Voyage of the Isaac Asimov

Game Master EltonJ

Here is the discussion thread for the campaign.

So excited for this game! Thank you for taking us all, GM :)

So, before we begin, I assume we should figure out our characters' relationships with each other? If we already know each other, etc.

So excited for this game! Thank you for taking us all, GM :)

So, before we begin, I assume we should figure out our characters' relationships with each other? If we already know each other, etc.

You also need to talk about your Explorer class ship.

ooooh, and ship duties :D

Thank you for doing this!

Yes, I am curious if we have been part of the exporation team for awhile, or if this is our first "mission"? Being level 1 we are all pretty fresh, I assume.

Also very curious about the ship itself.

Do you need any more input from us?

Thank you for doing this!

Yes, I am curious if we have been part of the exporation team for awhile, or if this is our first "mission"? Being level 1 we are all pretty fresh, I assume.

Also very curious about the ship itself.

Do you need any more input from us?

This is your first mission. You may design the ship yourselves, or choose a ship from 0-hr. On drivethru.

Oh ho ho! Ship design! But also character relations, I'm excited to do those as well. M, AX would have been really dinged up when he finally found his way out of the Asimov, is it possible that you could have helped patch him up?

I'm not very familiar with ship building; mind explaining where we might find the exact rules for that?

Building starships rules are on page 292 to page 305 in the Core Rulebook of Starfinder. Alternatively, the Starship Operations Manual can also be referenced.

Alright, I'll give those rules a read.

Raloveg is pretty outgoing and talkative about pretty much anything. So if anyone used to either pass near one of the observation bays, the ship's helm or wherever mass is held, there's a very good chance Raloveg would have started up a conversation (probably preaching a little at the same time). Alternatively, if either of you are religious or attended mass (be it the same religion or no), perhaps they know each other.

I envision M mostly exploring info-sphere space until showing up one day to volunteer to join the exploration team :3

Also, after poking around in the ship building rules a little bit, I think we want a large or medium ship so we can fly it directly onto the surface of a planet :3
Do we get a tier 1 ship and 55 build points? :3

Woo-hoo! Looking forward to it.

Checking the 0-hr website, it looks like the Starfinder ship stats and basic deck plans are available here. There are a couple of pre-built tier 1 ships, or we could pick one we like the appearance of and pare it back or build the stats from scratch.

Tier 1 gives us 55 build points to work with, and it looks like the one restriction for building a ship is that we'll need a reactor able to handle the 200 PCU minimum of traversing a fold gate.

Incidentally, the fold gate flavour text gives me a distinct Chronicles of Morgaine vibe. Wouldn't want to be around when the network gets old and rickety.

Retri, I was reading your backstory and an idea crossed my mind:

He can often be found poring over records of previous expeditions in the archives, or participating in discussions with like-minded young people who want to change the world for the better.

Raloveg also loves to discuss topics like this. Since he's a bit on the older side, he tends to be more moderate or 'mellow' than other reformists, but still thinks there's room for change in the ship's structure and likes to hear other points of view. Perhaps he and Retri discussed/argued about such matters before?

As far as the ship goes, I'm going to assume the standard tier 1 with 55 build points and see if I can't think of anything good.

I've already poked around the base frame section, and my favorite frame is Transport, for it's medium size (we can get the fastest thrusters someday, if we want), two turrets, heavy mount in front, and 5 expansion slots.
I also like the Destroyer and the Explorer frames, but I don't think we get alien archive frames, so I think we only have 5 options: the aforementioned three plus the heavy and light freighter, which don't seem great unless we need 8 expansion bays for some reason...

I'll go play around with the ship building rules for a bit :3

Well, I suppose we are all pretty new at the job, with the remains of the previous guys being digested in a space wasps stomach or something like that...

Also @GM: Aye, thanks for having all of us! Really looking forward to it.

Regarding the Spaceship, I think we may get to upgrade later, so I'll just go with a suggestion that seems to fit the flavor of our job description:

Explorer 12 BP
(I like the Transport too - especially the double turret, but I think that the explorer is a better thematic fit - we can "convert" as an upgrade later, maybe? not like we have sufficient build points to really make use of all the options yet-).

Power Unit: Arcus Heavy - 130 PCU for 13 BP

M10 thrusters with 10 hexes speed, +0 Piloting and consuming 70 PCU for 5 BP
Common crew quarters for 0 BP

No Drift Engines(as we are deployed from the Gen Ship and return there?) unless I misunderstood.

Subtotal: 30 BP

That means we can get

Medical bay consuming 4 PCU for 8 BP
Science lab(Life Science) 2 PCU and 1 BP
Science lab(Physical) 2 PCU and 1 BP
(with one cargo bay left)

Basic Shields 30 30SP recharging 1/min consuming 15 PCU and 4 BP
(Suggesting 8 Front, 8 Back, 6 port, 6 starboard)

Basic medium-range Sensors for +2 on the checks for 5 BP

Subtotal: 49 BP and power consumption of 93/130
so 6 BP and 37 PCU for
forward arc (1 light), port arc (1 light), starboard arc (1 light), turret (1 light)
I would go with Coilgun for Long range in the turret mount - doing 4d4 and consuming 10 PCU for 6 BP

so we are at 55 BP and consuming 103/130 PCU on full load(giving us some leeway to upgrade computer and/or get more weaponry installed).

(I think the medical bay is a staple of a self-contained exploration unit. With plenty of androids, we could instead get more weaponry for our starship, but honestly, I doubt we'll need it.
The M10 Trusters give us a speed of 10, we have 30 Shield points, and a omnidirectional coilgun with 20 hexes range. (and thats also the passive detection range of medium scanners).

TL:DR -

Explorer, 10 hexes speed, 30 shield points, one turreted coilgun(long range), medium-range sensors, spare energy, and a full laboratory suite.

I am down with others working on the ship itself. As for roles, we should think about who is best at certain things.

Captain: Alyson Reed, Retri Valnik (+7 diplo)
Pilot: Alyson Reed (+8 Pilot)
Engineer: M (+9 Engineering) 6 (+8 Engineering)
Science: M (+10 Computers) 6 (+9 Computers)
Gunner: AX498 (full bab but low dex))
Magic: Brother Raloveg (+9 Mysticism)

I know I am ok at Engineering and Science station, but M will be better at both. I can move a point into piloting (was debating pulling from Acrobatics anyway) which would allow me to be a decent gunner.

My thoughts are thus:
Captain: Retri Valnik
Pilot: Alyson Reed
Engineering: M (because its better for healing shields than Science)
Science: 6 (backing up as extra gunner if needed)
Gunner: AX (even with lower DEX probably the best spot.. Unless they want to do Chief Mate actions)
Magic: Brother Raloveg

This has the highest on the things that matter most (Pilot and Engineering, IMO). And I can act as backup or fill in as needed.

I am going to drop the 1 skill point from Acrobatics and put it into Piloting. I think that makes more sense for my character anyway..

Again, just my thoughts. As for what ship we have, I am down for whatever. Though what was built looks pretty sweet!

Sounds good to me.
I did consider being a pilot, due to the Dex+Class Skill.

But IF there is a close contender, I would also point out that starting at level 5, I'll be getting my expertise die(1d6+1 in beginning) on Diplomacy - so later on I may also be an even more decent captain :)
(That said, since it's my first ride with Starfinder, I am perfectly comfortable 'just' taking the helm)

Yeah I will be getting better at Computers and Engineering too. So we might switch up as we level, for sure.

I just know the roles almost matter more than the ship does. And I am happy to fit into science officer/gunner/wahtever

Sounds great, Ravoleg. Good-natured, wide-ranging discussions would be the order of the day. He's still sorting through what he believes, deep down, and how best he can achieve change in the real world.

Retri hasn't yet settled into the orbit of a particular group, and I'm inclined to leave those groups he may have dallied with open for future development.

----------------

I hadn't considered I might end up in the Captain role. I may need to do a little tweaking so as to provide better support to people (or taunt adversaries). Alternatively, I could respec toward piloting - that d6+1 to diplomacy is difficult to argue with.

On the ship front, it looks good, but I see one possible issue. My reading of the fold gate entry is that although we don't need to have a drift drive, the downside is that the gate draws its power requirements from the ships traversing it.

So in order to make use of the gate, we'd need to be able to meet the 200 PCU to power it. We could switch all the other systems off, but we'd still need a reactor capable of meeting that minimum requirement.

At least, that's the requirement without any support. If the Asimov is able to provide the power instead, then we're away laughing. Presumably this would rely on ships going to and from the generation ship's gate rather than jumping directly between two of the other gates.

Yeah, if we have to provide the power it will make a pretty sizeable difference.

I like the suggestions so far and am also leaning towards the explorer, but personally I think having a second weapon is absolutely mandatory. In my experience with starship combat, you'd much rather dish out damage quickly than prevent it, thus two gunners are crucial in a lot of fights with hard-hitting enemies (Raloveg can also double as an okay gunner if needed). Plus if they manage to glitch your only weapon you're in a real pickle. Might not need it often, but I believe we'll be glad if we ever need it.

So I'd suggest having a second weapon, maybe on the front arc. For the rest, we'll have to see about the Power Core as that will dictate how much BP we have left.

Lol, if only I had shared my build when I had finished it xD
2x turrets is very very good.
I need to get to my laptop soon xD

Indeed, two turrets is very good, but then we'd have to go for the Transport as the Explorer only has one turret slot. Depends on which frame we'd rather have I guess.

EDIT: if we end up going for a fixed weapon, I think the Gyrolaser might be decent. Only 1d8, but also only costs 3 BP / 10 PCU, and has the broad arc property. Depends how many BP we have left.

Ok, so hear me out:
We could possibly save 3 credits on the hull by getting the explorer instead of the transport, but adding a second turret mount to it would cost more than we'd save. So let's just get wide angle lasers and throw 4 guns on to a transport >:3
Also, bonus hp and a higher CT, for maximum survivability.

Dem Deets:
Transport frame (15BP)
200 PCU core (20BP) (I vote Nova Heavy in case anyone cares about the name. Novas are kool and "no va" means "doesn't go" in Spanish, haha)
M8 thrusters (4BP)
Budget Medium-Range sensors (3BP)

The above, I would argue, is the minimum for an exploration ship. We have M8 thrusters so we can land on heavy gravity planets without rolling to not crash, we have the cheapest sensors that aren't short ranged, we have our minimum 200 PCU core to use the fold gates, and we have the second cheapest hull (which becomes the cheapest option that can attach 4 guns that can fire in 3 different arcs. Sounds good, right?)

4 guns? with only 13 BP you say?
Yes, and 3 of those BP are for shields:

Basic Shields 20 (3BP)
turret mounts x2 = Light Laser Cannon x2
forward arc (both light and heavy) = Gyrolaser x2

The broad arc on the gyrolasers mean they can fire in every arc except aft, the turrets can fire in any arc. I think a gunner can only fire 2 guns per turn? Can we have two gunners? Or 4? Piloting is good for both guns and flying >:3

Also 5 cargo bays. Dunno if that's helpful for exploring. I'd rather have a medbay, but w/e.

edit: Also, I almost forgot: amusingly sensors are limited to 5 range increments and guns are limited to 10 range increments. So the guns and sensors are all 50-hex range, which is nice xD

with this setup we can output 4d4 + 2d8 worth of beam weapons in three different arcs :D

I got no problem with trying to fire the guns, but some of the Chief Mate actions sound like they'd be quite helpful, and my athletics check is pretty solid! Both ships sound pretty cool, but the 'roided out transport sounds like it'd be pretty solid!

Well, there's the big question: What kind of mobility DO we need to begin with? Maybe GM could weight in on that question - do we need drift engines? 200 PCU for a fold gate?

If we drop the Med Bay on the Explorer, we could get a "Signal Basic" Drift Engine, as well as a forward small laser cannon as backup (or upgrade the shields to 50).

I would like to say that there are some differences as well:

Both Laser Cannon and Gyrolaser are short-range. And firing a second weapon is a -4 penalty if I remember right.

So at 11 Distance, all the shots would be at -8 to roll. (not arbitrarily choosen - if we win piloting, my intent was that even if the enemy closes, we can use the 10 speed to get to 11 range so they have more penalties shooting us with short - range weaponry)
Meanwhile, the Coil Gun will fire without penalty(single shot, long range) up to 20 distance, even at the max sensor range of 50, it would only be a -4 modifier.

Also, transport has less maneuverability(Turn 2 instead of Turn 1 for Explorer - the +1 piloting is minor).

Finally, besides needing two people as gunners, it also weakens stuff like Engineer "overcharging" the gun.
Because the Coil Gun does 4d4 damage, every 1 counting as a 2 is much stronger than boosting a single laser.

So, with the Explorer:
20 range x 4d4 damage, single shot, all arcs
10 speed with turn possible every hex
50 Shield Points(11/11/11/17)?
HP 55 (increment 10); CT 11
Drift Engine

With the Transport
5 range x 2d4 damage, two guns, all arcs
5 range x 1d8, two guns, 3 forwards arcs
8 speed with turn every other hex
20 Shield Points(5/5/5/5)?
HP 70 (increment 15); CT 14
Fold Gates

(If you don't take the -4 penalty to shoot twice, no matter if you fire the two lasers or the two gyros, you need two gunners to do the same or less damage as with one coil gun. With the Coil, the "second" gunner can instead do another job, like overcharging the coil gun.)
(Funnily enough, a theoretical duel between those showcases my intended strategy - the faster engine allows to stay at the most effective theoretical range, ~37 hexes away, where long range only has one increment penalty, while short range has ~7 increment penalties - the transport can not close, and it cannot flee as it's pelted by coil gun shots - i know there is more to it, but roughly, the concept holds true.)

That, and no science bays on the Transport - while Explorer still has both.
If we drop the science bays as well, then we could up the shields to 50 AND get a forward arc gyro-laser as backup plus upgrade to basic long-range scanners if we really think ship combat will be so important early on before we get a chance to refit.
(so no bays => long range scanners + one gyro laser)

I do see the point with redundancy, and trust me, I'd much prefer having a transport with 2 coil guns turrets, but we simply don't have the BP early on for all we wish for.

The question is really if we expect a lot of Space Combat during our first assignment. Since we are explorers, I considered we might need something that can outrun heavy stuff, or gun down smaller enemies.

Conceptually, the plan was to use the 10 hex speed to get out of close range, then fire the coil gun without penalty.
If we use short-ranged weaponry, we will need to stick close to our enemies -)

Finally, I would like to point out that for the first couple levels, we always receive 20 BP to upgrade further.
So at some point, if we opt for one of the "Turn 2" medium ships, I would upgrade to destroyer - which has more than double the HP of even Transport(150) and much higher CT.
The max amount of weapon mounts is limited by ship size, not class. 5 BP is a new light turret, and we can have 3 max for a medium ship(which is the max we can crew with 6 people without help).
So technically on Level 2 we could get 2 turrets with 1 coil guns and a Micromissile Battery for 2 x 4d4 long range damage plus a tracking array weapon for Circus Missiles against numerous small targets - total cost 10 BP for turret mounts + 9 BP for the weapons. Or upgrade the turret mount to heavy (6 BP), and upgrade the coil gun to a plasma gun for 5d12 medium range damage-
(Or upgrade to destroyer and get heavy weapons at Level 3)
Point being: we have to spend a lot of our 55 BP on basics like Reactor, Engine, and Ship Frame. If we can only make it to Level 2 to get 20 additional BP to play with, it won't REALLY matter what we start out with :)

@Captain: Alyson does not really work well as a Captain to begin with - she's from the lowest social cast. So unless the others are Androids, delinquients and politically inconvenient revolutionaries and the goal is to get rid of us, it's unlikely she would be elevated from shoveling refuse in the recycling tanks to commanding a spaceship :)
So perfectly happy with Pilot - I just pointed out that LATER in the campaign, we may want to revisit the role distribution - maybe it even fits in plot-wise at some point - e.g. if Retri as captain makes a morally right choice that is in contradiction to our orders, then is forced to step down as commander. I think there could be a lot of RP potential - as said, I'm all fine no matter what job, just saying we could take another look down the road and maybe it works out fine.

(Assuming we don't end up as Space Debris because nobody got the BP for Escape Pods)...

@Alyson: the -4 penalty is for a full-round action in normal combat (i.e the same character firing twice), not for two different gunners to each fire a weapon (If I'm not a mistaken a given starship weapon can never be fired more than once per round). In practice I don't think the "keep at max range and whittle the enemy down strategy" really works at all. Sure, theoretically it's sound, but if you can't manage to win the piloting every single round (which isn't very realistic to begin with) it's not really gonna work. Especially if you're fighting multiple enemies, and if they've got long range weapons is pretty pointless. And yes, as you point out the Engineer actions are quite useful - but we can very well have a gunner alternate from Science/Magic to gunning. Just my two cents, though!

But otherwise I like what you've built, and M's as well. We'll have to wait for GM word to see if we need to meet the 200 PCU threshold ourselves before budgeting the rest.

@Raloveg - I misunderstood, then. So a Gunner can fire 2 weapons without a penalty for full-round action?
But could take a penalty to fire one gun twice?
I was under the impression that 4 guns would need 4 gunners, or, if 2 gunners want to fire them(unlinked, as that costs additional BP), they would need to do that -4 thing - if not, how many guns CAN a single gunner fire in a single turn?
(and otherwise, my point should stand: 2 gunners each firing ONE weapon for 1d8 each, or 2d4 each, is equal in damage output to 1 gunner firing a 4d4 weapon. 2d8 = 2*4.5 = 9, 4d4 = 4*2.5 = 10 - so both 2 gunners firing a light laser or one gunner firing a coil should do an average 10 damage. Unless engineer boosts one gun in which case coil should win - or Ränge is not short in which case coil also should win.).
That is, I figured 4 guns sound nice in theory but we can't really make use of them in a useful way, and only firing 2 of them will not at all increase our damage output while forcing one additional person to be a gunner.
All they seemed to add is redundancy, and I wondered if that is worth loosing e.g. the science labs over.

@Need to win piloting: Please elaborate - even if I lose piloting and need to go first, I could simply speed away 10 hexes from the enemy? Then it's his turn, if he gives pursuit, he only catches up the difference of speed, and if he breaks off, he is still within long range - but as said, I lack experience in the system so these questions are honest - please show me what I missed or where my logic breaks down :)

@Multiple enemies: If we are fighting multiple enemies with long range weaponry at Level 1, I think it won't make much difference if we are outfitted with multiple short-range guns. Or I don't really see that making much difference. Not being sarcastic, I just really think in that case we could be well advised to surrender and try to resolve things in some way not involving space combat.

As said, sorry if it sounds forward, I am really just trying to learn the mechanics before they are put to the test in a situation where our lives may depend on it.
As I said, as long as we survive Level 1, we should be fine no matter what we start out with if we get to refit - so no strong feelings on what we go for.
But I considered things or discarded ideas and would like to understand where my logic was flawed. So really just trying to learn, not "argue my point" for arguments sake. Just clarifying as it can be hard to transmit intent in a written argument.

Sorry, I misunderstood the part about the penalty. You're totally right: with 4 weapons we'd need four gunners as well. I thought you were saying that 2 guns / 2 gunners would have a -4 penalty. My bad.

Once again, this is highly subjective, but here are my thoughts:

@Piloting: this is assuming nothing is preventing us from keeping at range in the first place. RAW the GM might roll for enemy placement, which could very well place them close to us at the start of combat. Or they could pop out from behind space debris. Or hazards could prevent us from getting away. Or there could be multiple enemies surrounding us, and we'd be hard pressed to get away from them all. Or the enemies could have better thrusters than we do. Or we could fail a stunt check and move at half speed. In cases like this if we manage to win the piloting we'd be in an okay position, but if we fail it the plan falls apart in some measure. You're right in that, if we manage to do it every single time it's not a bad strategy at all; but since it's highly unlikely that we'll be able to apply it every single combat, personally I'd rather not stake everything on it.

@Multiple enemies: totally agree with you there. The multiple enemies thing was mostly an addition to the previous paragraph. But yeah, if we're outnumbered and outranged we might wanna look to surrender anyway ^^

And likewise, I do hope I don't sound too forward - really not my intent. I'm by no means an expert at starship combat, but I've done a fair share and am open to discussing things. I agree with you, it's hard to clarify online :)

@Gunnery: Ah, good, so I didn't completely misread :)

@Piloting: Aye, I am really curious how it works out. It's also why I figured the Turn 1 or Turn 2 might make a difference, but I don't know if there's a lot of "obstacles" like space debris so that tight turns might make a difference if your weapon is omnidirectional.
Mostly I figured I could use it to maneuver the arc with most shields left towards the enemy.
I know little about hazards, but I would think if we are surrounded we'd also want to 'break through' at some point which more speed and maneuverability should help with.
Hence also the stuff about better thrusters - outgun smaller stuff and outrun larger ones...regarding the stunts - many of those who limit speed are those you'd need in the clumsier vessels(like slide - ), I would probably "default" to Evade, which I can't fail at -5 without further penalties, so worst case, we'd move normal, best case, thats another +2 to AC(in addition to range penalties).

And no, you sound perfectly fine :)
I just figured since I am "arguing back" and dwelling on the points, it may come across too 'aggressive' which is not the intent.
As said, first time, so I hardly know what to expect. Honestly, I figured we'll be dispatched towards some planet to check out and mostly do an "away mission" on the ground to begin with, explore some alien ruin inhabited by aggressive critters or something - then space combat may be relevant later and in the beginning we'd make more use of laboratories to do our survey/cataloguing job than of additional weaponry.
But if Space Combat is a thing from the get-go then it certainly seems desirable to make sure we're not annihilated before we even reach our destination.
I suppose some additional background information for the universe may help, there. :)
I just went with an idea based on the job description, not trying to maximize combat performance-

Default is that we need 200pcu to enter a fold gate.
"Something something gate draws power from the ship."

It's only -7bp from the 130pcu core, though. Shouldn't be too hard to remove stuff to make the explorer work.
As much as I love long range guns, though, I think we'll want at least a 2bp laser cannon for backup xD

Well, there's the big question: What kind of mobility DO we need to begin with? Maybe GM could weight in on that question - do we need drift engines? 200 PCU for a fold gate?

You need 200 PCU for a fold gate.

@Alyson: all good. I also am partial to the Explorer with M10 thrusters for that reason: if we face some big ship we'll have a much easier time running away and maneuvering.

But yeah, it really depends on if we're gonna encounter a lot of space combat early on. I'd also go with the more "flavorful" scientific expedition approach... But I might have had a few situations where we nearly got wiped as a result of not having enough weaponry, so call me paranoid ^^

As for space combat, I've exclusively played Starfinder Society scenarios so far, but even then they can be incredibly diverse. I've had a map where there was a huge asteroid wall where we could crash, one with asteroids that moved each turn, one with a giant gravitational field threatening to pull us in, one with enemy turrets hidden in space debris until you got close enough... And some maps that were completely empty. So it really depends on how the GM is gonna run this, but being ready for multiple scenarios never hurts I guess.

Science officers can cause a single gun to glitch. We don't want that single gun to be all our guns. Probably don't want it to be most of our firepower either... though maybe low tier enemies never use such an ability?

edit: I just checked some maths. Is Aonsrd wrong about coilguns costing 10BP? :o
If it only costs 6BP, then I agree that we should get a coilgun.
We should also get a rear facing gyrolaser though :P
Also, Alyson has a very good point about speed. We should have at most 3 guns and get the M12 engines xD

Also, I realized that starfinder ships are pretty simple, so I added a sheet to keep track of ship things:
spreadsheet

edit2 to avoid double post:
@GM: will we be able to just swap out ships easily? :3
That would make saving a couple of BP on the frame much more tempting...

Spreadsheet is a good idea. Do you mind if I make a second sheet in there, so I can toy around without messing up your build?

So, here's what we know so far:

- We need a 200 PCU core. As M pointed out, Nova Heavy is our best bet, because the name is awesome and we won't have to buy a new one if we eventually upgrade to a bigger ship.

- Sounds like we wanna go with fast thrusters, so either M10 or M12. I'd suggest letting Alyson pick, because she's gonna be the one maneuvering the ship.

- We need at the very least two weapons. Sounds like we want at least a long range turret. The rest is still to figure out exactly.

Does that sound about right? So we need to work out our base frame (either Explorer or Transport from what I gather) and weapons first, then we can see what else we can get with the remaining BP.

updated permissions ^^
If you want to mess with anything, please make a copy first ^^
12+20+10 for the coil gun gets us to 42 without engines or scanners.
6 for the engines is 48, which we really do want if we're going long range. Need best odds of picking our favorite range
Still need at least one gyrolaser for 51 (maybe 50 if we think M10 engines or a 2BP laser cannon is good enough)
At this point we have no shields and no sensors. We could get 1BP sensors and 2BP shields... leaving 1 BP for labs?

Ah, aye, the Sheffield releases the Fold Gates - I was caught off guard by them being fixed-point transitions which at first seemed counterintuitive to exploring (since someone already needs to have been there and could have explored, only dropping a gate if it was worthwhile).

That said, yeah, no medical lab then.

Regarding Power Core, one question: How do e.g. shield operate - if they are off and turned on, do they have to "recharge" up to strenght or are they instantly full unless they were previously drained?
If the former, then it may be worthwhile to go for a 250 PCU core so that we can keep at least the shields running during the transmission - as the fold gates are physical objects, they seem very likely to draw ambushers or potential attackers.

As for the glitching stuff - could you explain how science officers do that? I only found "Target System" which simply makes the critical range 19-20 - and ensures a certain system is affected IF a crit is scored.

But if a critical is scored on Weapons array, then the text reads: "Weapons array: Randomly determine one arc containing weapons; condition applies to all gunner actions using weapons in that arc (a turret counts as being in all arcs)"
So basically all turrets AND all guns of a certain arc are being glitched(which only causes -2 on checks) - so more turrets would not help, we'd want to have weapons spread across different arcs?
And does that occur enough to make it likely stuff gets wrecked?

I made another design based on that, with a 250 PCU core and 2 broad arc lasers on port and starboard.
That means both can fire front and back(with -2 penalty) albeit at short range only.
I mean, if that "Weapon Glitch" tactic is common, then turrets are the weakest element since no matter which arc is choosen randomly, they are ALWAYS affected...

It seems we cannot truly afford laboratories/medbay etc in the beginning, with all the "musts" and the more urgent "needs", they are just "nice to haves" that we cannot afford.

double checking the science officer entry, I can't find it either. Must've been some ship part that I read and forgot about. We should consider getting it after we level up xD

As for a core above 200, I doubt that'll be necessary, but it's up to the GM xD
Also, I'm kind of hoping we can spare a single BP for a general lab, but even that is difficult xD

I mean if we're an exploration vessel, then having a lab seems kind of like a must have. I'll be perfectly honest, this is my first foray into Starfinder and I'm a bit confused by ship stuff, but I'll figure it out.

Hopefully we will have chances to upgrade later. More BP down the line. Really we just need to start with something that will get us where we need to go. I imagine it would be hobble together for our first outing till we prove ourselves.

As for Science Officer, being able to direct the system being hit is nice, but I don't think it's an assumed tactic. In my experience, Scanning and Balancing of the shields is the main tactic.. With a bit of focused attacks hoping for a 19 or 20.

Again, down for whatever you all come up with. I don't have the bandwidth to come up with the ship, and I am happy to find a place within the ship to be useful :)

So, have you decided on a ship, or do you need more time?

It's true that a lab is pretty mandatory for such an expedition, even if our budget is pretty short. If I had to vote right now, I'd go with Alyson's 200 PCU design (So Explorer w/ Nova Heavy), but replacing either the M12 thrusters with M10, the budget-medium sensors with budget-short, or the coilgun with a fixed weapon, to be able to afford a lab bay. Any thoughts?

I'd lean towards Alyson's 200 PCU version of the ship - it gives us the option of long-range firepower, and we can add expansion bays later.

I've done some minor tweaking to Retri's sheet so that piloting is an option. Plus it's an easier Encourage check to apply those +2 bonuses.

sounds good. It was built with a 6BP coilgun though. so minus the 8BP medbay and upgrading 130 to 200, that'd be either +1 BP or -3 BP, depending on if the coilgun is 10BP or 6BP.

We could also get a BP by trading the two labs for one generic lab, if needed :3

I don't know if Retri was referring to the same design as I was, but actually I meant the 200 PCU build that's in your spreadsheet, not the one she first posted here :p But yeah, I do agree that a general science lab would be better.
Just checked in the CRB, and the Coilgun really is 6 BP, not 10.

I'll have to send a message to the aonsrd webmaster or something then. That pretty much makes that the best light mountable gun. Unless you need point defense?
Makes me think most encounters can't be at longer distances xD

Checking up on it, it looks like the Starfinder errata did up the cost of coilguns and some of the heavy weapons, so the Archives of Nethys cost will be the right one.

Unfortunately the errata page itself is down at the moment, so I can't see what other important changes there may have been to the rules in the book. It does sound like the difficulty calculations for crew actions were changed so that they're more achievable at higher levels.

Ah, that's a bummer. By downgrading M12 to M10, 40 shields to 30, and budget-medium to budget-short sensors we'd be looking at:

but we're still 2 points over our budget. We'll either need to downgrade the Coilgun, further downgrade the shields, or drop the second weapon altogether. Downgrading the Coilgun could allow us to get back M12 and better shields/sensors, but we'd have to fight at short range for the time being. Unless there's an option I'm not seeing.

You should be able to figure it out.