Jamesonsafari | 04 Mar 2017 9:54 p.m. PST |
Any recommendations? Was looking at Attack Vector, but it seems to only handle 3-4 ships per side. Any recommendation for something with more realistic physics but bigger forces? Used to play Full Thrust and Star Fleet BAttles, but too much like wet navy games. |
DesertScrb | 04 Mar 2017 10:02 p.m. PST |
Squadron Strike is by the same person who created Attack Vector. It might be worth looking at. |
tkdguy | 04 Mar 2017 10:02 p.m. PST |
I use Starmada for my hard SF games. The basic game is 2D and uses hexes, but it includes rules for playing hexless, in 3D, and more with realistic movement. |
Toaster | 04 Mar 2017 11:22 p.m. PST |
You could always use the Full Thrust vector movement system. Robert |
Extra Crispy | 04 Mar 2017 11:23 p.m. PST |
Starship is "2.5D" and designed for bigger forces: link Order a PDF here: link |
nvdoyle | 05 Mar 2017 8:02 a.m. PST |
Voidstriker, by Irrational Designs. Vector with displacement, fuel burns, covers most everything. The designer, Charles Oines, has a bun h of hard-ish ships on his Shapeways store, also called Irrational Designs. |
brass1 | 05 Mar 2017 9:12 a.m. PST |
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emckinney | 05 Mar 2017 11:46 a.m. PST |
What's you're definition of "hard SF"? Just vector movement? Realistically-based weapons and defenses? How many ships is "fleet" size for you? |
Jamesonsafari | 05 Mar 2017 1:36 p.m. PST |
Yes. Realistic vector movement. Realistic weapons and defenses. Around 12 ships. 3-4 battlegroups with a capital ship or a few cruisers with escorts in each kind of thing |
whitphoto | 05 Mar 2017 3:00 p.m. PST |
My very limited experience with squadron strike suggests that it's not suited to 12 ships a side unless you have fists full of players. I like the game, but figuring out shooting arcs and whatnot for 20ish ships a turn would make me eat a pistol. In my opinion, the larger the game the more abstract you want to go… |
Woofin | 05 Mar 2017 3:49 p.m. PST |
Hey I really like the look of the Voidstriker minis. I'll check out the rules. Thanks! |
Jamesonsafari | 05 Mar 2017 4:11 p.m. PST |
Free is good I'll have a look at Voidstrike I like his ship models on Shapeways |
wminsing | 05 Mar 2017 4:16 p.m. PST |
Squadron Strike will handle 12 ships a side well if you play 2D; for 3D you need to have 3-4 players a side who know the game very well! -Will |
nvdoyle | 05 Mar 2017 7:19 p.m. PST |
For Voidstriker Hard SF, avoid the two-direction thrusters, and the reactionless ones. Skip the higher level energy weapons as well. Lasers, railguns, and missiles have plenty of options. Add fighters as you see fit. |
emckinney | 06 Mar 2017 12:01 p.m. PST |
Much ground to cover here :) I think the whitphoto is pretty pessimistic about Squadron Strike in 3D. I would never have new players try a 12 v 12 battle out of the box, but the new version 2 AVID Assistant makes tracking 6 v 6 battles fairly simple. link Works fine for 12 v 12 or much larger, but any game starts getting heavy when you get enough ships into it. More info on AA2: link As nvdoyle says, Voidstriker has some very unrealistic bits, but you can edit them out. Atttack Vector, of course, has scientifically-based weapons: lasers work according to real optics and coilguns (linear accelerators) have high efficiency, but require a flight time to the target. Squadron Strike allows you to design your own weapons from scratch, so they can be as realistic or unrealistic as you desire. However, Squadron Strike doesn't have a mechanism for adding the velocities of the firing ship and the target ship to the impact of a kinetic weapon. Depending on the velocity of the projectile, this can make a huge difference (it often does in Attack Vector). I can't think of any other games that take this into account. |
emckinney | 06 Mar 2017 12:05 p.m. PST |
There was some talk about a Rocketpunk module for Squadron Strike with Orion-drive ships. Orion drives toss nukes out the back of the ship for propulsion … you need some pretty big springs between the pusher plate and the hull to make the acceleration survivable. I suspect that engineering those springs would have been the biggest engineering challenge in real life. Anyhow, that setting could have some weird and wonderful weapons. The sort-kinda directed energy "Casaba Howitzer" is my favorite. |
nvdoyle | 06 Mar 2017 3:57 p.m. PST |
Casaba Howitzer + grav tech = Traveller high energy weapons, at least IMTU. :) I've found Voidstriker to be one of the best compromises between playability and realism. SS is, I'm told, good, but I've got no personal experience of it. Still love Full Thrust, though. One of the better 'space boat' games. |
Lion in the Stars | 06 Mar 2017 4:12 p.m. PST |
Anyhow, that setting could have some weird and wonderful weapons. The sort-kinda directed energy "Casaba Howitzer" is my favorite. Those are nuclear shaped charges, cousin to the Orion drive "pellets". Imagine being able to channel 90+% of the force of a nuclear blast in a single narrow arc. Narrow being defined as a fraction of a degree. Throw one of those below the pusher plate and fire. |
wminsing | 07 Mar 2017 12:30 p.m. PST |
I can say for sure the Rocketpunk book is still in works. That's all I can say about it for now though. ;) -Will |
zircher | 02 Dec 2017 8:25 a.m. PST |
Was looking for a set of hard sci-fi rules and found this thread. I checked out Starship! by Flagship Games It's is about as hard as a jello. Enjoyed reading the rules, but I would have to hack over 50% of them, no vector movement, the usual suite of sci-fantasy weapons, 2d movement with altitude bands. Interesting use of armor, kind of like Renegade Legion: Leviathan but lighter. |
adlardmatthew | 02 Dec 2017 1:27 p.m. PST |
Could try 5150 – Star Fighter and 5150 – Star Navy rules. |
Lion in the Stars | 02 Dec 2017 11:48 p.m. PST |
@Zircher: Squadron Strike is good if you want 3d and following Newton's Laws. Designing your own ships is possible but the spreadsheet makes Excel beg for mercy. If you hit up Jovian Chronicles on DriveThruRPG, the First Edition rulebook and the Jovian Chronicles Companion will give you what you need to make your own ships. I strongly recommend using a spreadsheet to design your own ships. |
Darkest Star Games | 11 Dec 2017 3:00 p.m. PST |
I really enjoyed the fist edition of the Jovian Chronicles Lightning Strike game. Felt right, sort of a "submarines in space". Voidstriker is also very good! |