The largest combat actions in SFRPG take place on the starship-scale. As one might expect, starships fight on the starship scale, though some of the larger space vehicles (mainly transports) may also fight or use weapons on this scale of combat. Damage on the starship-scale is incremented by the same amount as damage on the vehicle-scale, one point for every ten character-scale points.
Range
Unlike the other two scales of combat, opportunities for cross-scale combat involving the starship-scale are far and few between. This is because starships in atmosphere are considered air vehicles, and because the few vehicles that can seriously challenge a starship often will use the starship-scale, not the vehicle scale. Because of this, the actual range increment for the starship-scale can be a bit more ambiguous. Officially, the values for starship range increments are one gigameter (1,000,000 kilometers). This range is suitable for combat in open space, but near planetary bodies a range of one megameter (1000 kilometers) is recommended instead; GMs can decrease this increment if absolutely necessary (if the plot deals with a nascent starfaring culture, etc). As with other ranges, starship-scale ranges from zero to eighteen increments; beyond fifteen increments, no weapon can hit another combatant. Additionally combatants may withdraw from combat if they are greater than fifteen range increments from all hostile combatants.
Starship-scale Actions
A starship may make two actions per round, or one full-round action, as well as free actions. As with vehicles, starship actions are dependent upon the ship's occupants and crew for the execution of actions. In combat, while other characters may make suggestions, ultimately it is the ship's captain that decides what the ship will do in the course of a round of action. The character that ultimately performs the action will be the one that is most appropriate to that action (firing weapons would be done by the tactical officer, hailing the enemy by the communications officer, and so forth).
Give/Belay Orders
A starship’s captain may elect to give orders during a round of combat as a free action, or to belay orders given in previous rounds of combat as a standard action. If giving orders, the captain must declare a target officer to give orders to, give a specific order, declare a specific target if necessary, and declare a time for the order to occur in if necessary. If belaying orders, the captain need only say which officer is performing the action and, if that officer is obeying more than one order, which order to belay. The captain may issue or belay as many orders as they want to during this action. Ordinarily, giving and belaying orders is an automatic action that requires no skill check. However, if the officer in question has been
Shaken, the officer in question will need to be rallied before they can be given orders.
Rally
The captain can rally officers who have been
Shaken in combat as a standard action. This requires the captain to make a
Leadership check, opposed by the
Shaken officer’s Willpower Save. If successful, the
Shaken officer is no longer
Shaken, which cancels all penalties for being
Shaken. The captain can only help one officer per round in this manner. The captain may also multiple officers (
or even the entire crew). This also requires a
Leadership Check with a Very Difficult DC, and requires at least three officers that need to be rallied.
Inspire
Rather than rally an officer that's been
Shaken, the captain may elect to try and inspire confidence in a particular non-
Shaken officer as a standard action. This requires the captain to make an
Inspire check, opposed by the officer's Willpower Save. If successful, the officer will not become
Shaken if otherwise indicated to do so for a number of rounds equal to the degree of success divided by ten (round up). Further, during that time, that officer may add the same amount (degree of success divided by ten) to
all die rolls they make. The captain may only try to inspire one officer at a time.
Ready
Starship officers can be ordered to take ready actions similarly to how actions are readied in character-scale combat (i.e. the officer is told to prepare to do something if some condition is fulfilled in the immediate future, in this case before the ship's next action phase). Readied actions can be taken during another starship’s action phase. If the readied action is executed, the starship loses one of its action phases during the next round (or its entire turn, if two readied actions are executed).
Standby¶
The captain may elect to order the ship to standby as a declared action. When the captain decides to standby, they declare to not do anything during the course of that action phase. Play passes to the next action phase, or, if it is the second action phase, to the next starship in the combat order. There will probably be few occasions where the captain orders the ship to standby, but it may sometimes be necessary to just watch and wait...
Use Skill or Ability
The captain may order an officer to use any one of their skills or abilities during the course of an action round. This counts as a free action, so long as the use of the skill or ability does not constitute a different action as described here. If necessary, the captain must also declare a target for the skill or ability.
Speak
Any officer may speak to any other officer as a free action during any combat phase. This can be used to report the ship’s condition, give advice, or confirm orders.
Abandon Ship¶
If a starship becomes critically damaged in combat, the captain can order the officers and crew to abandon ship. Abandon Ship is a special, continuous action. Once the order to abandon ship is given, it cannot be rescinded. Officers and crew launch in escape pods to get away from their vessel. 1d5 pods are launched each round, each carrying one crewmen apiece. Once launched, they can be targeted for that round by enemy combatants (
it's assumed the pods are speeding away from the battle with all due haste, so enemies only get the one shot). The starship can continue combat operations (
eventually with an undermanned penalty) until enough pods have been launched that the officers and other PCs must leave the ship. At that point, the PCs are assumed to be in the escape pod, and can do whatever they like from there (though, if they’re wise, they’ll get the heck out of Dodge).
Scuttle
If a starship is in a hopeless situation, where leaving a starship intact would be an unacceptable alternative, the captain can order the starship to be scuttled. The Scuttle order is a special order, in that though the captain makes the order, at least two other officers must concur with that order. If not, the order is belayed and all officers become
Shaken. Once the order to scuttle has been given, it may not be rescinded. The captain gives a time, in rounds, after which point the starship will self-destruct. After giving that time to the GM, the captain has the option of further declaring Abandon Ship (which begins immediately), or forcing the crew to stay aboard until the ship explodes. If the latter option is selected, the entire crew becomes
Shaken and
Leadership Checks must be made every round until the ship novas to prevent the crew from jumping ship.
Change Alert Status
The captain has the authority to change a starship’s alert status at any point during combat. There are four alert statuses aboard a starship. The first and lowest is Condition Four. Condition Four is the normal operating state of the ship while outside of Starport. The ship’s shields remain down and the weapons remain unarmed. Generally, this condition is good when the ship isn’t in combat. Condition Three is the next highest alert status. In addition to extra officers coming on duty, the ship’s shields are set to full outboard active ("raised"). Weapons systems remain disarmed. It's good if there's a need for the ship to have some active defenses without appear too overtly hostile. Condition Two is the next highest alert status, and is basically a low-level call to action stations. The weapons are armed, but the shields are not activated. Condition Two has limited uses, but is good for nebula combat and the need to use ship’s weapons in non combat situations, or when shield power is to be sacrificed for other systems. Condition One (also called Action Stations) is the highest alert status on a starship. All crewmembers are at duty stations, the shields are up and the weapons are armed. For most combat situations, the ship will probably want to be at Condition One. A ship is not limited to particular calls if it is lacking in certain systems (
i.e. a ship without shields can still go to Condition Three, even though it won't really accomplish anything). If a change in alert status causes the weapons to be armed or shields to be raised, one point of fuel is spent to raise shields or arm one weapons system; all weapons in that system are considered
charged. If the shields are dropped or weapons disarmed, any remaining charge or fuel spent for those defensive systems is lost.
Launch/Retrieve Small Craft
If a starship carries any fightercraft or other small spacecraft, the captain may order the launch or retrieval of small craft into combat. This is a special action that may take a number of rounds to complete. The amount of time it takes to launch a small craft is one craft every three rounds per Hangar Bay Module installed aboard the ship (
a ship with two Hangar Bays could launch two craft at once, wait three rounds, launch another two craft, and so on). Alternatively, small craft can be launched before combat begins. Launching small craft into combat introduces new combatants, and may change the scale of battle from starship-scale to mixed-scale.
Jink
A starship’s Navigator may be ordered by the captain to begin jinking as a move action during a combat round. This gives the starship a +10 circumstantial HD bonus until the ship's next round. Jinking inflicts a –10 circumstantial penalty to any
Marksmanship or
Ballistics Checks the ship makes, and inflicts a -1 penalty on movement. Jinking must be the first declared action of a ship's combat round; it cannot be the second.
Ram
An extreme combat tactic may be for the captain to order a ramming attack on an enemy combatant. To ram another combatant, a starship must make its movement for the round directly for the target ship, and must be able to reach Range 0 with the target with that single movement. The ram attempt provokes an
Opportunity Attack from the opposing ship, at a –10 HD penalty to the ramming ship. Once at Range 0, the ramming ship’s Navigator makes a
Starship Piloting Check as a ram attack, opposed by the target ship’s HD. The ramming ship gets a +10 ramming circumstantial bonus for the attempt. If the attempt succeeds, roll xd10x10, where x is the size class of the smaller of the two combatants, and apply the result as damage to both ships. The ramming ship may not make any further movement actions that round. If the ram fails, the ramming ship continues moving in the same direction if it has any movement points remaining.
Dock
If a starship is within Range 0 of another combatant, the captain may order the Navigator to attempt to dock with the other combatant as a standard action. The Navigator makes a DC 50
Starship Piloting Check if the target is "willing" to dock, or an opposed
Starship Piloting or
Vehicle Piloting Check (whichever is appropriate) otherwise. If the Check fails, then a second
Starship Piloting Check is needed to avoid a collision (which is treated as a successful Ram with xd10 damage, where x is the size class of the smaller of the two combatants). If the Check succeeds, the starship successfully docks with the other combatant. This can be used to transfer personnel, cargo, or board other starships. If approaching an active, hostile combatant, the docking procedure provokes an
Opportunity Attack from the target starship.
Alpha Strike
If a starship is within Range 6 of an enemy combatant, has all weapons fully charged, and has access to both beams and projectiles, the captain may order the Tactical Officer to perform an Alpha Strike instead of a regular attack. Alpha Strike is a full-round special attack option. When an Alpha Strike is declared, the Tactical Officer attacks the target with both beams and a projectiles. A
Marksmanship and
Ballistics Check is made. If both rolls are successful, double the amount of damage from both weapons hits and apply them simultaneously. When making an Alpha Strike, the ship
must use all weapons hardpoint bonuses. A starship must wait at least five rounds after completing an Alpha Strike before declaring another Alpha Strike.
Manipulate Object
A ship's captain may order the Navigator to move or manipulate any exterior item or object with or without picking it up in order to use it. Such items may include cargo jettisoned from another ship; this action can be used to pick up jettisoned cargo and place it within the ship's cargo bays (if there's any available space). Manipulating an object counts as a move action, and if there are multiple items that can be manipulated, the captain must specify which item to manipulate. Manipulation of objects can have various effects, depending on what the GM has intended for the object at hand. Sometimes these effects can end combat quickly (such as cargo rigged with explosives), so a GM should be sure to hint at that possibility if appropriate.
Use Artifact/Technology
As a standard action during the course of a combat round, the captain may order the use of a piece of equipment or an artifact (such as blastopods, shield nullifiers, battle jumpers, the Uhl Weapon, etc.). Artifacts and technology have no one specific skill Check to operate, though many may require some kind of opposed roll after their use. The effect of individual pieces of equipment and artifacts should be listed with the artifact; just follow the procedures given.
Target
A starship’s captain may order the Tactical Officer to target a portion of an enemy combatant as a standard action. To target a part of an enemy starship, the Tactical Officer must make a
Targeting Check. The DC of the Check is 50 plus the target's HD, plus the Range to target. If successful, any future hits by the starship against the enemy combatant will automatically cause system-specific damage to the system targeted. The amount of systems damage depends upon whether or not the combatant's defenses are still functional. If the shields are still up, take the total amount of damage inflicted to the craft, divide by one hundred, and round down. If the shields are down but there is still some armor, divide by ten. If all defenses are gone, the system takes the full brunt of the damage. NOTE: If gridded combat is being used, then only the arc impacted by the weapon is considered (i.e. if a ship's defenses are completely down in a combat arc and the weapon impacts that arc, the system takes full damage, even if the remaining three arcs have no damage at all). If the ship fires another ship, it loses its target lock on the system. The lock is also lost if a new system is targeted on the same combatant.
Use Sensors
During the course of a round, the captain may order the ship’s Science Officer to use the starship’s sensors, along with a scanning target. This is used to update the ship’s information on other combatants, including the current damage level of targets. This involves a
Starship Technology or
Vehicle Technology Check, depending on if the enemy combatant to be scanned is a starship or other a vehicle of some kind. As usual, the Science Officer must beat a Difficult DC in order to find out any substantial information about the ship's opponents.
Repair
If a starship takes systems damage in combat, the captain may order the ship’s Engineer to attempt to repair the damage, within limits. Armor and Hull damage may not be repaired in combat. To make a repair attempt, the Engineer must make a successful sub-discipline check for the repair. The sub-discipline that is used is solely dependent upon which system is being repaired (
for details, see Chapter 3.10.). The DC for the check is fifty plus the amount of damage that has been done to the system. If the Check is successful, roll 1d10. The result is the amount of damage to the system that is immediately fixed. In addition, if the system had malfunctioned, the Engineer may then make a
Damage Control Check. If successful, the system comes back on line.
Hail
A starship may hail another starship or other combatant, or other non-combatants as part of a combat round. Hailing must be ordered by the captain and executed by the Communications Officer. Hailing requires either an
Alpha-Sector Languages Check, a
Delta-Sector Languages Check, or a
Xenolinguistics Check, depending on the situation. The GM should add five plus the range to the target craft to the difficulty of the Check, as a combat penalty. If successful, the officers of the hailing ship may talk freely to the officers of the targeted ship.
Jam
A starship may attempt to jam another starship’s communications during the course of a round as a standard action. A jamming action must be ordered by the captain and executed by the Communications Officer. Jamming a target ship’s communications requires a successful Jam Check (DC of 100 plus five times the range to target). If the check is successful, all of the target ship’s communications are jammed for one round. As a side effect, if the starship launches any friend-or-foe missile during the course of the round, it will cause an automatic critical miss of that weapon.
Distress
If the situation is getting bad and there are friendly forces in the area, a starship may attempt to send a distress signal and summon help during the course of a combat round as a standard action. A distress call must be ordered by the captain and executed by the Communications Officer. Distress calls issued in combat differ from distress calls issued out in space, in that help may or may not be forthcoming. The DC of the
Distress Check is 150, plus five for each enemy combatant currently active in the battle. If successful, roll 1d10. The result is the number of rounds that will pass before friendly forces arrive. Two friendly warships will arrive, with an additional warship for every ten points over the DC that the Communications Officer rolls. Once they arrive, the GM must integrate the new forces into the current combat situation.
Jury Rig
In the event of a critical system malfunction (such as the failure of the shields or engines), the captain may order the Engineer to jury-rig a system as a full-round action. Jury-rigging requires a standard successful
Jury Rig Check (DC of 50 plus the damage to the malfed system). If successful, the functionality is restored to the system unless it is damaged again.
Treat Crew
In the event that a crew member takes damage during the course of a combat round, the captain may order the Doctor to examine and begin treating that crewmember as a standard action for that round. The Doctor uses the Assisted Healing rules in Chapter 9.2 for the attempt, adding 20 to the DC of any Check for combat conditions. While being treated, an officer is not available to perform their duties. If the patient's HP falls below zero as a result of a botched
Long-Term Care Check under combat conditions, the Doctor is allowed to make an immediate resuscitation attempt, again adding 20 to the DC of the
Intensive Care Check for combat conditions.
Recharge
A ship may recharge a discharged (fired) weapons hardpoint, shields, and/or weapons batteries as a free action; this action may be taken after the ship's second standard action. The GM will select one weapons hardpoint to recharge, giving preference to beam weaponry over projectile weaponry and racks over turrets. The ship need not wait for all of their weapons to recharge before firing again, but must have at least one charged hardpoint in a weapons arc in order to fire that weapon from that arc. Further, a turret will take an additional turn to recharge, and
all hardpoints on the turret must be recharged before the turret may be fired again. The GM may then add the Engineer's
Applied Relativity score to
all defense arcs as added shield points, up to the normal maximum
SHP score for the ship in each arc. Finally, if a weapon type uses the last shot available in its magazine, the ship may expend one unit of fuel; this reloads the magazine.
Move Action Rules
A starship’s Navigator may be ordered by the captain to move the ship as part of a combat round. Moving the ship counts as a move action for the starship and changes the ranges to other starships similarly to character-scale movement. Because there are no defined speeds on the starship-scale, gridded starship-scale combat must use
Initiative based movement. Starships receive a number of movement points equal to one plus the
Initiative value (
thus a ship with an Initiative of six would receive seven movement points).
Movement on the starship-scale may or may not require a
Starship Piloting Check. A starship may move straight ahead (Full Ahead) or make a 45-degree turn per move action without requiring a Check, provided the engines aren't damaged. Moves that involve more advanced maneuvers (lateral movements or tighter turns) will require a
Starship Piloting Check; the DC of the Check will depend upon which maneuvers the move involves, and whether or not there is engine damage (simply add the amount of Engine damage to the DC; ships with 100% Engine Damage or ones with malfunctioning engines cannot move). Each maneuver has its own DC, which is simply added to the overall DC of the Check. If the Check fails, the ship may make its movement up to the first advanced maneuver, at which point the ship stops moving. If the result of the Check is less than the amount of Engine damage the ship has, then the engines malfunction and the ship is not allowed to move at all. Advanced maneuvers usually have a minimum engine requirement. If the ship does not have the Class engine indicated at minimum, the ship cannot perform the maneuver (note that this automatically disqualifies larger ships from certain moves).
Maneuvers take one movement point to perform a piece. The exception to this rule is the
snap turn. Snap turns take no movement points to execute, and can be a handy way of extending the capabilities of a starship for a skilled navigator. Naturally, snap turns are more difficult to execute and require higher engine Classes.
Advanced maneuvers give the ship an
Evasive Maneuvers bonus until the ship's next turn. These bonuses accumulate with each advanced maneuver made during the course of a ship's movement. If the ship is fired upon at any time up until the ship's next turn, the total bonus applies. The price for this bonus is a (smaller) penalty to the Navigator's
Marksmanship and
Ballistics Checks, which apply through the ship's next
action (
so a ship that decides to move as its second action in a turn will have weapons penalties in the first action of the ship's next turn). Fancy maneuvering makes a ship harder to hit, but also makes it a little harder to aim accurately.
The
Starship Piloting Check for movement does have critical potential. In the event of a critical success, the
Marksmanship and
Ballistics penalties are both nullified (the Navigator is able to pull off all maneuvers while maintaining their target locks). In the event of a critical failure, the ship may not move at all; the GM changes the ship's present heading to a new, random heading. Additionally, the ship takes d% Engine damage; if the engine was damaged in the first place, then the Engines are destroyed (100% damage).
Starship Maneuvers| | Minimum Engine
Class Required | DC | Evasive Maneuvers Bonus | Marksmanship/
Ballistics Penalty | Description |
|---|
| Full Ahead | Class One | 0 | +0 | +0 | Ship moves one space forward. |
|---|
| Forward Slip | Class One | 30 | +5 | -1 | Ship moves one space diagonally forward, do not change orientation. |
|---|
| Full Amidships | Class Two | 45 | +10 | -2 | Ship moves one space port or starboard, do not change orientation. |
|---|
| Aft Slip | Class Three | 60 | +5 | -1 | Ship moves one space diagonally backward, do not change orientation. |
|---|
| Full Reverse | Class Two | 30 | +5 | +0 | Ship moves one space backward, do not change orientation. |
|---|
| 45-degree Turn | Class One | 0 | +0 | +0 | Ship turns 45-degrees port or starboard in place. |
|---|
| 45-degree Snap Turn | Class Five | 30 | +5 | -2 | Ship turns 45-degrees port or starboard in place. |
|---|
| 90-degree Turn | Class Two | 15 | +15 | -3 | Ship turns 90-degrees port or starboard in place. |
|---|
| 90-degree Snap Turn | Class Six | 60 | +20 | -4 | Ship turns 90-degrees port or starboard in place. |
|---|
| 135-degree Turn | Class Three | 30 | +25 | -5 | Ship turns 135-degrees port or starboard in place. |
|---|
| 135-degree Snap Turn | Class Seven | 90 | +30 | -6 | Ship turns 135-degrees port or starboard in place. |
|---|
| 180-degree Turn | Class Four | 45 | +35 | -8 | Ship turns 180-degrees port or starboard in place. |
|---|
| 180-degree Snap Turn | C |
|---|
lass Eight120 | +40 | -10 | Ship turns 180-degrees port or starboard in place. |
NPC ships move in relation to their present target. Should the target have a lower
SI, the NPC ship will move towards it, and vice versa. NPC ships will also keep their movements limited to 45-degree turns and Full Ahead movement. These rules may be overridden at the GM's discretion.
If combat is not being conducted on a grid, then the move action simply changes the range to the current target. The GM rolls 2d10, and changes the range as normal. In the event that a very long range is rolled (16, 17 or 18), compare the ship's
Strength Index (SI) with the opposing group's
Composite Strength Index (CSI). If the
SI is less than one-fourth of the opposing group's
CSI, the ship is considered disengaged from combat.
Attack Action Rules
A starship's captain may, as a standard action during a turn, order their ship to attack another combatant. Firing on another combatant requires the ship to be either at Condition Two or Action Stations, and requires the ship's batteries to be charged with enough energy for at least one weapons volley (naturally, the energy available must be enough to use the weapon that'll be fired). A target must always be selected with the attack order. NPC ships will target the enemy vessel with the next lowest initiative check value, or the enemy ship with the highest initiative check value if no lower values exist for enemy vessels; the GM may override this general rule at their discretion.
Firing Weapons
Before any weaponry can be fired at a target, the target must be within range of at least one of the ship's offensive weaponry options, the target must be within a firing arc that contains at least one hardpoint with that weapon, and there must be enough energy available to fire the weapon. If these conditions are met by more than one weapon, only one of them may be selected to fire at a time.
Combat Arcs
All ships have four
combat arcs: forward (ahead), aft (behind), portside (left), and starboard (right). Combat arcs consist of the weapons that are mounted in a given arc (a
firing arc) and the shields and armor that cover that quarter of the ship (a
defense arc). The boundaries of a given combat arc are always set diagonal to the ship’s bow (front) and perpendicular to one another, such that when dealing with a physical grid the arc boundaries are along the grid's diagonals when the ship is on an orthogonal heading, and vice versa.
To determine if a ship is within a given firing arc, draw or visualize a straight line between the firing ship and its target. The firing arc to be used will be whichever combat arc in which the line is touching the firing ship. Likewise, whichever combat arc in which the line is touching the target is the defense arc that will be fired upon. Most of the time, determining which arcs will be involved in the current attack action will be fairly straight forward. It may happen, though, that either the firing ship or the target will be "straddling" the boundaries between two combat arcs. In this case, the GM should give preference to either the foreward or aft firing arc, whichever one is involved.
 Demonstration of Combat Arcs (gridded) |
If there is more than one hardpoint of a given weapon in a given firing arc, the ship's Navigator may elect to fire multiple hardpoints at once. Each hardpoint over the initial one used imparts a -1 range bonus to the ship's firing Check. The cost for invoking this bonus is a additional amount of energy used to fire the weapon (if a Navigator elects to use three laser hardpoints to fire, it imparts a -2 Range bonus to the
Marksmanship Check but is like firing three lasers at once). Additionally, the hardpoints to be utilized must be
charged in order to be fired. The Navigator may use as many available hardpoints as they'd like; they do not have to fire all hardpoints at once. If the ship has any turreted weapons, those weapons may be fired into any combat arc, at the Navigator's discretion.
Before firing weapons, a final “to hit” number must be determined. This begins by subtracting the
Combat Maneuvers sub-discipline of the firing ship's Navigator from the
Evasive Maneuvers sub-discipline of the target ship's Navigator; this represents all the low-level maneuvering the pilots are doing, one to draw a bead on their opponent and the other to evade (
Exception: during the surprise round, the Evasive Maneuvers
sub-discipline of the target is ignored). The difference is added to the target ship's HD. Effects from any onboard equipment like cloaking devices and battle jumpers are added to the HD as well, as well as any HD Range falloff penalties that may apply for the weapon being fired. (
For example, a Mechan Scout is firing at a Veloxi Scout, which has an HD of 62. The Mechan Navigator has a Combat Maneuvers
score of 70; the Veloxi's Evasive Maneuvers
score is 45. In this case, 25 points would be deducted from the Veloxi Scout's HD, so 37 becomes the Veloxi's effective HD (45 - 70 = -25; 62 + -25 = 37)).
Once the effective HD is determined, the firing ship's navigator will make a Check depending upon what kind of weapon is being fired. If beam weaponry is being used, the Navigator will make a
Marksmanship Check. If projectile weaponry is being used, the Navigator will make a
Ballistics Check. If the Check is successful, then the weapon hits and causes the amount of damage indicated by the weapon type and Class, as well as the number of points the firing ship's Navigator has in their
Targeting sub-discipline (
Exception: during a surprise round, the Targeting
bonus does not apply). How the damage affects the target will depend on how much damage is inflicted and in which of the target's defense arcs the weapon hits (
see Resolving Damage, below).
Marksmanship and
Ballistics Checks both have critical potential. In the event of a critical success (a
critical hit), the weapons damage is increased. For beam weaponry, the hit scores double the weapon's full amount of damage,
regardless of range. For projectile weaponry, roll 1d10 (counting the 0 as 10 in this case) and multiply the result by 100. Add the result to the weapon's damage. In addition to the extra damage points, one system takes damage regardless of the condition of the ship’s defenses. Roll to determine which system is affected as normal (
see Resolving Damage, below). Roll d% for the amount of damage done to the system (00 counting as 100 in this case).
In the event of a critical failure (a
critical miss), the ship misses its target and inadvertently hits a friendly target by mistake; such “blue-on-blue” incidents can be quite costly. Critical misses have the same effect as a critical hit when they occur, causing damage above and beyond the weapon’s normal means. The friendly combatant affected is the friendly ship with the next lowest initiative value, or (if no such ship exists) the friendly ship with the highest initiative value. If there are no other friendly ships available, the firing ship ends up hitting itself.
Resolving Damage
As previously mentioned, a ship has four defense arcs which are concurrent with the ship's firing arcs. Each defense arc has its own
SHP and
AHP count; damage to one arc does not affect the count in another arc. Ships get the full amount of their
SHP and
AHP in all defense arcs, but for purposes of calculating the ship's
SI, the arc with the lowest overall count is used.
A target may take damage in the defense arc facing the firing ship upon being hit. If the target is hit, at least some damage is done to it, resulting in the lowering of
SHP,
AHP, and/or
systems damage if the damage done to the ship is severe enough. Ships will always suffer shield damage first. For each point of damage done to the combat arc, subtract one point from the arc’s
shield hit points. If the
shield hit points are reduced to zero, and there is still additional damage indicated, apply that damage against
armor shield points in the same manner. Points subtracted from shields and armor are also subtracted from the ship’s
strength index, which in turn lowers the
composite strength index of the ship's combat group.
If a ship is hit with a weapon that it is resistant to, that ship automatically treats the damage as if it were done by a weapon five Classes below the weapon’s actual level, before any damage adjustments are made for Range. A ship resistant to a weapon is completely immune to Damage from Class Five or lower weapons of the same type. Likewise, if a ship has an overall damage reduction, the amount of damage is reduced by the amount indicated for the ship before any adjustments are made for Range.
If armor hit points are reduced to zero, any excess damage is applied to the ship as
systems damage. Unlike shields and armor, there are no defense arcs for systems damage; at that point the weapons are eating into the very core of the ship. Injuries to crewmembers (including PCs) are considered part of systems damage. Each point of damage to a given system counts as 1% damage to that system. A
Damage Control Check may be made by the Engineer to mitigate the damage; any result over the first fifty points of the Check is subtracted from the number of points of system's damage inflicted on the ship (i.e. a result of 86 would reduce the amount of systems damage by 36 points). When a ship takes systems damage, all officers (except the Captain) must make a Willpower Save with a DC equal to the amount of systems damage divided by ten; any officer that fails this roll becomes
Shaken.
When systems damage is indicated, 1d10 is rolled. The result determines which system takes the damage:
0: Shields – Shield damage affects shield emitters. If the shields malfunction, shields will no longer regenerate for that craft.
1: Beams – Beam damage affects whether or not the ship can use beam weaponry. If the ship has no beams, it cannot take beam damage; hull damage is automatic in this case. Malfunctioning beam systems cannot fire.
2: Projectiles – Projectile damage is the same as beam damage, except in regards to projectiles.
3: Sensors – Sensor damage affects how well a starship can see its target. Malfunctioning sensors give a +25 HD range penalty to any combatant the ship fires upon.
4: Communications – Communications damage affects how well a starship communicates with other combatants, be they friendly or hostile. If the communications system malfunctions, a ship may not hail other craft, cannot send out distress signals, and cannot jam enemy transmissions. Further, if the ship attempts to use IFF missiles, it's an automatic critical miss with the firing ship taking damage from its own weaponry.
5: Engines – Engine damage affects how well a ship can maneuver around. If the Engines are damaged, the level of damage is added to the ship's Starship Piloting Check for movement. Should the engines malfunction, the ship cannot move and cannot apply its Navigator's Combat Maneuvers or Evasive Maneuvers sub-disciplines to firing roles.
6-7: Crew Damage – These rolls indicate that one of the ship’s "redshirt" NPC crewmembers has taken Lethal Damage (they've been injured or even killed, if enough damage has been done). If there are no "mission critical" NPCs aboard the ship, the damage applies to only one of them (doesn't matter which). If, however, there are mission critical NPCs aboard (visiting dignitaries, the Emperor, etc.), the GM will select a player or players to roll 1d10 for the involved character(s). The GM will roll for non-critical NPCs. Lowest throw takes the damage. If a mission critical NPC takes the damage, then each ten points of systems damage inflicts one HP of damage to them. Non-critical NPCs may only absorb 100 points of systems damage, after which they die. This kind of damage never applies to PCs. If there are no NPCs aboard whatsoever, treat this roll as Officer Damage.
8-9: Officer Damage – These rolls indicate that one of the ship's PC crewmembers or NPC officers has taken Lethal Damage. To determine which character has taken damage, all PCs currently aboard the damaged ship roll 1d10. For NPC officers, the GM may either make their roll or assign one of the players to make the roll. Low throw takes the damage. In the event of a tie for low throw, re-roll until there is a clear low throw. Each ten points of systems damage done to the ship equates to one HP of damage for PCs. A PC may only absorb damage until they reach zero HP, at which point they are clinically dead (unless, of course, the Doctor can get them into stasis;
see Chapter 9.2). If an officer is killed, the Captain may pick any crewmember (including themselves) to assume the duties of the fallen officer. Any officer that takes damage in this manner automatically becomes
Shaken.
Note: If a GM would like to conduct combat in a manner in which failure of the ship's life-support systems is a possibility, a set of alternative systems damage rolls is available in Chapter 12.4.2.If a system has been damaged but can still take additional damage points, there is the chance that system may malfunction whenever the ship attempts to use it. This requires the Engineer to make a
Damage Control Check, with the DC at 50 plus the amount of damage the system has sustained. If the Check fails, the system malfunctions. Sensors and Communications should be checked at the beginning of the ship’s turn, Engines when the ship tries to peform a move action, weapons systems when the ship attempts an attack action, and shields when the ship attempts to recharge shields. This
Damage Control Check has critical potential: in the event of critical success, 5% damage is removed from the system. In the event of a critical failure, then the system malfunctions
and takes an additional d% damage, up to 100% damage maximum. A ship’s hull never malfunctions. Once a system has malfunctioned, it will remain non-operational unless the Engineer can jury-rig the system. After 100 points of damage are inflicted on a system, the system is destroyed (100% damaged). If there are still additional points of damage to be resolved to the ship, a new system must be selected. The Engineer may make additional
Damage Control Checks to mitigate damage to additional systems, as with the first system damaged.
In addition to damage inflicted on any system or crewmember, 5% damage is applied to the hull. Hull damage is cumulative, no matter what the original system affected was. If a system is indicated to take damage after it’s already at 100% damage, or if the system does not exist to begin with, there are additional hull damage penalties in addition to the regular 5% damage; 10% the first time and increasing by an extra 10% each added time (
20% for the second time, 30% for the third time, and 40% for the fourth time; since hull damage is cumulative, by the time a fourth extra hit is inflicted the hull will be at 100% damage). These “extra hits” are also cumulative, so if a ship has taken two extra hits to a system on one round and gets hit again on a subsequent round, it counts as its third extra hit. A ship is completely destroyed once it reaches or exceeds 100% hull damage, automatically killing any occupants remaining in the ship.
A ship with hull damage has
structural fatigue, and is in serious danger of just flying apart at the seams. After a ship with hull damage takes damage, or after it resolves damage on a target it has fired upon, the Engineer must make a
Metallurgy Check, with DC equal to 50 plus the amount of hull damage. If the check fails, the ship's structural integrity fails and it explodes. This Check has critical potential: in the event of a critical success, 5% hull damage can be removed from the ship, and the Engineer need not make another
Metallurgy Check unless the ship takes more hull damage.
Any time a ship takes hull damage, for whatever the reason, there's the possibility that the ship will pick up an
acquired flaw. The GM will roll d% and refer to the chart in
Chapter 7.2. If a flaw is indicated, the GM should record the flaw on the ship's record sheet and effects of that flaw begin immediately. If the flaw indicates a kind of damage to a system that is unavailable, that effect is ignored and no additional hull damage occurs.
The following is an example of how damage is applied. A Veloxi Scout sustains 2000 points of damage from a Class Ten missile in its portside damage arc. The Scout has 600 points of shields and 100 points of armor in each arc. The shields absorb 600 points of damage, passing 1400 to the armor. The armor absorbs 100 points of damage, leaving no defenses in the portside arc and passing 1300 points on to systems damage. All officers roll Willpower Saves with a DC of 130; they all succeed without incident.
The Engineer makes his first Damage Control
Check; the result comes up with a 100...enough to mitigate 50 points of damage. An eight is rolled for systems damage; this is officer damage, so all the officers roll 1d10. The unlucky Engineer absorbs the damage. Since he's a Veloxi, he has 80 HP, and so can absorb 800 of the 1250 remaining points of systems damage before croaking, leaving 450 points of damage. 5% hull damage is inflicted on the ship and the ship picks up an acquired flaw; the hull gains a dent. The ship's doctor elects to try and put the Engineer in stasis; the DC of the Intensive Care
Check is 175 (75 base, plus 80 HP damage, plus 20 for combat conditions). The check fails but isn't botched, so the Engineer goes into stasis for an hour with a little extra cold damage. The Captain of the Veloxi Scout now must pick a crewmember to replace the Engineer; unfortunately, no one else has a particularly high Engineering score, a fact that will cost the ship dearly. The Captain ultimately chooses himself to take the Engineer's station. Unfortunately, the Captain fails to roll any particularly good Damage Control
Checks...
The next roll is a five, destroying the engines (100% damage), which in addition to immobilizing the ship inflicts another 5% hull damage (for 10% hull damage total), leaving 350 points of systems damage to resolve, as well as causing the ship's missiles to malfunction (though they have taken no damage whatsoever). The next three systems damage rolls are also to the engines. The first time counts as the engines’ first extra hit. 5% hull damage is done for the regular systems damage roll, and then an added 10% hull damage for the extra hit. The second time, it’s 5% for the regular roll, plus 20% hull damage. The third time, it’s 5% plus 30%. All three extra hits absorb 100 points, so we’re down to 50 points left to distribute, and the ship has accumulated 85% hull damage. The first two additional flaws merely chip the paint, but the third flaw causes a permanent 5% damage to the ship's shield generators.
The Captain finally rolls a 65, enough to mitigate 15 points of systems damage, leaving 35. The next systems damage hit goes to the missiles. This was a fortunate roll; if it had gone to a system like lasers (which a Veloxi Scout doesn't have), it counts as the system being unavailable to take damage, the ship takes 15% total hull damage, and explodes spectacularly (100% hull damage); the same thing would happen if the Engines had been indicated to take an added hit. Since the ship does happen to have missiles, though, then the missiles take the 35 points damage, leaving them at 65%, and 5% hull damage is inflicted, leaving the ship with 90% hull damage. Note that the missile system is available to take damage, even though the system had previously malfunctioned
. Unfortunately, this causes the hyperdrive to blow out. The engines cannot take the 80% damage indicated; fortunately this is from a flaw so the damage is ignored. D% hull damage is still indicated. The dice are thrown; fortunately, it comes up low: a 7. The ship now has 97% hull damage. The ship takes another flaw for this hull damage, and picks up another dent.
Now, since the ship took damage and has hull damage, the Captain must make a Metallurgy
Check to prevent his ship from coming apart at the seams. The Captain's skill is so low that the DC of 147 (50 + 97% hull damage) is out of his reach. The dice are thrown; miraculously, a 99 comes up...critical success! The hull damage is reduced to 92%, and no more Metallurgy
Checks are required, giving the Captain a little breathing room, perhaps enough time to abandon ship.Miscellaneous Terms and Definitions¶
Shaken: A
Shaken officer has had a traumatic, frightening experience in combat, so much so that they are psychologically stunned and ineffective. Shaken officers will not follow the Captain's orders and any attempt to make them wastes the action given to those officers.
Undermanned Penalty: Officers are only allowed to operate two stations at a time, their own station and one in place of an incapacitated comrade. If all the remaining officers on a ship are serving at two posts simultaneously, the ship is considered
undermanned, and takes an
Undermanned Penalty. Ships that are suffering from an
Undermanned Penalty add 50 to the DC of all rolls made as long as the ship remains undermanned.
Opportunity Attack: An
Opportunity Attack usually occurs in special situations wherein an opposing ship is about to do something particularly nasty to a target. The attack gives the target a chance to fight back, allowing it to make a single strike at its oncoming attacker.
Opportunity Attacks are a free Attack action made by the target. The target must itself target the attacking vessel, but is otherwise free do whatever they wish in the bounds of a regular attack action. Any weapons fired during an opportunity attack are considered
discharged, should the target get a turn later on in the Order of Battle.
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