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This chapter covers the six crew stations: what each controls, which skill it uses, the actions taken there, its work outside combat, and what happens when no one is at it. It also covers crew size, covering two stations, assisting, the captain, and directive AI at each station. The full combat procedure for the Helm, Gunnery, Engineering, and Sensors and Comms actions, with their Boon and Bane spends, is in Chapter 15. The Astrogation and Medical and Support actions are defined here.
Stations at a Glance
In a ship fight each crew member at a station takes one Action and one Maneuver on the ship's turn, under the core rules (Chapter 15, A Ship's Turn).
| Station | Skill | Controls | Combat actions | When empty |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Helm | Pilot | Movement, facing, range, evasion | Maneuvers: Advance, Break, Change Facing, Hold Position. Actions: Hard Turn, Evasive Maneuver, Take Position, Overburn, Disengage, Regain Control, Ramming, Planetary Approach, fire a Fixed weapon | Holds its last course; no maneuvering |
| Gunnery | Gunnery | Weapons and point defense | Maneuver: Target Lock (guided weapons). Actions: Aimed Fire, Target Systems, Coordinate Fire, Suppressing Fire, Reload. Reaction: Point Defense | Weapons fire only with AI Fire Control, at 2 Bane Dice |
| Engineering | Craft | Power, Heat, repair | Emergency Repair, Boost Power, Reactor Overload, Reroute Systems, Damage Control, Manage Heat, Vent Heat, Reroute Cooling, Set Zone Gravity | No Heat or power management; problems surface late |
| Sensors and Comms | Electronics | Detection, locks, electronic warfare, comms | Active Scan, Passive Listen, Target Lock, Jam, Counter-Jam, Break Lock, Relay Contact, Sensor Ghost | Passive detection only, at 2 Bane Dice |
| Astrogation | Astrogation | Slipstream entry and exit, escape routes | Plot Course, Recalculate, Emergency Exit, Offset Exit Planning | No jump plotting |
| Medical and Support | Medicine | Crew health and support | Emergency Treatment, Brace Crew, Coordinate, Triage | No treatment until the fight ends |
The Gunnery station seats one gunner for each weapon or battery the ship carries (Chapter 15, Gunnery).
Helm
Controls: movement, facing, range, and evasion. Skill: Pilot (Agility). Pilot replaces the core skill Operate.
The ship's Handling adds Boon Dice if positive or Bane Dice if negative to every Pilot check, except Disengage and chase checks, where it sets the difficulty (Chapter 15).
In combat. The pilot's Maneuver moves or turns the ship; the Action evades, takes position, Overburns, disengages, rams, or fires a Fixed weapon. Speed sets how far one Advance or Break carries the ship (Chapter 15, Speed).
Out of combat. Routine docking, orbital insertion, and cruising a charted lane need no check. Docking in a combat zone, a crowded asteroid corridor, or severe weather is a Hard Pilot check.
Empty Helm. The ship holds its last course and cannot maneuver, turn, or evade. When something forces a maneuver (a collision course, a gravity well), the first crew member to reach the Helm makes an immediate Hard Pilot check. An AI with the Flight Operations package and a free Active Channel holds course and avoids collisions on its own, but takes no Helm Action without a crew member directing it.
Gunnery
Controls: the ship's weapons and point defense. Skill: Gunnery (Agility).
In combat. Each gunner fires one weapon or one battery with an Action; a Target Lock for the gunner's own guided weapon is a Maneuver; point defense fires as a reaction and does not use the gunner's Action. The attack procedure, the Boon Limit, and point defense checks are in Chapter 15.
Out of combat. The gunner keeps weapons maintained, tracks ammunition, and calibrates fire control. Routine weapon maintenance is an Easy Craft check, Average after heavy combat.
Empty Gunnery. With an AI running the Fire Control package and a free Active Channel, the ship's weapons may fire, one weapon a round, at 2 Bane Dice; the AI rolls 3 Ability Dice. Point defense under AI control rolls the same pool, with no extra Bane Dice. With no gunner and no Fire Control AI, a crew member must take a gunner's seat to fire. An untrained crew member rolls Agility + Gunnery at rank 0.
Engineering
Controls: power, Heat, damage control, and repairs. Skill: Craft (Intellect).
In combat. The engineer balances Power Load, Heat, and System Damage (Chapter 15, Engineering). Emergency Repair difficulties are in Chapter 11. Reactor Overload, which raises Power Capacity at a Heat cost, is in Chapter 6.
Set Zone Gravity. On a ship with Zone Gravity Control (Chapter 6, Zone Gravity Control), the engineer gives one sealed compartment its own gravity setting with a Hard Craft check as an Action. The setting holds until changed and draws 1 Power Load while held. Settings above 4g need a Severe check and damage the system (Chapter 6, Controlling Ship Gravity). The effects on the people in that compartment are in the Player's Guide, Chapter Ten. Defenders use it against boarders; crew in hover suits fight normally at High gravity.
Out of combat. Routine maintenance between encounters is an Easy Craft check. Installing a component is Average to Severe by builder compatibility (Chapter 10).
Empty Engineering. No one manages Power or Heat. The GM may let an overload or a Heat band build for a round before forcing a response. An AI with the Engineering or Damage Control package warns the crew of problems but cannot act on them.
Sensors and Comms
Controls: detection, target identification, electronic warfare, and communications. Skill: Electronics (Intellect).
In combat. Scans, target locks, jamming, lock-breaking, and relay contact (Chapter 15, Sensors and Comms). Jamming needs an ECM system (Chapter 8).
Out of combat. Tracking relay traffic, watching for pursuit, researching a target, or gathering route data takes about an hour and an Average Electronics check. Detection, sensor grades, and Signature Management are in Chapter 7.
Empty Sensors and Comms. Sensors keep working passively, and sensor checks add 2 Bane Dice. No one can take a Target Lock, jam, counter a jam, or break a lock. An AI with the Sensors or Electronic Warfare package keeps watch and reports new contacts, and can take a Target Lock in place of an operator (its check gains the AI's Trial Die removal); it takes no electronic warfare action without a crew member directing it.
Astrogation
Controls: Slipstream entry and exit, offset exits, and escape routes. Skill: Astrogation (Intellect).
Astrogation Actions
Plot Course. Ready a Slipstream entry for an upcoming jump. The check is set by the seam's condition (Chapter 7, Seam Checks): no check for an Established or Maintained seam, Average for a Frontier seam, Hard with 1 Bane Die for a Fading seam, Severe for a New seam. On a success the ship can enter Slipspace when it reaches the seam arc. On a failure the plot is not ready and the astrogator may try again next round.
Recalculate. Average Astrogation check. Replace a plotted course with a new one (a different exit, a changed corridor). On a failure the old plot still stands.
Emergency Exit. Leave Slipspace before the standard exit arc. Use the Emergency Punch-Out procedure in Chapter 6, Offset Exits.
Offset Exit Planning. Plan an exit away from the standard arrival zone. The difficulty and the cost of each offset are in Chapter 6, Offset Exits.
Analyze Corridor. An hour and an Intellect + Astrogation check to learn a corridor's stability, transit time, patrols, hazards, and relay status. Average for a charted corridor, Hard for a frontier one. The GM sets what the port's records hold; full corridor data is in the Sector Atlas.
Out of combat. Route research, chart updates, transit times, and corridors that avoid hostile patrols.
Empty Astrogation. The ship cannot plot a jump, take an emergency exit, or plan an offset. An AI with the Navigation package can plot a jump on its own: an Established or Maintained seam still needs no check, and any other seam is one step harder than listed above, with the AI's Trial Die removal applied as usual. It cannot plan an emergency or offset exit without a crew member directing it.
Medical and Support
Controls: crew health and support for other stations. Skill: Medicine (Intellect).
Medical and Support Actions
Emergency Treatment. Average Medicine check to stabilize an incapacitated crew member, or Hard Medicine check to remove 2 Wounds during the fight. Stabilizing removes no Wounds.
- The treatment goes wrong: the patient suffers 1 Wound.
Brace Crew. Average Medicine check, given over the intercom. On a success every crew member who can hear it reduces the Wounds or Strain from the next ship-damage consequence (a Critical Hit, a crash, a decompression) by 1.
Coordinate. Average Medicine check. Name one crew member: they add 1 Boon Die to their next check this round. On an attack it counts toward the Boon Limit (Chapter 15).
Triage. No check. Learn every crew member's Wounds, Critical Injuries, and developing complications.
Out of combat. Full medical care, Wound recovery, and Critical Injury treatment follow the Player's Guide, Chapter Fourteen. Without the medical equipment a patient's species needs, Medicine checks add 1 Bane Die (Player's Guide, Chapter Nine).
Empty Medical and Support. Incapacitated crew wait for the fight to end. Any crew member may try an Average Medicine check to stabilize someone; untrained, they roll Intellect + Medicine at rank 0.
Crew Size
Minimum Crew
Every stat block lists minimum and standard crew.
| Crew aboard | Effect |
|---|---|
| Standard or more | Every station can be held |
| From minimum up to standard | Some stations are empty each round, or crew cover two stations |
| Below minimum | Every check aboard adds 1 Bane Die for each crew member short of minimum, on top of the effects of empty stations |
On ships of Scale 6 and larger each station is a department. The crew members who act are its leaders, and the stat block's standard crew is what keeps the department running.
Covering Two Stations
A crew member may act at one station and at a second station no one else holds. They take their Maneuver at either station and one Action at each. Each Action at the second station adds 1 Bane Die. No one covers more than two stations. A lone pilot in a fighter covering Helm and Gunnery is the common case.
Assisting
A second crew member at a station who is not taking that station's Actions may assist the crew member who is, under the core assisted-check rules: 1 Boon Die, or 1 Ability Die when the assistant has more ranks. The assist costs the assistant's Action. On an attack, the assist counts toward the Boon Limit.
The Captain
Command is a role, not a station. A crew member acting as captain may give these orders without leaving their own station.
Direct Focus. A Maneuver. Name one crew member: they add 1 Boon Die to their next check this round. Once a round. On an attack it counts toward the Boon Limit.
Override. A Maneuver. Countermand an order, or reassign one of the AI's Active Channels to a different package.
Story Points. Any player may spend a Story Point in a ship fight under the core rules. When several players want to spend on the same moment, the captain's player settles the order.
A ship needs no captain to fight. Talents may improve Direct Focus. Orders given as Quick Actions add no dice.
Boarding and Empty Stations
A crew member who leaves a station to fight boarders leaves that station empty. They roll personal Initiative at the start of the next round and act in their own slot. Moving between a station and the fight takes Maneuvers: one on a ship of Scale 4 or smaller, and as many as the GM sets on a larger one. A crew member at a station takes no personal-scale actions. The boarding procedure is in Chapter 15, Boarding.
Several Ships
Coordinated fire between allied ships uses Coordinate Fire, Relay Contact, and Massed Fire (Chapter 15). A ship's point defense already covers allies within Short range. If comms are jammed, Relay Contact and Coordinate Fire fail; the ships can still signal visually with an Average Perception check.
AI-Assisted Ship Actions
A directive AI assists a check when the ship has a working AI Core, the matching Directive Package is installed, and an Active Channel is free.
| Directive Package | Station |
|---|---|
| Flight Operations | Helm |
| Fire Control | Gunnery |
| Engineering, Damage Control | Engineering |
| Sensors, Electronic Warfare, Communications | Sensors and Comms |
| Navigation | Astrogation |
| Medical | Medical and Support |
Effect. Remove 1 Trial Die from the check; if only Crisis Dice remain, downgrade 1 Crisis Die to a Trial Die. In an opposed check, add 1 Boon Die instead (on an attack, it counts toward the Boon Limit).
Limits. One AI benefit per check, however many packages apply. Each Active Channel supports one check a round. Redirecting an unused channel is a Quick Action; redirecting one that has already assisted this round is a Maneuver.
AI Core grades, Active Channels, Directive Packages, and AI damage are in Chapter 7. A directive AI assists; it does not decide. It takes no station action without a crew member directing it.