Hello, I was working on calculating out the full underlying stat block for the Oliphant, so that my gaming group could work on upgrading it.
Unfortunately, I found a problem with this: The Oliphant's initial configuration is using 27 more PCU than its reactor generates! On top of this, the reactor listed (Pulse Black), can't actually be installed on ships of the Oliphant's size (Medium) in the first place!
While this should be relatively straightforward to fix by just giving the ship a larger power core to start, I was wondering if there was anything intentional going on with it, or if this is just an oversight. Some of it is that the ship's thrusters aren't listed in its block: By working backward from its speed it can be determined to have M12 thrusters, which are actually consuming a whopping 80 PCU.
Going by the numbers for a Tier 3 starship:
Pulse Green power core (guessing the 'Pulse Black' is a typo; 15 BP, generates 150 PCU)
M12 thrusters (6 BP, use 80 PCU)
Mk 1 armor (3 BP)
Basic computer (0 BP, uses 0 PCU)
Common crew quarters (0 BP)
Mk 3 defenses (4 BP, use 2 PCU)
Signal Basic drift engine (6 BP, min. 75 PCU)
Expansion Bays: arcane laboratory (1 BP, uses 1 PCU), null-space cargo hold (2 bays; ? BP, uses ? PCU), recreation suite/HAC (1 BP, uses 3 PCU), tech workshop (1 BP, uses 3 PCU)
Security: no additional systems
Basic medium-rage sensors (5 BP)
Medium 90 shields (13 BP, uses 30 PCU)
Weapons: high explosive missile launcher (forward arc; 4 BP, uses 10 PCU), chain cannon (turret; 15 BP, uses 15 PCU)
Totals: 89 BP, 144 PCU for non-drift use/139 PCU with thrusters down and drift engine on; with a guestimate of 6 BP for the null-space cargo hold, that puts the ship at 95 BP out of 95 for Tier 3.
Hello, I was working on calculating out the full underlying stat block for the Oliphant, so that my gaming group could work on upgrading it.
Unfortunately, I found a problem with this: The Oliphant's initial configuration is using 27 more PCU than its reactor generates! On top of this, the reactor listed (Pulse Black), can't actually be installed on ships of the Oliphant's size (Medium) in the first place!
While this should be relatively straightforward to fix by just giving the ship a larger power core to start, I was wondering if there was anything intentional going on with it, or if this is just an oversight. Some of it is that the ship's thrusters aren't listed in its block: By working backward from its speed it can be determined to have M12 thrusters, which are actually consuming a whopping 80 PCU.
Currently running this AP myself. My interpretation is, since this is still a test model, they've got an undersized power core (it's so small it's not even rated for a Medium ship) because they're only really testing the internal systems (namely, the null-space cargo holds). The power core has enough power to cover the thrusters and the shields, which is probably all they really need for a flight test. The players don't actually get into any starship combat until after they level up to 4, and can swap out the power core, so there shouldn't be an issue until then.
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It's hilariously broke but I took the undersized power core as a story point, as CQ mentioned
My group doesn't do a lot of starship combat so it's been a while since I've looked at this, but my general impression was that the power core only needed to be able to power what was operating at a given moment. So with certain things (notably say, your drift drive and your thrusters, or your drift drive and your weapons array) that aren't going to be operating at the same time, you can aggregate over the max power of your core. You can't run them all at once, but you're not going to use both drives at the same time anyhow.
Wish I could cite a RAW source for this but I honestly can't remember where it came from off the top of my head.