Re: Create Helm

gaijin@???????.???.net wrote:

> >       Um, who really cares?  As far as I can tell, most of the "monster"
> >ships (beholder, neogi, illithid) are limited to SR 5.  Most are rated
> >at 3.  Goblinoid ships are worse; SR 2 (at most).  Most human and elvish
> >ships can easily outrun this.  If not, they really have no business in
> >space claimed by these creatures.  All you need is a major helm and a
> >10th level pilot.  I see speed as a major human advantage, somewhat
> >equalizing the heavy advantages the other races have (numbers, special
> >powers, etc).
>
>         Personally I never cared for the human-centric viewpoint TSR espouses.
> Racist is what I call it.  Why, for example, would a species (elves) who
> have life spans of thousands of years stop advancing at sixth level...
>         The reason goblanoid ships get a SR of two is because of the limits they
> put on Scro priests and mages.
>         IMC I've eleminated racial level limits, I don't think it unbalances play,
> and it makes playing non-human (I hate the word "demi-human") characters
> more fun.  After all, if the rest of the party is 10+ level, I don't think
> infravision is much of a compensation for staying sixth level.
>

I agree.  Another point is why are only humans, with a few exceptions, the only ones
that can be dual classed.  To barrow your example:  An elf of 130 years(young man)
adventures and advances as a fighter to his max potential (12th lvl? or so).  It, to
me, doesn't make sense that for the rest of his life (another 1000 years give or take)
he cannot find religion and become a cleric, or devote his time to arcane research as
a mage.However, there is an argument to be made why humans can't be multi-classed.
Their life-spans are too short to divide their attention (exceptions may be a priest
or mage that uses time magic, they would have the extra time needed.

>         So IMC Scro get somewhat faster ships, though the Illithid and other
> non-mage/non-priest races remain where they are (due to series helms).

Your could add modifiers to the SR of the monster-craft.  Such as an item or potion
that would increase their move.  There are also special ship design rules about
increasing SR for a short period of time.  I usually keep it loose and fast.  This may
be bacause most of my gamers are rules-mongers (ex. find jammer level by mult.
observed SR by 2 or 3.)

> >       Really, I haven't seen a fighter yet that honestly impresses me.  Most
> >are too expensive and fragile to be practical in the SJ system.
> >Honestly, I see the "fighter" class as practical for really large and
> >organized military fleets (such as the elves, scro, and MAYBE the
> >homegrown orginizations we create).

That is, except the fighters with walls of force or telekinetic barriers in
stratigicly important areas of the ship.  Talk about a flying tank. "Shields-up, lock
ballista on target"

>         Well, that makes perfect sense me.  Look at the price/etc on modern
> fighter craft, a couple of million bux each.
>         I think it should be possible to create a device that is capiable of
> producing an SR of, oh, 3 or maybe 4, but is impossible to reach full
> Spelljamming speeds with.  Make it usable by all classes (something like
> the Tactical Helm I saw on someone's web site), only able to move a ship of
> one ton (or less).  Arm the ship with an autoloading balista (or something,
> maybe special Fireball wands that can be fired by the ship).
>         Probably they'd run 1,000,000gp each (pseudo-helm and weapon included),
> but the EIN would pay that for 'em, and so would the Scro.  Think about it,
> a modified Man O War could probably carry five or ten, and an Armada could
> carry 100+.  Sure, a single hit from a heavy weapon would wipe one out, but
> each one of 'em could do 1-3 hull points of damage, and most ships only
> carry 3-5 heavy weapons.  In addition the carrier doubtless carries some
> weapons.
>

The elves fighters must be expensive, but the scro?  I thing they would make them out
of balsa wood for all they care about the saftey of the pilot (and/or gunner).  I view
it as being very similiar to the Star Wars' Imperial tactics.  Use superior numbers to
swarm the enemy. Even if they are flying death traps, they are still targets to pester
and confuse the enemy.

>         Figure that fighters are a recent devleopment, and they change the entire
> face of warfare...  Look at what happened during WWII here on Earth, during
> WWI battleships were the masters of the sea, during WWII the most powerful
> battleships were killed by fighters launched from Aircraft carriers that
> were never within range of the battleships.
>
>                 Gaijin
>

Good point, but to extend the example.  WWII fighters, nay all fighters of all time,
were much faster then the surface targets they engagued (another example of speed
kills) ,also the fighters were not limited to 2-dimensional movement as the ships
were.  It was a fairly easy thing to break off combat, profided you survived long
enough to get out of superior gun range.    In space bassed combat, however, everyone
moves in 3-d move(if not more than 3d).  Biggest point, the SJ fighters are engaging a
larger craft that, while may be less maneuverable, are on the average much faster then
the fighter.  Imagine trying to break off combat with a cap ship only to find out that
it is closing on you!?!

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