Weapons, Shields, and Defense

Every crew learns the same lesson eventually: choosing what your ship fires and what it hides behind is as important as who flies it.

This chapter covers the complete rules for ship weapons and defense systems. How to mount them, how to fire them, how to survive when someone else fires back.

Hardpoints and Mount Sizes

A weapon does not bolt onto a hull the way a shelf bolts onto a wall. Every weapon hardpoint is a prepared combat interface: structural reinforcement, power conduits, ammunition feeds, cooling access, targeting connections, and firing clearances. The hardpoint must be designed for the weapon it carries.

Mount Sizes

A ship may install smaller weapons in larger available hardpoint capacity. A Scale 4 cutter with 3 open Weapon Hardpoints may install one Heavy weapon, one Standard and one Light, or three Light weapons. Installing a weapon above its rated mount size is not possible: the weapon's power conduit sizing, recoil compensation, and cooling access must match the mount.

Oversized and Undersized Mounting

Mounting above rated size: Not permitted without a structural rebuild.

Mounting below rated size: A Light weapon may be installed in Standard hardpoint capacity by paying the Light weapon's 1-Hardpoint cost and leaving 1 Hardpoint idle. The weapon gains no benefit from the oversized mounting.

Scale minimum: Every weapon lists a Scale Minimum. A ship below that Scale lacks the structural backbone, power routing, or firing clearance to safely mount the weapon. Ignoring Scale Minimum is a Jury-Rig: Severe Craft Trial, upgrade 1 Trial Die to a Crisis Die. Success mounts the weapon with at least one complication. A Calamity may destroy the mounting point or injure crew.

Weapon Families

Six weapon families cover all standard ship armaments. Each family has a distinct operating principle, a distinct cost profile, and a distinct set of rules.

Kinetic Weapons

Kinetic weapons are guns: autocannons, railguns, coilguns, mass drivers, and rotary cannons. They fire physical projectiles at high velocity.

Operating principle: Physical acceleration of projectile mass. No reactor energy consumed during flight. The projectile arrives regardless of what the target's power plant is doing.

Heat profile: Low. Kinetics are thermally cheap. A crew running a railgun battery alongside a beam weapon can sustain both without quickly overwhelming the cooling system.

Power Load: Low. Kinetics draw power to cycle, aim, and magnetically accelerate, but demand is modest compared to energy weapons.

Ammunition: All kinetic weapons use physical magazines. Running dry mid-fight is a real possibility. Resupply is available at most established ports.

Kinetic-specific rules:

• Piercing: Most kinetic weapons carry the Piercing tag, ignoring 1–3 points of Armor depending on weapon size.
• Recoil: Firing kinetics while performing Evasive Movement or while in Uncontrolled Drift adds 1 Bane Die to the Pilot's action that round. Heavy kinetics impose this penalty more broadly.
• Ammunition Explosion: If a kinetic weapon system takes 3 or more System Damage from a single hit, the GM may call for an Average Craft Trial. On failure, a magazine fault adds 2 Heat and 1 System Damage. On a Calamity, the magazine detonates: 3 Hull Damage, 4 Heat, weapon offline.

Best against: Armored hulls, any target at medium to long range, sustained engagements where heat management matters.

Weak against: Fast evasive targets at extreme range (projectiles are easier to dodge). Point defense cannot intercept kinetics.

Guided Ordnance

Missiles, torpedoes, smart rockets, and specialized warheads. Their defining feature is guidance: they adjust course in flight, track targets, and continue pursuing if they miss.

Operating principle: Self-propelled munitions with onboard or remotely guided targeting.

Heat profile: Low. Guided ordnance generates minimal Heat at launch. The thermal cost falls on the target's point defense.

Power Load: Low. Launching missiles is mechanically cheap. The expense is the missile itself.

Ammunition: Very limited. A missile rack carries 4 to 12 shots depending on weapon size. When empty, the weapon cannot fire.

Guided ordnance rules:

• Lock-On: Before firing, the gunner or Fire Control must establish a target lock. A lock is gained automatically if the target is in a valid arc with no active ECM. If ECM is active, a Fire Control Trial is required. A lock is lost if the target moves to a new range band or ECM breaks it.
• Tracking: A missile that misses on its first round pursues the target for one additional round. The target must evade again or the missile makes a second attack at -1 damage.
• Interceptable: The target may use Point Defense or ECM against guided ordnance before it hits.
• Payload: With advance preparation (loading at port, at least 1 hour), missiles may carry alternate warheads. See the Ordnance Payload Table in Chapter 16.

Best against: Targets at long or extreme range, ships without point defense.

Weak against: Ships with active point defense, ships running ECM.

Beam Weapons

Lasers, particle beams, cutting beams, and high-energy lances. Energy delivered directly to the target. No ammunition. No flight time.

Operating principle: Coherent or collimated energy directed from emitter to target. The beam arrives the instant it fires.

Heat profile: High. A ship firing a laser battery every round adds 3 Heat per round before other sources. Engineers managing beam-heavy ships must stay ahead of the Heat track.

Power Load: Moderate. Beam weapons draw reactor power while targeting and firing, competing with deflection screens, plasma weapons, and engine overburn.

Ammunition: None. Beam weapons are reactor-fed.

Beam weapon rules:

• Accurate: Beam weapons remove 1 Bane Die caused by target movement or evasion.
• Precision: Most beam weapons can target a specific ship system at -2 damage. On a hit, the Precision attack adds 1 System Damage to the targeted system in addition to Hull Damage.
• Signature Bloom: Firing a beam weapon creates a detectable energy signature. Most beam weapons add 1–3 Bane Dice to Signature Management until end of next round.
• Cooldown: Heavy beam weapons (Particle Lance, Capital Lance Array) cannot be fired in consecutive rounds without heat consequences.

Best against: Any target at medium range, evasive targets (Accurate compensates), targets you want to disable rather than destroy.

Weak against: Heavily armored targets (beam damage is meaningfully reduced by good Armor).

Plasma Weapons

Superheated plasma delivered at short range. Devastating damage. Armor-stripping. The engineer hates them. They work.

Operating principle: Plasma is expensive to generate, expensive to contain, and violent on contact. The crew must get close enough to use them and survive doing so.

Heat profile: Very high. A Plasma Projector adds 4 Heat per shot. A Heavy Plasma Cannon adds 5. A ship relying on plasma weapons must have excellent Heat Dissipation or accept pushing its Heat Threshold quickly.

Power Load: High. Plasma weapons draw 3–5 Power Load while firing. Firing plasma and maintaining deflection screens simultaneously strains most reactors.

Ammunition: Reactor-fed. No physical magazine. Plasma weapons compete with every active system for Power Load.

Plasma weapon rules:

• Armor Breaker: Plasma weapons ignore 1–3 points of Armor depending on size.
• Burn: On a Boon result, the target gains 2–3 additional Heat in addition to normal damage. This can push an already-strained ship into a Heat crisis.
• Close Range: Plasma weapons deal bonus damage at Engaged range and reduced damage at the outer edge of their range.
• Overheat: Firing a plasma weapon when the ship is already at a significant portion of its Heat Threshold triggers a Craft Trial. Failure generates additional Heat.
• Volatile: If a plasma weapon system takes any damage, the engineer makes a Craft Trial. Failure makes the weapon inoperative. A Calamity may cause detonation: Hull Damage and significant Heat.

Best against: Targets at close range, armored targets, ships already running hot.

Weak against: Targets that maintain distance, any situation where the pilot cannot close.

Disruption Weapons

Ion cannons, EMP projectors, and electronic attack beams. These weapons do not try to destroy ships. They try to make ships stop working.

Operating principle: Directed electromagnetic or ionic discharge that damages electronic systems, disrupts power routing, and creates System Damage without necessarily destroying hull integrity.

Heat profile: Moderate. Not thermally cheap, not plasma-level either.

Power Load: Moderate. Comparable to beam weapons.

Ammunition: None for most systems. EMP Projectors use a rechargeable capacitor with limited charges.

Disruption weapon rules:

• Ion: System Damage from ion weapons bypasses most Armor. Deflection Screens reduce incoming System Damage by 1 (screens still help, but they were not designed for ionic attacks).
• Disable: On 3 or more net Successes, the attacker may choose one named core system on the target. That system is disabled for 1 round and requires a Craft Trial to restore.
• Boarding Support: When used against a ship the crew intends to board, a successful Disable result reduces boarding-resistance Trials.
• Overload: Heavy ion weapons (Heavy Ion Cannon, Disruption Lance) can disable two systems simultaneously on 4 or more net Successes.

Best against: Ships you want to capture or disable rather than destroy, ships without hardened military electronics.

Weak against: Military ships with hardened electronics (add Bane Dice against them), situations requiring a quick resolution.

Gravitic and Phase Weapons

Rare, restricted, and frightening. These weapons bypass conventional defenses, alter movement, and in some cases prevent ships from leaving. Civilian possession is a serious crime across all five powers.

Operating principle: These weapons interact with gravity or phase geometry rather than conventional energy. Gravitic weapons project localized field disruptions that bypass Armor entirely. Phase weapons exist in a slightly different physical state that bypasses deflection screens.

Heat profile: High.

Power Load: High.

Ammunition: None for most systems. Rare component-based for Slipstream Interdiction.

Gravitic and phase rules:

• Armor Bypass: Gravitic weapons ignore all Armor. Deflection Screens provide no protection.
• Screen Penetrating: Phase weapons bypass deflection screens. Armor functions normally.
• Forced Drift: Gravitic weapons can force the target into Uncontrolled Drift on a hit.
• Navigation Damage: These weapons apply System Damage directly to Navigation Suite and Slipstream Drive.
• Authority Heat: Every confirmed use is logged by relay traffic analysis. All five powers note it.
• Unstable: If the weapon system takes damage, the engineer makes a Craft Trial. Failure may trigger field inversion or detonation.
• Restricted: Military authorization required across all five powers.

Best against: Any target (bypasses major defense layers), ships attempting to flee via Slipstream.

Weak against: The crew's legal standing and relationships with every power in known space.

Firing Arcs

A mounted weapon can only fire in the direction it points. The ship's facing determines which weapons can bear on which targets.

The Arc System

A weapon may cover more than one arc. Turret-mounted weapons typically cover Omnidirectional or a broad sector. Fixed weapons cover Fixed Forward only.

Fixed Versus Turreted

Fixed mounts are mechanically stronger per weapon than turreted equivalents. Fixed weapons deal more damage, have longer effective range, generate less Heat per shot, or cost fewer Hardpoints than an equivalent turret. The ship must maneuver to bring the weapon to bear.

Turreted mounts sacrifice some performance for flexibility. Turrets are more expensive, heavier, more prone to jamming under damage, and carry a more complex maintenance burden.

Arc Restrictions in Play

When a target is not in a weapon's arc, the weapon cannot fire at that target. The pilot must maneuver to bring the arc around, which costs an action.

The Firing Procedure

When a crew member fires a ship weapon, resolve the following steps in order.

Step 1: Declare target and weapon. The gunner declares which weapon fires at which target. Only one weapon system fires per Gunnery action unless a talent or ship trait says otherwise.

Step 2: Check arc. Confirm the target is in the weapon's firing arc given current ship facing. If not, the shot cannot be taken. The action is spent.

Step 3: Check range. Confirm the target is within the weapon's effective range band. Firing outside maximum range is not possible.

Step 4: Check Power Load. Add the weapon's Power Load to current active Power Load. If total exceeds Power Capacity, the engineer must immediately respond. If the engineer cannot compensate, the shot still fires but the power crisis must be resolved.

Step 5: Make the Gunnery check. The gunner makes an attack roll using their applicable skill (typically Gunnery or Fire Control) modified by the weapon's tags, range band, target evasion, and any active Fire Control bonuses.

Step 6: Track Heat. After firing, add the weapon's listed Heat to the ship's Heat track. This happens regardless of whether the shot hits.

Step 7: Resolve hits. On success, calculate damage: base damage minus target Armor, minus any screen reduction. Apply remaining damage as Hull Damage. Apply System Damage listed on the weapon. Apply tag effects (Burn, Forced Drift, Disable, etc.).

Excess Successes: Each Success beyond the minimum may be spent:

• +1 Hull Damage
• Apply a tag effect that normally requires a Boon result
• Force additional System Damage to a chosen system
• Add 1 Bane Die to one of the target's defensive actions next round

Threats and Crises on Weapon Fire

The GM may spend Banes generated during a Gunnery check to create complications beyond the miss.

A Calamity on a weapon fire is serious: the weapon may detonate (Volatile weapons), the targeting system may lock up (Hard Craft Trial to reset), or a magazine chain reaction may begin.

Ammunition and Fuel

Weapons That Use Ammunition

The following weapon families require physical ammunition:

• Kinetic weapons (all): Physical magazines, 4–40 rounds depending on weapon.
• Guided ordnance (all): Each missile or torpedo is one shot, 4–12 per magazine.
• EMP Projector: Rechargeable capacitor, 3 charges.
• Countermissile Launcher (defense): 8-shot magazine.
• Slipstream Interdiction System: Rare components, 4 shots per component set.

Tracking Ammunition

Track ammunition in three states: Loaded (more than half magazine remaining), Low (fewer than half), and Empty (cannot fire). For high-value limited weapons (Torpedo Launcher at 4 shots, Capital Torpedo Battery at 4 shots), track exact count.

Reloading

Kinetic weapons (except Heavy and Capital Mass Driver): Reload between encounters automatically if ammunition is available.

Heavy Mass Driver: Requires 1 crew action or 2 Boons spent during the round to reload between shots.

Capital Mass Driver: Requires 2 crew actions or 4 Boons to reload between shots.

Torpedo Launcher: Requires 1 crew action to load the next torpedo before firing.

Capital Torpedo Battery: Requires 2 crew actions to reload.

Resupply: Light kinetic ammunition is available at most ports. Heavy kinetics and standard missiles are available at established ports. Capital-scale ordnance, specialty warheads, and gravitic components require military supply or specialist contacts.

Armor

Armor is passive protection. It requires no action, no Power Load, and no crew attention. It is always present.

How Armor Works

Armor reduces incoming Hull Damage before it is applied to the ship's Hull Points. A hit dealing 8 Hull Damage against a ship with Armor 3 deals 5 Hull Damage.

Armor does not reduce System Damage. An ion pulse that deals 4 System Damage applies all 4 regardless of Armor rating.

Armor Ratings

Model armor is set at construction. Typical commercial hull armor ranges from 1 (VN-33C1, Safa S3) to 4 (CM-640). Armor upgrades are Core System modifications that do not consume Module Slots.

Armor and Weapon Families

Deflection Screens

Deflection screens are active energy-defense systems. They draw Power Load continuously while running and generate Heat each time they absorb an incoming energy weapon hit.

How Screens Work

Screens add Defense Bonus (Bane Dice to energy weapon attacks) and provide Damage Reduction against energy hits. They are largely ineffective against physical kinetic rounds.

Screens and Armor work together. Screens reduce incoming energy damage first. What gets through is then reduced by Armor. A heavily screened, well-armored ship can sustain serious beam fire, until the engineer's Power budget runs out.

Heat from screens: Each time a screen absorbs a hit, the ship gains Heat equal to the screen's listed Heat-per-hit value. Screens under sustained beam fire push ships toward their Heat Threshold as surely as firing plasma weapons does.

Screen Overload: If a screen system takes System Damage, it loses 1 Defense Bonus die and 1 Damage Reduction until repaired. At 3 or more System Damage, the screen collapses and must be restarted (1 crew action, Average Craft Trial).

Available Screen Systems

Directional Screen Emitter: The Defensive Control officer chooses which facing to reinforce at the start of each round. If the pilot changes facing without the Defensive Control officer updating the screen orientation, the screen may be pointing the wrong way. This is intentional tactical pressure.

Pulse Screen Generator: Triggered as a Defensive Control action before an attack resolves. Provides full protection for that round only. Requires 2 rounds of charging (drawing 1 Power Load during charging) before it can pulse again.

Thermal Dispersion Screen: Against plasma weapons, the Burn tag does not generate Heat on this ship. Against heavy plasma weapons, Armor Breaker penetration is reduced by 1.

Military Screen Array: Provides partial protection against Phase Shear weapons (reduces damage by 1 rather than 0). Authority heat consequences.

What Screens Do Not Stop

Screens provide no protection against:

• Kinetic weapons (physical impact, not energy)
• Disruption weapons (ion/EMP bypass screens by design)
• Gravitic weapons (gravitic distortion ignores screen fields entirely)
• Phase weapons with Screen Penetrating tag
• Ramming and collisions

Point Defense Systems

Point defense destroys incoming threats before they hit the ship: missiles, torpedoes, drones, boarding pods, fighters, and debris.

Point Defense Weapons

Individual point-defense weapons occupy Weapon Hardpoints:

Light Rotary Cannon: May be used as a Weapon Reaction to intercept incoming ordnance. Point Defense tag. Standard kinetic profile.

Flak Cannon: Wide-pattern kinetic. May intercept and deals 6 Hull Damage against missiles and small craft instead of its standard 4. Point Defense tag.

Point-Defense Laser: Primary function is interception. May be used as a Weapon Reaction. Accurate tag removes 1 Bane Die caused by target movement.

Point Defense Suites

Coordinated defense suites occupy Module Slots rather than Weapon Hardpoints:

Automated Defense Grid (Module Slot 1): Adds +1 to the Interception Rating of every installed PD weapon. Requires operational AI Core. Does not fire independently.

Countermissile Launcher (Module Slot 1): 2 independent intercepts per round. Magazine 8. Automatic interception against Heavy Payload ordnance; no additional Trial required.

Defense Drone Bay (Module Slot 1): 2 flexible-arc intercepts per round. 4 drones per bay. Drones reposition each round for omnidirectional coverage. Vulnerable to enemy ECM.

Military Close-In Defense System (Module Slots 2): 4 automatic intercepts per round, all arcs simultaneously. Active, restricted. Generates 1 Heat per round of active engagement.

The Interception Procedure

A point defense system may be used as a free Weapon Reaction out of turn sequence when incoming ordnance is declared. This does not cost the ship's weapon action unless the entry specifies otherwise.

Interception Rating is the number of individual threats the system can attempt to intercept per round. Against a salvo of 4 missiles, a system with Interception Rating 2 handles two and leaves two to proceed.

Against missiles and torpedoes with the Interceptable tag: match Interception Rating against incoming count. Against Heavy Payload or Reload ordnance (torpedoes), a Fire Control Trial at Average difficulty is required per interception attempt.

Saturation: Point defense can be overwhelmed by volume. A Salvo Missile System firing 4 missiles at a ship with Interception Rating 2 gets 2 missiles through. This is why salvos exist.

Electronic Countermeasures

ECM systems disrupt targeting and sensor systems. They matter most before the shot is fired.

ECM Effects

ECM does not help against unguided kinetics. Against a railgun firing on a visual solution, ECM provides nothing. Its domain is guided weapons, sensor-based targeting, and anything requiring a target lock.

Signal Scrambler (Module Slot 1): +1 Bane Die to all enemy Lock-On attempts and attacks requiring a sensor lock. Running a scrambler is itself detectable: adds 1 Bane Die to Signature Management while active.

Chaff and Decoy Pods (no Module Slot): Reactive system, 6 charges. Breaks one active missile lock or adds 2 Bane Dice to all incoming ordnance this round.

Ghost Transmitter Array (Module Slot 1): Projects 1–3 false sensor signatures. Each false signature adds 1 Bane Die to attacks against the real ship (maximum +3). Incompatible with running cold and quiet: choose one.

Military Electronic Warfare Suite (Module Slots 2): Defensively adds +2 Bane Dice to all guided weapons and +1 Bane to electronic-targeting attacks. Offensively, the sensor operator can jam enemy systems, break missile locks on allied ships, or attempt cyberattacks on enemy AI Cores. Generates Heat per round of offensive use.

Breaking Locks

A crew member at the Sensors/Comms station may spend an action attempting to break an active missile lock:

• Without ECM equipment: Hard Electronic Warfare (or Craft) Trial.
• With Signal Scrambler active: Average Electronic Warfare Trial.
• With Military EW Suite active: Average Electronic Warfare Trial with +1 Boon Die.

On success, the missile lock is broken. The tracking missile must reacquire next round against applicable defenses.

Evasive Maneuvers

The pilot's best contribution to the ship's defense is making it hard to hit. Evasion is a combination of engines, thrusters, pilot skill, and willingness to trade position for survivability.

Evasive Movement

When the pilot performs Evasive Movement as their maneuver:

• Incoming weapon attacks add 1 Bane Die.
• The pilot adds 1 Bane Die to their own weapon attacks this round.
• Kinetic weapons with the Recoil tag impose additional penalties when fired during Evasive Movement.

Evasive Movement is never free. The pilot who evades gives up firing position, arc alignment, and often range control.

Evasive System Upgrades

Vector Thruster Package (Core System upgrade): +1 to Handling permanently. Pilot Trials for facing changes or arc-denial cost 1 fewer Boon to achieve optimal arc.

Combat Thruster Overburn (Core System upgrade): Active mode. +1 Power Load while burning, 2 Heat per round. Incoming attacks add 1 Bane Die. The pilot also adds 1 Bane Die to their own weapons. If overburn runs 3 consecutive rounds without interruption, the engineer makes an Average Craft Trial or the thruster system takes 1 System Damage.

Evasion Plot System (AI Core upgrade): Removes 1 Bane Die from Pilot Trials for Evasive Movement. Requires operational AI Core.

Gravitic Maneuvering Package (Core System upgrade, restricted): 3 Power Load while active, 1 Heat per round performing gravitic maneuvers. +2 Bane Dice to incoming attacks. The pilot does not add Bane Dice to their own weapons. The ship may change facing as a free action each round. Funtari military technology; unauthorized possession draws Confederacy attention.

Arc Denial

A pilot who understands arc denial can protect the ship by positioning rather than speed: turning the armored facing toward incoming fire, staying behind the enemy's forward arc, and denying the enemy's best weapons. These choices reduce incoming damage without any active defense expenditure.

Damage Control

Damage control is the defense that matters after armor and screens fail. It keeps a ship functional when systems are compromised.

Emergency Repair Action

• Trigger: Any round when the ship has System Damage on one or more systems.
• Check: Craft Trial, difficulty based on damage severity (Easy for minor faults, Average for disabled systems, Hard for catastrophic damage).
• Cost: 1 Engineering action.
• Outcome on success: Remove 1 System Damage from one specified system. Each Boon beyond the first removes 1 additional System Damage from the same or an adjacent system.
• Failure state: The action is spent with no benefit. Banes may worsen the damage or consume parts.

Damage Control Action

• Trigger: Any round when the ship has an ongoing cascade, active fire, hull breach, or compartment emergency.
• Check: Average Craft Trial unless complications increase it.
• Cost: 1 crew action.
• Outcome on success: Stop one ongoing cascade. Or seal one breached compartment. Or suppress one fire.
• Failure state: The cascade or breach continues.

What Cannot Be Fixed in the Field

Field damage control stops ongoing damage and restores partial function. It does not:

• Restore Hull Points beyond the Emergency Patch limit.
• Replace destroyed system components.
• Clear damage requiring dry-dock access or specialist parts.
• Permanently repair weapon systems that have detonated.

Full repair rules are in Chapter 11.

Damage Control Modules

Repair Drone Network (Module Slot 1): At the start of each round, automatically attempts to remove 1 System Damage (Average Craft Trial, assumed automatic for non-critical damage). Adds 1 Boon Die to crew Craft Trials for emergency patches. Vulnerable to enemy ECM.

Redundant Power Grid (Core System upgrade): When a power-connected system suffers System Damage that would disable it, the grid holds it online at reduced function for 1 additional round. Reduces Power Load cascades.

Emergency Bulkhead System (Module Slot 1): When a compartment is breached or fires, seals it automatically without a crew action. Boarders must bypass sealed bulkheads (Average Craft Trial or 1 extra round per bulkhead). The compartment may have crew or cargo trapped on the wrong side.

Military Damage Control Grid (Module Slots 2): Automatically removes 1 System Damage per round without a Trial. Adds 2 Boon Dice to crew Craft Trials for combat repairs. Reduces Calamity cascade severity by one step. Restricted.

Damage and Defense Cross-Reference

Power Budget Reference

Running active defenses consumes Power Load. A Scale 4 ship with Power Capacity 7–9 running screens and scrambler (4 Power Load) has 3–5 Power Load remaining for weapons and engines. Choices matter.