Capital Ship Combat Rules
By CR McNeill
Introduction:
I've been thinking for a little while about how Capital Ship Encounters should be run in Star Wars D6. As the ships are presented in the rules, bucketloads of dice would have to be rolled, so many as to be wholly impractical during a RPG session! Thankfully, I asked my friends at the Rancor Pit for help and, as usual, they didn't disappoint! The rules presented here are largely created by Rancor Pit member CR McNeill, and published with his blessing. They do not represent CR's comprehensive rules, rather they are a boiled-down version for the benefit of my own group - and I have made a few very minor adjustments to his rules, mostly adding a framework to the turn sequence. There are deviations also, most notably in relation to Initiative.
The Command Deck:
Each Capital-scale ship has a Command Deck document for the ship's Captain to use. It's prime purpose is to provide quick-reference information to allow a Captain to operate his ship. All of the Command Decks currently available can be found in the Appendices at the end of this article, but here is an example:
The Command Deck features the following information:
Capital Ship Operation: This value is equal to Capital Skill Piloting and represents the die code for any required Piloting or Damage Control rolls.
Initiative: The die code used to determine a ship's Initiative for the turn. It is calculated by adding the Captain's Tactics + Crew Sensors skills and dividing by 2 (rounding up if it is an odd number.)
Initiative Bonus Tracker: Where the current Initiative Bonus (if any) is recorded. See Initiative Phase.
Command: The die code for the Captain's Command Roll.
Command Difficulty: The difficulty required for the Captain to successfully Command their ship in any given turn.
Command Tracker: A place to note current skill bonuses/penalties in relation to the current Command Roll.
Ship Defence: The number entered here is based on the Manoeuvrability of the ship plus the Capital Ship Piloting. Depending on Captain's orders, when an enemy ship targets the ship, this may be added to the range difficulty. Each 1D equals a value of 2 and pips are added as normal to complete the total. Therefore, a Ship Defence of 6D+2 would be (6x2) 12 +2 = 14.
Space: How fast the ship can move.
Hull: The hull die code.
Shields: The shields die code.
Weapons: Each type of weapon used in a Capital Ship is listed and contains the following information:
Gunnery Fire Control: A single statistic which combines both the Capital Gunnery Skill and the Fire Control into a single die code.
Battery Dice: The number of dice that can be added either to Gunnery Fire Control or Damage. More on this later.
Damage: The die code rolled to apply the damage caused by the weapon when it hits. This is rolled against the enemy ship's Hull and/or Shields.
Range: This shows the weapon's Short, Medium and Long-Ranges. Anything less than short range is considered to be Point Blank Range.
Battery Dice Damage Allocation Limitation: Shows the limitations of how many Battery Dice can be added to Damage. More on this later also.
Silhouette: This shows the fire arcs on a ship, used to determine which weapons are firing or which section of the ship is being hit.
Turn Sequence:
Each turn has a set sequence which is run as follows:-
1) Initiative Phase
2) Command Phase
3) Damage Control Phase
4) Action Phase
5) Movement Phase
Initiative Phase:
As a new turn begins, the Initiative order for each ship has to be resolved. To determine this, each ship's Captain makes an Initiative roll (equal to Crew Sensors skill + Tactics / 2, rounding up any half pips). To represent the battle of wits which is being fought between the different tacticians, an Initiative roll is made every turn. This means there may be ebb and flow in who acts first from turn to turn! When Capital Ships are involved, the order of initiative may prove crucial! Any draws are rerolled.
The Captain who wins the roll gains a +1 to future attempts to regain the Initiative. This bonus is cumulative until the Initiative is lost. All bonuses are reset once Initiative has been regained. The Initiative Bonus should be noted on the Initiative Bonus Tracker on the Command Deck.
Example: Nowhere's Captain has 5D Initiative while the Captain of an ISD has 4D Initiative. They roll 15 and 11 respectively, and Nowhere's Captain wins Initiative on Turn One. In Turn Two, both Captains roll Initiative, but Nowhere's Captain adds 1 to his roll for his Initiative Bonus. Nowhere's Captain rolls 17 and the ISD Captain also rolls 17. Nowhere's Captain retains Initiative for a second turn because of his +1 bonus. In the next turn, they will try again, only now Nowhere's Captain has +2 as his Initiative Bonus. In Turn Three, Nowhere's Captain rolls 15, but even the +2 Initiative Bonus cannot stop the ISD Captain retaking Initiative as he rolls 19! Next turn, Nowhere's Captain will attempt to regain the Initiative, but this time the ISD Captain will add +1 to his Initiative!
Tactical Masterstroke: If one player wins by 10+ points, they have pulled off a Tactical Masterstroke. This allows ships to make their move in the Action Phase rather than in the Movement Phase as is usual. See the Action Phase for more on this.
Command Phase:
Command Roll: The Ship's Captain is the key character in determining a vessel's success in any given turn. All Captains make their Command Roll with the difficulty based on the number of crew on board the ship (see Appendix A). For the purposes of my group, the difficulty to successfully Command Nowhere is 12. (It should be 15, but I have reduced the difficulty as the ship is mostly manned by droids who are more compliant than a human/alien crew), while the difficulty for an Imperial Star Destroyer is 17. Once the roll has been made, consult the following table:
Command Roll Result:
Success: For every 3 points above target roll, mark one pip to the positive side of the Command Tracker.
Failure: For every 3 points below target roll, mark one pip on the negative side of the Command Tracker.
The result is applied as a bonus/penalty to all skill rolls for the turn.
Example: Nowhere's Captain rolls a Command roll of 25, a whopping 13 points over the target of 12! All of Nowhere's skill rolls are now boosted by 1D+1 for the turn. Meanwhile, the Captain of the ISD rolls 10 for his Command and all of his ship's skill rolls are made with a -2 to the rolls.
Orders:
In order of lowest to highest Initiative, the Captains have to pick one of the following three orders:
Steady As She Goes: No penalties are applied to subsequent actions, however, the difficulty for incoming fire is based on Range only.
Evasive Action: All subsequent actions are subjected to a -1D Multiple Action Penalty. However, the Ships Defence is added to Range Difficulties for incoming fire.
Full Evasion: The ship throws all of its power into the engines to maximise evasive action and weapons may not fire. Any Damage Control rolls suffer a -2D Multiple Action Penalty. The difficulty for incoming fire to hit is equal to the Ship's Defence and Range Difficulty +10.
Example: In early turns as the ships pass by one another, both Captains take Evasive Action which means incoming fire must beat the Ship Defence Difficulty + Range Difficulty - but that each weapon fired will suffer -1D to their rolls, plus successive -1D Multiple Action Penalties if several weapons are firing at once (see more below). A few turns later, Nowhere finds itself completely outmanoeuvred by the ISD and takes Full Evasive Action. It may not fire any weapons this turn, but the difficulty to hit the ship is it's Ships Defence + Range Difficulty + 10. It'll be very difficult to carry out and Damage Control as it suffers a -2D penalty to making repairs. Worse still, the Captain in the ISD has declared Steady As She Goes, maximising his chances of hitting the evading ship!
Damage Control Phase:
Ships that have been damaged may attempt repairs in this phase. Until repaired, ships which have damage incur the following crew penalties and associated rolls:
Lightly Damaged: -1D
Heavily Damaged: -2D
Severely Damaged: -3D
If Damage Control is carried out, it incurs a -1D Multiple Action Penalty to any actions carried out in the Action Phase. Note that this stacks with any Multiple Action Penalties incurred due to orders.
Example: Nowhere carries out Damage Control while taking Evasive Manoeuvres. The Damage Control will be at -1D for Evasive Manoeuvres, and any weapon firing in the Action Phase will suffer -2D to their rolls.
Shields which were knocked down by non-Ion weapons are regenerated.
1D of Shields which were knocked down by Ion weapons on the previous turn(s) are automatically regenerated. However, remaining downed Shields require a Damage Control roll to regenerate them.
A Captain can declare that he is applying multiple actions to repairing the ship, in which case +1D is added to the roll to repair the damage per additional action carried out - however, the Multiple Actions Penalty will be applied to all subsequent rolls this turn. Note that the Captain may add a bonus of 1D for every full 1D under Capital Ship Operation. e.g. A ship with Capital Ship Operation of 5D+2 may add up to 5D to the repair roll, but will have 6D MAPs (5 Repair Actions + the original Damage Control roll) to subsequent actions.
The difficulties required to repair damage are as follows:-
Shields (up to 1D per requiring regeneration): 10
Lightly Damaged: 10
Heavily Damaged: 20
Severely Damaged: 30
If a ship has lost both Shields and has suffered Damage, the difficulties stack. e.g. A Lightly Damaged ship trying to restore 2D of shields would require to roll 30+.
If the roll is successful, the damage is fully repaired. If the roll is failed by 10 or less, damage drops one level. If it is failed by 11 or more, the damage remains the same. If the roll includes the repair of Shields, the Captain can choose whether the Damage is reduced by one level or if 1D of Shields are recovered.
Example: The ISD is Heavily Damaged and has lost all 3D+2 Shields. Their Capital Ship Operation is usually 5D+1, but has been reduced to 3D+1. A roll of 20 is required to repair the Damage only (not including shields), unlikely with the dice at hand. The Captain decides to order his crew to perform 3 Damage Repair actions, boosting the roll to 6D+1. He rolls 23 - success! However, all of his subsequent rolls (in the Action Phase) will incur the MAP of -4D!
Had the Captain attempted to repair both the downed Shields, the difficulty would be a whopping 60 (20 + 4 x 10 for restoration of up to 1D of shields)!
With repairs made and any Shields regenerated during this phase, the Captain then moves on to the next part of his command, namely:
Angle Deflector Shields: Deflector shields should be allocated to the required arcs during this phase. You have enough dice to roll and crews are unlikely to fail Capital Shields rolls. Simply allocate your shields to whichever arcs you wish (front, back, left and/or right). Obviously, you will want to put most shields into the arc(s) most under threat - but this may not always be an easy decision!
Action Phase:
All ships unleash devastating volleys during the Action Phase. To simplify matters, all examples shown are working on the principle that the orders given are Steady As She Goes and that the target ship is on Evasion Action.
The first Captain to fire is the one with the highest Initiative roll. The Captain with the next highest Initiative roll fires next, and so on. Captains may want to fire one or several weapons during his action before passing play to the next Captain. Once all Captains have completed their action(s), the play returns to the first Captain and the same process is repeated until all Captains have exhausted firing all of their weapons.
Firing: A Captain can opt to fire a single weapon or several weapons during his phase. If he fires a single weapon, he performs the action as the following rules set out. However, if the Captain opts to fire more than one weapon, Multiple Action Penalties will be applied.
Example: A Captain decides to fire two weapons from the front arc and two from the left arc - four in total. His Gunnery Fire Control rolls will each suffer a -3D penalty.
Targeting & Fire Arcs: Capital Ships can a target enemy ships in each fire arc (i.e. left, right, front, and, occasionally, rear). Enemy ships which lie within a particular fire arc can be targeted with a single or multiple weapons on that arc. Note that an enemy ship may not be targeted by weapons from any more than one arc from a firing ship.
Example: A Star Destroyer has a YT-1300 freighter and a Corellian Corvette in its left arc, and a Mon Calamari Cruiser lies in both its left and front arcs. The Star Destroyer may not fire more than one arc at the Mon Calamari cruiser and so opts to fire all of its front arc weapons at it. It may split the weapons on its left arc to fire upon both the YT-1300 freighter and the Corellian Corvette - or fire both weapons at one of those two targets.
A single Gunnery Fire Control roll is made each turn for each weapon type on a Capital Ship on each arc. e.g. One roll for all Turbolasers, and one for all Ion Cannon. If the roll to hit exceeds the required Difficulty to hit, roll for damage. Both the Gunnery Fire Control roll and/or the Damage roll can be improved upon with Battery Dice (see below). The required difficulty to hit depends on what orders the target ship has taken this turn:
Target Ship on Steady As She Goes: Range Difficulty only
Target Ship on Evasive Action: Range Difficulty + Ship Defence
Target Ship on Full Evasion: Range Difficulty + Ship Defence + 10
Example:
Front Arc: The Star Destroyer fires its Turbolasers and Ion Cannon at the Mon Calamari Corvette. A Gunnery Fire Control roll to hit is made for each weapon.
Left Arc: The Star Destroyer opts to fire its Turbolasers at the Corellian Corvette and its Ion Cannon at the YT-1300. A Gunnery Fire Control roll to hit is made for each weapon at the relevant target.
Battery Dice: To represent the sheer scale of coordinated firepower from a capital ship, the weapons receive Battery Dice which can be used to either bolster the Gunnery Fire Control or Damage Dice. The Battery Dice are shown under the Fire Arc stat on the Capital Ships. These must be allocated before any rolls are made - or are lost if they are not.
Battery Dice and Range: The power of a Battery is diminished at longer range. When assigning Battery Dice, the maximum number of dice you can assign to Damage rolls is reduced as follows:- Subtract -1D for Short Range, -2D for Medium Range, and -3D for Long Range. There is no cap to assigning Battery dice for Point Blank fire.
Example:
Front Arc: Both the Turbolasers and the Ion Cannon each benefit from 4D Battery Dice on the front of the Star Destroyer. The Mon Calamari ship is at Medium Range which reduces the number of Battery Dice which can be applied to Damage by -2D, so a maximum of 2 of the 4 Battery Dice can be placed into Damage. The Commander decides to put 2D into both the Gunnery Fire Control roll to hit and 2D into the Damage roll, thereby increasing both rolls by 2D each.
Left Arc: The Turbolaser has 4D Battery Dice while the Ion Cannon has 3D+2 Battery Dice. The Corellian Corvette and the YT-1300 are at short range which reduces the number of Battery Dice which can be applied to Damage by -1D, meaning a maximum of 3D Battery Dice can be added to the Turbolaser Damage roll. Similarly, the maximum Battery Dice that can be put into Damage for the Ion Cannon is 2D+2. For the Turbolaser attack on the Corellian Corvette, the Commander puts 2D into the roll to hit and 2D into damage, while, mindful of the added difficulty of hitting a smaller scale target, adds all 3D+2 of the Battery Dice to the Gunnery Fire Control for the Ion Cannon attack on the YT-1300.
Targeting a Specific Location: A Gunner can target a particular system on a ship: Manoeuvring, Sensors, Weapons, Hyperdrive, Shields or Engines. The Gunner receives a 6 penalty, but if he hits can apply Damage directly to the targeted section. For a hit which causes a Severely Damaged outcome, use the following results:-
- Manoeuvring = Controls Damaged
- Shields = Overloaded Reactor
- Engines = Dead In Space
Firing Upon Ships of a Different Scale: Remember to allocate additional damage of 1D per difference of scale when a larger vessel fires at a smaller one. Conversely, subtract 1D of damage per 1D difference of scale.
Example: Nowhere (12D Capital Scale) fires at an Imperial Raider (10D Frigate Scale). with its Quad Turbolasers which normally deal 6D Damage - but, because of the Scale difference, now deal 8D Damage to the Raider!
Example: A lone X-Wing takes on an Imperial Star Destroyer! It fires its Proton Torpedoes which deal a respectable 9D Damage. However, due to scale this is reduced to 3D Damage. Even if the ISD's shields are down, its Hull is 7D - unlikely therefore that the ISD will suffer damage. This is why fighters should coordinate in squadrons as it increases their Scale and the Damage they can inflict. More on this below!
Tactical Masterstroke: As mentioned earlier, a ship with a Captain who achieved a Tactical Masterstroke during their Initiative roll may move their ship during the Action Phase. The movement counts as an action and contributes to Multiple Action Penalties if used in conjunction with other attacks. The major advantage of a Tactical Masterstroke is that you may fire at an enemy ship from one fire arc, then fire at it again from another fire arc in the same turn! In addition, the manoeuvre may move you into an arc which is undefended by shields placed during the Command Phase! Note that you may NOT use a Tactical Masterstroke to make a second attack from a Fire Arc from which you've already fired from this turn.
A Force Point may be spent to activate a Tactical Masterstroke.
Movement Phase:
Players take turns at moving their respective vessels, with the Captain with the lowest Initiative score moving their ship first.
Unless the Capital Ship is performing a tricky manoeuvre (such as navigating asteroids or flying close to other Capital-size ships), it is assumed that the Capital Ship is in open space and can be moved as desired, within movement limitations (namely the ship's speed, i.e.Space). No rolls are required for making open space moves. Checks will be required if flying through debris / asteroid fields and the like.
Note that, like other Spacecraft, Capital Ships may not fire on a turn that they move All-Out (quadruple Space). This is because all power is being distributed to the ship's engines.
Turning: Capital Ships are not built for manoeuvrability. A Capital Ship may only turn up to 90 degrees if flying at cautious speed, or up to 45 degrees at any other speed. This means that a ship would take two turns at cautious speed to turn right around, or four turns at any other speed.
Capital Ship Damage:
Damage Roll =>
Hull Code Roll by: Effect
0-3 Shields Drained/Ionization
4-8 Lightly Damaged
9-12 Heavily Damaged
13-15 Severely Damaged
16+ Destroyed
REVISED STARSHIP DAMAGE CHART (use chart from rulebook, page 137 REUP rules, except as noted):
Shields Drained. (replaces Shields Blown). The ship's Shields are reduced to 0D for the remainder of this round. The ship suffers no permanent damage, and the Shields are recharged to full strength by the beginning of the next round. If the ship has no shields to begin with, it suffers the Ionization result instead.
Ionization. The ship's controls are temporarily overwhelmed by power surges. All actions involving ship systems suffer a -1D penalty; this affects Maneuverability, Weapons, Sensors, Shields, Astrogation, and even Hull (Particle Shields, up to a maximum of -2D). All penalties are cumulative (stack with other Ionization penalties) and temporary (roll off at a rate of 1D per round). Any ship system reduced to 0D by penalties can not be used until enough penalty dice roll off. In particular:
0D Maneuverability = Ship must maintain same heading and speed, in addition to any Lost Moves.
0D Fire Control = Weapon may not be fired.
In addition, each -1D Ionization penalty inflicts 1 Lost Move (See below for Lost Moves).
Lightly Damaged.
1. Ship loses -1D to Maneuverability (If Maneuverability is at 0D, it suffers -1 Move)
2. Sensors Damaged. Re-roll 1D:
1-3. Sensor Suite Damaged. -1D to all Sensor and Astrogation rolls.
4-6. Fire Control Damaged. -1D to all Fire Control.
3. Weapons Damaged. -1D to Battery Dice in affected Fire Arc.
4. Hyperdrive Damaged. Double the Astrogation Time to Use; if the pilot wants to try to jump to hyperspace in one round, add +10 to Difficulty.
5. Shields Blown. The ship loses 1D from its Shields total, which lasts until the shields are repaired. If the ship has no remaining dice in Shields, the penalty is applied to the ship's Particle Shields (Hull) up to a maximum of -2D. If the Particle Shields are already reduced by 2D, the ship suffers the Controls Ionized result.
6. Engines Damaged. -1 Move
Heavily Damaged.
If a Heavily Damaged ship is Lightly Damaged or Heavily Damaged again, it becomes Severely Damaged.
1. Ship loses -2D to Maneuverability (If Maneuverability is at 0D, it suffers -2 Move)
2. Sensors Badly Damaged. Re-roll 1D:
1-3. Sensor Suite Damaged. -2D to all Sensor and Astrogation rolls.
4-6. Fire Control Damaged. -2D to all Fire Control
3. Weapons Badly Damaged. Re-Roll 1D:
1-3. All weapons of one type in one fire arc are rendered inoperative due to a major power surge or system failure, and must be repaired before they can be used again.
4-6. All weapons of one type in one fire arc are destroyed by a series of power overloads.
4. Hyperdrive Damaged. Increase all Astrogation Difficulties by +10 until drive is repaired (Moderate Repair roll and 1 hour of work)
5. Shields Blown. The ship loses 2D from its Shields total, which lasts until the shields are repaired. If the ship has no remaining dice in Shields, the penalty is applied to the ship's Particle Shields (Hull) up to a maximum of -2D. If the Particle Shields are already reduced by 2D, the ship suffers the Controls Ionized result.
6. Engines Damaged. -2 Move
Severely Damaged.
If a Severely Damaged ship is damaged again, it is Destroyed (or becomes Catastrophically Damaged, at GM's discretion).
1. Dead In Space. All drives and maneuvering systems are destroyed. The vehicle is adrift in space.
2. Overloaded Reactor. The ship's reactor is overloading; unless it's shut down (Easy Repair Roll), the reactor will explode in 1D rounds and destroy the ship.
3. Disabled Hyperdrive. The ship's hyperdrives - main and backup - are damaged. The ship cannot enter hyperspace until they are fixed with a Moderate Repair roll and one hour of work.
4. Disabled Weapons. All weapons systems lose power. Roll 1D:
1-4: Weapons are Severely Damaged but may be repaired.
5-6: All weapons aboard the ship are Destroyed.
5 - Controls Damaged / Bridge Smashed. The ship's control systems are badly damaged. -3D to all skill rolls. For starfighters and space transports, the ship's control linkages and computer systems have been damaged; for capital ships, the ship's bridge or other central command station has taken a direct hit, killing or injuring many of the ship's senior officers (roll for Passenger Damage below).
6. Sensors Destroyed. All Sensors are rendered inoperable. Fire Control is reduced by -4D, and Piloting and Astrogation suffer a -4D penalty due to the loss of all sensor support for navigation purposes.
Destroyed. - The ship is instantly destroyed and explodes in a ball of flame. Everyone aboard is killed (GMs may make exceptions for major NPCs or recurring villains at their discretion).
Catastrophic Damage. (Replaces Destroyed for PC-manned ships at GM's discretion)
1-3 - Structural Damage. The ship is so badly damaged that it begins to come apart. The crew has 1D rounds to abandon ship before it is destroyed. Due to damage, the interior of the ship is treated as Moderate Terrain for characters trying to get to the escape pods.
4-5 - Blazing Hulk. The ship is badly damaged and fire rages inside. Roll 1D every round; on a 1, the ship explodes. Due to damage and internal fires, the interior of the ship is treated as Very Difficult Terrain for characters trying to get to the escape pods.
6 - Destroyed. The ship instantly explodes in a ball of flame, and all aboard suffer 12D damage.
LOST MOVES
Lost Moves are cumulative. For example, a starship that suffers a -1 Move result, then a -2 Move result is at -3 Moves.
-1 Move = The ship is limited to High Speed.
-2 Moves = The ship is limited to Cruising Speed.
-3 Moves = The ship is limited to Cautious Speed.
-4 Moves = The ship's drives are disabled; it's dead in space. The drives can be repaired, but are Severely Damaged.
-5 Moves = The ship's drives are destroyed; it's dead in space and the drives can not be repaired. The ship must either be abandoned or towed to a shipyard where a replacement engine can be installed.
PASSENGER DAMAGE
Passengers may be injured when a ship suffers damage or crashes. Use your judgment to decide whether a character takes damage, using the following chart as a baseline:
Lightly Damaged: 1D
Heavily Damaged: 3D
Severely Damaged: 6D
Destroyed: 12D
When calculating damage to crew and passengers aboard larger ships (with crews in the dozens to hundreds of thousands), use the following penalties, applied to the ship's Crew Skill dice values, representing how crew casualties affect the crew's ability as a whole to operate the ship.
Lightly Damaged - -1D for 1 round.
Heavily Damaged - -3D for 1 round, -2D for remainder of battle, -1D until crew casualties can be replaced.
Severely Damaged - -6D for 1 round, -4D for remainder of battle, -2D until crew casualties can be replaced.
Catastrophic Damage - Special: reserved for PC manned ships. Characters will have an indeterminate number of rounds to evacuate the ship before it is Destroyed.
Destroyed - All crew killed. The only exceptions will be NPCs who managed to make it to escape pods with seconds to spare. This allows the GM to preserve the life of major villains and such in the interests of continuing the story.
IONIZATION DAMAGE
Ionization damage can have a cumulative effect that completely overwhelms a ship's systems, causing permanent damage that must be repaired before the ship can be used. Using the following chart for cumulative Ionization damage:
0-4 = 1D Ionization
5-8 = 2D Ionization
9-12 = 3D Ionization
13-16 = 4D Ionization
17+ = Controls Dead (See Below)
If in a single round, Ionization damage exceeds 4D, it causes permanent damage to the target ship's systems. For example, if a ship suffering a -2D Ionization penalty is hit by an ion cannon for 3D of Ionization Damage, totalling 5D Ionization, the ship suffers the Controls Dead result, and is dead in space, adrift, with all drives, maneuvering and other ship systems disabled. For degree of damage, use the following chart:
17-20 (5D Ionization) = Controls Dead (Lightly Damaged)
21-24 (6D Ionization) = Controls Dead (Heavily Damaged)
25-28 (7D Ionization) = Controls Dead (Severely Damaged)
29+ (8D Ionization) = Controls Dead (Destroyed)
Repair Difficulties and Times are as listed under the appropriate Repair skill.
Once a ship has been disabled by a Controls Dead result, it can no longer suffer additional Ionization results until it is repaired. This is due to blown circuit breakers and loss of power protecting ship's systems from additional power surges.
Fighters / Freighters at Capital Scale:
The rules are much the same with the following changes:
Capital Skill Piloting is replaced by Pilot Skill and either Starfighter Piloting or Space Transports (whichever is appropriate) is entered here.
Ship Defence: Calculated using Pilot Skill + Manoeuvrability but each 1D = 3 and pips are added as normal. This increased difficulty represents the additional difficulty Capital Ships have in targeting fighter formations. Example: PS 3D+2 + 3D Manoeuvrability = 6D+2 = 18+2 = 20.
Steady As She Goes is called Fly Casual - but the same rules apply.
Damage Repair Roll: An Astromech can repair a Lightly Damaged result by making an Easy Repair roll. Subsequent Lightly Damaged results confer a cumulative +10 to the difficulties. As the Astromech Droid makes the repair, there is no MAP.
Angle Deflector Shields: Capital Ships have dedicated crew to angle their deflector shields, smaller ships do not. A Shields Skill roll is required to change the placement of any Shields within the usual rules (conferring a 1MAP).
Fighters normally operate at 6D Scale. However, the scale increases as more fighters group together, conferring the following Scale increases:
Starfighter Unit Sizes:
Element (2 fighters) = +1D
Section (3 fighters) = +1D+2
Flight (4 fighters) = +2D
Squadron (12 fighters) = +3D
The Unit Strength Modifier is added to the Scale listed on the stat for the type of Starfighter that makes up the Unit. For example, a Section of TIE Interceptors (3 ships) has a Scale of +7D+2, while a squadron of Y-Wings (12 ships) has a Scale of +9D.
For the purposes of this rule, a squadron is considered a single target for Gunnery purposes, and Damage inflicted results in lost squadron strength.
Unit Damage Chart:
0-3 Disrupted = -1D to all actions that round
4-8 Light Losses = -1D to Unit Strength
9-12 Heavy Losses = -2D to Unit Strength
13-15 Severe Losses = -3D to Unit Strength
16+ Catastrophic Losses = -4D to Unit Strength
Any Unit reduced to 0D is Combat Ineffective, but may return to base and Recover (see below)
Any unit reduced to -1D is Wiped Out, with all units either killed or damaged too badly to return to battle.
Recovery
A Unit that takes losses on the Unit Damage Chart may return to its mothership or home base and Recover, making quick repairs, reloading and rearming, bringing up reserve fighters from deep storage, and so on. As a rule, most bases will have 1D of Recovery available for every squadron they carry (in addition to the full Squadron's 3D Strength if the entire unit has not been committed). Some may have more or less, at the GM's discretion. Recovery takes 1D rounds, during which the Fighter Unit can not be used. Once a ship or base's Reserves are exhausted, Fighter Units can not be replenished during the battle.
Movement:
There are no restrictions on the number of turns that fighters can make during movement.
Appendix A: Command Difficulty based on Crew Size
- Crew Size (including gunners) = Command Difficulty
- 1-19 = Very Easy (1)
- 20-39 = Very Easy (2)
- 40-59 = Very Easy (3)
- 60-79 = Very Easy (4)
- 80-99 = Very Easy (5)
- 100-279 = Easy (6)
- 280-459 = Easy (7)
- 460-639 = Easy (8)
- 640-819 = Easy (9)
- 820-999 = Easy (10)
- 1,000-2,799 = Moderate (11)
- 2,800-4,599 = Moderate (12)
- 4,600-6,399 = Moderate (13)
- 6,400-8,199 = Moderate (14)
- 8,200-9,999 = Moderate (15)
- 10,000-27,999 = Difficult (16)
- 28,000-45,999 = Difficult (17)
- 46,000-63,999 = Difficult (18)
- 64,000-81,999 = Difficult (19)
- 82,000-99,999 = Difficult (20)
- 100,000-189,999 = Very Difficult (21)
- 190,000-279,999 = Very Difficult (22)
- 280,000-369,999 = Very Difficult (23)
- 370,000-459,999 = Very Difficult (24)
- 460,000-549,999 = Very Difficult (25)
- 550,000-639,999 = Very Difficult (26)
- 640,000-729,999 = Very Difficult (27)
- 730,000-819,999 = Very Difficult (28)
- 820,000-909,999 = Very Difficult (29)
- 910,000-999,999 = Very Difficult (30)
- 1,000,000+ = Heroic (31 and up)
Appendix B: Capital Ship Command Decks
Appendix C: Rules Summary
1) Initiative Phase - Roll Initiative, Mark Bonus on Initiative Bonus Tracker (if applicable)
2) Command Phase - Roll Command, Mark Bonus/Penalty on Command Tracker. Give Orders
3) Damage Control Phase - Repair Damage, Shield Regeneration, Angle Deflector Shields
4) Action Phase - Fire weapons in order of Initiative (highest to lowest fires first)
5) Movement Phase - Move ships in reverse Initiative order (lowest to highest moves first)
Orders:
Note: MAP = Multi-Action Penalty to subsequent phases, stackable:
Steady As She Goes / Fly Casual: Ship only benefits from Range Difficulty to be hit. 0 MAP
Evasive Action: Ship benefits from Range Difficulty plus Ship Defence to be hit. 1D MAP
Full Evasion: As Evasive Action +10 to Difficulty. 2D MAP
Damage Control Phase:
Shields: All Shields knocked down by Turbolasers in previous turn automatically replenished
1D Ionised Shields automatically replenished
Further Ionised Shields Require a Damage Repair Roll = Capital Ship Operation. 1 Damage Repair Action can be carried out for every full 1D in Capital Ship Operation. Each Damage Repair Action confers 1 MAP
Astromech Droids on fighters can only repair Shields or Lightly Damaged Results, 0 MAP
Damage Repair Difficulties are as follows:
Shields (up to 1D per requiring regeneration): 10
Lightly Damaged: 10
Heavily Damaged: 20
Severely Damaged: 30
Success = Damage Repaired.
Failure by up to 10 = Damage drops one level or 1D of Ionised Shields Repaired
Capital Ships angle deflector shields as desired
Fighters make Shields roll to angle deflector shields (unless remaining in same arc). 1 MAP
Action Phase:
Each ship takes turns at firing one weapon in order of highest to lowest Initiative. 1 MAP for every additional weapon fired before allowing play to pass to next ship
Allocate Battery Dice (if applicable) to Gunnery Fire Control AND/OR Damage
Roll Gunnery Fire Control to hit target.
Target declares target score based on Range + (depending on orders) Ship Defence +10
Roll Damage Dice, adding subtracting dice for scale
Apply Damage
Move to next ship, and repeat until all ships have fired all available weapons
Movement Phase:
Move ships in order of lowest Initiative to Highest according to Space / Speed
Capital ships can turn up to 90 degrees if flying at Cautious Speed, up to 45 degrees at all other speeds
Fighters can be turned as desired without penalty
