Questions reguarding rules, plethora

[Big-Claw]

say, how did you know what we talk about when we are not gaming lol

further question
Starship Engineer's have a tier 3 ability called System Overhaul
can that be used to increase the damage of a Photon Torpeedo or just it's range?

thank you

[Tobian]

From the implication it would be it's damage, since there aren't any things in the system for increasing the range of weapons, such as the Prototype edge etc.

I tend to take that ability with a pinch of salt, since it's a liscence to gimp As a house rule the system has to be paid for in experience and structure points, as outlined in upgrading starships, in the starships suplement: The rule still stands as in the book, however if the system takes damage it reverts to it's previous arangement (as only the engineer in question could overhaul it to operate beyond it's capacity.. repairs are done by all the crew.) Basically it can stay permanently if the system is properly upgraded.

[Big-Claw]

I don't think it ment to make it permanet (if it did every ship in the fleet would have been overhauled by now) I think it is a temporary boost sort of
at least that's how I was picturing it

[Tobian]

it's a shame they don't say how long it lasts.. Even if that was just to say "Narators discretion"!

[Doug Burke]

Starship Engineer's have a tier 3 ability called System Overhaul
can that be used to increase the damage of a Photon Torpeedo or just it's range?

Range is not really given a specific distance in the starship combat system, so it would be damage that can be increased.

[Doug Burke]

it's a shame they don't say how long it lasts.. Even if that was just to say "Narators discretion"!

It was establihsed by Jesse Heinig when he was Line Developer that a System Overhaul should only last for the length of one episode, otherwise it's way too unbalancing.

[Big-Claw]

that's what I was thinking
tho I didn't think it would last an entire episode I was thinking a few rounds wow

thanks again Doug

[Big-Claw]

alright I think I only have one more question (until we get together and game Star Trek again at least lol)
how does pursuit work?
the way it seems like it would work is the faster ship gets away on their turn
but, that would mean there was virtually no way of destroying a ship that was faster then yours (because of how relativly easy it is to fix the engines for long enough to escape)
so should there be contested Helm rolls?
or use open/close manuvers? what do you guys think, and what doyou think the rules are, I saw breakaway manuver
but it said it was usually used as preperation to flee
it didn't discuss fleeing/and chase tho

[Tobian]

Pursuit is quite simple in the game, and it's allot of fun (as I tried it last time )

Ignore the rating of your impulse engines. Maximum speed of ANY vessel is 0.25 the speed of light - PERIOD. All vessels effectivelly travel at the same speed in combat..

A Chase is simply performed as a series of open and close manouvers. The ship that's running performs an open manouver and the ship that's chases performs close manouveurs. Once the ship's are more than Extended +2 on the range table appart (once the running ship has got enough distance away) the chase is considered over.. and they are free to warp away / hide.. whatever.

While we see them doing it all the time on the show, vessels aren't supposed to go to warp near a planet, for the obvious reasons. The ESO netbook has rules for modifyers if you are trying to do any manouvers near 'stellar agregates' - I.e. near asteroids etc.. obviously you can't go to warp in an asteroid field PERIOD ! Hence you could regard getting to this range as a safe location to warp away.

Ships can either chose to spend all their 2 actions opening and closing, or they could risk using an action firing on the vessel (in either case) that is the Captains choice.. Perhaps if you've got a good tactical officer you could try and target their impulse engines, to slow them down (which would impose a help negative modifier, as according to the damage track).

Chases at warp would work differently. Unless both ships are within Extended +2 of each other, they would effectivelly be traveling at their speed, so a 'faster' ship would eventually close.. However it would have to detect the vessel at this extreme range (see your sensor modifiers) with a negative penalty depending on it's distance, and if the captain was employing a story driven effect, such as masking his warp trail, employing a cloaking device, or modulating his shield / altering his transponder signature, to disguise himself as something else. if they managed to keep this sensor lock on them, then they could close (assuming they can bet their speed) and then begin a chase sequence / as you would with Impulse.

In chases usually the smaller ships have an advantage, as they usually have the largest helm bonus, but then often larger ships have better pilots (such as the Enterprise always would!) so that can be alloffset.. it's all down to the rolls.

[Doug Burke]

A Chase is simply performed as a series of open and close manouvers. The ship that's running performs an open manouver and the ship that's chases performs close manouveurs. Once the ship's are more than Extended +2 on the range table appart (once the running ship has got enough distance away) the chase is considered over.. and they are free to warp away / hide.. whatever.

Actually, there is a maneuver called (I believe) Break Away (don't have my NG with me, so I can't check) that allows one to warp out of the combat if it is successful. But, if the Narrator imposes some sort of "non-warp" condition (such as you discuss), then the maneuver can't be used until tthe Narrator says so.

[Tobian]

I knew about that, I was just trying to work out why extened +2 makes a difference

[Doug Burke]

I knew about that, I was just trying to work out why extened +2 makes a difference

Well, you could manage it by saying they are influenced by a gravity well or something that they have to get to Ex+2 away from to be able to use warp drive... Otherwise, it's just Narrator fiat...

[Tobian]

Sounds good to me

I guess the important thing to remember with the system is it's meant to be an abstract, so you shouldn't take it so seriously! Things which say 'it's up to the GM' are always handy for the GM, it means he has allot more scope! Plus there's always some random phenomena stopping warp drive from working

[Doug Burke]

Sounds good to me

I guess the important thing to remember with the system is it's meant to be an abstract, so you shouldn't take it so seriously! Things which say 'it's up to the GM' are always handy for the GM, it means he has allot more scope! Plus there's always some random phenomena stopping warp drive from working

Tobian, you just described the exact reasoning (as I understand it) for why the starship combat system is like it is. Bravo!

[Tobian]

To a certain extent all roleplaying game is about abstract as we are roleplaying things which no real person has ever experienced. In the case of Startrek the only experience people have is the TV show and the films, so really as long as allthe elements of the show exist, it has to come down to being cinematic. The more numbers facts and figures you give something, the more bogged down in detail it gets and the less like a dramatic action sequence. Combat in Startrek is a huge ammount of fun, because it's always over in a very short time, unlike D&D slogfest, which can take hours.. of couse it's not fun if you're on the recieving end of a phaser set to 8+