Hovercraft and Planetary Vehicles

The ship gets you to the planet. What you need once you land is something else entirely.

This chapter covers ground and hover vehicles, planetary operations, atmospheric approach, and the rules for running vehicle encounters on a surface. These rules work alongside the ship combat framework; they are not a replacement for it.

Funtari Hover Technology

The Funtari Confederacy solved a problem other powers were content to work around: rough terrain. Conventional wheeled or tracked vehicles need roads, cleared surfaces, and infrastructure. Funtari localized anti-gravity technology creates a controlled opposing field between a vehicle and nearby mass, generating lift that allows movement across any surface at consistent speed.

The result changed frontier development across known space. Ore moves out of mines that would have required years of road construction. Settlements exist on terrain that would have been impassable. Military forces cross rivers, marshes, and mountain approaches without slowing.

How Hover Technology Works

A hover system generates an electromagnetic opposing field against local gravitational mass. The vehicle floats above the surface; the system continuously adjusts the field to maintain clearance and compensate for terrain variation. Contact with the surface is eliminated. Friction shifts from ground contact to air resistance.

Hover technology works against gravitational mass, not against air. It functions in vacuum, pressurized environments, planetary surfaces, and inside ships with artificial gravity. In deep space far from significant mass, performance degrades significantly; within any planetary, orbital, or shipboard gravity environment, it operates normally.

Clearance Limits

Commercial hover systems are firmware-limited to their rated clearance band. Military systems have no clearance cap.

Availability by Power Territory

The Confederacy controls hover technology through licensing. The commercial product is exported widely and genuinely capable; military systems are restricted.

A crew operating in Confederacy space can buy, repair, or rent hover equipment without difficulty. The same crew operating in Caliphate space will find hover technology expensive, rare, and officially discouraged.

Hover Versus Ground Vehicles

Hover vehicles provide terrain independence: water, mud, ice, rubble, broken decking, and rough planetary surfaces are traversed at the same effective speed as cleared roads. They do not require infrastructure.

Ground vehicles require relatively flat, firm terrain for full performance. They are cheaper, lower-maintenance, simpler to repair, and immune to hover-specific countermeasures (anti-hover ECM, field disruptors, gravity-well effects that interfere with the opposing field).

A frontier crew choosing between a hover speeder and a ground crawler is choosing between flexibility and reliability.

Hover Vehicle Vulnerabilities

Hover technology is powerful, not invulnerable:

• Anti-hover ECM: Confederacy military-grade field disruptors can destabilize hover systems. Black-market versions circulate in frontier space.
• Power dependency: A hover vehicle that loses power stops hovering. The vehicle drops. If it is at clearance height over rough terrain, this is a serious problem.
• Field signature: Active hover systems produce a detectable electromagnetic signature. Running cold is not an option while hover is active.
• Weather sensitivity: Commercial systems are significantly affected by high wind. Military stabilization reduces but does not eliminate this.

Planetary Vehicle Classes

The following classes define the common ground and hover vehicles found across known space. Each class entry gives Scale, typical crew, range, and rules notes. Full stat blocks appear in Chapter 16.

Personal Hover (Scale 1)

Role: Solo or duo civilian transit, courier use, personal transport.

Typical stats: Scale 1, Speed 4, Handling 2, Armor 0, no weapons.

Rules notes: Personal hovers are high-performance relative to their cost and availability. They are the standard civilian transport in Confederacy space and common in most well-connected ports. Personal hover vehicles can cross terrain that stops foot traffic but carry only the operator and light cargo.

In structured play, personal hovers use the standard vehicle rules. Pilot skill governs. Their Speed makes them useful for cover and chases; their complete lack of armor makes combat on them immediately dangerous.

Hover Speeder (Scale 1)

Role: Fast transport, courier, patrol, pursuit.

Typical stats: Scale 1, Speed 5–6, Handling 3, Armor 0, possibly 1 Light hardpoint.

Rules notes: Hover speeders trade cargo capacity for speed. They are the fastest common ground transport in most territories. Racing variants exist. Patrol speeders often carry a single Light weapon.

At Speed 5–6, hover speeders can close or open range quickly in chases. Their Handling is good enough for complex terrain navigation. They remain fragile.

Ground Crawler (Scale 1–2)

Role: Rugged terrain, mining operations, survey work, frontier transport.

Typical stats: Scale 1–2, Speed 2–3, Handling 1, Armor 1–2, often no weapons.

Rules notes: Ground crawlers are built for terrain, not speed. They use tracks, variable-configuration wheels, or multiple articulated legs depending on the world they were designed for. They cannot cross open water without modification, but they cross everything else.

Ground crawlers have no hover dependency. They do not fail in anti-hover ECM fields. They work when the power supply is damaged in ways that would drop a hover vehicle. Many frontier crews prefer them precisely because of this.

Armored Personnel Carrier (Scale 2)

Role: Military personnel transport, security operations, protected cargo movement.

Typical stats: Scale 2, Speed 3, Handling 1, Armor 3–4, 1–2 Light hardpoints.

Rules notes: APCs exist to deliver people to a location and protect them while moving. They are not fighting vehicles in the primary sense; their weapons are for self-defense while the passengers dismount. Some models are hover-based; military versions are common in all five powers.

An APC in structured play has meaningful armor and can absorb significant weapons fire that would kill everything inside a speeder. Passengers are protected until the APC stops moving.

Heavy Hover Platform (Scale 2)

Role: Cargo movement, industrial operations, construction support.

Typical stats: Scale 2, Speed 2, Handling 0–1, Armor 1, no combat hardpoints.

Rules notes: Heavy platforms are logistics equipment. They carry bulk cargo, mining equipment, construction materials, and industrial loads across terrain that would challenge conventional trucks. They are slow, non-maneuverable, and not designed for anything resembling combat.

In a scenario where the crew must move heavy cargo under hostile conditions, the heavy hover platform becomes important. It is not fast enough to escape trouble. It needs escort.

Combat Walker (Scale 2)

Role: Mobile weapons platform, military fire support, urban combat.

Typical stats: Scale 2, Speed 3, Handling 2, Armor 3–4, 2–4 Light to Standard hardpoints.

Rules notes: Combat walkers are weapons platforms that can go where vehicles cannot. Articulated legs allow access to rough terrain, destroyed urban environments, and complex obstacle courses. Funtari military walkers may incorporate hover assist for particularly difficult terrain.

Combat walkers in structured play act like mobile artillery platforms: significant weapons capability, better than APC armor, slower than speeders. Their leg-based movement means they can climb, navigate debris, and access elevated positions.

Atmospheric Shuttle (Scale 2)

Role: Orbit-to-surface transit, personnel movement between ship and ground.

Notes: Atmospheric shuttles are covered in the small craft chapter (Chapter 17). They are the primary means of reaching a planet surface from orbit when the main ship cannot land.

Vehicle Rules for Planetary Operations

Pilot Skill Governs

Whether the vehicle hovers or rolls, the Pilot skill governs all vehicle operation. The vehicle's Scale, Speed, and Handling modify the difficulty of Pilot Trials as normal. This applies to pursuit, evasion, combat maneuvering, and difficult terrain navigation.

Terrain Penalties

The difficulty of operating a ground vehicle over challenging terrain is a Pilot Trial modifier applied by the GM.

Atmospheric Conditions

Planetary atmospheric conditions modify vehicle operations. These modifiers are in addition to terrain penalties.

Gravity Modifications

Non-standard gravity affects vehicle handling. See the Gravity Rules section of Chapter 3 for character effects; the following applies specifically to vehicle operations.

Low gravity (0.2–0.8g): Ground vehicles become marginally faster but harder to control on sharp turns. Hover vehicles are largely unaffected (the opposing field adjusts). Pilot Trials to maintain control during sharp maneuvers at speed add 1 Bane Die for ground vehicles in low gravity.

Elevated gravity (1.2–2.0g): Ground vehicles require more engine output to maintain speed. In structured play, Speed is treated as 1 lower. Hover vehicles are largely unaffected.

High gravity (2.0–4.0g): Ground vehicles are severely burdened. Speed is treated as 2 lower. Cargo capacity is halved. Hover vehicles require significantly more power output: Power Load +1 while active. On a Calamity during any hover operation in high gravity, the hover system may be overtaxed and drop suddenly.

Planetary Combat

Vehicle combat on the ground uses the same structured play framework as ship combat, with adaptations for ground-scale range bands and terrain.

Ground-Scale Range Bands

Planetary vehicle combat uses the same range bands as ship combat, but at a different physical scale. Short range between two hover speeders might be 50 meters. Short range between two starships is measured in kilometers.

Ground vehicles rarely operate at Long or Extreme range without military fire control support.

Cover and Terrain

Terrain provides cover in planetary combat. Cover reduces incoming damage and adds Bane Dice to targeting.

Hover vehicles can exploit cover differently than ground vehicles: they can rise above most light and hard cover or maneuver around it at speed. They cannot benefit from cover they overtop.

Vehicle Versus Character

When characters and vehicles occupy the same engagement zone:

• A character attacking a vehicle uses personal weapons. Scale difference applies: personal weapons deal reduced damage to Scale 2 vehicles (typically half damage or as specified).
• A vehicle attacking a character uses vehicle weapons at personal scale. Scale difference applies in reverse: vehicle weapons deal significantly more damage to Scale 1 characters.
• A character can target vehicle components (weapons, drive systems, lift emitters) as Called Shot actions, spending 2 Boons from a successful attack to disable a specific system.

Vehicle Ramming (Ground Scale)

Ramming in planetary combat follows the same rules as ship ramming: the attacker makes a Pilot Trial, Scale difference determines damage output, and both vehicles take damage. At ground scale:

• Low-speed ram (maneuvering into contact): Reduced damage, typically causes Immobilization rather than Hull Damage.
• Standard ram: Normal collision damage to both vehicles, potential to destroy smaller targets.
• High-speed ram: Increased damage; the attacker's vehicle also takes significant damage and likely loses control.

Landing and Atmospheric Approach

Ships that intend to land on a planetary surface must navigate atmospheric entry and approach. This is a controlled process with rules consequences for failure.

Ships That Can Land

Not all ships can land on planetary surfaces. A ship must have Landing Systems installed (as part of the hull or as an installed module) to land on surfaces. Ships without landing capability must remain in orbit; crew transfers to the surface require a shuttle or other small craft.

The ship catalog entries in Chapters 14–15 note which hulls include standard landing systems.

Atmospheric Entry

Entering a planet's atmosphere from orbit requires a navigation and piloting sequence. The difficulty depends on the ship and the atmosphere.

Entry Approach Check (Navigator): The navigator plots the entry angle. A failed check means a steeper or shallower angle than optimal.

Entry Pilot Check (Pilot): The pilot manages the entry. Difficulty is determined by:

On success: normal entry, controlled approach.

On failure: rough entry. Add 1 Heat (thermal stress from friction). Pilot adds 1 Bane Die to approach and landing Trials this scene.

On Calamity: severe entry. Add 2 Heat, 1 Hull Damage from thermal stress. Pilot must succeed at an additional Average Craft Trial or the ship enters an uncontrolled descent.

Landing Pad Requirements by Scale

Ships cannot always land anywhere they like. Landing surfaces must support the ship's size and mass.

Improvised Landing: A Scale 4 ship landing on a cleared field makes a Hard Pilot Trial. Success: the ship sets down; the terrain may be damaged. Each Bane: a landing gear issue, a surface collapse, or a structural stress. Calamity: landing gear failure, 2 Hull Damage, ship is grounded until repairs.

Atmospheric Hazards

Common planetary atmospheric hazards and their effects:

Vehicle Damage on the Ground

Applying Damage

Ground vehicles use the same Hull Points and System Points as ships, at their Scale. Weapons that deal Hull Damage to a vehicle reduce its HP. Weapons that deal System Damage affect specific systems (engine, navigation, weapons, hover emitters, etc.).

Crash Damage

When a ground vehicle loses all Hull Points, or when it enters Uncontrolled Drift equivalent (Uncontrolled Descent on ground) and fails to recover:

Crash damage to crew is at character scale, not vehicle scale.

Hover Vehicle Lift Loss

A hover vehicle that loses power, is hit by anti-hover ECM, or has its hover system disabled loses lift. The consequence depends on clearance at the time of failure:

A hover vehicle with backup ground-mode capability (some models have both) can transition to ground contact rather than dropping. This requires a successful Average Pilot Trial in the round lift is lost.

Rollover Rules

A ground vehicle that takes a Calamity from a collision or from rapid Handling failure during a maneuver may roll over. The GM determines this based on the situation.

A rolled vehicle is immediately immobilized and deals 2 Hull Damage to itself from the impact. All occupants make an Athletics Trial (Average) or take 1 physical damage. Righting the vehicle requires a Craft Trial and time, or outside assistance.

Sample Planetary Vehicle Stat Blocks

These entries provide GM templates. Full catalog entries with complete options appear in Chapter 18.

Civilian Hover Transport — Personal

Hover vehicle, Funtari commercial technology

Notes: Standard civilian transport. Crosses all surface terrain types freely. Firmware-limited to 10-meter clearance. No weapons capability. Common everywhere in Confederacy space and well-connected ports.

Patrol Speeder — Hover

Hover vehicle, enforcement/military

Notes: Fast patrol vehicle. Used by local law enforcement, corporate security, and customs agencies. The single Light hardpoint usually carries a Light Rotary Cannon or a Point-Defense Laser used as a vehicle deterrent.

Heavy Ground Crawler

Ground vehicle, frontier/industrial

Notes: Frontier workhorse. Slow but almost impossible to stop on most terrain. Cannot cross open water without modification. Does not depend on hover technology; common in Jaziri Caliphate territory and other areas with limited Funtari access.

Military APC — Hover

Hover vehicle, military

Notes: Deployed by all five powers with locally manufactured variants. Typical weapons: a Light Rotary Cannon in a forward-facing defensive mount, plus a Point-Defense Laser or second rotary cannon. The hover system is military-grade with no clearance cap; the APC can top low obstacles and approach from elevated terrain.

Combat Walker

Ground vehicle (articulated), military

Notes: Primary weapons platform for infantry support operations. The articulated leg system allows movement through terrain that would stop wheeled or hover vehicles (heavy rubble, building interiors, steep inclines). Requires an experienced crew to operate effectively.

Heavy Hover Platform

Hover vehicle, industrial/logistics

Notes: Industrial freight mover. Carries up to 20 Cargo Units across any terrain the commercial clearance limit allows. Not a combat vehicle in any sense. Used throughout frontier development and mining operations.