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Shipyards
I have some questions about shipyards in the B5 universe that Id like to ask here. From the research I have done on various online websites and AOG books, I have found very little info on this topic.
So Id like to ask my questions with two intentions:
A) Answers based on what official or unofficial information can be found and ;
B) What would you come up with if you where a GM putting together a Strategic level B5 campaign game.
---------------------------------------------1A) What are the known shipyards for the various races as of 2260 , and where can information be found on them ?
2A) Where are they located ?
3A) -Any known defenses for shipyards common to a specific race ?
4A) Are any of the shipyards known for a particular ship design or construction capacity?
1B) How many ,how large and where would you assign shipyards ?
2B) Would you limit them to only Homeworld or would you assign them in various places?
3B) How would you assign defenses for them based on a races economic, military, industrial and technological capacity?
4B) Would you limit a races shipyards to a specific design or treat them as able to create any design that race is capable of building?
Thanks,
George
So Id like to ask my questions with two intentions:
A) Answers based on what official or unofficial information can be found and ;
B) What would you come up with if you where a GM putting together a Strategic level B5 campaign game.
---------------------------------------------1A) What are the known shipyards for the various races as of 2260 , and where can information be found on them ?
2A) Where are they located ?
3A) -Any known defenses for shipyards common to a specific race ?
4A) Are any of the shipyards known for a particular ship design or construction capacity?
1B) How many ,how large and where would you assign shipyards ?
2B) Would you limit them to only Homeworld or would you assign them in various places?
3B) How would you assign defenses for them based on a races economic, military, industrial and technological capacity?
4B) Would you limit a races shipyards to a specific design or treat them as able to create any design that race is capable of building?
Thanks,
George
Comments
Say... Aren't shipyards more of a "Trekky" thing?
[img]http://216.15.145.59/mainforums/wink.gif[/img]
Just kiding!
[img]http://216.15.145.59/mainforums/biggrin.gif[/img]
B5 has never really worried too much about details like shipyards unless they are needed by the story.
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The Balance provides. The Balance protects.
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Worf
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1A:(What are they?) No idea
2A:(Where?)Around any planet, moon, asteroid field, or in deep space. Just about anywhere really, but remember there are difficulties constructing / moving them to certain locations. Planet and moons the player controls are probably the best idea.
3A:(Defenses)Large numbers of that races standard weapons. Or they can be unarmed, and require a defense fleet.
4A & 1B:(Capacity)Unknown - I havent a clue. For game purposes though a small range of build capacities would work (Major, builds everything; minor, builds fighters and small cap ships; miniature, builds fighters & corvettes). As for for where, a shipyard needs a crew, which needs support services etc etc. So large population planets can have big shipyards, small moons/outposts little ones.
4B:(design limits):Think about the races themselves. EA can probably build any shipyard, anywhere, but the shadows may have to do all 'construction' (see above for clarification, at Z'ha'dum. So they might only have one shipyard.
Design your own game. No one will complain if it doenst EXACTLY match the series.
*snigger* *snigger*
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Live long and.. um..
Have a Beer!
1B: I'd have civilian shipyards (meaning the ones that build civilian transports, luxury liners, etc.) in systems just off the major jump routes. For military shipyards, I'd put them in deep space between systems. These shipyards would probably have an encrypted jump beacon attached to them that would sound like ordinary static to anyone without the encryption codes so that only military vessels of the appropriate race can find them.
4B: I'd have a few different types of shipyards, each capable of building a few different types of ships. Probably the same shipyard could be used to build Omegas and Novas, for instance, but not Warlocks. Similarly, the shipyard that builds Sharlins probably can't build Whitestars.
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We are here to place President Grenewetzki under arrest!
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[b][url="http://www.minbari.co.uk/log12.2263/"]Required reading[/url][/b]
Never eat anything bigger than your own head.
The Balance provides. The Balance protects.
"Nonono...Is not [i]Great[/i] Machine. Is...[i]Not[/i]-so-Great Machine. It make good snow cone though." - Zathras
I got yesterday the B5W 2 ed Rule Compendium, Ships of the Fleet and Gropos books (still waiting for the Diligar Invasion book to show up) so I will be asking some more specific questions soon about individual nations, to see if any one can help me out in putting together the setup files for my FOTS B5:2230 campaign.
Anyhow...
>Well, as far as the series and made-for-TV >movies, the only one I remember seeing is >the one the Excalibur and Victory were in. >I forget the mentioned location, but...
This is one of the few times we actual see a shipyard in the series, but it doesn't imply that there isn't more.
Just like its reasonable to accept that every nation has their own police force, laws, transportation systems, cultural beliefs, entertainment events and industrial infrastructure even though we dont see them on the show, its also reasonable to believe that what we see on the show is just a fraction of what realy exist.
>Say... Aren't shipyards more of a "Trekky" >thing? Just kidding!
That depends. Do you think that asking a logical question is something that can be considered "Trekky"? (G)
>B5 has never really worried too much about >details like shipyards unless they are >needed by the
True. Only show what is needed to move the story along. Yet unlike SW or ST, B5 has a serious lack of printed information available about the various nations in the B5 universe. There was only a short-lived RPG (which pales in comparison to the HUGE line of SW RPG material), I have found no "Art of B5", "B5 Technical Manuals" , " Illustrated Guide to B5" or the various SW type Encyclopedias ( Weapons & Equipment, Ships & Vehicles, Alien Worlds, Guide to Aliens..) , and I consider that a damn shame. I would like to have a collection of B5 books to go on my shelf next to my SW reference book collections.....
>I thought that Shadow and Vorlon ships were >grown rather than built?
From what I have gathered they are grown is specialized shipyards (or Growth Vats in FOTS terms).
>I don't think the military would actually >have its own shipyards. I think they would >contract out ship building to industry.
Depends on the race realy. Some might contract the work to a civilian company, some might have the military build them themselves, while others might direct their whole nation to building them.
Also some races will have no distinction between what a civilian and a military personally are, others have neither, and some will have both. That can be important in determining how ships are built.
Ships can be built in a variety of shipyards under different conditions (slave labor, automated plants, nano-technology, shipped from the plant to orbit) and they can effect the size, speed, quality and time of construction.
Just some thoughts...
George
Personally, I like the way B5 hasn't flooded the world with technical manuals and details like that. It leaves the universe very open for JMS to continue the story and for fans to write fanfic or just dream. It doesn't turn the series into too much of a franchise, like Star Wars and Star Trek have become.
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[b][url="http://www.minbari.co.uk/log12.2263/"]Required reading[/url][/b]
Never eat anything bigger than your own head.
The Balance provides. The Balance protects.
"Nonono...Is not [i]Great[/i] Machine. Is...[i]Not[/i]-so-Great Machine. It make good snow cone though." - Zathras