Ship Combat and Chases

PDF Download the Void Drifters Vehicles Manual 39.5 MB

This chapter is the procedure for ship combat, chases, ramming, boarding, and large battles. When a combat rule here differs from another chapter, this chapter governs. Weapon and defense statistics, their tags, and the Deflection rule are in Chapter 8. Hull Points, System Points, and what happens when either is used up are in Chapter 3. Heat and Power are in Chapter 6. The stations and their out-of-combat work are in Chapter 14.

Entering Ship Combat

The GM calls for structured ship combat when a ship fires on another ship or makes a clear attack approach, when a ship is caught in weapon range by a hostile one, or when a crew refuses an order to heave to and the other side means to enforce it.

1. The GM sets the starting range band between the ships and the facing of each where arcs matter.
2. Each crew member declares a station, or declares none.
3. Each ship rolls Initiative.
4. Rounds begin.

Stations

A crew member acts at one declared station at a time. Changing stations costs that crew member's Action for the round. A station with no one at it takes no Actions; Chapter 14 lists what each empty station still does on automation.

Gunners. The Gunnery station seats one gunner for each weapon or battery the ship carries. Each gunner fires one weapon or one battery a round.

Crew short of stations. A crew member may also act at a second station that no one else holds. The Action taken at the second station adds 1 Bane Die. A crew member never acts at more than two stations. A crew member who declared no station may use this rule to take one Action at any empty station, at the same cost. Minimum crew and the effects of running short are in Chapter 14.

Directive AI. A directive AI assists a crew member's check; it does not take a station. With a matching Directive Package and a free Active Channel it removes 1 Trial Die from the check, or adds 1 Boon Die to an opposed check (Chapter 14, AI-Assisted Ship Actions).

The Round

Initiative

Ship Initiative uses the core Initiative rules (Core Rules, Chapter 9), with the ship in place of a character.

• One check per ship. The crew member at the Helm rolls for the ship: Savvy + Perception when the crew is on watch, prepared, or warned; Willpower + Readiness when the crew is surprised. Surprise sets the pool and does not grant a free round.
• No one at the Helm. The crew member in command rolls. A drone or remote craft rolls with its operator. A ship with no one directing it takes the last slot.
• Order. Rank results by net Successes. Slots rolled for player-crewed ships are player slots; slots rolled for GM ships are GM slots. A tie between a player slot and a GM slot goes to the player slot. Ties within one side are ordered by that side.
• Fixed order. The order holds from round to round unless an effect changes it.
• Several ships per side. Each ship rolls. A side chooses which of its ships acts in each of its slots.
• People away from stations. A character who is not at a station, such as a crew member fighting boarders, rolls a personal Initiative check. A character who leaves a station mid-fight rolls at the start of the next round. Their slots join the same order.

A Ship's Turn

On its turn, each crew member at a station takes one Action and one Maneuver at that station, under the core rules: a second Maneuver costs the Action or 2 Strain. Quick Actions follow the core rules: brief activities such as pressing a simple control (declaring Electronic Silence, redirecting an unused AI channel), never a check.

All of one ship's choices are declared together and then resolved in this order: Maneuvers that move or turn the ship, then attacks (arcs and range are checked after movement), then every other Action.

Sequence of a Round

1. Situation. The GM states the range bands, the facings that matter, and any ongoing effects: fires, drift, guided ordnance still tracking.
2. Turns. Ships take their turns in Initiative order. Characters off station take theirs in their own slots.
3. Damage. Damage, Heat, and conditions apply as each attack resolves.
4. Heat Dissipation. At the end of the round each ship removes Heat equal to its Heat Dissipation, to a minimum of 0. Heat Threshold effects are in Chapter 6, Heat Threshold Escalation.
5. Ongoing effects. Check guided ordnance still tracking, cascades, drift, and Slow-Firing countdowns.

Range, Movement, and Facing

Range Bands

A weapon attacks at the band its range lists and every closer band. A weapon listed with two bands attacks at both and every band between, so a weapon listed Long–Extreme also attacks at Extra Long. The range printed on the weapon governs.

Speed

Speed sets how many range bands a ship moves with one Advance or Break Maneuver.

When several ships move in one round, apply each move in Initiative order. When a ship moves relative to one ship, the GM adjusts its range to the others as the fiction requires.

Speed in chases. In a chase, the faster ship adds Successes to its chase check (Chases, below). Overburn raises Speed for a round.

Facing and Arcs

A ship has four facings: Fore, Port, Starboard, and Aft. The GM and the players agree which of the target's facings an attacker is in, and which of the attacker's facings the target is in. When a target sits between two facings, the GM picks one.

A weapon fires only at a target inside its arc.

The target's Deflection for the facing the attack comes from is in Chapter 8, Deflection.

Changing facing. The pilot turns the ship one facing (90 degrees) with a Change Facing Maneuver, or up to 180 degrees with the Hard Turn Action. A ship whose pilot takes neither keeps its facing.

Elevation (Optional)

Use elevation only when it creates a choice: a ship diving on another, a fight around a station or an asteroid, dorsal and ventral mounts.

• The encounter has an engagement plane: an orbital lane, a station's docking plane, or the line the fight started on. Each ship is Above, Level, or Below it.
• Shift Elevation is a Helm Maneuver that moves the ship one step.
• A Fixed Forward weapon fires only at a target at its own elevation. A Dorsal mount fires at targets Level or Above; a Ventral mount at targets Level or Below. Other arcs fire at any elevation.
• A ship Above or Below an attacker that has no Dorsal or Ventral mount covering it can be attacked only by that attacker's Turret weapons.

Helm

The ship's Handling adds Boon Dice if positive or Bane Dice if negative to every Pilot check, except Disengage and chase checks, where Handling sets the difficulty instead.

Helm Maneuvers

Hard Turn

Check: Average Pilot check. Effect: Change facing up to 180 degrees.

• The turn also hides the new facing until the opponent's next turn; an opponent that declares an attack this round declares it against the old facing.
• The turn strains the drive: the ship gains 1 Heat.

Evasive Maneuver

Check: Average Pilot check (the GM may raise or lower it for terrain, traffic, or damage). Effect: Attacks against the ship add 1 Bane Die until the start of the ship's next turn. The ship's own attacks this round add 1 Bane Die. Weapons with Recoil add their own penalty (Chapter 8). Failure: The ship still evades, but drifts one range band in a direction the GM chooses.

• Change facing as well.
• Attacks against the ship add 2 Bane Dice instead of 1, or every guided weapon locked on the ship loses its lock.
• The maneuver strains the drive: the ship gains 2 Heat.
• The ship loses attitude control and enters Uncontrolled Drift.

Take Position

Check: Average Pilot check; the GM may add Bane Dice when the opponent is faster. Effect: Put the target in a chosen arc of this ship, deny it one of its own arcs, or move into a different facing of the target. On a failure the ship moves, but not into the chosen position.

Overburn

Check: Average Pilot check. Effect: The engines are pushed past rating. Until the start of the ship's next turn its Speed is 1 higher, or 2 higher with a Restricted or Military engine (Chapter 6). The ship gains 2 Heat whether or not the check succeeds. On a failure the ship gains the Heat and no Speed. Sustained: On the third consecutive round of Overburn, and each round after, the engineer makes an Average Craft check (no Action). On a failure the Sublight Engine suffers 1 System Damage.

• The ship also makes one extra Advance or Break Maneuver this turn.
• The Sublight Engine suffers 1 System Damage.

A Combat Thruster Overburn system (Chapter 8) adds its defensive effect while the ship Overburns.

Disengage

Requirement: The ship is at Long range or farther from the ship it is escaping. Check: Pilot check. The difficulty is Average, one step harder if the pursuer's Handling is 2 or more higher than this ship's, and one step easier if this ship's Handling is 2 or more higher. Handling adds no dice to this check. Effect: On a success the ship leaves the fight at the end of the round. Ships that have not yet acted this round may still attack it. A pursuer that follows begins a chase. On a failure the ship stays at its current range.

• The ship begins any chase that follows with 1 Success on its tally.
• The pursuer cannot tell which heading or seam the ship took; it must succeed on a Hard Electronics check to begin a chase.
• The escape path crosses an opponent's fire: one opponent attacks it once this round as a reaction, with one weapon that can reach.

Regain Control

Check: Average Pilot check, one step harder than normal while the ship is in Uncontrolled Drift. Effect: Ends Uncontrolled Drift or Uncontrolled Descent. A ship that is out of control because its System Damage has reached its System Points cannot regain control this way (Chapter 3).

Fire a Fixed Weapon

The pilot may fire one Fixed Forward or Broadside weapon as the Helm Action, using Agility + Gunnery and the Aimed Fire procedure.

Ramming and Planetary Approach

Ramming is a Helm Action; see Ramming below. Planetary Approach is a Helm Action that begins atmospheric entry or a landing approach (Chapter 9). A ship on Planetary Approach stays in the fight and may be attacked.

Gunnery

One Weapon or One Battery per Action

A gunner fires one weapon, or one battery, with an Action. Each weapon fires once a round. A ship fires as many weapons as it has gunners and pilots to fire them.

Batteries

Weapons of one kind in one arc may fire together as a battery on one gunner's Action. The gunner makes one attack check. The battery gains Linked by its size.

Linked: after a hit, spend 2 Boons for each extra hit on the same target, up to the Linked rating. Screens and Armor reduce each hit separately. A battery makes the Heat of one weapon, plus that again for each extra hit. It draws the Power Load of one weapon, plus one weapon's Power Load for each step of Linked. A battery that loses weapons drops to the row for the weapons still firing.

The Attack

Aimed Fire is the standard Gunnery Action.

1. Declare the weapon or battery and the target. The target must be in the weapon's arc and inside its range. Guided weapons need a Target Lock (Target Lock and Guided Weapons, below).
2. Pool. The gunner rolls Agility + Gunnery.
3. Difficulty by range:

4. Bane Dice. Add Bane Dice for the target's Deflection on the facing attacked, its screens against the weapon's type, its ECM against guided weapons (all in Chapter 8), its Evasive Maneuver, this ship's own Evasive Maneuver, negative Handling on a Fixed weapon, Heat Threshold effects (Chapter 6), and Scale (below).
5. Scale. When the target is 2 or more Scale smaller, add Bane Dice equal to the difference; a weapon with Point Defense or Anti-Fighter adds half, rounded down. When the target is 2 or more Scale larger, remove up to that many Bane Dice.
6. Boon Dice. Add Boon Dice from positive Handling on a Fixed weapon, tags, components, station actions, and allies. These are limited (The Boon Limit, below).
7. AI. A directive AI with the Fire Control package and a free Active Channel removes 1 Trial Die.
8. Roll. The first Success hits. Resolve the hit under Damage Resolution.

The Boon Limit

An attack gains at most 2 Boon Dice in total from these sources, however many apply:

• Handling on a Fixed weapon
• Weapon tags (Accurate), components (Fire Control, the Advanced tag), and builder benefits
• Station actions and orders: Target Lock, Coordinate Fire, Direct Focus, a medic's Coordinate, an assisting crew member, and Relay Contact
• Massed Fire, and a directive AI's Boon Die in an opposed check
• A Boon Die bought with a Boon from an earlier attack

Talents add their dice in full and do not count toward the limit. Boons and Successes rolled on the dice are never limited.

Boon and Bane Spends on an Attack

• Add 1 Boon Die to the next attack on the same target this round by any weapon on this ship (subject to the Boon Limit).
• The hit ignores 1 more point of Armor.
• Trigger a tag that calls for Boons: Linked, Auto-Fire, Blast, Scorch, Scatter.
• Remove one round of the weapon's Slow-Firing.
• Boons equal to the weapon's Crit, or a Breakthrough: inflict a Critical Hit.

The GM spends Banes and Calamities on the firing ship:

• The weapon makes 1 extra Heat, or the firing ship's next attack adds 1 Bane Die.
• The weapon jams. It cannot fire until a crew member spends an Action to clear it.
• The weapon jams and suffers 1 System Damage. A Volatile weapon makes its Volatile check (Chapter 8). A weapon with Limited Ammo may instead run dry.

Boons do not add damage. Only Successes beyond the first, and effects that say so, add damage.

Target Lock and Guided Weapons

A weapon with the Lock-On tag is guided: it needs a Target Lock on its target before it fires. A gunner takes a Target Lock for their own guided weapon as a Maneuver. It is automatic against a target with no ECM running. Against a target with ECM, it is an Average Gunnery check with the Bane Dice the target's ECM lists. This gunner's lock adds no Boon Die. The sensor operator's Target Lock Action (Sensors and Comms, below) also gives every guided weapon fired at that target this round its lock. A lock lasts until the target changes range band, the target breaks it (Jam, Break Lock, chaff, Evasive Maneuver), or the attack resolves.

A guided weapon then attacks with Aimed Fire. Tracking: ordnance that misses attacks again at the end of the next round with the same pool, at 1 less damage, then burns out. Interceptable: after a guided attack hits and before damage, the target may use point defense or chaff against it. Salvo X: one launch sends up to X missiles at one target on one lock; roll each attack separately.

Other Gunnery Actions

Target Systems. Hard Gunnery check against a named system: weapons, engines, sensors, helm, a screen. A hit deals normal damage and 1 System Damage to the named system.

Coordinate Fire. Average Gunnery check. On a success, one allied ship's gunner adds 1 Boon Die to their next attack on the same target this round. Coordinate Fire deals no damage.

Suppressing Fire. Average Gunnery check against a ship in range and arc. Name one Helm Action or Maneuver. On a success the target's pilot makes an Average Pilot check (Hard if the suppressing check scored 3 or more net Successes); on a failure the target cannot take the named move before the end of its next turn. Suppressing Fire deals no damage. It deals 1 Hull Damage as well.

Reload. A crew member removes one round of a weapon's Slow-Firing, or clears a jam, with an Action and no check.

Massed Fire

When two or more ships attack the same target of larger Scale in one round, each attacker after the first adds 1 Boon Die to its attack. These dice count toward the Boon Limit.

Point Defense

A weapon with Point Defense X fires as a reaction, once a round, when an Interceptable attack hits its own ship or another ship within Short range. The reaction does not use the gunner's Action. It makes the weapon's Heat, and a weapon with Limited Ammo spends 1 shot.

The gunner makes one Gunnery check. Each net Success destroys one incoming Interceptable attack, up to X.

Against a mix, the GM uses the hardest difficulty in the group. A point defense suite (Chapter 8) needs no gunner: it rolls the pool its entry lists and uses its Interception Rating in place of X. A point defense weapon with no gunner fires only if the ship's AI has the Fire Control package and a free Active Channel; it then rolls 3 Ability Dice.

Engineering

Emergency Repair

Check: Craft check. Difficulty by damage (Chapter 11, Emergency Repair): Easy for a minor fault with good access, Average for a system put out of action with standard access, Hard under fire with poor access, Severe for catastrophic damage or missing parts. Effect: Remove 1 System Damage from one named system. Each Boon beyond the first removes 1 more from the same or an adjacent system. Emergency Repair removes no Hull Damage.

Automatic Damage Control

Systems that remove System Damage on their own (a Repair Drone Network, a Military Damage Control Grid, a Damage Control component at rating 2 (Chapter 10), and any builder trait that does the same) together remove at most 1 System Damage per round, at the start of the ship's turn. A crew member's Emergency Repair is in addition to this.

Boost Power

Check: Average Craft check. Effect: Divert power to one system for this round:

• Boost Weapons: one attack this round deals +2 damage. Once per encounter. It does not apply to an attack that uses the Overcharge talent.
• Boost Shields: each active screen adds 1 to its Damage Reduction, or one point defense weapon or suite adds 1 to its X or Interception Rating, until the start of the ship's next turn.
• Boost Drives: the pilot makes one extra Advance or Break Maneuver this round; in a chase, add 1 Success to the ship's chase check this round.
• Boost Sensors: one Sensors and Comms check this round is one step easier.

Cost: The boosted system adds 2 Heat on top of any Heat it makes itself. Name the system the power comes from; checks using it add 1 Bane Die this round.

• The draw fails: no boost, but the Heat still applies.
• A surge: the boosted system suffers 1 System Damage and the ship gains 3 more Heat.

Reroute Systems

Check: Hard Craft check. Effect: Choose one: a system with System Damage works for this encounter as if it had 1 less (with 1 Bane Die on its checks); move one weapon's Power Load to another node for this round; or stop a cascade from causing new System Damage this round.

• The reroute works, but a connected system suffers 1 System Damage.
• The rerouted system suffers 1 System Damage.

Damage Control

Check: Average Craft check (Hard for a fire in a magazine or a breach larger than one compartment). Effect: Stop one ongoing effect: a fire, atmosphere loss, a spreading cascade, or unstable ammunition.

• Stop a second effect.
• The effect is reduced, not stopped; it continues next round.

Heat Actions

Manage Heat. Average Craft check. Remove 1 Heat beyond normal Heat Dissipation, and 1 more for each Boon.

Vent Heat. No check. Remove Heat equal to the ship's Heat Dissipation now. The thermal bloom adds 2 Bane Dice to the ship's Signature Management this round and next (Chapter 7). Heat from weapons fired later in the same round still applies.

Reroute Cooling. Average Craft check. One named system makes no Heat from its next use this round. On a failure the Action is spent.

Shutting a system down is free and takes no Action (Chapter 6).

Reactor Overload

Reactor Overload is an Engineering Action that raises Power Capacity by 2 for the round at the cost of Heat (Chapter 6, Reactor Overload). It is not Boost Power: Boost Power diverts the power the ship already has to one system.

Sensors and Comms

Active Scan

Check: Electronics check: Average at Short or Medium, Hard at Long, Severe at Extra Long or Extreme. The target's signature may add Bane Dice. Effect: The scan adds 1 Bane Die to this ship's Signature Management this round, and the target knows it has been scanned. Against a ship that is hiding, an Active Scan is the watcher's detection check instead (Chapter 7, The Detection Check), with 1 Boon Die for the scan.

Passive Listen

Check: Average Electronics check. Effect: Identify a contact's ship class and active transponder without raising this ship's signature. Against a ship that is hiding, Passive Listen is the watcher's detection check instead (Chapter 7, The Detection Check).

Target Lock

Check: Average Electronics check; Hard if the target took an Evasive Maneuver this round or last. Effect: The ship's gunners add 1 Boon Die to their next attack on the locked target this round (one die per attack, subject to the Boon Limit). The lock also serves as the Target Lock for every guided weapon fired at that target this round.

Jam

Jamming is one rule, in combat and out of it.

Requirement: The ship carries an ECM system (Chapter 8) and the target is within Medium range, or Long with a Military Electronic Warfare Suite. Check: Electronics check, opposed by the target's sensor operator (Electronics), or Average if no one is at the target's Sensors and Comms station. Effect: Name one function of the target. Until the end of its next turn:

Jamming raises this ship's own signature: add 1 Bane Die to its Signature Management while it jams.

• Feedback: this ship's ECM system suffers 1 System Damage.

Counter-Jam

Check: Electronics check, opposed by the jamming operator's Electronics. Effect: End one jam on this ship or an ally.

• Locate the jamming ship: this ship's next Target Lock on it is one step easier.

Break Lock

Check: Hard Electronics check; Average with a Signal Scrambler or Military Electronic Warfare Suite running. Breaking a capital torpedo's lock is always Hard. Effect: One guided weapon locked on this ship loses its lock. Ordnance in flight makes no attack this round and must reacquire next round.

Relay Contact

Check: Average Electronics check, with working comms. Effect: Share scans, targeting data, or enemy positions with one ally. The ally removes 1 Bane Die from its next check that uses the information.

Sensor Ghost

Check: Hard Electronics check. Effect: Create one false sensor contact where the operator chooses. Holding it costs 1 Power Load each round. Detecting a ghost is in Chapter 7.

Astrogation, Medical and Support, and the Captain

The Astrogation actions (Plot Course, Recalculate, Emergency Exit, Offset Exit Planning) and the Medical and Support actions (Emergency Treatment, Brace Crew, Coordinate, Triage) are in Chapter 14. So are the captain's Direct Focus (a Maneuver) and Override.

Damage Resolution

Damage is flat; it is not rolled. When an attack hits, resolve it in order.

1. Total. Hull Damage is the weapon's listed damage plus 1 for each uncancelled Success beyond the first. A weapon that deals only System Damage adds those Successes to its System Damage instead. Add any fixed bonus: Boost Weapons, Overcharge, a tag such as Close Range or Capital Killer.
2. Screens. If an active screen names the weapon's type, subtract its Damage Reduction from the Hull Damage (Chapter 8).
3. Armor. Subtract the target's Armor, less the weapon's Pierce, from the Hull Damage. Weapons with Armor Bypass ignore Armor and screens.
4. System Damage. Armor reduces System Damage from a weapon with the Ion tag by half the target's Armor, rounded down. No other System Damage is reduced by Armor or screens.
5. Apply. Hull Damage counts against Hull Points and System Damage against System Points. System Damage aimed at a named system (Target Systems, Precision, Disable, a Critical Hit) also marks that system.
6. States. When Hull Damage reaches Hull Points the ship is destroyed. When System Damage reaches System Points the ship is out of control. Both states, abandoning ship, and named-system damage are in Chapter 3, Damage and Ship States.

Critical Hits

A Critical Hit is inflicted when:

• an attacker spends Boons equal to the weapon's Crit, or a Breakthrough, on a hit that dealt at least 1 Hull Damage or System Damage; or
• a ship that is out of control suffers any hit.

A weapon with a dash for Crit cannot inflict one. Roll d100 on the table below, adding 10 for each Critical Hit the ship already has. A Critical Hit stays, and keeps adding 10, until it is repaired (Chapter 11). Repair difficulty is by severity: Minor Easy, Moderate Average, Severe Hard, Deadly yard only (Chapter 11, Repairing a Critical Hit).

Uncontrolled Drift and Descent

A ship enters Uncontrolled Drift from a Calamity, a Critical Hit, a gravitic weapon's Forced Drift, a failed emergency exit, a collision, or by choice to cut thrust.

• The ship moves one range band each round along its current vector, in a direction the GM sets, at the end of the round.
• The pilot cannot Advance, Break, Change Facing, Hard Turn, Take Position, or Overburn.
• Pilot checks are one step harder.
• Weapons fire into whatever arcs face the target. Weapons with Recoil add their penalty.
• The pilot ends it with Regain Control.
• A drifting ship that reaches a planet, station, debris field, or another ship collides unless the pilot succeeds on a Hard Pilot check. A collision deals Hull Damage as a ram (Ramming, below) to both the drifting ship and what it hits.

A ship may enter Uncontrolled Drift deliberately to cut its emissions: the GM may treat it as running cold for detection (Chapter 7) while it drifts.

Uncontrolled Descent is the same state inside an atmosphere or a gravity well. The ship drops one altitude band each round instead of drifting. If it reaches the ground before the pilot regains control, it crashes (Chapter 9, Crash Damage).

Ramming

1. Range. The rammer must be Engaged with the target.
2. Check. The rammer's pilot makes an opposed Pilot check against the target's pilot as a Helm Action. Scale in Combat applies. Against a target that is out of control, held by a tractor, docked, or has no one at the Helm, the check is an unopposed Average Pilot check.
3. Damage to the target. On a success the target suffers Hull Damage equal to the rammer's Scale plus its Speed, less the target's Armor. Extra Successes add nothing.
4. Damage to the rammer. The rammer suffers half the Hull Damage the target suffered, rounded down, minimum 1. Its Armor does not reduce it.
5. Ram-Protected. A ship with this trait or a fitted ram uses the ram's listed Hull damage plus its Speed in place of Scale plus Speed, and suffers a quarter of the damage dealt, rounded down, instead of half.

• or The target suffers a Critical Hit.
• The rammer suffers the full damage it dealt instead of half.
• The ships lock together: both are Engaged and cannot move apart until one pilot succeeds on a Hard Pilot check as an Action. Either crew may board.

Effects that treat Armor as higher against collisions (Crown Meridian hulls, the Gravitic Deflection Field) apply to step 3 for the target.

Disengaging and Chases

A ship leaves a fight with Disengage (Helm, above). A pursuer that follows begins a chase. A chase may also begin when one ship runs before weapons are fired, or when the GM sets up a pursuit.

Chase Procedure

A chase is an extended check. Each ship keeps a tally of net Successes.

1. Set the target. Quick chase (a station's traffic lanes, a debris field): 3. Standard chase (across a system): 5. Long chase (a frontier run): 8.
2. Set the range. The chase starts at the range band where it began, usually Long.
3. Each round, in Initiative order, each pilot makes a chase check as the Helm Action: a Pilot check, Average, one step harder if the other ship's Handling is 2 or more higher, one step easier if this ship's Handling is 2 or more higher. Handling adds no dice.
4. Speed. The ship with the higher Speed adds 1 Success to its chase check, or 2 if its Speed is 3 or more higher. A pilot may Overburn with the chase check: one check covers both, at the chase difficulty, and on a success the ship's Speed is higher for this comparison.
5. Tally. Add the check's net Successes, if any, to the ship's tally. A Boost Drives adds 1.
6. Range. When the tallies are within 1 of each other, the range is the starting band. When the pursuer leads by 2 or more, the range is one band closer; when the fleeing ship leads by 2 or more, one band farther.
7. The end. When the fleeing ship's tally reaches the target, it escapes: it is out of sensor range, behind cover, or into a Slipstream seam. When the pursuer's tally reaches the target first, it has caught the fleeing ship: the range becomes Short and ordinary combat rounds resume.

All other stations act as normal during a chase: gunners fire at the chase range, engineers boost and manage Heat, sensor operators jam the other ship's navigation.

A seam to run for. When the fleeing ship's astrogator has a course plotted (Plot Course, Chapter 14) and the GM rules a seam is reachable in this chase, the fleeing ship's target is 2 lower.

Chase spends:

• The ship's next chase check adds 1 Boon Die from terrain.
• The other ship's next chase check adds 1 Bane Die as it follows through a hazard.
• Add 1 Success to the ship's tally.
• The ship clips debris or loses its line: it suffers 1 Hull Damage, or removes 1 Success from its tally (GM's choice).
• The other ship adds 1 Success to its tally.
• A collision or a loss of attitude: the ship enters Uncontrolled Drift.

Carried Craft

Fighters, shuttles, and boarding craft ride in internal bays or on external cradles (Chapter 10).

Rate. Each bay or cradle launches or recovers one craft a round.

Launch

Check: None from an internal bay. Average Pilot check from an external cradle while the parent maneuvers, or from any bay while the parent is at or above its Heat Threshold. Effect: One craft leaves the parent at the parent's range band. It rolls Initiative and acts from the next round.

• The craft begins one band from the parent, in a direction its pilot chooses.
• Launch a second craft from the same bay this round.
• The launch fouls: that bay launches nothing next round.
• The craft suffers 1 Hull Damage clearing the bay, or the cradle fails to release.

Recover

Check: Average Pilot check; Hard while either ship is under fire or maneuvering. The craft must be Engaged with the parent and must not have acted this round.

• The craft's crew reach stations aboard the parent at once.
• A hard dock: the craft suffers 1 Hull Damage.
• The craft misses the approach, and the bay or cradle suffers 1 System Damage.

A craft on an external cradle can be attacked at the parent's range band. A craft in an internal bay cannot be attacked while the parent's hull holds; when the parent is destroyed, everything in its bays is lost. Small craft carry hours of Endurance and no Slipstream drive: a parent that leaves while its craft are out has left them behind.

Boarding

Getting Across

The boarding ship must be Engaged with the target, unless a carried craft or a boarding torpedo delivers the boarders.

Opening the hatch. A locked collar still needs the hatch opened: an Average Craft or Electronics check as an Action, Hard against reinforced airlocks or internal security doors. A weapon with Boarding Support that hit the target this round or last makes this one step easier.

Holding the collar. A collared ship that tries to Advance, Break, or Disengage makes an opposed Pilot check against the other ship's pilot. On a success the collar tears free: both ships suffer 1 Hull Damage, and anyone in the collar is exposed to vacuum (Chapter 3).

The Fight Inside

Once boarders are across, the fight inside is personal combat under the standard rules, in the same Initiative order as the ship fight. Ship actions happen in the ship's slot; characters fighting in corridors act in their own slots. A character who leaves a station leaves it empty (Chapter 14).

Defenders may seal bulkheads (an Emergency Bulkhead System forces boarders to pass an Average Craft check or spend 1 extra round per bulkhead), change gravity in a compartment if the ship has gravity control (Chapter 14, Set Zone Gravity), and use internal security.

The ship fight continues. Both ships keep acting on their own turns. A ship whose gunners and engineer have gone to fight boarders fights with empty stations.

A hit during boarding. When either ship suffers a Critical Hit while a boarding fight is on, the GM may apply it to the compartment where the fight is: a bulkhead seals, gravity fails, or a breach opens the corridor to vacuum.

Taking the Ship

Boarders who hold the bridge and engineering control the ship: it can no longer take Helm, Gunnery, or Engineering actions against them. A prize changes hands under the law of the space it is taken in (GM Guide). Boarding also ends when the defenders drive the boarders off, when one side surrenders, or when one side is incapacitated.

Large Battles

When the crew's ship is one of many, run the battle around it in battle rounds. Named ships, the crew's ship, and any ship the crew is fighting directly act normally. Every other ship is part of its side's Battle Strength.

1. Battle Strength. Each side totals the Scale of its ships that are not acting individually. Group small craft in fours: each group counts as one Scale 3 ship.
2. Battle Check. Each round, after all individual ships have acted, each side's commander makes a Leadership check (Charisma + Leadership). The difficulty compares that side's Battle Strength with the enemy's:

3. Margin. Compare the two checks' net Successes. The side with more wins the round by the difference. The losing side loses Battle Strength equal to 3 times the margin; the winner chooses which ships are knocked out (disabled, destroyed, or fled, as the GM describes). A ship is out when Strength equal to its Scale has been removed. On a tie each side loses 2.
4. The crew's part. Each ship the crew's ship or another individual ship destroys, or puts out of control, removes its Scale from the enemy's Battle Strength. When the crew completes an objective the GM has named (the enemy flagship, the jammer, the carrier's bay doors), their side's commander adds 1 Boon Die to each later Battle Check.
5. Stray fire. When the crew's side loses a Battle Check, the crew's ship suffers one attack from the enemy line: 3 Ability Dice against Average difficulty, with a weapon the GM picks from the enemy fleet.
6. Breaking. A side whose Battle Strength falls to half its starting value makes a Hard Leadership check at the end of the round or withdraws. A side at 0 is broken.

Worked Example: One Ship Round

The Ember Drift, a Model 20 light freighter (Speed 3, Handling +0, Armor 1, Deflection 0 / 0, Hull Points 18, Heat Dissipation 2, Heat Threshold 10, Basic Automation), is caught leaving Harrowspan by a bounty crew in a CM-440 armored cutter (Speed 4, Handling +0, Armor 3, Deflection 0 / 0, Hull Points 22, Heat Dissipation 2). The ships start at Medium range with the cutter in the Ember Drift's Fore arc. The Ember Drift carries one Fixed Forward autocannon (4 Hull, Short–Medium, Crit 4, Pierce 1, 1 Heat). The cutter's gunner fires its railgun battery (5 Hull, Medium–Long, Crit 3, Pierce 1, 1 Heat).

Stations. Senna Vael (Agility 4, Pilot 2) takes the Helm. Yessica Morn (Agility 4, Gunnery 2, the Fire Control talent) takes Gunnery. Davan Kel (Intellect 4, Craft 2, engineer's kit) takes Engineering. Rhi (Intellect 4, untrained in Electronics) takes Sensors and Comms. Corin Ash takes no station and acts as captain.

Initiative. The crew saw the cutter coming, so Senna rolls Savvy + Perception for the ship: 2 net Successes. The cutter's pilot rolls 1. The Ember Drift has the first slot.

Round 1: The Ember Drift

• Captain (Corin). Direct Focus on Yessica, as his Maneuver: she adds 1 Boon Die to her next check this round.
• Helm (Senna). Evasive Maneuver, an Average Pilot check: 2 Mastery and 2 Ability Dice against 2 Trial Dice; Handling +0 adds nothing. Net result: 2 Successes, 1 Boon. Attacks on the Ember Drift add 1 Bane Die until the start of its next turn, and its own attacks this round add 1. Senna spends the Boon to change facing and keep the cutter dead ahead, so the fixed autocannon bears.
• Sensors and Comms (Rhi). Target Lock, an Average Electronics check. Untrained, Rhi rolls 4 Ability Dice. Net result: 1 Success. Yessica's next attack on the cutter adds 1 Boon Die.
• Engineering (Davan). Boost Power, Boost Weapons, an Average Craft check: 2 Mastery and 2 Ability Dice, plus 1 Boon Die from his engineer's kit. Net result: 1 Success. One attack this round deals +2 damage. The boost cannot be used again this encounter.
• Gunnery (Yessica). Aimed Fire with the autocannon at Medium: Average. Her pool is 2 Mastery and 2 Ability Dice. Boon Dice: Direct Focus 1 and Target Lock 1 (the Boon Limit of 2), plus 1 from her Fire Control talent on her first Gunnery check of the encounter, for 3. Bane Dice: 1, from the ship's own evasion. The cutter has Deflection 0 and is the same Scale. Net result: 2 Successes, 2 Boons.

The hit. The first Success hits. Damage is 4, plus 1 for the second Success, plus 2 from the boost: 7. The cutter's Armor 3, less Pierce 1, stops 2. Yessica spends both Boons to ignore 1 more point of Armor, so Armor stops 1. The cutter suffers 6 Hull Damage (6 of 22). The autocannon makes 1 Heat and the boost adds 2: the Ember Drift is at 3 Heat.

Round 1: The Cutter

The cutter's pilot takes Hold Position as a Maneuver to stay at Medium, where the railgun can fire. The gunner fires the railgun: Average, plus 1 Bane Die from Senna's evasion. Net result: 1 Success, 2 Banes. One Success is a hit with no extra damage: 5. The Ember Drift's Armor 1, less Pierce 1, stops nothing. The Ember Drift suffers 5 Hull Damage (5 of 18). The GM spends the 2 Banes so the cutter's next attack adds 1 Bane Die. The railgun makes 1 Heat.

End of round 1. The Ember Drift dissipates 2 Heat and drops from 3 to 1. The cutter drops from 1 to 0.

Round 2: Breaking Off

Senna wants out. Her Maneuver is Break: at Speed 3 the Ember Drift moves one band, to Long. Her Action is Disengage, which needs Long range: an Average Pilot check, since both ships have Handling +0. Net result: 1 Success, 1 Boon. The Ember Drift will leave the fight at the end of the round, and the Boon puts 1 Success on its tally for any chase. The cutter is now in the Aft arc, so Yessica's fixed autocannon cannot fire.

The cutter's gunner fires the railgun at Long: Hard, plus 1 Bane Die from the GM's spend last round. Net result: 0 Successes. The shot misses. The cutter's captain orders a pursuit.

End of round 2. The Ember Drift drops from 1 Heat to 0. The cutter's railgun made 1 Heat; it drops to 0.

Worked Example: The Chase

The cutter follows, so the chase begins at Long. The GM calls it a standard chase: 5 net Successes. The Ember Drift's tally starts at 1 from the Disengage Boon; the cutter's at 0. Both ships have Handling +0, so every chase check is Average. The cutter's Speed 4 beats the Ember Drift's 3 by 1, so the cutter adds 1 Success to each check unless the Ember Drift closes that gap.

Chase round 1. Senna Overburns with her chase check: one Average Pilot check covers both. Net result: 2 Successes. The Overburn takes the Ember Drift to Speed 4 for the round, level with the cutter, so neither ship gets the Speed Success. Senna's tally rises to 3, and the ship gains 2 Heat. Davan uses Boost Drives, an Average Craft check with his kit's Boon Die: 1 Success. That adds 1 to the tally (4) and 2 Heat (4 Heat). The cutter's pilot rolls 2 Mastery and 1 Ability Die against Average: 1 Success. The cutter's tally is 1. The Ember Drift leads by 3, so the range opens to Extra Long, out of the railgun's reach. At the end of the round the Ember Drift drops from 4 Heat to 2.

Chase round 2. Senna Overburns again: 0 net Successes and 2 Banes. Her tally stays at 4; the GM spends the Banes on a debris strike for 1 Hull Damage (6 of 18). The Overburn made 2 Heat (4). Davan uses Manage Heat: 1 Success removes 1 Heat (3). The cutter's pilot scores 1 Success, plus 1 for its higher Speed now that Senna's Overburn failed, for 2: its tally is 3. The tallies are within 1, so the range is back to Long. The cutter's gunner fires: Hard, no other dice. Net result: 1 Success. The railgun hits for 5, and Armor 1 less Pierce 1 stops nothing: 5 Hull Damage (11 of 18). At the end of the round the Ember Drift drops from 3 Heat to 1.

Chase round 3. This is Senna's third Overburn in a row, so Davan makes an Average Craft check with no Action spent: 1 Success, and the engine holds. Senna's chase check scores 2 Successes; her tally reaches 6, past the target of 5. The Ember Drift is gone before the cutter acts. It ends the chase with 11 of 18 Hull Damage; the last Overburn takes it from 1 Heat to 3, and it dissipates back to 1 at the end of the round.

Worked Example: A Boarding Action

The Ember Drift has tracked a stolen KR-41 (Speed 3, Handling −1, Armor 2, Hull Points 22, System Points 13) to a debris field. A reactor fault has left the KR-41 with 13 System Damage: it is out of control. Two thieves are aboard (Elites: Agility 3, Ranged 2, Resistance 2, Wound Points 12, sidearms with Damage 6, Crit 3), with a third crew member at the KR-41's Engineering station. The ships start at Short range.

Round 1. Senna's Maneuver is Advance: one band, to Engaged. Her Action is a forced docking collar. The KR-41 is out of control, so this is an unopposed Average Pilot check: 1 Success. The collar locks. Yessica and Davan each spend their Maneuver leaving their stations for the airlock, so Gunnery and Engineering are now empty. On the KR-41's turn its engineer makes an Emergency Repair, Average for a system put out of action: 1 Success removes 1 System Damage (12 of 13). The KR-41 is back under control.

Round 2. Yessica and Davan, now off station, roll personal Initiative: Yessica 2, Davan 1. The thieves rolled 1 and 0 when the fight began. The slots run player, player, player, GM, GM, GM; the players place the Ember Drift, Davan, and Yessica, and the GM places the KR-41, Thief A, and Thief B.

• Ember Drift. Senna takes Hold Position to keep the collar steady.
• Davan cuts the KR-41's hatch: an Average Craft check with 2 Mastery and 2 Ability Dice and his kit's Boon Die. Net result: 2 Successes. The hatch opens.
• Yessica takes cover in the collar frame as her Maneuver (light cover, Ranged Defense 1) and shoots Thief A at Short range: Easy, 2 Mastery and 2 Ability Dice. Net result: 2 Successes, 1 Boon. Damage 6 plus 1 is 7, less Resistance 2: Thief A suffers 5 Wounds (5 of 12). Yessica leaves the Boon unspent.
• KR-41. Its pilot tries to Break and tear the collar free: an opposed Pilot check against Senna. The KR-41's Handling −1 adds 1 Bane Die. Net result: 0 Successes. The collar holds. The KR-41's guns have no one at them.
• Thief A fires at Yessica: Easy, plus 1 Bane Die for her cover. Net result: 1 Success. Damage 6, less her Resistance 2: Yessica suffers 4 Wounds (4 of 12).
• Thief B fires at Davan, who is Engaged at the hatch: Easy, plus 1 Bane Die for a ranged attack at Engaged. Net result: 1 Success. Damage 6, less his Resistance 1: Davan suffers 5 Wounds (5 of 12).

Round 3. Corin, still the captain, uses Direct Focus on Yessica as his Maneuver. Davan takes cover behind the hatch and spends his Action helping Yessica, adding 1 Boon Die. Yessica fires at Thief A with 2 Mastery and 2 Ability Dice and 2 Boon Dice (Direct Focus and Davan's help) against Easy. Net result: 2 Successes, 2 Boons. Damage 7, less Resistance 2: 5 Wounds, so Thief A has suffered 10 of 12. Yessica spends both Boons to leave Thief A Disoriented.

While the Ember Drift's Gunnery and Engineering stations stay empty, its Heat goes unmanaged and its guns are silent. When the boarders reach the KR-41's bridge and engineering, the ship is theirs.