GURPS Space starship combat
Ron Abramson
GURPS Space? I mean, in general Space was a good product but
the starship combat is very..., well, un-GURPS like.
Why didn't they just use Man-to-man? The speed-size-range-
ACC modifiers all seem to be there. So why did Space intro-
duce such an abstract system?
Will this be revised in the 2nd edition?
Regards,
Ron Abramson
phone: (208) 323-4293
email: ro...@hpdml92.HP.COM
uucp: hplabs!hpdml92!rona
Walter Milliken
>Is anyone out their actually using the starship combat from
>GURPS Space? I mean, in general Space was a good product but
>the starship combat is very..., well, un-GURPS like.
No, I haven't used it. As to un-GURPS-like, well, yes and no. It's
basically similar to the other mass combat rules that have been
printed in various GURPS products (Japan and Horseclans come to mind).
It's primarily intended to function as a quick means of resolving
space combat scenes in a primarily role-playing environment, so that
what happened to the characters and their ship could be easily
determined.
>Why didn't they just use Man-to-man? The speed-size-range-
>ACC modifiers all seem to be there. So why did Space intro-
>duce such an abstract system?
SJ talked about maybe publishing a set of detailed space combat rules
as a separate product for the people who enjoy that sort of
space-wargaming. I believe he based his decision on what to put into
GURPS Space on feedback from the BBS -- most users were more
interested in role-playing than heavy-duty space combat, and the
trade-off of what to fit into the book went to the quick&dirty space
combat rules.
>Will this be revised in the 2nd edition?
It was talked about on the BBS at one point, but as far as I know, no,
it hasn't been changed. SJ opted to keep Space ed. 2 as nearly
identical to ed. 1 as possible, especially not including any major
new material, to avoid annoying owners of the first edition. Besides,
there was no space to add any significant amount of new material.
---Walter
Sir Redrob aka Alex Borders
>Is anyone out their actually using the starship combat from
>GURPS Space? I mean, in general Space was a good product but
>the starship combat is very..., well, un-GURPS like.
As for un_GURPS like, not really. It follows the mass-combat rules
established else-where. We used it once, and decided it was
unrealistic and worthless. (Well, actually, I wasn't there the
night we tried it, but the judgement was unanimous.)
SJ Games position is that there is nopthing wrong with the system,
other than being overly simplistic, and therefore will not change
the system. Try (I think) StarHero, Traveller, or Star Fleet Battles
for space combat. I've heard of all of them being used. I try to
avoid Space combat mytself; seems like a good way to get dead.
>Why didn't they just use Man-to-man? The speed-size-range-
>ACC modifiers all seem to be there. So why did Space intro-
>duce such an abstract system?
Not a bad idea. Might try it sometime.
>Will this be revised in the 2nd edition?
No.
Sir Redrob
--
\/ aka Lone Wolf, Silver Wolf, Sir Redrob, Goliath, and a few others
()() Disclaimer: I disclaim nothing. UNLV, however, often disclaims me.
/()\ wo...@arrakis.nevada.edu University of Nevada @ Las Vegas
_| |_ Alex Borders -- PO Box 4657 -- Las Vegas, NV 89127
A SNIT "To hunt, to howl, to live free."
Dennis Francis Heffernan
RE Starship combat in GURPS
That system was used because the only important details in most
campaigns' space battles are "who won" and "what about the players".
An extensive tactical combat system would have a) delayed the book too long,
and b) been too big to include in the book at that price.
Last I heard, a tactical space combat system fell into the "Maybe
Someday, but Not Today" catagory.
Dennis Francis Heffernan | "God not only plays dice, He
dfrancis@tronsbox | also sometimes throws the dice
...uunet!tronsbox!dfrancis | where they cannot be seen." -S. Hawking
Killer GM- Reasonable Fees | "Like any good GM."- D. Heffernan
Ron Abramson
Well, I must admit those are pretty good reasons. I wish
that they had set it up like GURPS 3rd Ed., though. That
is, include a very quick and dirty system and include an
advanced system as well.
I've written up the basics of a Man-to-Man like system and
it only took a few pages. Admittedly, it would need to be
expanded upon for an official publication.
MegaTraveller's system is very similar to what I intend to
do. That is, for every shot, there will be a task roll
with modifiers. For the time being, there are no 'active'
defenses. ECM is included but it simply modifies the
attacker's die roll.
Anyway, thanks for responding!