Space cowboy help thread part 2: guns, ships, and othe goodies
 

while we hammer out the stats over here.

http://www.nuklearforums.com/showthread.php?t=11539

lets get some brain storming on other ideas over here. Like what kind of ships guns and other things do we want.

well first you should figure out how they can travel faster then light. These are a few methods
Gates (cowboy bebop)
Hyperdrives (star wars)
Warpdrives (star trek) there is a slight difference between them
etherdrive (Outlaw star)

Also whether its continual or works in spurts (or jumps).

i always prefered the combination of ways being either a hyperspace gate or a hyperspace drive.

Gates being for the conservation of fuel, and for smaller craft

drives are for exploring and for systems missing a gate. Think of the gates more like a highway. Also I like the idea of it being more of a jump technolgy.

well I used this idea before. Ships have a built in drive but the gates excellerate them even further. So lets say it normally takes a ship weeks to reach a planet, that same ship would only take a few days. Next thing would be power systems, if you care about detail.

Anywho do you intend on there being battle ships? I mean the giant beasts that are used to level planets and have 100s of crew, or just the personal models where the largest have less then 50.

In any case I would put in both fighters and mechs

well my idea about the gate is that a gate can cause a link between any other gate no matter the distance. The drive however can only jump from one star to another.

The more cowboy you want the RP to be, the more you should copy Cowboy Bebop.

When you make the technology more advanced, it's harder to keep the cowboy feeling.

actually the cowboy feel is really maintained by expanding borders. The lawless frontier. The journey into the unknown at the edge of order. Take for example the ultimate in space cowboy sequences the cantina on Tattoine.

The Empire is a very ordered government, but on an outskirt of space. it's influence is barely felt. It's in these places that heroes and villains can thrive. you have a convergence of the rebel (Luke), the scoundrel (Han and Chewie), the criminal (Jabba's goon Greedo), and the hero on the run (Obi-wan). It really is an under developed genre. So high tech is great, just as long as since you're living on the edge it's at a marked premium.

Ok so lets list basic tech nology to work on

Traditional ground vehicles. (20th - 21st century tech. It's cheap, easy to make.)
Traditional Air technology. (again cheap, easy to maintain in comparison)
Robotics (A fun field)
Space ships (lots of variety here.)
Small craft (think space shuttles and escape pods)
Light freighters (Jump capble cargo ships)
Medium freighters (bigger than above)
Heavy freighters (Large ships, basically the super tanker of the space age)
Warships
Aerodyne fighters (useful in space and in atmosphere)
Gunboat / Raider (A heavy fighter or heavilly armed light freighter)
Corvette (Light warship, really like a heavilly armed light or medium freighter)
Destroyer (True warships, no fighter bays)
Light Carriers (Similar to a destroyer but instead of the big guns they can support a few fighters)
Frigate (bigger than the destroyers)
Cruiser (Heavy warships, Star Destroyers would be a cruiser)
Carriers (Carries squadrons gunboats and fighters)
Battleship (Super star destroyers anyone)
Stardocks (Space stations, ships repair, refuel stations, and shipyards)
Defense satelites
Gates
Battle armor
Mecha
Hover vehicles

anything else we can add?

I've always preferred ballistic weapons to laser guns for multiple reasons. Firstly, the action sequences tend to be more exciting with bullets, blood, and sparks from ricochets than with colored lights zipping around. Secondly, ammo dependence is always good to add into things like this. Thirdly, I just find the gun slinger with an actual pistol a more aesthetically pleasing image... and I dislike mecha.

Frontier or no, it's really hard to get the gritty 'cowboy' feel with a giant mecha.

Scavenger/salvage ships (ships made from salvaged ship parts. Extremely customisable?)


Also, I always thought that if we had a cowboy sci-fi fantasy mix rp, horse-like/bike-like vehicles are a MUST.

Might I recommend for a space cowboy feel - ditch cowboy bebop, research Firefly. Thats a nitty gritty universe with a controlling central government. If I didn't know better I'd say squishy already got a few ideas from their. Am I right?