So far sr4 has the best vehicle arrangement of any SR game.

I am a big fan of elizabeth Moon, David Webber, S.M Stirling and Larry Niven.

I have created the source material for my thing, but have not written it down yet.
I also am iffy about what rules system to use. I DON't want to use a level based system. Ergo SR4.
Problem is that I havn;t seen the new rigger books yet and don;t know if the naval stuff is out yet.

Also I am going to have to hack together a few mechanics for Astrogation and thansgalactic piloting, xeno:biology cultures and archeology.

I am also wiling to listen to ideas for ship designs. Some of my friends are against using ballistics in Space. I am of the go with what you know school.

Anyway feel free to kibitz and enjoy.

interesting concept. are you looking ar near earth or inter solar system?
also have you given any thought to propulsion systems

I too am playing with a space opera setting.

I am looking at having multiple star nations/kingdoms with a lot in independant planets. Magic is there, but has different names in different places, Magic, Psionics, the Force. One of the star nations will be the Jedi Republic (with lightsabers being like monofilament swords?). Lots of races, but still looking at what BP costs vs race and abilities will be.

I am thinking of using something like the West End games Star Wars rules for ships (but as it is still in the thinking stage, am looking at the vehicle rules - and hoping for Riggers 4 - to see what I can use without having to re-invent or modify a lot of stuff). I have a few ideas about ships, but they are still too full of holes to put to pen right now.

Also looking at allowing some genetic engineering (BP costs + possible negative qualities). Thinking along the lines of David Weber's Honorverse, like Honor, increased speed, muscles, need more calories to maintain, has more violent tendancies. This could be done by allow Bioware to be "free" vs essence, like muscles augmentation and toner, but have to eat XX% more or start to starve, and have to make control checks to not lose their temper and react violently.
If I got this route, I may say that the different races in SR are genetically modified humans (Trolls - heavy world colonists, Elves - rich folk modification, Dwarves - space limited places, like space stations, Orks - assault soldier breed - Storm Troopers..., hence the perception of violence and turbo charging that causes a shorter lifespan).

More as I firm up ideas or new products come out and throw a monkey wrench into the works (or solve a lot of problems)

Actually I plan on utilizing a multi galactic kinda thing. With Earth being one of the seats of power. The Emire of Mann is the largest human polity going, with something like 50000 systems colonized and settled.

Firstly, no psyonics. or magic. There are Aliens, but Emperial policy is not to get involved with them. If your ship is involved in a fist contact situation, policy is to avoid starting a war if at all possible.

AI's do exist on a very small scale- There was a period when the empire lost control of her planetary defence grids for 48 hours and destroyed a few trillion dollars in property.

There are 7 basic Castes in the empire of Mann: I will work top down on this list:

The Glorious Emperor of 10 million Suns: Sean Oogle
The Imperial Family: Currently 2 Sons, no wives, no clear heir. Both sons are pratts.

The Emperors consort: 180 Women who are his concubines, spies, assassins, go to girls, and messengers ect. The Emperor has the Right to select girls for his consort from any place in the Empire. The girl may refuse and she will be asked 3 times only.

The Emperial Senate: The bunch of wind bags who do most of the real governance.

The Emperial Household: Persons of any previous rank who have gained the Emperors personal notice and have been rewarded for their excellence. The Emperor himself looks after these individuals and insures that they have what the need with the highest priority.

Citizens: Persons who have completed the Term of Service. Are physically and mentally able, and can use the knowledge they have been given upon request. They have the right to own just about anything. Can own and operate multi system businesses, and do pay taxes. A pure 10% with few exemptions.

Plebes: These are the working classes that pay most of the taxes and do most of the things that need doing. They can own their own homes, a farm to sustain themselves, and sufficient arms to secure food and reasonable security.

The Bound: These individuals have fallen on hard times indeed. regardless of the reason, a person of this cast has sold themselves to another for a term of service. The terms of service are negotiated by the Bonded, an Imperial Magistrate, and the Foster to whom they are being bound. Breaking the terms of this contract carries such harsh penalties that few Fosters do so. One can also be bound as a form of punishment.

Far below the bound are the untouchables. those who fallen so far that even the bound refuse to acknowledge their existence. There are no records of these individuals, they are not counted or cared for. They are the unwashed refuse that ooses out of the cities and spaceports.

if you guys want, I will post my notes here.

Citizens please take note!
Options for service are as follows:
4 years in any of the following services
Expiditionary Core
Fleet
Mechinised infantry
Cav
Civil Defense
Ministry of Education
6 years in any of the following
Ministry of Commerce
Ministry of interier affairs
Ministry of Colonization

Thank you for you Attention.
Please return to your regular activities

I did a shadowrun in space game set a few hundred years into the future. Hyperspace has openned up 8 or 9 colonies and the solar system is full of space stations. The characters were on Mars in New Seattle post terraforming so space travel didn't get into it.
I'm starting to work on a new one for 4th ed.

Basically in coming up with any space combat system you need to list the technologies that are available and how you want to use them. How complex is each action for your setting. For instance is astrogation all computer controlled so all you have to do is tell the computer where to go? Or do you have to make calculations to go to hyperspace that require an extended test skill roll that determines how many rounds you have to fight off the pursuing bad guys.

How difficult is it to hit things in space and at what kind of range? Can you just mainly hit at long range or is dogfighting what you want?

Also how do you imagine space combat in the first place? Is it low tech space battles with lots of ships pounding each other over long periods of time? Or is it high tech space battles with beam weapons that carve up a ship per shot?

How powerful are sheilds? Are they mostly EM shields that work against one thing and not another? Can you use them vs radiation? Heat? Plasma? Is there a pool of shield points or is it like a damage track? Is it a threshold to get past or ablative but total protection up to that point? Is is a setting that has powerful sheilds but weak hulls or the other way around? Do energy weapons have AP vs hulls but not versus sheilds?

We need to know much more about your setting in order to help you out!

good luck

I am thinking that for most craft the "shields" are there to protect against the massive radiation fields that can be encountered int he course of normal space travel.

I kinda like the idea of having a shield wall that is truely impervious go incoming and outgoing fire. once you raise the shield wall you arn't going anywhere but you are pretty well safe.
A fleet action group's frigates could erect a shield sufficient to protect the entire fleet if it huddled in close.

I am guessing that long range gunnery presents some unique challenges. Particularry if one is using a Ballistic model of assault. Torpedoes would still be effective, but slow. Beams can be used at several light seconds out, but you would really have a good fix on the target. point of reference . the sun is about 4.5 light seconds out.

1 light second = 299 792.458 kilometers

for close range work bullets are more cost effective, problem with gunnery is space is inertia. with every shot the craft's trajectery is altered slightly. Correct me if my science is wrong here.

Space Superiority fighters are agile enough that high velocity weps are needed to interdict them, on the other approach herding them with beams would work about as well, but all effective beam weps would opperate outside the visable spectrum.

keep asking me questions, I know what I want, I just hate typing.

...don't overlook kinetic launchers. A railgun can be a pretty potent weapon against spacecraft. For planetary bombardment mass drivers (thor shots) are much more effective than exotic weapons such as "planet busters".

Fighters would most likely be drones as opposed to manned spacecraft, cheaper to produce and operate. Yeah it takes a bit of the "romance" out, but would be far more efficient even for a well heeled empire.

Small tactical spacecraft would be built more on the concept of PT boats (which the RL navy is actually coming back to). IN the space campaign I ran, there is a class of ship (2800 MTonnes) which relies more on stealth than massive firepower to do it's job. they are manned by a crew of 12 - 16 and usually patrol in "hunter" packs of 4 or 8. Despite their small size, they are quire formidable.

cool, i like that Idea. This comes into the what kind of Fleet am I question.
am I a dreadnought fleet with impossibly huge and nigh indestructible ships or are we a mostly frigate and smaller fleet with lots of mobility and mission diversity.

In short I am going to attempt to further define the ultimate roles of each fleet.
Fleet (note the capitol there) is a majority battleship and above with fighter and frigate support.

the Expeditionary Corps is a frigate and down fleet with a few carriers at their disposal. the Xcorps has the fastest ships in the Empire, and default higher jump priority. (all jumps are usually cleared with Xcorps central traffic, unless there is a controller in the combat group, and fwd fleet controllers are very powerful men. they can summon the ENTIRE fleet if the mission warrants it. ther just better be a damn good reason for it)

I agree with the Rail gun thing. Those would by nature have to be turreted, and external.I kind of like the idea of tethering them to the outside of the ship and using maneuvering thrusters to aim the thing. although that means the tether becomes a liability. thats just for the really big ones tho. I mean there is no reason you couldn't use small railguns for point defense. barrel heat really wouldn't be much of a problem. just have to keep a steady stream of pellets handy. I mean ball bearings would do the job.

2000M tonnes, Thats a HUGE ship.

well ok, I was judging by displacement

the shuttle is almost 2 m tonnes. and that thing can't support life for more than a couple of weeks at a time. still wow, big.

although, mass isn't as much of a problem, I mean its not like you have to worry about runing aground. Just means you need bigger engines.

I'm a big fan of living ships, like the ones in FarScape. The ability to speak with your ship is great.

As kind of a joke every ship has a dog as a mascot/ warrant officer. The Dog's job is to return the ship to earth in case all the crew is killed. the Dog doesn;t have controll of the gunnery systems but can access most doors and drive systems. This is to keep it from running down fleeing ships and "biting" them.

had played around with the idea of a remote controlled squirril, but racoons are more useful.
'coon have the black ops sprit going on anyway, break in, steal stuff then break out.