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Thread: Narrator Guide Eratta and questions

  1. #1
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    Question Narrator Guide Eratta and questions

    Is there a Narrator Guide Eratta page out there. I ran into a couple of oddities. For instance, the 23rd Century Constitution-class write-ups have them equipped with Class 3 Sensors, which, according to the NG, will not be invented until 2320.

    I also have these questions regarding the Starship Operatrions chapter:

    * Why is it harder to transfer power to a system with a higher reliabilty code (TN10 + the code)? Wouldn't you think it would be easier if the technology is more advanced?

    * Why is the system that power is being diverted from be damaged? Can't you just said system off? This makes no sense.

    * When scanning a vessel, why would the TN go up by five? This makes no sense either.

    * In the ship construction rules, there are TOS Era and TNG era impulse and warp engine lists. Does anyone know exactly what years are covered here? What if I want to build a ship from the the early-24th century? which stats do I use?

    * Table 7.1 shows the Warp Scale for the 24th Century (again no exact date) would it have killed the writers to include a 23rd century warp scale, like they didi for the engines? This is just annoying!

    I realize that the GM could just decide these matters himself; I just wanted to get some official word.

    Thanks
    They keep telling me that the beat's going to get me, so I'm avoiding the beat at all costs!!

  2. #2
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    I'll tackle those that I have insight and can answer. For all others I must refer you to Jesse or the NetRep, Doug.

    "For instance, the 23rd Century Constitution-class write-ups have them equipped with Class 3 Sensors, which, according to the NG, will not be invented until 2320."

    The dates were an 11th hour addition done by someone else. No one called or asked me to do dates and they were not in the original manuscript. As such, there are a number of errors regarding the dates.

    These have all been fixed (knock on wood) in "Starships." Plus there is now a mechanic for purchasing items before their 'standard availability date' to represent truly 'bleeding edge' technology. Plus each major faction (Klingon, Romulan, Borg, etc) have 'availability modifiers' in a number of categories, altering when different technology becomes available to them.

    "In the ship construction rules, there are TOS Era and TNG era impulse and warp engine lists. Does anyone know exactly what years are covered here? What if I want to build a ship from the the early-24th century? which stats do I use?"

    As above, these have all been fixed in "Starships."

    "Table 7.1 shows the Warp Scale for the 24th Century (again no exact date) would it have killed the writers to include a 23rd century warp scale, like they didi for the engines? This is just annoying!"

    To continue sounding like a broken record, my manuscript for "Starships" provided 23rd and 24th century scales and the formula to compute your own warp speeds.

    I'm sorry you find this "annoying" but I was way over word count in the NG and, frankly, there were a lot more important things to cover than a warp chart that mimics any number of easily available ones on the web.

    So, I suppose you can blame me as I wrote the aforementioned chapters but I can only do what I am told in the space I am given. I noticed these problems long before any of you did and immediately set about to fixing them in "Starships," where I was essentially given a word count and told to write whatever I wanted.

    I wanted to fix what I felt were omissions in the original draft and those things that were altered beyond my control. I'd go further into what happens between my writing a manuscript and the book reaching your hands but I fear a rant is coming on.

    Don

  3. #3
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    Re: Narrator Guide Eratta and questions

    I'll try to tackle those subjecs Don hasn't covered yet...

    Originally posted by Ensign Deconn
    Is there a Narrator Guide Eratta page out there. I ran into a couple of oddities.
    It's int he works, trust me.

    I also have these questions regarding the Starship Operatrions chapter:

    * Why is it harder to transfer power to a system with a higher reliabilty code (TN10 + the code)? Wouldn't you think it would be easier if the technology is more advanced?
    Not necessarily. "More advanced" often equates to "more complex", in which case it would be harder to divert resources from one place to another.

    * Why is the system that power is being diverted from be damaged? Can't you just said system off? This makes no sense.
    Actually, it makes sense within the abstract system as laid out for starship combat. With no need for power allocation, there is no mechanic to simulate a system being "shut down", thus the system takes a level of damage.

    * When scanning a vessel, why would the TN go up by five? This makes no sense either.
    This simulates, as the text states, intesifyign the focus of the sensors to analyze the condition of the other ship as opposed to taking a general sensor reading of the area or object itself.

    Hope that helps...
    Former Decipher RPG Net Rep

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  4. #4
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    Originally posted by Don Mappin
    I'm sorry you find this "annoying" but I was way over word count in the NG and, frankly, there were a lot more important things to cover than a warp chart that mimics any number of easily available ones on the web.

    So, I suppose you can blame me as I wrote the aforementioned chapters but I can only do what I am told in the space I am given. I noticed these problems long before any of you did and immediately set about to fixing them in "Starships," where I was essentially given a word count and told to write whatever I wanted.

    I wanted to fix what I felt were omissions in the original draft and those things that were altered beyond my control. I'd go further into what happens between my writing a manuscript and the book reaching your hands but I fear a rant is coming on.
    Please don't rant Didn't mean to come off too much like a jerk: the reasons you gave make total sense. Having a friend who writes RPGs for his own company, I should know what this entails and should have considered. I humbly apologize if I came across as rude.

    I'm just frustrated over what I found and the continuing delays on the other product. Can't wait to see the changes you made in the Starships book

    BTW, where are some of those sites that you mentioned regarding warp scales?

    Ensign D
    They keep telling me that the beat's going to get me, so I'm avoiding the beat at all costs!!

  5. #5
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    Originally posted by Ensign Deconn
    BTW, where are some of those sites that you mentioned regarding warp scales?

    Try here Daystrom Institute Technical Library

    The go to Sci-Tech then warp scales.

    You will find masses of info on any subject you can think of.
    -------------------------
    Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges

    "In time of war, the law falls silent"

    Admiral Ross to Dr Bashir


  6. #6
    Why is the system that power is being diverted from be damaged? Can't you just said system off?
    As Doug pointed out, this is due to game mechanics.

    In "reality", the system is shut down or operates at lower efficiency.

    Wheras a system can be temproarily improved in this manner, restoring the "damaged" system to its normal (stable) state requires a repair roll to re-establish hardware and software configurations.

    -K

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    Re: Narrator Guide Eratta and questions

    Originally posted by Ensign Deconn
    Is there a Narrator Guide Eratta page out there. I ran into a couple of oddities. For instance, the 23rd Century Constitution-class write-ups have them equipped with Class 3 Sensors, which, according to the NG, will not be invented until 2320.
    There is another more glaring error on the 23rd Century Constitution-class ships. On page 142 it says to combine beam and missile weapons to determine penetration for each as well as reliability, yet both ships on page 146 looks like penetration and reliability were calculated separately for each weapons system. The other ships in that section appear correct.

    So from what I can tell, the 2245 Constitution-class should have beam penetration of 4/4/4/0/0 and missile of 5/5/5/5/5 with both having reliability B; and the 2273 refit should have beam penetration of 6/5/5/0/0 and missile of 7/7/7/7/7 both with reliability C.

  8. #8
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    Re: Re: Narrator Guide Eratta and questions

    Originally posted by Fab
    There is another more glaring error on the 23rd Century Constitution-class ships. On page 142 it says to combine beam and missile weapons to determine penetration for each as well as reliability, yet both ships on page 146 looks like penetration and reliability were calculated separately for each weapons system. The other ships in that section appear correct.

    So from what I can tell, the 2245 Constitution-class should have beam penetration of 4/4/4/0/0 and missile of 5/5/5/5/5 with both having reliability B; and the 2273 refit should have beam penetration of 6/5/5/0/0 and missile of 7/7/7/7/7 both with reliability C.
    Actually, for Penetration, you do separate it by weapons system. You total the Offensive Value of all phasers to get the phaser penetration, for example.

    The ONLY time you total the offensive Value of all the weapons on a starship is for reliability.

    For more information, reread the first three paragraphs on page 142 of the NG. They state this quite clearly.
    Former Decipher RPG Net Rep

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  9. #9
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    Re: Re: Re: Narrator Guide Eratta and questions

    Originally posted by Doug Burke
    Actually, for Penetration, you do separate it by weapons system. You total the Offensive Value of all phasers to get the phaser penetration, for example.

    The ONLY time you total the offensive Value of all the weapons on a starship is for reliability.
    Thanks for correcting my statement. I shouldn't make posts first thing in the mornings, I suppose. I knew that rule, but it slipped my mind.

    So the ratings are correct but the Photons should be reliability B, correct?

  10. #10
    if I can add a question here and not upset anybody that'd be great
    instead of making my own thread

    I have 2 comments
    both stem from me having a relativly strong 'head for numbers', things most people miss jump out at me as if outlined in neon.
    both are about building your own ship

    1.) it says you can buy deflectors and you can upgrade their threshhold, for an additional cost. That's as specific as it gets.
    I saw an Edge the ship can buy where it's max goes up but nothing about increasing the threshold, so I'm wondering what space is required per +1 in threshhold

    2.) the weapons systems are very off, you can get the highest offensive rating by taking level 3 beam weapons (wich should be some of the least effective!) and just stacking up on them
    and that seems like something that might need altered
    I personally would try to keep more in with the spirit of the game (getting more arrays of the newer weapons if I was making a battleship or whatever) I'm just pointing out something that might need changed

    this may seem a bit out of line and if it is forgive me but I am a huge fan of star trek and rpg's in general
    so is there anyway I can get in on helping with concepts for the game?
    I guess in a way that's what these forums are for but I mean on a deeper level, it would really mean a lot to me.
    if not I understand, you guys probubly had to go to a lot of school to do this stuff but I have a lot, a whole lot of gaming experience so I am good at telling what gamers will tend to like or not, sort of like a one man playtest group.

    anyway th game is pretty good I like it
    I've played both your StarWars game and your Lord Of The Rings game
    I think the rules translate better to LOTR then to SW because of the Fantacy vs SciFi settings
    but I still enjoy the SW game very much, thank you for what you've done.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Big-Claw
    1.) it says you can buy deflectors and you can upgrade their threshhold, for an additional cost. That's as specific as it gets.
    I saw an Edge the ship can buy where it's max goes up but nothing about increasing the threshold, so I'm wondering what space is required per +1 in threshhold
    It's a 1:1 ratio up to the maximum threshold.

    2.) the weapons systems are very off, you can get the highest offensive rating by taking level 3 beam weapons (wich should be some of the least effective!) and just stacking up on them and that seems like something that might need altered I personally would try to keep more in with the spirit of the game (getting more arrays of the newer weapons if I was making a battleship or whatever) I'm just pointing out something that might need changed
    This has been discussed before and the general consensus was that while this is possible, ti's not really practical for reasons of space and design philosophy.
    Former Decipher RPG Net Rep

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  12. #12
    thanks for the clarrification on the shield threshold, I thought it might be 1:1 but I looked over otherstuff and thought it might be pricer to I really couldn't decide
    I don't understand what you mean by the second part
    do you mean to say there should be a limit to weapons arrays?
    like only 4 clusters or something?

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Big-Claw
    I don't understand what you mean by the second part
    do you mean to say there should be a limit to weapons arrays?
    like only 4 clusters or something?
    Thye oinly weapon system that's truly limited is Missile Weapons. You cannot have a number of launcher greater than twice the ship's size (Starships, page 21).

    For other weapons, sure, you could have a lot of weaker weapons to gain the same penetration. However, doing so doesn't add any sort of redundancy or any game effect. From the abstract view of the starship combat system, It's all pretty much the same thing. There's no real advantage in doing so.
    Former Decipher RPG Net Rep

    "Doug, at the keyboard, his fingers bleeding" (with thanks to Moriarti)

    In D&D3E, Abyssal is not the language of evil vacuum cleaners.

  14. #14
    the only real advantage I saw is that doing it that way you can get more firepower for less space using older weapons
    I hadn't seen the missle thing before thank you

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