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Thread: One Small Ship...

  1. #1
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    One Small Ship...

    No, not a shrunken ship - I'm thinking of something like a Berlin Class Security Cutter... crew of 12. Or something similar - where there are very few crew, small ship, not a huge range of capabilities.

    Has anyone tried to run a game this way? Something bigger than a runabout, but say only size 3 or so.

    I'm thinking it would be interesting - since for sure you'd have the "lt. Commander as a captain" scenerio (or even lieutenant), since certainly Starfleet can't have a captain for every single security cutter out there...

    The Doc
    So you think, 'Might as well,
    Dance a Tango to Hell,
    at least I'll have Tangoed at all.'
    -- "Rent," Jonathan Larson

  2. #2
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    You could try playing on an Oberth class scout. That´s the class seen in Star Trek II which was blown up by the Klingons. It has a crew of 20.

    There´s also an Oberth class surveyor seen in TNG with a crew of 80. You´ll find it´s statistics in the TNG-LUG-book and also in the SRM1.

    I think most of the statistics can be used unchanged for the smaller version.

    Playing on the smaller version is also great because there are some excellent deckplans available, made by Owen E. Oulten.
    Maybe someone else knows where you can download them.

    I hope this will help you.
    Last edited by Ergi; 10-21-2001 at 03:57 AM.
    “Worried? I’m scared to death. But I’ll be damned if I’m going to let them change the way I live my life.” - Joseph Sisko - Paradise Lost

  3. #3
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    Tried it once...we used a Rigel-class scout, crew of about 40 plus...it was like one of those WWII submarine movies. Small crew working in a very small ship...it was a good starting point for a new group as it'll teach them to work together.

    With regard to CO rank, I think that any ship smaller than size 6 should be commanded by a Commander...and anything under 4 just needs an senior officer (lieutenant or lieutenant(jg))...just remember except for shuttles and runabouts any ship CO is still called "Captain" regardless of rank.
    Arise, arise, Riders of Theoden!
    Fell deed awake: fire and slaughter!
    Spear shall be shaken, shields be splintered,
    a sword-day, a red-day, ere the sun rises!
    Ride now, ride now! Ride to Gondor!

    Theoden King: The Return of the King

  4. #4
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    Originally posted by Ergi

    There´s also an Oberth class surveyor seen in TNG with a crew of 80. You´ll find it´s statistics in the TNG-LUG-book and also in the SRM1.

    I think most of the statistics can be used unchanged for the smaller version.

    Playing on the smaller version is also great because there are some excellent deckplans available, made by Steve Long.
    Maybe someone else knows where you can download them.
    I've been using an Oberth (80 crew) for my PBEM game, and liking it. I just wanted to try something smaller than that, where the majority of the crew are PCs..

    The Doc
    So you think, 'Might as well,
    Dance a Tango to Hell,
    at least I'll have Tangoed at all.'
    -- "Rent," Jonathan Larson

  5. #5

    Thumbs up

    The game I'm currently in (as a player) is on a very small Klingon Bird of Prey (don't remember the name of the class - it's the smallest one) during the Dominion War. It's working very well. We've got a couple of Starfleet characters whose own ship was destroyed who are on loan to the Klingons. The acting captain was originally the security officer. She'd discovered that the original captain had been replaced by a shapeshifter, then challenged and killed him (along with the first officer, who'd refused to challenge the fake captain himself).

  6. #6
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    Originally posted by LizardQueen
    The game I'm currently in (as a player) is on a very small Klingon Bird of Prey (don't remember the name of the class - it's the smallest one) during the Dominion War. It's working very well. We've got a couple of Starfleet characters whose own ship was destroyed who are on loan to the Klingons. The acting captain was originally the security officer. She'd discovered that the original captain had been replaced by a shapeshifter, then challenged and killed him (along with the first officer, who'd refused to challenge the fake captain himself).
    That sounds like a great campaign setting. I'm thinking of using the aforementioned Berlin Class once my campaign gets into high-gear - I'm going to place a few alternate player characters on one of them doing a security run, and have them come home to find that their home base has been destroyed, and they're on their own and now behind Dominion lines...

    Ultimately, I'll have that alternate ship and the players' regular ship hook up, likely with the little Berlin-class ship racing in to the rescue of the Perseus (Nebula class ship) somehow at a critical time... and finally being reunited with the rest of starfleet after a long time behind the lines.

    I figure I can staff the Berlin with 15 officers, instead of the usual mix of officers and non-com - I figure ships that small would be assigned to run between starbases, or to run on a loop "security course" around a border or sector on a regular basis, but to be under the command of a station or starbase or planet...

    Now - to staff a small ship like that..? 15 Officers, so... A full lieutenant (command) in charge, and since it's a security ship, maybe a lieutenang JG Tactical/Security... Pilot Ensign... Ops Ensign... Hrm... thoughts, people?

    The Doc
    So you think, 'Might as well,
    Dance a Tango to Hell,
    at least I'll have Tangoed at all.'
    -- "Rent," Jonathan Larson

  7. #7
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    I am not familiar with the Berlin -class. Is it a personal design? What are the stats?

    Hum. . .a crew of 15 on what so far sounds like a cutter. How about this for crew:

    Lieut. Cmder as the captian
    Lieutenant as first officer
    Lieut. j.g or Ens. at ops
    Lieut. j.g or Ens. at helm

    Lieutenant as chief engineer
    Lieut. j.g. as assistant engineer
    Ens. as engineering officer
    Ens. as engineering officer
    Ens. as engineering officer

    Lieutenant as chief security/tac. officer
    Leiut. j.g or Ens. as security officer
    Leiut. j.g or Ens. as security officer

    Lieutentant as cheif medical officer
    Lieut. j.g. or Ens. as nurse

    Lieutenant or Lieut. j.g. as science officer


    You might want to take away from the engineering and add to the security/tac department if you plan on doing many boarding parties.

    Hope this helps; and how about some ship stats?
    Steven "redwood973" Wood

    "Man does not fail. He gives up trying."

  8. #8
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    Thanks for your list of crewmen - I think I would switch around some of the engineers into ops (though that's close to the usual)... Since on a regular security type ship (Escourt) the mix is 12% Command (1.8, or 2 officers), 20% Engineering (3 officers), Ditto for Operations (3 officers), 33% Security (4.95, or 5 officers), 10% Medical (1.5, so in this case, I'd go with 1 officer), 5% Science (0.75, or 1 officer). Given that:

    Command:
    "Captain" (Lt. Cmdr)
    XO (Lt.)

    Engineering:
    "Chief" (Lt. JG)
    Ensign
    Ensign

    Operations:
    "Chief" (Lt. JG)
    Ensign
    Ensign

    Security:
    "Chief" (Lieutenant)
    Lieutenant JG
    Ensign
    Ensign
    Ensign

    Medical:
    Ensign or Lieutenant JG

    Science:
    Ensign

    Now, all that said - would a little ship like that really need the science officer and medical officer? I'm thinking that if it really is based off a starbase, then sure, they could send a lower-ranked science and medical officer along to be "just in case" type people - which will make the adventure series more interesting once it begins....

    The Berlin Class is a Security Cutter from the ICON-links addition to the Rogues book - I imagine you can get it at the TrekRPG site, but it's a little ship:

    Size 3, 4 decks, Max warp of 9.0 (for 6 hours), no torpedoes just phasers (though I imagine, like Runabouts, microtorps are possible with a little bit of refit)...

    http://www.trekrpg.net/trek/core/ico..._Icon_Link.pdf is where its at, page 10, one of two Security ships. The other one is even smaller, and is a two crew job.

    The Doc
    So you think, 'Might as well,
    Dance a Tango to Hell,
    at least I'll have Tangoed at all.'
    -- "Rent," Jonathan Larson

  9. #9
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    Why is the whole crew made up of officers? The bulk of any starship crew should be enlisted personnel and with 15 bodies, I'd say 2 officers are required max, a CO and an XO. Chiefs can fill most of the other key slots with a few enlisted ratings to do the grunt work...I know Star Trek gives the impression that everyone on the ship is an officer, its a fallacy which has never been addressed but you can't spare 15 officers to run one small security vessel, its a waste of resources.
    Arise, arise, Riders of Theoden!
    Fell deed awake: fire and slaughter!
    Spear shall be shaken, shields be splintered,
    a sword-day, a red-day, ere the sun rises!
    Ride now, ride now! Ride to Gondor!

    Theoden King: The Return of the King

  10. #10
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    LQ: you're thinking of the B'Rel -class scout.
    Deo Vindice!

  11. #11
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    Originally posted by Michael Barratt

    Now, all that said - would a little ship like that really need the science officer and medical officer? I'm thinking that if it really is based off a starbase, then sure, they could send a lower-ranked science and medical officer along to be "just in case" type people - which will make the adventure series more interesting once it begins....

    http://www.trekrpg.net/trek/core/ico..._Icon_Link.pdf is where its at, page 10, one of two Security ships. The other one is even smaller, and is a two crew job.
    Thanks for the link! Forgot all about those pages.

    As for a science/medical officer for such a small ship. Probably not for the medical officer. . .if the ship stayes close to a "home port." If it tends to stray from its home then it would propably be a good idea. A cutter could end up in a lot of trouble. . . and you would not want to get caught too far from home without a surgeon if you just got into a tiff with a prirate or two.

    As for the science officer. . .I have to say every starfleet ship, no matter the size should have one. The main purpose of starfleet is exploration and in the off chance that even a small non-capital ship like a Berlin -class could run into something worth exploring would justify the one science officer. Granted there will be few opportunites for steady work for s/he or it. But the very nature of starfleet would demand it in my opinion.

    To Ghostly. . .

    I too like to add enlisted and Noncoms into my games. But I believe he asked for Officer grade personnel only. Thus that is what I provided.
    Steven "redwood973" Wood

    "Man does not fail. He gives up trying."

  12. #12
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    I started my campaign on a Nova Class, the USS Farscape...let me say that it was fun, but they got tired of running all the time...and let me tell you, hat is just what they did.

    I am all for these ships, but it does impose certain limits on the type of game you can run.
    Captain Zymmer
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  13. #13
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    Originally posted by ghosty
    Why is the whole crew made up of officers? The bulk of any starship crew should be enlisted personnel and with 15 bodies, I'd say 2 officers are required max, a CO and an XO. Chiefs can fill most of the other key slots with a few enlisted ratings to do the grunt work...I know Star Trek gives the impression that everyone on the ship is an officer, its a fallacy which has never been addressed but you can't spare 15 officers to run one small security vessel, its a waste of resources.
    I did it on purpose since I'm slaving the ship to a starbase/planet... I figure, like the Runabouts in DS9, most often you end up with the officers taking the things out. Even thought hey had O'Brien with them a lot...

    That said, I could see the Tac department drop a notch, and maybe Engineering: One Ensign leading the group, everyone else non-com...

    Normally, for a security/escourt vessell, it's a 28%/72% split of officers to enlisted, so that'd mean four officers... Let me try it that way...

    Commanded by a Lieutenant Commander (Command Officer)
    XO of a Lieutenant (Command Officer)
    Tactical/Security of a Lieutenant JG or Ensign (Security Officer)
    And either an Ops Officer or Chief Engineer (Ensign)

    The other 11 staff would be Non-Coms that way. A pilot, either the chief Engineer or chief of Ops, a science specialist, a medical specialist (this makes more sense than a medical doctor, actually, the equivalent of a paramedic in cases of emergency), four security, two engineering, one operations.

    Thoughts?

    The Doc (graduated. )
    So you think, 'Might as well,
    Dance a Tango to Hell,
    at least I'll have Tangoed at all.'
    -- "Rent," Jonathan Larson

  14. #14
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    A lieutenant commander to ride herd over 15 people? A bit much in my view unless he also commands the cutter squadron.

    A ship this size can make do with a Lieutenant in command (much like PT boats and other patrol craft). A lieutenant commander has more important duties such as heading a department on a capital ship or executive officer on a scout or small frigate...don't waste officers unless you're giving them a command consumate to their rank. Remember a department head on a galaxy-class ship would have more than 100 people under his command.
    Arise, arise, Riders of Theoden!
    Fell deed awake: fire and slaughter!
    Spear shall be shaken, shields be splintered,
    a sword-day, a red-day, ere the sun rises!
    Ride now, ride now! Ride to Gondor!

    Theoden King: The Return of the King

  15. #15
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    Originally posted by ghosty
    A lieutenant commander to ride herd over 15 people? A bit much in my view unless he also commands the cutter squadron.

    A ship this size can make do with a Lieutenant in command (much like PT boats and other patrol craft). A lieutenant commander has more important duties such as heading a department on a capital ship or executive officer on a scout or small frigate...don't waste officers unless you're giving them a command consumate to their rank. Remember a department head on a galaxy-class ship would have more than 100 people under his command.
    That was my original idea, actually. Which would leave the command officers at a full lieutenant and a JG Lieutenant XO.

    I more or less want to make this small ship with lower-ranked officers (and maybe Non-Coms, still can't decide) to strand them behind enemy lines for a while in a ship that isn't really up to snuff for that situation. This is a security ship used to track and maybe take on pirates and the like - it's sort of like the "cop car" of Starfleet, patrolling through areas that are high-risk for criminal activity...

    The Doc
    So you think, 'Might as well,
    Dance a Tango to Hell,
    at least I'll have Tangoed at all.'
    -- "Rent," Jonathan Larson

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