Building Our Ship

[Crimson_red]

I've mentioned in another thread I'll be having my PCs, for their first adventure, assembling themselves a ship. As it now stands they found their ship, a derelict YT-1760, half submerged in mud hidden away in Uncle's scrap yard, and have named it Sorakai, from a local dialect referring to the red skies seen at dusk on their planet, the time when they found the ship (to them it represents horizons, hope, and freedom).

I hope to break this first adventure up into different parts, typically dealing with a different aspect of the ship, how well they do at each of these parts will affect the base stats of their ship.

Now I'm looking for ideas, challenges, and tasks for the PCs to deal with; in other words, I want this little adventure to be less about literally putting the ship back together and more about seeking out what they need to do it. Each part, I hope, will offer a number of different elements.

I'm thinking of dividing the parts into Structure (hull, passengers,cargo), Drive Systems(hyperdrive, sublight, repulsor, maneuvering), Power Systems (reactor, cooling), Electronics (weapons, shields, sensors), and certification/documentation.

The last part, certification/documentation, I'm already planning to be an infiltration task. The sisters (the PCs) have an interest in keeping their identities obfuscated, even if they don't exactly know why - their parents have been doing it for as long as they can remember and their Uncle has made sure of the same since their parents went missing (and why I will only refer to the three characters as Mama, Papa, and Uncle). With that in mind they will first have the certifications and documents forged and then have to find a way to access the BoSS systems to install said forgeries. The focus will be on the latter part, as their life style has generally left them with the contacts to handle the first part.

I want a variety of other tasks, some could be a simple roll, while others might include social interaction, exploration, combat, and what ever else people can think of.

Here are a few of the ideas I've thought of so far:

Structure

- Convincing Uncle to let them use his work bay instead of the sheet metal lean-to they call a shed (Social - Allows them to better repair the hull)
- Dislodge that functioning FLJ-22 Particle shield from a YV-545... at the back of the scrap yard... pinned under the gallofree hulk (physical - upgrades particle shields - improves hull)
- Renovate the Bunk rooms (Technical: Starship Repair - Allows to swap passenger space/cargo space)

Drive Systems

- Steal new sub-light engines from the Imperial Authority Impound yard - or barter for them if you have scruples (Stealth/social)
- Refit the hyperdrive (Technical: Starship Repair - Affects hyperdrive performance)
- Deal with Slick Slovo for new lateral thrusters (Social - Improves maneuverability)
- Atmospheric test flights - try out the Akilika Canyons to really put her through her pases (Piloting - allows to improve repulsorlift performance - affects atmospheric speed)

Power Systems

- Scrounge for a power distributor and phasing unit (Exploration - allows more efficient power distribution)
- Pulling that bi-linear Catalyzer out of the scrat nest (Combat - improves use of ship consumables)
- Research plasma harmonics (Knowledge: Scholar: Physics - properly set reactor harmonics - more power output for added systems/virtual tonnage for upgrading only)

Electronic Systems

- Secure some ship weapons from the Flit Hawk gang (Social/Combat)
- Reprogram the shield projector pulled from Sorosub freighter (Technical: Computer Programing/Repair - adds 1D Shield)
- Smuggle that Cygnus Spaceworks ARX-112 shield generator passed Dalta Port customs (Social/evasion/combat -improved Shields)
- Calibrate the new sensors (Mechanical: Sensors - Improves sensor accuracy)

I'm looking for new ideas, and suggestions/criticisms of the tasks I've outlined above. Has anyone done anything like this? What did you do?

What ever you think will help, thank you

[Raven Redstar]

Looks like a good start, Do you have some specific tasks out of those which will be needed to get the ship itself space worthy or able to break atmosphere?

How much of a bonus are you thinking for the use of uncle's work bay? +5? +1D?

I like the fact that the various tasks should be able to use strengths of each of the party members instead of everything being about combat.

Maybe the group has to do a delivery for Uncle before he'll even let them take the 1760 shell. You could have the picked over by tech scavengers in the night and the group has to go after them and either convince them to return the stolen parts or maybe take them by force?
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RR
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[garhkal]

What are the stats of each character.. that might help out figure out good additional "jobs"..
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Crimson_red]

[Orgaloth]

Trying to find the right cockpit accessory (fuzzy dice, bobblehead)

Sorry couldn't help myself
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"I take orders from just one person: Me!"

"You know, sometimes I amaze even myself."
Du Cass' Dream

[Crimson_red]

[kinfo_howlingwolf]

Didn't see a nav computer somewhere in there. You could maybe have the PCs decide to either go after several astromechs and rig their heads together, or 1 big heist and rip one out of someones active ship.

[Crimson_red]

[Kaloth Varsk]

One thing I'd suggest is having multiple options for parts instead of one way to do each part. Allow for some research to find out the options, then they can weigh the difficulty or cost for a part against the quality of the part.

Maybe they should have acquire some cash for a budget, and then they have to decide which parts are worth buying and which should be acquired other ways.

For example:
1) A local dealer has a used Sorosuub Boav Drive for sale, and even says it's been modified by the previous owner. (Modification gives +1 space raising it to 5, but perhaps has some quirks.) The characters could buy it (using up some precious credits from their budget), steal it, make some other kind of deal (working it off with deliveries?), or look for something else.

2) Rumor was a smuggler's ship known for it's speed was shot down by imperials a few weeks back over a swamp. Perhaps the engines (and other parts) are salvagable? Do they need repairs even if you can get the parts back? Are others interested as well and looking for it? Is the owner of the cargo looking for the ship as well?

3) The is a low end (worse than the Boav) drive that is in bad shape available in the junkyard. If the characters decide to live with it and repair it, they can probably get it running (with space speed 3 and a quirk or two.)

The decision making of how important the engine is vs other parts becomes a big key, instead of having one option out there for each part. (Seems like a video game design how it's set up right now.)

[garhkal]

[Ray]

Dealing with the Alien Version of Bob Vila that wants to turn the fixing of it into a reality holo?

"Genius" Engineer who is more interested in getting laid than fixing anything.

The pilot with the shifty mustache.

[Bren]

[Crimson_red]

[Kaloth Varsk]

I think you missed the intention and spirit of why the droid building rules usually work.

[Crimson_red]