Really. No comments, even on on the 40k part?
(haha, whoopsie)

How does the system work?

One of the factions/units (Perhaps under the pirate faction) should be a group of salvagers who build their Junkships out of the ruined scrap of the other factions.

Also, Biplanes everywhere!

Also, that harpoon ship should be called an "Ahab."

yeah, i'm interested, why don't you post what you have and i bet someone will point out what is missing

>>10099331
The system works with a simple mod/threshold value. Weapons are assigned a mechanic like 2/4/6/8. This means that the weapon has 4 range increments, and they have to beat those numbers on a die roll to hit a target at that range. Then they have a power rating, which is added to a die roll. This is compared versus the ship section's armor rating. If the power rating roll wins, then the damage chart is consulted.

I was thinking the Pirates would have limited access to other faction's ships. Limited.

Like I said, I want to avoid the fighter-equivalent for now. I honestly never liked the fighter-concept in airships, and the only reason I am including them still is because I found a neat mechanic for them, but not yet.

>>10099683
I'm just imagining running the Sky pirates from Tailspin, honestly.

>>10099412
Pointing out holes in my conceptual object would be useful.. if I had more than just a massive framework that I could fly said airship through.

>>10099775
...Hang on, now I need to find a good picture of the Iron Vulture.

>>10099836
http://talespinsourcepage.i8.com/aircraft4.htm

>>10099775
I would totally play a game where you could run a cargo plane and kick the asses of a bunch of ships by throwing crates of pineapples at them.

Also, if there is any resource management at all that could justify having cargo planes running back and forth between airships, I want to be able to insta-kill a small ship by dumping my cargo on it mid flight.

>>10099683
>I was thinking the Pirates would have limited access to other faction's ships. Limited.

Jawesome!

How about a long range artillery style ship. Fairly weak in defense but heavy on weaponry, gets a bonus to attacking long range targets and a penalty to attacking close range targets?

This may be too close to "Fighter" territory, but how about little "Sky Surfer" personal transport vehicles. Weak in firepower but cheap and easily manned.

Also if there's a mechanic that singles out pilots and pilot skills, it might be useful for quickly transporting good pilots or captains to the ships they're needed on.

>>10100229
Forgot my pic

>>10100132
Interesting... just a big flying artillery piece then? That could be done easily, by inverting the range increment system such as 8/6/4/2. Sounds like a good fit for the Facist Zeppelin faction.

>>10100048
As awesome as that sounds, I can't actually think of a possible way to work that into the system.

>>10099997
Hmmm. Interesting.

>>10100240
>>10100229
Congratulations, you've perfectly described a fighter style ship

>>10100290
How do you plan on fighters working?

I personally think it would be awesome if fighters were considered, like, a special attack held by the larger airships. For instance, assume (logically) that fighters have a poor fuel capacity. It then follows (illogically but also awesomely) that they would be carried to the battlefield in fuckhuge airships.

Like, in addition to firing big guns, some larger airships would be able to dispatch a swarm of fighters, which would deal ongoing damage/make continuous attacks/whatever against a given target or group of targets.

It would keep the focus way way on the airships, as you said you'd like.

Making airship combat game as we speak. Mine is more arcade-game so I am not sure I can help you much, though. Most of my ships are "flying ironclad" variety.

Could we get some more specifics on the system?

i'm curious about firing/turning radius. is there any plan to model airships that can't change direction very well, and airships that can only fire in certain directions?

i imagine galleons having fixed cannons on the sides, for example, letting them shoot in any direction would make them feel less galleony.

>>10100506
That's a great idea to encourage variation among factions.

>>10100624
yeah, and i think if you abstract it a little bit, you could do it fine

"appropriately shaped rectangular bases, your galleon can shoot once per turn drawing line of sight from this side, and once from this side, the galleon's base blocks line of sight" would pretty much do it

>>10100387
on a rough scale, fighters are going to work on the squadron level, functioning as very small ships that are very difficult to hit, but die horrifically when they are hit. They do require carriers, in that when the carrier is destroyed, the remaining fighters "flee", and are removed from the match.

>>10100506
Entirely. Each ship has 4 sections, Fore, Aft, Starboard, Port. Each weapon must trace a line from that section to the target. Some weapons are Turreted, and cover multiple arcs.

>>10100467
Let me get my notes. I apologize for being so slow, I'm talking to this girl over MSN while I'm doing this.

My main tip would be: go for customization. Since you've gone for 40k terminology, think of it as wargear. Have not just models of airships, but modification of systems based on hardpoints. In my game, most things are on hardpoints and a lot of stuff can be customized. Two smaller cannon instead of a large one; rear ventral cannon or extra engines; torpedo tubes or extra plating; ramming prow or an extra-thick armored prow - choices like that.

If you go the airplane way, keep the difference between bombers and fighters. Let bombers be more dangerous to larger targets and relatively useless versus smaller ones.

Other tips, in as few words as possible
Torpedoes are awesome.
Facing and armour make for fantastic tactics, provided your system would work with it in the first place.
Different kinds of ammunition - phosphorous, tungsten armour piercing, iron grapeshot.
Several types of fire.
Boarding parties.
Giant harpoons.

>Entirely. Each ship has 4 sections, Fore, Aft, Starboard, Port. Each weapon must trace a line from that section to the target. Some weapons are Turreted, and cover multiple arcs.

rad ok i would complain if you didn't do something like this

might i suggest stealing a vehicle movement system i made up that didn't end up making it to anything?

it goes like this: each vehicle has two stats, a manuevering move stat, and a straight line move stat

moving works like this: when the vehicle gets to move, it can either move it's maneuvering move stat distance, or it can put down a marker in any direction and move its maneuvering stat distance. if it does the second one, it can move its straight line move stat distance, assuming it continues moving towards the marker.

so you can approximate a ship that can barely fucking turn, but can work up a decent speed fairly easily. no idea how you could handle rotation, though.

>>10100811
also, i forgot to mention (though it's implied) that the maneuver stat is smaller than the straight move stat. more maneuverable vehicles have less difference between the stats, ones that have trouble getting started have a huge difference.

also, do you have a mailing list or some way for me to keep track of this shit other than "f5 lol" i kind of want to watch this thing progress

>>10100940
Well, I plan on putting an open betatest on /tg/ in a while, once I get VASSAL coded to work it. Until then, well, this is a side project, I'm not rushing it anywhere.

>>10100865
>>10100811
Give me a few minutes to write it up, and I'll show you the mechanics.

>>10100808
Well, ironically despite asking about 40k, nobody's answered that question. TO put it in 40k terms though, I need units before I can start assigning Wargear.

>Torpedoes are awesome.
hmmm. I'm not entirely sure how to work these... aside from "miniatures for kamikaze purpose".
>Facing and armour make for fantastic tactics, provided your system would work with it in the first place.
Designed with it in mind.
>Different kinds of ammunition - phosphorous, tungsten armour piercing, iron grapeshot.
The way I have it right now... well, I'll explain more, but every weapon will have its own rating versus Hard or Soft armor.
>Several types of fire.
...I want to hear more.

>>10101194
Well basically in the age of sail you had several ways you could fire your cannon depending on what you wanted to accomplish. You could have fired on the upswing or the downswing based on whether you wanted to destroy sails or cause splinters to kill crewmembers. In airship combat this particular consideration is moot, but it's a good starting point. You can have the option of half broadside instead of full broadside (for various benefits), spread fire / concentrated fire, and similar stuff.

Since you have different facings, consider that different factions have different armour doctrines. You could have a nation which has medium level armour all around, and one which has ships thoroughly armoured at the front. Age of sail frigates would have armoured sides but be weak from the prow and the stern. Starting with early 20th century battleships began the "all or nothing" doctrine where the entire ship is weakly armoured, but has a central strongbox which is very heavily armoured and houses the arsenal, among other things. You could represent this with lower armour overall but higher endurance to criticals, if you have some. All in all I definitely suggest a thorough system of "critical hits" i.e. special outcomes akin to Battlefleet gothic or, heaven help me, 40k tt vehicle rules, although the completeness of your ruleset and your general philosophy seems to suggest you already have one in place.

As for torpedoes... Make them devastating, expensive and make them have to take a few turns to reach their target, and allow for evasion somehow. They could be represented by simple markers. Perhaps only give them to one faction. They are aerial torpedoes, after all.

>>10101194
Honestly, I'm all for the 40k style subfaction idea. Obviously Baron Colin Von Stachendorf's Legion of Ariel Doom will be rather different from the standard 5th Fatherland's Flying Division, even if they fly under the same flag of sky-nazi-ism.

Hell, with pirates you could have a crew that specializes in hit and run with small sloop-type airships versus ones that use a proper multi gun decked galleon style.

Also, I want some goddamn tesla coil weapons. Make it do a little damage, and maybe shut down the airship for a turn or something. But yeah, lightning all the way.

>>10101570
>make it do a little damage
>shut down an airship

Wouldn't that drop it from the sky?

i apologize for how long its taking to write this up, I've been talking with a girl on MSN, like I said, haha.

>>10101470
The armor and facing stuff, like I said, already an integral part of the system, though I really like your explanation.

And when you said "several types of fire" I thought you mean like burning, flamey fire.

>>10101570
Notice how I specified three "core" factions? There are two more factions on the design board, and one of them basically the lovechild of Nikolai Tesla and Magneto.

>>10101664
I meant more from a propulsion/maneuvering standpoint. Electricity ain't gonna make your lifting gasses stop lifting.

>>10101710
>lovechild of Nikolai Tesla and Magneto.

Then there is nothing more I can contribute at this point. Vaya con dios, my friend.

>>10101792
Ah, sorry. Whenever I think of airship, I think of fully automated airship.

Bumping this thread.

>>10102049
Sorry for taking so long.

Every ship has 4 sections. Fore, Aft, Port, and Starboard. Every ship's Aft contains their engine/rudder. Every ship gets a Thrust and Manuverability rating. Manueverability determines how far they can turn, then, (this is important, turning before moving), Thrust determines how far forward the ship can move.

Weapons are placed in one of these locations, and have a range increment (I'll explain the incrementation system later), like 3/4/5/6, a power rating of X/Y, where X is Hard Armor, and Y is Soft armor. highX/lowY would be the equivalent of armorpiercing, and lowX/highY is the equivalent of grapeshot.

To hit: Trace a line from the center of your ship to any part of the enemy ship. Roll 1d8 versus range number. If you hit it or above, move to Penetration. If your line does not pass from the center of your ship through the Ship Section that the weapon is in, you cannot fire it.

Penetration: Determine the armor rating of the Ship Section that you are hitting. Roll 1d8 plus the Power rating for the armor type you are targetting. If you roll above the defensive rating of that location, roll damage.

Ships currently have a Size Rating, which for right now also functions as their Point Value. Weapons are for the most part custom, though there would be "stock" weapons, but the system is set up so that a ship would have wildly different weapons than a ship of the same class, or even one modified cannon versus another section.

Damage I'm currently fiddling with, but is basically going to be a chart of progressively worse things, similar to the heat track in Battletech, only not so fluid, ending up with crippling that ship section. When a ship has two ship sections crippled, the ship is out of control and out of the fight.

OP had me at Nazi Zepplins.

>>10102059
So you could potentially forgo a bow weapon in order to get some sort of reinforced plating with a range of 0/0/0/0 and X/Y power?

RAMMING SPEED!

>>10102127
I was just about to suggest that everyone have that, then I remembered "lol, zeppelin"

>>10102178
"RAMMING SPEED!"
"Sir, this is a blimp."
"RAMMING SPEED!"
*boing*

>>10102178
>>10102204
Oh yeah...

Damn logic ruining my fun.

>>10102204
BUMP

>>10102250
"Sir, they've collided with the Ares!"
"...I see that Corporal."
"Sir... are... are they humping the Ares?"

I like the concepts, but just a little extra bit, you can have boarding parties being played out on a separate board using the rules for "Brewhouse bash" (link is at the bottom) which is basically a small scale fighting system that would be good for the small skirmishes involved.
Of course you don't even need this, but it would give another level and break up the monotony.

Link: http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m1340006_Brewhouse_Bash.pdf

Maybe someone can help me with this. Why are zeppelins cool? Isn't the only thing keeping them in the air a giant, easily popped target vulnerable to small arms fire?

Couldn't a fighter reliably bring down a fuckhueg zeppelin by crashing into the baloon?

>>10102380
I believe that that was the intro to Arcanum.

>>10102380
Not particularly. A proper rigid frame zeppelin has several internal gas bladders, that are self-sealing. If one gets punctured, the rest still stay inflated, keeping it well afloat.

As for the cool factor? I dunno, I think romanticized relics of a bygone era. Just like the way old tramp steamers are cool. Got an intrinsic feel of adventure to 'em.

>>10102380
Zeppelins have rigid hulls actually, and usually segmented into various sections. And considering you could literally have someone run in and slap a repair patch over it and it would have the same lift potential, you're good.

Also, Zeppelins are inCREDIBLY cheap compared to any other form of aerial platform. Nazi Zeppelin Faction should be fielding fucktons of ships compared to anyone else.

>>10102464
alternatively: "hey we found this metal that's really light and is passable but not great at being armor, peew peew zeppelins"

>>10102464
Zeppelins have always been awesome. I myself loved them even before I associated them with the band.

Then I loved them more.

>>10102479
>>10102464
Then wouldn't firing a fast firing automatic weapon at it pierce a shit ton of gas bladders and bring it down with ease?

I get that they're cheaper, though. It just, to me, doesn't make sense to have a command ship with a high officer or something in it help up by balloons. That shit's for babies.

>>10102530
See, the thing is you're thinking balloons, something under high pressure. Pierce a bladder on a zepp, its under low pressure, and will bleed out very slowly. Plenty of time to slap a patch on it, keep yourself in the air.

Also, in this setting, armor plating, apparently.

OP here. Anyway, I'm not looking for someone to stat out ships, but I'm needing more ideas of concepts of specific classes of ships. So far all I have statted out, as I said are very BASIC models. Ships come in 5 sizes. Corvette, Frigate, Destroyer, Cruiser, and Battlecruiser. They are *just* size categories. 1, 2, 3, 4,and 5.

Steampunk battleships classes are named after clouds, and their weapons named after blades (I have the Altostratus-class Destroyer two Gladius turrets and a Broadsword turret, and the Stratus class frigate, minus the Broadsword.)

Nazi Zeppelin faction names their ships after birds of prey, and their weapons after electrical terms. I have the Osprey-class Frigate zepp, armed with two Blitz Cannons on either side, and the spine-mounted long-range Volt Rifle. Also the Harrier class Corvette, a tiny ship, with two Watt Repeaters on either side, with a spine mounted Shock Cannon.

Pirate faction has stellar phenomenon for their ships, and I haven't picked anything for their weapons yet. Meteor-class Destroyer, with just side cannons, and Comet-class Frigate with side cannons.

So far the weapons are just basic cannons, but I'm certainly not going to say no to wild and bizarre weapons.

>>10102648
Yeah, but how are you going to get someone out on top of a zeppelin to patch holes and shit up there? Also, isn't that extremely dangerous? Not just because of all the gunfire going around, but because it's probably easy to fall off.

Also, again, what if a shit ton of bladders get pierced by automatic fire?

Then again, I guess I'm just rehashing the reasons zeppelins aren't used today. Impracticality.

>>10102937
Most zeppelins have room for people to climb around inside.

Also, zeppelins were used in real world wars, And I think you're misunderstanding the sheer size of zeppelins. Its like saying that a dinosaur has no defense against a man with a pistol.

>>10103056
Dinosaurs aren't filled with gas.

ok, it looks like your ships are going to be pretty easy to classify using generic rpg terms mechanically, so there's no need for anyone to go "lol make one that is a glass cannon" or "make one that is slow but hard to hurt"

so, without further ado, goofy weapon ideas that i don't think have been suggested:
-mines
-point defense turrets (short range, less offensive and more a counter to large projectiles/fighters

that is kind of a pathetic list but i guess the thread has this shit covered really

>>10103123
Actually what I need more than anything is suggestions for ship classes like that. No, I don't need strategic concepts, as basic as "class cannon", but I'm running "blah" on the ol Creatotron Juice, so coming out hard for me to come up with ideas on actual ship models.

Y'know what, I dunno what the fuck I'm saying.

>>10103273
>Y'know what, I dunno what the fuck I'm saying.

this is probably why you get few replies

i imagine zeppelins as having a lot of automatic gun turrets and maybe a few generic artillery pieces

however, there does need to be one giant motherfucker of a zeppelin that slowly drifts out of a cloud bank and is the size of a city and causes everyone to realize how fucked they are

are weird shaped zeppelins with multiple balloons ok?

either way, i feel like the standard zeppelin nazi unit should just be a smallish one with one turret dangling from the bottom capable of shooting in all directions, that counts on its difficulty to hit/cheapness ratio to win, as there's no way to narratively justify zeppelins being comparatively durable no matter what science! handwaving you pull

so, if zeppelin nazis have a small zeppelin with a turret, and the giant fuck you zeppelin which couldn't really justify not using turrets on account of the extreme difficulty it would have in pointing the right way, they also need a mid sized heavy hitter to fill in the gap

anyway i am going to buy food, hope that is somewhat useful.

>>10102937
To clarify, now with pictures. (Crappy mspaint ones at that, but still!)

So, the outer skin of a zeppelin contains no gas other than the oxygen you'd find present in a car or somesuch. Stab or shoot the shit out of the skin and you'll lose a tad of structural stability, but no lifting potential.

Now, supporting that skin is a rigid, usually aluminum framework. A complex series of decks and gantries throughout the envelope (the large, gas-holding bit) allowing a crewman to climb over and around the entirety of the interior.

So that he can reach the VERY important gas bladders. This is where the actual lift is. They have a very low pressure, and some are capable of self-sealing. Anyhow, a bullet in one of those is more a like a bullet in a bucket than in a balloon, a slow drain of gas rather than an pressure-differential pop. And there's literally hundreds of them supporting keeping it up in the air, with plenty of redundancy in lift.

Even if it should take enough damage to begin to fall, barring severe structural damage, it should slowly "sink" out of the sky, with plenty of time to evacuate.

That being said, they are still raped by most planes, barring a crapton of AA on them, which is somewhat unfeasible. So while they are more durable than they seem, they are definitely outclassed as far as even late WW2 era air warfare.

>>10103514
Hey, /tg/'s been freaking awesome to me for once, so I don't find this a bad thread. Then again, I've been talking to a girl for most of it, and then distracted trying to learn VASSAL.

I wanted the Nazi Zeppelins to have forward-facing cannons, since it makes sense, with zeppelins being long, and not much mass. And no, their ships are pretty fragile, but generally smaller, and therefore cheaper.

Steampunk Battleships focus on turretted weapons and heavy armor, with a deficiency in firepower.

Pirate Faction is going to focus on variety, but have an advantage in maneuverability and broadsides.

>I wanted the Nazi Zeppelins to have forward-facing cannons, since it makes sense, with zeppelins being long, and not much mass. And no, their ships are pretty fragile, but generally smaller, and therefore cheaper.

yeah, this is the other possible way to go. however, i maintain that it isn't nazi if they don't go "what's the biggest fucking vehicle we can possibly make, ok great make one four times as big."

>>10104293
edit: when you say front facing do you mean "mounted on the front, no rotating" or "a turret that can fire at anything in front of the zeppelin

>>10104293
>>10104313
Basically you are going to have to aim the ship in order to aim the gun. The way weapons work is that they can aim anywhere within their arc, basically. If their arc is narrow, then they have to aim well.

I think Crimson Skies has forever ingrained into my mind what a Battle Zeppelin would be like.

And it is awesome.

Also, Disputed Western Territories represent

ok, stupid-ass mechanical idea

trains

you have one unit that is made up of multiple statted units made of separate pieces, the front one would have the propulsion while the rear ones would just dangle behind it firing guns

you could use them to either create a long fucking line of cover, or to lower resource costs by dragging around a lot of firepower with one engine

>>10104856
I actually had an idea for something similar. One of the non-core factions I have planned has a carrier that is nothing more than a giant flying airbase. It has to be towed into battle, by a ship that can ram/tow ships around.

>>10104965
the way i envisioned it the degree of customization would be kind of ridiculous, since there wouldn't be a hard limit on the number of cars, which would individually be extremely generic, so you could have several small trains, one big train, or a mix of them and regular units (or even just take the towing unit as an individual thing)

do you have any plans for gyrocopters? how are the battleships/non-zeppelins propelled exactly?

(also, if it sounds like i'm shitting on your ideas despite you being the one who made the game, i am not, i am just operating on a direct brain to mouth level of filtering my speech to maximize the content you have to work with, i know what it's like to have some asshole try to rewrite all of your shit)

>>10105055
Its fine, really. This is /tg/, I'm ECSTATIC that a dozen people haven't swarmed the thread screaming that I should not be allowed to post in /tg/ because I'm not posting furry scat pornography.

The train thing... I'm probably not going to do much with. Like I said, I had an idea for it, butm, eh. Gyrocopters would probably just be lumped under "Fightercraft", since they are functionally fighters.

Steampunk battleships keep in the air by having a gas that when placed under high heat and high pressure, produces incredible lift, so you already have a massive iron frame throughout the ship just to keep it aloft.

The galleons... I'm not so sure on, perhaps some sort of floating wood. The how isn't as important though, thanks to liberal application of mad science through the Pulp.

also I give up on learning VASSAL. It is incredibly counter intuitive, and most of the tutorials are more interested in telling you the Horizontal Separation when not expanded of Stacked Game Pieces

>>10105310
you might try maptool, it is passable

FOUND YOUR GALLEON, OP

pirates make me think piracy, which makes me think control of the situation.

Since there are no shoals to pick around in the sky, I think they are the ones who deserve the massive smoke cloud generating devices. Something to let them get in close with the benefit of some surprise.

the balance i would suggest is a heavy bias towards short range guns, or perhaps long range guns are only available on a spinal mount in the Fore section.

Thus we have Sky-pirate galleons roaring smokily out of a black cloud, bearing down on their prey, full speed ahead and so forth.. and somewhat lacking in maneuvering options until they get close, lacking in damage unless they are fully committed.

if armor is modeled by area, they would have the most in front for their daring charge, the least in the side and rear, leaving them worryingly open to enemies when they are running or turning.

two cents, etc.

>>10106127
So uh... how exactly do the ships not see these massive black clouds from hundreds of miles out?

>>10106201
ah..

uh..

fuck you.

sorry, let me try that again..
how do they not see them.. well, since we are talking mini wargame, the forces Are meeting.

Perhaps its a special case movement.

Pirate ship may Emit Smokescreen if at a Long Range distance, in the next round they can shift to a Medium or Close range of a specified ship while not taking any attacks in closing?

>its sky pirates i aint gotta explain shit.
>speaking of SkyPirates, i ran the skypirates ride at gameworks most nights. It was fun.

one more bump before i go to bed

>>10107077
bedtime courtesy bump in the name of Steampunk Ironsides and AIRSHIPS!

Just woke up and ready to continue the discussion and not let the thread die.

You NEED boarding. If you don't go with Brewhouse rules, or if you have many miniatures, you could implement a very simple rule-set. Keep crew counters next to each ship's damage chart, each counter representing a "platoon" of men. When boarding, move counters to another ship's chart. Then roll a single "ship combat roll" every turn for every ship that has been boarded, and remove counters according to dice and modifiers (modifiers such as Security Stations, Better Muskets, Hand Cannons, Grappling Hooks, which could be purchased on a per-crew basis, adding further customization). That's one roll per ship, easily manageable, and adds tons of flavour to the game. If your enemy runs out of platoons, you have commandeered the ship and are able to control it from the following turn, with -1 to all stats to represent the inexperienced crew.

Crew transfer rules could be vital to pirates, they could transfer more platoons each turn than other factions, and have less penalties for commandeered ships.

OP, if you're still around, you need a heavier than air drive. You may still have zeppelins, because they are fucking cool, but you need some handwavium to justify how their lifting power is higher than usual so that zeppelins can carry heavy guns and maybe even armour. Otherwise, it would take an absurdly large gas chamber just to be able to carry a single cannon, and a direct sagittal hit would probably puncture a large proportion of gas bladders and down the zeppelin. If you can have flying ironclads, if they can really afford to keep armor plating afloat, then they can be filled to the brim with cannon, so they would mop the floor with zeppelins any day.

This project is giving me a firmly Last Exile feel. And I have to confess that I like it.

Those fleet battles were just such a sight to behold.

Any particular reason why it has to be d8?

*nudge*

Aww, you guys are awesome, you kept the thread alive through the night for me.

The reason I went with d8 was because, well, I felt d6 was too small, and d10 too large. Plus I started to develop an attraction to the die when I realized that it was a perfect die for a compass, and that helped tie into the game thematically.

I liked Last Exile. Never saw more than a few episodes though. I'd love to see a high rest picture of that airship though.

>>10109664
I do want to do Boarding, but I'm still working on the core elements of gameplay still. I was thinking it a simple matter of assigning every ship a Crew rating(also used for morale-breaking or antipersonell weapons), and have it simply be a weapon that rolls checks against that. I admit I didn't look at the Brewhouse rules, but then I have horrible attention problems. Though I admit, I am liking the idea of platoons and transferring. It certainly makes sense, doesn't it? It also works because I had designed every faction with having advantages in personal combat, as well. Steampunk Battleship faction would have Royal Marines with massive armor, Pirate Galleon faction would have wickedly sharp cutlasses made of Phlebotonium(Less important than Plot-tanium, but still equally fictional)

>>10114282

As for the drive systems, handwavium abounds. Steampunk Battleship faction has a mineral/crystal/not-important that when heated and pressurized, vaporizes into an incredibly lighter-than-air gas. The pipelines for this gas are incorporated into their ships from the very framework.

I'm not confident on my explanation for Pirate Galleon faction, but I was going to go off the idea that a certain species of tree has evolved over small (read: unfeasible for ironclad construction) deposits of the handwavium (I'm thinking of calling it Exium or something), and incorporated it into its very fiber(ha!), making it so that when treated, it floats in the air. Yeah, I need more work on that one.

As for Facist Zeppelins, I was thinking a kind of moss or fungus, something with spores, that germinate and release lighter than air gasses. Every zeppelin's airbags are filled with these spores.

Of course, Steampunk and Zeppelin factions will still use coal-engines for their thrust. I'm just musing about lift.

In case you want to use miniatures with that:
http://www.shapeways.com/shops/objects?section=Air/Ether-ships
http://www.brigademodels.co.uk/Frames/VAN/index.html

I think I've proven my skills well with my paperhammer. I can work up templates from concept sketches if you want.

>>10104856
Do you want to have babies? Trains and zeppelins with guns are just about the sexiest thing ever.

>>10098720

>>10114535
>>10114486
Well, haha... funny thing is, as fucking *awesome* as that is, both the miniatures and the offer to do papercraft based on designs (Shit, now I want to find pics I have just to have you do them anyway), I.. well, I'm honestly a little afraid this will turn people off by bringing it up.

I'm cheap. I'm broke. I want to do this, to actually MAKE it. Sculpting and production facilities? Ehhh no. So I thought... how would it work as a card game? Yeah. I went there. I want a wargame played with cards. Done ez-mode too. Increments and ranges are done in card-widths, for ease of measurement. Ships are generally the same shape, and it also allows for another mechanic which I'm nervous to go into right now, but basically put, Its gonna be with cards.

I'm going to flinch now.

>>10114967
So, Crimson Skies Clickytech?

I am kind of sad that game died, I had some great custom rules for zeppelin assault.

>>10114302
>a certain species of tree has evolved over small (read: unfeasible for ironclad construction) deposits of the handwavium (I'm thinking of calling it Exium or something), and incorporated it into its very fiber(ha!), making it so that when treated, it floats in the air. Yeah, I need more work on that one.
No, you don't. You need to leave it exactly as it is because it is awesome. At most, make the trees use these deposits for an evolutionary advantage - to grow 300 meters tall and spread huge-ass tree crowns which would collapse any normal tree under its own weight, but the handwavium keeps it aloft.

>>10114282
>Crew rating
yeah, tracking crew in addition to HP would work, and it would allow for crew casualties inflicted by long-range weaponry as well. I still recommend some form of "bean counters" for boarding parties because you will most likely lose track who is where if there if more than one ship is boarded.

Oh, also, I would suggest that a ship which wants to board needs to pass an opposed maneuver check against the ship to be boarded (if you have a maneuver rating for ships). This way large lumbering Nazi zeppelins can't board nimble pirate ships unless pirates want to. Then you can also add huge ship-to-ship harpoons as "wargear", i.e. replacing some cannons or something, as special weapons which enable holding minor ships in place and boarding them. Oh and give Nazis the option of using some sort of poison gas attack when they board, if only for flavour and justification why Nazi soldiers must wear the cool-looking gas masks.

btw if you'd like to playtest my airships game (the one with screenshot in >>10100467) I can send you a beta or something. Airship enthusiasts are always welcome for input. Like i said it is more of an action game (you are a captain of a single airship rather than commander of a fleet) but I think you will like it.

>>10114967
Dude, nothing wrong with card games, or card reminders, or having cards at your edge of the table for each airship with various counters on said cards (this setup would enable you to track easily such stuff as crew, gas left in zeppelins where applicable, etc). Then you could have modifications and statuses as "attachment" cards. Why not?

The thing is, cards need manufacturing too (even if it is cheap), and since you have ranges, you must have airships represented on the playing field somehow. They might be represented by cardboard cutouts, peanuts, Risk pieces, or 40k miniatures, or bread crumbs, it doesn't matter at this stage. All it matters is you keep working at it, PLAYTESTING it, and refining the rules. If the rules are good, you will find funding for airship models, or sooner or later get a side job to fund it yourself.

>>10115125
Similar... I think? I nver actually played Crimson Skies Clickytech, just read the fluff and collected the planes. I mean use the actual, honest to god cards as miniatures. As the card sitting on the table is where you target from, the card sitting on his side of the table is where you are targetting, and when you move the ships, you move the cards.

>>10115127
>At most, make the trees use these deposits for an evolutionary advantage - to grow 300 meters tall and spread huge-ass tree crowns which would collapse any normal tree under its own weight, but the handwavium keeps it aloft.
You see, one of my concerns was "How do they not need entire continent-sized forests of this wood, and now you have made me happy.

I really do like your whole bean-counter-platoon idea. The only thing is, do they really send platoons back and forth between allied ships during combat?

hey, why don't you upload your airship game to 1d4chan or something. I really doubt that /tg/ as a whole would frown on it. Or at the very least, some people would enjoy it, while haters gonna hate.

>>10115604
>little girl chasing ... undead thor horse?
wtf

Just to leave a few ides for ships.

Air-Nazis: "Vulture-class gunship", Big ol' blimp with a 360 arc turret (Thunderbolt Destroyer cannon?) mounted underneath, slow but with a giant punch. Not much soft armour, but decent hard. Has next to nothing aginst fighters.

Sky-pirates: "Orion-class frigate", old design, looks like a small trireme, can choose between almost all of the smaller guns, but can only mount them on the aft arc. Fast but with shitty armour, used because of it's high speed (and ease of production).

Flying victorians: "Cirrus-class Destroyer", Not very big, but with lots of guns. Bonuses aginst soft armour and fighters, but not very much piercing aginst hard armour.

>>10115867
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_Ray_Bill

>>10115604
>The only thing is, do they really send platoons back and forth between allied ships during combat?
I meant more along the line of different coloured bean-counters for different players, so that when they board, you transfer your counters onto the enemy ship and start resolving boarding action next turn.

As for game upload, I will definitely make it available to /tg/, when it's stable.

OP here. Coming up with some more design philosophies for the various factions...

Steampunk battleships will focus on heavy armor, turreted weapons, and aerial torpedos. However their ships are larger (and thus more expensive), have sub-par cannon damage, and only tolerable manuverability.

Facist Zeppelins will focus on smaller(therefore cheaper) ships, longer range weapons mounted in the Fore arc. Their ships will have bad armor, and weak firepower outside their forward arc for the most part.

Pirate Galleons will have no preference in ship size, and good manueverability and boarding... but since I haven't got boarding rules codified yet, what else can I do with them?

>>10118939
Goddamn I need to refresh before I post after a while. Ohhh, okay. Pirates can send more men over the railing than other factions, basically.

...define Stable

Any room for extra factions at all?

>>10119111

Also, both of those factions strike me as wanting to sit at medium-long range and bombard each other, so why not make the pirates specialised in short ranged weaponry to get under the artillary?

>>10119383
...Ooh. I like that. Short range, possibly dangerous broadside mounted weaponry.

>>10119340
Much in the same way there is room for more factions in Dawn of War 1. I'm focusing on getting the game to an alpha stage, with three factions. I already have two more factions waiting (and honestly with better fluff) in the wings, but if you have an idea, I'm more than interested. My only statement is that they need some form of airship that has a powerfully different aesthetic than the others.

Are there flying fortresses in this setting?

>>10119520

Excellent. A race of nomads who use islands with magnetic levitation arrays inside (like the floating issland from Gulliver's Travels)

"Ships" named after Land Formations - Peninsula Class, Mountain Class, Scree Class

Weaponry named after geological events - Earthquake Side Cannon, Eruption Catapult

The islands are much larger than other ships, due to being mostly used for homes as well. Advantage of this is that they are generally better defended with militia and anti-boarding devices, as well as standard cannons. Also a lot harder to take down, due to the internal natural levitation array. Also also disrupts navigation, due to the huge magnetic field.

May not mix well with Steampunk flotillas at close range, as the ships become magnetised to the islands. This is a viable combat strategy for Mountain Class seige-islands.

>>10119720
While creative as fuck and I love the concepts and the naming conventions... that sounds a lot like trying to balance a race of Godzillas for use in standard 40k. It sounds like even one of their smallest ships should count as terrain.

>>10119551
Funny you ask that...

>>10120033

Well, mostly, I was looking at that pic you posted in the OP; the islands and other battleships being of similar size comparison. But aye, it would be difficult to balance in big games.

...and they would basically be fortified moving terrain.

>>10119520
Rotors. Forests of rotors on the ships to keep themafloat. Or on the sides.

>>10119520
>>10119383
So what is the downside of the pirates?

For the Horde!

Downside of the pirates... Maybe their thrust should matter on wind direction? Vulnerable to fire?

sky whalers
sky vikings
omgomgomg sky american indians in flying canoes

Weak armor, but not as weak as the zepps?

Okay, I've worked out a better identity for the three factions gameplay wise, with you guys. For the record, Size is analogus with Points Value, at least at this point in time.

Steampunk Ironclads:
Pros: Heavy armor, turreted guns, aerial torpedoes

Cons: Few if any ships smaller than Size 2, sub par gun damage, bad maneuverability(maybe?)

Large, heavily armored ships that can soak up enemy fire and retaliate from most angles. Their important ship roles would be small ships meant to screen their larger cruisers, massive battleships, and torpedoships.

Fascist Zeppelin faction
Pros: Focus on smaller ships, very few Size 5 ships. Long range cannons, gas-oriented special weaponry.

Cons: Very weak armor, Fore-mounted weapons, tolerable maneuverability(maybe?)

Cheap, yet relatively powerful ships that attack from long range or relative safetly. Important ship roles would be sniper, gas-layer, and swarmer.

Pirate Galleon faction
Pros: Powerful broadsides, boarding focus (when implemented), maneuverable. Variety.

Cons: Moderately weak armor, short range unreliable weaponry. (possible forced variety?)

Moderately fast, short ranged ships work to close and get "stuck in". Important ship roles would be boarding vessels, hit'n'run raiders, and short range broadside monsters.

this is a mechanical description that makes me want to play as all of them, which is something most games cannot say, i have to admit

One more shameless bump before I let the thread fall to the archives.

>>10124620
did you get anywhere with maptool/alternatives

>>10124639
I have not even tried honestly. I figured I should just finish the system and stats first.

>>10124710
ah ok

i recommend you get a 1d4chan page

>>10121215
vs sky whale riders

im obviously very late to the party, but i hope to be able to playtest this OP