Ship System Theory

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Ship System Theory

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Post by Pascat »

A theory for a new ship system I have been thinking about for a while. Ships should not be an extension of one's character like has happened: This leads to being broken as soon as one character starts having insane stats. So how do we break it up? Well, a Ship should have its own sheet.. Some stats are replaced, but some also remain.

Hull Integrity: The integrity of the ship's hull. How much punishment it can take before everything starts falling apart.
Strength: How much can your vehicle pull, carry, etc without falling apart or stopping on its track. It also defines how many Improvement Slots a ship has.
Dexterity: Speaks for itself, a ship's manoeuvrability. This stat would remain fairly low, even in the negatives, depending on the ship. It adds to the character's actual dexterity to decide how manoeuvrable the ship is. Note: The heavier a ship is, the lower this stat gets. So watch it with armour folks!
Defence: Basically the armour level of the ship. This is raised by adding more plating to your vehicle, but doing so effectively decreases its manoeuvrability or dexterity.

Computer: This is the ship's computer level. Only serves for a ship's Autopilot or Auto-targetting systems, is used to define the skill levels of the computer for different functions of the ship. It works the same way as Intelligence with Skillpoints, however doesn't offer any MP as this will fall under another stat. It is to note that the computer does -not- add to one's actual skills. If your skills are better then that of the computer, you must turn it off to make use of your own skills.

Energy: This stat defines how much power a ship has for its systems. Shield systems, Computers, Energy Propelling system, energy weapons all drain the Energy stat. This also offers a Power pool that can be used for a ship's special attacks. It acts as a form of MP and is what fuels energy-based weapons. Once the energy reserve is drained, all of the ship's energy-based systems shut down. Some engines regenerate their energy reserve, while others are limited to what they hold.

Shielding: Not the forcefield of a ship, this is how well shielded a ship system is against attacks and also how many redundant systems the ship has to protect itself. This is to define the ship's resilience to hacking(the Computer stat maybe used if it is higher) EMP attacks or other system disabling moves such as Crossinterference Hilbert Effect. It acts as the Willpower for the normal ship, reducing also such system-level damages. System Shielding adds a price to all parts of the ship equal to +*1 for every +20??? in the stat.

So, here you've got your ship system. Its very similar to your sheet system, so it shouldn't be too complicated to bring together!
You then have to chose your Ship Class. This defines the basic physical stats of your ship and how much space there is for parts.

Fighter Class has for example: 100 Integrity 300 strength, 2000 dexterity, 100 Defence.
This makes it a very quick ship, but it has limited integrity, armour and strength.
Only having 30 improvement slots also will limit it. Improvement slots serve to add improvements such as: Armor Plating, Gyroscope Systems, Computer Systems, and not to forget: The Engine. The engine is what offers the ship its propulsion system and its energy. Everything that is part of the ship will cost improvement slots. The cockpit, life systems for a spaceship, etc.


The designing of a ship is the part taken during which it is in conception. While you are roleplaying your character drawing up the blueprint, you are actually putting those parts available to you together to make a system that will actually work. Knowing that certain parts will work together will give you a result, though the result is not so certain if you have to design some of the parts for your ship.

Example: You wish your ship to have a 20,000HP Shielding system that requires only 50 poitns of Energy. The Current Known Force Shield systems only has 5000HP for 50 Energy. You are going to have to downgrade, or try to develop a shielding system with such low requirements. This is not a certainty and is left open to the GM discretion.

Once the ship is designed, and you have the working parts and everything balances out, then you start putting it together. This is where the price is found out about the parts; research is done and the development begins.
Pascat
Posts: 5
Joined: October 12th, 2008, 10:22 pm
Location: Saguenay

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