• Registered: 2008-05-28
  • Posts: 4

Topic: Starmada nova - limited fuel.

This is an additional advanced rule I've been looking at for making fuel a limiting factor. It's intended for more realistic hard science fiction universes where ships require lots of reaction mass and have a limited supply of fuel for manoeuvring. It is intended to be used with the vector movement system but could probably also work with the normal movement rules.

If this rule is used it must apply to all ships as it must be a part of ship construction. In addition a battle between ships requiring fuel and those that don't would be massively un-balanced. Those that used no fuel would both out gun and out manoeuvre those that did with ease.

Advanced rule - Limited Fuel Supply

When designed each ship must have the Fuel trait, devoting a number of SU to this determined by the designer. This is a munitions trait that generates a number of fuel points equal to SU x 10/Ship size. Fuel points are spent for the ship to manoeuvre. Each time the ship uses thrust to speed up, slow down or change course this costs one point of fuel per point of thrust used. Ships that run out of fuel may no longer manoeuvre but may still fight.

This option may be incompatible with fighters and drones as written given their speed and unlimited fuel. I'm also not sure how this should affect calculating the ships combat rating. For the moment until I get feedback or can test this I'm assuming that fuel has no cost. The SU it uses reduces the ships other systems combat capacity so a ship with more would have less combat power. I'd be interested if anyone could suggest an alternative for this or a more

  • Registered: 2008-12-22
  • Posts: 654

Re: Starmada nova - limited fuel.

Admiral Pertwee wrote:

This is an additional advanced rule I've been looking at for making fuel a limiting factor. It's intended for more realistic hard science fiction universes where ships require lots of reaction mass and have a limited supply of fuel for manoeuvring. It is intended to be used with the vector movement system but could probably also work with the normal movement rules.

If this rule is used it must apply to all ships as it must be a part of ship construction. In addition a battle between ships requiring fuel and those that don't would be massively un-balanced. Those that used no fuel would both out gun and out manoeuvre those that did with ease.

Advanced rule - Limited Fuel Supply

When designed each ship must have the Fuel trait, devoting a number of SU to this determined by the designer. This is a munitions trait that generates a number of fuel points equal to SU x 10/Ship size. Fuel points are spent for the ship to manoeuvre. Each time the ship uses thrust to speed up, slow down or change course this costs one point of fuel per point of thrust used. Ships that run out of fuel may no longer manoeuvre but may still fight.

This option may be incompatible with fighters and drones as written given their speed and unlimited fuel. I'm also not sure how this should affect calculating the ships combat rating. For the moment until I get feedback or can test this I'm assuming that fuel has no cost. The SU it uses reduces the ships other systems combat capacity so a ship with more would have less combat power. I'd be interested if anyone could suggest an alternative for this or a more

I like the idea, and there are several settings that could use this. The first thing that came to mind was that maybe you could simplify the fuel usage to only occur when you accelerate or decelerate. You could always say that other maneuvers can be accomplished by various less volatile means. If you do that you could have many fewer "fuel points" to manage, and being more precious, using them could be a bit of a bigger decision. If you are playing in a setting that requires fuel you could easily have drones (they accelerate to their maximum speed at launch and inertia carries them to their targets), and you could give fighters an endurance rating in turns rather than assigning fuel points. This last part could simulate limited fuel and life support.
Just a few thoughts.
Cheers,
Erik

  • Registered: 2006-01-17
  • Posts: 740

Re: Starmada nova - limited fuel.

This very creative, but seems to me to be an Unnecessary Complication.  It adds more record keeping and will slow the game down.  I like to think of my Starships as being powered by matter/antimatter engines with c5 years of fuel.  Similiar to Nimitz class aircraft carriers today.  In all honesty, I doubt that I will ever use this.
But if this adds enjoyment to you and your gaming friends, go for it!
Cheers

  • Registered: 2008-12-22
  • Posts: 654

Re: Starmada nova - limited fuel.

BeowulfJB wrote:

This very creative, but seems to me to be an Unnecessary Complication.  It adds more record keeping and will slow the game down.  I like to think of my Starships as being powered by matter/antimatter engines with c5 years of fuel.  Similiar to Nimitz class aircraft carriers today.  In all honesty, I doubt that I will ever use this.
But if this adds enjoyment to you and your gaming friends, go for it!
Cheers

Hey, I can think of some settings that use antimatter drives that have a limited supply of reaction mass (usually water) as well as some that use fusion drives that convert reaction mass as well. In the 2300AD setting for example there are vessels that use hydrogen burning MHD turbines. These are the kinds of things a would like to see this for. Starmada is relatively simple enough that tracking a small number of fuel boxes is no real hassle (for me at least), and adds enough of an interesting twist that I would like to give it a whirl.
As you say, it's all about what each individual finds amusing/interesting/enjoyable.
Cheers,
Erik

  • Registered: 2005-03-29
  • Posts: 859

Re: Starmada nova - limited fuel.

Hmm, while the rules could be ironed out, it does represent something that could be used for low-tech settings, or for 'vessels' that aren't specifically designed to move, but can in an emergency.