Thursday, May 13, 2010

Example Ships for StarCluster 3

I'm working on the Spaceship design section now. As far as example ships go, what would you like to see? Of course a cargo ship to do the standard "space tramp" thing, but there's a lot more out there than that! I'd like to do ten designs. Some things I've been thinking of:

* Cargo Ship - Natch! Still the standard thing folks think of!

* Showboat - A mobile performance venue with rooms for the actors/dancers, simple kitchens to feed the crowd, lounges for drinks, et cetera.

* Courier Ship - Fast and lightly armed, with some protective devices.

* Liner - A mobile hotel, with restaurants, dancing, lounges, and entertainment.

* Excursion Vessel - A small-ish vessel to take eco-tourists to interesting but perhaps primitive places, and support them while there.

* Hospital Ship - A mobile small hospital for disaster relief.

And a few more, supplied by Somebody Else (First 3) and Marchand (last 2) from a thread on RPGnet:

* Merchantman - little bit of this, little bit of that, a big dream, and the cash to get it started, a merchantman is a privately operated craft the owner of which, who is often also the captain, has taken to profitable adventures to fill his/her coffers.

* Patrol Boat - small vessel, normally not equipped for more than a day or so in space, this boat is operated by a police force or equivalent in order to make sure activities in orbit remain nice, orderly, safe and legal - smugglers beware.

* Escort - euphemistically named and as heavily armed as a civilian-operated craft can get away with, the job of the Escort is to ensure the safety and well-being of the public by keeping them away from places and situations where the Escort would be forced to fire.

* Spy Ship - A small hull packed with sensors for leaving floating near rival installations.

* Scout/Survey Ship - A ship designed to support exploration campaigns.

Any other suggestions?

-clash

4 comments:

  1. Are capital ships out of the question? I always love thinking that one day my PC may be powerful enough to wield the might of a massive warship :)

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  2. Hi Tellius!

    Military matters are handled by In Harm's Way: StarCluster, a separate game entirely, but set in the same implied setting. With that game, you can make ships up to 300,000 tons - about three times the size of a Nimitz carrier. StarCluster 3 is strictly civilian.

    -clash

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  3. I apologise! I only grabbed a copy of SC 2E the other day (we are about to embark on some Sci-Fi gaming so I thought it would be about time).

    I haven't had the chance to sit at the computer for a read yet (this weekends task). I'll have to grab me In Harm's Way as well then :)

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  4. No problem, tellius! In Harm's Way is a series of 6 games (so far) all based on military subjects. IHW: StarCluster is the flip side of StarCluster 3, focused on military gaming. I made the split because military gaming is in many ways a very different animal from civilian based games, and the equipment lists and ships for one would not at all suit for the other. I felt that by separating them, i could give each one the notice it was due.

    StarCluster 2 separated out the ship design into the Starship Construction and Engineer's Guide, where you could make arbitrarily large ships of enormous variety.

    -clash

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