is there anything (other than the GM) that prevents a group from starting a game of RT with more than one ship?. as long as they have the SP of course.
i couldn`t find anything in the RT book about it, and i couldn`t find a thread on the subject here.
from france
here is the topic you are looking for "if the pc have multiple ships?"
actually, no. that thread is about how achievement points work with multiple ships. and that isnt what my question was about at all.
There's no practical reason to assume you can't do this. My players tend to clamour towards towards the biggest ship they can afford and outfit it as best as possible, but I'd allow taking two ships.
you need 60+ ship points to do it, but its possible. the thing is, with acess to 70 ship points and the current ship rules which are spread across three books, you can get one ship for 70 that outperforms the two smaller ships you could get. with 70sp, i was able to design a frigate for my group with +500 to trade/creed/crime and +200 to explore.
the real problem of two ships, is that the PCs can only be on one ship at a time. it could work if your group is large enough, but what your really end up with is a small 40sp raider escort and a 30sp transport that it has to protect, and your convoy can only move as fast as the slower ship. with a stronger ship to start with, you have a better chance to defeat pirates in battle and take their ships.
Yeah the fact that two ships will most likely leave one ship with only NPC crew, and that the factor most in favor of the PCs in spaceships battles is generally their ridiculous skills that let them hit with the full strength of their macrocannons even when the pilot is using evasive manoeuver for -60 to ballistics, means that two ships is going to hurt alot more than its going to help.
Captain Xenon said:
Goddamn Luxury Passanger Quarters.
Nothing stops the players from having more than 1 ship. Currently however, for purely battle purposes 1 large ship will out perform 2-3 small ones due to the fact that the PCs are all located there rather than spread over a squadron, commanding each system of the ship.
This is a major failing of the RT RPG. Unlike its predecessor DH and subsequent DW where most of its rules are lifted from, RT is not set in a tactical squad based environment, rather PCs should have to act on a strategic level. In RT, each PC is actually a senior command staff member of a warship. In reality, very seldom will all senior command of a warship be available to leave their stations for other activities such as exploration, and act like a typical adventuring party.
However, having more than 1 ship works well if you divide your ships into areas of specialization. Some examples:
Command of additional ships can be given to a PC with little ship combat abilities (such as the Seneschal - In fact, from a RP point of view it makes sense that this PC has command over merchant ships.)