Full Thrust is a good scifi starship combat game that could be used for RPGs. Matter of fact, the creator of Full Thrust worked up a nice variant of it for Chamelon Eclectic's Babylon 5 RPG. It appears in the Earthforce Sourcebook for that game, which is tough to find. Full Thrust and its supplements are available for free download here:

http://www.gtns.co.uk/store1/commerce.cgi?page=downloads.html&cart_id=6759723.14734

Star Frontiers or Alternity for my votes.

I've played and enjoyed Star Frontiers, Gamma World, Traveller, and Hero System sci-fi games. I'd have to say that Hero mashes the other systems in terms of robust rules.

As far as space combat goes, I'd say Star Fleet Battles is best if you can stomach the rules density. I'd prefer a more rules-light space combat system for an RPG.

Quote from: Vermicious KnidAs far as space combat goes, I'd say Star Fleet Battles is best if you can stomach the rules density. I'd prefer a more rules-light space combat system for an RPG.

That and the fact that potentially takes hours of gameplay to resolve a single combat.

Quote from: CyclotronOh, I know, I was just mulling over the "Yeah, I can see the geeky need have rules for ships "sliding" and all other kinds of rules that make sense in the real world but are boring.as.hell. to implement." comment.

Every implementation of space combat I've ever seen in an RPG (except for the FASA "Trek")ends up being needlessly complex. Alternity was a hopeless mishmash of...god...I'm not sure what it was. It wasn't fun, that's for sure.

Star Wars D20 actually tries to do a few things right, but again it seems needlessly confusing. I would rather have a fun, easy-to-learn and slightly unrealistic system than one that strives for realism at the expense of a simple, good time.

To answer your question, by the way, no - I never did play SF battles. Just the RPG space battle system. I have no doubt SF battles was a good game, but when you sit down to play that you know you are doing a strategic battle game and expect it to be complex. That's different than an RPG in my book.

Quote from: CyclotronThat and the fact that potentially takes hours of gameplay to resolve a single combat.

Which is cool if you got together to run a space battle, not so cool if you have some roleplaying you'd like to do.

Quote from: Vermicious KnidWhich is cool if you got together to run a space battle, not so cool if you have some roleplaying you'd like to do.

Pretty Much.
 
SFB is a really good game that's very complex.  A big battle of a dozenTrek style ships on each side could take 20+ hours to play out.  Even a one on one could take an hour.

Quote from: NicephorusPretty Much.
 
SFB is a really good game that's very complex. A big battle of a dozenTrek style ships on each side could take 20+ hours to play out. Even a one on one could take an hour.

The Starfleet Command computer games used the SFB rules, and it made for an excellent PC game...  Very much the Star Trek "tall sailing ships in space" style of combat.

Quote from: King_StannisStar Wars D20 actually tries to do a few things right, but again it seems needlessly confusing. I would rather have a fun, easy-to-learn and slightly unrealistic system than one that strives for realism at the expense of a simple, good time.

Which SW D20 system?  The first go around had a pretty simple, abstract space combat system and everybody complained.  The revised rules have a more traditional grid-based system, that kind of sucks the fun out of it.

Again, I'd recommend the Spycraft 2.0 chase system.  It's a fairly abstract system involving opposed drive/pilot checks between the "Predator" and the "Prey", but it'll emulate any space combat scene you see in any of the movies.

My favorite is Classic Traveller, with a fondness for GURPS Space as well.

I'm very much looking forward to All Tomorrow's Zombies for Unisystem.

Star HERO.  It covers the sci-fi genre better than pretty much any other sci-fi game around.

Quote from: Lisa NadazdyStar HERO.  It covers the sci-fi genre better than pretty much any other sci-fi game around.

What's funny about this is that I was just reading a post on one of the ten million message boards I look at lately, and somebody was saying how HERO is good for supers games but pretty much sucks for everything else. But this pretty much confirms, once again, that it's all very subjective. What might suck for one person may be the perfect game for another.

Quote from: ColonelHardissonWhat's funny about this is that I was just reading a post on one of the ten million message boards I look at lately, and somebody was saying how HERO is good for supers games but pretty much sucks for everything else. But this pretty much confirms, once again, that it's all very subjective. What might suck for one person may be the perfect game for another.

Bingo!

-mice

Quote from: ColonelHardissonWhat's funny about this is that I was just reading a post on one of the ten million message boards I look at lately, and somebody was saying how HERO is good for supers games but pretty much sucks for everything else. But this pretty much confirms, once again, that it's all very subjective. What might suck for one person may be the perfect game for another.

There are some people that have exact opposite opinion- that HERO sucks at supers but is great for everything else.  Personally, I think HERO can do damn near every genre, but I'd probably use something else for supers (I lean towards Cartoon Action Hour, myself).

I hear good things about Hard Nova II gor general SF use and think Cold Space is damn spiffy myself (albeit far more specific of purpose and tone)