PDF Download the Void Drifters Vehicles Manual 39.5 MB
This chapter defines the vehicle statistics, the damage tracks, cargo and passengers, and how vehicles and people damage each other. It builds on Core Rules Chapter 11 and replaces it where the two differ. Other chapters in this book point here for these definitions.
Pilot replaces the core skill Operate in Void Drifters. Every check this book calls a Pilot check uses Agility + Pilot. Ship weapons use Agility + Gunnery.
The Vehicle Statistics
Every stat block lists these, in this order. Chapter 16, Reading an Entry, keys every cell of the printed block; Chapters 17 and 18 list the cells that differ for small craft and vehicles.
| Statistic | What it measures |
|---|---|
| Scale | Size class, 1 to 10 (Scale, below) |
| Role | What the hull is usually bought for; no rule |
| Price, Prize Value | Factory-new price (Chapter 12, Hull Prices). A Military hull or vehicle is never sold and prints a Prize Value instead (Chapter 13, Pricing a Finished Design) |
| Acquisition | The paperwork to own it: Open, Licensed, Restricted, or Military (Chapter 12, Component Availability and Pricing) |
| Speed | Range bands moved per Advance or Break Maneuver in combat (Chapter 15, Speed) |
| Cruise | In-system travel rating, 1 to 5; sets the length of a travel Interval (Chapter 6) |
| Handling | Boon Dice (positive) or Bane Dice (negative) on Pilot checks, and on attacks with Fixed Forward weapons |
| Sensors | Sensor grade: Basic, Standard, Extended, or Military (Chapter 7) |
| Armor | Hull Damage stopped from each hit, less the weapon's Pierce |
| Deflection F/A | Bane Dice added to attacks against the ship, listed fore / aft (Chapter 8, Deflection) |
| Hull Points | Hull Damage the ship can take; at this number it is destroyed |
| System Points | System Damage the ship can take; at this number it is out of control |
| Power | Power Capacity: the most Power Load the ship sustains at once (Chapter 6) |
| Heat Threshold | The Heat at which penalties begin (Chapter 6) |
| Heat Dissipation | Heat removed at the end of each round (Chapter 6) |
| Module Slots (open) | Capacity for optional modules, with the slots the factory package leaves open in brackets (Chapter 10) |
| Crew | Minimum / standard (Crew, below; Chapter 14, Crew Size) |
| Passengers | Berths beyond the crew |
| Cargo Units | Secured hold space (Cargo Units, below) |
| Consumables | Months of supplies for the standard crew; small craft list Endurance in hours |
| Weapons | Each weapon's Range, Hull Damage, System Damage, Crit, Heat, and Power Load, with its mount, arc, and tags (Chapter 8, Weapon Statistics) |
| Rated | Slipstream Drive or none, atmospheric rating, and landing systems (Chapters 6 and 9) |
| AI Core | AI grade (Chapter 7, AI Core Ratings) |
| Mounts | Weapon mounts by size, then the total in hardpoint points: Light 1, Standard 2, Heavy 3, Capital 4 (Chapter 8, Hardpoints and Mounts) |
| Modules, Systems | The factory module package, or a Military hull's standard systems (Chapter 10) |
| Hangar, Carried by | The craft a carrier's bays hold, and the hulls that carry a small craft (Chapter 10, Carried Craft) |
| Builder, Trait | The builder's signature benefits and weak drawbacks that apply (Chapter 5), and the model's own rule |
Ground and hover vehicles have no Cruise, Sensors, Deflection, Power Capacity, Heat, Module Slots, or Consumables. They list Terrain, Clearance, and a Power row for their power source and hours of running instead (Chapter 9).
Scale
Scale is the ship's size class. It sets the envelope a hull is designed inside: how large its systems can be, how many mounts and Module Slots it carries, how much damage it absorbs, and how it fights vehicles of other sizes. Scale is not class: a corvette and a heavy freighter are both Scale 5 and do different jobs.
| Scale | Typical vehicles |
|---|---|
| 1 | Powered suit, maintenance drone, escape capsule, cargo skiff |
| 2 | Courier skiff, drone fighter, light shuttle, light utility craft, lander |
| 3 | Fighter, interceptor, bomber, boarding craft |
| 4 | Shuttle, courier, scout, light freighter, patrol boat, cutter, yacht, gunship, troop transport |
| 5 | Corvette, heavy freighter, survey ship, salvage ship, industrial vessel, blockade runner |
| 6 | Frigate, carrier, fleet tender, colony ship |
| 7 | Cruiser, heavy carrier, liner, major starbase (the largest commercial hulls) |
| 8 | Destroyer, heavy cruiser, fleet command ship |
| 9 | Battleship |
| 10 | Dreadnought, superheavy flagship, fortress station, orbital shipyard, megastructure |
A Model may sit one Scale from its class's usual size when ships of that class are commonly built that way: the VN-33C1 is a Scale 3 fast courier and the Safa S3 a Scale 3 pursuit craft.
Scale 8 to 10. These are empire-level warships and giant war stations, always military, built only in sovereign yards. They are detailed in another book. Until then the GM builds them as the story needs; this book gives no figures for them.
Ground and hover vehicles run from Scale 1 to 4 (Chapter 9).
Scale in Combat
When a vehicle attacks a target 2 or more Scale smaller, add Bane Dice equal to the difference. When it attacks a target 2 or more Scale larger, remove up to that many Bane Dice. A weapon with Point Defense or Anti-Fighter adds only half the Bane Dice against a smaller target, rounded down.
A Scale 3 fighter attacking a Scale 5 corvette removes up to 2 Bane Dice. The corvette attacking the fighter adds 2.
Scale and System Size
Systems, weapons, and modules are built for a Scale. Integration across Scale is in Chapter 10.
| System Scale against hull Scale | Effect |
|---|---|
| Same | Normal installation |
| One smaller | Output one step lower |
| Two or more smaller | Emergency function only, at GM discretion |
| One larger | Only with a major rebuild that consumes Module Slots |
| Two or more larger | Not possible |
Speed and Handling
Speed is how far the ship moves in a combat round: it sets the range bands covered by one Advance or Break Maneuver, and in a chase the faster ship gains Successes. The Speed table is in Chapter 15. Cruise, the strategic rating, is separate (Chapter 6).
Handling is how the hull answers the controls. Positive Handling adds that many Boon Dice to Pilot checks, and negative Handling that many Bane Dice. Handling also applies to attacks with Fixed weapons. In Disengage and chase checks Handling sets the difficulty instead of adding dice (Chapter 15). It does not apply when the ship is simply holding course. A heavy cargo load can worsen it (Cargo, below).
Damage and Ship States
A ship has two damage tracks, and damage counts up on each.
- Hull Damage counts toward Hull Points: frame, plating, pressure, structure.
- System Damage counts toward System Points: power routing, controls, sensors, fire control, the systems that let the ship act.
The tracks are separate. A ship can take heavy Hull Damage and still operate cleanly, or lose control of its systems with its frame intact. Most weapons deal Hull Damage; disruption weapons deal mostly System Damage (Chapter 8).
Named Systems
Some effects put System Damage on a named system: Target Systems, Precision, Disable, Ion hits aimed at a system, Critical Hits, and a GM's call for what a hit struck. Every point of System Damage counts against the ship's System Points; damage on a named system is also marked on that system.
| System Damage on one system | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1 | Degraded: checks using it add 1 Bane Die |
| 2 | Impaired: checks using it add 2 Bane Dice, and it loses its secondary functions |
| 3 | Offline until repaired |
Chapters 6, 7, and 8 give the specific effects for engines, drives, AI Cores, screens, and Defensive Control; use them in place of this table where they exist.
Out of Control
When System Damage reaches System Points, the ship is out of control. It enters Uncontrolled Drift, or Uncontrolled Descent in an atmosphere (Chapter 15). Its weapons, screens, and drive are offline, and only life support and emergency power run. No crew member can take a Helm, Gunnery, or Sensors and Comms Action except Emergency Repair at Engineering and personal actions aboard. The ship stays out of control until repairs bring its System Damage below its System Points. Any hit on a ship that is out of control is a Critical Hit (Chapter 15). An out-of-control ship can be boarded or taken as a prize.
Destroyed
When Hull Damage reaches Hull Points, the ship is destroyed. Its frame has failed: it breaks up at the end of the next round. Anyone still aboard then is lost unless the GM rules otherwise. What remains is a wreck, which may be salvaged for components (Chapter 11) but is never repaired into a ship.
A Critical Hit of 111 or more also destroys a ship, with the same one-round warning.
Abandon Ship
A crew abandons ship to escape pods, a docked or carried craft, or open space in pressure suits. Reaching a pod or an airlock from a station takes one Maneuver on a ship of Scale 4 or smaller, and as many Maneuvers as the GM sets on a larger ship. A pod launches as a Maneuver from inside it. Escape pods and life rafts are in Chapter 17. A crew may abandon a ship at any time, not only when it is destroyed.
Repair
Emergency Repair in combat removes System Damage (Chapter 15). Field and port repair, the limit on field repair of Hull Damage, and Critical Hit repair are in Chapter 11.
Power and Heat
Every active system adds to the ship's Power Load. When Power Load exceeds Power Capacity, the engineer must answer at once: shut a system down, accept System Damage, take Heat, make a Craft check, or risk a Calamity.
Heat builds when weapons fire, screens stop hits, and engines push. At the end of each round the ship removes Heat equal to its Heat Dissipation. At its Heat Threshold and above, escalating penalties apply.
The full Power and Heat rules, the overload responses, Reactor Overload, and the Heat Threshold Escalation table are in Chapter 6. The engineer's Heat actions in combat (Manage Heat, Vent Heat, Reroute Cooling) are in Chapter 15, Engineering.
Sensors
A ship's sensor grade sets the farthest band at which it detects other ships.
| Grade | Detection range |
|---|---|
| Basic | Short |
| Standard | Medium |
| Extended | Long |
| Military | Extreme |
A ship detects a contact broadcasting a normal transponder within its grade's range without a check. Detecting a ship running dark or cold, identifying a specific model, seeing through debris or interference, and Signature Management are in Chapter 7. Jamming is in Chapter 15, Jam.
Crew
Every ship lists a minimum and a standard crew, written minimum / standard. The standard crew is the number the crew quarters berth and the number Consumables are rated for. With the standard crew or more aboard, every station can be held. From the minimum up to the standard, some stations go empty each round or crew cover two stations. Below the minimum, every check aboard adds 1 Bane Die for each crew member short. Empty stations, covering two stations, and assisting are in Chapter 14, Crew Size.
Cargo and Passengers
Cargo Units
A Cargo Unit is one unit of secured hold space. It holds one tonne of ordinary packaged freight. A ship's Cargo statistic is how many it has.
For scale: a road freight trailer carries about 22 Cargo Units. A Model 20 light freighter carries 120. A Model 80 bulk hauler carries 5,000.
Density decides how many tonnes fit in a Cargo Unit. Every trade good carries a Density Class.
| Density Class | Cargo Units per tonne | Typical goods |
|---|---|---|
| Dense | ½ | Ore, ingots, refined metals, radioactives, ship components |
| Standard | 1 | Machinery, containerized freight, mixed manufactured goods |
| Bulky | 2 | Foodstuffs, textiles, polymers, medical supplies |
| Very Bulky | 4 | Raw fiber, insulation, empty containers, unpressed agricultural goods |
A 120 Cargo Unit hold takes 240 tonnes of ore, 120 tonnes of machinery, 60 tonnes of grain, or 30 tonnes of raw fiber. Trade good prices in the Equipment Guide are per tonne.
Mass ceiling. A hold never carries more tonnes than twice its Cargo Unit rating. A full hold of Dense freight meets it exactly. Cargo heavier than Dense, which a GM may set for exotic loads, hits it with space to spare: crews call that grossing out, and filling the hold while lightly loaded cubing out.
Encumbrance and Cargo
One Cargo Unit equals 100 Encumbrance. Encumbrance values for trade goods assume they are packaged for shipment: crated, palletized, and stackable. Loose cargo uses each item's normal Encumbrance and takes about ten times the space. The GM decides when cargo counts as loose; everything printed in these books is packaged.
Load and Handling
| Load | Handling |
|---|---|
| Under 75% of Cargo | No change |
| 75% to full | 1 worse |
| Full | 2 worse |
| Over capacity | 2 worse, and 1 more for each 10% over, to a total of 5 worse |
Redistributing or offloading cargo restores Handling. In space without a docking facility, rebalancing is a Hard Craft check.
Hazardous, fragile, living, or restricted cargo needs restraints, controlled atmosphere, refrigeration, armored stowage, or papers. The GM sets the requirement and the consequence of going without; cargo modules are in Chapter 10.
Why Ships Carry So Little
A sea freighter of the same length hauls fifty times what a Void Drifters hull does. A ship at sea gets buoyancy for free; a starship must structurally carry, restrain, and accelerate every tonne aboard, which is why hold space is rated in secured volume, mass is capped at twice the rating, and interstellar freight costs what it does.
Complement and Life Support
Complement is the ship's standard crew plus its passenger capacity: the number of people it keeps alive indefinitely. A Model 20 with standard crew 4 and 6 passengers has complement 10. Everyone aboard counts: crew, passengers, hired hands, prisoners, survivors, and boarders.
Below complement, life support needs no tracking.
| Situation | Effect |
|---|---|
| Over complement | For every 10% over, everyone aboard suffers 1 Strain per day, and life support draws 1 more Power Load |
| Life support damaged at or near complement | Apply the damaged system's effects at once |
Berths
| Berth type | Space per person | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Crew berths | Included with the hull | Sized to standard crew; never bought separately |
| Barracks bunk | Half a berth slot | Two bunks in the space of one berth. Standard on warships, colony transports, pilgrim hulls |
| Passenger berth | One berth slot | A private compartment with a bed, storage, and access to common facilities |
| Luxury cabin | Two berth slots | A suite; costs far more to fit out |
Berth slots are allocated freely: a hull with ten slots carries ten passengers, or six passengers and two luxury cabins, or twenty in barracks bunks, or any mix that totals ten.
Hot berthing halves the space any berth type needs: two people share a bunk on opposite shifts. Military hulls already assume it in their listed complement, which is how a Scale 7 carrier lists four hundred embarked troops. A civilian ship may hot berth at need. Hot berthing adds beds; it does not raise complement.
Luxury cabins add comfort and price, nothing else. Pricing is in Chapter 12.
Embarked Troops
On military hulls, passenger capacity is embarked complement: boarding parties, marines, prize crews, and relief personnel. They berth in barracks and count against complement. Boarding is in Chapter 15.
Consumables
Consumables is how many months of food, water, air processing, and medical basics the ship carries for its standard crew. Everyone aboard draws 1 month of one person's supply per month, so passengers, troops, prisoners, and survivors shorten it, and a short crew stretches it.
A liner rated at eight months for 120 crew, carrying 120 crew and 400 passengers, has 960 person-months of supplies for 520 people: about 1.8 months, or eight weeks. Small craft list Endurance in hours, enough for one sortie.
Out of consumables: everyone aboard suffers 1 Strain per day until resupplied. Rationing halves consumption: each person makes a Hard Fortitude check (Willpower + Fortitude) when it starts, and while it lasts every check they make adds 1 Bane Die; on a failed check they also suffer 1 Strain per week.
Resupply prices and Supply Units are in Chapter 12.
Fuel and Maintenance
Fuel is paid in credits, in jump charges by Scale and route length. A jump charge covers the sublight legs to and from dock; Hard Burn, forced entries, extreme offset exits, and sublight travel without a jump cost extra (Chapter 12, Fuel). A ship that cannot pay for fuel cannot jump; it can still maneuver in-system on its reserves. Supply Units measure consumables only, never fuel.
Maintenance follows servicing intervals: a routine service each month, a quarterly servicing, and an annual overhaul, each with a cost. Skipping a servicing advances the ship's Maintenance Clock and risks Maintenance Faults (Chapter 12, Maintenance and Deferred Maintenance).
Atmosphere and Gravity
Atmosphere. Each ship's stat block gives its atmospheric rating and whether it has landing gear. Atmospheric entry, flight, landing, and planetary atmospheres are in Chapter 9.
Gravity aboard. Ships keep artificial gravity near 1g. Gravity systems as ship systems, their failure, and compartment gravity control are in Chapter 6. How gravity affects people (microgravity, high gravity, sudden spikes) is in the Player's Guide, Chapter Ten.
Vehicle Scale and Character Scale
One point at vehicle scale is ten points at personal scale. This holds for damage and for Armor: a vehicle with Armor 2 has the equivalent of Resistance 20, and a weapon that deals 5 Hull Damage deals 50 damage to a person.
Characters Against Vehicles
- Boarding and sabotage. A character inside a ship with the right tools and access can disable systems, plant charges, open airlocks, or reroute power. These are Craft or other skill checks; the GM sets the difficulty by the system and conditions.
- Personal weapons against vehicles. Make the attack with the weapon's own skill. Work out damage at personal scale: the weapon's damage plus 1 for each uncancelled Success beyond the first. The vehicle's Resistance is its Armor times 10, less the weapon's Pierce. Divide what gets through by 10 and round down: that is Hull Damage.
- Breach X. Multiply the damage by X, divide by 10 and round down for Hull Damage, then subtract Armor ignoring X points of it.
- Siege X. Multiply the damage by X, divide by 10 and round down for Hull Damage, then subtract Armor.
- A personal weapon cannot inflict a Critical Hit on a vehicle unless it dealt at least 1 Hull Damage.
Vehicles Against Characters
- Ship weapons against people. Make the attack normally. A person is Scale 1, so the Scale in Combat rule adds Bane Dice for a larger firing vehicle. On a hit, multiply the weapon's Hull Damage, including the Successes beyond the first, by 10, and subtract the target's Resistance. The rest is Wounds. Critical Injuries are inflicted and rolled as for any personal weapon. A player character who is hit may spend a Fortune Point to have been at the edge of the shot: the character suffers half the damage, after multiplying and before Resistance.
- Personal Scale weapons. A vehicle weapon with the Personal Scale tag deals its listed damage to people without multiplying, and is divided by 10 against vehicles like a carried weapon.
- Cover. A person inside or behind a vehicle or structure is protected by its Armor. Resolve the attack against the cover.
- Crashes and hard impacts. When a ship crashes, is rammed, or suffers a Hull Breach or worse Critical Hit, everyone aboard makes a Reflexes check: Average against a minor impact, for 3 Wounds on a failure; Hard against a severe one, for 6 Wounds on a failure. Occupants strapped in remove 1 Bane Die . A vehicle crash on a planet's surface uses the Speed-based table in Chapter 9, Crash Damage.
- Vacuum. When a compartment decompresses, everyone in it without a sealed suit has rounds equal to their Might (minimum 1) to reach a sealed compartment or a suit. After that, each round they make a Hard Fortitude check or suffer 3 Wounds, until they reach safety.
Routine and Dangerous Operation
Routine operation needs no check: holding orbit, cruising a charted lane in good conditions, docking at a cooperating facility. Call for a Pilot check when the outcome can change the scene and failure has a consequence: docking under fire, evading an intercept, threading a debris field, keeping control after System Damage. Conditions and opposition set the difficulty, not distance.
The same holds at every station. An engineer running a healthy reactor in calm conditions does not roll; an engineer holding an overloaded reactor together under fire does.