Raiders of the Rim: Combat

These are homebrew rules for Star Wars starships in Raiders of the Rim, based on Starblazer, Fate of the Stars, Tachyon Squadron, and other sources.

Starship Design

Ships have 4 basic Skills plus Scale. The basic Skills (attributes, whatever) are Drives, Systems, Guns and Shields. Respectively, these allow you to speed, box clever, shoot and defend better the more points you have. Each basic Skill category also gets a series of Stunts, representing special features and advanced systems.

Ships also have two Stress tracks: Hull and Systems. These are both x the ship's Scale, so a Tie Fighter with Scale 1 has 1 box in each of its Stress tracks. A Star Destroyer with Scale 6 would have 6 boxes in each. Ships Scale 6 or above also gain an additional Extreme consequences box at +8.

When building a ship, players get 1 basic Skill point per point of Scale, and 1 point for Stunts or further Skills enhancement. So, with a Scale 3 light freighter or yacht, you get 3 basic Skill points to enhance the ship's starting Mediocre +0 level in the 4 basic Skills. You get an additional 3 points for Stunts or to further enhance the basic Skills. (Note that a typical ship design is unarmed and unshielded at Skill 0 - you need Skill points in Guns and Shields to arm up.) Those are starting levels, and a ship can of course be upgraded as much as the players' Resources allow - although the ship's Scale can't be changed.

The following is a selection of Stunts for the four basic Skill areas for ships. GMs or players can always come up with similar Stunts based on these principles.

Drives

• Fast ship - +2 Drives bonus for sublight tests involving speed, especially when Closing to Engage
• Advanced hyperdrive - reduces transit time in hyperspace, halves jump fuel consumption, maximizes 1 dice in jump rolls
• Maneuverability - (Scale 3 maximum) +2 in Pilot vs Pilot contests, or other tests of Pilot maneuvering skills

Systems

• Advanced astrogation - reduces calculation time for jump to lightspeed, calculation becomes a half turn action rather than a full turn, +2 for jump rolls
• Enhanced sensor suite - +2 in Systems vs Systems tests for detection; +1 zone range for detection
• Stealth suite - +2 in Systems vs Systems tests for escape and evasion or passing undetected
• Stasis pods - 10x base passenger capacity in stasis pods
• Passenger deck - double base passenger capacity
• Mining systems - tractors, fusioncutters and nets for detaching and catching minerals in space
• Enhanced hold - double base cargo capacity, special environmental fittings for handling exotics
• Shuttle/dropship - Scale 2 subsidiary ship
• Enhanced database - maximize 1 dice on any Knowledge or Investigation roll on board
• Enhanced engineering - maximize 1 dice on any Engineering roll on board

Guns

• Proton torpedoes - missile weapon (1 shot per Scale point only)
• Tractor beam - Guns vs Drives/opposing Pilot contest against target to capture it (only your Scale or below)
• Hyperdrive inhibitor - Guns vs Drives/opposing Pilot contest against target to prevent its escape to hyperspace, effect persists for number of rounds equal to shifts generated.
• Decoys - +2 in defensive moves in conflicts (1 shot per Scale point only)
• Point defense - (Scale 4 minimum) +2 Guns attack on small craft inside deflector shields
• Ram - ship hardened with offensive ram, Pilot vs Pilot contest in same zone, no Shields protection, rammer talks half damage
• Exotic weapon - unusual technology, doubling repair time for inflicted damage
• Super weapon - (Scale 6 minimum) devastating WMD

Shields

• Angle the deflector shields - +2 to Shields for 1 exchange with Engineering roll vs. +2 Fair
• Hardened - +1 Stress box for both Hull and Systems
• Shunt shield power - +2 to Shields for 1 exchange in one quadrant with Engineering roll vs. +2 Fair, -1 in other quadrants
• Shield tuning - +2 to Shields continuously against any specific environmental threat (e.g. radiation, asteroids) with Engineering roll vs. +2 Fair

Scale

A ship can attack or defend against another ship one level of Scale above or below it without special benefits or penalties. After that, each level of Scale confers an extra +2 for Guns and Shields, and most other offensive and defensive rolls. This represents the far superior power and toughness of a larger ship. The same applies in reverse for defensive evasion moves. A ship two levels or more of Scale below its opponent gains a +2 for Evade or other Pilot contests for each level of Scale difference beyond 1.

Ships of Scale 5 or above gain a -2 penalty per additional point of Scale to any tests or contests involving maneuvers or speed, no matter how high their Drives rating. This is to reflect their cumbersome, momentum-heavy nature. Of course, most space navies don't bother to build in all the extra drive muscle needed to propel heavy units at high speed, and a tight turning circle is never an option.

Ships of Scale 6 or above gain an extra +8 Extreme consequences box.

Ship Skills and Crew Skills

Following the option in Fate Space Toolkit, Crew Skills modify Ship Skills. If a crew member has a relevant Skill at a higher level than the ship Skill, they add a flat one-time +1 benefit to that Skill. So, a crew member with Shoot +4 can add a +1 bonus to a ship's +2 Guns Skill, a crew member with Engineering +4 can add a +1 bonus to relevant Systems Skills. There are no additional teamwork benefits.

The exception is Pilot. The Pilot Skill always trumps Ship Skills (inc. Drives) for almost any test or contest beyond a straight flat-out contest of speed vs. speed, although it does not remove the effects of penalties.

Even if player crew members have lower Skills than Ship Skills, they can still invoke Aspects, burn Fate points, and otherwise boost the Ship Skill rolls. Therefore, it's always useful to have them participate, even if the Ship Skill is higher.

To actually use their Skill, a crew member has to be at an appropriate station in the ship. A pilot can't use their Pilot Skill unless they're actually in the cockpit or on the command deck; a gunner can't use their Shoot Skill if there is no turret to shoot from, etc. However, actions undertaken within the ship, such as Engineering rolls, take the crew Skills.

Starship Navigation

Aside from the special cases detailed below, many of the skills and especially stunts of starship construction don't apply when it comes to ship navigation. This is assumed to proceed relatively smoothly, except when the GM rules otherwise and requires rolls.

The rules for starship navigation are based on Fate's Zone system, and are inexact when it comes to speed and distance.

• Same Zone: Point-blank range, docking distance, deflector shield perimeter for snub fighter attacks
• 1 Zone distance: Close beam weapon range, near visual observation range
• 2 Zones distance: Long beam weapon range, same orbit
• 3 Zones distance: Extreme detection range, interlunar distances
• 4 Zones distance: Interplanetary distances

Closing the distance between two friendly vessels seeking to rendezvous doesn't require a test. Pursuits follow usual Fate rules. As soon as ships are within 2 Zones of each other, they can initiate an engagement.