Coda starship rules-now and then

[E W Dawson]

So, in general, how do you feel about the starship rules in Coda Trek? Initially, prior to the games release, there was some. . .tension/confusion in regards to particular aspects of the rules (Constituion class versus Galaxy class comes to mind). In light of actually having the rules, do you like the system?

I think that the starship rules (everything from creation to combat) are Coda Trek's greatest strength. I also think that other rpgs (d20 Star Wars) should take notes on this system. Starship traits and maneuver modifiers, for example, are simply ingenious. These two simple rules insure that almost every starship (including those of the same class) are different. And the fact that the game keeps space combat where is belogns--with the PCs and not on a tacticle mat--is equally ingenious.

I have one pressing question, though: where are evasive maneuvers? In almost every episode of Trek you hear this term; how do I simulate it in my games?

[KillerWhale]

I really like them. I had a hard time convincing my players about some aspects ("what? No firing arcs?") but the maneuvers are great and they really capture the feel of the shows. Now all we need is the Starships book for the system to take its full flight.

As for maneuvers, I believe they will be in Starships - otherwise, some of us have made up some new ones on the board (I designed "Evasion" with the idea of evasive maneuvers).

[Don Mappin]

I love 'em, but then, I'm biased. I really wish we had more time to work on them and playtest, but overall I'm happy with the end-result. "Starships" let me do a lot of things that one chapter in the NG wouldn't let me do.

In our Coda-Trek game (that I'm the CO) we got to use starship combat for the first time in a "non-test" situation, where we didn't have the benefit of knowing what was going to happen to us.

It rocked! W00t!

[qerlin]

They're good; I like 'em. They do a better job of giving everybody something to do. The addition of the starship building rules in the same book was even better.

We've had a couple of ship engagements, and the rules are solid. (And we've learned that the Galaxy class is one tough piece of work...)

[E W Dawson]

In thinking about the starship combat rules I noticed a major premise of combat in Coda: it is not assumed that you will use a battle mat. This is surprising to me because I come from d20 land (a land that focuses heavily on battle mats and miniatures). To me, this is a very good thing. Nothing spoils a cool cinematic cobat scene in your head than pushing around miniatures on a battle mat.

[Antonsb214]

I like the rules having only read them. Hope to use them in a game soon. I think a neat thing to have would be transparencies withe the ranges increments printed on them like circles and moving them around on a star map. I think it would look something like the tactical display from "The Wounded". It would keep that "Trek" feel to think that you're looking at a tactical display instead of your gaming table. I could design them in Photoshop and print them on transparencies.

[Long Tom]

Let us know how they turn out

Long Tom

[Don Mappin]

Originally posted by Antonsb214
I like the rules having only read them. Hope to use them in a game soon. I think a neat thing to have would be transparencies withe the ranges increments printed on them like circles and moving them around on a star map. I think it would look something like the tactical display from "The Wounded". It would keep that "Trek" feel to think that you're looking at a tactical display instead of your gaming table. I could design them in Photoshop and print them on transparencies.

Oooh, me likey likey.

The idea behind the starship system is to take away that tactical layer where the players are pushing around minis and the game switches from an RPG into a wargame. Tread carefully.

I've found describing the action much more satisfying, personally.

[pathstrider]

I like the rules having only read them. Hope to use them in a game soon. I think a neat thing to have would be transparencies withe the ranges increments printed on them like circles and moving them around on a star map. I think it would look something like the tactical display from "The Wounded". It would keep that "Trek" feel to think that you're looking at a tactical display instead of your gaming table. I could design them in Photoshop and print them on transparencies.

Now that sounds cool. I like mid solutions like that - I liked the approach that 1st ed D20 Star Wars took with some representation of the battle, but with big abstracts.

However, I suck when it comes to anything art related. If you do come up with them could you send me a copy? pleaaaasseee

later days!

Mark

[Antonsb214]

My intention is not to turn this into a tactical starship combat system with a player saying "We're coming around in front of him now" , it's just meant to be a way for me to keep track of who's in what range increment of who and to look cool at the same time. It would be fun with just two starships, but with three or more, I don't want to loose track of who's at what range from whom. So, I'll design one with a Starfleet emblem at the center and the others with emblems from the other stellar powers.

[AllenS]

The Starship rules for CODA are the best space combat rules for any science fiction game I have ever seen.

Allen

[Fred]

How do the Coda rules compare to the expanded Icon rules found in Spacedock?

TchaU!

[Greg Smith]

We played our first Coda starship combat at the weekend. The players agreed that it was better than Icon and less complex than spacedock, but lacked a little oomph.

Thet suggested that it needed some kind of critical hit or lucky shot type thing, akin to hitting the warp core or EPS system in spacedock.

[Fred]

So, I noticed the weapons doesn't have a damage rating per se, but a penetration value divided by slashes, which I assume refer to the ranges. Are those values the damage inflicted by the weapon?

And what's those codes at the end: +0C +2H +3T?

Thanks and tchau!

[Antonsb214]

Those Codes are modifiers to the different types of maneuvers you can perform with the ship. C is for Command, H is for Helm, and T is for Tactical.