Revoke
New Member
I've been lurking for a bit, but this is my first post. So, hi!
Anyway, I always rather like the vehicle stuff in Wonders of the Lost Age, and have had any number of ideas related to building them. Unfortunately they're less well suited to the usual artifact creation guidelines (which is to say, just make it up and ballpark a cost) because there's so many different numbers attached to them.
Recently I was inspired by Kyeudo's warstrider stuff to have a go at something similar. This is based on a couple of ideas. First, like warstriders, vehicles should have lower artifact costs, but longer construction times. Currently, as far as I know, vehicles use the standard artifact construction rules. Second was that an Artifact 5 ship should be something like a Kireeki-class Assault Skyreme. So, with these rules, you can build a Kireeki for Artifact 5, and the numbers add up right; but I'm not completely sure whether the costing of the various bits are balanced relative to each other. Also, I've only tried to build a couple of ships from the book for testing. In any case I think the basic framework is sound, even if some of the numbers are a bit dodgy. Let me know what you think!
So...
Improved Large Vehicle Rules
Like warstriders, vehicles are large artifacts, but not nessecarily as game-effecting as personal equipment. Warstriders take a long time to build, but have a lower artifact rating then that might imply. Here we apply the same principle to vehicles by placing them on a different level to normal artifacts. We increase how long they take to build, add the requirement of manpower to their construction, but lower their artifact rating.
Warstrider Construction
Modifications to the warstrider construction rules as found in pg151, Wonders of the Lost Age, are as follows.
Large Vehicle Construction
Large vehicle construction is resolved similarly to warstrider construction. Unless otherwise noted, use those rules.
Large Vehicle Design
Vehicles have an artifact rating from 3 to 5. Artifact 3 vessels are scout vessels or very light warships, such as Dragonfly patrol boats or Swift Midday Brilliance combat ships. Artifact 5 vessels are large, captial-scale warships, such as the Kireeki assault skyreme. Exceptional artifacts such as the Five Metal Shrike remain artifact N/A.
The base templates for a vehicle is as follows:
The ship has artifact crew stations (generally all together on the bridge) that require attunement for the listed mote commitment. There are a number of these stations equal to the minimum crew size.
Maintainance is listed in the form of the time required for an overhaul, and the operation time the ship can function for before requiring such an overhaul. For every 1/25th of the operation time (ie, 1 hour per 1 day) the ship continues past its operation time without an overhaul, it sufferes one unsoakable bashing health level of damage. When working out these sorts of times, round to the nearest convinient number at the storyteller's discretion.
Cargo is listed in terms of the number of fully equipped and supplied soldiers that could be carried in the cargo holds for short (less than a week) trips. For longer trips, only half as many could be carried, and even then the improvised living areas are no better than camping.
Length of the ship is a rough guide, and will be influenced by the merits and flaws the ship. For example, an artifact 5 ship with small crew, multiple selections of fast and agile, but reduced cargo and crew lodgings might be small, but highly advanced vessel much smaller than 70 yards long.
By default, vehicles are skyships! See flaws for other vehicle types.
In addition, every vehicle may select (Artifact Rating x 2) merits. Vehicles may also select up to (Artifact Rating) flaws, each allowing the selection of an extra merit.
Vehicle Merits
Merits may not be taken more than once unless specified in the text.
Fast: Increase the ship's speed by +10/+20mph. May be taken up to four times.
Agile: Improve manuverability by 1. May be taken up to four times.
Small Crew: Reduce the required crew rating to the minimum crew rating.
Extra Crew: Increase the magnitude of allowable extra crew by 1. May be taken four times.
Essense Turbines: This option installs a powerful essense turbine in the ship. This halves both the number of required hearthstones, and the mote commitment required of the crew. Additionally, it allows the ship to power integrated essence weaponry. However, the turbines work by gathering ambient essence. Every (25 divide by Rating) hours the ship stays running in the same area, decrease the amount of motes respired per hour in the area by 1 (details as per the Kireeki).
Lower Commitment: Reduces the mote commitment required for attunement to crew stations by half, or halves the number of such stations (so only half the minimum crew need be essence channelers). Taken twice, crew station do not require attunement, and the ship may be fully crewed by mortals.
Reduced Hearthstone Requirement: Halve the number of heartstones required. Alternately, replace as many required hearthstones as desired with an extra artifact crew stations (may not be combined with 2 selections of lower commitment). Taken twice, remove all hearthstone requirements. An artifact 4 or 5 ship which requires no hearthstones must have the Essence Turbines merit.
Extra Cargo: Increase the magnitude of allowable cargo by 1. May be taken four times.
Armor: Increases soak by 10, split between bashing and lethal as desired (though lethal may never exceed bashing). May be taken twice.
Durability: Up to 2 purchases each grant 10 U, 5 M, 2 C and 2 I health levels. May be taken twice.
Enduring: Reduces the repair rating by 2.
Robust: Double the operation time before an overhaul is required. May be taken up to four times, and the fourth selection removes the need to maintainance entirely under normal circumstances.
Integrated Essence Artillery : Provides 7 dots of essence weaponry, integrated permanently into the ship. The weapons may be fired remotely from the ship's bridge. If the ship has Essence Turbines, then any hearthstone requirements or essence costs are waived (though a hearthstone-using variant must be used to determine the cost of the weapon, if one exists).
Mundane Weapons: The ship may mount 25 crew worth of mundane seige weaponry (that is, as much as could be fully crewed by 25 men). Sufficient ammo storage for moderate fighting for the ships operation time is included. These weapons must be operated by Extra Crew; the required crew to pilot the ship cannot be spared for such tasks.
Other Properties: At the storyteller's discretion, vehicles may purchase additional facilities with merits. As a loose guide, this might cost a number of merit selections equal to the power cost of a similar manse ability. Practicality and size restrictions may require some adaption, however (for instance, a factory-cathedral like facility might require no extra maintenance, but may only fabricate magitech artifacts of 3 dots or less, of personal scale only). Particularly space-intensive facilities also consume cargo space, reducing the vehicle's cargo magnitude by the merit cost, or half that while not in use.
Vehicle Flaws
Flaws may be taken multiple times unless limited in the text.
Slow: Reduces the ships speed by -15/-30mph.
Clumsy: Worsens manuverability by 2.
Large Crew: Doubles both the required, and minimum crew; not compatible with small crew.
Less Crew: Reduce the extra allowable crew magnitude by 1. Ships which want to operate around the clock will need at least 2, or ideally 3 times the required crew.
Higher Commitment: Doubles the mote commitment required by the minimum crew stations.
Less Cargo: Reduce the magnitude of allowable cargo by 1. Ships require at least magnitude 1 of cargo if they intend to be able to go on trips of any significant duration.
Weak Armor: Reduce both bashing and lethal soak by 5.
Fragile Structure: Reduce the ships health levels by 10 U, 5 M, 2 C and 2 I.
Needy: Halve the operation time before an overhaul is required, or double the overhaul time.
Naval Vessel: The ship may only travel on water. It also gains +5 bashing and lethal soak, and power failure has lower consquences, but speed is halved. The ship may also have sails, in which case it has the option to travel by wind power, accruing no wear but halving speed (again).
Land Vehicle: The vehicle travels on the ground, either by hovering, or by some obscure wheel-drive method. Speed is halved, but the vehicle gains a free +1 magnitude cargo increase. Additionally, if it doesn't move, it accrues no wear and it can be repaired without a drydock. If desired, the vehicle may have the option of being 'unpacked' in some manner when stationary increasing the space it has to its cargo magnitude + 1.
Anyway, I always rather like the vehicle stuff in Wonders of the Lost Age, and have had any number of ideas related to building them. Unfortunately they're less well suited to the usual artifact creation guidelines (which is to say, just make it up and ballpark a cost) because there's so many different numbers attached to them.
Recently I was inspired by Kyeudo's warstrider stuff to have a go at something similar. This is based on a couple of ideas. First, like warstriders, vehicles should have lower artifact costs, but longer construction times. Currently, as far as I know, vehicles use the standard artifact construction rules. Second was that an Artifact 5 ship should be something like a Kireeki-class Assault Skyreme. So, with these rules, you can build a Kireeki for Artifact 5, and the numbers add up right; but I'm not completely sure whether the costing of the various bits are balanced relative to each other. Also, I've only tried to build a couple of ships from the book for testing. In any case I think the basic framework is sound, even if some of the numbers are a bit dodgy. Let me know what you think!
So...
Improved Large Vehicle Rules
Like warstriders, vehicles are large artifacts, but not nessecarily as game-effecting as personal equipment. Warstriders take a long time to build, but have a lower artifact rating then that might imply. Here we apply the same principle to vehicles by placing them on a different level to normal artifacts. We increase how long they take to build, add the requirement of manpower to their construction, but lower their artifact rating.
Warstrider Construction
Modifications to the warstrider construction rules as found in pg151, Wonders of the Lost Age, are as follows.
- Designing the blueprints takes one month.
- Blueprints may be used more than once, if you want to make identical copies of a warstrider.
- Ignore the part about assisting exalts increasing the workforce's magnitude. Supernatural assistance provides bonuses to the design and building rolls, as detailed in Oaedenol's Codex.
- The magnitude cannot exceed five, and so the minimum duration for a rolls is 1 month.
Large Vehicle Construction
Large vehicle construction is resolved similarly to warstrider construction. Unless otherwise noted, use those rules.
- The time per construction roll is (8 – Magnitude of workforce) seasons. To even attempt to construct a vehicle requires at least a magnitude 3 unit of workers, and the workforce may not exceed magnitude 6.
- While a factory cathedral is not required (building a vehicle is larger scale, but is not as exacting a process as building a warstrider), very large facilities are. Enough room to build a drydock, in addition to the equivilant of several workshops (use the lowest quality workshop to determine the bonus or penalty to the construction rolls).
- While not nessecary, the presence of a facility capable of mass-producing at least artifact 2 magitech items (such as a factory cathedral, or a Mobile Repair and Fabrication Platform) halves the time per construction roll.
- Building a vehicle comsumes vast quantities of magical materials. As a guide, this might typically involve (Rating) talents of red jade for the engines, (Rating x 2) talents of blue, white, or black jade to alloy into the hull and armor (depending on the vehicles mode of travel, eg, blue jade for skyships), an ingot or so of orichalcum for wiring and power systems, and possibly some moonsilver for moving parts. In addition, enough other rare ingredients to make the total number up to (Rating + 1).
Large Vehicle Design
Vehicles have an artifact rating from 3 to 5. Artifact 3 vessels are scout vessels or very light warships, such as Dragonfly patrol boats or Swift Midday Brilliance combat ships. Artifact 5 vessels are large, captial-scale warships, such as the Kireeki assault skyreme. Exceptional artifacts such as the Five Metal Shrike remain artifact N/A.
The base templates for a vehicle is as follows:
Code:
Artifact 3 Artifact 4 Artifact 5
Speed 80/160mph 60/120mph 40/80mph
Manuverability -1 -2 -3
Hearthstones required 2 x level 3 6 x level 3 10 x level 3
Crew commitment 2 x 3 motes 3 x 4 motes 5 x 5 motes
Crew 8 / 2 min 12 / 3 min 20 / 5 min
Armor 15L/20B 20L/25B 25L/35B
Health Levels Ux20/Mx15/Cx5/Ix5/D Ux30/Mx20/Cx8/Ix8/D Ux40/Mx30/Cx10/Ix10/D
Weapons - - -
Repair 3 4 5
Maintainance 1 day / 2 weeks 1 day / 2 weeks 1 day / 2 weeks
Length 10 – 40 yards 30 - 80 yards 70 - 150 yards
Extra crew/marines Magnitude 1 (5) Magnitude 2 (25) Magnitude 3 (125)
Cargo Magnitude 2 (25) Magnitude 3 (125) Magnitude 4 (250)The ship has artifact crew stations (generally all together on the bridge) that require attunement for the listed mote commitment. There are a number of these stations equal to the minimum crew size.
Maintainance is listed in the form of the time required for an overhaul, and the operation time the ship can function for before requiring such an overhaul. For every 1/25th of the operation time (ie, 1 hour per 1 day) the ship continues past its operation time without an overhaul, it sufferes one unsoakable bashing health level of damage. When working out these sorts of times, round to the nearest convinient number at the storyteller's discretion.
Cargo is listed in terms of the number of fully equipped and supplied soldiers that could be carried in the cargo holds for short (less than a week) trips. For longer trips, only half as many could be carried, and even then the improvised living areas are no better than camping.
Length of the ship is a rough guide, and will be influenced by the merits and flaws the ship. For example, an artifact 5 ship with small crew, multiple selections of fast and agile, but reduced cargo and crew lodgings might be small, but highly advanced vessel much smaller than 70 yards long.
By default, vehicles are skyships! See flaws for other vehicle types.
In addition, every vehicle may select (Artifact Rating x 2) merits. Vehicles may also select up to (Artifact Rating) flaws, each allowing the selection of an extra merit.
Vehicle Merits
Merits may not be taken more than once unless specified in the text.
Fast: Increase the ship's speed by +10/+20mph. May be taken up to four times.
Agile: Improve manuverability by 1. May be taken up to four times.
Small Crew: Reduce the required crew rating to the minimum crew rating.
Extra Crew: Increase the magnitude of allowable extra crew by 1. May be taken four times.
Essense Turbines: This option installs a powerful essense turbine in the ship. This halves both the number of required hearthstones, and the mote commitment required of the crew. Additionally, it allows the ship to power integrated essence weaponry. However, the turbines work by gathering ambient essence. Every (25 divide by Rating) hours the ship stays running in the same area, decrease the amount of motes respired per hour in the area by 1 (details as per the Kireeki).
Lower Commitment: Reduces the mote commitment required for attunement to crew stations by half, or halves the number of such stations (so only half the minimum crew need be essence channelers). Taken twice, crew station do not require attunement, and the ship may be fully crewed by mortals.
Reduced Hearthstone Requirement: Halve the number of heartstones required. Alternately, replace as many required hearthstones as desired with an extra artifact crew stations (may not be combined with 2 selections of lower commitment). Taken twice, remove all hearthstone requirements. An artifact 4 or 5 ship which requires no hearthstones must have the Essence Turbines merit.
Extra Cargo: Increase the magnitude of allowable cargo by 1. May be taken four times.
Armor: Increases soak by 10, split between bashing and lethal as desired (though lethal may never exceed bashing). May be taken twice.
Durability: Up to 2 purchases each grant 10 U, 5 M, 2 C and 2 I health levels. May be taken twice.
Enduring: Reduces the repair rating by 2.
Robust: Double the operation time before an overhaul is required. May be taken up to four times, and the fourth selection removes the need to maintainance entirely under normal circumstances.
Integrated Essence Artillery : Provides 7 dots of essence weaponry, integrated permanently into the ship. The weapons may be fired remotely from the ship's bridge. If the ship has Essence Turbines, then any hearthstone requirements or essence costs are waived (though a hearthstone-using variant must be used to determine the cost of the weapon, if one exists).
Mundane Weapons: The ship may mount 25 crew worth of mundane seige weaponry (that is, as much as could be fully crewed by 25 men). Sufficient ammo storage for moderate fighting for the ships operation time is included. These weapons must be operated by Extra Crew; the required crew to pilot the ship cannot be spared for such tasks.
Other Properties: At the storyteller's discretion, vehicles may purchase additional facilities with merits. As a loose guide, this might cost a number of merit selections equal to the power cost of a similar manse ability. Practicality and size restrictions may require some adaption, however (for instance, a factory-cathedral like facility might require no extra maintenance, but may only fabricate magitech artifacts of 3 dots or less, of personal scale only). Particularly space-intensive facilities also consume cargo space, reducing the vehicle's cargo magnitude by the merit cost, or half that while not in use.
Vehicle Flaws
Flaws may be taken multiple times unless limited in the text.
Slow: Reduces the ships speed by -15/-30mph.
Clumsy: Worsens manuverability by 2.
Large Crew: Doubles both the required, and minimum crew; not compatible with small crew.
Less Crew: Reduce the extra allowable crew magnitude by 1. Ships which want to operate around the clock will need at least 2, or ideally 3 times the required crew.
Higher Commitment: Doubles the mote commitment required by the minimum crew stations.
Less Cargo: Reduce the magnitude of allowable cargo by 1. Ships require at least magnitude 1 of cargo if they intend to be able to go on trips of any significant duration.
Weak Armor: Reduce both bashing and lethal soak by 5.
Fragile Structure: Reduce the ships health levels by 10 U, 5 M, 2 C and 2 I.
Needy: Halve the operation time before an overhaul is required, or double the overhaul time.
Naval Vessel: The ship may only travel on water. It also gains +5 bashing and lethal soak, and power failure has lower consquences, but speed is halved. The ship may also have sails, in which case it has the option to travel by wind power, accruing no wear but halving speed (again).
Land Vehicle: The vehicle travels on the ground, either by hovering, or by some obscure wheel-drive method. Speed is halved, but the vehicle gains a free +1 magnitude cargo increase. Additionally, if it doesn't move, it accrues no wear and it can be repaired without a drydock. If desired, the vehicle may have the option of being 'unpacked' in some manner when stationary increasing the space it has to its cargo magnitude + 1.
I expect Ink Monkeys to address it eventually. Til then, I'd just treat each ship as a Mass Combat unit and tweak on the fly as appropriate.