ZeroSpace 4e EN:Starships

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(NOTE: This is a work in progress.)

If this were a starship combat game, rather than a space fantasy roleplaying game, we would make this section much more complicated. A starship's mass would make Piloting rolls more difficult, different weapons would be more or less effective against different defenses, and so on. But this is not a starship combat game, so this section is as simple as we could make it.

Regrettably, it's still pretty complicated.

Overview

Starships allow player characters to go from place to place in the galaxy, seeing people, places, and things which are too far away or too dangerous to visit without one. Starships also serve as a mobile base for the player characters, providing a place to store their stuff and recuperate between adventures.

Parts Of A Starship

Bridge

The bridge is where the pilot controls the starship's movement. It typically has stations for the captain of the starship and a number of staff officers. On medium-size warships, the bridge may also include combat information center functions; on larger warships, the combat information center is a separate location.

Engine Room

The engine room provides more precise control of the power core and the warp engines, and may allow direct observation of them (behind appropriate safety shielding, of course). Larger starships may have several engine rooms, and the largest starships might have dozens.

Fabricators

Most starships of Class 3 or higher have fabricators. The fabricators on smaller starships are adequate for day to day needs, such as meals and simple shipboard items. Larger starships may have specialized fabricators for the medical bay, a more complete meal library, and engineering fabricators for most replacement parts. The largest starships have a complete suite of industrial fabricators, and are capable of creating parts to build entire starships. If a starship also has an Exotic Particle Synthesizer, it can even construct power cores and warp engines.

Hangar

Most starships of Class 4 or higher typically have a hanger. This hangar can accommodate either a single starship two Classes smaller or a squadron two Classes smaller (see Squadrons, below).

Hold

All starships have at least one hold. The dimensions of the hold may vary considerably, from the size of a lunchbox to that of a small moon. The hold might have gravity plating and a breathable atmosphere, depending on its intended use, but it is not designed for habitation.

Medical Bay

Every starship has a medical facility, although the size and sophistication of the facility varies a great deal. On smaller starships, a medical pod or "autodoc" can heal most injuries, or keep the patient alive until more advanced treatment may be found. Larger starships may have multiple, specialized medical pods, along with more advanced diagnostic and treatment equipment. The largest starships have full hospital facilities, although it is still called the "medical bay".

Power Core

Starships generally use hybrid fusion-singularity reactors. The fusion furnace, the singularity containment system, and all associated components are referred to as the starship's "power core".

Power cores are "fired up" or "brought online" to make them ready for use, and "shut down" or "taken offline" to render them inert. Bringing a power core online typically takes 6 hours, or 2 hours if the power core has been in use within the last 24 hours. Taking a power core offline takes less than a second, but there are numerous safety checks which follow, taking around an hour.

Thrusters

A starship's conventional engines, used for moving the starship through relatively normal space, are referred to as "thrusters". Electrogravitic thrusters are typically used when within a kilometer of a planetary surface or other inhabited area, with fusion thrusters engaged once the starship leaves this safety region. A typical starship can lift off from a planet and clear the atmosphere in a few minutes.

Warp Engine

Warp engines create a microscopically-thin Lorentzian manifold of spacetime around a starship -- typically called a "warp bubble". This allows the starship to remain relatively motionless while also achieving velocities which are relatively relativistic.

Warp engines are "fired up" or "brought online" to make them ready for use, and "shut down" or "taken offline" to render them inert. Bringing a starship's warp engines online typically takes 3 hours, or 1 hour if the warp engines have been in use within the last 24 hours. Taking the warp engines offline takes less than a second, but there are numerous safety checks which follow, taking around an hour.

Before the warp engines are engaged, a destination is selected and the anticipated arrival time is calculated. Engaging the warp engines activates the Lorentzian manifold generator and moves the starship toward the pre-set destination. The warp engines are typically disengaged at a pre-set arrival time, which nearly always puts the starship where the navigator expected. However, the warp engines may be disengaged manually, placing the starship into relatively normal space somewhere between the starship's origin and its pre-set destination.

While the warp engines are engaged, the starship is unable to communicate with or interact with the universe outside of the warp bubble.

Windows

Windows on a starship serve two purposes. The primary reason for them is to preserve the sanity of the crew. It doesn't matter whether there is anything to see, aside from the stars: the point is that the crew can. The secondary reason is to serve as screens for augmented displays. What a crew member sees in a window may be augmented with distinct sounds or overlaid visuals, such as a target's range or mineral composition. Sophistication of the display and any audio accompaniment varies by starship and manufacturer. Some starships have a "privacy" mode, which looks the same from the inside, but looks like a glowing white haze from the outside.

Starship Attributes

As with characters, a starship's attributes are ranked from 1 (the smallest starships) to 10 (the largest starships), and can't be reduced below zero or above 10. A starship has one core attribute, its Class, and five secondary attributes, its Consoles, Engines, Hull, Shields, and Weapons. A starship's Class determines the starting value of its other attributes, the size of its crew, and so on.

Table: Starship Classes, New Commonwealth (Restoration Era)
Attribute Starting Value Description
Consoles Class The number of consoles a starship may have equipped.
Engines Class Determines the starship's travel time.
Hull Class Determines how many points of Hull damage the starship may take.
Shields Class Reduces the points of Hull damage the starship takes from a successful attack.
Weapons Class Determines how many points of Hull damage the starship may deal.
Armor Hull - Class (minimum 0) Reduces the points of Hull damage the starship takes from a successful attack.
Evasion Engines - Class (minimum 0) Helps the starship avoid attacks.


Each attribute can be modified in a number of ways. Here are some examples of modifying the rating of a starship's Consoles (there will be a full list further down):

  • The Escort subclass (E) reduces Consoles by 1.
  • The Experimental subclass (X) increases Consoles by 1.
  • A Bha'atar-manufactured starship reduces Consoles by 1.
  • A Zniss-manufactured starship increases Consoles by 1.

Consoles

Consoles are a form of starship equipment. As with personal equipment, a console's equipment bonus replaces or adds to a player's skill roll (see Skills.

Some consoles provide additional capabilities to the starship (see Starship Consoles, below).

Engines

The Engines attribute reflects the capacity of a starship's power core and the maximum strength of its electrogravitic thrusters, fusion thrusters, and warp engines.

Hull

The hull of a starship is one of its toughest parts. Only portions of the power core are more durable. A starship which is large or densely constructed will have a higher Hull than one which is smaller or less dense.

Shields

Energy shields on a starship serve two purposes. The primary reason for shields is to protect the starship from hazards such as micrometeorites, ambient high-energy particles, and other interstellar debris while traveling in realspace. No roll is required for this, as it's an automated and highly redundant function, much like life support. The secondary reason for shields is to protect the starship against hazards such as exploding stars and attacks from other starships.

Energy shields lose effectiveness as they withstand attacks. The first attack against a starship in a scene, the shields grant their full protection value. The second attack against a starship in a scene, the shields grant one less than their full protection value. This continues until the protection value granted by the shields is reduced to zero (the shields "go down", in common parlance). The shields will be restored to full effectiveness after the fight is over, when the shield coils have had a chance to recharge.

The starship's engineering team may also attempt to restore the shields during combat (see Repairing The Starship, below).

Weapons

The number of attacks a starship may make per round is equal to its Weapons. The starship may be able to make additional attacks provided by its consoles, but those are handled separately (see [ZeroSpace_4e_EN:Starships#Starship_Consoles|Starship Consoles]], below).

Note that the starship's Weapons attribute is not the physical number of its weapons. A starship with Weapons 5 might have only two physically distinct weapons, or it might have twenty, depending on the design, size, and placement of the weapons themselves. A starship's weapons may be described however the GM likes, but this is merely flavour, and makes no actual difference in combat. Here are some examples, but you are not restricted to these options.

Table: Typical starship weapons
Ship Class Typical weapons
1-2 Rail cannon, turbolaser beam, neutron missile
3-4 Particle cannon, pulsar beam, fusion missile
5-6 Plasma cannon, disruptor beam, antimatter missile
7-8 Meson cannon, hellbore beam, singularity missile
9-10 Nemesis cannon, planetary defense beam array, warp missile

Starship Class

The categorization and nomenclature of starships is a field rife with inconsistency. The Old Commonwealth had hundreds of starship classes, and the New Commonwealth is on its way to matching that achievement. In contrast, the Bha'atar have only two main classes of starship: warships ("starhawks", in Bha'atar parlance) and support ships ("rousters", in Bha'atar parlance).

This is not a system of nomenclature that lends itself easily to direct comparisons, so the game system will refer to the starship classifications below. Any resemblance between this system and that used by any interstellar fleet is purely coincidental.

Table: Starship classes, New Commonwealth (Restoration Era)
Starship Class Typical Crew Length (m)
Min Full From To
9 Star Fortress 100,000 350,000 140,000 160,000
8 Leviathan 10,000 35,000 3,000 5,000
7 Titan 1,000 3,500 300 500
6 Battlecruiser 128 448 180 400
6 Battle Escort (Battleship) 64 224 120 270
5 Heavy Cruiser 96 336 150 300
5 Heavy Escort (Destroyer) 48 168 100 200
4 Light Cruiser 32 112 120 200
4 Light Escort (Frigate) 16 56 80 140
3 Corvette (Courier, Patrol Ship, Scout) 8 28 30 120
2 Littoral Vessel (Customs, Police, System Defense) 2 7 20 90
1 Small Craft (Bomber, Fighter, Interceptor) 2 7 15 50


Subclass E: Escorts

Escort starships (indicated with an "E" after its Class) are less flexible than multi-purpose starships like cruisers, allowing an escort to have a smaller silhouette and a commensurately smaller crew. There is a cost, however: the maximum number of consoles an escort starship may have is one less than its Class would indicate. For example, a Class 6 escort could have five consoles installed.

Subclass X: Experimental

An experimental starship (indicated with an "X" after its Class) may have one more console than its Class would indicate. For example, a Class 3X corvette could have four consoles installed.

Starship Class And Crew

On very small starships, a single crew member may be responsible for some or all of the starship's systems. In a fighter, for example, the pilot, the navigator, and the engineer could all be the same person. On larger starships, these responsibilities are usually distributed among specialists: the starship may have several pilots, navigators, and engineers, as well as dedicated scientists, sensor operators, and medical professionals.

"Minimum crew" refers to the absolute minimum number of crew required to operate a Restoration Era starship at full effectiveness for one shift. "Full crew" can vary considerably. The number of full crew given above is for a New Commonwealth (Restoration Era) starship, where the crew complement is generally three and a half times the minimum crew: sufficient for three shifts and an occasional off-duty day for each crew member. Bha'atar starships have the same number of minimum crew, but operate two shifts continuously without any off-duty days. A typical Bha'atar destroyer has 96 crew members (double the minimum crew for a destroyer). However, Bha'atar tours of duty are typically shorter than those in the New Commonwealth.

Old Commonwealth Crew Sizes

Old Commonwealth (Panglossian Era) starships could operate with less than one-quarter the crew of a comparable New Commonwealth starship, thanks to extensive automation and the starship's AI, or "geist". Old Commonwealth starships Class 4 and larger normally carried six times the minimum amount of crew; Old Commonwealth crews worked fewer, shorter shifts than New Commonwealth crews are expected to work. A typical Old Commonwealth heavy cruiser had a minimum crew of 24 and a full crew complement of 144, compared to 96 and 336 for a New Commonwealth heavy cruiser. Despite the smaller crews, Old Commonwealth starships were as large if not larger than equivalent New Commonwealth starships, and their interiors were cavernous by comparison.

Starship Types

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SIDEBAR: Standard cargo units

A standard cargo module in the ZeroSpace universe is 28m x 15m x 15m -- 6300 cubic meters. This is referred to in naval architecture terms as "6300 tonnes". Most people assume that this is because 6300 cubic meters of water has a mass of 6300 tonnes.

Fun fact! A standard cargo module holds one Divine Legion in cryostasis -- 1000 genetically modified, fanatically loyal soldiers of the Infinite Dominion in full armor (weapons and other equipment shipped separately).

Starship Subtypes

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Starship Combat

Sometimes, people in other starships will shoot at the players' starship, leaving the player characters no choice but to return fire. Here is how that works.

Initiating Conflict

As with normal combat, conflict begins when one side decides to stop talking and start shooting. If a character wishes to initiate a conflict, the captain of each starship makes a Survival (Presence) roll. If one or more starships get the drop on their opponents (an ambush, for example), the captain of a starship with a situational advantage gains a +3 bonus to their Survival (Presence) roll. Actions proceed each round from the crew whose captain rolled highest to the crew whose captain rolled lowest, with the characters on each starship taking their turns in whatever order they would like. A starship, like any piloted vehicle, moves when its pilot takes their turn. When every character has had the opportunity to take a turn, the starship with highest initiative goes again, and so on until the conflict has ended.

While the player characters are handling the important tasks, the starship's other crew (if there are any) are firing weapons, performing scans, dealing with the wounded, and making repairs, but it all goes more or less as planned and has no impact on the outcome of the conflict.

The environment goes last in a round. The status of asteroids or other uncontrolled objects are determined after after all of the characters have had the opportunity to take their turn.

Rolling Dice

2d6 + [attribute] + [skill bonus or equipment bonus]

In game terms, starships operate much like characters' personal equipment. Each crew member may use a standard action to make a skill roll, as usual. The player rolls their dice, counts the dots, adds the character's relevant attribute, and adds their skill bonus or their equipment bonus. If the character has the needed skill and the appropriate equipment, they use whichever bonus is larger, and add +1.

There are three main tasks a crew member can undertake during starship combat: piloting the starship, firing the weapons, and repairing the starship.

Piloting The Starship

Piloting Maneuvers

At the beginning of their turn, the pilot may declare that they are using one of the following maneuvers. Choosing a maneuver is optional, and does not require an action or a roll.

Damn The Torpedoes: If the pilot declares "Damn The Torpedoes", they incur a -3 penalty to their Piloting rolls and defense, but the crew on the same starship gains a +3 bonus on any Ranged Combat rolls against other starships. These bonuses and penalties last until the beginning of the pilot's next turn.

Evasive Maneuvers: If the pilot declares "Evasive Maneuvers", they gain a +3 bonus to their Piloting rolls and defense, but the crew on the same starship incurs a -3 penalty on any Ranged Combat rolls against other starships. These bonuses and penalties last until the beginning of the pilot's next turn.

Piloting Tasks

Each round, one crew member on each starship may attempt an Agility + Piloting roll to direct the starship's movement.

Table: Typical starship Piloting tasks
Task Roll Difficulty
Tactical Maneuvering Agility + Piloting vs. 12
Flee Pursuit Agility + Piloting vs. 8 + the pursuing pilot's Agility + Piloting
Avoid Obstacles Agility + Piloting vs. 12

'Tactical Maneuvering: If the pilot succeeds at this roll, the crew on the same starship gains a +1 bonus on any Ranged Combat rolls against other starships. This bonus lasts until the beginning of the pilot's next turn.

'Flee Pursuit: Fleeing pursuit is treated as an extended task. If one pilot wants to leave the conflict but the other pilot doesn't, the fleeing pilot uses a standard action on their turn to attempt an Agility + Piloting roll vs. 8 + the pursuing pilot's Agility + Piloting. If the fleeing pilot achieves three successes and their starship has at least 1 Hull point remaining, the fleeing pilot eludes the pursuing pilot, and their starship leaves the conflict.

'Avoid Obstacles: If the pilot succeeds at this roll, their starship is safe from collisions with unguided objects until the beginning of the pilot's next turn.

Firing The Weapons

The number of attacks a starship may make per round is equal to its Weapons rating. The starship may be able to make additional attacks provided by its consoles, but those are handled separately (see [ZeroSpace_4e_EN:Starships#Starship_Consoles|Starship Consoles]], below).

To make an attack with one of the starship's weapons, a crew member must use a standard action to attempt an Agility + Ranged Combat roll.

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Starship weaponry is much more powerful than the blasters carried by individuals. If a starship weapon is brought to bear against an individual rather than against a structure or another craft, the damage roll is increased by 6.

Hull Damage

The hull of a starship is one of its toughest parts. Only portions of the power core are more durable. A starship which is large or densely constructed will have a higher Hull than one which is smaller or less dense.

When a starship takes points of Hull damage, the points are temporarily subtracted from its Hull. A starship which has been reduced to zero Hull is disabled: it is out of the fight, and it will probably require extensive repairs. Hull may not be reduced below zero.


Repairing The Starship

Engineering Maneuvers

At the beginning of their turn, the chief engineer may declare that they are using one of the following maneuvers. Choosing a maneuver is optional, and does not require an action or a roll.

Auxiliary Power To Engines: If the chief engineer declares "Auxiliary Power To Engines", the starship gains a +1 bonus to its Engines (maximum of 10), but it incurs a -1 penalty on its Shields and Weapons (minimum of 1). These bonuses and penalties last until the beginning of the chief engineer's next turn.

Auxiliary Power To Shields: If the chief engineer declares "Auxiliary Power To Shields", the starship gains a +1 bonus to its Shields (maximum of 10), but it incurs a -1 penalty on its Engines and Weapons (minimum of 1). These bonuses and penalties last until the beginning of the chief engineer's next turn.

Auxiliary Power To Weapons: If the chief engineer declares "Auxiliary Power To Weapons", the starship gains a +1 bonus to its Weapons (maximum of 10), but it incurs a -1 penalty on its Engines and Shields (minimum of 1). These bonuses and penalties last until the beginning of the chief engineer's next turn.

Engineering Tasks

Each round, each engineer on the starship may attempt a Reason + Engineering roll to repair the starship and restore disabled systems.

Jury Rig:

Restore Power:


Layover And Repair: Normally, the crew of a damaged starship may repair half of the starship's lost Hull (rounded up) by working on it for about a day. Further damage may only be repaired at a stardock. Most full-service starports have stardock facilities. Barring some extraordinary event, a starship's Hull will be completely repaired after a week in a stardock.

Table: Typical starship Engineering tasks
Task Roll Difficulty
Tactical Maneuvering Reason + Engineering 15
Flee Pursuit Reason + Engineering vs. 8 + the pursuing pilot's Agility + Piloting
Avoid Obstacles Reason + Engineering vs. 12

'Tactical Maneuvering: If the pilot succeeds at this roll, the crew on the same starship gains a +3 bonus on any Ranged Combat rolls against other starships. This bonus lasts until the beginning of the pilot's next turn.

'Flee Pursuit: Fleeing pursuit is treated as an extended task. If one pilot wants to leave the conflict but the other pilot doesn't, the fleeing pilot uses a standard action on their turn to attempt an Agility + Piloting roll vs. 8 + the pursuing pilot's Agility + Piloting. If the fleeing pilot achieves three successes and their starship has at least 1 Hull point remaining, the fleeing pilot eludes the pursuing pilot, and their starship leaves the conflict.

'Avoid Obstacles: If the pilot succeeds at this roll, their starship is safe from collisions with unguided objects (including weapons) until the beginning of the pilot's next turn.

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Vehicle shields and weapons add +3 to their rating when targeting or targeted by individuals. Starship shields and weapons add +3 to their rating when targeting or targeted by vehicles. Starship shields and weapons add +3 to their rating when targeting or targeted by individuals.


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Starship Consoles

Consoles are a form of starship equipment. As with personal equipment, a starship console's bonus replaces or adds to a player's skill roll.

2d6 + [Attribute] + [Skill or appropriate equipment]

If a character has the needed skill and the appropriate equipment, use whichever bonus is larger, and add +1.


Panglossian Era Consoles

Panglossian Era starships had two additional consoles, both at the same quality as the starship's Class, up to mark V (for example, on a Class 3 starship, these two consoles would be mark III; on a Class 7 starship, these two consoles would be mark V). First, each Panglossian Era starship had a Geist Management Console permitting the starship's AI, or "geist" (a crew position), to manage the starship's myriad automated systems (this console was not removable, although it could be upgraded). Panglossian Era starships also had a Wormhole Network Interface Console , which granted the starship the ability to use the wormhole network. These consoles were in addition to the consoles a starship would be permitted due to its Class. For example, a Class 3X Panglossian Era corvette could have six consoles installed: these two, three more due to its Class, and an additional console due to the "Class X" rating.

Other Equipment

Emergency Self Destruct

Self destruct systems are present aboard most commercial and military starships. Initiating the self destruct on a spacecraft disengages its engine coolant system, quickly causing the vessel's power core to overload and explode, destroying the spacecraft after a set time period has elapsed (usually 10 minutes).

As a safety precaution, self destruct mechanisms are intentionally difficult to enable, and even more difficult to disable. Enabling the self destruct device requires an Agility + Engineering roll vs. 12. A self destruct device can be disabled during the first half of its countdown with a successful Agility + Engineering roll vs. 15.

A starship which self destructs will explode with tremendous force, utterly destroying the starship and severely damaging any nearby starships. Any vessel within short range of the exploding starship will take points of Hull damage equal to the Engines of the exploding starship, bypassing the target's defenses.

(NOTE: This is a work in progress.)

Stop here, the stuff below is from the previous version

Starships have attributes, which serve roughly the same purpose as a character's attributes. Starships have Consoles, Engines, Hull, Shields, and Weapons. A starship's attributes are used for its skill rolls, instead of using a character's attributes. If one of the players has a relevant skill, the player rolls 2d6, adds the starship's attribute, and adds their skill.

Some starships have specialized equipment such as camouflage fields, fully equipped medical bays, or tractor beams. These have their own special rules, given in the equipment's description.

The Crew

On very small starships, a single crew member may be responsible for some or all of the starship's systems. In a starfighter, for example, the pilot, the navigator, and the engineer are all the same person. On larger starships, these responsibilities are usually distributed among specialists: the starship may have several pilots, navigators, and engineers, as well as dedicated scientists, sensor operators, and medical professionals.

In game terms, starships operate much like characters' personal equipment: the player rolls their dice, counts the dots, and adds the result to the starship's attribute and the character's relevant skill. For example, a character piloting a starship would attempt a Piloting roll by rolling two dice, adding the starship's Engines attribute, and adding their own Piloting skill.


Table: Typical starship tasks
Task Attribute (Skill) Difficulty
Analyzing scientific data Science (Reason + starship's Computer attribute) Moderate (DV 3), remarkable (DV 6), extreme (DV 9), inconceivable (DV 12)
Charting a course Piloting (Reason + starship's Computer attribute) Moderate (DV 3), remarkable (DV 6), extreme (DV 9), inconceivable (DV 12)
Evading pursuit Agility + Piloting Agility + Piloting
Flying through an asteroid field Agility + Piloting Extreme (DV 9)
Targeting an enemy starship Warfare (Reason + starship's Weapons attribute) Warfare (Reason + starship's Defenses attribute)
Using the starship's sensors Computing (Reason + starship's Computer attribute) Moderate (DV 3), remarkable (DV 6), extreme (DV 9), inconceivable (DV 12)
Withstanding enemy attacks Warfare (Reason + starship's Defenses attribute) Warfare (Reason + starship's Weapons attribute)

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. If the combatants become aware of their adversaries in a set order, then that is the order in which they act in combat.

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 Science (Reason + starship's Computer) roll at the beginning of the conflict. Turns proceed each round from the highest roller to lowest.

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 more to repair, but they also have larger crews, so it's assumed that everyone who can help with a given task already is, and it all balances out.

Computer

A starship's Computer is its most important asset, because without it, nothing on the starship works. The starship's computer can used to analyze data or to chart a course through space.

Navigation

Navigation pertains to getting from one stellar body to another. Navigation generally requires a Piloting (Reason + starship's Computer attribute) roll. The difficulty (DV) of the roll is based on how well-known the destination is.


Table: Navigation difficulty examples
Difficulty Examples
-- Routine Navigate between two well-documented locations along an established route
3 Moderately difficult Navigate to an unfamiliar location along an established route, or to a familiar location along an undocumented route
6 Remarkably difficult Navigate to a location using incomplete course data
9 Extremely difficult Navigate to a location using improvised course data
12 Inconceivable! Navigate to a location using a blind guess


Note that the distance to the destination does not directly impact the difficulty. However, the more remote the destination, the farther off-course the starship will be if the navigator fails to chart the correct course.

Orbital Mechanics

Orbital mechanics pertains to getting around within a solar system. Orbital mechanics usually requires an opposed Piloting (Reason + starship's Computer) roll. The typical reason for making an orbital mechanics roll is to reach a destination before someone else does, because it's not really possible to get lost within a solar system. The navigator who rolls higher has plotted a trajectory that will allow their starship to reach its destination several hours ahead of the other starship.

Sensors

A starship's sensors are used to find things and to analyze them. Using a starship's sensors generally requires a Computing (Reason + starship's Computer) roll. The difficulty (DV) of the roll is based on the subtlety of the thing being searched for or analyzed.


Table: Sensor operation difficulty examples
Difficulty Examples
-- Routine Locate an active starship within long range, locate a familiar energy signature within long range, analyze a familiar energy signature within medium range
3 Moderately difficult Locate an active starship beyond long range, locate a familiar energy signature beyond long range, analyze an unfamiliar energy signature within short range
6 Remarkably difficult Locate an inactive or disabled starship within long range, locate an unfamiliar energy signature within long range, analyze an unfamiliar energy signature within medium range
9 Extremely difficult Locate an inactive or disabled starship beyond long range, locate an unfamiliar energy signature beyond long range, analyze an unfamiliar energy signature within long range
12 Inconceivable! Analyze an unfamiliar energy signature beyond long range
  1. Range Bands

Engines

A starship's Engines are its most important asset, because without them, it's going nowhere. Piloting a starship generally requires an Agility + Piloting roll. The difficulty (DV) is based on the complexity of the maneuver being attempted.


Table: Piloting difficulty examples
Difficulty Examples
-- Routine Landing at a starport or on level ground, docking with a relatively motionless starship
3 Moderately difficult Landing in violent weather, flying through obstacles, docking with a moving but cooperative starship
6 Remarkably difficult Flying through an incomplete space station at full speed, docking with a moving uncooperative starship
9 Extremely difficult Flying through an asteroid field at full speed, docking with an uncooperative starship at full speed
12 Inconceivable! Flying blind through an asteroid field at full speed


A failed Piloting roll will usually result in damage to the starship. For every failed Piloting roll, the starship loses one point of Hull. It's difficult to destroy a starship by flying it poorly, but an exceptionally bad pilot can do it.

Interstellar Travel

SIDEBAR: Exact travel times

There is no equation to give you exact travel times based on the distance traveled and the Engines and Hull of the starship. The GM should decide the travel time on a case by case basis, using the rough guidelines given here. The plot is always more important than an equation in some book.


The time required to travel interstellar distances increases logarithmically as the distance itself increases linearly. For example, a journey between two star systems in the same region of a galaxy typically takes from a few hours to a few days, traveling from one edge of a galaxy to the other takes a week or two, and traveling from one galaxy to the next takes a month or two. starships which have higher Hull ratings are slower than less massive starships, and starships with higher Engines ratings are faster than starships with lower Engines ratings.

Defenses

Range Bands

If you'd prefer to emulate a setting more like Star Trek and less like Star Wars, multiply the weapon ranges by one thousand. So instead of close, short, medium and long ranges being 1 km, 10 km, 100 km, and 1,000 km, they'd be 1,000 km, 10,000 km, 100,000 km, and 1,000,000 km. (This doesn't actually make any difference in the game.)

Targeting Specific Systems

Before resolving whether an attack is successful, an attacker can declare that they are targeting a specific system: bridge, cargo, computer, crew quarters, defenses, engines, engineering, gravity control, environmental systems, sensors, or weapons. If the attack is successful, the attacker then rolls 2d6 and consults the "Targeting starship systems" table. If the attacker's system targeting roll is within 0-2 of the desired system, that system is affected as described; otherwise, the system rolled is affected as described.

For example, if the attacker was targeting the bridge (requiring a roll of 2), and the attack was successful, and rolled a 4, they would have successfully damaged the bridge. If they rolled a 5, however, they would have damaged the starship's computer, reducing the starship's Computer rating to zero until the end of the attacker's next turn.

Targeting a specific system damages a system instead of causing damage to the starship's structure; the target's Hull is unchanged.


Table: Targeting starship systems
2d6 System Effect
2 Bridge Named crew members on the bridge are struck by exploding consoles or are pinned by falling debris, and incur a -3 penalty on all rolls until the end of the attacker's next turn; unnamed crew members are dead
3 Defenses Defenses are offline (rating 0) until the end of the attacker's next turn
4 Engineering Any systems currently offline remain offline an additional round
5 Computer Computer and communications are offline (rating 0) until the end of the attacker's next turn
6 Crew quarters Named crew members in their quarters are trapped until rescued; unnamed crew members are dead
7 Cargo/other equipment Cargo or supplies are destroyed; if the starship has unusual equipment, that equipment is offline (rating 0) until the end of the attacker's next turn
8 Gravity control Characters without the Zero-G Combat gift incur a -3 penalty on all rolls until the end of the attacker's next turn
9 Sensors Sensors are offline (Computer rating 0 for sensor rolls) until the end of the attacker's next turn
10 Engines Engines are offline (rating 0) until the end of the attacker's next turn
11 Weapons Weapons are offline (rating 0) until the end of the attacker's next turn
12 Environmental systems Characters who need to breathe incur a -3 penalty on all rolls until the end of the attacker's next turn

Other Equipment

Tractor Beams

Tractor beams are gravitic weapons intended to prevent the target from moving. Using a tractor beam generally requires a Warfare (Reason) roll plus the rating of the tractor beam. The difficulty (DV) is based on the defending pilot's Warfare (Reason) and the defending starship's Defenses rating.

Tractor beams do not deal points of Hull damage to the target. Instead, on a successful roll, the Hull rating of the attacking starship is subtracted from the Engines rating of the defending starship for as long as the tractor beam is focused on the target. If the target's effective Engines rating is reduced to zero, the target starship is unable to move.

Escaping from a tractor beam can be accomplished one of three ways: the tractored starship can move beyond the effective range of the tractor beam (based on the rating of the tractor beam); the tractored starship (or another starship) can reduce the Hull of the starship with the tractor beam to zero, causing the tractor beam to shut off; or the fleeing starship (or another starship) can break the tractor beam's hold by successfully targeting the "cargo/other equipment" system of the starship with the tractor beam.