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In Flight Repairs
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dph
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 22, 2017 10:38 pm    Post subject: In Flight Repairs Reply with quote

I recently ran a game with lots of ship combat (Space Transports) where one character (following the tropes of Star Wars) saw himself as that character desperately repairing the ship midflight as the hull shakes from the dogfight going on outside.

Of course, with the RAW this is pretty much impossible.
I believe a basic repair time is 15 minutes and with repairs costing up to 20% of the ship's total cost, it's technically impossible unless you have a few thousand credits worth of (the correct) parts on hand!

Unfortunately he didn't communicate this to me until the end of the game so I wasn't able to make any wholesale changes, but I was wondering if anyone else has done this.has?

I actually introduced that they could 'salvage' wrecks to store parts as the equivalent of a certain '%' of repair costs, so they had parts on hand at all times. I also allowed them to repair ionisation.
I considered (but never implemented) Light repairs being free and 1d6 rounds (rather than 15mins), or 'jury rigging' repairs where they make do in flight, but the longer they leave repairs 'half done' the more issue arise later.

Anybody else tried something similar?
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garhkal
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 23, 2017 1:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

That is true, in GENERAL initial rolls for repairs are 15 minutes, then 1 hr, then 1 day and so on.. AND yes they should require parts. BUT you could say if they don't then a 'repair job' is only temporary (say lasting a few hours at most before breaking again, and that can be done without having proper parts on hand... Plus depending on what's damaged, you might need to go EVA to perform repairs. Such as like R2 did in Phantom menace..

For your "Repairing" ion damage, how do you run that?
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CRMcNeill
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 23, 2017 1:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Try this.
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Dredwulf60
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 27, 2017 7:01 am    Post subject: Re: In Flight Repairs Reply with quote

Tossk wrote:

I actually introduced that they could 'salvage' wrecks to store parts as the equivalent of a certain '%' of repair costs, so they had parts on hand at all times.


That is the way I handle spare parts.

Each ship has a 'spare parts locker' of up to 15% of repair costs.

The players purchase or salvage parts to stock up the locker, which is given as a cr value.

It's understood that this is a stockpile of wire, general parts and materials. The game may still require special specific parts(based on story) but otherwise this takes care of repairs in-transit.

Brave/stupid captains may let the spare parts locker supply lapse.
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Giant Tourtiere
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 27, 2017 9:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I like the spare parts locker. Most of the ships PCs tool around in are definitely big enough that they could have a decent stock of supplies aboard for in-flight repairs.

(When historical pirates (the ones after doubloons) boarded ships one of the first things they would steal were sails, cordage, and spare spars, so they could do maintenance and repairs on their ship, not being able to take it into port very often. I assume a similar sort of thing goes on on SW spaceways.)

We had Empire on at work last night and although it doesn't work, Han and Chewie are desperately running around the Falcon trying to fix the hyperdrive with the expectation that they *might* be able to get it running right that second, so that says to me that you can do things faster sometimes.

I bump up the Difficulty number for these 'holy s***' repairs, to reflect that you're working hastily, you're not actually fixing things 'properly' and you may be doing the equivalent of trying to work on a running car engine. Emergency repairs like these take 1d6 rounds.

If it works, then the system is repaired *temporarily* and will work for a brief space of time (I usually do 2d6 minutes) or until someone rolls a '1' on the wild die operating the ship. After that, it's gotta be fixed properly.

If the roll fails, then it isn't something you can patch in a hurry (Han and Chewie start looking around for an asteroid to land on) and *that character* (or those characters) cannot attempt further emergency repairs. Someone else could take a whack at it (they might have a brainwave/crazy idea). If you roll a '1' on the wild die during an emergency repair, it absolutely can't be fixed quickly and it's an excellent time for your friendly GM to introduce a ship-related plot complication. (Basically this is a less systematic approach than CRMcNeill's rules linked above)

Unless the PCs have done something profoundly stupid, I would always give them some sort of out for the ship being damaged and not being able to make the jump to lightspeed to get away. Give them somewhere to run to to land and try to fix things. That's a great way to throw an adventure or fun encounter at them anyway.

I have no idea how one would even attempt to 'repair' ionization damage, so we've always just played that as something you need to wait out. If anyone has ideas to the contrary I would be interested.
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MrNexx
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 27, 2017 10:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I like the idea of allowing those with repair skills to jury-rig temporary repairs; after all, we see this happen several times in the movies, especially with Astromech droids.

To keep down bookkeeping, I'd probably go with a flat modifier, like +10, to represent jury-rigging repairs.
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CRMcNeill
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 27, 2017 1:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

As far as ionization damage, The Far Orbit Project mentions (pages 28 and 31) static buffers and static discharge vanes, used to bleed off excess power. The only official rule is on PG. 31, where the static buffers is used to convert Shields Blown results into Controls Ionized results.

Conceptually, there is room here for a house rule in which a good Starship Repair roll allows the ship to bleed off Controls Ionized effects...
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garhkal
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 27, 2017 3:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Giant Tourtiere wrote:

We had Empire on at work last night and although it doesn't work, Han and Chewie are desperately running around the Falcon trying to fix the hyperdrive with the expectation that they *might* be able to get it running right that second, so that says to me that you can do things faster sometimes.

I bump up the Difficulty number for these 'holy s***' repairs, to reflect that you're working hastily, you're not actually fixing things 'properly' and you may be doing the equivalent of trying to work on a running car engine. Emergency repairs like these take 1d6 rounds.


The rules already allow you to "Rush" a skill.. Page 81
Quote:
Rushing. At your discretion, characters can try to "rush" an action that takes two rounds or longer. (Actions which take one round cannot be rushed.) A rushing character is trying to do the task in half of the time and the player rolls only half of the character's skill. You have final discretion as to whether a task can be rushed. With some tasks — like fixing a starship in a hurry— it's reasonable to say a character could rush, especially if the character is racing a deadline. In other cases, rushing doesn't make much sense. If in doubt, ask the player to justify how the task could be rushed.
Example: Drebble is trying to fix a busted power coupling on Thannik's Ghtroc freighter. Drebble has space transports repair at 6D. This is a Moderate space transports repairtask; the gamemaster says it will take one hour. Drebble knows that they've got to get off-world soon, so he rushes the task. Drebble can try to make the repair in half an hour, but the player only rolls 3D.


Giant Tourtiere wrote:

I have no idea how one would even attempt to 'repair' ionization damage, so we've always just played that as something you need to wait out. If anyone has ideas to the contrary I would be interested.


"Bleed the energy out into a battery"??

In an older thread of mine where i have House ruled Ion damage, one of the HR aspects to it is
[i] 6) For those trying to repair the system, a HEROIC+10 roll is needed to try to half the time it is going to be out. REMEMBER it takes 2 rounds from when they start to "Work on it" before the first roll can be made. So if power is out for 2 rounds, it would be better to let it go. [/]
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Giant Tourtiere
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 27, 2017 6:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Half the time doesn't allow quite enough 'rush' for all purposes, though. That's why I allow the holy s*** repairs.
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garhkal
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 28, 2017 1:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

SO they roll Full skill but at a higher diff? IMO that is not as punishing as halving your skill would be.
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Dredwulf60
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 28, 2017 6:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

garhkal wrote:
SO they roll Full skill but at a higher diff? IMO that is not as punishing as halving your skill would be.


I think the difference is in the results.

In my interpretation of what is discussed;

The Half-time repair results in a fully functional repair at half the time.

The holy-**** repair is just good enough for the moment and won't last long; it needs to be subjected to follow-up work.

--
On another note,
I've never liked the half-dice mechanic.
It's kind of awkward with odd-numbered dice and pips;
All well and good for 6D, but trickier for 3D+1 or 7D+2 without feeling like 'ripping off' the player who has a couple extra pips in the skill that just vanish when you round-down.
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Giant Tourtiere
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 28, 2017 7:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Exactly.
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MrNexx
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 28, 2017 12:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

garhkal wrote:
SO they roll Full skill but at a higher diff? IMO that is not as punishing as halving your skill would be.


I am LOATHE to do "half your skill" for anything; vastly prefer a flat penalty.

Let us say that I have Space Transports repair at 4D... I know one end of a Hydrospanner from the other, but that's about it.

Kaylee has Space Transports Repair at 10D... she's invented a better hydrospanner, and knows that the trouble started when the catalyzer on the port compression coil blew.

If there's a flat 2D penalty, I am effectively at half my skill, while Kaylee still rocks... because she's awesome. If we're both at half our skill, then I am rolling 2D... same as if there's a 2D penalty... but Kaylee is at 5D... effectively garnering a 5D penalty for the same thing I'm doing.
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CRMcNeill
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 28, 2017 3:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

MrNexx wrote:
I am LOATHE to do "half your skill" for anything; vastly prefer a flat penalty.

Indeed, but garhkal is the quintessential evil GM, whose only sustenance is derived from the tears of player characters.

Personally, I'm a fan of the x2=+1D method for a variety of things. In this case, I'd apply the inverse: /2=-1D. Take half the time, lose 1D of skill. I wouldn't allow it to be progressive, though. Just because a character has 10D in Space Transports repair doesn't mean the repair won't still take some time to complete.

In fact, I've noticed IRL that mechanics who know what they are doing tend to complete jobs around 2-3 times more quickly than a layman.
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