On Wed, Jun 18, 2014 at 10:40 AM, Kurt Feltenberger <kurt@thepaw.org> wrote:

On 6/18/2014 12:55 AM, Richard Aiken wrote:

I've been corrupted by ship design systems - such as for Serenity (Cortex) and Savage Worlds - which treat ships like characters. You decide the stats and combat capabilities first, then estimate its actual physical parameters based upon those.

I really wanted to like Cortex when I was running BSG, but I found the ships to lack the level of detail I felt was necessary. As someone mentioned it was very Hollywoodish, but beyond that it was just too abstract. Again, this is for my liking.

That's why I use a version of the CT ship-building rules to build my actual ships. Of course, I made some significant setting-rules changes to the CT system, since Firefly-style ships don't perform quite like CT ships (Firefly/BSG thrusters seem much more like jet engines, while "jump" drives appear to only require power rather than fuel). Also, everything related to space travel (except fresh food!) is a lot cheaper in Cortex games. So . . .

1) I slashed all CT construction prices by 99%.

2) I dropped computer mass to zero, making price the only limiting factor on how powerful a computer mounted,

3) I changed the fuel consumption formulas around; my jump drives and power plants no longer consume significant fuel, while the maneuver formula per jump use the old jump fuel formula per four weeks of endurance (assuming landings and takeoffs are made through at least Thin atmo).*

4) To match up space combat better with Savage Worlds vehicle combat, I added CIWS (Close In Weapon System) pop turrets - each mounting a Gauss Heavy Machinegun - to most ships, to help deal with (now quite cheap and common) missiles. These also let me give merchanters some defensive ability without also giving them offensive (in a space-to-space context) ability.

5) And I added Shield Pods: short duration (one combat round), limited arc (one hex side) shield projectors with a set number of "shots." These can be used to either deflect some damage OR "soak" it (at the players option).

*I also moved the jump threshold from 100 diameters to only far orbit, since I want cinematic orbital chases, rather than Age of Sail orbital chases.

Then again, the game had other issues working against it.

Yeah.

For a "simple" game, Cortex has/had rather convoluted combat rules, which really bog things down whenever more than a couple of combatants are involved. I think Savage Worlds is what the first iterations of Cortex was trying to be.

But I admit to not having evaluated the latest version. MWP has apparently re-vamped the rules for their newest products, the ones they're making under their new license agreement.

Richard Aiken

"Never insult anyone by accident." Robert A. Heinlein

"A word to the wise ain't necessary -- it's the stupid ones that need the advice." - Bill Cosby

"We know a little about a lot of things; just enough to make us dangerous." Dean Winchester