Psi-Wars Space Battles Lite

 I've had a lot of complaints recently that my Action Vehicular Combat is "too complicated."  It "involves unfamiliar maneuvers" (that are right there, in GURPS Action) and "really big numbers."  I don't know what to say.  If you can handle applying a -10 Deceptive Attack Penalty to the Vitals (-3) in the dim torchlight (-2) while making an All-Out Attack (+4) and then apply 1.5x damage on a hit, I'm pretty sure you can handle rolling against  Piloting with a +20 bonus and determining the margin of victory.  This is GURPS, we deal with big numbers all of the time.  This isn't White Wolf, where you can count on your fingers.

"I can do the math; I'm an engineer. I just don't want to.  I'm here to play, not to work." 

--Nele van den Ende, PHD

Alright! Alright. I get it.  I see these complaints a lot, and they mean something.  The criticism of my action vehicular system is not that it's wrong, or that it's inaccurate, or that it doesn't scale.  It hits all of those notes just fine.  The complaint is that it's too much work to implement.  Yes, it's simpler than standard GURPS combat.  Yes, it's simpler and more cinematic than GURPS Spaceships combat, itself a simplification of standard GURPS combat. But it still involves quite some work and some experience to learn. Can it get any simpler than that? Sure! Of course. I mean, we're a long way off from GURPS Ultra-Lite, so I'm pretty sure there's plenty room in which we can put something that's simpler, but still tactically interesting.

But what do we mean by "simpler."  We probably don't want "whooshing sounds with crayons." I mean, if you want really simple, just have people roll Pilot and then make up what happens.  What's wrong with that idea? Well, it makes the Fighter Ace effectively pointless ("Did we defeat the Empire and save the carrier?" "Well, I rolled well, so yes.").  So we still want some complexity here, but then, how much complexity is too complex? Well, we have some fairly specific criticisms we can parse through, and my own gut feelings.

I think what people who are complaining about this want are:

• Familiar maneuvers: GURPS Action's Chase rules are fine, but you have to, you know, learn them.
• Finger-Counting: It sounds condescending, but it's true: humans are very intuitive with values ~5, which is why we often see modifiers that tend to be in the plus or minus 1 to 5 range.  Even if we have to do a lot of adding, it's easier to add 5 + 5 + 5 than it is to workout the margin of success from a roll of 13 vs a total of skill 17 with +19 in modifiers.
• Roll and Shout: While "Just roll Piloting and narrate the results" is probably too simple for what we're looking for, most people do just want to roll their skill with some "finger-counting" modifiers and then get a result out of it.  As much as possible, we should be rolling against familiar skills and familiar values. That is, we shouldn't be rolling against a -1 or a 50, if possible, but somewhere between 3 and 18.

Patreon Preview: Trader Guildfleets

Quite some time ago (December 2019, I think), I created a poll for working out the technological infrastructure of the Poll-designed alien race, the Traders.  I've been busy with other things, but I managed to get a total of 5 ship designs out for the Traders:

• General Technological Considerations
• Their Interceptor
• Their Blockade Runner/Smuggler Corvette
• Their Defensive Frigate
• Their "Battleships"
• And, of course, their Arks.

This is an incomplete document and I offer it as a preview to my Companions ($5+) patrons.  Don't worry, Fellow Travelers, when it's done, it'll be available to you too, I promise.  It's just messy as of yet, and I wanted to get some feedback before I make it available to you.

It's available here

Redjack Kodiak-Class Light Cruiser

ST/HP: 3000

Hand/SR: +0/6

HT: 14

Move: 10/150 (+11)

LWt.: 27,000

Load: 3750

SM: +11

Occ.: 200ASV

DR: 2000*

Range: 7 jumps (Rating 3)

Cost: $4.5B

Loc.: gG10t4rL

Stall: 0

Total Chase Roll: +11

*Nanocomposite Polymer; double DR vs plasma attacks. Higher DR protects against attacks from the front. Additionally, it has a Force Screen that provides 2000 ablative, hardened DR.

Redjack Raider-Class Light Assault Carrier

ST/HP: 800

Hand/SR: +0/5

HT: 14

Move: 12/125 (+10)

LWt.: 4500

Load: 600

SM: +9

Occ.: 100ASV

DR: 1000/400*

Range: 7 jumps (Rating 2)

Cost: $700M

Loc.: g6t4rL

Stall: 0

Total Chase Roll: +10

*Nanocomposite Polymer; double DR vs plasma attacks. Higher DR protects against attacks from the front. Additionally, it has a Force Screen that provides 750 ablative, hardened DR.

Redjack Tiger Shark-Class Attack Frigate

ST/HP: 500

Hand/SR: +1/5

HT: 14

Move: 6/250 (+12)

LWt.: 600

Load: 140

SM: +8

Occ.: 15ASV

DR: 1000/400*

Range: 200,000, 7 jumps (Rating 2)

Cost: $230M

Loc.: g6t4rL

Stall: 0

Total Chase Roll: +13

*Nanocomposite Polymer; double DR vs plasma attacks. Higher DR protects against attacks from the front. Additionally, it has a Force Screen that provides 750 ablative, hardened DR.

Redjack Wrangler-Class Logistical Corvette

ST/HP: 320

Hand/SR: +0/5

HT: 14

Move: 2/150 (+11)

LWt.: 250

Load: 66

SM: +7

Occ.: 4ASV

DR: 500*

Range: 200,000, 7 jumps (Rating 2)

Cost: $80M

Loc.: G3t3rL

Stall: 0

Total Chase Roll: +11

*Nanocomposite Polymer; double DR vs plasma attacks. Has a Force Screen that provides 250 ablative, hardened DR.

Redjack Nomad-Class Light Modular Corvette

ST/HP: 250

Hand/SR: +1/5*

HT: 13

Move: 8/300 (+13)*

LWt.: 95

Load: 25

SM: +7

Occ.: 5ASV†

DR: 150/75‡

Range: 500,000, 7 jumps (Rating 2)*

Cost: $50M

Loc.: g2t3rL

Stall: 0

Total Chase Roll: +14*

*The Nomad’s engine, including its hyperdrive, are modular. The listed values are the most common values.

†The Nomad has an entirely modular hold which can contain passenger accommodations, increasing the number of people accommodated by the craft.

‡Nanocomposite Polymer; double DR vs plasma attacks. Has a Force Screen that provides 500 ablative, hardened DR. Additionally, the Nomad has modular armor that can further alter its armor profile.

The Redjack Wildcat-Class Modular Heavy Fighter

ST/HP: 130

Hand/SR: +1/4*

HT: 13

Move: 10/400 (+13)*

LWt.: 16.5

Load: 7.25

SM: +5

Occ.: 1ASV+1rx

DR: 50/25†

Range: 20,000, 2 jumps (Rating 1)

Cost: $8.75M

Loc.: g2Wi3rR

Stall: 40*

Total Chase Roll: +14 (+16 with afterburner)

*The Wildcat is equipped with an Afterburner which improves the Move to 15/500 (+14) and gains +1 handling and consumes four times as much fuel (reducing range to 5,000 miles, if used continuously). The Wildcat has an accessory module slot an armor module slot which, if loaded with a heavy slot, reduces the handling to +0/4, Move to 9/400 (+13) (14/500 (+14) with afterburners) for a total chase roll of +13 (+14 with afterburners) and increases the stall speed to 45. See additional modules for more.

†The Wildcat has 50 carbide composite DR on the front and 25 on the rest; double DR vs shaped charges or plasma attacks. The Wildcat has an accessory module slot and an armor module slot that may improve these numbers.

The Redjack Drifter-Class Light Modular Racer

ST/HP: 80

Hand/SR: +4/3*

HT: 12

Move: 25/750 (+15)*

LWt.: 6.5

Load: 2.5

SM: +4

Occ.: 1S+1rx

DR: 15†

Range: 12,000

Cost: $9.75M

Loc.: g2Wi3rR

Stall: 55*

Total Chase Roll: +19 (+19 with afterburner)

*The Drifter is equipped with an Afterburner which improves the Move to 40/850 (+15) and consumes four times as much fuel (reducing range to 3,000 miles, if used continuously). Furthermore, its thrusters are modular and different engine modules might alter the handling and move of the vehicle.

†Double DR vs plasma attacks and shaped charge weapons.

The Redjack Grappler-Class Assault Boat

ST/HP: 135

Hand/SR: +1/4

HT: 12

Move: 6/350 (+13)*

LWt.: 19.3

Load: 6.9

SM: +5

Occ.: 1SV+6SV

DR: 100/50†

Range: 17,000

Cost: $16M

Loc.: g2Wi3rR

Stall: 0

Total Chase Roll: +14 (+15 with afterburners)

*The Grappler is equipped with an Afterburner which improves Handling to +24 and Move to 10/425 (+13) and consumes four times as much fuel (reducing range to 4,250 miles, if used continuously).

†Nanopolymer Composite: Double DR vs plasma attacks and shaped charge weapons.

The State of (My) GURPS Vehicles Addendum: My Process

After my previous post, someone asked me how long it took me to build a spaceship currently, to which I lied and said "about two hours." Well, "lie" might be a strong word, but I simplified a lot.  This spurred some discussion about how things get made, and there was no quick and easy way for me to explain that, so I thought I'd turn it into a blog post.  It would certainly help anyone who is building their own designs.

If you're a patron, you can follow along with these supplementary documents.

Space Combat Techniques for Action Vehicular Combat

The ship styles need another look given the action vehicular combat update.
-Christopher Almquist

In previous iterations of Psi-Wars, I had used the default GURPS Spaceships system. When it came to differentiating fighter aces, officers and smugglers more finely with techniques, I had only to to use the techniques defined in GURPS Spaceships 4, and perhaps add a couple of my own. With the switch to the Chase rules, this became more complicated, as I had to define my own techniques, as Patron Christoper Almquist has tirelessly pointed out.

But do I even need techniques? I asked myself that question every time Chris pointed out its absence. On the one hand, I strongly believe that a group should all be able to operate as the same template and “feel different,” or the template is too narrow. A classic way to do that with, for example, Fighter Aces is to add techniques, in the same way that adding techniques to Space Knights helps differentiate their force sword abilities.

On the other hand, space doesn’t come up that much. How much it comes up will depend on the campaign: one might make it the center of their campaign, but that’s far from a sure thing. On a more planet-focused campaign, a fighter ace will twiddle their thumbs most of the time, while a smuggler usually at least has their underworld connections and their natural deception going for them. The more I encourage players to invest in space, the more likely they are to feel sidelined if space doesn’t come up. They can get around this by not playing space-based characters, but Psi-Wars, like most Space Opera, tends to zig and zag through settings, so I expect most campaigns will have fighter-based characters that get a chance to fly and fight sometimes.

(Incidentally, I’m not the only one to have this concern about fighter aces. SalsatheGeek played a fighter ace in Tinker Titan Rebel Spy intentionally, not just to see how they handled in space, but also planetside, and Patron Nemoricus has routinely recommended Wraith Squadron to me, precisely because it’s a series about fighter aces who double as commandos and spies).

So I left the question to my Patrons in a snap poll, to get a feeling for what they want. They voted, 2 to 1, for elaborate and detailed techniques, with the other third voting for simpler techniques. Nobody voted against techniques, or even shrugged at the question. So clearly the people who invest in Psi-Wars want techniques, and they don’t mind them being highly detailed.

I find myself balking at Space Combat Styles, though. I’ve had them before, more as a guide for myself, a way of thinking about fighters, and I think, broadly speaking, there’s still room in my design space for thinking about how fighters approach space combat in terms of styles. Imperial Fighters tend to operate differently than Alliance fighters, who operate differently from pirates, and strike pilots tend to operate differently from dogfighters. That said, I hesitate to formalize them in the form of styles. Once a game has a style and numerous power-ups, certain players will be tempted to invest heavily. This is the intent behind styles. If Kung Fu exists in a game, then this sort of player will want to master it, and perhaps a few additional side-styles, and then compare and contrast their style with others. This fits into force swordsmanship wonderfully, but if we add it to fighter aces, then, once again, we have characters who want to dump all of their points in space, when we want to encourage fighter aces and smugglers to at least think about generalization a little.

We can also handle “space combat styles” by building them into specific templates. Quick, what do you call a corvette pilot that emphasizes evasion, deception and speed over aggression and attack? That’s right, a smuggler. And the opposite? A pirate. This follows how GURPS Action 3: Furious Fists handles “styles,” by breaking up your martial artists into “Fast, Strong, Weapons and Ninja.” We still run into a problem with the Fighter Ace and the Officer, in that they legitimately have some unique approaches (the heroic, leadership-oriented Officer should feel different from the brutal, “nuke them all and let God sort it out” Officer) that can be broken up along sub-divisions, but this might be better handled by discussing lenses, rather than introducing complete styles.

Avoiding a deeper work into space combat styles also works well for a first revision. I need to come up with techniques for the new rules, and so twenty or so should be a good start (and I already have ideas for a few more). Given the appreciation my patrons have shown for more complex techniques, we can proliferate a bit past the five or so in the original Spaceships rules, and see how things go. This is not a “final decision,” nothing ever is when you take an iterative approach to game design, but I’ll definitely be watching this space to see if it can tolerate more complexity.

Psi-Wars: the Perils of Space

Back when I started Psi-Wars, I dismissed space as unnecessary to deal with, and I did this for a few reasons.  First, it adds a layer of complexity that I didn't think most people wanted to deal with; space is a very alien, very hostile environment not especially conducive to whizz-bang action unless you're deeply invested in it.  Second, most of my source material, which is primarily the "planetary romance" side of Space Opera, doesn't really deal with it.  Only once (The Last Jedi) have we seen a Star Wars character dealing with vacuum or microgravity in the context of a film while outside of a starship, and works like Barsoom or the Metabarons or Killjoys almost never puts their characters outside of a ship.  Action takes place on suspiciously earth-like planets.

But as the game has progressed, I've noticed that most of my readers assume space as part of the setting.  For them, space isn't necessarily just a means to get from one world to another, or a staging ground for dogfights.  It might be the site of adventure itself.  Characters might board a derelict space station to find evidence of a psychic experiment gone awry. Their dreadnought might suffer catastrophic destruction while in an asteroid belt.  And even when they spend all of their time bundled up in the confines of a ship, they still expect to see things like pulsars, asteroid belts, nebulae and black holes out there.

I had pondered this for awhile: how do I give the GM every thing he needs for a more space oriented campaign, and can I simplify the rules for handling space to the point where most characters aren't unduly punished for not spending a mint on handling "space" stuff, while still giving a "spacer" character an advantage over people who don't have it?

My Patrons voted for collation of the space rules.  I've already handled interstellar travel in several other posts, and I've collated it onto my wiki, but I also wanted to take the opportunity to discuss the rules for handling adventures in space itself, as well as unique terrain types you might encounter in space.  Please note that these are all deeply cinematic, suitable for ridiculous space opera, and not for realistic sci-fi.  I aim more for flavor and whiz-bang fun than for accurate astrophysics.

The Ridiculously Huge Action Vehicular Playtest Part III - The Aftermath

This is the finale of the Three Part playtest of the Action Vehicular Combat series.  See yesterday's post for the bulk of the actual "battle," and the day prior for additional context.  This mostly consists of a retrospective on what worked, what I had to change, and what I missed out on playtesting.

The Ridiculously Huge Action Vehicular Playtest Part II - The Battle

This is part two of an epic playtest for my GURPS Action Vehicular System for Psi-Wars (though you can borrow it for anything Action-inspired).  See yesterday's post for additional context!

The Ridiculously Huge Action Vehicular Playtest Part I - Setting Up

It was about three quarters of a year ago that I posted an updated ruleset for GURPS Action chase rules.  The intent was to marry the Dogfighting rules with the Space combat rules to create something that would work for Psi-Wars.  I did a few playtests, but stopped short of a complete one.  I lacked the proper resources at the time (namely, the ships) to run the sort of playtest that I envisioned, which would be the sort of scenario that I would imagine playing out in an actual Psi-Wars game, especially an epic-scale battle, which tend to be fan-favorites and also the most taxing on a system.

However, now that I've completed the vehicles for the Alliance (at least the Maradonian nobles) and the Empire, I have enough material to run the scenario, and thus, we can have the playtest.  For reference, this playtest will use:

(For the Alliance)

• the Allegiance-Pattern Carrier (the Blind Justice)
• The Lancer-Pattern Heavy Assault Frigate
• The Raptor-Pattern Strikecraft
• The Valkyrie-Pattern Light Psychotronic Fighter
• The Valiant-Pattern Multi-Role Fighter

(For the Empire)

• The Executioner-Class Artillery Cruiser (the Final Judgment)
• The Imperator-Class Dreadnought (The Valorian Edict and the Reign of Fire)
• The Peltast-Class Light Strike Fighter
• The Tempest-Class Orbital Supremacy Fighter
• And last (and least), the Javelin-Class Interceptor

I had a lot of fun with the playtest, so I hope you don't mind the lurid descriptions (I always thought GURPS and excellent narrative went hand in hand, since GURPS plays a lot like a film, if the film was in slow motion), but this is as large and sprawling as its epic ambitions might suggest.  We'll be at this for a couple of days, and today, we start with the introduction.

Note that the rules I link to above are already outdated as of this playtest, as I did what you should do with a playtest, and made notes and updated them to reflect what "felt right" while I played.  I'll discuss those changes more at the end of the whole playtest series.

Alliance Space Vehicles - Allegiance-Pattern Carrier

ST/HP: 7000

Hand/SR: -5/6

HT: 13

Move: 1/50 (+8)

LWt.: 340,000

Load: 150,000

SM: +13

Occ.: 7100ASV

DR: 2500*

Range: 5 jumps

Cost: $225B

Loc.: gGs22t

Stall: 0

Total Chase Roll: +3

*The Allegiance-Pattern Carrier has 2500 Carbide Composite DR on all sides (double DR vs plasma attackes). It also has a force screen with 10,000 ablative, hardened DR.

Alliance Space Vehicle - Sword-Pattern Battleship

ST/HP: 7000

Hand/SR: -4/6

HT: 13

Move: 3/90 (+9)

LWt.: 360,000

Load: 23,000

SM: +13

Occ.: 2000 ASV

DR: 5000/2500*

Range: 5 jumps

Cost: $300B

Loc.: gGs21t

Stall: 0

Total Chase Roll: +5

*The Sword-Pattern Battleship has 5000 Carbide Composite DR on the front, and 2500 DR on all other sides (double DR vs plasma attacks and shaped charge missiles). It also has a force screen with 10,000 ablative, hardened DR.

Alliance Space Vehicles - Regal-Pattern Heavy Cruiser

ST/HP: 3500

Hand/SR: -1/6

HT: 13

Move: 6/110 (+10)

LWt.: 40,000

Load: 6,000

SM: +12

Occ.: 450ASV

DR: 2500*

Range: 5 jumps

Cost: $12B

Loc.: gGs17t

Stall: 0

Total Chase Roll: +9

*The Regal-Pattern Heavy Cruiser has 2500 Carbide Composite DR on all sides (double DR vs plasma attackes). It also has a force screen with 4000 ablative, hardened DR.

Alliance Space Vehicle - The Lancer-Pattern Heavy Assault Frigate

ST/HP: 700

Hand/SR: +0/5

HT: 12

Move: 2/250 (+12)

LWt.: 2750

Load: 285

SM: +9

Occ.: 90ASV

DR: 2500/500*

Range: 4 jumps

Cost: $2.7B

Loc.: g3rR

Stall: 0

Total Chase Roll: +12

*The Lancer has 2500 Carbide DR on the front and 500 Carbide DR on all other locations. It also has a force screen with 1000 ablative, hardened DR.