As for who can help build, if there is one thing I've learned from my father in law (who is/was a builder) it's that even if you aren't skilled, you can carry things, hold things in place, check to see if things are working, go for lunch and generally help out. The company is also welcome.

EDIT: On the last day of leave for the Vandals, no, I didn't expect Mandall (or really anyone else) to help. Once back to active duty, however, there are ways of making Mandall show up.

Yes, but...sleep!

Spoilsport. :wink:

Gatac

Gatac wrote:

Yes, but...sleep!

Spoilsport. :wink:

Gatac

Spoilsport/CO...it's all the same :lol:

All righty. Thank God for comedy central - you don't need to see stand-up in order to enjoy it, so that's wifey's show of choice currently and I got some time to post and do some work.

Echo came out pretty well. The shields are above average, the hull is average, but the original ship was a tank, pretty much, so she'll be good in a fight. Shields d12, Hull d10. You also rolled well to tweak the maneuverability. She's just under a B-Wing or a Blastboat. Echo'll outfly a stock Decimator or an Imperial shuttle or the like, but she won't outmaneuver any fighter-class ship. This is, of course, assuming pilots of equal skill.

As for weapons, we never really decided on anything, but from the picture it looks as though it's got hardpoints for a top and bottom turret. The SWG writeup says it's got space for 3 launchers - I'd replace one of those with front-firing ion cannons, so you can take ships intact. However, the ECM gear is going to be bulky and require some power, so I'll pose a choice:

1. Drop the dual turrets; you get front-firing laser cannons, an ion cannon, two launchers, and a single tailgunner turret.
2. Drop launchers; you get top and bottom laser turrets, front-firing ion cannons, and a single launcher.
3. Dispense with the suggested ion cannons; pick #1 or #2 and replace the ion cannon with either more lasers or a launcher.

Oh, and the good part: the maiden flight! You'll need enough people to test flight controls (pilot), auxiliary controls (copilot - normally an optional post), weapons (gunner or gunners), and ECM.

Ok, everyone time to vote.

I'm voting for #2.

Yeah, screw the launchers. This isn't freaking Robotech.

Gatac

#2 sounds fine to me. And Calsera is happy to provide unskilled assistance as long as she gets an occasional nap. :wink:

Double-posted on accident, and I had been editing the other.

I'm voting #2. Forget the missiles. That is, I think, one of the reason we have the Dagger. Anyhow, since in combat Aurelia will be in the Dagger, maybe Ty, who also has extensive experience with larger craft, should pilot the Echo. Also, any chance of adding computer controls to the turrets at a later date to free up crew? Some sort of shoot-back system, or a ranked threat index by distance and firepower? You could then have the co-pilot be placed in charge of manual oversight of the indexing for the fight. That would put more people in other ships, and still leave the Echo staffed enough to be effective. Maybe one of the upgrades?

Also, for future refence, what interior accomadations will Echo have? Bunks for long trips? Some sort of lounge like in the Falcon? And how many people can it carry? The windows toward the rear seem to be like a second level. And I'm going to assume that the cockpit is the octagonal windows between the prongs?

Missles also require replacements and are one-shot weapons...something I think (given the lack of resources) should definitely be avoided. More things that shoot more often is the best way to go here.

#2 get my vote. Although Eritram would not mind some launchers for his special skills.


Daton

DatonKallandor wrote:

#2 get my vote. Although Eritram would not mind some launchers for his special skills.


Daton

That's why you ride in the B-Wing. MDK could function as "shooting things" officer on the ECHO with his d12 Combat. Really, he could just lean out a window with a big pistol.

Strap him to the nose and hand him a bazooka.

admiralducksauce wrote:

Strap him to the nose and hand him a bazooka.

Erm, he may be artificial...but he's not stupid. Him not needing air to breathe does open up options for the future missions.

Hey Adam, can we load some Smart Paladins in the Echos launcher tube?

So what about installing a fire-control system? Wire it right, and it could be disabled and the turrets could be manned, but if it was armed, it would be a benefit given limited crew.

When it comes to turrets and Star Wars, I borrow a page from the old X-Wing Alliance game (I think that was the one). Any turret without a dedicated gunner can be fixed to fire forward under the control of the pilot. I'd say that Ty could wire them to be remotely controlled by someone other than the pilot, so your bombardier could also be your laser gunner. In that case, the turrets would traverse normally. The benefit of filling the turrets with human gunners is that you get two unpenalized attacks. A single remote gunner can use both turrets, but only one's going to be able to fire without getting into multiple actions. The pilot's already flying the bucket, so he/she can't deal with a 360 degree weapon - they only fire forward for the pilot.

It's partly game balance, partly to encourage jobs for everyone's character.

Yes, and while I can see what you're saying, that wasn't the extent of my sugestion. What I'm sugesting is wire essentially a droid brain into the turret control netork. The droid could control the turet, and with one in each turret, they could fire and traverse independently, but then allow a manual overide that would either disable the brain altogether, or simply put the two under the supervision of an organic who could adjust the protocols used for target seletion. Call the first version, with just the brains a d4, then with the human oversight d6, then with a human in the turret based, obviously, on whatever protocol you already have.

If this idea is a no-go, then how about being able to lock the turrets facing aft, to cover the rear vectors.

I think what e of pi is talking about was also in the X-Wing Alliance game. You could set the turrent for "defensive fire mode" which would automatically shoot at the closest target while you concentrated on piloting the ship. You still had a forward laser to shoot and could shut down defensive fire and lock all guns forward. I don't really see the need for that though.

Jorm took the multitasking Aspect. So, between him, Ty Piloting and MDK shooting (should he be willing to do so) I think we're covered.

.