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Is anyone converting starship combat to AV:T*?
*AV:T is Attack Vector: Tactical and is a 3d space combat game that uses real physics in a fairly easy to use and play format. So acceleration, not speed for example.
Well, for Starfinder Society we can't convert anything. For home games it's anything goes (and by all means recruit for "home" game PbP/VTT here!)
I'm likely going to stick with it as written for my home campaign, but I can see a mix fitting for people into it.
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Why would I want "real physics" in my sci-fi/fantasy RPG? If I wanted that, Dex wouldn't affect EAC, as you can't dodge a laser. You can dodge a wrench, but not a laser!Is anyone converting starship combat to AV:T*?
*AV:T is Attack Vector: Tactical and is a 3d space combat game that uses real physics in a fairly easy to use and play format. So acceleration, not speed for example.
You're not dodging the laser. You're dodging the aim of the person firing it.
Or just making yourself a harder target to predict and lead.
Besides, it isn't so much about being super realistic, just keeping the broad strokes, such as not coming to a stop because the engines turned off.
Or just making yourself a harder target to predict and lead.
Besides, it isn't so much about being super realistic, just keeping the broad strokes, such as not coming to a stop because the engines turned off.
They tried Vector Analysis: The Scenario in Pathfinder in the most recent season.
Response was markedly negative in every scenario I played with it in it.
Grateful that granularity is not in Starfinder.
Vector is tricky to make easy in 3d, and making it easy is the key. I can't be certain of course, but I would expect that difficult mechanics would the problem rather than it being about the Vector.
Of course, how other aspects fit into the game makes a difference too, if weapon ranges are too short compared to distance required to alter course for example, then battles would always end up lacking any maneuvering (as the maneuvering would need to be done prior to the battle), and therefore be less fun.
Also, it need not really be as granular as in AV:T, and it shouldn't for PF, but that is a different thing from including vectors.
I'd be interested in seeing what mechanics they actually tried though.
Why does the stuff under my name not show in certain threads? Is that an error?
Your header only shows up on campaign threads. You don't really need character information on the product or general discussion threads.
It shows up in Gameplay and Discussion threads for campaigns, but not Recruitment.
Your header only shows up on campaign threads. You don't really need character information on the product or general discussion threads.
Having an announcements thread link is useful everywhere though.
Your header only shows up on campaign threads. You don't really need character information on the product or general discussion threads.Having an announcements thread link is useful everywhere though.
Be that as it may, it's not what those fields were intended for, and it would spam up the general threads and product discussions pretty fast.
Has anyone tried out starship combat in PBP yet? I'm just about to, and I'm concerned. I tried it in person last night, and it seems like it will take forever online. I'm hoping that if anyone else has tried it, they may have tricks to share.
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Or just making yourself a harder target to predict and lead.
Besides, it isn't so much about being super realistic, just keeping the broad strokes, such as not coming to a stop because the engines turned off.
They tried Vector Analysis: The Scenario in Pathfinder in the most recent season.
Response was markedly negative in every scenario I played with it in it.
Grateful that granularity is not in Starfinder.
Listen, as a self-proclaimed expert at 7-99 I have to say all you need is to somewhat understand physics and not have a physicist at the table and you'll be FIIIIINE.
It's not like the explanation takes about 15 minutes...
Or like I spoilered it all in advance in one of my PbP tables...
Listen, as a self-proclaimed expert at 7-99 I have to say all you need is to somewhat understand physics and not have a physicist at the table and you'll be FIIIIINE.It's not like the explanation takes about 15 minutes...
Or like I spoilered it all in advance in one of my PbP tables...
That may have been a problem at our table, as we had three math experts, four people who were conversant with physics, and none of them were on the characters that needed that understanding without being overwhelming the most.
Of course, we did it on 'first run' at GenCon, so things 'may' have smoothed out some, but it was pretty rough.
Redelia --
We are ALL about to enter space combat in PBP for the first time. What I plan to do is let everyone post but announce what phase they are posting in. If their actions are dependent on the successes of others, I am going to have them spoiler their options and rolls.
I have run space combat live for complete newcomers 4 times now. It's wild, it's crazy. There's a lot to keep track of. I have a ton of handouts for my players (you can see them in the player folder in my header) to help them with this, but I think we'll all just have to wing it and see what works.
THOUGHTS ON TACTICS
I am also going to state that it can be good tactics to start out in one position and then switch roles in the Engineering phase for the next combat round, depending on what you do. No matter what you do, you only get one action per Combat round. But at the start of each new round you can switch things up. So early combat, maybe the engineers join the science officers so that the group gets some really good scans. If the ship gets hit, maybe the Science Officers join the Engineers to repair things.
ALSO important: Encourage your group to have at least two gunners. If there's a turret gun, put the best gunner on it so that the group can get off a shot no matter how the positioning in the helm phase goes. Players need to shoot, shoot, shoot. Diverting power to the weapon systems can be very helpful as well as it will allow you to take down the opposition more quickly. In at least one of my live combats, the pilot kept executing barrel rolls so that everyone else on the ship could shoot because they were at the point where they wanted to take a certain annoying thing DOWN.
That is not to say that every other job is not critical to the team effort. Engineering keeps the ship together, and provides power to everyone. Captains can help people get off difficult skill checks. Early scans are critical to give you information about how the other guy works in battle. If they don't have good aft guns or shields, shoot them in the butt! But you won't know that information without the scan!
Still, it sure felt like some of the enemy ships had too many hit points when we were teaching this to newcomers at GenCon. Experienced groups can haldle high hit point enemies. For newcomers I wanted to halve the hit points. The good news for those doing Quests is that there are two ship battles in there, and the first goes far faster than the second because by then your team will have its rhythm.
Hmm
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I am also going to state that it is KOSHER to start out in one position and switch roles in the Engineering phase. So early combat, maybe the engineers join the science officers so that the group gets some really good scans. If the ship gets hit, maybe the Science Officers join the Engineers to repair things.
But this does not allow to do two actions, correct?
I mean, if you scan as a Science Officer before piloting & gunnery, can you then switch to Engineering to repair (a 2nd action)?
I fixed my wording.
You only get one action per combat round. Each round in the engineering phase, you may choose to switch roles. So you can start out with Engineering helping out the Science Officers early combat when they may have less to do. Then the next round, having science offiers switch over to engineering.
What I am saying is, you are not glued to your originally assigned seat.
Hmm
Today is the support deadline for Session Two of PBP Gameday VI! If you want Paizo to provide your Session Two scenarios and modules, please register today at PbPGameday.com!
(You can also start up games after our support deadline, but then you need to own or purchase the scenarios yourselves!)
Thanks so much!
Happy Gameday!
Hmm
QUICK! DO A BARREL ROLL!
In at least one of my live combats, the pilot kept executing barrel rolls so that everyone else on the ship could shoot because they were at the point where they wanted to take a certain annoying thing DOWN.
Thanks for this great poist. My pbp game of Into the Unknown just entered its first starship combat and I just pointed my players to your post about switching around. (Didn't think of that myself!)
Quick question about barrel rolling. How does that help more crew shoot? What I understand is that barrel effectively flips the shields and weapons between port and starboard sides for the next gunnery phase. I imagine this is useful if the port shields are down, and is a quick way to get the starboard shields to face the enemy instead. Or if the port arc weapons are glitching, malfunctioning or wrecked, and thus to bring the starboard weapons to bear.
Is anyone planning on running another session of Starfinder 1-03, Yesteryear's Truth in the second half of gameday? I believed I was signed up for a session of it (my records even contain a GM's name and the session number), but now the signup sheet is full, and my name is not on it.
Quick question about barrel rolling. How does that help more crew shoot? What I understand is that barrel effectively flips the shields and weapons between port and starboard sides for the next gunnery phase. I imagine this is useful if the port shields are down, and is a quick way to get the starboard shields to face the enemy instead. Or if the port arc weapons are glitching, malfunctioning or wrecked, and thus to bring the starboard weapons to bear.
Kuey, it doesn't help more crew shoot. Your analysis was the same as mine (and then my players asked" what is preventing us from just flying 'upside down' for the remainder of the space combat?")
Anyone running the Commencement? Have a freshly minted SFS character itching to try out.
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So, to ask a stupid question, how do I go about posting a character and seeking a game here? The info out front seems to mainly be on how to play PbP in general, and while that's helpful, after reading it and the links it provides I'm still not sure on how to get started actually playing. It's quite possible I've missed something, and if so please direct me thus and I apologize. Do I need to approve it with someone? I've played PbP and even for a bit GMed years ago.
Thank you for helping me see what's probably obvious.
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So, to ask a stupid question, how do I go about posting a character and seeking a game here? The info out front seems to mainly be on how to play PbP in general, and while that's helpful, after reading it and the links it provides I'm still not sure on how to get started actually playing. It's quite possible I've missed something, and if so please direct me thus and I apologize. Do I need to approve it with someone? I've played PbP and even for a bit GMed years ago.
Thank you for helping me see what's probably obvious.
No worries whatsoever!
First, welcome! While there are some incredible and voluminous guides on how to do most everything here, the awesome and supportive community will always help.
The short version (upon which I'm sure people will add) is this:
1. Register a Starfinder society character.
1a. Log onto Paizo and click on the "my pathfinder society" link at the top.
1b. Click on the "Create a Character" button.
2. Post in the "gameplay" thread here so that it shows up on your campaigns tab.
3. Keep an eye out for recruitment posts.
4. Play and have fun!
Oh, I guess my reading of the barrel roll was incorrect. It does not allow more people to fire. Bah. So many new rules to decipher. Thank you all!
Still, I do hold by my comment of having at least 2 gunners whenever possible in Starship Combat. It goes a lot faster with more guns.
Hmm
Two gunners is still good because there's a turret on every Starfinder Society ship, so one gunner in the turret with 360 degree coverage, and one gunner to go to the side that has facing against the ship you want to shoot.
I'm running my starship combat like so:
Initiative, role declaration, and Engineering phase all at once.
Everyone, including gunners, make their rolls (specific if the Engineer, Science Officer, or Captain are doing something in the Engineering phase or generic if it's Pilot, Gunners, or a reserved Captain action).
I move the ships with Initiative lower than the players, then prompt the Pilot to move. The Pilot uses his generic roll for any maneuvers he wants to try.
Then I roll the NPC attacks and resolve the Gunners rolls, write a summary of events, and let the players RP their perspective before repeating it all again.
I try to preserve suspense by having them roll their generic rolls in Spoilers. I can't control if they look or not, but I like to pretend it helps.
Is anyone planning on running another session of Starfinder 1-03, Yesteryear's Truth in the second half of gameday? I believed I was signed up for a session of it (my records even contain a GM's name and the session number), but now the signup sheet is full, and my name is not on it.
I looked at the old versions of the spreadsheet, and it looks like my signup never got recorded. Probably my internet disconnected before my edit was saved to google drive. Still looking for another session of this scenario, but at least I know what probably happened.
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I try to preserve suspense by having them roll their generic rolls in Spoilers. I can't control if they look or not, but I like to pretend it helps.
It helps for some for sure.
I never look at spoilers for Knowl' etc. DCs I don't get or people don't share etc..
I itch to peek, so it adds to the mystery!
I try not to look when I'm playing games, if that adds any credence to that tactic? There's no fun in cheating the game, after all. c: Why bother with a tabletop roleplaying game if you're not gonna stick with your rolls and playing? :D
/shot
I posted this question at the Starfinder rules forum but only got one response. Would like to get more people's opinions on this ruling.
Got a question that came up at my table about the science officer's action, Target System, and how that interacts with damage crossing the enemy's critical threshold (CT).
From CRB: The next attack made by your starship that hits the enemy ship scores a critical hit on a natural roll of 19 or 20. If that attack deals critical damage, it affects the chosen system. For any further critical damage resulting from the attack, determine which system is affected randomly as normal.
Referring to the line in bold, if the next attack that hits the enemy ship does not roll a 19 or 20, but does cause critical damage because it crosses the enemy's CT, does it affect the chosen system (as per Target System), or is it rolled randomly like a normal critical damage?
I'm arguing for the first interpretation because the bolded line only states that the attack must deal critical damage, but not how it causes the critical damage. Also, if it was meant to the the second interpretation, a clearer phrasing would have been "The next attack made by your starship that hits the enemy ship scores a critical hit on a natural roll of 19 or 20, and if it does, the critical damage affects the chosen system." That it was phrased that way in the CRB must have thus been intentional?
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And though I am very happy as a player to get the localized crit', I've been DMing it w. the "other interpretation:
If that attack deals critical damage, it affects the chosen system. For any further critical damage resulting from the attack, determine which system is affected randomly as normal
Since I saw the bolded text as meaning that if the att' does not crit' but hits and deals damage, and that damage passes the Critical Threshold this would be the further critical damage (I do not see what other "further critical damage" can result from an attack that does not crit' other than the CT?).
So, also trying to figure out if I'm running this wrong...
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I read this and was confused by the editing too.
I think what it means is that the first critical damage is against that unit. An attack that crosses a multiple of CTs (e.g. if the CT is 20 and you do 25 points damage to something that already as 18 points of damage, you would do two bits of critical damage) - any extra critical effects are against random units, and only the first is against the location you locked phasers onto.
I try not to look when I'm playing games, if that adds any credence to that tactic? There's no fun in cheating the game, after all. c: Why bother with a tabletop roleplaying game if you're not gonna stick with your rolls and playing? :D
/shot
As a long time gm, I find it easy to separate out character knowledge from my knowledge. Therefore, I sometimes lookfor my own enjoyment secure in knowing that it won't be a problem.
Not everyone is able to easily shift perspective and keep metaknowledhe separate though.
I read this and was confused by the editing too.
I think what it means is that the first critical damage is against that unit. An attack that crosses a multiple of CTs (e.g. if the CT is 20 and you do 25 points damage to something that already as 18 points of damage, you would do two bits of critical damage) - any extra critical effects are against random units, and only the first is against the location you locked phasers onto.
That's how I'd rule it too: The next time a ship is hit, the critical threat range is increased to 19-20, the first (if any) critical damage is against the targeted unit, any further critical damage is determined randomly as usual.
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Just a quick question to make sure my chronicle sheet is legit. I played with this character (my -01) in the 'Into the Unknown' Quest scenario yesterday online. Now I've played this one before with a pregen back on Sept 2, and had that chronicle sheet credited to my -02 character. My understanding was that this scenario was repeatable (though it couldn't be credited twice to the same character.)
I noticed this morning on my Sessions tab for this character it had this note:
Player has already played scenario at session # 4 of event # 155351 Weekly SFS C&G on September 02, 2017.
Just wanted to make sure that wasn't a 'bad' thing. If it's simply referring to my having played it before and crediting it to my -02 that's not a problem, but again I just wanted to make sure that it wasn't reflecting that this character shouldn't receive credit.
I'm pretty new to PFS in general, and this is actually the first time I took part in a repeatable adventure, so I'm hoping I didn't make a mistake. Thanks!
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Not a problem.
No mistake
Evergreens (repeatables) are not take differentiated, so it just gives that warning.
My understanding was that this scenario was repeatable (though it couldn't be credited twice to the same character.)
You can even have the Quest 1-1 reported twice or more to the same character if you are doing parts you did not do before, so long as you do not play a different scenario in the meantime w. that character.
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Hello, I've been thinking about trying to GM my first pbp game for the second half of Gameday but I thought I should ask here if there's any advice people feel would be good to offer. Or to get more of a conversation going, what advice would you want to give the past you just starting to GM?
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Hello, I've been thinking about trying to GM my first pbp game for the second half of Gameday but I thought I should ask here if there's any advice people feel would be good to offer. Or to get more of a conversation going, what advice would you want to give the past you just starting to GM?
Awesome! There are a lot of guides and plenty of advice out there. The good news is that the community is happy to teach "on the job" as it were.
If you check out the campaign tab of this thread (or click HERE), you'll find a fair amount of solid information and links for new and experienced GMs.
We'd love to have you GM something, Sedoriku!
My advice for a first time GM of PBP is to start small. Do one game, and give it your all. Which adventure were you thinking of doing?
Hmm
Hello, I've been thinking about trying to GM my first pbp game for the second half of Gameday but I thought I should ask here if there's any advice people feel would be good to offer. Or to get more of a conversation going, what advice would you want to give the past you just starting to GM?Awesome! There are a lot of guides and plenty of advice out there. The good news is that the community is happy to teach "on the job" as it were.
If you check out the campaign tab of this thread (or click HERE), you'll find a fair amount of solid information and links for new and experienced GMs.
Cool. Thank-you for pointing that out! I've read through some of it and it looks like really good advice.
We'd love to have you GM something, Sedoriku!
My advice for a first time GM of PBP is to start small. Do one game, and give it your all. Which adventure were you thinking of doing?
Hmm
I had thought about trying to play it first but I think I want to try running 1-01 The Commencement. 1-02 The Fugitive of the Red Planet also looks interesting. I believe both don't have a space combat portion and I'm hoping to avoid that the first time.
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Hey Gang... In honor of Play-by-Post Gameday VI, we're having a panel with the Organized Play Team.
(Because I wanted to have a panel, just like in other gaming conventions!)
The panel will be running from Wednesday, September 27th at 4 pm Pacific Standard Time and goes until Saturday, September 30th at 4 pm. Do you have fun questions for Tonya, John, Linda and Thursty? Here's your chance to ask them!
Hmm
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"Hello, Fellow Starfinders!" A happy, newly-minted gnome Starfinder beams out at everyone. "Ever since getting my own invitation to Starfinder Society, I've been looking out for my fellow legacy characters. So I'm hosting a contest for you!"
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If anyone's running The Commencement and needs a map for the Acquisitives' mission...
For the Junkracer chase, I put together this race map. It's worked out quite well so far, offering both the visual of the race progression and the exact positioning. I added debuffs to help myself track progression each round. Adding racer stats would also be helpful for other GMs going forward. Feel free to steal it :)
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Greetings Starfinders! I'm looking forward to trying out Starfinder, as well as 'getting in on the ground floor' as it were for the new Starfinder Society campaign. I'm already booked in games through part 2 of the gameday, so I won't be able to take my shiny new operative out for a spin until that wraps up.
In the meantime... I guess I'll go read some Star Wars and Miles Vorkosigan novels to get in the mood. :D