Hey all! First time RT GM here- hammering out the details for my new crew. Our first session is on Sunday and I am very excited.

Looking through the Ships section and was wondering- what hull is the best overall for a first time RT Party? What will hold its own as we play test Starship combat without being underpowered or overpowered?

A frigate will generally give you the most well round ship, and both weapons being dorsal mounted means that it is very forgiving in combat. Any hull type can be tweaked to do what your players want, but they can be harder to deal with.

The Light Cruiser and Cruiser class ships allow for a lot more player customization and versatility (and thus IMHO more character) than the smaller hulls. Most of the smaller ships need to be mono tasked due to power and space limitations.

As to being overpowered, the GM determines the difficulty of what they face so as long as you don't let your players go hog wild with archeo and xeno components it should not be an issue.

Thank you- I am reading over the frigate now. So it seems like it is a toss up between this Hull type or the light cruiser. Pros? Cons?

Decisions, Decisions.

And my apologies if this post is in the wrong place- I didn't see the forum listed below and I am a newbie. =)

NobleSeven said:

It depends on what they want to do. If they are going to go around with guns blazing a Secuter class light cruiser from into the storm is the choice.

If they are going to be all stealthy and criminal go with a frigate, I like the tempest but millage may vary.

If they are just going to be doing a lot of exploring go with a standard light cruiser as they could take the components useful in exploring (extended supply vaults, etc)

I've found light Cruisers and Frigates the easiest ships to fit with fun stuff. Cruisers less so as if you fit all 5 weapon components you've already chewed through a lot of space and power, particularly if you've gone for the more potent weapons.

Frigates are probably best for a new bunch of players, they are tough, can mount good weapons and still have plenty of room for other stuff and as mentioned previously, very forgiving. Light cruisers with their boradside arcs sacrifice versatility in fire arcs for the power of mounting broadside versions of weapons.

Sword Class Frigate or Orion Transport

Using normal rules, a frigate with two dorsal macrocannons can cripple a cruiser in a few well-placed shots with good rolls. Meanwhile it's fast, has good detection and maneuverability, and has some space left over for components to give it flexibility. Some people will tell you to go straight for full cruiser. If your Voidmaster has an AGI of 60+, I say go for it. Otherwise you'll be struggling to get your prow oriented towards smaller ships while they run circles around you. I would avoid lances unless it has a STR of 2. Without a macrocannon to bring down the shield for you, it's worthless.