Ship Combat #
Combat between ships combines the skills of a crew with the quaity of their ship. The maximum impact of any throw is limited to the rank of a ship’s component. NPC ships use the skill rank of their crew for all throws.
A player with Gunnery 2 fires the guns on a ship with Guns 1. They throw a total of 10. The impact of the throw is 1, not 3.
Assign each ship a Position score equal to its electronics rank. Use counters or dice to track the Position of each ship. A ship with higher Position than another is better situated and can more easily achieve its goal.
Each crew then declares their goal for the encounter. A side achieves their goal at the end of a round if their Position is 3 or more greater than the other side’s Position. Most goals will also have another requirement. See the table below for common goal requirements.
At any point, either side can surrender and grant the enemy their goal. Either side may change their goal at the beginning of a new round.
| Goal | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Reach specific local position | Operational thrusters. |
| Escape | Operational gate core. |
| Forcibly dock with and board enemy ship | Enemy thrusters destroyed. |
| Board by leaping from your ship to theirs. | Boarders throw + Agility to land on enemy hull. |
The players choose which characters will operate their ship’s computer, helm the ship, shoot the guns, and perform repairs. A single character may only perform one of these tasks each round. If there are not enough characters to perform each task, the players must choose which task to skip.
Take the following steps each combat round:
- Computer
- Side 1 Helm
- Side 1 Gunnery
- Side 2 Helm
- Side 2 Gunnery
- Engineering
Computer #
Computer operaters uses their ship’s electronics to try to predict the enemy’s movement. Each side throws + computer skill, impact limited by the ship’s electronics rank.
The side with the highest impact performs its helm and gunnery tasks first. If neither side throws 8 or more, or if it is a tie, the side with the highest position goes first.
If it is still a tie, roll 1d6. On a 1–3, the referee’s side goes first, on a 4–6, the players go first.
Helm #
The ship’s pilot throws + helm skill, impact limited by the ship’s thrusters. Add the impact of the throw to the ship’s position.
Gunnery #
The ship’s gunner throws + Gunnery, impact limited by the ship’s guns.
For each point of Impact on the Gunnery throw, the target ship must either lose 2 position or take Damage, target’s choice.
Each time a ship takes Damage, the attacker throws 1d6 on the on the Hit Location chart. The attacker may lose 1 position to reroll the hit location die as many times as they wish.
The first time Thrusters, Guns, Electronics, or Gate Core are hit, the component is damaged. The second time, it is destroyed. Treat further hits on a destroyed component as a roll of 6 on the Hit Location chart.
Throws using damaged thrusters, guns, or electronics are disadvantaged. A damaged gate core cannot be used to jump to gatespace or escape. Destroyed components cannot be used until repaired in port.
When PC crew is hit, throw an attack with a +2 bonus against a random PC, using the skirmish rules. If NPC crew is hit, reduce NPC ship skill by 1. This can cause their skill to become negative.
Hit Location (1d6) #
| Roll | Hit Location & Effect |
|---|---|
| 1 | Electronics |
| 2 | Thrusters |
| 3 | Guns |
| 4 | Gate core |
| 5 | Crew |
| 6 | Attacker chooses hit. Any of the above, or another contextual choice. For example breaching thier cargo hold so a specific item falls into space. |
Engineering #
Each ship’s engineer throws + Engineer. If succesful, they may either jury rig a damaged component, or boost an intact component to grant one teammate advantage on their throw during the next round. Jury rigged components operate as normal during the next round. Destroyed components cannot be jury rigged, and need to be replaced in port.