I think the game will be more exciting if the PC has a ship to begin with. He's broke so it will be hard to hire a crew. On the other hand, the rules say you need a minimum of three crew to safely execute a drill, so why not grab two more and hit the minimum for a Patrol Boat? I have never really played a SWN game in anything other than a Free Merchant. Let's spice it up a bit. Sacrificing potential cargo space for more weaponry opens up some potential for space combat without completely limiting the trade option.
The lore of the setting is that it's about 20 years since the end of the Colony War between the United Colonies and the Freestar Collective. We'll say both sides have a surplus of ships that they don't need now that the war is over. Also, both polities have interest in getting some warships patrolling the trade lanes since piracy is a problem. To make this easy, we'll say my PC lives in the United Colonies. Trusted civilians in the UC can join the Vanguard and assist the UC Navy.
"Members of the Vanguard are civilians who use their personal ships to protect the United Colonies and its interests, serving in security, logistical, and reconnaissance roles."
I'll use this as an excuse to kit out the ship reasonably well to begin with, and then we'll figure out a plausible way to get it my PC's hands with no money down!
Ship building thread
Re: Ship building thread
I really need to read the rules before making these sorts of decisions. It will be prohibitively difficult to (by the book) maintain a Patrol Boat and pay the crew as a level 1 PC. I think I need to downgrade my ambitions a bit and stick with a Free Merchant. I don't want to fudge the rules too badly.
Re: Ship building thread
Turns out the tradeoffs you need to make with a ship that has only 10 Power makes this a relatively short exercise.
If you take both a Sandthrower and a Multifocal Laser, there's 8 Power right there. Once you do that, you're practically locked into a Drive-1. You could take a Drive-2 but you're out of power so no Fuel Scoop for you. I think we'll try it and see how limiting a Drive-1 is.
Since cost is theoretically no object here, I'm taking both an Armory and a Ship's Locker. Both have no Power cost. Since my PC is at Fix-1, I will splurge on a Workshop, which eats 1 of my remaining 2 Power points.
Atmospheric Configuration costs only Mass, not Power, so we'll go with that rather than a Ship's Tender to land planetside. Fuel Bunkers also cost only Mass, not Power, so we'll take one of those. We can now make a jump and jump back without having to worry about refueling in between.
Nothing else looks interesting, at least among the choices that cost only 1 Power, so we'll take 9 Cargo to max out our Mass.
I need to convert the Starfield galaxy map into a SWN hex map. I may revisit the Free Merchant vs Patrol Boat decision if I see my travel options limited by system distance. Or else I focus on Ship mods.
EDIT: I guess I could always drop the Sandthrower and repurpose that 3 Power.
If you take both a Sandthrower and a Multifocal Laser, there's 8 Power right there. Once you do that, you're practically locked into a Drive-1. You could take a Drive-2 but you're out of power so no Fuel Scoop for you. I think we'll try it and see how limiting a Drive-1 is.
Since cost is theoretically no object here, I'm taking both an Armory and a Ship's Locker. Both have no Power cost. Since my PC is at Fix-1, I will splurge on a Workshop, which eats 1 of my remaining 2 Power points.
Atmospheric Configuration costs only Mass, not Power, so we'll go with that rather than a Ship's Tender to land planetside. Fuel Bunkers also cost only Mass, not Power, so we'll take one of those. We can now make a jump and jump back without having to worry about refueling in between.
Nothing else looks interesting, at least among the choices that cost only 1 Power, so we'll take 9 Cargo to max out our Mass.
I need to convert the Starfield galaxy map into a SWN hex map. I may revisit the Free Merchant vs Patrol Boat decision if I see my travel options limited by system distance. Or else I focus on Ship mods.
EDIT: I guess I could always drop the Sandthrower and repurpose that 3 Power.
Re: Ship building thread
I found a map of the systems in Starfield. It conveniently measures distance by Light Years and also breaks them down into three groups: <16 LY, 16-22 LY, and 22+ LY (this is because the first ship you get in the game has a range of 16 LY).
I think I will convert that to SWN such that <16 LY is a one hex jump, 16-22 is two hexes, and 22+ is three hexes. If I make it to the point that I'm exploring really far away from the home system, I may add some granularity to the 22+ grouping, but this should work for now.
This means that Drive-1 should be more than enough for most of the game, unless I decide to explore deeper into the known galaxy (the Starfield universe has 100 systems outlined).
I think I will convert that to SWN such that <16 LY is a one hex jump, 16-22 is two hexes, and 22+ is three hexes. If I make it to the point that I'm exploring really far away from the home system, I may add some granularity to the 22+ grouping, but this should work for now.
This means that Drive-1 should be more than enough for most of the game, unless I decide to explore deeper into the known galaxy (the Starfield universe has 100 systems outlined).
Re: Ship building thread
I'm going to amuse myself by building out the Patrol Boat Adam just obtained. Let's hope it's still there when he returns with a new Spike Drive.
Money is not an object for me when building it out but I don't want to spend a ton of money because I am paying for upkeep.
Atmospheric Configuration (50k, 0/15 Power, 2/10 Mass)
Drive-2 Upgrade (100k, 2/15 Power, 4/10 Mass)
Smuggler's Hold (25k, 2/15 Power, 5/10 Mass)
Survey Sensor Array (50k, 4/15 Power, 6/10 Mass)
Plasma Beam (700k, 9/15 Power, 8/10 Mass, 2/4 Hardpoints)
Sandthrower (50k, 12/15 Power, 9/10 Mass, 3/4 Hardpoints)
We'll use the last point of Mass to add 20 tons of cargo space.
2,500,000 base cost plus 975,000 in fittings equals a total of 3,475,000 cr.
Six month maintenance cost is 5%, or 173,750 cr.
Money is not an object for me when building it out but I don't want to spend a ton of money because I am paying for upkeep.
Atmospheric Configuration (50k, 0/15 Power, 2/10 Mass)
Drive-2 Upgrade (100k, 2/15 Power, 4/10 Mass)
Smuggler's Hold (25k, 2/15 Power, 5/10 Mass)
Survey Sensor Array (50k, 4/15 Power, 6/10 Mass)
Plasma Beam (700k, 9/15 Power, 8/10 Mass, 2/4 Hardpoints)
Sandthrower (50k, 12/15 Power, 9/10 Mass, 3/4 Hardpoints)
We'll use the last point of Mass to add 20 tons of cargo space.
2,500,000 base cost plus 975,000 in fittings equals a total of 3,475,000 cr.
Six month maintenance cost is 5%, or 173,750 cr.