 October 8, 2011 - 6:09am | I see so few players actually using their tool kits. Which surprises me since the kits have such a "fiddly" list of components that are just begging to be used by ingenious characters when all a military PSA character can think to do is roll for initiative. Tech kit and robcom kit have ion bonding tape- which according to the tech kit description bonds instantly to any metal. That stuff just screams for a creative use. Spray lubricant- spray a floor when your expecting someone to come through a door behind you- fast talk the referee for a RS check for that NPC or he falls prone. Spray water proofing- certainly has some applications in a survival situation though after Crash on Volturnus I think most people see the hard core survival situations as cliche. Laser soldering iron- if nothing else you could solder a message onto a peice of metal for someone to find. Plasti flesh could be used to cover a small thin item and make it look like a healing wound. presents possibilities for smuggling Anyother idea? Personally I think they all need to be revamped. The computer technician could do with just a tablet computer with standard interface cables and built in com device that allows for wireless interfacing, it also has a back panel that removes to reveal some miniature tools. priced at 500 cr and allows all subskills except repair or repair can be performed at -10% with just the resources of this item. for repair he normally needs an electronics tool kit. Same could apply for robotics: tablet computer with interface cables and com. Same back panel with miniature tools. Allows most robotics subskills expect adding equipment or repair. Honestly what adventurer wants to lug around a 10 to 12 kg tool kit that he dont use all that much eating up 1/3 to 1/2 the weight he can carry? Heavy tool kits really belong in the vehicle IMO or on the robot. tablet computers: n/a kg, 500 Cr. As for function points: somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 fp. for the computer tech's tablet he'd need 2fp for a lvl 1 communication program, and 2 fp for a lvl 1 computer security program For the robotics tech he'd need the lvl1 com program (unless he removed the com device to store extra supplies and maximize the fp he had to play with) and a lvl 1 robot management program for a total of 4fp. with out the com program he could install a lvl 2 robot management program. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 October 8, 2011 - 4:17pm | Consider giving guidelines (or a table) for Referee's on how to handle situations with the tablet. Isn't fp and level just a cost multiplier? Does it matter if a tablet has 5fp or 10fp or 100fp? (Yes if it's a matter of how many programs it can hold) How would a tablet effect the chance to hack a computer or robot? btw, in my games if you don't have a kit you either can't perform a task or suffer a huge penalty. My players always carry kits of some sort. |
October 8, 2011 - 4:38pm | tablet should have limited fp to keep in step with all the other computers in the game it helps with hacking a robot or computer simply by interfacing with one and give the character a platform from which to do programing type subskills. if you think of all the computer subskills repair and possibly by pass security are the only ones you really need a tool kit for. How often have your characters repaired a computer? I say skip the tool kit and get a tablet computer optimized for hacking. leave the heavy tool kit in the hover car. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 October 8, 2011 - 7:05pm | I can't begin to describe how many times my characters have utilized ion bonding tape in place of rope... |
January 1, 2012 - 6:31pm | I like the idea of giving a smaller option to characters. The tablet computer for robots and computers in particular makes sense to me, but maybe instead of all skills at -10%, make only certain skills usable for the computer, based on what makes sense. For example, bypassing security would work fine, but repairing a physically broken computer is impossible with just the tablet (it shouldn't be broken in the first place, but I wasn't the one who suggested throwing a grenade...). There should be something like this for mechs too. Like a limited toolbox, customized for various functions (vehicle repair, lockpicking, small equipment repair, etc)? Do mechanics ever do anything but repair vehicles or improvise barricades? |
 January 2, 2012 - 2:22am | What a PC can fix isn't necessarily limited to what is stated in the books. Generally if something is similar that giving the PC a chance to fix it but not at full bonus should be allowed. Say the PC can fix cars and finds themselves in a factory with assembly line equipment they need to fix. These things aren't the same but some basic principals apply so let them whip out thier tool kits and give it a try. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
January 2, 2012 - 6:19pm | A mechanic is a mechanic is a mechanic. I've changed a head gasket, swapped motors, worked for a welding shop where we took the company boat two miles out to meet a ship to pull off equipment bring it back fix it and return it the next day, go in factories to refurbish machines, and was partners in a plumbing business. All your experience turning a wrench goes into every thing you do. Totally new machinery ain't nothing but a thing. Your experience and logic all inform you as you work. Where the penalty comes in is where the auto mechanic is doing pipe fitting that involves gas pipe and he's ignorant of a few things that the average plumber takes for granted. So rather than give a technician (mechanic) a reduce probability of success, instead increase the range of the critical failure and make critical failures more extreme in the effect. If a mechanic is a plumber he doesn't suddenly get stupid about mechanics because he's in a factory or an auto shop, there are things he don't know in that venue but he's still got wealth of knowledge about mechanics and he can still out work the new kids. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
January 2, 2012 - 6:25pm | BTW: no reason a mechanic could fix mechanical problems on a robot, he'd be at a loss with programing issues but no reason he couldn't fix a drive train on a robot and replace faulty or broken parts. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
January 5, 2012 - 6:06pm | My question was more for other GMs. My characters break the crap out of all of my areas but never stay stationary long enough for it to matter. I understand completely that they can fix whatever, but no one seems interested in anything but the current stolen mook van... I've temporarily moved them to spaceships and the first mission is going to involve fixing a hulk's engines and life support before... something. They get shot to bits by pirates/the law? |
January 5, 2012 - 6:17pm | My question was more for other GMs. My characters break the crap out of all of my areas but never stay stationary long enough for it to matter. I understand completely that they can fix whatever, but no one seems interested in anything but the current stolen mook van... I've temporarily moved them to spaceships and the first mission is going to involve fixing a hulk's engines and life support before... something. They get shot to bits by pirates/the law? Something simple like a malfunctioning enviro plant could be allowing CO2 to build in the air. Alarms will alert but what if the alarms are faulty? What if thieves jiggered the enviro plant and the alarms to kill the occupants and then they show up and seize a ship full of dead people and or those suffering from high levels of CO2 poisoning. Cake walk for easily capturing a ship. Even if the alarms are working and they know they need to fix the enviro plant if some other stressful thing is happening at the same time then it complicates the lives of the PCs and a failled tech roll becomes very critical. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 April 4, 2012 - 8:18am | Excellent idea with the intelligent use of Tech kits. As for the tablet, for me SF is a bit like Kirk'n'Spock (or 2001) future tech: Computers and robots are still bulky affairs, there seems to be no nanotechnology and miniaturization exists only to a very limited extent (thinking of the transmitter or the antoi-shockl implant). To me, that adds some considerable flavour. So I would prefer, if a tablet, than a bulky one :) with, oh the joy, wires and switches! Last game played: Somewhere in the 80th (Vrusk by heart) -- fond of Jugger, a "post-apocalyptic" sport |
April 4, 2012 - 8:40am | Excellent idea with the intelligent use of Tech kits.
I hear you and I too like the Retro flavor. Part of the appeal of SF to me back in the day was the slightly more advanced then current technology feel of the game. However here we are 30the years latter and some thing have panned out and some things haven't panned out but without a doubt communications and computing power of today has probably exceeded expectations of the 1980s . To a certain degree I feel that if we're going to be Retro then we should be Retro to the hilt. But to maintain the appeal of a little bit more advanced then today's technology then we need to retool the equipment list. In fact I was just wondering to myself how to make contact with a scientist on the cutting edge pf robotics and interview them on where robotics is going in the next 30 years and what the major breakthroughs that are projected. As for the tablet, for me SF is a bit like Kirk'n'Spock (or 2001) future tech: Computers and robots are still bulky affairs, there seems to be no nanotechnology and miniaturization exists only to a very limited extent (thinking of the transmitter or the antoi-shockl implant). To me, that adds some considerable flavour. So I would prefer, if a tablet, than a bulky one :) with, oh the joy, wires and switches! I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
