Theory Crafting

The purpose of this thread is to have discussions on the Theory Craft of Stars Without Number. When designing things in the game, there seems to be some opportunities for a bit of optimization. While it doesn't look possible to truly optimize like in other games (which is very good), and there doesn't seem to be many, if any, "trap" options, there are definitely some things that seem to be more effective than others. The idea here is to bring those things up and discuss them. So, let's get this started with something no one is currently using ...

I was kinda intrigued by the Focus Wild Psychic Talent. It allows a character to dabble in psychics, but without the long term investment of effort. It does cost a Focus (or two), but even in its limitations, there are some cool applications. What follows are what seem to me the possible uses of Wild Psychic Talent. Before starting it is important to note that you cannot use this Focus if you are a Full Psychic or Partial Psychic. This doesn't let to gain a cool extra for a Psychic. This is purely a cool extra for an otherwise non-Psychic.

You get one Effort per level taken of the Focus. This is not modified by anything. You may pick either the base level-0 power, or a stand-alone level-1 technique. If you take both levels, you could take a level-0 power and a level-1 technique that builds on that ability or you can take two independent level-1 techniques. Within this limitation, there appears to be nine potentially useful applications. Seven use only a single application of the Focus. It is entirely possible to double-up with these, but presumably they would have to both be from the same psychic power. Two require the use of both levels of the Focus, meaning it really only becomes truly useful when the second level is taken.

One thing that does need to be mentioned is that neither Biopsionics nor Telepathy appears below. This is because the base level-0 power is so limited and the level-1 techniques aren't stand-alone. With Biopsionics, a Lazarus patch will do the work of the level-0 power, and it can never get better. There are far, far better uses of a Focus. With Telepathy, both level-1 techniques require the base power. So, you could have actual telepathic communication once a day or you could sense emotions once a scene. Either one seems way too limited to invest two Foci into.

The next two posts detail the specific options. The first covers the options available for a single use of Wild Psychic Talent. The second for the two that require using Wild Psychic Talent twice.

One-level Wild Psychic Talents

These provide very cool abilities for the investment of a single use of the Wild Psychic Talent. Some could probably be doubled up, but that isn't necessary. Note that several of these are described as "at-will abilities". With a Full or Partial Psychic, this isn't necessarily the case because you might use Effort on some other power that then takes it away for the scene or day. But here, this single ability is the only one that can use the Effort. Therefore, in these cases, it truly is an at-will ability.

Mindtracing: This uses a single Focus. This is actually really cool in an environment where psychics are common. If they are not common, this will have little applicability. But in an environment where psychics are more common, this gives an otherwise non-psychic a cool ability. If you detect that psychic activity has occurred, and it has, you will know who it is and can even briefly see through the psychic's senses. And, since this only uses Effort for the scene, it can be used multiple times a day.

Intuitive Response: This uses a single Focus. Basically, it allows you to win initiative every time. (Unless someone else has the same type of ability.) This uses Effort for the scene, so it should be usable for every single combat.

Sense the Need: This uses a single Focus. This allows you to retroactively declare that you have a mundane item that you need now and don't otherwise have. This does allow for common weapons. There can be mitigating circumstances to prevent this. (If you were specifically stripped of weapons, you can't have a pistol. If you were specifically strip searched, you can't have anything.) This does use Effort for the day, so it can only be used once a day.

Kinetic Transversal: This uses one Focus. This allows you to walk on walls, ceilings, and water. The truly cool thing is that Effort only lasts as long as the ability is used, so it is functionally an at-will ability.

Pressure Field: This uses one Focus. Basically, you have a filter mask, a respirator, a hostile environment suit, and a vacc suit always available for use when needed, even if stark naked. The vacc suit ability is presumably limited by the lack of air tanks. Regardless, it at least gives you a chance. It’s also great for when your actual vacc suit fails. Since this only uses Effort during use, this is functionally an at-will ability. (If you take a second Focus with this one, you also gain the ability to include up to six other individuals with you in the pressure field. The second Focus is needed because a second Effort is needed to include the others in the field with you. It does mean you can’t do the other ability while you are using an extended field. This second point of Effort is only used for the scene, so you get it back pretty quickly.)

Telekinetic Armory: This uses one Focus. This provides you with any advanced melee weapon or any TL 4 rifle you wish. You also can include AC15 armor as part of the ability. The weapons and armor can be visible or invisible as desired. They last as long as Effort is maintained, but since the Effort is recovered after use, this is functionally an at-will ability.

Spacial Awareness: This uses one Focus. You gain a 360 degree spacial awareness of everything around you out to a distance of 100 meters. You may not read text or detect colors. It is blocked by solid objects, but is not blocked by darkness, mist, smoke, blinding lights, holograms, or illusions. The Effort is only committed during use, so this is functionally an at-will ability.

Two level Wild Psychic Talents

These two applications are more nuanced. Both provide a very, very useful ability, but they require a massive investment of two of your five base Foci. But both abilities are very useful, so to some it might we worth that heavy investment.

Terminal Reflection: This uses two Foci. This requires using the first Focus for the base Oracle-0 power and the second Focus for Terminal Reflection itself. Once fully purchased, you can use this up to three times a day. (The first use is "free" and you will have two Effort available after taking the second Focus.) It gives you a premonition for something bad that is about to happen so you can try to avoid it. (I.e. "spider-sense".)

Teleportation: This uses two Foci. With the investment of the first Focus, you gain the ability to teleport up to 10 meters once a day. You can teleport to anywhere you can see or have been within that distance. With the second Focus, you take Proficient Apportation. This means that your teleportation no longer requires Effort. Now you can teleport 10 meters at will.

I can actually see a lot of use for this, defensively, offensively, and story wise. the alternative I would give to this is Alert, depending on how a character is focused, but it does only take one foci, but also Alert requires no effort. This is neat, but it seems so niche use that I can't see it being taken really.I see this being used with an assassin type character, making them even more effective and giving more options and making them harder to find.

Considering we're playing a SPACE game... this would be incredibly helpful if space was focused on more heavily, and is a great backup for any emergencies.This would be great for any Warrior type, and would add some flavor to what could be a very focused build without detracting from the build. (I could see it being added to the build I have below, bumping everything 1 advancement later, and removing Die Hard.I could see this being useful for a lot of cases, combat, scouting, and stealth mainly, but it could give advantage to things like engineering (knowing your surroundings so well could give advantage to any diagnosis).If I hadn't talked to my GM I would just take Alert. If the GM understood the use and desire of the talent, and would like to actually use it I would take it. This may be the coolest one, and we just saw how devastating and powerful it can be.

As I looked over Foci for Melee options I noticed the option of a kind of broken build with a Warrior base. The general idea is a Melee only fighter who is all damage oriented. Highest stats should be Str if wanted to fully lean into just dmage, or Dex if wants to give a slight edge to defense, and then con.

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Level 1 Foci: Armsman Lv 1
Warrior Level 1 Foci: Armsman Lv 2Level 2 Foci: Shocking Assault LV 1
Level 5 Foci: Shocking Assault Lv 2Level 7 Foci: Savage Fray LV 1Level 10 Foci: Die Hard LV 1
I considered Ironhide for LV 10, but assumed there was good enough armor by then to take care of it. Though a no armor swordfighter is quite a common fantasy.

Hmm. If you have Shocking Assault-2 and Savage Fray-1, then you are doing three or four points of damage to everyone adjacent to you that you didn't attack each round. With Armsman-2, you are doing 1d4, plus that shock damage, to the person you did attack, even if you miss. You are a freaking weedeater, and your opponents are your weeds!
Even without being a space game, just being able to handle different air pressures, filter out poisons, breathe underwater (for to mention that) is very useful. It's really handy even not being in space.
For an actual Telekinetic character, this has an additional benefit: you can use your Telekinesis skill in place of Stab or Shoot. So, instead of having to have three skills to increase, you just increase Telekinesis by itself. This is extremely useful. But only for an actual Psychic. For the Wild Psychic, you'll have to use your actual weapon skills.
This is indeed amazing. Any warrior could gain a lot of use out of both this and Telekinetic Armory.
This is more useful than Alert. Alert lets you go first. This lets you be preemptive when absolutely required. It really is pretty useful. I'm just not sure it is worth spending two Foci on.
Yes this is really cool. Especially the ability to use it at-will. The biggest thing is just the 10 meter (32 feet) limit. But even with that, it is still very, very useful.

I have a question on character design: Is Skill-4 worth the investment? I have been building my template with the assumption of getting my main skill to 2 at Level 3, to 3 at Level 6, and to 4 at Level 9. But doing the last two requires pre-investment in the preceding Levels that prevent them from doing much. (In fact, for many classes to get Skill-4 at Level 9 means that Level 8 is just preparation for Level 9.)

Ignore Psychics. Obviously, that one is worth pursuing, as each level gives increasing powers with each level. But with normal skills, all the increase provides is another +1. No other special abilities.

The cost to get Skill-4 is five skill points over Skill-3. Those skill points are just one short of gaining a whole new Skill-2. If one limits themselves to Skill-2s, they can be much more broadly capable. Maybe save enough skill points at the end for a capstone Skill-3.

But is the opportunity cost for gaining Skill-4 worth it for what is gained? Or would it be better to load up on Skill-2s, with maybe one or two Skill-3s at the end?

If you're looking at where to spend Foci, Specialists worth way more than getting a Foci for Exp boosting and more than several other effects.
It feels like +3 might be the best return on investment, giving opportunity to diversify a still well-skilled character.

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Now if we assume we are trying to reach a DC7 with our 2D6 system (I am ignoring our 1D20 combat rolls because I think it's lazy and bad design).
A roll of 2D6 flat is 58.33% likely to get a 7(or more).
However a roll of 2D6+1 is 72.22% likely to get a 7(or more). A 13.89% increase.
A roll of 2D6+2 is 83.33% likely to get a 7+. An increase of 11.11%
A roll of 2D6+3 is 91.66% likey to get 7+, increasing % by 8.33
Rolling 2D6+4 has 97.22% to get 7+, increase of 5.56%.

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If we look at DC 9

(See the pattern?)
However

Then what is the most likely DC we need to focus on?

The usual DC is 8, for a risky but reasonable situation. DC 6 is an "easy check" but still relevant for a roll and DC10 is "hard". 12 and 14 are reserved for those really spectacular moves.

There are rarely other values.

Specialist is very, very boring, but highly effective as it gives you 3d6h2 in place of 2d6 *and* the first level gives you three extra skill points, which is extremely valuable. That is probably the best choice for anything other than Shoot, Stab, or Punch.

As a side note, please keep in mind that everything we are talking about is for a non-psychic character. The psychic character is absolutely roped into spending two of their Foci for Psychic Training-1 and Psychic Training-2. The second is truly important, as it provides nine skill points by itself. That turns out to be extremely important if you want to have psychic powers and any kind of mundane skills in addition.

As an extra side note, if you want to be combat relevant to any degree without a weapon, you must take Unarmed Combat. So, if you wanna go all Jack Reacher on anyone, this is a mandatory Focus selection.

New question: Which is likely better:
- Two Specialist-1 selections in different skills.
- Specialist-1 and Specialist-2 in a single skill.

Obviously, for Hank, I made the choice to do the first. Getting the extra skill points and dice advantage for Trade was more important to me that finishing off Specialist Admin or Hacker. (Honestly, I probably should never have bothered with Admin. It looks like I will never have to make an Admin roll in the entire game, yet I later find out I desperately need Connect. But then, I needed Admin for the established background for Hank. So ... my hand was kinda forced.)

Oh, you will. Like you have a blueprint for the next levels, I have a guideline for the next worlds. Verdura will be interesting.

That sounds a bit ominous, but, still, good to hear!

So, getting that +4 really matters those DC12 and DC14 attempts.

But, if you have Specialization, then +3 is probably good enough if you need those skill points for something else.

So my take is that getting to roll 3 dice is slightly better than a +1 increase, but since specialist comes with some exp it is pretty great, near getting a +2.
I'm going to make the graph easier to read later today.

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I want to check out what 4dice is like.

Well if we assume that a character gains an average of 3.5 hp /level , and as warrior gain 2 more, that means 55 HP ar level 10, going on to 75 with Die Hard. Which kind of brings the character from tough to crazy tough, considering another character could have (3.5*10=)35 HP.

It doesn't make a particular difference overall, but I'm wondering how you're generating your percentages for probabilities. It seems to me that the probability for 4d6+2 (and above) to hit DC6 is 100%; the same goes for 4d6+4 to hit DC8, because there is literally no way to get a number <6 or <8 with those rolls, respectively. But I'm probably just missing something obvious...?

Its 4d6h2. He suppressed the ending, but its actually considering only 2 of the dice in the probabilities. So the odds are low but you can still get a 4 in 4d6h2+2, even though in 4d6+2 you will always succeed with at least 6.

Ah, of course. Thank you.

Unless I could get my hands on some Artifact Weaponry (seriously, a Nightfall Combine would be unparalleled, but a Tools of Ill Omen or SamaelTech would be incredible too)
Though I might be able to do some in-character research/investigation (Talk) to find the location of one. There are always some shady people willing to sell info, it's just finding them that's the trick.

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I think a Mastercrafted weapon is my best bet.
So base cost of Mastercrafted Medium Advanced Weapon would be 600.
My thought would be to get Phasing, maybe trying to hope for a possibility of Customized Mod with less FIX Maintenance requirement later.
Though if I dont think that is in the cards maybe just getting Customized Mastercraft Medium Advanced Weapon would be my best option.

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The possibility of a Mastercraft Combat Field Uniform for either Flexible (Encu 0) or customized (AC 17) is pretty tempting too, eventually when I have an extra 10k to get that...

Though I would love to try and work towards obtaining an Artifact, I don't know the likelyhood of getting one. Or more I don't know how possible it even is.
Either way, It'll be some time before before I can get either. We'll see what happens in this next adventure, what shows up on this salvage mission.

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The other possibility is seeing if I can pay for a fully custom masterwork weapon, paying for the design and construction, and finding someone able to design it.

I also wonder if it would be possible to order a Mastercrafted Flexible Shield.

My envisioning of this item is more that it is made with advanced alloys and methods that make it lighter and just as useful.
The total would be 5,100.

Honestly, I am hoping we get to find some once we get into the second phase of our adventure!

On another note, while thinking about a Free Merchant, I realized it should probably never mount a Fusion Beam. It easily can and is the most effective use of its hard points, but the Beam would be worth as much as the rest of the ship. Meaning bad people would be gunning specifically for your ship to steal the Fusion Beam. They would be willing to rip apart your entire ship just to get that weapon.

A plasma beam? I don't see a fusion beam.
But yeah. Unless you have a fighter escorting it that may be too tempting a target.
Honestly if you were getting a free trader I would think switching out the shuttle for a real fighter with a sand thrower and having a free trader with something like a multi focal battery and a Augmented Plating or Hardened Polyceramic Overlay makes sense.

If I could choose 2 weapons for a Cruiser it would be:
Grav Cannon or Spike Inversion Projector
Plasma Beam
Flak Emitter Battery

The Smart Cloud is tempting instead of the Flack Emmiter, but only if one expects several fighters as enemies.
Besides all that is an incredible amount of power(20/25) and mass(9/8)

Yeah, I meant Plasma Beam.

Also, a Free Merchant is just a frigate sized hull, so it can't really have a fighter with it. (At least not easily.)

The cruiser sized hull is the Bulk Freighter. We have a slightly modified version of the Bulk Freighter.

For the Bulk Freighter, the Grav Cannon and Spike Inversion Projector are just not options because they require 3 hard points, and our ship only has 2.

The Flak Emitter Battery is an option, but it takes an extra Mass, which cuts into the cargo space. That's why I focus on the Plasma Beam.

The Best Ship I can design:

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Though if I was to outfit a Free Merchant all the way I would consider something like this:


Optional Auto Targeting system depending if there is expected to be a gunner readily available. if not advised to take.

The Hardened Polyceramic Overlay is useless on the Free Merchant and basically useless on the fighter. Empty cargo space is more useful.

Also, the fighter should likely have a system drive for more power and mass.

For some reason I just assumed the fighter /shuttle didn't have a spike drive so the system drive.
I think they should both have system drives.

I disagree with the Hardened Polyceramic Overlay on the fighter. It makes sure its 5 armor is more useful. And for a fighter I'm not worried about extra cargo space. That's for shuttles, the fighter is for extra defense.
It is useless on the shuttle, but I was thinking of the Augmented Plating for the shuttle. It's already going to be outgunned or out sped or both by anything else.so some durability I think is good.
Though I was thinking a Smugglers hold for the shuttle.

Actually. Not what I look over the 19 ship weapon options I see that only 3 have AP 10. making the Hardened Polyceramic Overlay unhelpful to all but those.
It looks like fighters just hope to not get hit?
It looks like there is almost nothing that wouldnt take out a fighter with an average hit.
I still dont know if I'd take it off if money were no worry, just in case. but it's not worth much.

A ship needs a minimum armor of 10 to make Hardened Polyceramic Overlay worth the mass. It does nothing for ships with and armor of 5 or less. And mass is the biggest factor, even over the cost.

Why? if something has AP 10 vs armor 5 with hardening 5, it cancels out.

Your ship has 5 armor. You have HPO armor. You are hit by an AP10 Plasma Beam that rolls 11 damage. The HPO armor negates 5 points of AP, reducing the Plasma Beams AP to 5. That perfectly penetrates your 5 armor and you take the 11 points of damage.

If you didn't have HPO armor and took the same hit from a Plasma Beam, the AP 10 would penetrate the 5 armor, causing the same 11 points of damage.

If, however, you had 10 armor and HPO and took that same hit from a Plasma Beam, then the HPO would reduce the AP to 5. The AP then only negates half the armor, from 10 to 5, meaning the incoming damage is reduced by 5, so you only take 6 points of damage, instead of all 11.

You need either 10 points of armor, or a weapon that only has AP 5 to make HPO worth something.

It took me a minute but I understand the math now. Yes
I adjusted the fighter to reflect this information.

I still don't think the Free Merchant should have it either, as it increases what its price would otherwise be by 25%, costs two mass, and provides zero benefit.

Also, I recommend sticking with just TL4 weapons. In general you are going to have to find TL5 weapons; you ordinarily can't buy them, even at their ridiculous prices. Count on TL4; take advantage of TL5 when you get lucky.

Yeah, for some reason I thought it had 10 armor, I think just looking at a lot of stats made me cross wires.
I'm not worried about cost or availability for that. More an experiment in what can be done.

Here's my plan for a Free Merchant:


The atmospheric config is absolutely required so you can land. This ship can't carry a shuttle, so it has to be able to land itself. Cold sleep pods are for disaster scenarios. (I.e. the ship itself becomes the lifeboat.) The Drive-2 is required for proper range, and the Fuel bunker gives additional range. The Fuel scoops are because we don't intend to ply the safe space lanes. The Ship's Locker is to make sure we have all the do-dads we need to have our adventures. I wanted Extended stores, but that takes up two precious mass, and I figure two months of supplies should be enough to get in and get out.

An armory would be a good buy, too, but doesn't need to be a day-one purchace. The ship's locker will give some basic stuff, and the characters will usually have their own equipment for anything fancy.

The one other thing that would be a tempting purchase over time is a gravcar or gravflyer. Having a secondary on-planet vehicle is always helpful. The gravflyer would be great, but it is probably too big to carry around. A gravcar can't get you into space, but it should be able to get around on most planets just fine.

Obviously, over time the weapon would be upgraded. The perfect final destination is the Plasma Beam, but, again, that probably makes things more dangerous, rather than less. As a back-off position, the best bet is probably the Fractal Impact Charge. The reason is because it does decent damage, you get 8 shots before having to sacrifice space for more rounds, and each round is only 500 credits (which is very reasonable). It isn't a perfect solution, but it is workable and it is quite reasonable. Doing that, however, pushes the price tag over 1M credits.

If we could, day 1, a Cargo Efficiency Bay would be incredible.
It would be costly though.
Costing 50,000 and 2 component (or 250,000 and 4 comp if designed in)
But it would double cargo efficency.

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Though if Mercer makes some incredible money he may buy in on a joint venture.
But I don't know if he'd abandon a crew he's in, if it felt like the crew would suffer his absence.

Considering where I want to take this character.
Lv 3: 3 pt: Dex 16 to 18, (1 left)
(Adds to Stab, and sneak and shoot, all fo which this character uses)
Lv 4:3 Pt: +2 Talk | 2 Pt: Sneak 1
Lv 5:3 pt +2 Stab (1 left)
Foci: Specialist (Talk)
Lv 6: 4 pt: +3 talk
Lv 7: 41 pt: +3 stab| 2 Pt: +1 Commect (1 left)
Foci: Armsman
Lv 8:3 Pt: +2 Sneak Or Notice(2 left)
Lv 9:5pt: +4 Stab (1 left)
Lv 10:3 Pt: +2 Sneak Or Notice | 2 Pt: +1 Trade
Foci: ? Specialist? Sneak or Notice? (Means I could bring Trade to 2?)

I also have a 10 level plan for Hank, but it is constantly changing.

My original plan was for Trade-2 at Level 3, Program-2 at Level 4, Trade-3 at Level 6, and Trade-4 at Level 9. Fill in around that as necessary.

However, the need to add in the Connect, Lead, and (now) Heal skills messes all of that up. Now he likely won't get Program-2 until Level 5 (so he can get those critical missing skills) and he will likely never get Trade-4, sacrificing those 5 skill points for beefing up some of those other skills instead.

So, while having a plan is good, be prepared for it to melt before your eyes! 😀

I wouldn't commit to needing heal.
And Mercer will be getting +1 Connect eventually.

My suggestions would be to leave Heal for Peter, Lead for Douklan (he already have that, actually) and Connect for Mercer and keep your original Trade-4 plan. ;)

I'd be more willing to leave things unskilled if that skill-0 wasn't such a massive blocker for so many things. I can't use a bioscanner without skill-0. That hurts. Unlike others, I have no charisma bonus, so default Lead and Connect are knocked below baseline. I need to fix that to stay useful.

I want Lead because it is part of his job at this point. I want Connect because not having it hurts his ability to use Trade. I want Heal because what happens if Peter gets injured? Doing two of those will only push Program-2 back a level. Doing all three pushes back Trade-3 a level, too.

I'm taking Connect-0 no matter what. The trade rules demand that at the least. It is like getting another level in Trade. Still undecided after that. Might only take only one of the others so I don't push Trade-3 back.

Mercer does have connect and administer 0.

Okay =)

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/9a/ee/8e/9aee8e3d6a8c11aba75f9df0e8f11337.jpg