It's good to be back. I admit to a bit of intimidation, moving from Full Thrust to Starmada, but I'm in an algebra class anyway.    (Interestingly, it's given me a whole new appreciation of why some of the numbers are they way they are.) And while I have a nostalgic adoration for High Guard, Starmada's design process is cleaner.

Are you thinking near-future 'this summer', or near-future 'maybe 2009'? That's something I'd buy print-and-PDF of in a heartbeat!

Tigress and Plankwell are some of the larger ships in the Traveller setting (500K and 200K dtons, respectively). Hundreds of missile racks, huge spinal weapons, lots and lots of fighters, missile defenses (sand and repulsor), etc. Power Projection's SSD for Tigress is a half-sheet wall of missile battery icons.

(Hmm...a one-arc super-mega-death beam, some point-defense-type specials, and more carrier capacity than is sane...this might be easier than I thought...)

Well, that shouldn't be too hard, one ship came in from one direction, another from another, keep that orientation and...uh...hmm. I'll have to get back to you on that one...

Thanks! I'll have to hunt that one up, and see if we can pick Mr. Dugan's brain for any starter tips.

Hello and welcome back to Starmada.
My friends and I were Full Thruse devotees from 1999 to 2004.  I found a copy of the Starmada rules at my friend Gaming Glen's store.  Since we all began playing Starmada, my Full Thrust stuff remains stored and unused. 
If the hexes really bother you, you can use the Full Thrust rules and treat the engine rating of a ship as its thrust ability using human type of engines:  half of thrust points can be used to turn. 
But I enjoy using hexes because it makes the combat phase go quicker.   You can count hexes for range instead of measuring to this ship, measuring to that ship, measuring to another ship, measuring to...  :? .   
In Full Thrust firing took longer and sometimes became tedious.  Also, with hexes, it is much easier to determine which ships are in a weapon's arc and which are not.  All in all, using hexes allows the game to go more quickly and more smoothly. 8-)

Don't feel bad Dan, I've got a crapload of Traveller stuff, and didn't get the reference either.

tsk tsk.. both of you have to give up some geek AND gearhead cred.     

I knew those terms and can still recall their artwork in their first publication (which I have sitting in a box behind me).   :geek:

*slap* PayPal on the barrelhead, sir!  Just tell me where and when.

As for the geek/gearhead cred hits, no-one should worry. I'm an enormous Traveller geek, and was quite recently reading 'Fighting Ships' and High Guard, so those beasties were well in mind.

Then I have to too. Haven't got any Traveller stuff, partly because of cashflow problems (too much out, not enough in, isn't it always the case?) but mainly because I think it was released around the early 90s...?

Ah, okay, I was a bit worried about putting the date of the release of Traveller too far back. Still, my point about it being released a while back (before I was born) is valid...:)