Onno Meyer wrote:
I can't quite get my mind around the supercarrier question, so I
decided to distract myself with other vehicles. I haven't written
the subcraft for this week's TL15 Space Cruiser yet, but I wonder
just how relevant these extreme TLs are.
My own gaming experience runs largely from TL10 to TL11, with the
higher TLs becoming mere McGuffins -- we had some TL12+ stuff in
Traveller, but it was more a status symbol for high-level NPCs
than day-to-day technology.
What about you? Have you used TL12+ technology in ways that the
stats matter? Have you ever rolled a 6d*16,000(2) attack vs. DR
625,000 or the like?
While I have been GMing my homebrew 'Space Vikings - Freelancers of
the Frontier' setting, some capship scale battles have taken place
- Mostly just frigates and destroyers, but in some cases
battlecruisers, carriers and battleships have been involved. Although
the setting is only 3e TL10-TL11 as the norm, beam weapons use square
root damage formulas all the way through, so the spinal guns of big
ships end up inflicting something like the above damage range
- Enough armor/force screens to stop this is not really practical
(except for an immobile battlestation perhaps), but the capships
have lots of hitpoints to absorb the punishment for a while.
So far the player characters have not been actually commanding
the big capships, but have been otherwise involved in the fleet
actions - Boarding disabled ships, flying starfighters or
corvettes, damage control, starship crew tasks, covert operations
etc. While the PCs have not been directly impacted by the big
spinal guns so far, the outcomes of the capship battles have still
been of considerable interest to the player characters.
This setting does have some TL12-TL14 artefacts left behind by
the precursors, but these are not really practical for capship
components because of their prohibitive cost (around 400 million
credits for a mere ton of TL14 artefacts), scarcity and difficulties in
using or even understanding what they can do.. However, some player
characters do make use of some personal TL12-TL14 equipment they have
been able to acquire (energy exosuit and a squad support pulsar have
been the heaviest precursor gear used by any PCs so far).
In other words, it does help the GM to have capship stats handy
even if the PCs themselves do not operate any capships. If nothing
else, it gives the GM a general idea what any given pocket empires
starfleet can and cannot do.. And of course it is cool to unleash
some capship random encounters on the player characters if they
start to feel too powerful - For a change of pace, the PCs might
even consider a more diplomatic approach instead of simply going
in guns blazing when their relatively small corvette starship is
facing a carrier battlegroup from a potentially unfriendly pocket
empire.. ;)
-Pauli
--
--
"Our ship is made out of darkness, she mocks the laws of nature.
With cables, ropes, tackle and sails, she moves on the waves
of the void. On her decks a red crew, dark as if painted with
blood. From among the hooded cloaks of crimson, eyes of
silver gleam darkly.. Oldest of all is Hiram of Malta, the Red
Commander. He knows the secrets of Schwarzchild Radii, of Neutron
Stars and Cepheids. His hidden paths we follow, like ghosts from
space we strike deep, only to disappear again soon, sometimes even
the fear itself is afraid of us.."
-CMX, Punainen Komentaja
(Translated from the Finnish song 'Red Commander' by CMX)
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