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First Command - Torchship Captain Quest

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Character Sheet
  • Informational
    • Vehicle Commander Smith​
    Dakota "Kodi" Smith
    Kodi is fascinated with space travel, other cultures, and stories her mama told her about the war. She sees fighting as an unfortunate burden she is taking on to spare others. More of a cat person.
    Drives
    Investigate Everything, Pursue Truth Relentlessly, Be Merciful, Avoid Social Awkwardness
    Relationships
    Friend -
    Crush -
    Rival - Selena Green​
    Montana "Monty" Smith
    Monty has always wanted to be an explorer, to tell his mom stories about far-away places. Though not inclined to violence, he never backs down. Loves dogs.
    Drives
    Make New Friends, Be Forward and Direct, Try New Things, Be A Show Off
    Relationships
    Friend -
    Crush -
    Rival -​

    Traits
    Void-Born: You never take complications from 0g or space suits, but take -2d6 to feats of strength and double complications from high gravity.
    Shifting Gears: You can spend 1 Determination to switch profiles. Costs +1 Determination each time per episode.
    Well-Connected: You can spend 1 Determination to create an old friend, comrade, instructor, etc on any appropriate ship, facility, station, etc you might visit. They are always willing to help if you help in turn.
    Certifications
    Wild Animal 5+, Physical Instrument 5+, Social Being 5+, Cosmonaut 4+
    English 3+, Russian 5+, OSL 4+
    Artillery Officer 4+, Drone Pilot 3+, Missile Plotter 4+, Space Marshal 4+
    Diplomat +4, Leader +4, Bureaucrat +4, Social Scientist +4
    Modern Small Arms 4+, Damage Control 4+
    Hobbies: Animal Handling,

    Star Patrol Vessel Yeager-1
    Statline will be linked above when ready.

    Features
    Corvette Dock, Transmaterializer

    Weapons
    x1 Sandblaster, x2 250MW Laser, x2 Probe Bay

    Crew
    7/42 Crew Assigned!​
    PersonDepartment 1Department 2ExpertiseOther Certs & NotesTraits
    VC SmithTacticalAdminDemolitionModern Small Arms, Working With Working AnimalsSpacer, Plural, Well-Connected
    XO Evelyn Rosa Paz-Admin-SlugthrowersVeteran, Cyborg
    SPC Nyiko Shilubana-BolonkinEngineering-Jury-Rigging, FlashfabSpacer
    SPC Kroshtnyr SatkolResearch-SensorsAugment (Mental/Medical), Heavyworlder
    SPC Selena GreenSecurity--YOUR RIVALHeavyworlder
    SPC Kerman Ó CaolaidheAstrogationOrbits-
    SPC Ariadna StrunaTacticalDrones-
     
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  • Informational
    • Okay I think you guys are just overthinking this at this point, there's nothing to suggest otherwise that a single weapon array (repeat, array, multiple) cannot cover an arc, and at this point, the plan has basically won the voting phase anyway, so changing it at this point just feels kinda like, just, why even make it if you aren't sure of it.

    Also, just, look, a perfect defense is impossible, your plan has all the PD, but that will not do things if the ship get hit by laser and stuff, other plans are also specialized in some aspects and weak in others, so just let it go and then when open sketch wakes up, then maybe we can get something done.

    Torchship right now is still in heavy testing phase anyway, so trying to game the system only works for now and not later
     
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    dragonkid11 said:
    Okay I think you guys are just overthinking this at this point, there's nothing to suggest otherwise that a single weapon array (repeat, array, multiple) cannot cover an arc, and at this point, the plan has basically won the voting phase anyway, so changing it at this point just feels kinda like, just, why even make it if you aren't sure of it.

    Also, just, look, a perfect defense is impossible, your plan has all the PD, but that will not do things if the ship get hit by laser and stuff, other plans are also specialized in some aspects and weak in others, so just let it go and then when open sketch wakes up, then maybe we can get something done.

    Torchship right now is still in heavy testing phase anyway, so trying to game the system only works for now and not later
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    I mean, the essence of the design isn't changing, were just quibbling in the margins because that's what happens when you leave a bunch of space nerds alone. :p
     
    dragonkid11 said:
    Okay I think you guys are just overthinking this at this point, there's nothing to suggest otherwise that a single weapon array (repeat, array, multiple) cannot cover an arc,
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    To expand on this:

    Until we hit CQB range, assume all of our weapons have full spherical coverage, as rolling or yawing or pitching the ship to bring a weapon to bear is trivial.

    @CyberEnby @Eater symmetry doesn't matter unless what we're shooting at is so close we can send someone out an airlock to yeet something at it by hand, in which case all the PD in the world isn't going to help.
     
    samdamandias said:
    To expand on this:

    Until we hit CQB range, assume all of our weapons have full spherical coverage, as rolling or yawing or pitching the ship to bring a weapon to bear is trivial.

    @CyberEnby @Eater symmetry doesn't matter unless what we're shooting at is so close we can send someone out an airlock to yeet something at it by hand, in which case all the PD in the world isn't going to help.
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    Oh I know, my complaint was entirely aesthetic. :V
     
    CyberEnby said:
    I'm hearing conflicting info on this, but my impression was that that scarcity is abstracted by Supply, not 3D printer capability.

    Hmmm... The corvette is modular. Can the corvette take an ACER weapon?

    Edit: Mostly I just want to hear from Sketch on whether ACERs and lasers have comparable PD potential. I'd be very open to switching one or both main guns to ACERs for the greater flexibility if that's that case.
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    Lasers are better at point defense as they don't overkill: you keep the beam on only as long as you need. ACERs use capacitors to fire in short bursts with a recharge time so less good at stopping missiles.

    Radiation weapons are totally casual to most powers. Humans are still pretty uncomfortable with them, which is why ACERs are super high precision, but it's so omnipresent and unavoidable that the taboo is breaking down.
     
    open_sketch said:
    Lasers are better at point defense as they don't overkill: you keep the beam on only as long as you need. ACERs use capacitors to fire in short bursts with a recharge time so less good at stopping missiles.

    Radiation weapons are totally casual to most powers. Humans are still pretty uncomfortable with them, which is why ACERs are super high precision, but it's so omnipresent and unavoidable that the taboo is breaking down.
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    Follow-ups:

    How much supply does each expansion give us?

    Does power regenerate between turns? Or is it a consumable like dV?
     
    CyberEnby said:
    Follow-ups:

    How much supply does each expansion give us?

    Does power regenerate between turns? Or is it a consumable like dV?
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    power regens. supply expansion is +15 on a base of 30, though note you aren't "out of supply" at 0; instead you just take a penalty and keep spending, abstracting you scraping the reserves you might use for spare parts and so forth.
     
    Hmmmm. At 60 supply that just a touch over 3 launches of drone, or 5 launches of missiles assuming a 6 tube bay.

    open_sketch said:
    power regens. supply expansion is +15 on a base of 30, though note you aren't "out of supply" at 0; instead you just take a penalty and keep spending, abstracting you scraping the reserves you might use for spare parts and so forth.
    Click to expand...
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    And each tube in the probe bay can fire a drone/missiles once per turn?

    Edit: Also, does using point defense weapons cost power?
     
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    CyberEnby said:
    Hmmmm. At 60 supply that just a touch over 3 launches of drone, or 5 launches of missiles assuming a 6 tube bay.



    And each tube in the probe bay can fire a drone/missiles once per turn?
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    yes. if supply constraints on missiles get really bad though, i'll tone it down. that's what this is for, balancing!
     
    With this info, @CyberEnby, I feel like your original plan works just fine. If absolutely necessary rad damage could come from missiles or am warheads. Being able to roll ALL THE DICE for pd sounds really nice.

    Edit: or drones. 30 missiles/drones sounds like it should be enough for anything
     
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    CyberEnby said:
    Last question I swear! : P

    ACERs have been said to be flexible because they let you do wacky SCIENCE! things. Can you expand on what that might entail?
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    It's mostly just a weapon but because it has multiple functions there is some fun stuff I imagine you could do with them. Like modify them to fire positrons, or capture the radiation in a magnetosphere belt to create a radiation shield around your ship or something.
     
    dragonkid11 said:
    It's just a particle cannon, samda is just saying that as a joke...
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    open_sketch said:
    It's mostly just a weapon but because it has multiple functions there is some fun stuff I imagine you could do with them. Like modify them to fire positrons, or capture the radiation in a magnetosphere belt to create a radiation shield around your ship or something.
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    Ah, in that case I think I'll switch back to a dual laser energy battery. I think we'll get more use out of that arrangement.
    Dumping 6 power into lasers for PD isn't that big a power drain since the power pool is refreshed every turn.

    Edit: Lots of lasers also means we can do a wicked STL warp gamma-ray bow shock attack.
     
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    It's mostly academic at this point, but I noticed that there's no upgrade option to increase the power generated from the reactor, I'm guessing that's to prevent players from mounting all the energy weapons and snowballing from the effects?

    And more power would mean more radiator which is massive and there might not be enough space for it.
     
    dragonkid11 said:
    It's mostly academic at this point, but I noticed that there's no upgrade option to increase the power generated from the reactor, I'm guessing that's to prevent players from mounting all the energy weapons and snowballing from the effects?

    And more power would mean more radiator which is massive and there might not be enough space for it.
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    Ooh, that's a good point. It wouldn't be the reactor though, the reactor is already very powerful. It'd be the radiators to allow it to achieve higher outputs without melting.

    Sorta like how the limit on the thrust of spacecraft isn't the engines, but rather the limits of the artificial gravity systems which counteract that thrust and prevent you from being turned into a pulp by it.
     
    open_sketch said:
    Ooh, that's a good point. It wouldn't be the reactor though, the reactor is already very powerful. It'd be the radiators to allow it to achieve higher outputs without melting.

    Sorta like how the limit on the thrust of spacecraft isn't the engines, but rather the limits of the artificial gravity systems which counteract that thrust and prevent you from being turned into a pulp by it.
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    I assume you can strap everyone into crash couches or plop them into acceleration bathtubs to let you achieve higher zoomies?

    Oh, dusty plasma radiators. That would be a neat way to shed more heat.

    Also reactor-fed lasers with plasma mirrors and gaseous gain media. Plasma lasers might let you fire without spending any power because they just harness the otherwise useless radiation flux from the reactor.
     
    CyberEnby said:
    I assume you can strap everyone into crash couches or plop them into acceleration bathtubs to let you achieve higher zoomies?

    Oh, dusty plasma radiators. That would be a neat way to shed more heat.

    Also reactor-fed lasers with plasma mirrors and gaseous gain media. Plasma lasers might let you fire without spending any power because they just harness the otherwise useless radiation flux from the reactor.
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    I think that would require adding another module.
     
    CyberEnby said:
    Ah, in that case I think I'll switch back to a dual laser energy battery. I think we'll get more use out of that arrangement.
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    I strongly disagree, but at this point I don't think there's anything I can say that will convince you, even with Sketch saying that the ACERs would offer abilities that we would not have with a pure laser loadout.

    We're heading into an area full of Weird Space Shit (tm), and having a tool in our arsenal that can do Weird Science Shit (tm) is going to be a bigger boon to our long-term survivability than just having more PD.

    My assumptions are thus:
    We have ten power a turn
    If we need to drop six power a turn on PD and possibly as much as eight because a sandblaster uses power and chews through supply, and I don't imagine the other options are any more efficient
    Presumably if we're running that hard on PD, stuff is going to get through, so we'll also be spending power to regen shields.
    Depending on how hard we need to regen shields, that will easily leave us with zero power to the launch tubes.

    In other words, if we need to use all that PD, we should have crash-jumped to FTL at least a turn ago.
     
    samdamandias said:
    I strongly disagree, but at this point I don't think there's anything I can say that will convince you, even with Sketch saying that the ACERs would offer abilities that we would not have with a pure laser loadout.

    We're heading into an area full of Weird Space Shit (tm), and having a tool in our arsenal that can do Weird Science Shit (tm) is going to be a bigger boon to our long-term survivability than just having more PD.

    My assumptions are thus:
    We have ten power a turn
    If we need to drop six power a turn on PD and possibly as much as eight because a sandblaster uses power and chews through supply, and I don't imagine the other options are any more efficient
    Presumably if we're running that hard on PD, stuff is going to get through, so we'll also be spending power to regen shields.
    Depending on how hard we need to regen shields, that will easily leave us with zero power to the launch tubes.

    In other words, if we need to use all that PD, we should have crash-jumped to FTL at least a turn ago.
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    There's two counterargument to this:

    1. I feel like you and I are interpreting Sketch's statements about ACERs very differently. To me it sounds like capital ACERs are basically just particle beams, and outside of some really niche uses aren't much more. They definitely don't come across as the equivalent of Star Trek phasers with all the flexibility those imply. Indeed, it's lasers that seem to be the most multi-purpose since they can be used for PD, anti-ship work, and other relatively fine work like excavating material or heating it. Laser turrets also make good telescopes.
    If ACERs were something more exotic with higher utility (maybe a proto-effector that's an outgrowth of tractor beam technology that focuses on long range and finer manipulation, or a tachyon beamer that can switch between a long range high fidedlity FTL scanner and a normal lighpeed weapon because tachyons gain energy the slower they travel) then I'd be very much on-board for it. If Sketch says that's an acceptable write-in then I'll swap one of our lasers for it, but right now I just see more utility in lasers.

    2. We can afford to drop 8 power a turn to PD, tank whatever remains on our shields, and then spend power the next turn to recharge shields. It's unlikely that a wave of incoming drones/missiles that requires us to spend 8 power on PD is something that can be repeated often, and the aim is to fight at range so if there are two volleys that large coming at us, that's when we risk a contested FTL jump (I haven't seen a contested jump yet, so I don't know what that entails). Also, we definetly won't be launchign often. With six tubes, we can afford a smidge over three full launches of drones, or five launches of missiles. It's far likelier that we'd launch then wait to see how our swarm makes out before launching another one.
     
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