 March 5, 2019 - 6:32pm | so right off the bat what i see is a "tractor and trailer rig" ? wheeled tractor with driver compartment with 1 occupant but two should be possible. Trailer with 3 observable occupants. what is in contact with the ground for the trailer though? Are those wheels? if so there is a lot of them for that vehicle, maybe more than it needs? its not clear to me if that is wheels back there anyway. and if not wheels then what a hover trailer? note to self: find out what Star Spawn says about thsi transport. EDIT: looking at the picture in the actual module I guess those are wheels. and the module simply says Ground truck 120 structural points. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
March 5, 2019 - 6:46pm | pintol mounted heavy weapon looks like a gun and is most likely a heavy laser based on typical sathar equipment. I think this could be treated as an APC. instead of a drop ramp it has chutes that worms slid out rapidly. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
March 5, 2019 - 6:50pm | its actually used as a logistics vehicle in the Battle of Volkos. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 March 5, 2019 - 7:23pm | Here are some statistics I've come up with... though I give it some more structure points than in the module. “Treadworm” Half-Track Transport Type: Ground Transport Size: 4 Protection Level: 3 SP/STA: 250/500 Crew/Passengers: 3/8 Cargo: 10,000 kg, 30 cubic meters Power: Type 3 Sathar parabattery, SEU: 2,000 Max.Range: est. 1,000 km Top/CruiseSpeeds: 75 kph/60 kph TurnSpeed: 125 m/t Accel./Decel.: 40/30 m/t AvailableHardpoints: 2 Weapon: 1 Small Open Turret, 1 Small Weapon Equipment: Sathar Type 4 Power fuel cell generator, generates 4,000 SEU/Hour, capable of recharging 40 powerpacks in an hour or 1 power pack every 90 seconds. The generator runs off of a hydrogen tank (size in kiloliters?) good for ? hours of operation. When encountered on Volturnus, the Treadworm had a crew of 10 Sathar, most of whom were busy with replacing the powerpacks for cybodragons. The illustration shows the vehicle with an open turret and what appears to be a heavy weapon. The transport also had a cargo of 50 Sathar powerpacks (about the size of a power backpack 100 SEU each). Joe Cabadas |
March 5, 2019 - 7:22pm | To me, the illustration looks like the transport has treads at the back, but I could be wrong. The "Size" and "Protection Level" figures come from trying to build this off of Larry Moore's story in Star Frontiersman magazine. In the case of the Sathar transport, I figured it had the Corporate Duty modification. See below: In issue 15 of Star Frontiersman Magazine, Larry Moore offered an expanded system to build non-civilian vehicles ith four different “duty” modifications including: Corporate-Duty, Security-Duty, Paramilitary-Duty, and Military-Duty. Vehicle variations due to differences in size, powerplant upgrades, and style variations can have an impact on vehicle combat; this topic was covered in a story by Richard “ShadowShack” Rose, also in issue 15 of Star Frontiersman Magazine, and will be incorporated into this section. Vehicle Size. This number is used for calculating defenses. Protection. Subtract this armor modifier when rolling on the Vehicle Damage Table. Hardpoints. Instead of “spaces,” each duty modification offered a certain number of “hardpoints” (HP) to mount weapons. Each duty level offered increasing levels of “protection” – a modifier when rolling on the vehicle damage table – plus structure points based on vehicle size to help determine when an aircar or explorer, etc. became too damaged in combat to remain serviceable. Acceleration/TopSpeed. Various non-civilian duty modifiers actually represents the fact that armor is being added to a vehicle, the added weight may impact the vehicle’s acceleration and top speed. Cost(Cr.). This is the cost of the armor modification to a vehicle based on its size.
Corporate-Duty. A corporate-duty vehicle doesn’t have too many hardpoints, but it is the only non-civilian vehicle in the Frontier that is legal to own in most places without any special permit. The performance of a corporate-duty vehicle is identical to that of its civilian counterpart. The armor is not readily apparent except with a very close visual inspection. As noted in another discussion, I've been revising Larry Moore's structure point/vehicle class idea... as in, revising the numbers downward. I'm going with the idea that the point of structure points, or STA points, is that getting to zero means you've disabled it along with severely damaging it. The vehicle is not necessarily blown to bits, but it's undrivable without extensive repairs... some might considered it totaled.
Next, the open turret idea comes more from the "Tanks a lot!" story from Dragon and postings elsewhere on this site rather than Larry Moore's story. Open Turret. This is basically a circular hole cut into the roof of a vehicle with a 360-degree swivel gun mount, like those found on the Explorers in the “Mission to Alcazzar” module. They are not powered. The gunner stands in the vehicle, aims, and fires. Or, if the vehicle has an open flatbed or open rear compartment, this may be a simple post where the weapon is mounted. Again, the gunner needs to stand, aim and fire. Joe Cabadas | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 March 5, 2019 - 10:57pm | This vehicle always seemed a bit too 'human' to me, almost as if they'd borrowed it from somewhere whilst invading some place or other. I couldn't really envisage sathars climbing in and out of it. Also, I imagined them having to use their lower limbs to bring the big gun to bear, so the design seems very clunky in that way also. |
March 5, 2019 - 11:27pm | This vehicle always seemed a bit too 'human' to me, almost as if they'd borrowed it from somewhere whilst invading some place or other. I couldn't really envisage sathars climbing in and out of it. Also, I imagined them having to use their lower limbs to bring the big gun to bear, so the design seems very clunky in that way also. That could be. It could be primarily designed for use by any subject races. Sathar devices and weapons fallinto two categories – those that are designed for use by both the Sathar andtheir subject races and those exclusively made for Sathar use. Frontiercharacters will find they cannot apply their normal skills to decipher theseselect products. This restriction permits the referee to deny the use ofcertain captured Sathar artifacts in order to preserve the mystery of thisenemy. Many commonly used artifacts suchas weapons, tools, computers, and electronics gear employ similar, basicengineering principals as those found on Frontier worlds. Many of these aredesigned to be used by Sathar subject races, even those that are somewhat lessintelligent and dexterous than the Core Four. Frontier characters can try tostudy common Sathar items with the normal -20 percent modifier for aliendesigns. It is up to the referee to determine how much time is needed for acharacter to figure out how to operate it.[1] [1] Text modified from “Face of theEnemy,” the Star Frontiers, Knight Hawks adventure by Ken Rolston, TSR Inc.,1985. Joe Cabadas |
March 5, 2019 - 11:28pm | This vehicle always seemed a bit too 'human' to me, almost as if they'd borrowed it from somewhere whilst invading some place or other. I couldn't really envisage sathars climbing in and out of it. Also, I imagined them having to use their lower limbs to bring the big gun to bear, so the design seems very clunky in that way also. That could be. It could be primarily designed for use by any subject races. Sathar devices and weapons fall into two categories – those that are designed for use by both the Sathar and their subject races and those exclusively made for Sathar use. Frontier characters will find they cannot apply their normal skills to decipher these select products. This restriction permits the referee to deny the use of certain captured Sathar artifacts in order to preserve the mystery of this enemy. Many commonly used artifacts such as weapons, tools, computers, and electronics gear employ similar, basic engineering principals as those found on Frontier worlds. Many of these are designed to be used by Sathar subject races, even those that are somewhat less intelligent and dexterous than the Core Four. Frontier characters can try to study common Sathar items with the normal -20 percent modifier for alien designs. It is up to the referee to determine how much time is needed for a character to figure out how to operate it.[1] [1] Text modified from “Face of the Enemy,” the Star Frontiers, Knight Hawks adventure by Ken Rolston, TSR Inc., 1985. Joe Cabadas |
March 5, 2019 - 11:29pm | And, we've got to work with the artwork provided... I guess the front of the vehicle articulates up and down a bit too. Not exactly a tractor-trailer arrangement. Joe Cabadas |
 March 6, 2019 - 12:22am | I agree it is a half real with pivot linkage to the wheeled front so that it can deal with hilly terrain better. If it is designed for a subject race why didn't they have some subjects along? Maybe it is designed for sathar and we are just humanizing it. It is a small pucture. We could reinterpret things if we try to think sathar. -iggy |
March 6, 2019 - 5:18am | So our options are 1. designed for subject race 2. we're wearing rose colored human glasses I've always said that 900 hundred years of space flight history for the sathar from their first Volturnus visit to the Battle fo Volkos is a long time why dont they have technology that is like magic? a. they dont really innovate they steal technology. and innovative species would be light years ahead after 900 years of space travel. A case could be made that they have stolen their bio-engineering tech from the clikks, this transport design could be stollen design b. designed for subject race why no subjects along, 900 years is a long time to be a subject. C. just how alien is an alien half track gonna look? sloped armor is going to look like sloped armor D. On the other hand this is clan x and their thing is attack creatures and bio-constructs and tubing brains, does this transport really feel like something they would make? they needed the logistics element and so they stole it form someone or traded with a sathar clan that had access to this. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
March 6, 2019 - 9:59am | In the dim and distant past I may have had them travelling around in a sort of armoured/APC aircar. The air transport in Zeb's came along a bit later, but was a similar idea to what I had in mind. It was a kind of flying plaform with armoured sides with a few ramps for easy access/egress. It's probably somewhere in the depths of my notes from the 1980s  |
March 7, 2019 - 7:34pm | Here's an idea for the crew: Typical Transport Crew Statistics: STR/STA: 40/40, DEX/RS: 40/40, INT/LOG: 40/40, PER/LDR: 40/40 IM: 4, PS: +2, RW: 20, Melee: 20 Typical Gun Crew Skills: Laser 1, Melee 1, Technician 2. Defense Suit: None Defense Screen: None Melee Weapons: 1 short sword Thrown Weapons: None. Ranged Weapons: 1 laser rifle with 1 powerclip Equipment: Chronocom. Joe Cabadas |
March 7, 2019 - 8:09pm | I am thinking that the transport truck should be able to ford rivers up to 2 meters deep. It can be used for a variety of transport uses, but if used for tending attack monsters, at least one of the Sathar should be a veterinarian (med skill 2-3), with various drugs and a vet kit for tending the monsters. This Sathar would also be able to work on cybernetics. In the field, this would be more of MASH-like duties. Joe Cabadas |
March 9, 2019 - 8:49am | I am thinking that the transport truck should be able to ford rivers up to 2 meters deep. It can be used for a variety of transport uses, but if used for tending attack monsters, at least one of the Sathar should be a veterinarian (med skill 2-3), with various drugs and a vet kit for tending the monsters. This Sathar would also be able to work on cybernetics. In the field, this would be more of MASH-like duties. Do we know what the historical capabilities of a WW2 half track? We can probably just tweek those and apply them to this. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
March 9, 2019 - 9:20am | Found this opinion piece: https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-half-track-combat-vehicles Traditional tracked vehicles like tanks are much better at handling rough terrain than wheeled vehicles are - however, tanks are also much harder to operate and require substantially more training to drive effectively. Half-tracks were seen as "the best of both worlds" - someone who knew how to drive a normal truck could drive a half-track, and could do so even cross-country and in rough terrain. In the modern day, however, armies are generally smaller and more highly trained than they were in the past. The half-track, adopted in large part because it didn't take as much training to use, is much less appealing in a context where your soldiers are highly trained volunteers rather than conscripts with only a few weeks to learn everything. Joe Cabadas |
March 9, 2019 - 9:24am | So, my guess is that the Sathar vehicle would operate like a track-mobile when it comes to movement over various terrain, as per the movement rules. Terrain Types The type of terrain a group is crossing affects how fast the characters can travel. The Terrain Effects Tables shows how various types of terrain affect speed. Table 2 provides a more indepth explanation of some of the typography characters may encounter. To find a character’s or vehicle’s movement rate over different terrain, multiply the normal movement rate by the number shown on the Terrain Effects Table for the area being crossed. The result is the top speed in that type of terrain.
* See Swimming ** These limits apply only if the creature or vehicle is flying or gliding within 100 meters of the surface. Joe Cabadas | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
March 9, 2019 - 9:23am |
Joe Cabadas | ||||||||||||||||
March 9, 2019 - 10:28am | Found this opinion piece: https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-half-track-combat-vehicles Traditional tracked vehicles like tanks are much better at handling rough terrain than wheeled vehicles are - however, tanks are also much harder to operate and require substantially more training to drive effectively. Half-tracks were seen as "the best of both worlds" - someone who knew how to drive a normal truck could drive a half-track, and could do so even cross-country and in rough terrain. In the modern day, however, armies are generally smaller and more highly trained than they were in the past. The half-track, adopted in large part because it didn't take as much training to use, is much less appealing in a context where your soldiers are highly trained volunteers rather than conscripts with only a few weeks to learn everything. Israel has kept the hlaf track in service longer than any other army because they found that it out performed fully wheeled and fully tracked vehciles in desert and for the role they were using it for. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
March 9, 2019 - 11:36am | That's probably why we could rate the Sathar transport as being a track-mobile. It has superior movement rates to a lot of other vehicles, though is outperformed in other venues by Explorers and such... Hey, did Ford rip the name for its SUV out of Star Frontiers? Joe Cabadas |
March 11, 2019 - 8:23am | That's probably why we could rate the Sathar transport as being a track-mobile. It has superior movement rates to a lot of other vehicles, though is outperformed in other venues by Explorers and such... Hey, did Ford rip the name for its SUV out of Star Frontiers? its possible the SF explorer predates the Ford vehcile but I doubt that Ford was cognizant of the SF Explorer. I always thought the explorer on The Mission to Alcazzar cover looked like the Hum V. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
