GM Leinathan's "A Galaxy in Flux" (Inactive)

Game Master leinathan

I think Zen might be a good engineer for the ship, based on his RPing earlier!

Korvan is also a good engineer. Let's give Zen a chance to choose. I'd rather give the player the choice,even if it violates Korvan's canon.

Could K-van, as an untrained child, fill the cheerleading aspect of the captain role?

Or is there a safer place for K-van on the station?

K-Van would have to wear a spacesuit in order to be on the station, since none of it is pressurized. That'd be a dangerous plan since they have a limited lifespan and all.

Being a captain is less about being a cheerleader and more about tactical awareness, as far as I'm concerned. You get the most out of each role because there's someone coordinating everybody. In that sense, K-Van isn't really prepared for that.

If you want K-Van to be capable of things (other than pyrokinesis and calisthenics), you will have to mentor and train him at those things.

In-character, Zenvisk would prefer to remain aboard The Argintum, as far away from the actual combat as is possible. If Korvan wishes to go along with the assault party, Zen is fine with their choice. They would offer to send SAM along to help, but there is the pesky issue of the range limit on their custom rig. Also, they have an idea that may help with the limited number of crew that would leave the ship (see spoiler below).

Out-of-character, we should likely be fine with just three people. Out of the five roles, Captain is the least necessary (yes, it helps, but is not needed), so we can do without it. Pilot and Gunner are both required (for obvious reasons), and we have people capable of filling both of them. As for Engineer and Science Officer, they are less necessary. Yes, each of them are semi-required in certain part of a starship combat, but less so at other times. In my experience, the Science Officer role is mostly used on the first 1-2 rounds, mainly for scanning the opponents ship. After that, they mostly just target systems or balance shields.

Meanwhile, the Engineer role doesn't particularly have much to do on the first round or two of combat, as almost all of their actions are reactive. All they can really do on the first round of combat is either buff the guns or make the ship faster. With a speed of 10, the Argintum is already fairly quick, and the gun is not particularly formidable (with only being able to fire at opponents within five hexes of our ship).

Sorry about not posting sooner. This last couple of days have been a bit on the long side, with little consistent internet access. Before that, I didn't particularly see a way/reason for Zen to get involved in the conversation. It seemed like there was already enough people crowded into the bridge as it is.

Yes, switching roles occurs easily. A starship combat round takes much longer than a regular combat round, so it's not impossible for you to leave your post, go downstairs, and resume a different post in the same round.

Thanks, just making sure.

Happy to have you aboard, Zen. I would have been a little lonely if it was just me and NPCs on Argintum. And it makes sense Korvan would insist on going with his old friend Maldor.

leinathan, we're going to jump right into another grey zone. How long is a round of ship combat v PC combat. Any guidance?

I forgot about the 5 hex range. I'd been thinking about engaging at longer range so we could dance away from torpedoes. At five hexes against the light cruiser, assuming they have 2 gunners, we're going to be taking damage about 4 times faster than we can deliver it.

So, are you ready to execute the plan? Or do you have some other last-minute adjustments to make?

Remember that the flak thrower can block tracking weapons.

I'm ready

Maldor is ready. (At least, the young man THINKS he is!!)

leinathan, we're going to jump right into another grey zone. How long is a round of ship combat v PC combat. Any guidance?

A couple more questions that I can ask in character if you prefer: where is the light freighter during loading of the large freighter? Where can we hide Argintum and the three combatant core ships until it's time to attack?

Possible hiding places: blend with core ships which are normally nearby. Asteroids in close orbit. Behind the main core station.

I think I might run them concurrently and just timey-wimey nonsense it if I need to. I'm more concerned with keeping everyone involved and having fun than having it make perfect sense.

The light freighter is on guard duty floating nearby.

You will generally need to hide outside of scanner range (which isn't really that far for a fast ship like the Argintum), which means in the nearby asteroid belt.

So, Maldor and Cross are ready. Is everyone else ready? I'd like everyone to check in before I move forward.

I am ready.

I’m good to go

I'm ready, too.

And ready.

What an honest lot we are. Facing a stiff firefight with a hold full of weapons, we preserve the sanctity of the shipper's privacy.

Guys do we want to store the weapons on the station, you know, in case Argintum does her best supernova impersonation during the fight?

Anyone want to run the mining vessels, or should I? There are three.

Three mining vessels and Rollo. Everyone could participate in the space battle.

Guys, better mention it now. Wednesday, July 4 I'm heading out on vacation. It's a road/camping trip so I am very unlikely to have internet at all until the 12th or so.

I would not mind running one of the mining vessels, but I would defer to someone on the assault team if they want to do so as well. Don't want to let anyone feel left out during the combat, after all!

I'm willing to give it a shot as a learning experience =)

FYI: I added a map for the ship you're on to the "battlemap" link. Try not to metagame stuff you haven't seen yet. Also, I probably won't be using it for an actual battlemap.

For reference, the ship is about eight squares across and about 18 squares down.

Also:

Zenvisk and Maldor will each fly one mining ship, and I'll run the third one? Yes?

I could fly one if you like

Edit: I originally had this in the post but thought it better to post here

We aren’t using comms at all, but they are right? Could I use Computers or Engineering to use their comm signals to locate their positions relative to us and use that to give us an edge by sneaking around where they aren’t at? Like what cops do with cell phones

On vacation til the 11th or 12th.

Amaryst has 2 ranks in piloting and a net modifier of 10.

Can i access their comms or cut the drift jump from this engineering console without hacking? Also does his login count for a "security key or password" for the +5 bonus to hacking?

Yes comms (but just this terminal comms. You couldn't for instance shut off all comms from here). You can turn off the Drift engines, as this is Engineering. And yes, for the bonus.

i don't wanna shut off comms, i wanna do that thing i was talking about earlier so we can know where the pirates are

You waiting for permission? Go for it. Roll Computers.

Sorry but I’m gonna be a bit sporadic for the next few days, I am on vacation

Can some of the ships be angled better to show their initial facings? Specifically the two enemy ships and the red mining shuttle? They are all facing their hex's corners instead of their hex's sides.

Done. Apologies.

Art, I peeked at your ship combat spoilers. Nice elucidation of the phases!

My thanks! Gives small bow

Good first try, Maldor! I posted the mining vessel stats a bit back in the Discussion thread, I'll re-post them here. I'd like you to do your combat post again, with the correct stats and the right number of actions.

This is not an attempt at chastisement, but rather for learning purposes!

The thing about space combat is that each crew member only gets one crew action, plus a minor action (I believe only "snap shot (make an attack with one weapon at a -2 penalty) and "glide" (move 1/2 speed straight) are available). This mining vessel only has one crew member, so you only get one action.

For example on Zenvisk's turn, the one person acted as the Pilot, choosing a piloting action. Then, he used the Minor Action "snap shot" to fire a missile with a -2 penalty to hit.

Maldor, you chose a gunnery, engineering, and piloting action, so you'll need to pare that down to one action and a minor action.

Thanks!

I was wondering about that - figured a single core onboard but wondered about Zenvisk's previous post...so what's the range of these weapons? Do I even have to move, or are weapons basically a line of sight on this scale? Assuming that's the case, then it's just a pivot and fire the photon torpedoes, Mr. Sulu!!

The Mining Laser is a short range weapon, meaning that it has a range increment of 5 hexes. The Light Torpedo Launcher is a long range weapon, with a range increment of 20 hexes. For each increment past these, they take a -2 penalty, just like normal ranged weapons.

Also, some other differences between the two include that the Torpedo Launcher targets the ships Target Lock (TL), which is 13, whereas the Mining Laser targets AC, which is 17. The mining laser also splits its damage in half between armor and shields.

If you want to read more about Starship combat, you can read through THIS page, which details it pretty well. Or you ask us, and we can try to explain better.

EDIT: Also, as a note, you can only take the Snap Shot minor crew action if you do not take any other Gunner actions. If you wish to fire twice, you will need to take the Fire at Will action, which lets you shoot two weapons (each at a -4 attack penalty, akin to a full-attack).

Thanks! Seeing my abysmal rolling, it wouldn't matter either way...but I have it for next time!

By the by, I picked up the Armory book so our next shopping trip might get a bit wild.

@Cross - Excellent.

Sorry for the slow-down, folks. I've just been exhausted and dealing with some personal drama lately. There will be delays this month, nothing to do about that.

I would post right now, but I think I'm just going to go to sleep instead.

@Cross - Excellent.

Sorry for the slow-down, folks. I've just been exhausted and dealing with some personal drama lately. There will be delays this month, nothing to do about that.

I would post right now, but I think I'm just going to go to sleep instead.

No worries there boss, we’ve all been in something like that state at some point. Just take care of yourself.

Understood and understandable.

Handle real life, and we'll be here when you get back.

Speaking of charges, I just found out one of the different mechanics in Starfinder is that you take a -2 penalty to AC and Attacks when charging without a numerical benefit apart from being able to move twice your speed at a target when you've got a straight line to them. Soldiers and Solarions both have options that alter this, though.

Yup! That's the whole point of the "stellar rush" revelation!

It's because ranged combat is so much more prevalent and positioning is a lot more important in SF.

Yeah, it is one of those little differences that I like but tripped me up at first. Just wanted to bring it up for the others since this is the first time I noticed it come up in this game.

Hey! Sorry, we had about a week of downtime, so this announcement was delayed even longer than I would have liked it to be.

I'm sorry for this disappointment, but given some recent events in my life I don't think I'll be able to continue PBP GMing for the time being, at least a few months. Because of this, I'll be shuttering all of the games that I GM.

Thank you for the effort you've put in, and I hope to see or play with you again at a later date :)

Well, that's a shame, but thanks for letting us know.

It's bad when a player or GM who just disappears. Thanks for the heads up.

I hope things IRL sort themselves out. Good luck, leinathan.

Guys, I have really enjoyed this group. I wish you all good gaming and hope to see you around the boards.