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lurker
Commander
Joined: 24 Oct 2012
Posts: 423
Location: Oklahoma
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 Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2014 9:53 pm Post subject: |
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| crmcneill wrote: | | Ral_Brelt wrote: | Well, the gas was more towards smaller ships, or bulk freighters. But one could target nerve centers...bridge, engineering, even medical for truly evil DSP worthy actions. Hitting those on less staffed ships, maybe a luxury liner to rob patrons or claim slaves as well.
As to explosives...gut thought would be soak at half or a quarter hull since its internal and thus not subject to having to rend armor from the heavily tempered side. Thoughts there? |
Both are possibilities. I think, however, that I will leave weaponizing these things in this manner up to individual GMs. My only statement on the packing it with explosives idea was in the capsule; in that using this ship for a one-off bombing run was considered a waste of resources under normal circumstances, and I think I'll stick with that for now. |
Another thing for the gas, knowing a ship would seal off the slimed area, you could use it to funnel or deny the defending crew areas. Say you have one of these full of bubbas that hits the engine room, and then have one of the gas ones hit in an area that will cause the ship's crew to seal off the main (or one of the main) passage ways to engineering. Now they have a hard time getting troops back to engineering to repel your boarders ...
That said, you hit the nail on the head with your leaving it up to the individual GMs!
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Just wanted to add this is a really cool idea, crmcneill! Cool
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+1 on that!
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Uh, g, the idea is that this thing will be docked aboard the mothership in a standard escape pod dock (using whatever normal system holds escape pods in), but when it attacks an enemy ship, it will be docking against bare hull, not an escape pod dock. As such, it needs something to latch onto that bare hull. My idea is that this thing will fly at break-neck speed across the space between the launching ship and the target, braking at the last possible moment so as to avoid enemy defensive fire. When it returns to the mothership (using its Space 2 drive), that's when it will back very slowly into its escape pod dock.
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I'm with you on that. I see it like that. That said, if the pilot boloed their roll on the attack/docking run ... something very unpleasant should happen ...
(I just had a flash back of a messed up zoad run into the back of a helo ... a green guy on the engine, a little off true on the run in ... hitting the inside of the helo ... guys & equipment going head over heals out of the zoad and then tumbling back out toward the open ocean as the hell powered up and out. Those of us still in the zoad grabbing everything as quickly as we could ... yes not a good night ...) Now picture that on this things run in ... a twisted GM could have a TON of fun
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DougRed4
Rear Admiral
Joined: 18 Jan 2013
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Location: Seattle, WA
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| Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2014 11:07 pm Post subject: |
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Sounds like somebody "Harrised" their roll on that r/l incident, lurker! 
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
Joined: 05 Apr 2010
Posts: 16345
Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.
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| Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2014 11:18 pm Post subject: |
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| lurker wrote: | | That said, you hit the nail on the head with your leaving it up to the individual GMs! |
To be quite honest, gas and explosives seem awfully mundane. In a Star Wars setting, I picture a pod loaded with buzz droids. Or dinkos.
| Quote: | | I'm with you on that. I see it like that. That said, if the pilot boloed their roll on the attack/docking run ... something very unpleasant should happen ... |
I agree. I've been reading over the Ramming rules and I definitely need some sort of special rule for the docking maneuver, because under the Ramming rules, both vehicles take damage, and a Starfighter scale pod ramming a Capital scale ship is going to do a great impression of a bug on a windshield. I'll put some thought into it, but suggestions would be appreciated.
| Quote: | | (I just had a flash back of a messed up zoad run into the back of a helo ... a green guy on the engine, a little off true on the run in ... hitting the inside of the helo ... guys & equipment going head over heals out of the zoad and then tumbling back out toward the open ocean as the hell powered up and out. Those of us still in the zoad grabbing everything as quickly as we could ... yes not a good night ...) Now picture that on this things run in ... a twisted GM could have a TON of fun |
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.
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garhkal
Sovereign Protector
Joined: 17 Jul 2005
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Location: Reynoldsburg, Columbus, Ohio.
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| Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2014 12:53 am Post subject: Re: Boarding Pod |
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| crmcneill wrote: | | As such, it needs something to latch onto that bare hull. My idea is that this thing will fly at break-neck speed across the space between the launching ship and the target, braking at the last possible moment so as to avoid enemy defensive fire. When it returns to the mothership (using its Space 2 drive), that's when it will back very slowly into its escape pod dock. |
Exactly, it needs something to latch onto the enemies hull with. As Gravity shows, knocking into something else in space at a high rate of speed, causes BOTH to get knocked around, which would not give a chance for any 'cutting torch' to get to work to open up a doorway unless it was already grappled/magnatized to the hull.
Combine that with the damage factor Both ships would suffer in a collision, it would need to have a high hull to avoid getting damaged in the initial impact.
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
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Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.
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| Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2014 12:58 am Post subject: |
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See previous mention of "Brakes at last second".
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.
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lurker
Commander
Joined: 24 Oct 2012
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Location: Oklahoma
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| Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2014 9:19 am Post subject: |
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| DougRed4 wrote: |
Sounds like somebody "Harrised" their roll on that r/l incident, lurker! |
Rgr that, those 'rolls' happen in real life too!!!! 8)
It has been years sense I thought of that, but now that it is in the front of my memories, I can still smell the salt water and the helo exhaust, remember my exact thought process going from "God I'm tired, cold, and tired of being cold and wet and tired ... lets get this thing done" ... '"Hay, why did the LT untether his ruck -with his radio in it. I've told him never do that" ... "I think we are off center and coming in hot" ... "OH CRAP, THIS IS BAD!"
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To be quite honest, gas and explosives seem awfully mundane. In a Star Wars setting, I picture a pod loaded with buzz droids. Or dinkos.
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 I would have never thought of that!!! Yeah that is even better than gas or something ! The pod hits, docks, and blows an entry, then a metric ton of little annoying bots flood in. Some going to cut control lines, others going to mess with life support, others going to focus on the ship's crew ... lots of chaos 
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because under the Ramming rules, both vehicles take damage, and a Starfighter scale pod ramming a Capital scale ship is going to do a great impression of a bug on a windshield.
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Great mental picture on that!
Ok, to me to have a chance at success you would need a VERY skilled pilot to make this work. Say, a moderate - at best - difficulty roll. And, it would get harder if the pod is getting fired at on the approach.
That or the pod will need to have a good sensor package linked to the controls - to hit the brakes and swing the pod to 90 degrees off the hull to align for a good docking & seal. Even with that you will need a good pilot. Say, the right sensor and control packet would give you a 1 or 2 d bonus to the roll. However, this sensor packet would take up more space in the pod ...
Also, either way, it isn't going to be a fun ride the guys inside the tin can of death need to be braced and ready for impact
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
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Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.
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| Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2014 10:40 am Post subject: |
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| lurker wrote: | | Quote: | | To be quite honest, gas and explosives seem awfully mundane. In a Star Wars setting, I picture a pod loaded with buzz droids. Or dinkos. |
I would have never thought of that!!! Yeah that is even better than gas or something ! The pod hits, docks, and blows an entry, then a metric ton of little annoying bots flood in. Some going to cut control lines, others going to mess with life support, others going to focus on the ship's crew ... lots of chaos |
Exactly. Plus, it makes for a much more exciting scenario if the PC's are trying to defend the ship from such an attack. With nerve gas or explosives, there's nothing to fight, but droids need to be hunted down and killed one by one. This gives the non-piloting oriented characters something to do while the pilots and gunners take on the attacking ship.
| Quote: | Ok, to me to have a chance at success you would need a VERY skilled pilot to make this work. Say, a moderate - at best - difficulty roll. And, it would get harder if the pod is getting fired at on the approach.
That or the pod will need to have a good sensor package linked to the controls - to hit the brakes and swing the pod to 90 degrees off the hull to align for a good docking & seal. Even with that you will need a good pilot. Say, the right sensor and control packet would give you a 1 or 2 d bonus to the roll. However, this sensor packet would take up more space in the pod ... |
It also depends on the nature of the tech that is used to brake. A repulsorlift system or modified tractor beam could actually push against the mass of the ship to assist in slowing the pod down, as well as the initial lock-down procedure. In the end, I think any proposed rule will simply be that the pod has to succeed in its ramming attack by a certain number to avoid taking damage.
| Quote: | | Also, either way, it isn't going to be a fun ride the guys inside the tin can of death need to be braced and ready for impact |
True. I included an inertial compensator in the description of the pod, but IMO anything less would spell certain death for the pod's occupants regardless of whether the pod docked or splattered.
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.
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garhkal
Sovereign Protector
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| Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2014 3:19 pm Post subject: |
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As a suggestion C.. Check out the module Black Ice for an idea of how they did an insertion pod to take over a ship.
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
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| Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2014 6:07 pm Post subject: |
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| garhkal wrote: | | As a suggestion C.. Check out the module Black Ice for an idea of how they did an insertion pod to take over a ship. |
Okay, here's what I found.
The Spiral-Class Assault Ship is a single-use small-unit boarding craft, more akin to a WH40K boarding torpedo than a reusable Boarding Pod. It has a Hull of 5D+2, plus 2D of Shields, and has unspecified Stealth equipment. The ship is unarmed, featuring only a shaped proton charge on the nose that is used to penetrate the target's shields (essentially a shield-buster charge), while the actual nose cone of the ship is "composed entirely of sublimating tekonite, which vaporizes upon collision, absorbing nearly 92 percent of the kinetic energy of the impact, insuring that the ship's cabin survives the collision virtually intact. Additional protection to the passengers and crew is provided by inertial-damping grav couches."
In essence, same idea, different approach. The description of the Spiral states that it is only for use against non-military targets, but I see that more because it would be near suicide for a small team to go up against the entire armed crew of an enemy capital ship. To pull it off would require elite combatants (Mandalorians, WH40K Space Marines, etc.). I can see a place for both, but since the Spiral is disposable, I see the Boarding Pod filling its own niche.
Also, as a side note, there have been attempts in the past to say that the flying wing fighter in the picture on page 15 (opposite from the Spiral's description) is the Spiral. It is, in fact, the H-60 Tempest bomber. Just because the idiot who wrote the Wookieepedia article says it is doesn't make it so. If form follows function, the Spiral will be little more than a flying nail in space, designed to punch through the hull of an enemy starship and wreck itself in the process.
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.
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DougRed4
Rear Admiral
Joined: 18 Jan 2013
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| Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 12:03 pm Post subject: |
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| crmcneill wrote: | | Also, as a side note, there have been attempts in the past to say that the flying wing fighter in the picture on page 15 (opposite from the Spiral's description) is the Spiral. It is, in fact, the H-60 Tempest bomber. Just because the idiot who wrote the Wookieepedia article says it is doesn't make it so. If form follows function, the Spiral will be little more than a flying nail in space, designed to punch through the hull of an enemy starship and wreck itself in the process. |
You should change it on Wookieepedia, then. After all, the only way to improve accuracy on wiki pages is for those of us that know something's wrong to amend them.
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atgxtg
Rear Admiral
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| Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 2:35 pm Post subject: |
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| crmcneill wrote: |
I agree. I've been reading over the Ramming rules and I definitely need some sort of special rule for the docking maneuver, because under the Ramming rules, both vehicles take damage, and a Starfighter scale pod ramming a Capital scale ship is going to do a great impression of a bug on a windshield. I'll put some thought into it, but suggestions would be appreciated. |
I didn't think you wanted this thing to actually ram into the bigger ship but to just dock with it.
If you want it to ram, I suggest that it has some sort of ram, that in reinforced and equipped with some sort of shock absorbers that adsorb the impact of the collision- thereby protecting the boarding pock. The 'ram" could be considered a separate ship, say a "Stinger-class Ramming Module" with a bonus to hull for this purpose, and it could take all the damage from the ramming attack. When the pod goes back to its' mother ship, it leaves the "Stinger" behind.
As far as docking goes, I suggest a simple set of magnetic clamps that activate when the pod gets within "docking range" and draw the pod to the target ship. Retro rockets could fire at the same time to reduce the rate of speed when actual contract takes place. |
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
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Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.
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| Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 2:48 pm Post subject: |
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| DougRed4 wrote: | | You should change it on Wookieepedia, then. After all, the only way to improve accuracy on wiki pages is for those of us that know something's wrong to amend them. |
The problem being that, since a Wiki is editable by anyone with an account, any changes I make will last only so long as no one comes along and changes them. If it were possible to lock an entry in, I might be willing to make more of an effort. I'm even hesitant to post my own stats on the Holocron simply because I don't want people to make random changes without asking me.
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.
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wildfire
Lieutenant Commander
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| Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 2:48 pm Post subject: |
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| Magnetic grapples are a staple for this type of vessel, fire grapple attach and reel yourself in, for a soft docking. |
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
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Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.
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| Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 2:54 pm Post subject: |
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| atgxtg wrote: | | I didn't think you wanted this thing to actually ram into the bigger ship but to just dock with it. |
I don't, but the only official treatment in the RAW for one vehicle trying to make physical contact with another that it is trying to avoid that physical contact is the Ramming rules. Plus, at the high speed this thing is traveling, Ramming seems appropriate, with the only difference being that the sudden stop at the end of the maneuver results in the pod locked to the side of the ship rather than slammed into it.
| Quote: | | If you want it to ram, I suggest that it has some sort of ram, that in reinforced and equipped with some sort of shock absorbers that adsorb the impact of the collision- thereby protecting the boarding pock. |
I'm leaning more towards some form of repulsorlift or localized tractor field that absorbs the inertia of the incoming pod just enough to keep it from getting damaged. Still working on the rules for that, though...
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
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Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.
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| Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 2:55 pm Post subject: |
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| wildfire wrote: | | Magnetic grapples are a staple for this type of vessel, fire grapple attach and reel yourself in, for a soft docking. |
Or just bypass the reels, and just have contact magnetic grapples that engage when the thing hits the hull
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