a hangar is a pain -

 

[AndrewW]

Yeps thats something I've learn't the hard way.. sometimes a second pair of eyes helps.

Sure can.

I try and get the tonnage v square close or close enough. Bear in mind that ship is not a box, the hull curves and slopes - so that will allow for what appears as extra tonnage.. Fitting fighters into a hangar is a pain -

Yeah, can be. Usually fighters get double stacked.

 

[Gee4orce]

I'd only want to see deckplans for ships that the players are ever likely to crew or own - so in the sub 1Kton class I would say.

Bigger than that, and schematics are more than enough - I'm unlikely to ever need to know the exact location of the washrooms on deck 97 of an Imperial Dreadnaught. It's enough to shot the rough relative locations of key areas of the ship, as well as individual deckplans or illustrations for these key areas only.

Have a look at the Jovian Chronicles Ships of the Fleet series, or the Start Wars Death Star companion for how to handle huge ship schematics.