ZeroSpace 3e EN:Starships

Contents

This chapter is a work in progress.

What I'd like here is a sort of mini-game, a game within the game. However, I want it to use the same basic game mechanics as normal character combat. It also needs some method of determining range bands without getting into measuring hexes or needing a battle mat -- in other words, no "facing", and no meter-by-meter (or megameter-by-megameter) movement.

Ideally, I would like it to be simpler than character-on-character combat.

So how do rolls work? Ships have Mass and Maneuverability, but the rolls ought to be made by players, using their character's Combat, Navigation, and Piloting skills.

To maneuver between star systems, a character on a starship makes a Navigation roll, possibly with a bonus granted by expertise in Astrogation, against ... what difficulty?

To maneuver within a star system, a character on a starship makes a Navigation roll, possibly with a bonus granted by expertise in Orbital Mechanics, against ... what difficulty?

To land, take off, or maneuver in close proximity to other starships or other celestial objects, a character on a starship makes a Piloting roll, possibly with a bonus granted by expertise in Spacecraft, against ... what difficulty?

To use a starship's sensors, a character on a starship makes a Navigation roll, possibly with a bonus granted by expertise in Sensor Operation, against ... what difficulty?

To maneuver in space combat, a character on a starship makes a Navigation roll, possibly with a bonus granted by expertise in Orbital Mechanics, against ... what difficulty?

To attack a target in space, a character on a starship makes a Combat roll, possibly with a bonus granted by expertise in Starship Gunnery (if aboard a starship) or in Star Fighter Combat (if flying a star fighter), against ... what difficulty?

Perhaps the armor and weapons on a starship are treated the same as a character's personal armor and weapons, but with much larger numbers (hitting an individual with a starship weapon will vaporize them, and personal weapons will probably just bounce off a starship).

In game terms, starships operate much like characters. Where characters have Brawn, Agility, Perception, and Endurance, starships have Mass, Maneuverability, Sensors, and Durability. Most starships also have armor or energy shields (some starships have both). Some starships have weapons, and a few have exotic equipment like tractor beams.

Time And Distance

Range Bands

There are five range bands: close, short, medium, long, and remote. Starship weapons have an effective range given in their description. Due to the vast distances involved, attacking more distant targets is usually not possible. If the GM declares that the attack is possible, the attacker incurs an attack penalty (-3).

Table: Starship range bands

Range	Typical weapons
Close	Antimatter nebulizer, hellfire projector, arc generator, tractor beam
Short (10 km)	Fusion beam, point defense laser, nemesis cannon, plasma torpedo
Medium (50 km)	Fusion cannon, particle cannon, laser array, proton torpedo
Long (500 km)	Gaussian stunner, hellbore, laser cannon, photon torpedo
Remote	Planetary defense battery, warp missile

If you'd prefer to emulate a setting more like Star Trek and less like Star Wars, multiply the weapon ranges by a factor of one thousand. So instead of short, medium and long ranges being 10 km, 50 km, and 500 km, they'd be 10,000 km, 50,000 km, and 500,000 km. (This doesn't actually make any difference in the game.)

Pursuit

Closing (or fleeing) would be an opposed Maneuverability roll. If both ships want to close (or flee), the roll is not opposed: instead it is treated as combined effort on a challenging task (difficulty 3).

On a successful roll, the range between the ships decreases (if closing) or increases (if fleeing) by one range band. On an extreme success, the range increases (or decreases) an additional range band for each 3 that the winning ship rolled over the target number (one range band at 0-2, two range bands at 3-5, etc.).

Table: Extreme success in starship pursuit

Roll Succeeded By	Range Band Change
0-2	1
3-5	2
6-8	3
9-11	4

Order Of Play

As with personal combat, everything that happens in a round of starship combat is assumed to occur more or less simultaneously, but we make people take turns to keep the game orderly.

The most important factor in determining which starship acts before which is situational awareness. If a starship is not aware of their opponent, then they don't have the opportunity to attack. For example, if a Voyan Purifier is patrolling with its camouflage field active, and it encounters a Zniss deep space scout, there is no need to roll to see who goes first. The Zniss ship is unaware that there is anyone to fight. In the first round of combat, only the Voyan starship has the opportunity to act. Depending on what the Voyan ship does, it's possible that they might be the only ship with an opportunity to act for several rounds. Only after the Zniss become aware of the Voyan starship do they get the opportunity to act. At that point, the order of action in each round is the Voyan ship first, and then the Zniss. If the combatants become aware of their adversaries in a set order, then that is the order in which they act in combat -- at least, until someone changes it.

Normally, starships take their actions in the same order that they have an opportunity to act. However, if the various combatants become aware of each other more or less simultaneously, or if you would prefer to roll dice to see who goes first, the players and the GM should each make a Sensors task roll at the beginning of the scene. Turns proceed each round from the highest roller to lowest.

Actions

Task Action

Attacking, taking evasive maneuvers, scanning...

Rolling Dice

Combining Effort

Starship combat, piloting, and repair are exceptions to the Combining Effort rules. Combining Effort does not provide any additional benefit: larger starships have larger crews, so it's assumed that everyone who can help with a given task already is.

Targeting Specific Systems

Before resolving whether an attack is successful, an attacker can declare that they are targeting a specific system: bridge, cargo, communications, crew quarters, engines, engineering, gravity control, life support, sensors, shields, or weapons. If the attack is successful, the attacker rolls 2d6 and consults the Starship Systems table. If the attacker's roll is within 0-2 of the desired system, that system is damaged and offline until repaired; otherwise, the system rolled is damaged and offline until repaired.

For example, if the attacker was targeting the bridge (requiring a roll of 2) and rolled a 4, they would have successfully damaged the bridge. If they rolled a 5, however, they would have damaged the starship's communications system.

Targeting a specific system reduces the amount of damage done to the ship by one Integrity level. This means that if an attack inflicts only one level of Integrity damage, the attack damages one system instead, and the target's Integrity level is unchanged.

Table: Starship Systems

2d6	System	Effect
2	Bridge	Named crew members on the bridge are trapped until rescued, and incur a penalty (-3) on all task rolls; unnamed crew members are dead
3	Shields	Shields are offline until repaired
4	Engineering	Non-engineering systems can't be repaired until Engineering is repaired
5	Communications	Communications are offline until repaired
6	Crew quarters	Named crew members in their quarters are trapped until rescued; unnamed crew members are dead
7	Cargo/supplies	Cargo or supplies are destroyed
8	Gravity control	Characters without the Zero-G Combat advantage incur a penalty (-3) on all task rolls
9	Sensors	Sensors are offline until repaired
10	Engines	Engines are offline until repaired
11	Weapons	Weapons are offline until repaired
12	Life support	Characters who need to breathe incur a penalty (-3) on all task rolls

Consequences

Damage And Repair

The engineering team on a starship may attempt to repair systems, even while in combat. The difficulty of repairing a specific system is equal to the number of system currently damaged. For example, if a starship had taken damage to their cargo bay, life support system, and weapon systems, the difficulty would be 3, requiring a roll of 11 or better to successfully repair it. If no more of the ship's systems were damaged, the difficulty of repairing the next system (weapons, for example) would be 2, requiring a roll of 10 or greater. Attempting to repair a system requires an Engineering skill roll, optionally with a bonus if the engineer has expertise with Starship Engineering.

Special Actions

Evasive Maneuvers

During the ship's turn, or as an emergency action, a ship may use its action to initiate evasive maneuvers. Performing evasive maneuvers reduces all attackers' margin of success by 3. A ship which is using its action to perform evasive maneuvers continues to receive this benefit until it takes its next turn.

A ship may initiate evasive maneuvers after the attacker has determined that the attack will successfully hit: there is no need to evade an attack that misses.

Special Attack Types

Armor Piercing

If an attack is armor piercing, the defense value (DV) of the defender's armor is reduced by one-half (round in defender's favor).

Shield Penetrating

If an attack is shield penetrating, the defense value (DV) of the defender's energy shields is reduced by one-half (round in defender's favor).

Armaments And Defenses

Armor

Armor provides protection against most forms of direct damage: anything which inflicts Durability damage. The defense value (DV) of a starship with armor is equal to its Mass + 1, or the defense rating of the armor, whichever is greater. As always, this protection does not stack with energy shields or other forms of defense -- only the highest defense value applies.

Heavier armor restricts a starship's mobility. The effective Maneuverability of a starship with armor may be limited.

Table: Starship armor

Defense Rating	Cost	Notes
1	400 KCr ✕ Mass	Maximum Maneuverability rank 8
2	800 KCr ✕ Mass	Maximum Maneuverability rank 7
3	1,600 KCr ✕ Mass	Maximum Maneuverability rank 6
4	2,000 KCr ✕ Mass	Maximum Maneuverability rank 5
5	4,000 KCr ✕ Mass	Maximum Maneuverability rank 4
6	8,000 KCr ✕ Mass	Maximum Maneuverability rank 3

Energy Shields

Energy shields provide protection against most forms of direct damage: anything which inflicts Durability damage. The defense value (DV) of a starship with an energy shield is equal to its Mass + 1, or the defense rating of the energy shield, whichever is greater. As always, this protection does not stack with armor or other forms of defense -- only the highest defense value applies.

Shields which are stronger also generate more electromagnetic interference. The effective Sensors of a starship using an energy shield may be limited.

Table: Starship energy shields

Defense Rating	Cost	Notes
1	1,600 KCr ✕ Mass	Maximum Sensors rank 8
2	3,200 KCr ✕ Mass	Maximum Sensors rank 7
3	6,400 KCr ✕ Mass	Maximum Sensors rank 6
4	8,000 KCr ✕ Mass	Maximum Sensors rank 5
5	16,000 KCr ✕ Mass	Maximum Sensors rank 4
6	32,000 KCr ✕ Mass	Maximum Sensors rank 3

Camouflage Fields

Camouflage fields are an unusual defensive system based on the theory that an opponent can't destroy what they can't target.

Camouflage fields do not provide any protection against direct damage. Instead, the defense value (DV) of a starship with a camouflage field makes opposing sensor rolls more difficult, and if the other ship fails to detect the camouflaged ship, they can't target it with weapons.

Camouflage fields and energy shields are mutually incompatible: a starship equipped with both can only use one of them during its turn.

Okay, so how would this work? Maybe to attack during its turn, a starship first has to successfully detect the enemy with sensors? Or maybe this is only a requirement if the other ship is using a camouflage field?

Short Range Weapons

Short range weapons are typically useful up to a distance of 10 kilometers. The attack value (AV) of a starship using a ranged weapon is usually equal to its relevant attack attribute (typically Maneuverability) + 1, or the attack rating of the weapon, whichever is greater.

Table: Short range weapons

Type	Attack Rating	Cost	Notes
Pocket Blaster Pistol	2	300 Cr
Target Blaster Pistol	2	450 Cr	attack bonus1 (+3) if attacker does not move
Blaster Pistol	3	500 Cr
Repeating Blaster Pistol	3	2000 Cr	attack bonus1 (+3) (fires multiple rounds at target)
Stunner	3	350 Cr	Stunning
Blaster Carbine	4	900 Cr	Two-handed
Flamethrower	6	350 Cr	Two-handed, attack bonus1 (+3) (wide spray), Terrifying5
Pacification Grenade	8	250 Cr	Exploding2, Sensory3, Stunning4, single use
Fragmentation Grenade	12	200 Cr	Exploding2, single use
Shock Grenade	12	250 Cr	Exploding2, Sensory3, single use
Incendiary Grenade	12	250 Cr	Exploding2, Terrifying5, single use
Stun Grenade	14	250 Cr	Exploding2, Stunning4, single use

1. Bonuses And Penalties
2. Exploding
3. Sensory
4. Stunning
5. Terrifying

Medium Range Weapons

Medium range weapons are typically useful up to a distance of 50 kilometers. The attack value (AV) of a starship using a ranged weapon is usually equal to its relevant attack attribute (typically Maneuverability) + 1, or the attack rating of the weapon, whichever is greater.

Table: Medium range weapons

Type	Attack Rating	Cost	Notes
Light Repeating Blaster Rifle	3	2000 Cr	Two-handed, attack bonus1 (+3) (fires multiple rounds at target)
Pain Rifle	4	450 Cr	Two-handed, Stunning4
Sporting Blaster Rifle	4	800 Cr	Two-handed, attack bonus1 (+3) if attacker does not move
Repeating Blaster Rifle	4	4000 Cr	Two-handed, attack bonus1 (+3) (fires multiple rounds at target)
Heavy Blaster Rifle	5	1000 Cr	Two-handed
Heavy Repeating Blaster Rifle	5	6000 Cr	Two-handed, attack bonus1 (+3) (fires multiple rounds at target)
Wrist Rocket	8	350 Cr	Single use
Pacification Cannon	8	800 Cr	Two-handed, Exploding2, Sensory3, Stunning4

1. Bonuses And Penalties
2. Exploding
3. Sensory
4. Stunning

Long Range Weapons

Long range weapons are typically useful up to a distance of 500 kilometers. The attack value (AV) of a starship using a ranged weapon is usually equal to its relevant attack attribute (typically Maneuverability) + 1, or the attack rating of the weapon, whichever is greater.

Table: Long range weapons

Type	Attack Rating	Cost	Notes
Sniper Blaster Rifle	5	9000 Cr	Two-handed, attack bonus1 (+3) if attacker does not move, Penetrating3
Light Blaster Cannon	10	3000 Cr	Two-handed, fires every other round
Heavy Blaster Cannon	16	4500 Cr	Two-handed, Exploding2, fires every other round

1. Bonuses And Penalties
2. Exploding
3. Penetrating

A Note On Repeating Weapons

Weapons which fire multiple rounds, such as turbolasers and swarm torpedoes, usually grant an attack bonus (+3), and they might or might not do more damage than their single-shot equivalents (AR 4 instead of AR 3, for example), but the attack is only resolved once. Whether the damage from an attack is inflicted by one discrete injury or twelve, it's all just one attack roll. There's no "roll damage three times" mechanic like some game systems have.