I'd say a recreation bay has commercial value for passenger transport. Depending on how much the GM wants to simulate supply and demand, it allows you to charge higher fares or you're just getting higher paying passengers. I don't recall any actual rules for this. I'd say just increase fares by 50%. A recreation bay strikes me as more than low-end market but still short of mid market prices.
Mechanically: no advantage (in rules as written)
There's also no advantage for better crew quarters. But I bought them anyway. I agree that I would prefer BPs had a mechanical benefit generally, but sometimes a little RP is fun too.
It is a roleplaying item with roleplaying usages. You have it because you want the roleplaying benefits. Haven't you ever seen a holodeck episode of Star Trek? The Cosmic Crit podcast did an entire special episode about their recreation suite.
If all you care about is mechanical benefits, they put it in basic ships like the Sunrise Maiden so that you can replace it with something else built to order, like a medical bay.
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The mechanical advantage is that your entire party arrives alive at the end of a 30 day trip, instead of killing the most annoying member en route. An extra character is a big advantage.
Mechanically there isn't one. Your entire party can sleep in a filing cabinet bathe in the water fountain (or not at all) and stare at the computer screen for 16 hours a day.
But unless your DM is running some killer starship combats you have build points to spare. Against the published ships we made our own ships and.. didn't take hull damage after that from level 5 to 12.
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Very unlikely. Player designed ships roflcopter the encounters.
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I don’t think you need a trivid den or a HAC to avoid going crazy. Heck, I can watch movies on my phone in bed or read books, and I’m sane enough for most things. The real benefit is the “holodeck episode” potential and as activities the whole crew can do together, for roleplaying. I dont think you need to give your crew space madness because they don’t pretend to be Sherlock Holmes together
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I don’t think you need a trivid den or a HAC to avoid going crazy. Heck, I can watch movies on my phone in bed or read books, and I’m sane enough for most things. The real benefit is the “holodeck episode” potential and as activities the whole crew can do together, for roleplaying. I dont think you need to give your crew space madness because they don’t pretend to be Sherlock Holmes together
Well, much as someone from the 1800s coukd entertain themselves for 3 weeks with a block of wood and a knife but you d probably go crazy, someone from after gap has gotten used to full body videogames and such simple entertainment gets boring.
Or at least thats what i m writing on the receipt for mine as a preventative mental ilness expense
Do you not know the potential of an HAC? Fly your level 1 butts to the BBEG's base, spend time battling/investigating/adventuring in the HAC along the way, arrive as level 20s and kick his butt! :D
You could imstead make it a bonus, so you re not punishing the players
There's more to using it for training than just a positive or negative. It can be programmed with a large array of combat encounters that can be used to practice with.
Say you're going to a water planet. You could program it to be filled with water and practice combat while under water. Different tactics. Just combat scenario after combat scenario until not only the characters are trained, but the players themselves.
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There's more to using it for training than just a positive or negative. It can be programmed with a large array of combat encounters that can be used to practice with.
Say you're going to a water planet. You could program it to be filled with water and practice combat while under water. Different tactics. Just combat scenario after combat scenario until not only the characters are trained, but the players themselves.
or, as the Rogue Exposure podcast is exploring, have your Starfinder characters playtest Pathfinder 2nd edition.
If I were feeling like being especially mean, I'd treat prolonged life onboard a spaceship without proper recreational opportunities as a Mental Disease. Call it "Space Sickness" or "Stir Crazy". I'd probably replace the comatose and dead states with states of periodic and constant confusion, which on a spaceship would be even worse.
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Tbh, it’s basically a roleplay thing. Because while a spaceship does have mechanics attached and could be optimized *more*, having a recreation suite makes the ship that your PCs spend 80% of their lives on feel like a home, rather than just another weapon that they happen to sleep in. Besides, as mentioned above, it can serve as oneshot fodder, justification for retraining or training sinulations for practice, and, heck, *not* having one on a long-term bessel probably violates some workers rights bylaw in Pact World space :)
This debate sounds a lot like corporate America cutting benefits at the expense of its employees.
CEO, "Our employees don't need a break room for lunch. That break room isn't earning our shareholders any money. Let's just make our employees eat at their desks. Better yet, let's just eliminate lunch all together. We can increase productivity by having them work the extra hour."
It might not have a numerical value, but if I was on a ship, I'd definitely prefer to have it.
Its not safe for work, but if you google the life and times of a holodeck janitor you ll get a good laugh
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Every time your party TPKs in a real game, the GM can simply say "Simulation terminated. Better luck next time." in a computerized voice before putting all the characters in the HAC room, still in route to their destination. :D
A narrative reset or save point in other words.
For those looking for bonuses, I would treat any groups training together in the gym or HAD as though they had played that chess game knockoff from the Armory.
I have a couple of diseases which come into play during long journeys which can be avoided with buying Good/Luxury quarters & recreational suites.
Cabin Fever & Space Scurvy.
I also developed rules for food/water supplies as being able to skip the vital function of eating reduces some risk.
if theres 2 plus ysoki on board theres always another way to pass the time...
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if theres 2 plus ysoki on board theres always another way to pass the time...
I am not sure what you're suggesting, but I'm not sure I like the implication. Chess is very boring!
Cheek. Pouches.
I doubt that not having a recreation bay is anything like not having any entertainment. Even the crappiest ship based computer probably has many times the processing power of any thing currently in existence, throw in a cheap (by starfinder standards) VR rig and you are looking a "Ready Player One" levels of VR. Or you could just watch movies or play traditional 2d video games. The way I see it a recreation bay would only be needed for group activities like sports.
I doubt that not having a recreation bay is anything like not having any entertainment. Even the crappiest ship based computer probably has many times the processing power of any thing currently in existence, throw in a cheap (by starfinder standards) VR rig and you are looking a "Ready Player One" levels of VR. Or you could just watch movies or play traditional 2d video games. The way I see it a recreation bay would only be needed for group activities like sports.
Right but that would be like you trying to pass 3 weeks playing pong.
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"Has anyone seen any advantage to having one?"
The same advantage the money spent of computer/console games has provided in the lives of the people on this forum, mostly...
I doubt that not having a recreation bay is anything like not having any entertainment. Even the crappiest ship based computer probably has many times the processing power of any thing currently in existence, throw in a cheap (by starfinder standards) VR rig and you are looking a "Ready Player One" levels of VR. Or you could just watch movies or play traditional 2d video games. The way I see it a recreation bay would only be needed for group activities like sports.Right but that would be like you trying to pass 3 weeks playing pong.
Or, you know, like reading a book, which people still do, and have a fine time doing today, despite their being movies, VR, and the like. :P
If I were feeling like being especially mean, I'd treat prolonged life onboard a spaceship without proper recreational opportunities as a Mental Disease. Call it "Space Sickness" or "Stir Crazy". I'd probably replace the comatose and dead states with states of periodic and constant confusion, which on a spaceship would be even worse.
This is a great idea, I think.
You could imstead make it a bonus, so you re not punishing the players
and this improves it.
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I do want to point out that while the sentiment that “access to new technologies doesn’t devalue the old” is technically true, the issue is that each new iteration is broader in its ability to entertain. I.e. a book has less ability to entertain than a tablet with a whole library of books. Likewise, while your character’s laptop (which, btw, has no internet connection in the Drift other than what your characters thought to download in advance) is a good tool to pass the time, a room that you can program with millions of different experience simulations is infinitely more entertaining/useful.
Then consider that being aboard a relatively small space for days at a time may (scratch that, emporically does) have mentally compromising effects, the idea of having a room on your ship that can provide the illusion of open spaces, atmosphere-filtered sunlight, or hell, even experiential variety if scenary is quite handy. And unlike a VR headset, which there are at present no rules for and may have limitations (like needing to be connected to an infosphere or something eith a lot of processing power), a HAC is better suited for resolving the aforementioned issues. Plus, it means no one has to buy a VR rig with their own money. It’s still a good tool to have, even if there is no explicitly stated benefit. If nothing else, a gym would be a good idea. But removing a public space for entertainment or other interation aboard your ship for yet another storage bay is a very munchkin-y perspective. Yes, no mechanical benefits, but it is also a really troubling state of mind were you designing a starship IRL. Come on, even Weyland-Yutani had a communal kitchen at the bare minimum
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I'm thinking of a simple house rule wherein if you have a recreational suite on your starship, then after any trip lasting at least a day, you gain a +1 morale bonus you may choose to apply to any one Will save you roll within 24 hours of disembarking, due to generally keeping your mind fresh and rested.
(Alternatively, for a touch more complexity, the +1 morale bonus could be applied to a saving throw determined by the kind of suite being used: Fortitude for a gym or similar exercise area, Will for a trivid den or similar passive entertainment area, or Reflex for a vidgame arcade or similar interactive entertainment area.)