So our campaign will likely be in a Voyageresque setting for the season, where they have no easy access to Starbases. Are there rules in the forthcoming Delta Quadrant sourcebook for replacing destroyed shuttlecraft, such as rolls, how long it takes, etc.?
Or if not, what do people think should be the norm for shuttle replacement?
The Delta Flyer was created within a few days, I think, but from scratch and with a lot of ‘Main Characters’ rushing to get it done.
A side question, does the Delta Quadrant book also have rules for replicator rationing, or perhaps Mission Payloads?
If there isn’t, I’ll have to come up with some house rules. Thanks!
In my campaign the Chief of engeneering get 1 maybe 2 rolls for a extended task to modify/rework a type 11 shuttle. 1 roll is she mentions ist a the beginning of the game, 2 if she rollplays as being “in the innards” of said shuttle
Replacing a shuttle would depend on the ship and I’d guess on the resources your crew scrounged up.
Having a dedicated carrier ship (akira or Miranda) gives you a greater pool of spare parts. Maybe give your player’s a chance to find new raw materials to use (science mission) or let your command division crew shine as the procure some materials as part of a negotiation.
building delta flyer didn’t seem to be a problem beyond the design. when realisticly voyager would have needed high end machine shops, access to alloys etc to produce it. as such the logical conclusion is that Voyager was able to replicate everything it needed to produce a shuttle (delta flyer was more the size of a run about wasn’t it?) So I think replacing shuttle craft would just require the use of a replicator and some time putting the pieces together. Given that starships are intended to operate for long periods in deep space it’s possiable that the federation keeps modular shuttlecraft designs on record so that a shuttle can easily be put together. (if they don’t do that they damn well SHOULD)
It doesn’t make much sense to send a ship of any kind (let alone a long range vessel) out in space without a ‘fabrication bay’ or high end machine shop in order to replicate/build/manufacture parts needed for an emergency repair. Ships aren’t going to be sent out with enough spare parts to rebuild their entire ship and every support craft and component.
The main issue with that (for Voyager and other ships that might be in a similar situation) would be fuel/energy required for the use of those shops.
If you are trying to replicate the feel of Voyager, I would suggest adding a situational trait to the game (from the session they get ‘stranded’ on) called ‘Resource Cap’ with a specific number attached. Each time the ship drops their power level by half, or has to repair their ship, or replace a shuttle, reduce the number for the resource cap. With this, you could also spend threat in a given scenario to ‘drain’ their available resources by a certain amount.
Whenever they find, acquire, or trade for resources, add a specific amount to the resource cap. This might help simulate the stranded feeling for the crew.
As for the rolls required for replacing a shuttle, no clue on that… In my campaign, I am about to have my ‘crew’ of players build a new Runabout at a Starbase. Not the same scenario, but I was going to do it as a series of extended tasks. 4 extended tasks in total, based on the following:
Structure. (2x Structure for work track; 1-2 Resistance; 3 Magnitude; 1 Interval equals 4 hours.)
Engines. (2x Engines for work track; 2-3 Resistance; 4 Magnitude; 1 Interval equals 6 hours.)
Weapons. (If any, 2x Weapons for Work Track, 2 Resistance; 3 Magnitude; 1 Interval equals 6 hours.)
Subsystems. (2x average for Sensors, Comm, and Computers for work track; 1 resistance; 3 Magnitude; 1 Interval equals 8 hours.)
I’ve always operated under the assumption that starships had the capability to fairly easily replace support craft. To the level that the core book section on support craft almost suggests that each ship would have additional craft in some form of flat packed state. As mentioned above, the only real consideration would be the power requirements to do so.
As far as tasks go for building one, I would suggest that it depends on the situation. Without a limit on time, the correct work crews and using the standardised design, I probably wouldn’t require a roll at all, just an allocation of time. Any other situations such as designing a new variant would only come with roles that stem from the changes being made and how to overcome any difficulties they cause.
I think Voyager pretty much proved that, didn’t it? We joke about it, but they did go through a lot of shuttles earlier on - far more than they should have been carrying…
I think the “machine shop” suggestion is spot on - with replicators in place, you would carry a lot less in the way of spare parts than you might think - but you still need to put the results together.
Also, just an aside:
It often gets missed, but the Intrepid is not a long-range vessel. Its maximum mission duration is supposed to be around 6 months - as you can tell from the intense hardships the crew were suffering by season 2 (sarcasm mode off :D)
I always joked that the Voyager had some metric tons of instant shuttle powder aboard. Just add boiling water…
@SSiron the idea of the ‘Resource Cap’ is glorious, I’m adamant to steal that. Thanks!
I, personally, always thought the resource cap in VOY were relevant only when it supported the story. If the story would, on the other hand, require a shuttlecraft… I would like a similar approach for STA: If it fit’s the story, there will be computers, replicators and skilled engineers around to fabricate a new shuttle. It will probably take some days/weeks and might carry a fitting trait (complication?) to represent that it was, let’s say, makeshift? But that is stuff that can either be done off-camera and/or with extended tasks like @Piekse suggested.
Do you mean Power? Power re-charges at the beginning of each scene (unless there’s a complication that would prohibit this to happen) so this would only be a significant spend within a single scene. In my humble opinion, however, that is not a sufficient time-frame for the replication of assets like shuttlecraft.
You can make them spend power for a few scenes if it takes a while. Besides, scenes can be a bit amorphous, so you could include an ambush by attackers in the same scene or something like that if you wanted to make sure they felt that power expenditure.
Well, then I would simply add a trait (complication) “Industry-Scale Replication in Progress X” that lowers Power for the amount of X while it exists. I wouldn’t set a fix amount of time for the existance of such a trait (complication) but would link that to an extended task of Reason/Engineering (Computers/Engineering).
Even if the Intrepid spaceframe is OK for long-duration missions, I have to think that the mission profile of Pathfinder and Reconnaissance Operations, with its Medical 1, is not really conductive to long-duration missions. It’s designed to go someplace–even hard-to-reach places–quickly and have a good look around then get out (also quickly, if necessary). If you want a slower-paced, longer-duration version of that, you should probably go with a Multimission Explorer.
as it is voyager was criminally under staffed in the medical department. they sent a vessel into a combat sisutation with apparently only one doctor aboard.
You’re absolutely correct - but then the mission was supposed to be go out, capture a small ship and its crew and come home. I don’t think they were expecting something that might be considered serious combat (Voyager outsized the raider by a huge margin).
Of course, that would be ignoring Chakotay’s reputation, but it’s not like he ever lived up to it!
Think of it as a sailing ship in days of yore, far from a port, but with a lot of strong backs and sharp minds to overcome problems. Ships boats in the Age of Sail could be built from the spare lumber aboard. In ST:A, why not have a shuttle or two in “boxes” in the hold, with the ability to replicate parts they don’t have or run out of. After all, space is far from empty. There are a lot of asteroids, moons, and planets the crew could get minerals from to replicate whatever they needed. remember, it is a tenet that Dylithium cannot be replicated.
I would imagine there are several exotic materials that cannot be replicated but, for the most part, replacement parts for the ship or shuttles would be commonplace. I mean, a huge chunk of hull plating 253’ long might be problematic, so there would be a max size the replicator shop could do.
Also, I would make the players think of it, but should they be fresh out of Dilithium, there were warp ships of old that had warp engines pre-dilithium, and they could replicate from old schematics the device necessary to still go to warp. Sure, it would be warp 4 and not warp 9.928735 but still, it’s warp 4!
Thanks!