The Cluster Falk:StarshipRules

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.

Size

A ship can attack or defend against another ship ten levels of Size above or below it without special benefits or penalties. After that, the difference in Size confers an extra +10% 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.

Ships of Size 10 or above gain a -2 penalty to Handling tests on engagement, no matter how high their Speed rating.

Ship Skills and Crew Skills

Most ships have AI automation with a skill of 50% for every function that needs a skill. If a character has a higher skill rating, they can take over.

The exception is Pilot. The Pilot Skill always trumps Ship Skills 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.

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 Military Training (Navy) Skill if there is no turret to shoot from, etc. However, actions undertaken within the ship, such as Craft (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.

A Jump always requires a Navigate roll, though.

Asteroid Fields

An asteroid field adds +10% to +20% to a ship's chances of evading detection while in the field, but periodic Pilot rolls need to be made to avoid damage to the ship. The difficulty of these rolls and the resultant damage are up to the GM. Miners may also elect to scour through asteroid fields for their riches. All kinds of exotic asteroid fields abound in the galaxy, including ones haunted by or composed of living beings, radioactive or electromagnetic fields, etc.

Hyperspace Jumps

A hyperspace jump requires a starship to be at least 100 diameters distant from a planet, or any object as large as a small planetoid. Calculations for the jump to lightspeed, made with the ship's Navigate skill, take at least one round of calculations.

A standard hyperspace jump can cover roughly 1 parsec (3.26 ly or 1 hex on a subsector map) per Jump drive rating. The relevant roll is dictated by the ship's Drives rating, and other factors. So, a 1-parsec jump requires a +1 success, a 2-parsec jump a +2 success, and so on. This total can be influenced by external environmental factors. For instance, a hyperspace lane typically lowers the Difficulty (increases the range) of a jump by 1, or even 2, while a miscalculated jump or local environmental interference may raise the Difficulty by 1 or far more.

After each jump, a starship needs to stop and recalibrate its hyperdrive, and make the calculations for the next jump, at the new Difficulty. Consequences of a hard failure can include flying into the heart of a star, or other equally unpleasant outcomes.

A hyperspace jump takes an unpredictable but limited amount of time - usually around 1 week - and a lot of fuel. Typically, a Jump consumes half of the ship's entire fuel reserves.

Starship Combat

These are the specialized rules for starship combat.

Detection

Starships have to detect each other to enter combat. Detection is a Sensors vs Sensors contest, modified by crew Science (Comms) or Military Training (Navy) Skills, advanced sensor suites, asteroid fields, stealth suites, etc. Unless a ship has a definite reason, orders, etc. to continue scanning, it cannot keep trying to detect until it finds a target; the first failure is definitive. However, once detected, a target is tagged, and cannot evade unless it can change the situation (e.g. fly into an asteroid field) to allow a fresh test.

Military sensors always have a +20% advantage over civilian sensors. Each level of difference in Tech Level between ships adds another 10% advantage or disadvantage.

Closing to engage

Once detected, ships need to move to within engagement range to enter close quarter battle. If a ship wants to avoid combat, it can do a series of Pilot vs Pilot contests as per a typical chase, adding the ship's Speed rating to the percentage roll for each. The pursuer may also be a torpedo as well as another starship. Depending on the situation, the GM can decide that just a single success is enough to initiate combat, or require a chase with best of 3 wins, or 3 consecutive wins.

Engagement

On entering an engagement, the combatants each make a Pilot roll. The result, divided by 10, is their position on the engagement ladder.

The engagement ladder determines the combatants' relative tactical positions and firing sequence in closse quarter battle. This also applies to torpedoes as well as manned craft. The engagement ladder is also closely tied to the possible actions for each combatant in each turn. The Engagement Ladder is not a measure of altitude, but of relative advantage and disadvantage in a combat. It is also a measure of rough practical firing range for beam weapons. Beyond these distances, beam divergence and attentuation and relative velocities make close quarter battle impracticable.

At the end of each turn, combatants move 1 level down the engagement ladder, unless the turn's outcome determines otherwise.

Once a ship has exited the bottom of the engagement ladder, it has moved out of engagement range. Combatants are then assumed to be beyond engagement range, and if an aggressor wants to re-initiate combat, it has to close to engage as before, with the same Pilot vs Pilot tests.

Engagement Actions

The following are some of the standard engagement actions available to combatants. Others may be available depending on Guns and Systems types, and other factors.

Actions basically take half or all of each turn; 2 half actions can both be done in a single turn.

Attack actions can normally be made only against targets at the same level or below, unless otherwise indicated in the action's details.

Attack and defensive actions require a roll of the relevant Skill to succeed, with crew Skill modifying ship Skill if it is higher. For the majority of actions, the skill is Pilot. For pure gunnery actions (e.g. Snap shot), the crew Skill is Military Training (Navy). Crew manning turrets and other installations cannot do Pilot actions, but can do other actions separately. An unnmanned turret or weapon will fire at a standard AI rating of 50%.

Some full turn actions are essentially two actions combined, e.g. Desperate attack, which combines Pilot and shooting.

A full turn action is assumed to take effect in the second half of the exchange.

For each type of action, the relevant crew member or Skill type to execute is indicated.

Attack Actions

• Desperate attack (Pilot/Guns, full turn, max 3 Scale): Spend a Fate point to climb 2 levels on the engagement ladder, then attack a ship at or below your new level.
• On their tail (Pilot/Guns, full turn): Position yourself in the level directly above your target on the engagement ladder. Attack your target with a +2 bonus to your Guns roll, increasing by +1 each turn.
• Targeted attack (Guns, full turn): Target and degrade Drives, Guns, Shields or Systems, by 1 point per shift. Success with style allows removal of 1 stunt per attack.
• Inside their shields (Pilot/Guns, full turn): Insert yourself behind the Shields of a target of Scale 4 or above in the same level on the engagement ladder, and attack with Shields damage reduction ignored.
• Snap shot (Guns, half turn): Attack a ship at your level or below on the engagement ladder.
• Return fire (Guns, second half, Scale 3 or above): Return fire against an attacking ship above you on the engagement ladder at -2 on Guns, if you are Scale 3 or above.
• Target lock (Guns, full turn): Lock onto any target on your level or below on the engagement ladder. Attack your target with a +2 bonus to your Guns roll, increasing by +1 each turn.
• Special weapon (Guns, full turn): Fire any installed special weapon (tractor beam, hyperdrive inhibitor, etc.) at target at the same level or below you on the engagement ladder.
• Grapple and board (Pilot, second half): Initiate a Pilot vs. Pilot or Drives contest against target on same level of engagement ladder and equal or lower Drives. If aggressor wins, they can grapple and board the target.

Non-Attack Actions

• Create an advantage or overcome (Any appropriate Skill, either half of turn): As standard Fate Core actions.
• Push (Pilot, second half): Initiate a Pilot vs. Pilot or Drives contest. If aggressor wins, they push defender down the engagement ladder.
• Evade (Pilot, half turn): Maneuver to dodge incoming fire; Defend with Pilot vs. Guns (or Drives vs. Guns).
• Repair (Engineering, second half): Overcome action with Engineering vs. Fair (+2) to clear one stress or consequence box. The number of shifts in the resulting roll equals the maximum value of the stress or consequences box that can be cleared.
• Pickup (Pilot, full turn): Pick up a stranded pilot, jettisoned cargo canister, asteroid ore chunk, etc. Target Difficulty is determined by the GM.
• Launch (Systems, second half): Overcome action with Systems, modified by Engineering. Launch fighters, shuttles or other subsidiary craft. These enter the engagement at the same level on the engagement ladder.
• Shake off a tail (Pilot, full turn): Initiate a Pilot vs. Pilot or Drives contest. If successful, both reposition in next turn.
• Reposition (Pilot, either half of turn): Overcome action with Pilot. Position your ship at or below new result on engagement ladder. Do not degrade.
• Point defense (Guns, second half, Scale 4 or above): +2 attack against any ship inside shields.
• Fire decoys (Guns, either half, Scale 3 or above): Overcome action with Guns vs. Fair +2; once only per gunner/turret. Penalty to opponent's next attack equal to number of shifts in successful roll.
• Full defense (Pilot, full turn, max 3 Scale): +2 defend against any attacks and other opponent actions, no other actions allowed.
• Jump to lightspeed (Drives, modified by Pilot/Computing/Engineering, full turn): Calculate and initiate hyperspace jump. Overcome action with Drives vs. Fair +2. Requires no tail and at least 2 levels of separation on engagement ladder. Can be cut to half a turn with Advanced Astrogation.

Damage

Starships have two Stress tracks, one for Hull, the other for Systems. Each ship also has the usual Mild, Moderate and Serious Consequence boxes, with the usual 2, 4 and 6 shift values, plus an additional +8 Extreme consequences box if the ship is Scale 6 or above. The attacker decides which Stress track is targeted for each attack. The special Targeted Attack Action also allows even more specific targeting. Shields reduce the amount of damage done by the Shields value (but see below).

Each Consequence box filled for Systems does a corresponding amount of damage to Systems stunts. Each Consequence box filled for the Hull has potentially damaging or fatal effects as follows:

• +4: Hull breach, cargo compartment; cargo lost, no injuries.
• +3: Hull breach, crew compartment; 1 crew takes 1 roll damage.
• +2 Hull breach, crew compartment; all crew take 1 roll damage
• +1: Life support failure; crew have to reach escape pods or survive on suit air
• 0: Radiation leak; all crew take 1 roll radiation damage/round until fixed
• -1: Loss of control; ship maneuvers/repositions at random until helm repaired
• -2: Catastrophic outage; ship dead in space, no drives or internal power
• -3: Catastrophic failure; ship explodes, crew have time to reach escape pods
• -4: Catastrophic detonation; ship explodes, no chance of escape

Shields

Shields usually absorb damage equal to their rating. However, a torpedo, snub pilot, or other threat may be able to penetrate within shield radius. If so, Shields provide no protection against that damage.

Torpedoes

Torpedoes are small (Scale 0) guided missiles, usually with +3 Pilot and +3 Drives, with the Fast Ship and Maneuverability stunt. They home in on a target designated at launch, and aim to reach the same zone as the target. Once in the same zone, they explode. Damage depends on the payload, but is a standard +6.

Torpedoes can be fired both outside and inside an engagement. If fired or entering an engagement, they have to reach the same level on the engagement ladder to successfully detonate. If fired during an engagement, they can perform the "Inside their shields" attack. If their target is destroyed or shakes them off before they detonate, they explode, doing damage to all ships, friendly or hostile, at the same level in the engagement ladder.

In its terminal guidance phase, a torpedo can perform the "Inside their shields" action, if it succeeds in a Pilot vs Systems roll against the target.