say i’m a forged lord, with tons of resource points to spend. 19 say.
if i spend 2 points on a hammer patrol craft, do i just get one for myself, and assume all my hammer lords/captains get one, too, or do i have to buy a patrol craft for each hammer captain?
(i think i might get a whole ‘Wing’ of Hammer Patrol Craft for my 3D affiliation by just spending the 2 points cuz it seems silly to buy 10 RP worth to get 5 hammer patrol crafts to outfit the hammer captains of my fleet.)
if i buy a hammer patrol craft, do i have to buy a hammer assault shuttle, too, for the more fined tuned firefights, or do i assume my hammer lords have them and i can get access to them?
if i’m a hammer lord, instead of a forged lord, running an 3D affiliation with my assault wing, how many resource points do i pay for that wing in character burning? 2 for the patrol craft, 1 for the assault shuttle? does that cover just my personal craft, or the whole hammer wing?
on a side thought -
how and when am i required to make those resource maintenance tests? (if i’m paying for each ship, it’s gonna be impossible cuz my resources will be next to nothing. the obstacles are already ridiculously high, which is cool cuz it brings into play a whole series of conflicts with superiors, loans, ‘accumulations’ etc. and even then i expect to be taxed, which opens up a whole other set of conflcits.)
i assume the answers are the same for Anvil Assault Sleds, but please let me know if they’re not
This is where i’m flumoxed, because Hammer Captains, and Lords-Pilot Hammer don’t have access to Hammer. so what is considered appropriate equipment? If i’m a forged lord, fine, i can circles my Hammer Lords, but if I’m a Hammer Lord, it’s my responsibility to outfit my wing with vehicles. it seems like you’re saying ‘don’t worry about paying for it in character burning’
right, by ‘assume’ i meant I assume i can find a pilot who will give me access to that
so i shouldn’t worry about outfitting the hammer wing with vehicles
p. 360, Sample Resources Obstacles includes maintenance obstacles for Hammer, Anvil, Iron, etc. - it’s not regular periodic maintenance like BW, but I could see a forced maintenance check as the result of a Firefight Objective or compromise, no?
If you are circling up your hammer captains because you need a taskforce, they have their ships. As forged/hammer lord you might actually own the ships (from an in-fiction standpoint), but in terms of who has stuff written on their sheets the captains are in control of them.
Yes, circling someone up as them show up with gear appropriate to the scene. An l-p anvil called into court will show up with a sidearm and a dress uniform, an l-p anvil circled up for a fight will show up with assault weapons and iron.
RIght-o, unless you want to be the on-paper explicit owner of those vehicals. If you pay the resources to outfit your guys with stuff, you could then deny them access to that stuff or sell it to someone else or something. If you don’t pay the resources, in-fiction you might color own it but it’s going to be controlled by the pilots.
That’s how I read it. There’s no lifestyle maintanence equivalents in BE, however if you need to fix up a bunch of stuff (compromises or something) you might need to consult that part of the chart.
N.B. Sorry cathexis, you answered this pretty well in your post but I thought I’d “answer fully” to keep all my comments in-context!
My assumption is that a Lord-Pilot of the Hammer has, as a fee, their vessel and sufficient privileges with their lord’s infrastructure as to maintain it.
This last part is colour, since there are no rules for maintenance (although Tax could be coloured this way, and improved Administrative Practices used to recover that Tax).
So, if the Hammer Lord has a 3D affiliation with his Hammer forces then it can be assumed that the vessels operated by his lessers belong to the lord, but are “loaned” to the vassals in exchange for their service and loyalty.
Mechanically, the Hammer Lord buys his affiliation and reputation and subordinate relationships; and then buys his own 2.5km-long warship.
Any Lord-Pilot circled using his Hammer affiliation will be piloting Hammer vessels that are the Lord’s but which are used by the vassals by right of duty and feudal agreements.
When we have played with armed forces affiliations we tend to assume that the men and materiel of this affiliation are “burned in” since the player has spent points on them - but this just lets them be involved as “extras” in Firefights. If the player wishes to have his character be backed up by a coterie of expert Hammer Captains then these need to be circled up in play. Besides, it never hurts to circle these guys up until they are Relationships. (Okay, it hurts when they are hulled after this, but that’s why you play this game - right? :))
Personally speaking my problems start when you are only playing a Lord-Pilot Hammer and need to get a warship from somewhere. Presumably your Lord gives you one (as per the rules in the Character Burning section) but I don’t know what this means - is it hard? is it colour? how easy is it to take off you? etc.
that’s kind of where i’m coming from. if you’re just a hammer captain, or lord-pilot, how do you get a hammer? if you want a space-ship, you gotta be a hammer lord or forged lord. kinda sucks.
If you’re a hammer captain or lord-pilot, generally you don’t own the spacecraft you’re captaining/piloting, you’re under the authority of a Hammer Lord. There would be exceptions, of course: freelancers, pirates, brigands, “ronin”, etc…
That’s cool and all, but mechanically it makes me feel a bit at sea! Maybe I am making it too complicated and I should just be happy with people who keep their hammer but fail to serve gaining infamous reps like “Usurperous Dick” or “False Vassal” or something.
sorry to harp on this, but what about my cotar fomas. how to the sodalities purchase attack sleds? none of them would have the Anvil Lord trait or a relationship to an Anvil Lord.
They Circle up their bosses and have THEM give you their sled? Or the GM just Says Yes?
I would assume that sodalities would not have their “own” attack sleds, just like you don’t get your “own” Abrams when you go to the Army. You’re assigned a vehicle by your superior.
I think you’re confusing “purchase” with “resource”. Of course most military personnel don’t “own” their vehicles. I think anyone that has Pilot or Vehicular Weapons in their Life Path skill set can and should have access to an appropriate vehicle - i.e. have it on their character sheet as hard tech at character burning. That doesn’t mean they own it, but its as at their disposal.
And to represent them misusing that vehicle and their access to it, you can have a Duel of Wits with them in the presence of their CO with a statement of purpose that they lose their sled and their rank which can be represented by losing dice in affiliations.
My contention is the idea of what “my Hammer Lords” have. Does it matter to the narrative?
So maybe put your question in context of a play example?
For example, think about where you would need said resources. So let’s say you come upon a Vaylen smuggling convoy that you’d like to intercept. You may say “I levy a squadron on the convoy. Start FireFight.” The GM can say, okay script but doesn’t have to. If he says roll the dice you have a few options…
Your first option to accomplish that in character creation - lots of hammer. Lots of resource points. Very little flexability in play. Firefight immediately. Is there a quanity mutiplier in BE? In BW it’s an increase of one ob for 10-100 copies.
Your second option is to develop your forces in scenes using circles. You ask for a gaggle of Hammer Lords (here is where affiliations and relationships ate handy) and maybe failure means politics requires a signature before mobilizing the unit or maybe the Hammer captain has been hulled. Roll two is “the squadron leader sends you friendly authentication codes from his hammer resources” and the GM says "sure roll the Hammer Lord’s resources, you can lend a helping die and the gift of kindness is that they come with a price, maybe a debt to an influential Forged Lord or a vote for a particular Senator. Then the final roll can be a sensors check to determine if they notice your approach. Either another player starts the conflict, the GM starts the conflict or you have to wait until next Manuever to put your fleet into the thick of it.
Resources in the beginning let you buy stuff you can add to the story immediately but reduce your ability to get anything spontaniously. It locks you in. Rolling is FAR more compelling and flexible but failure comes with a price.
Is that helpful at all? Imm trying to say that the answer depended onwhat sorts of scenes you think you’ll be bringing them in.
really? i’m pretty sure Trevor Faith and crew had their own attack sleds, with the Sword and Wheel of Fire stamped on it’s front. since they were often at odds with the anvil, i don’t see how they could get one from an Anvil Lord.
you say they got one from their superior, but the archotare doesn’t have access to an attack sled either.
i guess my argument is that if i have a cotar fomas, he should be able to purchase an attack sled. right? or am i missing something. perhaps this is errata?
With some extreme exceptions anyone can access anything. It’s just a matter of obstacle and consequences. Resources isn’t saying “you own something” per say, more you have it.
I’d say it’s okay if the GM raises an ob for you getting your own sled. We know Trevors team had sleds but we don’t know the circumstances they attained them.
Also it doesn’t have to be your immediate supervisor. You basically could circle up a guy that has a sled yo let you use. Again, unless story pertinent, a lot of time the GM should just say yes.
If Anvil XO is the last lifepath and an affiliation to the Anvil is bought (and/or maybe a relationship to the CO or a rep as an Anvil officer) then yeah, gear can be issued. If it’s your fourth lifepath, after which you move directly into Commune political LPs and end up as a Senator on your Commune-ruled, PVF-defended world that doesn’t even have Anvil? Then you need to buy the gear.
Also, issued gear is somewhat subject to conditions. Remember all the hoops Trevor Faith and Urci Fox jump through to get IFVs with live missiles for the CHOT temple assault? Real Anvil Lords just wave a hand and declaim “Bring me my Longsword!”
Cool, I think I have a lock on this now. I also think our group will have to remember to talk about assigned gear next time we start a game (we are just kicking of Usurpation of our third game now).