Okay, bit of a bizarre question.
I like both the CT LBB/HG and the T20 ship design systems; they are great fun solo, and give really nice, detailed designs for campaigns that feature long-term relations with a given ship.
However, for a new non-Traveller sci-fi campaign I'm developing, I want to have a variety of different ship types available that characters will encounter on a regular basis, and that the players can contribute to helping me build (basic setting is exploration and development by a small confederation--just after a bitter civil war. The exploration is a way to re-unify the confederation, so there will be a mix of older faction ships mixed with new designs. Characters play members of the crews, either as military members or civilian specialists).
The Trav sequences are, frankly, too complicated for what I have in mind. I've looked at two other systems, the old Star Frontiers system and the CODA Star Trek system. Both use the idea of abstract "spaces" for the construction of vessels, which goes a long way towards removing the complex math--at the cost of too much detail.
I would like a system where I can distinguish between two exploration vessels of the same class who might have different lab loadouts, see some "progressive" development in ship designs (how that faction destroyer was re-configured after the war into a light deep-space scout), and have some idea of how long a particular ship might be able to remain "on station." And I would like to be able to do this with out tracking EPs, required crew positions, or calculating the staterooms necessary for the fighter squadron crew.
So, I thought I might tackle actually building a ship design sequence that could handle anything from automated communications buoys to orbital starship construction stations. My idea was to use the idea of Hull Sizes and spaces, but to tied the spaces to specific "capacities." For instance, a Hull Size-10 hull gives 50 "spaces" of equipment. A space might be a general lab (giving a small bonus on character science rolls), a dedicated biology lab (larger bonus--but just for biology rolls), a cargo space carrying a set amount of goods, a laser beam, etc. The actual capacity would be set based on the Hull Size--for instance, one space of lab on a Hull Size-10 vessel supports two researchs (Hull Size/4), while 1 space of cargo on a similar size vessel contains 10 standard cargo units (1 per Hull Size). Thus, "spaces" on large ships carry more stuff.
My question is...has anyone tried designing a sequence? Not necessarily of this type, but in general. What kind of problems did you encounter? Anything I need to be on the look-out for?
I like both the CT LBB/HG and the T20 ship design systems; they are great fun solo, and give really nice, detailed designs for campaigns that feature long-term relations with a given ship.
However, for a new non-Traveller sci-fi campaign I'm developing, I want to have a variety of different ship types available that characters will encounter on a regular basis, and that the players can contribute to helping me build (basic setting is exploration and development by a small confederation--just after a bitter civil war. The exploration is a way to re-unify the confederation, so there will be a mix of older faction ships mixed with new designs. Characters play members of the crews, either as military members or civilian specialists).
The Trav sequences are, frankly, too complicated for what I have in mind. I've looked at two other systems, the old Star Frontiers system and the CODA Star Trek system. Both use the idea of abstract "spaces" for the construction of vessels, which goes a long way towards removing the complex math--at the cost of too much detail.
I would like a system where I can distinguish between two exploration vessels of the same class who might have different lab loadouts, see some "progressive" development in ship designs (how that faction destroyer was re-configured after the war into a light deep-space scout), and have some idea of how long a particular ship might be able to remain "on station." And I would like to be able to do this with out tracking EPs, required crew positions, or calculating the staterooms necessary for the fighter squadron crew.
So, I thought I might tackle actually building a ship design sequence that could handle anything from automated communications buoys to orbital starship construction stations. My idea was to use the idea of Hull Sizes and spaces, but to tied the spaces to specific "capacities." For instance, a Hull Size-10 hull gives 50 "spaces" of equipment. A space might be a general lab (giving a small bonus on character science rolls), a dedicated biology lab (larger bonus--but just for biology rolls), a cargo space carrying a set amount of goods, a laser beam, etc. The actual capacity would be set based on the Hull Size--for instance, one space of lab on a Hull Size-10 vessel supports two researchs (Hull Size/4), while 1 space of cargo on a similar size vessel contains 10 standard cargo units (1 per Hull Size). Thus, "spaces" on large ships carry more stuff.
My question is...has anyone tried designing a sequence? Not necessarily of this type, but in general. What kind of problems did you encounter? Anything I need to be on the look-out for?
