How do you USE your favorite ships?

[jhulse]

I have an interesting "player centric" view on designing ships. I'm and architect and graphically geared, so every ship I design begins with deck plans and basic capabilities in mind, then I write up the stats, and modify as needed. Sometimes I sketch basic hull types with an idea of what it will be for, and sometimes I write out the specs and then invent a hull that works with the write-up. But I never design anything much over 1000 tons. My reason is... will you pc's ever have a chance to own one, and will they ever have a chance to adventure on it? Will they ever be involved in huge space battles with giant meson guns and scores of missile bays, and will they even have a chance against something like that? I have seen literally hundreds of new designs with only ship specs, with no hint of deck plans, and many of these are 5k, 10k, 100k, and larger for their own personalized space fleet. These designs are great and some are very well thought out. But when the heck as a g.m. will you ever get a chance to use your great designs? Has anyone ever placed the monster ships into a real gaming scenario where you actually get to use all the weapons, and other capabilities? Ever land a 1000 marines? Ever launch 100 fighters? Again, when I take the time to design ships, it is for my players and it's something I know that at least has a chance to be used "in game". Maybe it's just that I don't want to spend hours and hours designing things that will never get used... That is why for large military type ships, I just stick with cannon.
So with all that, my question is...

What is your favorite ship that you have designed, and how have you used it to it's fullest potential in a game setting so that your players actually get to experience what you have worked so hard to create?

Thanks. Maybe some of you can convert me into designing larger ships!
Jaknaz

 

[marginaleye]

Has anyone ever placed the monster ships into a real gaming scenario where you actually get to use all the weapons, and other capabilities? Ever land a 1000 marines? Ever launch 100 fighters? Again, when I take the time to design ships, it is for my players and it's something I know that at least has a chance to be used "in game".

Forgive me if this constitutes "thread-jacking," but has anyone ever tried building a campaign around what, in Ars Magica terms would be called "troupe-style play?" In Ars Magica each player has at least two characters: a wizardly character, and a non-wizardly character. I'm envisioning, for instance, a military campaign, in which each player has, say, a high-ranking officer, who gets to participate in making the big decisions, and a lower-ranking "grunt" character, who gets to actually gets to wade into the fray and "get his or her hands dirty."

 

[wa11eye]

" In Ars Magica each player has at least two characters: a wizardly character, and a non-wizardly character. I'm envisioning, for instance, a military campaign, in which each player has, say, a high-ranking officer, who gets to participate in making the big decisions, and a lower-ranking "grunt" character, who gets to actually gets to wade into the fray and "get his or her hands dirty."

Ive done that in dungens and dragons birthright It's only so much fun running countries and not able to do a little hack and slash.
the gammers seam to like it they get to make the big decision complex choices and when the get tired with that they move on to what the other group is up to.

wa11eye

 

[BetterThanLife]

I did both. (Run a character that made big decisions and occasionally stood on the Flag Bridge directing a Fleet Action.) Back in CT. I rolled up a character that got stuck in the Navy after trying to retire. Did two extra tours with a total of 10 years as Grand Admiral. (They wouldn't let him out. When he finally did get to retire he was SOC 15 and therefore a Duke, responsible for a Subsector. (The GM at the time decided on Glisten because it is on the edge of the Spinward Marches and gives better gaming hooks.) Instead of hijacking my character I got to play him, sometimes. Built a Fleet (The Glisten Subsector Colonial Fleet.) Ran off pirates outside the Imperial borders, destroyed the Evil Zhodani Commerce Raiders attacking from Coreward and we generally had a blast. It made for a good change of pace but most of the time I played his right hand and ran espionage missions or other such stuff with the rest of the party. The Court Intrigue, empire building, colonization direction, etc can be fun. So to answer the first question I did design, build and use major combatants. Not something I would recommend to an inexperienced GM, (I admit I was a pain in the butt as a player character.) but definitely in the CT rules was possible if not probable that one character would wind up with some noble title. In T20 watch out for the Marine that starts with a high Soc and musters out. The Marine Mustering out table has a +2 Soc on it. Hit that twice if you start at 18 and you are dealing with serious nobility.

You can also, though it is tougher, get promoted a few times as a Noble class in T20 during Prior history. If you are playing with those types of characters then you are playing with the big boys and it is a different game. (Or at least should be.) "Mi Lord, wouldst thou lend me thine frag grenade?" Is funny once but after a while gets old and doesn't seem to fit with the spirit of the Noble Character.

As for more normal characters I like Mercenary Cruisers in the 1200 to 3000 ton range. So you can deploy a Company instead of just a Platoon.

 

[Badbru]

To get bact to the original thread yes I've done that..kinda. In my first RC campaign my PC's started with a modified scout. So I modified a scout up to 200td by adding a grapple for 50td and moving engineering behind that. They originally loaded a 25td cargo module and a special quarters module from the Aurora class clippers list. It was one of my first designs though and not one of my better ones. They ended that campaign with Gazelle class ships but the 50td fuel tanks were instead 25td modules. Those ships were impressive in a TNE setting. 280td + 20td + 2x 25td =350td therefore j 4 and m 4. plus the 25td modules each carried a turret socket. Yes I know all you old CT fans will say breaks the 1 hardpoint per 100td rule but hey I play TNE.The crappy 2 hex 150 cans in the nacelles were swapped out for sandcasters, arcs all. The added module sockets usually had tl,13 106mj lasers and the barbettes were both 300mj lasers on one ship and a missile barbette and damper barbette on the other ship.
I know what you mean about big ships in play. After that campaign ended one of my players ran a campaign so I could play (so nice of him)but we were sent off to some Virus hellhole where more and more virus ships kept jumping insystem whilst we were grounded. Our ship had a peacemaker strain so we were faking it in the virus den. But to get out/resolve the adventure called for a space battle. This guy liked to do things on the "Epic" scale but he'd brought in a Voroshilef BB and about 20 other ships on the vamps team and about 25 other ships allied to us. End result, too hard to do with Brilliant Lances so the battle never got done so the game ended Big ships are backgound art in my campaigns (usually)

 

[BeRKA]

Usually, this is three different games...

Big ships, that is TCS.
Lots of troops, that is Striker.
RPG in a trader or scout, that is Traveller.

My favorite ship:
http://zho.berka.com/shipyard/frontier.html
Quite enough for a group of traders/smugglers/adventurers/privateers...

 

[The Oz]

Answering the first question first....

Yes, I also put most of my effort (especially deckplan layout and ship history) into smaller ships for my PCs. The best of these is the "Sidewinder" class Fast Packet, which is my TRAVELLER version of the Millenium Falcon. The players were introduced to her (she's a one-of-a-kind ship) and she became their Holy Grail: they wanted to own her and spent a great deal of time on adventures earning the money and connections to end up with her. Which is what I had in mind all along....

Bigger ships I like to play with because I was a wargamer first and I still like to know how things work at that scale. Besides, it's fun!

As for "Troupe style" play, I have used it in STAR TREK, but not in TRAVELLER, although it would work well enough. In TREK I created the "First Provisional Squadron" where every player had a character on the squadron staff, one on each of the 6 ships in the squadron, and one in the Starfleet Marine unit assigned to the squadron. Players ran the character most suited to the adventure of the day, and the others became NPCs for my use.

IMTU, the "Illustrious" class battlecruiser was designed to be used in such a style of play, but I never got around to using it as any more than background.

 

[Jame]

So far, all I've done is the "classic" Traveller style, i.e. small ship, small crew. But then again, there's only four of us in total, and this is my first game session at all. So that's understandable.

 

[eiladayn]

I played in a campaign years ago where each player had a TCS squadron and an area of control with his character as the commander-in-chief of that government's forces (there were four of them and myself) AND each player had a character in each area in a group. If we gamed in the area of your uber character then YOU ran the game as GM until that particular campaign hook was resolved OR until someone else said, "Hey, I got this great idea can I run for a few sessions?"

It worked pretty well, but we all had run at least one campaign in the past. We also used the TCS campaign the "write" our future history and create the situations for us at times.

Pappy

 

[jhulse]

Interesting so far. But I still haven't seen any "big" ships that so many of us like to dream up and write up... then they just sit in a note book collecting dust... :-(
The reason I'm asking is I'm thinking of a way to get a large ship (deck plans included) to start an adventure / campaign on. The players will start the standard process of character generation, but instead of finishing off their last tour, mustering out, etc... on paper, they get to role play their last tour. Or at least their last mission of their last tour. I will make sure that no matter what "class" of character all the player want to run, the mission will need all of them. I'm thinking of placing them on the Leviathan from the CT adventure, which I pick up a few months ago. They are all part of the crew and must perform one last mission. After it is over, then they muster out. And as a group, they will decide what directions they would like to go in the private sector. This also is perfect way for them to know each other, in stead of meeting at a bar and saying "Hey, wanna adventure?".
But I was thinking of something a bit larger if possible. Ships over 1,000 tons are virtually impossible for characters to own, so the introduction adventure seems the best plausible way for players to get to finally get the use out of larger vessels. Plus they don't get stuck in a "Star Trek" themed campain where every mission becomes another away mission...
So the original questions still stand. Any ideas of what I could use? So far it looks like the Leviathan.
Thanks.
Jaknaz
(P.S. Thanks Badbru for getting the tread back on line! )

 

[BetterThanLife]

There is also the Kinunir, (Adventure 1) and the Azhanti High Lightning is very well thought out with deck plans. (60Kton ship) Aside from the one campaign where the character spent a decent amount of time on the Flag Bridge of a Capital ship, we usually started out with a Scout ship or two but always progressed to larger ships, usually Leading up to around 2-3 KTon Liners as Mercenary Transports. Not something a Player party would start with but attainable over time. Or Obtaining Letters of Marque and getting a similar sized ship.

Originally posted by Jak Nazrith:
Interesting so far. But I still haven't seen any "big" ships that so many of us like to dream up and write up... then they just sit in a note book collecting dust... :-(
The reason I'm asking is I'm thinking of a way to get a large ship (deck plans included) to start an adventure / campaign on. The players will start the standard process of character generation, but instead of finishing off their last tour, mustering out, etc... on paper, they get to role play their last tour. Or at least their last mission of their last tour. I will make sure that no matter what "class" of character all the player want to run, the mission will need all of them. I'm thinking of placing them on the Leviathan from the CT adventure, which I pick up a few months ago. They are all part of the crew and must perform one last mission. After it is over, then they muster out. And as a group, they will decide what directions they would like to go in the private sector. This also is perfect way for them to know each other, in stead of meeting at a bar and saying "Hey, wanna adventure?".
But I was thinking of something a bit larger if possible. Ships over 1,000 tons are virtually impossible for characters to own, so the introduction adventure seems the best plausible way for players to get to finally get the use out of larger vessels. Plus they don't get stuck in a "Star Trek" themed campain where every mission becomes another away mission...
So the original questions still stand. Any ideas of what I could use? So far it looks like the Leviathan.
Thanks.
Jaknaz
(P.S. Thanks Badbru for getting the tread back on line! )

 

[savage]

Ships over 1,000 tons are virtually impossible for characters to own,

Virtually. Nobles can get away with alot. But if there is a specific reason to own something larger, and its affordable...then why not. One of my characters and another PCs characters used his clout and my money to fix up an old 75k cruiser and rent it back to the navy. Same character commanded a 125k battleship (largest in our fleet) for a while. If its setup as a corporation the financials change.

The Kinunir was popular because it was a nice size vessel for a mature party. I actually think that
1500t is a bit more useable. Your Leviathan idea
is good fun. One of my friends designed a 2000t modular freighter that he and the party moved around on...also commanded a 3k frigate for a while.

But if it gets too big its not as fun in peace time. There's a point when the pirates run the opposite direction.

Savage

 

[aramis]

I've had players build ships up to 10KTd for mechantile operations. Wiith good computers and controls, you can (under MT) reduce crews considerbly on otherwise "Low Tech" designs.

Under Bk5, I've put characters in an "In Service" game in charge of a CruRon's Flagship. Each player besides the admiral had a secondary PC captaining a ship of the ron and commanding it and its wingship. Worked fairly well, despite it being a serious trekism.

I TYPICALLY use BB's as "Player Snuffers". If PC 's prove too hard to catch, the next time a sighted, the navy gets notified, and spinals point at PC's... usually on the outbound leg. the civilians aboard are often serious non-violent or semi-violent local criminals, being told that they are being parolled off-world, and their PO will meet them at the destination. All on HP. They are sometimes told that if they manage to take the ship, and surrender it, pardons will be arranged if the target individuals are "Surrendered alive" to the navy. If not, as soon as the jump drive starts charging, Spinals fire.

Lots of big ships hang out IMTU around populous worlds. It isn't uncommon to hear trafic from an esron or two, and a desron. Crurons tend to be soemwhat more interesting. Battrons are somehting that attracts notice. THey are not just background, but something that provides real and present danger IF ITS WRATH IS DRAWN.

Then again, these major worlds also get frequent visits to remind them the price of denying the irridum throne: Meson and missile bombardment into the stone age.

 

[BetterThanLife]

One other way to get players to a larger ship is to have a Noble hire them as the command crew for a Commerce Raider during a war. (Plausable deniability.) Commerce Raiders can be anywhere from 400T up to 60,000T (Or more if you are feeling particularily nasty and depending on what size Naval vessels you have in YTU.)

 

[soloprobe]

Ever use big ships? Yep!
Launch 100 fighters? done that too!
Deploy 1000 Marines? Been there done that!

Yes! these things are possible when you have noble characters who are also High ranking Imperial officers

However I haven't let the character command any ship bigger than the Kinunir. I've even let him use it as a flagship.......for a shoe-string fleet of escorts, no bigger than 400 tons

 

[Jame]

Originally posted by soloprobe:
Ever use big ships? Yep!
Launch 100 fighters? done that too!
Deploy 1000 Marines? Been there done that!

Yes! these things are possible when you have noble characters who are also High ranking Imperial officers

However I haven't let the character command any ship bigger than the Kinunir. I've even let him use it as a flagship.......for a shoe-string fleet of escorts, no bigger than 400 tons

Maybe next campaign I'll go Navy...

I've never designed ships myself, and won't allow huge ships or leading big battles, but those I will use are crew-light and are inconspicuous.

 

[Badbru]

Jak Nazrith,
If you want to use a big ship that comes with deck plans I strongly suggest you check out "Arrival Vengeance". I own a copy but never played in it or ran it but I have read through it a while ago. It seemed to be layed out well. Your PC's could have multiple characters, or not. There is information in it for a wide variety of senario's for divergent character types too. Your only problem is that it is very time period specific and would require considerable effort to modify to some other time period, perhaps less so for another setting IMHO. Hope this helps.

 

[jhulse]

Hmmm. I've been out of gaming for a long time. Never heard of it. Which gaming company makes it?
Any idea of tonnage?
Thanks again by the way.

 

[Whipsnade]

Jak Nazrith asked:

"Hmmm. I've been out of gaming for a long time. Never heard of it. Which gaming company makes it? Any idea of tonnage? Thanks again by the way."


Mr. Nazrith,

Arrival Vengence is both the name of an AHL-class cruiser and the title of a MT product. Mr. Badbru is referring to both, I believe.

The AHL product in CT gave you a whole mess of large deckplan sheets and two LBBs full of descriptions, game rules, and other goodies. The AV product in MT gave a very nice cut-away diagram of an AHL-class cruiser (think of an 80 some-odd-story office building!), plus a nice campaign to use the vessel in.


Sincerely,
Larsen

 

[Badbru]

Yep, thanks Larson, I should have been more specific. I was referring to the MegaTraveller Scenario Package entitled "Arrival Vengeance"
which as Larson states is both the name of the supplement and the name of the ship in it which acts as the setting. Arrival Vengeance is a 60,000dt Azanti High Lightening class cruiser. They're quite popular as they pop up in most versions of Traveller that I've seen, somewhere in there you'll find atleast a reference to them.