Spaceship Design System

As noted in the project header, building spaceships should be fun and simple. There are those who like to micro-manage every square meter of the ship, but in practice, that is cumbersome and redundant. Keeping the rules simple cuts-down on the paperwork and allows for more open-ended ship designs. The basic KH rules (from the booklet) did right with it's simple state blocks, but once the advanced rules kick-in (the <i>Campaign Book</i>), the whole game falls apart! The additional rules becomes disjointed and incompatible with itself. The basic nature of game stats is of a tactical nature, so ship design should reflect this - with everything else being secondary considerations.<br />

<br />One thing that should go is the cubic meters of the equipment. A ship should already have all the necessary items built-in (like engines, control stations, computers, crew quarters, life-support systems, life pods, etc.), with a number of slots available for extra equipment (like weapons, passenger quarters, cargo holds, etc.). Built-in systems can be altered, but it would adjust the base cost of the ship, and it might cost or free-up extra space for other equipment. Alterations include things like <i>Cramped Quarters</i> (to free-up space at the cost of crew moral) and <i>Trans-atmospheric Capability</i>. Additional equipment (weapons and such) includes all of the necessary systems needed to run it (additional electronics, extra crew capacity, etc.), in the cost.<br />

<br />Hull Size could stand to be a little more broad. That is, a <i>Destroyer</i> (HS 5) is like a <i>Frigate</i> (HS 6), but with ten more meters of length, and an extra weapon. While some hull sizes rarely get used - namely 2 and 4. Grouping them so that HS 1 are small craft like <i>Fighters</i> and <i>Shuttles</i>, while HS 2 are corvettes like <i>Assault Scouts</i>, HS 3 are <i>Frigates</i> and <i>Destroyers</i>, and so on. Another method is to use the Hull Types from the <i>Alternity</i> rule-set called <b>Warships</b>. That is, the player chooses a Hull Type as a blank slate (like <i>Trader</i> or <i>Strike Fighter</i>), then the player fills out the ship with equipment and alterations to the basic design.<br />

<br />So do anyone else have any ideas on making a simple spaceship design system?