Re: Heroes in FT space battles

This reminded me of an article I wrote that was published in Ragnarok a 
while back on the subject of integrating FT with Traveller. I suggested
the 
following rules for character skills and their effect on FT games:

Pilot		A character must have this skill to be the pilot of a 
starship (i.e. a ship with FTL drive). Subtract 1 from the skill level
and 
divide by 2, dropping any fractions. This is the number of 1 point
changes 
to the move orders that can be made just before the ship is moved. A 1 
point change is a modification of 1 point of turn or 1 point of 
acceleration/deceleration.

Navigation	A character must have this skill to fulfill the duty of 
navigator.

Gunner	A character must have this skill to operate a battery or weapon 
system effectively. If a character attempts to do so who does NOT have
the 
skill then that weapon system takes a -1 modifier on it's die roll. A
skill 
level of 2 or more takes a +1 modifier for the weapon system's die roll.

Steward 	A character must have this skill to perform the duty of
a 
steward aboard ship.

Engineer	A character must have this skill to be a ship's
engineer. 
The optional rule for Damage Control from "MORE THRUST" must be used. An

engineer is attached to one of the Damage Control Parties and his skill 
acts as a modifier on the DCP's attempts to repair systems. An engineer 
with a skill level of 2 or 3 gives a +1 modifier to the die roll for the

repair of a system. An engineer with a skill level of 4 or more gives a
+2 
modifier.

Medical 	A character must have this skill to be a ship's medic.

Ship's Boat	When this skill is first obtained, roll 1D6 to determine
if 
the skill is for fighters or other non-FTL ships (50/50 chance). A 
character must have this skill for fighters to fly a fighter. A skill
level 
of 2 or 3 gives a +1 modifier in Fighter Combat for the single fighter 
being flown by the character. A skill level of 4 or more makes the pilot
an 
Ace (see "MORE THRUST" for rules on Aces). For non-FTL ships, treat this

skill in the same way as Pilot for FTL ships.

Ship Tactics	This skill is required for any character to be the
captain 
of a starship of MASS greater than 10.

Fleet Tactics	This skill is required for any character to command a 
squadron of ships.

Any thoughts?

Mike Elliott

________________________ Reply Separator
_________________________________
Subject: Heroes in FT space battles
Author:  SMTP:owner-ftgzg-l@bolton.ac.uk/ at INTERNET
Date:	 28/11/96 22:15

A couple of thoughts on adding heroes into FT/MT battles, mostly as
part of campaigns;  NB, this is very much "movie reality"!  The idea is
to 
let such characters have a big (-ish) effect on small battles, and a 
noticeable effect on bigger battles, without overbalancing them.  None
of 
this is playtested, I only just thought of it!

	A hero or heroine is given a grade at the start of the campaign,
possibly by dieroll.  For each grade point, a skill or characteristic is

chosen from the table below.  The hero's presence is marked on the
record 
sheet of any ship he joins, and he's rolled for at threshold checks .  

Skill				       Effect 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~ 
Fighter-0 (Possibly free?) Hero is incompetent fighter pilot- makes any 
group "turkey"
Fighter-1		   Hero is competent fighter pilot 
Fighter-2		   Hero is competent fighter pilot
Gunner-1		   Adds 1 die to any 1 beam weapon or SM pack
fired, 
counts as extra 			   Firecon
Gunner-2		   As level 1 but also uses C-Batt as normal
PDAF, 
			   12" range bonus for beam weapons
*AF Gunner-1		   Adds 1 die to any 1 PDAF/ADAF weapon fired
*AF Gunner-2		   As level 1 but also uses C-Batt as normal
PDAF, 
PDAF as ADAF, 
			   and uses extended ranges 12" PDAF, 18" ADAF
Engineer-1		   Counts as 1 extra Damage Control Party 
Engineer-2		   Counts as 2 extra Damage Control Parties 
Survivor-1		   Ignores first threshhold check (personally-
the 
ship rolls as normal)
Survivor-2		   Ignores first two threshhold checks 
Survivor-3		   Ignores first three threshhold checks
Sensors-1		   Raises carrying ship's sensors and ECM by one
level 
Sensors-2		   Raises carrying ship's sensors and ECM by one
level

Rob Paul

Rob Paul
NERC Institute of Virology 
Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3SR	  Tel. (01865) 512361 
rkp@mail.nerc-oxford.ac.uk
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