SM Transportation

TRANSPORTATION
Your world (heck, any world) is a big place. To get you and your stuff around in it, mechanical transportation was developed. There is a galaxy-wide trend to make as many possible categories of vehicle in every imaginable medium. Vehicles have become quite an affinity among higher sentients (experts say there is a direct link between vehicle ownership and sexual success).

During the course of normal game play, if a PC has a vehicle, then it is safe to assume he is reasonably competent at normal, everyday use. Also, it is tedious to keep track of such niggling details as battery power, fuel, windshield wiper fluid, and other run-of-the-mill operational aspects. If the drive is uneventful, then ignore dealing with it. The PC simply figured out where he was going and went.

If people want to get involved, there are two levels of play: the quick and the comprehensive. The quick is fast paced and is probably more fun. If the players are realism-retentive, they will appreciate the comprehensive.

QUICK AND DIRTY
Simply apply modifiers and roll. One shot summarizes the fight and we discover who was successful and who failed (for the squeamish, make it the best of three). How many mods is up to the PC and the GM and whoever wins a three-round wrestling match. For instance:
 * A car chase: roll a D% and add driver skill. Add the vehicles Maneuver Rating for a tad bit more realism. The highest roll wins. If the pursuer wins by up to twenty, the fleeing party got stuck in dead-end, ran out of gas, etc. Twenty-one plus, the fleeing party got into some car-crippling accident.
 * Add gun play: add the difference in speed and whatever the terrain rating is to normal targeting (assuming players are using hand weapons). Mounted weapons (for simplicity) receive a ten-point bonus, plus any targeting system they may have built in.

COMPREHENSIVE AND FILTHY
If a scenario very specifically involves a long journey on a single planet, then niggling details are critical. Such scenarios might be planetary exploration, on-surface trading, running the gauntlet across dangerous wastelands, playing with Road & Track technophiles, etc. The rules can be bent, and some (like efficiency) can be ignored for small runs. Afterall, this isn't an auto-tactics war game.

The stats used to represent a vehicle are careful and ridiculously thorough for an SF game. Movement and combat is executed step by step. For the inventive GM, or the cruel one, vehicle construction concepts are in the Transportation Appendix. If creating or customizing vehicles appeals to you, have a calculator handy and be prepared for many acronyms and abbreviations.

Comprehensive Vehicle Conflict Resolution

COMVECONRES, as it might be known in the Navy, is a bit more thorough, and can actually maintain some of the game's story. The spirit of the system still keeps roleplaying simplicity, and not the complex approach of mapping it all out to auto/aero-wargaming standards, but if that's what turns you on, by all means indulge.

Players should declare an action they will attempt. Such actions might include: losing a tail, staying on somebody's tail, pulling up next to them, getting a clearer shot, losing a police car in hot pursuit. Depending on the:
 * 1) Complexity of the action.
 * 2) * Copycatting an action requires the difficulty plus ten points.
 * 3) * Each degree of turn counts as a difficulty point.
 * 4) The NPC's (or whomever's) vehicle maneuver rating.
 * 5) The NPC's piloting skill.
 * 6) Miscellaneous.
 * 7) * Terrain and obstacles may count as difficulty points.
 * 8) * Visibility (weather & light) count as points. See the combat chapter for exact numbers.

The GM will set a difficulty level. Players may then modify the difficulty level with their piloting skills and vehicle maneuver ratings. After a target number has been reached, roll and see if there is success. A failure greater than 40 indicates a crash. a failure of 65 or more indicates a very, very bad crash.

Shooting at another vehicle with hand weapons requires: Using mounted weapons additionally requires:
 * 1) T# including the distance between the target and the aggressor (with any appropriate targeting style)
 * 2) Speed. one point of difficulty for each mile per hour difference.
 * 3) Terrain rating points if the aggressor is moving. Half the terrain rating points if the target is moving. If both are moving, these are cumulative.
 * 4) Cover. The GM will decide the amount of cover between the aggressor and the target based on other cars or environmental items in the way, and point of view (angles).
 * 1) Weapons fixed on a static hard-point. The whole vehicle must be aimed. Use pilot skill as accuracy. Non-combat pilot skill has a 10% penalty.
 * 2) Weapons on a turret. The turret must have a pilot controlled targeting system if they are to be used as such. Otherwise, turrets may be manned by gunners. Turrets have no inherent advantages over hand weapons. However, turrets may have stabilizing devices, complex targeting systems, and armor protection for the gunner.

The GM must compensate for any differences in scale. A streaking jet may have more speed, but in comparison to a Ford escort, it doesn't stop on a dime (comparison is in special interest of strafing runs). As a rule, the smaller vehicle may multiply the Maneuver Rating by 5 if the difference is one order of magnitude (small against medium or medium against large craft), and by 10 if the difference is two orders of magnitude, etc.