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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
Joined: 05 Apr 2010
Posts: 16320
Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.
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 Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2014 2:03 pm Post subject: |
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| DougRed4 wrote: | Well, our capital ship has only those ships that I listed earlier. I suppose I could have three of them (the modified YT and the two Jedi starfighters) on 'standby' at all times, or when they near a system.
Just like rushing an Astrogation roll can be done (at a penalty), I wonder if quick-starting a starship could be done similarly. |
In that case, you could rule that the carrier absorbed the brunt of the ion attack, leaving the Starfighters with only minor ionization effects...
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garhkal
Sovereign Protector
Joined: 17 Jul 2005
Posts: 14215
Location: Reynoldsburg, Columbus, Ohio.
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| Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2014 3:54 pm Post subject: |
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| DougRed4 wrote: | Well, our capital ship has only those ships that I listed earlier. I suppose I could have three of them (the modified YT and the two Jedi starfighters) on 'standby' at all times, or when they near a system.
Just like rushing an Astrogation roll can be done (at a penalty), I wonder if quick-starting a starship could be done similarly. |
Have you seen my thread on how long does it take to start up a ship?
| Quote: | | In that case, you could rule that the carrier absorbed the brunt of the ion attack, leaving the Starfighters with only minor ionization effects... |
If those fighters had no connection to their carrier (like any hard lines keeping them powered up, fueled etc) i could see that.
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DougRed4
Rear Admiral
Joined: 18 Jan 2013
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Location: Seattle, WA
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| Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2014 3:58 am Post subject: |
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I'd seen that (back when we were talking about that), but IIRC it takes quite awhile. While that might be realistic, it also really cramps the cinematic chance of them getting this rag-tag squadron into the action.
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
Joined: 05 Apr 2010
Posts: 16320
Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.
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| Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2014 11:54 am Post subject: |
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Well, remember that the rulebook talks about the distinction between scenes and rounds, so you don't have to roleplay out the round-by-round action of the characters sitting and waiting for their fighters to warm up. You could also have it be a challenge for the characters just to get to their ships, such as fighting their way through damaged areas and the like, so that when they finally arrive, the ground crews have their ships ready and waiting to launch.
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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.
The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index
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garhkal
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Joined: 17 Jul 2005
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Location: Reynoldsburg, Columbus, Ohio.
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| Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2014 3:36 pm Post subject: |
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| crmcneill wrote: | | Well, remember that the rulebook talks about the distinction between scenes and rounds, so you don't have to roleplay out the round-by-round action of the characters sitting and waiting for their fighters to warm up. You could also have it be a challenge for the characters just to get to their ships, such as fighting their way through damaged areas and the like, so that when they finally arrive, the ground crews have their ships ready and waiting to launch. |
Along with running and accrobatic rolls to make it through the ship at a breakneck speed to reach their fighters being powered up!
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atgxtg
Rear Admiral
Joined: 22 Mar 2009
Posts: 2460
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| Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2014 11:50 am Post subject: |
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Not to mention the benefit of some sort of "timer countdown" - in other words some sort of way to project a sense of time running out in order to give the scene a sense of urgency. It can be an actual countdown, or even a bunch of blips on the scanner that are moving in (or have the potential of doing so at any time).
A good deal of running a good adventure is perception. That is how you present things so that the players will see things the right way. Most dramatically appropriate scenes usually involve the GM convincing the PCs that they must do something soon...or else. And time is running out. As long as the players are vested in the situation and care about the outcome, the GM can make the scene exciting. Even if he has no intention of actually allowing "or else" to happen. |
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garhkal
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| Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2014 3:53 pm Post subject: |
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| atgxtg wrote: | | Even if he has no intention of actually allowing "or else" to happen. |
If done very sporadically on that latter part, i agree. BUT if done more often i have seen some groups get to figure it out that you won't put the or else factor in, so the failing to hit the timer situation is meaningless.
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DougRed4
Rear Admiral
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Location: Seattle, WA
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| Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 3:09 am Post subject: |
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All good advice.
My concern with how long it takes to start up the starfighters would be this: they get into a skirmish (as usual), and decide to man their starfighters. Then they rush to their ships (and being as we have a pretty good sized ship, with the bridge at the uppermost deck five levels above where the starfighters are) and have to sit and wait while they're "fired up", all while an actual capital-ship scale combat is occuring outside. So multiple PCs just sitting there not really being able to do anything.
To avoid this, I recommended the tactics talked about in this thread before they jumped to lightspeed. I reminded them of how long it took to cold-start the engines, and how it might be wise to have a few fighters on 'standby', just in case!
They agreed, and decided to just fire up the two Jedi starfighters.
Once the battle started, they almost decided to "give up" and not launch their two starfigters. They were going to play dead and wait until they were boarded, then take out the invading pirates and in return commandeer the pirates' ship.
Fortunately I was able to remind them that only a few seconds had passed (even though, with combat with that many participants going slower) for their characters. So they decided to go with their original plan.
The only thing I ended up 'fudging' a little bit was allowing their best starfighter (a souped up, modified YT-1150) to be fired up (by one of the new crewmembers), so their best pilot could join the action and swing things more to the players' side.
Overall it ended up being a fun battle, and I think they learned a lot of how they can improve their space tactics next time. They spent more CP than they ever have before. One player spent something like 16, and a few more in the 10-12 range (to keep from taking some nasty hits).
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atgxtg
Rear Admiral
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| Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 11:23 am Post subject: |
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| garhkal wrote: | | atgxtg wrote: | | Even if he has no intention of actually allowing "or else" to happen. |
If done very sporadically on that latter part, i agree. BUT if done more often i have seen some groups get to figure it out that you won't put the or else factor in, so the failing to hit the timer situation is meaningless. |
I don't want the GM to make the adventure go a certain way no matter what.
There is a big difference between "intending" to let something happen and preventing it from happening. And yes, a lot of GMs mess that up. If the group does something that will cause something bad to happen, or turns a blind eye to the situation, then it happens.
For instance, if the film, Lucas certainly didn't indent for the Death Star to actually blow up the rebel base. But he doesn't come out and tell everyone that. |
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garhkal
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Joined: 17 Jul 2005
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Location: Reynoldsburg, Columbus, Ohio.
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| Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 2:59 pm Post subject: |
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| DougRed4 wrote: |
Once the battle started, they almost decided to "give up" and not launch their two starfigters. They were going to play dead and wait until they were boarded, then take out the invading pirates and in return commandeer the pirates' ship. |
Many of the people i game with in Sparks have that tactic down pat. Though depending on the skill levels of the pcs compared to the # of enemy who comes aboard, it can be a walk over or a TPC (total party capture)..
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