Starships - Dynamics of Power Cores, Shields, Weapons and Ship Tiers

[Shar Tahl]

I am having what seems like a potential issue with a PC starship. I don't see any design flaws with the rules, just an extremely powerful ship build for ship to ship combat.

Here is a breakdown of the major ship components in questions when they were Tier 7:

Power Core: Pulse Orange (250 PCU)
Shields: Heavy Shields/360 (90 points per quadrant)
Weapon: Two Linked Particle Beams (8d6 damage each)

All components on the ship are within the thresholds for Build Points and Power Consumption

This build methodology has proved to be overpowering for all encounters from the modules. For example, the Tier 6 ship enemy had 17 points of shields per quadrant and weapons that could do 3d6 and 2d12 to any one quadrant. So this enemy could do an average of 24 if they hit twice, which would be 4 rounds to punch through the shield. The would receive 40 damage on average from the linked cannons hitting, doing 23 points of hull damage a hit (1st Critical threshold, 2nd and 3rd on the second hit). This enemy had no chance at all.

My question would be, is there a limit per tier on how big a power core and how strong a shield generator a ship can have? This shield for instance that they have is bigger than the one the same Eoxian Battleships use.

[Dragonchess Player]

Shar Tahl wrote:

My question would be, is there a limit per tier on how big a power core and how strong a shield generator a ship can have? This shield for instance that they have is bigger than the one the same Eoxian Battleships use.

There is no explicit limit based on tier. However, there are limits based on the size of the ship for power cores and practical limits based on the number of build points/PCUs when balancing against the other ship systems.

[Ivanatorinnit]

The only limiting factor in building a ship is your size and BP. Shields are probably, IMHO, the most BP efficient way of mitigating damage due to the fact that they:
A. Regenerate over time and in combat (so no UBP cost to repair during downtime).
B. Don't let critical effects through unless they're breached and
C. Aren't particularly bothered by the NPC gunners being literal Munchkins (They're gonna hit at some point regardless of your ships AC/TL investment so why not have more 'health'?).

Compared to AC/TL:
A. If you get hit you get hurt (and therefore need to repair the ship out of your own pocket).
B. If you get crit/take enough damage the negatives to your rolls can place you in everybody's favourite "death spiral" situation which sucks when
C. You probably(definitely) are going to get hit(eventually at least).

Shields are even better when you realise you don't even have to have 90 in each quadrant. I believe the minimum you can leave per quad is 10% of the current shields? So with a little luck you can start every combat with the enemies staring down a huge 144 front, 90 sides and 36 rear that the science officer can adjust before every gunning phase.

The problem is that most of the ships provided by the modules and books seem to be built in a 'Balanced' way e.g: weapons in multiple arcs, variety of defenses, plenty of none combat stuff like medical bays, SECs ETC. When your players spend all of their BP on the comparatively cheap (vs AC/TL investment) HUEG shields with one HUEG linked turret weapon (or front arc weapon with enough engines+pilot skill to always face the enemy) they're probably gonna faceroll most encounters.

Sources: My anecdotal experience as a (slightly) power-gaming player whom enjoys building ships with big shields and big gun.

[Shar Tahl]

Dragonchess Player wrote:

Shar Tahl wrote:

My question would be, is there a limit per tier on how big a power core and how strong a shield generator a ship can have? This shield for instance that they have is bigger than the one the same Eoxian Battleships use.

There is no explicit limit based on tier. However, there are limits based on the size of the ship for power cores and practical limits based on the number of build points/PCUs when balancing against the other ship systems.

Yeah. The power core is the second best a medium frame can handle and the shields do not have any limitations on ship frame. Everything is within build guidelines. The player that is the pilot is doing the ship designs and he is very good at optimizing. From what I see looking ahead, all NPC enemies will be mowed down without any danger.

[Vexies]

Shar Tahl wrote:

Dragonchess Player wrote:

Shar Tahl wrote:

My question would be, is there a limit per tier on how big a power core and how strong a shield generator a ship can have? This shield for instance that they have is bigger than the one the same Eoxian Battleships use.

There is no explicit limit based on tier. However, there are limits based on the size of the ship for power cores and practical limits based on the number of build points/PCUs when balancing against the other ship systems.

Yeah. The power core is the second best a medium frame can handle and the shields do not have any limitations on ship frame. Everything is within build guidelines. The player that is the pilot is doing the ship designs and he is very good at optimizing. From what I see looking ahead, all NPC enemies will be mowed down without any danger.

My advice would be to alter enemy ships in kind. As a GM its up to us to maintain challenge. While some encounters should be trivial to reward the PCs good choices make sure the ones you want to be meaningful have the impact your going for. The rules work for PCs and NPCs alike so up the arms race were needed to keep them in check.

[Shar Tahl]

Vexies wrote:

Shar Tahl wrote:

Dragonchess Player wrote:

Shar Tahl wrote:

My question would be, is there a limit per tier on how big a power core and how strong a shield generator a ship can have? This shield for instance that they have is bigger than the one the same Eoxian Battleships use.

There is no explicit limit based on tier. However, there are limits based on the size of the ship for power cores and practical limits based on the number of build points/PCUs when balancing against the other ship systems.

Yeah. The power core is the second best a medium frame can handle and the shields do not have any limitations on ship frame. Everything is within build guidelines. The player that is the pilot is doing the ship designs and he is very good at optimizing. From what I see looking ahead, all NPC enemies will be mowed down without any danger.

My advice would be to alter enemy ships in kind. As a GM its up to us to maintain challenge. While some encounters should be trivial to reward the PCs good choices make sure the ones you want to be meaningful have the impact your going for. The rules work for PCs and NPCs alike so up the arms race were needed to keep them in check.

I probably should. I tend to sometimes feel altering things to make them harder is being mean, but maybe giving them trivial encounters that just fill time is worse. I am an overly nice GM

[Magyar5]

You can always use their tactics against them. What's good for the player is good for the DM.

[Shar Tahl]

I ended up reducing the armor to free up BP, then boosted the power plant and increased forward weaponry to give it a significant forward punch but left all other weapons as they were. This would give them incentive to keep themselves tactically positioned and give them a decent threat for any errors in tactics or getting one up'd by the opposing pilot.

[Ravingdork]

Wait, I thought it was the PCs who decided how the ship was configured? Are you not trampling over their rightful player agency by doing it yourself?

[Xenocrat]

Yeah, the advice was to change the enemy ships to be better, not dictate the PC ship. Not sure from this response which one happened.