Help with a custom prototype in "Rise of Rebellion"

[Naaman]

Both the above are very cool and helpful. Thanks, guys. Im thinking that the ship will be built around either the A-wing's or X-wing's cockpit while those craft are still in development. That is, the experimental tech from this ship will be refined and made more cost effective and then used in the rebels' main fleet/arsenal. This way, a pilot can serve in a normal squadron and then switch to the special craft for those specific missions. The external form of the ship may not resemble those of the mass produced figjters, but the ergonomics will match one of them.

[Ral_Brelt]

I'd actually suggest the Ywing cockpit due to its nature as a bomber, or depending on timeline, the Bwing. After all, those class of pilots know their tor a bit better than the dogfighters, and I imagine the targetting array would be better suited for the task.

[garhkal]

[shootingwomprats]

[Naaman]

Well, I have a special program for the two pilots who will be quified to fly it, but the selection process and training regimen are beyond the scope of this thread.

Im not really concerned with meeting a realism standard other than using the "cost" of R&D as the limiting factor for the number of features the ship can incorporate at once. The draw back of it being modular as opposed to a super ship is more for flavor/fluff than for any realism/game balance standard.

Also, the cost of training is a factor that could be considered as well. Training a whole squadron and keeping the quals current as well as updating the training or adding training when new features are developed can also be used as an "excuse" as to why more ships are not justified in the budget. There just arent enough pilots skilled enough for the missions it was designed to undertake.

In any case, an A-wing pilot will probably be the best choice for the prototype craft, and since the controls are the same (or if I base it on a variation of the A-wing) specialization in A-wing will carry over.

Another posibility could be to have three or four prototypes which each have a specialty from the missions exampled in earlier posts. But for now, I rather like the idea of an individual ship somewhat like the Millenium Falcon being special with its own identity. Or like how a legendary marksman has "his" rifle. And a renowned pod racer has "his" pod...etc.

The ship can fight its way to safety if it has to, relying primarily on the pilot's dog fighting skill but its not engineered for prolonged battle, nor does it have the offensive wherewithal to fight off mpre than a few ships at a time (depending on the pilot's skill, of course.

One possibility Im considering is taking up the astomech"s slot with the targeting equipment or enhamced thrusters or some other feature that expands the performance envelope. So the pilot cannot rely on R-2 to solve problems in-flight, further increasing the need for an exceptional pilot.

Ghe main idea is for the ship to be extrememly fast so that it can get close to its target either before its detected or so quickly thereafter that there isnt time to launch a propper defense. It can fight its way to target if it has to, but it relies on speed to out run the majority of enemy fighters so that it only has to engage the ones that are actually in its way (also, it often has an escort of a few other ships which perform a sort of "ablative" function if engaged by multiple enemy craft). Most (or all) of the escorts will be pilots who surpassed the minimum standards to try out for the prototype but simply got beat by the primary pilot and the runner up in selection, so they are a sort of "crack team."

[Naaman]

[Naaman]

As I think about this a little more and look over stats of existing ships, I see a little problem. Ive picked up some conversion stats of ships with speeds of 16 and maneuverability of 5D and all sorts of other astronomical stats.

Rather than just use a bunch of big numbers, Id like to design special rules that make the ship better than the "sum of its parts."

For example, the A-wing's speed is 12. I could see this ship having a speed of 13, but its real strength is in acceleration. So perhaps the ship could use its maneuverability (or just get a bonus to pilot checks) when attempting to disengage from an enemy persuer. Also, it should be extremely agile, but giving it a maneuverability stat of 5D or 6D seems like overkill. Rather, allowing a certain number of maneuvers as free actions each round or simply listing maneuverability at 4D and allowing the pilot to re-roll up to that number of dice on each pilot check.

As for the targeting equipment, granting massive fire control bonuses is unappealing to me for the same reasons. For the heavy payloads, siince they are delivered against relatively immobile targets, Im thinking that the fire control can be split between targeting and damage. The more precise the hit on target, the more damage done (to offset the scale modifier). So, while the target has no hope of dodging the attack (the Death Star pilots, for example, would have been entitled to a reaction roll to "dodge" Lukes torpedos), the attack should still have potential to miss. So, the benefits of fire control are offset by the precision required for the coup de grace type of attack.

So a high difficulty to hit (following a successful sensors check to analyze for weaknesses), coupled with a target that taxes the capabilities of the targeting computer means that the pilot has the option to add dice EITHER to his attack roll or his damage roll.

For the sake of drama, I might say that any character points spent to enhance the atrack roll can be shuffled over to damage along with the fire control dice.

[Fallon Kell]

[Fallon Kell]

Okay, I can build out a high-speed torpedo boat statted out as such.

Craft: Skylairen Shipyards C1B missile striker
Type: custom starfighter
Scale: Starfighter
Length: 15 meters
Skill: Starfighter Piloting: Skylairen Shipyards C1
Crew: 1
Crew Skill: varies
Cargo Capacity: 100 kgs
Consumables: 3 days
Cost: 160,000 credits
Hyperdrive Multiplier: x3
Hyperdrive Backup: No
Nav Computer: uses astromech droid
Maneuverability: 2D
Space: 10
Atmosphere: 410; 1,000 kmh
Hull: 4D
Shields: 1D
Sensors:
Passive: 10/0D
Scan: 20/1D
Search: 40/2D
Focus: 2/2D+1
Weapons:
Long Range Laser Cannon
Fire Arc: turret
Skill: Starship Gunnery
Fire Control: 2D
Space Range: 1-15/30/40
Atmosphere Range: 100-1,500/3/4 km
Damage: 5D
Assault Concussion Missile Launcher
Scale: Capital
Fire Arc: Front
Skill: Starship Gunnery
Fire Control: 2D
Space Range: 5-10/25/40
Atmosphere Range: 500-1000/2.5/4 km
Damage: 8D

The craft is basically an armored capital-scale missile launcher with a small but fast starfighter grafted on to it. When faced with starfighter defenses, it can use the increased range of its laser cannon to break up enemy formations just before interception.
_________________
Or that excessively long "Noooooooooo" was the Whining Side of the Force leaving him. - Dustflier

Complete Starship Construction System

[Naaman]

Now this is interesting! Different than what I was going for, but definitely an idea worth exploring.

Is the system you used available via link? Download?

[Naaman]

...

Nevermind... I see it in you sig.

[garhkal]

How is the cap missile launcher using SF weaponry to fire?
_________________
Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Naaman]

Perhaps a typo/misprint? Or maybe its a reallly big gun that is controlled by "starfighter" controls?

Does the scale of a weapon determine the skill used to shoot it.... or does the interface/controls determine the skill? For example, if we mount an E-WHB on a speeder, do we roll vehicle blasters or just blastr?

[Corise Lucerne]

[garhkal]

Most examples i see on vehicles, it defaults to vehicle weaponry.
_________________
Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!