Power Routing (for freighters)

[Whill]

[Pel]

I like it overall with one exception:

[CRMcNeill]

IMO, it's less about the added power generators than it is about the ship systems themselves. In order to run more power through them, you'd have to upgrade ALL the power wiring in the ship, plus upgrade all of the individual systems in order for them to be able to take that much power flowing into them. Now, I don't think all of the power routing involves simply shunting more power into an existing system - a lot of it (sensors, maneuverability, fire control, etc) is likely just routing emergency power to back-up systems that are normally only brought on-line in case of damage.

And it's not like power routing is a huge part of the plot of Star Wars, anyway. The only reason we know it exists is because of throwaway lines from the films. Too much power routing runs the risk of majorly off-setting gameplay; re-route 2D of power to your Space 6 Freighter's engine and it can suddenly keep up with TIE Fighters (the 2E conversion rules had 1D of Speed Code equal to 2 SUs). Whill's objective here is something for a non-pilot Mech or Tech character to be able to do in a space transport battle, so that as many PCs as possible have some way to contribute once all the Piloting, Gunnery and Shield spots are taken. A flight engineer character who can operate power rerouting and damage control systems allows everyone to contribute.
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[Whill]

Well stated, CRM. Thanks.

Pel, in RAW you can't quite modify everything else. Take a look at the shield generators in GG6. It says it is nearly impossible to modify them and gives no rules for doing so. That's actually what I based the statement on about modifying aux power generators.

How I interpret both statements is that is impossible to do with the repair skill alone, and a high difficulty for someone with an advanced starship engineering skill. So difficult (and perhaps expensive) that it is just impractical (yet not absolutely impossible).

But if you want PCs to be able to modify power generators (and shield generators) in your game, go for it. Please feel free to share your rules here.
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[CRMcNeill]

[Whill]

Damage Control sounds like a good optional rule.

As far as moving all system modifications from repair to engineering, I like having at least a little modification available from repair, so capping it at +1D seems better to me. And remember that modifications in RAW are dangerous because of the chance of mishaps happening. I remember the campaign where I implemented mishaps and wouldn't you know, players wisely stopped wanting to modify their ship. I have always recommended replacement with a better system over modification of an existing one. So another possibility is to have both skill options, using repair for modifications with mishaps, or engineering without mishaps.

I think some degree of Jury-Rigging should be allowed suing repair skills because jury-rigging is improper temporary repairs and modifications. Do you have Jury-Rigging rules?
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[CRMcNeill]

I'm looking at it more from an incentive for characters to learn the appropriate Engineering skills. Recall how with Medicine, for example, a character with First Aid could still operate a bacta tank, just at much higher Difficulty. I still think there is room for the repair skills to cover basic repair and maintenance of a blaster or a ship, but the Engineering skills would represent a deeper understanding, like the understanding of how, say, the repulsor-coil on the speeder bike the characters are hauling around in the main hold can be swapped out for the particle thrust guide vane on the ship's ion drive, but it has to be mounted very carefully, and absolutely must be replaced the next time we make port.

So, that deeper understanding would increase the chances of successful (mishap-free) modifications, as well as allowing things like jury-rigging and sabotage.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[Pel]

I like both the damage control and engineering aspects of this thread.

For shield modifications we sometimes used the table outlined for weapons and hull, but generally we just installed a new shield generator. The prices and weights listed are very reasonable for what you get so we just went with a new one most of the time (remember, we were VERY hard on ships).

I'm still approaching aux power with both "let them attempt it" and "systems overload" in mind. Just because you have 2 or 3D of auxiliary power doesn't mean you can cram it all into one system without some consequences, preferably of the spectacular variety.
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[CRMcNeill]

[Whill]

[CRMcNeill]

[Whill]

It does present a problem with RAW training times. My solution to that problem is to apply some common sense to advanced skill rules and change RAW when appropriate. On Earth, becoming a paramedic usually requires at least a couple years of intensive study. I have a bachelor degree in math and the calculus background needed for engineering, but I would still require more schooling to become an engineer.

Another thing I do with advanced skills is have more prerequisites. My university was known for its nursing and education programs, and I have a little familiarity with their coursework from working for the university as a math tutor for 4 years. Nurses didn't need calculus but their command of high school math needed to be very good and some nurses really struggled with it. I have a Scholar 3D (or base Knowledge) requirement for both Medicine and Engineering to partially represent the education requirement.

I disagree that advanced skills should be required for jury-rigging. Your idea for requiring Engineering for proper modifications makes more sense. According to fluff, Jawas are good at jury-rigging and I don't see very many of them having advanced engineering skills. Jury-rigging is improper modifications so should be normal technical skills, like just doing the bare minimum to keep something up and running long enough to sell it with "no refunds". Should engineering make you better at jury-rigging? Absolutely, and it can stack on top of the base skill to do that. Now designing and/or constructing tech from the ground up, yeah I agree that should be an advanced skill.
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[CRMcNeill]

I'm struggling to clarify the dividing line I see between the two, but it many ways, it parallels the split between First Aid and Medicine, in that one covers the basics while the other covers a more advanced, conceptual understanding. There would be a certain degree of overlap, in the same way that First Aid can be used to perform basic medical tasks (operating a bacta tank) at greater Difficulty. Your Jawa example would fit in here, as their high Tech would allow them to tinker with and assemble new pieces of equipment from non-standard parts, but likely with a high rate of failure. A character with dice in Engineering, however would face lower Difficulty levels because of his deeper understanding of the underlying technical and physical principles behind why the device might fail, and how to assemble it in such a way as to counter-act it.

I'm looking at this as part of a larger, more nebulous concept of expanding the field of available Advanced skills as a way to give non-Force Sensitive PCs some areas of specialization that a Jedi wouldn't have access to, such as sabotaging complex systems for Tech-savvy PCs, or my Marksman skill for Dex-oriented PCs
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[Tupteq]

My 3 cents in this subject...

I created my own power routing couple years ago dedicated for starfighters and space transports (but should work for smaller vehicles too). I made following assumptions:

• Vehicle normally powers all it's systems providing their nominal parameters.
  
• There's no power reserve (no aux generator), the reserve has to be created by taking power from systems.
  
• Power routing is not trivial operation, because...
  
• It's kind of abusing ship power distribution system, and because of that...
  
• It's inefficient, power transfer is not 1 to 1, systems and ship wiring is not prepared to that, so there are losses in between.
  
• Excessive power causes system to heat and eventually overload.
  
• It's quite limited due to technological limitations (and to keep game balance).
  

Below are my rules for that. They are playtested although not in current form (I made few changes, mostly simplifications).

I introduced a new skill machinery operation that can be used for handling stationary machinery (e.g. moisture vaporators), power routing and for shields (as a specialization).

Power Routing
Power from the ship generator is distributed among all starship systems. It may be rerouted by skilled operator (using machinery operation skills) to boost one systems at the cost of other. There are abstract Power Units (PU) used for routing.
Difficulty is Very Easy for one pip, Easy for two and so on, multiple sources and destinations increase difficulty by one level. Identical roll has to be made to restore original power distribution. Boosted system gets +1 mishap modifier per 3 PUs (round up) plus 1 MM for each minute working under load.

Legend:
Max Boost - self explanatory. Currently this column is useless because it always shows +3 PU result.
Power Units - system power consumption during normal use.
Boost by 1 PU - how system react to extra 1 PU.

[Whill]