DOWNLOAD NEWEST VERSION : Highguard CEPHEUS

As many of you know I am a huge fan of Book 5 Highguard as well as IMPERIUM / Dark Nebula, and I guess I finally managed to find a way how to express ANY Traveller ship from any system in Highguard as well as in IMPERIUM terms, but look for yourself.

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I did quite a bit of work on this app since the last update. The database has now over 140 ships including some from CLEMENT SECTOR converted with the new external data sheet for conversion of ships designed with Mongoose or Cepheus rules, and the new IMPERIUM conversion for huge battles.

Just enter the numbers into the data sheet and answer the question in the first line “Use this file Y/N” with a Y and the APP will automatically read the ship.dat file and process it.

Some of you know, that I had already covered the Imperium values with my MT combat cards APP,  but I still think that Book 5 Highguard is THE definite ship combat system for Traveller.

Since it is virtually impossible to gap the range from 10 tons to 1 Million tons in the numbers 1 to 12, respective 9, I devised another method which works really well.

All ships are now divided into 4 groups.

0 = 1-999 tons (Scouts)
1 = 1.000-9.999 tons (Destroyer)
2 = 10.000-99.999 tons (Cruiser)
3 = 100K tons+ (Battleships)

Inside each group you can use the standard IMPERIUM rules, but when ships from different groups slug it out, use the following rules:

Each group has a magnitude of 10 in comparison to the lower and higher group. E.g. a Destroyer (Group 1) with values 3-1-5 would have 30-10-50 in comparison to any Group 0 ship. To fit these values into the 12-9-9 matrix of IMPERIUM you can split up the attack values into multiple attacks, e.g. 30 could be 10 x 3 attacks or 6 x 5, or one 12 (Maximum) and 3 x 6, and so on.

On the other hand, a ship of a higher class can take 10 consecutive hits from lower class ships, until it is destroyed.

This program generates data cards for Highguard. It has a database of 122 ships and a CEPHEUS converter. It converts ships generated by the Cepheus engine, Mongoose Traveller or LBB2 into Highguard Data, and also generates a data card.
Enter -1 in the database and the program will start the converter. Enter the values from the Cepheus ship forms.

In addition to the DATA card, the ships Highguard parameters will be saved as a Shipname.txt file in the directory.

This is still a WIP but there should not be any bugs left. Please give me your feedback on things to improve.

This is the format I am using, it is identical to the form the ships are presented in print:

DATA “Tigress”,”Dreadnought”
DATA “BB-V5368J4-F97909-967T9-30″,362721,500000
DATA ” A N AXA1Z “,4054,15
DATA 0,0,0,190000,40000,6,0
DATA 50,215,430
DATA “Alexandria”,”Port of Call free Trader”
DATA “A1-2111111-000000-00000-0″,37.08,200
DATA ” “,4,12
DATA 6,20,82,30,2,1,0
DATA 0,0,0

After you start the software, you can scroll through the ship database, which will be run over several pages. On each page you can enter the number of the ship you want displayed. After pressing enter the DATA card will be shown on screen.

T = will show you the ships damage tables

D = will write the data card and the damage tables to HD.

Any other key will return to the ship data card

The upper 3 rows contain basic data like type, tonnage, TL, etc.

Line 4, starting with computer contains most values that are important for defence, like Armour, MeS – Meson screen, NuD – Nuclear Damper, SaC – Sandcaster and Rep – Repulsor.

After that comes a block with all the tables you need for hitting a target and penetrating the defences.

In the top left corner are the most important values for defense.

EVASION is the ships total evasive capability, e.g. the number an enemy ship has to add to its ToHit number at short or long range to get the correct die roll target.

CM (Counter-measures) is similar; it depicts the amount that modifies the Penetration rolls through the various screens. E.g. an enemy ship has to add that value to its Penetration number to get through the defenses.

The values after that correspond to the tables below

Batt. = the number of batteries bearing on target
S = ToHit number at short range
L = ToHit number at long range
CM+x – this column shows the defensive systems that can be used against the specific weapon type, SaC = Sandcaster, MeS = Meson screen, Con = Configuration, S/B Sandcaster and/or Beams, Rep = Repulsor, NuD = Nuclear Damper

The next rows, 1-9 correspond to the strength of the defences.

CT stands for the critical threshold of the ship. With smaller ships the value is CT# where # is a number between 0-8. larger ships also have a letter following the number. If the value of the battery is higher than that number, then the ship will receive 1 critical hit per difference. E.g. A ship with C6 is hit by a battery with a factor of 9. It will receive 3 (9-6) critical hits in addition to the normal damage.
Example: A Tigress fires her Spinal Meson Gun at another Tigress, the ToHit value at Short Range is -7, the HIT Defence is 13.

-7 + 13 is 6, so the other ship can be hit with a roll of 6+. The same rule works for penetration. The Tigress has a Meson Screen of 7, that’s a -5 + PEN 9 = 4. The screen can be penetrated on a roll of 4+.

The second chart contains all damage tables, with all DM’s already worked into the results. There are 3 groups with 7 tables.
The groups are

SURFACE DAMAGE
RADIATION DAMAGE
INTERIOR EXPLOSION
SURFACE DAMAGE

1. Factor<A is for all batteries with a value of 9 or smaller, with the exceptions of meson guns and nuclear missiles.
2. The Nuke/SM column is for surface hits by spinal mount PA’s and hits by Nuclear Missiles.
RADIATION DAMAGE
3. The Armor column is radiation damage by Nuclear missiles and PA’s that is mitigated by the armored hull.
4. The Meson <10 column is for radiation damage caused by Meson guns with a size of 9 and smaller.
5. The Meson SM column is for radiation damage caused by Spinal Mount weapons.
INTERIOR EXPLOSION
4. The Meson <10 column is for all Meson guns that are NOT Spinal Mounts.
5. The Meson SM+IE column is for all interior explosions caused either by Spinal Mounts or as a secondary effect from another table.