Re: [FT] Starship! was [FT] arcs in vector

gregwong@shell3.ba.best.com wrote:

> While I was at ConQuest 2000 this past weekend, in the dealer's room,

    I was there also and say this guy.
    
> there was a guy
> from Flagship Games who was pushing a new set of space combat
> rules called Starship!  It boasted a 3D movement system.
> It appeared to me, however, that it wasn't a true 3D system in space.
> The ships were mounted on telescoping car radio antennae.  Sure
> this adds another dimension, but it resembled an
> air combat game which is more like 2.5D.  If you had a truly 3D
> system, you could have 3 ships moving off in 3 different orthogonal
> directions.  I would think that would get unwieldy after a while.
> Ships on opposite ends of a table might be 8 feet apart, but being
> 8 feet apart in the vertical direction would be a pain.

    I bought the rules, and the game is very much a 2.5D system.
While the ships can move to higher and lower levels they remain
level relative to the table at all times.  In firing arcs there is
only a minimal consideration for the third dimension.  I've get a
feeling that they use 3D only for how it looks.

  "In the real uiverse, the concept of up and down does not exist.
A vehicle in space may travel freely in any direction just as easily
as any other.  While it would be easy to write rules for this, the
real universe tends to be boring when compared to the one in which
great sci-fi battles are fought, and we definitely prefer the latter."

"In helping cature the feeling of the sci-fi epic, Starship utilizes
Flight Bands.  Fight Bands (FB) allow Starship battles to exist in
three dimensions without having to resuurect memories of high school
trigonometry."

> The part I found really funny was when he asked me what system I play.
> I told him I played Full Thrust.  He said that's okay as long as
> you stay in the universe they provide, but it doesn't let you create
> your own races.  Obviously, he doesn't know Full Thrust,

    That's for sure.

 <snip>
> 
> Now, maybe he has a great game.  I didn't check out the rules.
> But he obviously hasn't played Full Thrust.  :)

    Having read most of the rules, but not played them, I can offer
a few comments.  First off the stated intention of Starship! is:

"The world of Starship is not one of hard-science, instead portraying
the sci-fi genres we have come to know and love as portrayed on
television
and the movies.  We have given the laws of physics and space a cursory
nod, but eventually left them behind for the more enticing subjects of
fun and playability."

    And is what they have done.  As to whether this game is fun to
play or not, I'll reserve judgement until I've had a chance to play
it.  Unfortunatly, I missed the demo since it was on Friday night and
I didn't arrive at the con untill Saturday morning :-(

   At least they give a passing nod to Newton.	The ships have a thrust
rating and can only adjust their speed by up to that rating.  So
movement
is more or less like cinematic movement in Full Thrust.  Changing
altitude
is simply that a ship can change one Flight Band, their measurment of
altitude, for evey 20 cm (they measure in cm's) the ship moves.

   Other things in the rules include firing arcs that are multiples of
22.5 degrees, weapon recharging times, damage done to armor until a
breakthrough is done after which critical internal hits occur, four
arcs on ships, five sizes of ships, fighters, missiles, torpedoes,
mecha, boarding craft, and a long list of weapons, including Mass
Driver,
Photonic Mortar, Plasma Inferno, and the Vortex Blaster.

   The rule book is reasonably laid out, though no index.  The cover has
nice two color artwork, which the interior art is black and white of
fair interest.	The rules are 94 pages long (12 of which are record
sheets and charts) costing $30.00 which seems a bit high to me.  I have
not reached the campaign rules yet, but they are included in the book.

   The ships I saw at the con are nice.  I have no idea of the prices.
Drawings of them, which gives a sense of what some of them are like,
can be found at Flagships web site

http://www.flagshipgames.com/starship.htm

   They seem to be very slow in updating there web site.  For the latest
information it would be better to email them at 7sg@lanminds.com or
call (530) 879-9651.

Enjoy,
Tom Granvold				<thomas.granvold@eng.sun.com>