I have CT, and have been looking at them, as well as some other postings for playing a bit of space combat with the smaller vessels, e.g. free traders, far traders, close escorts, fighters, etc.
I've run across a number of damage variants listed for battles with the smaller starships, ship's boats, and fighters.
So, I'm curious as to which combat damage rules people like best, for these smaller vessels (CT, MT, High Guard, T5, etc.), with the following points I'm interested in:
1. primarily seeking wargaming rules, for battles with just the ships, and not so much individual RPG attributes modifying the combat outcomes;
2. determining which hits only damage the surface of a vessel, and which penetrate (I don't see any rules for that, other than for armored vessels, but would like to include them – perhaps giving all vessels at least a 1 Armor rating?);
3. having the percentage chance for damage location mimic that of the different vessels (I've seen some where they do this based upon tonnage allocated to various things, like: bridge, fuel tanks, maneuver drives, cargo holds, etc., as a percentage of the overall vessel's size); and,
4. having critical hit chances as well. One of the combat results tables listed more criticals, e.g. engines permanently damaged, etc., since it was either a D10 table, or a 2D6 one, which provided a wider variety of options than the 1D6 critical hit chart.
In one of the battle damage accounts, it appears that each successful hit knocked out 1 ton of whatever area it hit (missiles did 1D6 tons of damage, for each hit).
I don't recall seeing any spaceship combat battle damage examples in the LBBs of CT, so am wondering how people handle the above.
Depending upon which battle report I read, and/or version of the rules, there are a number of discrepencies, e.g. in CT, only one missile, OR one sandcaster charge can be fired per 16.7 minute turn (even if it is a triple turret, apparently), per turret. That seems a little slow to me.
However, the rules do state if you have more excess power, two pulse or beam laser shots can be fired per 16.7 minute turn.
In other accounts I've read, it appears that each weapon of a turret can be fired once/turn (perhaps some even permit all the ready-rack ammo from a turret to be fired in a turn, before reloading), say, a triple turret can fire two missiles and one sandcaster charge in a turn (or, six missiles and three SC charges in a turn, since that's what the ready-racks hold).
That seems to make a bit more sense to me, since otherwise, why have a triple turret, if you can only fire one barrel/turn, anyway?
So, how many missiles, sandcaster charges, and/or laser shots do you permit each multi-barreled turret to fire, per turn?
I've also seen conflicting info on the missiles, and the damage they do. In the CT LBB rules, it states that when a missile hits its target, it does 1D6 damage, and that you roll for each DP achieved to determine the hit locations (as many as six are possible from a single missile strike, if you roll well).
In another rules battle account I've read, all damage from a single missile (again 1D6) is allocated to the same location, in terms of tons subtracted from the vessel, and if more damage is done than tonnage is present, then any additional DPs spill over into an adjacent area.
Finally, when crew casualties occur, do you assume all the crew are killed (assuming perhaps they weren't wearing vacc suits), or do you roll 1D6, or 2D6 to determine the number of casualties?
I don't see any mention of that in the rules, other than that if an explosive decompression occurs in a section the crew are occupying, those wearing not wearing vacc suits may die, if they don't get them on in time (must roll a skill check and succeed to avoid death).
So, how do you handle crew casualties?
Any recommendations on which variant(s) of Traveller for small, RPG-scale spaceship battles are appreciated (perhaps a vessel or three per side, and/or three to four fighters, if that is a good number, vs. a vessel, or three).
Looking for a decent level of interesting play, but without it being too onerous to conduct, primarily with vessels of 1,000 – 1,200 tons, or less, and most being in the 30 – 400 ton range, I suspect.
May end up converting some, or all of the above stats over the Full Thrust, for simplicity.
