RPG Statistics for the Venturer

[Kage2020]

Venturer-class Clipper (TL11) [GDAoT design]

FRONT HULL
[1] Nanocomposite (dDR 300)
[2] Science Array
[3] Hangar Bay
[4] Cargo Hold
[5] Weapons !
[6]

CENTRAL HULL
[1] Nanocomposite (dDR 300)
[2] Contragravity Lifters !
[3] Fusion Power Plant
[4] Weapons !
[5] Fuel Tank (45 mps)
[6] Habitat *
[core] Fusion Power Plant

REAR HULL
[1] Nanocomposite (dDR 300)
[2] Control Room
[3] Warp Drive !
[4-6] Fusion Torch (TL11)
[core] Light Force SCreen ! (dDR 1,000)

Design Features

Artificial Gravity and Gravitic Compensators

Notes:

Hull - Unstreamlined (SM+15, 3,000,000 tons loaded mass, 700 yards length, dST/HP 1,000, Hnd/SR -3/5)

Crew: 3,000 (I have not included automation in the design as of yet, which would reduce this figure significantly)

Cost: $545,300,000,000


As you can see, it's no way complete.  There are no weapons, for one, and not a lot of space for them.  I think that moving the "Habitat" to the front hull, and then moving whatever "Weapons" to the Central Hull would give the more normal flavour of Age of Sail "batteries" on either side of the ship. 

Furthermore, "Habitat" hasn't been subdivided.  At the moment it's just "20,000 cabins," but we can more readily subdivide it if and when necessary (bars, cryostorage, luxury cabins, etc.).

I'm not sure about the "Robofactory."  It's a bit excessive, and more "mini-facs" might be more appropriate, which would take a bite out of the "Habitat" section rather than being a dedicated system of the ship.


Since we're still somewhat hazy on what the Venturer is going to be doing, I'm going to leave it at that until I receive a tiny bit of feed back.  At the moment that feedback is mostly a general "sense" of what the above is saying rather than a detailed critique.  Does it gel with your interpretation?

Kage

[Kage2020]

Well, while I could have piggy-backed on top of, say, the "Technology" thread I thought that it would be best to create a dedicated thread for the development of the RPG statistics of the Venturer.  I realise that we're probably going to be cross-posting between other threads quite a bit, but we shall try our hardest to stay broadly on topic.

First thing that I will need is a reply to those people who are interested in helping with this section of the project, and then a PM with an email address that you can receive a small (~2Mb) file at...

Kage

[CELS]

Well, we can only hope that Heimdallr and EarthScorpion will return to help out with this area of the project. It seems they're on vacation at the moment

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with though.

[Kage2020]

All I've got to do is understand what all those mysterious BFG statistics are so that they, as much as is possible for a 40k game, mesh with the RPG statistics. 

Kage

[horizon]

All I've got to do is understand what all those mysterious BFG statistics are so that they, as much as is possible for a 40k game, mesh with the RPG statistics. 

Kage

To understand you must first pass the seven tests of accomplishment and then walk the path of abbrevations. 

Good luck, fire questions away!

[Kage2020]

I've got the feeling that there is going to be some disconnect between RPG statistics and those of the BFG.  The iterative design process seems like it's going to be somewhat nasty on me, but - again - CELS goes through it every day, so here's hoping that I can.

Will try and post something shortly.

Kage

[horizon]

I feel the RPG stats will be much more in detail. So I think it is better to flesh them out and then translate them into an abstract BFG version. CELS has a good BFG starting point though.

[Anodyr]

I've got the BFG rulebook and Dark Heresy. Armed with said tomes, is there anything I can do to help here?

[Malika]

Oh some Dark Heresy stats would be really cool for this, I think EarthScorpion would be really interested about that once he gets back here! Not only could you use the ship as a means of transport in the game, it could also be an environment to be played in!

Kage and co are working on GURPS stats for this ship if I'm not mistaken though.

[Anodyr]

Thats cool - I dont know GURPs at all so I wouldnt try to get involved in that.

I'll peruse the threads on the Venturer and see what my interpretation ends up looking like, then perhaps that'll be a sufficient statistical starting point that can be developed by the group.

[Kage2020]

Please that I have posted a first stage draft for the GDAoT-period Venturer based on the little that we seemed to have agreed upon.  (Hopefully this will partially focus people on what is needed and what is not.)

Comments are welcome/required.

Kage

[CELS]

[4] Light Force SCreen ! (dDR 1,000)

These are the void shields, I presume? I see the void shield as being built up by a number of generators around the ship, actually. And the same goes for the gellar field. Is this how it will be modelled?

As you can see, it's no way complete.  There are no weapons, for one, and not a lot of space for them.  I think that moving the "Habitat" to the front hull, and then moving whatever "Weapons" to the Central Hull would give the more normal flavour of Age of Sail "batteries" on either side of the ship. 

Actually, I think the weapon distribution should be 33% on each of the starboard, prow and port sides, to match the BFG rules we wrote for it. Furthermore, while modern Imperial Navy vessels have more of an Age of Sail armament, the "old style" ships such as this had a more even distribution between sides and prow.

Furthermore, "Habitat" hasn't been subdivided.  At the moment it's just "20,000 cabins," but we can more readily subdivide it if and when necessary (bars, cryostorage, luxury cabins, etc.).

Ooh, cryostorage. That's a good idea. Those cryo-coffins in Xenos by Dan Abnett had to come from somewhere. Seems like they should have been invented in the Age of Technology.

I'm not sure about the "Robofactory."  It's a bit excessive, and more "mini-facs" might be more appropriate, which would take a bite out of the "Habitat" section rather than being a dedicated system of the ship.

I quite like the Robofactory (although I'm not sure what capabilities and size we're talking about), seeing as how this is a multi-purpose vessel for colonisation and exploration. Adds to the Enterprise-versatility.

Since we're still somewhat hazy on what the Venturer is going to be doing, I'm going to leave it at that until I receive a tiny bit of feed back.  At the moment that feedback is mostly a general "sense" of what the above is saying rather than a detailed critique.  Does it gel with your interpretation?

Oops, already replied in point by point. But basically, yes.

[Kage2020]

Sorry that I haven't gotten to this sooner.  Working is making oodles of changes to the website so it is taking up more of my spare time than normal.  Thanks for the consideration.

These are the void shields, I presume? I see the void shield as being built up by a number of generators around the ship, actually. And the same goes for the gellar field. Is this how it will be modelled?

Yes, they were meant to represent the Void Shields.  The system for GURPS Starships is that you assign a system to a location so that, in the end, you can track damage back to a hit location and then work from there.  While we can definitely distribute the systems around the ship somewhat, do you think that it is reasonable to work on the idea that the "location" of a given system (i.e. Front, Central, Rear) contains system critical resources?  At least that seems the most obvious way of negotiating things.

Actually, I think the weapon distribution should be 33% on each of the starboard, prow and port sides, to match the BFG rules we wrote for it. Furthermore, while modern Imperial Navy vessels have more of an Age of Sail armament, the "old style" ships such as this had a more even distribution between sides and prow.

Hmmn... We can still visit the idea of a spinal weapon, but would you prefer for a "Weapons" system to be present in each location (making the ship very military), or perhaps taking the above approach about the critical nature of systems being present in a given locale...?

Ooh, cryostorage. That's a good idea. Those cryo-coffins in Xenos by Dan Abnett had to come from somewhere. Seems like they should have been invented in the Age of Technology.

Or perhaps even earlier.  I guess we'll get into the division when we are comfortable with the crew complement (currently about 3,000, wasn't it?).

I quite like the Robofactory (although I'm not sure what capabilities and size we're talking about), seeing as how this is a multi-purpose vessel for colonisation and exploration. Adds to the Enterprise-versatility.

Hmmn... Well, if you look at the idea that the "Warp Drive" takes up as much "space" as the Robofac, I think that will give the idea of the size of the thing.  This is a huge stonking "repair thyself (ship)" factory premise, rather than sub-dividing it into "Habitat" where it would be more akin to, say, small shops...

Did that help?

Oops, already replied in point by point. But basically, yes.

Then cool enough.

Once we've finalised the components, it should be fairly easy to post what the system in question suggests that this ship can actually do...

Kage

[CELS]

Sorry that I haven't gotten to this sooner.  Working is making oodles of changes to the website so it is taking up more of my spare time than normal.  Thanks for the consideration.

Yes, they were meant to represent the Void Shields.  The system for GURPS Starships is that you assign a system to a location so that, in the end, you can track damage back to a hit location and then work from there.  While we can definitely distribute the systems around the ship somewhat, do you think that it is reasonable to work on the idea that the "location" of a given system (i.e. Front, Central, Rear) contains system critical resources?  At least that seems the most obvious way of negotiating things.

Having thought about this, I've just realised that if a capital ship suffers a critical hit in BFG, there is a chance that the void shield generators are destroyed, which leaves the ship without shields the rest of the game (instead of letting it regenerate the shields next turn, as per usual). Very much like the shields going down on the Super Star Destroyer in Star Wars episode 6, by the way.
So yeah, having system critical resources would actually be consistent with what little information we have, now that I think about it.

Hmmn... We can still visit the idea of a spinal weapon, but would you prefer for a "Weapons" system to be present in each location (making the ship very military), or perhaps taking the above approach about the critical nature of systems being present in a given locale...?

I can go different ways on this, but I would prefer weapons systems, each with critical components, distributed between those three locations (starboard, prow and port). If it was a smaller ship, I could better understand a central 'matrix' for the weapon system. As for the spinal weapon; I have no problem with that, but it doesn't change the above, for me. So again, I can go different ways, personally.

Or perhaps even earlier.  I guess we'll get into the division when we are comfortable with the crew complement (currently about 3,000, wasn't it?).

Fair enough.

Hmmn... Well, if you look at the idea that the "Warp Drive" takes up as much "space" as the Robofac, I think that will give the idea of the size of the thing.  This is a huge stonking "repair thyself (ship)" factory premise, rather than sub-dividing it into "Habitat" where it would be more akin to, say, small shops...
Did that help?

It does help somewhat. I should say that I would want the cargo space to be bigger than the Robofac. Then again, having a huge factory onboard certainly helps explain why you'd ever want to land this ship, for example as part of a colonisation effort. As opposed to just dropping a small crate by parachute, containing a refrigerator-sized Standard Template Constructor
(A la Garden of Eden Creation Kit from Fallout)

[Kage2020]

So yeah, having system critical resources would actually be consistent with what little information we have, now that I think about it.

Excellent.

I can go different ways on this, but I would prefer weapons systems, each with critical components, distributed between those three locations (starboard, prow and port).

Well, as soon as you introduce more weapon systems, the more "military" the ship gets.  If you want an even distribution between those three areas then, at least according to the system in question (GURPS Starships) this would require two Weapons systems in the central area, and one in the front.  That's a lot of firepower.

Fair enough.

Indeed.  The crew value of 3,000 is based upon the suggested values from the game system, but I'm sure that they will have to be "40k-ified."

It does help somewhat. I should say that I would want the cargo space to be bigger than the Robofac.

So the solution to this would be to remove the Robofac and just throw it in as part of the Habitat portion (taking away from the crew quarters).

I'll make the changes to the design as soon as the temperatures increase and I have access to our main office...

The good thing about this design is that each component takes about 5% of the ship by mass, so it should be reasonably easy to get to the ship design itself.

I think that we are reasonably "there" for producing a basic breakdown of the ship into different areas...

Kage