Houserules
Starship combat is unfortunately too deadly in STA 2e. Beam arrays with the Piercing quality (easily obtained through the Scan For Weakness action) can destroy a starship in a single attack. The following houserules are extensive, I know, but are in my opinion necessary to restore game balance, to keep things fun for all involved, and to bring the game closer to the source material.
Shields & Hull
Instead of giving starships a single Shields track, ships have two tracks.
Shields: Equal to Structure + Tactical
Hull: Equal to Structure + Engineering
Ship Resistance is still calculated as normal and applies to both Shields and Hull. Some talents and effects can modify these values separately though (e.g. Ablative Armor will improve Hull Resistance but not Shield Resistance).
Miscellaneous ChangesThe Devastating Attack Momentum spend (page 307) now reads:
[1 Momentum] If your attack deals 5 or more damage to the target's Hull (after resistance), you may inflict a Breach.
The Modulate Shields action (page 305) now reads:
This cannot be attempted if the shields are at 0. You try to tune your shields to resist enemy attacks. If you take this action, then until your next turn, increase your Shield Resistance by 2.
The Regenerate Shields action (page 303) now reads:
Requires Reserve Power. You reroute Reserve Power to the shield emitters, attempting to restore their strength. This requires a Control + Engineering task with a Difficulty of 2, assisted by the ship’s Structure + Tactical; the Difficulty increases by 1 if the ship’s shields are at 0. If successful, the ship regains shields equal to your ship's Tactical department, plus 1 more by spending 1 Momentum (Repeatable).
There is a new Emergency Repairs major action, which is only available to the Engineering position. It reads:
You direct emergency teams to quickly seal and repair damaged sections of the ship. This requires a Daring + Engineering task with a Difficulty of 2, assisted by the ship’s Structure + Engineering; the Difficulty increases by 1 for each Breach the ship's Structure department has suffered. If successful, the ship regains hull equal to your ship's Engineering department, plus 1 more by spending 1 Momentum (Repeatable).
Starship Damage
Change the damage steps on page 309 as follows:
Step 1
Keep as it is, but make you sure apply the correct kind of Resistance. Damage is first applied to Shields. If Shields are at 0 then apply it to Hull instead.
Step 2A (SHIELDS)
APPLY DAMAGE: Reduce the target ship's shields by 1 for each point of damage (after applying Shield Resistance and other modifiers). If the ship's shields were already 0, skip to Step 2B instead.
SHIELDS AT 50%: Any task to Regenerate Shields (page 303), Modulate Shield (page 305), or otherwise use shields, has its difficulty increased by 1 for as long as this Breakthrough point is crossed out.
SHIELDS AT 25%: The difficulty increase to use shields worsens to 2.
SHIELDS ARE DOWN: If the damage reduces the ship's shields to 0, the shields are down, and any remaining damage is applied to Hull in step 2B. The ship is Shaken.
Step 2B (Hull)
APPLY DAMAGE: Reduce the target ship's hull by 1 for each point of damage (after applying Hull Resistance and other modifiers). If the hull reaches zero, or was already at 0, apply a Breach.
HULL AT 50%: The ship is Shaken and suffers a breach.
HULL AT 25%: The ship is Shaken and suffers a breach.
HULL DAMAGE CRITICAL: The ship suffers a breach.
Starship Breaches
If a single system on your ship suffers a number of breaches exceeding the ship's Scale, the system has been destroyed. When a system has been destroyed, any task which would be assisted by that system automatically fails.
If your ship suffers a total number of breaches equal to double the ship's Scale, then the ship has suffered critical damage and can no longer function. If the ship takes any additional breaches, it is destroyed.
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Starship Weapon Qualities
This describes changed or new qualities. If a quality is not listed here, it works as described on pages 226-227.
DAMPENING: This attack drains the target's reserve power, causing widespread disruption. If the target has Reserve Power available, it loses Reserve Power. If the target doesn't have Reserve Power available, the difficulty of the Regain Power task increases by 1 for the rest of the scene, just as if they had attempted to use that action.
DEPLETING: Removed from the game, but see Piercing below.
DEVASTATING: Reduce the Momentum cost of Devastating Attack by 1. Tasks to repair breaches caused by this weapon increase in Difficulty by 1.
JAMMING: Until the end of the current round, the target increases the Difficulty for all tasks assisted by Communications and Sensors by 1.
KINETIC: When this weapon damages the target's Hull, but the target does not become Shaken, you may spend 1 Momentum to have them become Shaken.
OBSOLETE X: When applying damage (after accounting for Resistance), reduce the damage by X. Note that this can fully negate the damage.
PERSISTENT X: When this weapon hits, you may spend up to X Momentum. At the end of each round, the target suffers half the weapon's base damage rating, twice. The first application is normal and the second has the Shield Bypass quality for free. This effect lasts for a number of rounds equal to the Momentum spent.
PIERCING (SHIELD/HULL): An attack with this weapon ignores half the target's Resistance (rounded up).
SHIELD BYPASS X: The weapon is effective at bypassing enemy shields. On a hit, you may spend X Momentum to ignore the target's Shields, applying the damage directly to Hull.
SPREAD: This weapon gains access to the Saturating Fire minor action.
- Saturating Fire (Tactical Minor Action): You prime your weapons for an overwhelming barrage of firepower. Select a single enemy vessel within Long range. On your next attack with this weapon against the target, increase the weapon's damage by 1 and you may re-roll a d20 on the task.
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Starship Energy Weapons
Antiproton: Piercing (Hull)
Disruptor: Intense
Electromagnetic or Ionic: Dampening, Jamming
Free Electron Laser: Obsolete 1
Graviton Beam or Kinetic Beam: Kinetic
Phase/Pulse: -
Phased Polaron Beam: Shield Bypass 1
Phaser: Versatile 1
Proton Beam: Persistent 1
Tetryon Beam: Piercing (Shield)
Cannons
Close Range / Ship Scale +2 Damage / Devastating quality
Banks
Medium Range / Ship Scale +1 Damage / Versatile 1 quality
Arrays
Unaltered from core
Spinal Lance
Long Range / Ship Scale +3 Damage / Cumbersome, High Yield qualities
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Torpedoes
Chroniton
Long / 3 Damage / Calibration, High Yield, Kinetic, Slowing
Gravimetric
Long / 5 Damage / Calibration, Cumbersome, High Yield, Kinetic, Piercing (Hull)
Neutronic
Long / 4 Damage / Calibration, Dampening, Kinetic
Nuclear
Medium / 3 Damage / Calibration, Intense, Kinetic, Obsolete 1
Photon
Long / 3 Damage / High Yield, Kinetic
Photonic
Long / 2 Damage / High Yield, Kinetic
Plasma
Long / 5 Damage / Calibration, Cumbersome, Kinetic, Persistent 3
Polaron
Long / 3 Damage / Calibration, Kinetic, Shield Bypass 2
Positron
Long / 5 Damage / Calibration, Cumbersome, Dampening, Kinetic
Quantum
Long / 4 Damage / Calibration, High Yield, Intense, Kinetic
Spatial
Medium / 3 Damage / Kinetic, Obsolete 1
Tetryonic
Long / 3 Damage / Calibration, High Yield, Kinetic, Piercing (Shield)
Transphasic
Long / 4 Damage / Calibration, Devastating, Piercing (Shield and Hull)
Tricobalt
Long / 6 Damage / Area, Calibration, Cumbersome, Kinetic
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Talents
Ablative Armor
The vessel's hull plating has an additional ablative layer that disintegrates slowly under extreme temperatures. Increase your Hull Resistance by 2. Reduce this by 1 for each Hull Breakthrough point reached.
Adaptive Shield Modulator
When the Modulate Shields action is taken (page 305), improve your ship's Shield Resistance by an additional +1, and a further +1 for every 2 Momentum spent. Further, the ship may have its shields raised when operating in silent running (see sidebar opposite).
Backup EPS Conduits
When the ship loses Reserve Power, roll 1d20; if you roll equal to or under your ship's Structure, regain Reserve Power.
Improved Hull Integrity
The ship's hull has been reinforced to better endure stress and damage. The ship's maximum Hull Capacity is increased by 5.
Rapid-Fire Torpedo Launcher
The vessel's torpedo launchers have been designed to allow the ship to fire multiple torpedoes much more quickly and accurately. When the ship fires a torpedo salvo (page 229), the character at Tactical may either:
- If they choose to gain the Area quality, they also gain the Spread quality.
- If they choose to gain the Spread quality, they may use the Saturating Fire minor action for free.
Rugged Design
Increase your Shield Resistance and Hull Resistance by 1 each.
Covering Advance
Add the following to the end: "… or the difficulty is +1, whichever would be higher."
Glancing Impact
This counts for both Shield and Hull Resistance.
Piercing Salvo
When you make a Torpedo Attack, you may spend 2 Momentum (Immediate) to gain either the Piercing (Shields) or Piercing (Hull) quality.
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NPC Starship Categories
Major Starships
These are for extended fights, probably the culmination of a season or a "movie climax."
Examples: The Reliant, the Scimitar, or any Borg cube outside of Voyager.
Use the rules for starships as described previously. They have 6 or more Personal Threat (page 346).
If you have the GM Toolkit and use their optional Breach effects, also use them for Major starships.
Notable Starships
These ships are often the focus point of a single episode and unlikely to make repeat appearances.
Examples: A single Romulan warbird decloaking to question your presence in the Neutral Zone, a smuggler trying to evade capture, or an Orion pirate vessel.
Reduce Shields and Hull to 75% and give them only a single Breakthrough point in the middle. When the ship has suffered Breaches exceeding its scale, the ship is defeated – either destroyed, surrendering, or retreating, as appropriate to the story.
They typically have 3 Personal Threat (page 346).
If you have the GM Toolkit and use their optional Breach effects, don't use them for Notable starships.
Minor Starships
These ships might be part of a larger attack wing or small fleet. They pose little threat individually. Most minor starships are of scale 4 or lower.
Examples: See those swarms of ships in any of the major battles in DS9? Those are minor starships.
Reduce Shields and Hull to one-half but remove the Breakthrough points. When the ship has suffered any Breach whatsoever, the ship is defeated – either destroyed, surrendering, or retreating, as appropriate to the story.
Reduce the number of actions the ship can take each round to one-half.
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