Capital Ship Battle Rules?

[The Bissler]

Thanks - I'll have a look at that!

I'm going into a RPG session just now, so hopefully I'll have something done tomorrow that I'll post up here for you to read up.

[The Bissler]

Okay, here's what I've put together so far. Obviously, most of it is your work CR! Most of it is almost identical to what you'd originally posted, but I've tweaked things here and there.

Capital Ship Initiative:

Before combat begins, the Initiative order for each ship has to be resolved. To determine this, each Commander carries out the following two rolls:

Tactics: All commanders make opposing Tactics rolls. The Commander who wins receives the following bonus to his Initiative Roll:
1-10 = Your ship receives a +1D bonus to Initiative.
11-20 = Your ship receives a +1D bonus to Initiative and may redeclare its actions for that round after the enemy has declared theirs.
21+ = Your ship receives a +1D bonus to Initiative, may gain +1D to any crew skill (limited to a single unit type and single arc if applied to Capital Ship Gunnery) and may redeclare its actions for that round after the enemy has declared theirs.
Perception: All Commanders then roll Initiative using Perception as is normal. This will set the order for multiple Capital Ships to act.

Retaking the Initiative: At the start of a turn, a Commander can attempt to take back the Initiative by declaring a Tactical Adjustment. A fresh opposing Tactics roll is required from every Commander, with the Commander declaring the Tactical Adjustment suffering a -1D penalty to their roll (it's hard to turn the tide when you're under pressure). The results of the Tactics roll and the subsequent Initiative roll are applied as set out above.

Capital Ship Command:

The Ship's Commander is the key character in determining a vessel's success in any given turn. The Commander makes his Command Roll based on the number of crew on board the ship (see Appendix A). For the purposes of my group, the difficulty to successfully Command Nowhere is 12. (It should be 15, but I have reduced the difficulty as the ship is mostly manned by droids who are more compliant than a human/alien crew.)

Command Roll Result:
Success: For every 3 points above target roll, add one pip to crew skills.
Failure: For every 3 points below target roll, subtract one pip from crew skills.

Capital Ship Piloting:

Unless the Capital Ship is performing a tricky manoeuvre (such as navigating asteroids or flying close to other Capital-size ships), it is assumed that the Capital Ship is in open space and can be moved as desired, within movement limitations (namely the ship's speed, i.e.Space).

Note that, like other Spacecraft, Capital Ships may not fire on a turn that they move All-Out (quadruple Space). This is because all power is being distributed to the ship's engines.

Turning: Capital Ships are not built for manoeuvrability. A Capital Ship may only turn up to 90 degrees if flying at cautious speed, or up to 45 degrees at any other speed. This means that a ship would take two turns at cautious speed to turn right around, or four turns at any other speed.

No Capital Ship Piloting roll is required for any of the above. However, if a Capital Ship is in open space, flying at Cruising or High Speed, a Capital Ship Piloting roll may be made as a Full Reaction. This result of this roll will be added to the built in difficulty rolls (chiefly range: Point Blank Very Easy, Short Range Easy, Medium Range Moderate, Long Range Difficult). A Full Reaction cannot be moved for ships moving at Cautious Speed (too slow to effectively evade) or at All-Out (full power has been put into simply moving the ship at full pelt to take evasive action).

Capital Ship Shields:

You have enough dice to roll and crews are unlikely to fail Capital Shields rolls. Simply allocate your shields to whichever arcs you wish (front, back, left and right). Obviously, you will want to put most shields into the arc most under threat - but this may not always be an easy decision!

Capital Ship Gunnery:

Targeting & Fire Arcs: Capital Ships can target ships in each fire arc (i.e. left, right, front, and occasionally rear). Enemy ships which lie within a particular fire arc can be targeted with a single or multiple weapons on that arc.

Example: A Star Destroyer has a YT-1300 freighter and a Corellian Corvette in its left arc, and a Mon Calamari Cruiser in its front arc. The Star Destroyer may fire all of its front arc weapons at the Mon Calamari Cruiser, and may split the weapons on its left arc to fire upon both the YT-1300 freighter and the Corellian Corvette - or fire everything at one of the two targets.

A single Gunnery roll is made each turn for each weapon type on a Capital Ship on each arc. i.e. One roll for all Turbolasers, one for all Laser Cannon, one for all Ion Cannon. The Gunnery roll is modified by Fire Control. If the roll to hit exceeds the target's relevant Pilot Skill, roll for damage as well. Both the Gunnery roll and/or the Damage roll can be improved upon with Battery Dice (see below).

Example:
Front Arc: The Star Destroyer fires its Turbolasers and Ion Cannon at the Mon Calamari Corvette. A roll to hit is made for each weapon.
Left Arc: The Star Destroyer opts to fire its Turbolasers at the Corellian Corvette and its Ion Cannon at the YT-1300. A roll to hit is made for each weapon at the relevant target.

Battery Dice: To represent the sheer scale of coordinated firepower from a capital ship, the weapons receive Battery Dice which can be used to either bolster the Gunnery. The Battery Dice are shown under the Fire Arc stat on the Capital Ships. These must be allocated before any rolls are made - or are lost if they are not.

Battery Dice and Range: The effectiveness of a Battery is reduced at range. Subtract -1D for Short Range, -2D for Medium Range, and -3D for Long Range. There is no penalty for Point Blank fire.

Example:
Front Arc: Both the Turbolasers and the Ion Cannon each benefit from 4D Battery Dice on the front of the Star Destroyer. The Mon Calamari ship is at Medium Range which equates to -2D, so the Battery Dice on each are reduced from 4D to 2D. On both, the Commander decides to put 1D into the roll to hit and 1D into the Damage, increasing the Capital Ship Gunnery rolls from 4D+1 to 5D+1 and Turbolaser Damage from 5D to 6D and Ion Cannon Damage from 3D to 4D.
Left Arc: The Turbolaser has 4D Battery Dice while the Ion Cannon has 3D+2 Battery Dice. The Corellian Corvette and the YT-1300 are at short range (-1D), meaning 3D Battery dice are available for the Turbolasers and 2D+2 for the Ion Cannon. For the Turbolaser attack on the Corellian Corvette, the Commander puts 1D into the roll to hit and 2D into damage, increasing the Capital Ship Gunnery to 5D+1 and Turbolaser Damage to 7D while, mindful of the added difficulty of hitting a smaller scale target, adds all 2D+2 of the battery dice for the Ion Cannon attack on the YT-1300, increasing Capital Ship Gunnery to 7D (4D+1 + 2D+2 = 7D, remember 3 pips = 1D).

Capital Ship Damage:

REVISED STARSHIP DAMAGE CHART (use chart from rulebook, page 137 REUP rules, except as noted):

Shields Drained. (replaces Shields Blown). The ship's Shields are reduced to 0D for the remainder of this round. The ship suffers no permanent damage, and the Shields are recharged to full strength by the beginning of the next round. If the ship has no shields to begin with, it suffers the Ionization result instead.

Ionization. The ship's controls are temporarily overwhelmed by power surges. All actions involving ship systems suffer a -1D penalty; this affects Maneuverability, Weapons, Sensors, Shields, Astrogation, and even Hull (Particle Shields, up to a maximum of -2D). All penalties are cumulative (stack with other Ionization penalties) and temporary (roll off at a rate of 1D per round). Any ship system reduced to 0D by penalties can not be used until enough penalty dice roll off. In particular:
0D Maneuverability = Ship must maintain same heading and speed, in addition to any Lost Moves.

0D Fire Control = Weapon may not be fired.
In addition, each -1D Ionization penalty inflicts 1 Lost Move (See below for Lost Moves).

Lightly Damaged.
1. Ship loses -1D to Maneuverability (If Maneuverability is at 0D, it suffers -1 Move)
2. Sensors Damaged. Re-roll 1D:
1-3. Sensor Suite Damaged. -1D to all Sensor and Astrogation rolls.
4-6. Fire Control Damaged. -1D to all Fire Control.
3. Weapons Damaged. Re-roll 1D:
1-3. One on-board weapon emplacement is rendered inoperative by a major power surge or system failure; it's lightly damaged. Randomly determine which weapon is affected.
4-6. One on-board weapon system is hit on the arc attacked; subtract 1D from Battery Dice for that Weapon
4. Hyperdrive Damaged. Double the Astrogation Time to Use; if the pilot wants to try to jump to hyperspace in one round, add +10 to Difficulty.
5. Shields Blown. The ship loses 1D from its Shields total, which lasts until the shields are repaired. If the ship has no remaining dice in Shields, the penalty is applied to the ship's Particle Shields (Hull) up to a maximum of -2D. If the Particle Shields are already reduced by 2D, the ship suffers the Controls Ionized result.
6. Engines Damaged. -1 Move

Heavily Damaged.
If a Heavily Damaged ship is Lightly Damaged or Heavily Damaged again, it becomes Severely Damaged.
1. Ship loses -2D to Maneuverability (If Maneuverability is at 0D, it suffers -2 Move)
2. Sensors Badly Damaged. Re-roll 1D:
1-3. Sensor Suite Damaged. -2D to all Sensor and Astrogation rolls.
4-6. Fire Control Damaged. -2D to all Fire Control
3. Weapons Badly Damaged. Re-Roll 1D:
1-3. All weapons of one type in one fire arc are rendered inoperative due to a major power surge or system failure, and must be repaired before they can be used again.
4-6. All weapons of one type in one fire arc are destroyed by a series of power overloads.
4. Hyperdrive Damaged. Increase all Astrogation Difficulties by +10 until drive is repaired (Moderate Repair roll and 1 hour of work)
5. Shields Blown. The ship loses 2D from its Shields total, which lasts until the shields are repaired. If the ship has no remaining dice in Shields, the penalty is applied to the ship's Particle Shields (Hull) up to a maximum of -2D. If the Particle Shields are already reduced by 2D, the ship suffers the Controls Ionized result.
6. Engines Damaged. -2 Move

Severely Damaged.
If a Severely Damaged ship is damaged again, it is Destroyed (or becomes Catastrophically Damaged, at GM's discretion).
1. Dead In Space. All drives and maneuvering systems are destroyed. The vehicle is adrift in space.
2. Overloaded Reactor. The ship's reactor is overloading; unless it's shut down (Easy Repair Roll), the reactor will explode in 1D rounds and destroy the ship.
3. Disabled Hyperdrive. The ship's hyperdrives - main and backup - are damaged. The ship cannot enter hyperspace until they are fixed with a Moderate Repair roll and one hour of work.
4. Disabled Weapons. All weapons systems lose power. Roll 1D:
1-4: Weapons are Severely Damaged but may be repaired.
5-6: All weapons aboard the ship are Destroyed.

5 - Controls Damaged / Bridge Smashed. The ship's control systems are badly damaged. -3D to all skill rolls. For starfighters and space transports, the ship's control linkages and computer systems have been damaged; for capital ships, the ship's bridge or other central command station has taken a direct hit, killing or injuring many of the ship's senior officers (roll for Passenger Damage below).
6. Sensors Destroyed. All Sensors are rendered inoperable. Fire Control is reduced by -4D, and Piloting and Astrogation suffer a -4D penalty due to the loss of all sensor support for navigation purposes.

Destroyed. - The ship is instantly destroyed and explodes in a ball of flame. Everyone aboard is killed (GMs may make exceptions for major NPCs or recurring villains at their discretion).

Catastrophic Damage. (Replaces Destroyed for PC-manned ships at GM's discretion)
1-3 - Structural Damage. The ship is so badly damaged that it begins to come apart. The crew has 1D rounds to abandon ship before it is destroyed. Due to damage, the interior of the ship is treated as Moderate Terrain for characters trying to get to the escape pods.
4-5 - Blazing Hulk. The ship is badly damaged and fire rages inside. Roll 1D every round; on a 1, the ship explodes. Due to damage and internal fires, the interior of the ship is treated as Very Difficult Terrain for characters trying to get to the escape pods.
6 - Destroyed. The ship instantly explodes in a ball of flame, and all aboard suffer 12D damage.


LOST MOVES
Lost Moves are cumulative. For example, a starship that suffers a -1 Move result, then a -2 Move result is at -3 Moves.

-1 Move = The ship is limited to High Speed.
-2 Moves = The ship is limited to Cruising Speed.
-3 Moves = The ship is limited to Cautious Speed.
-4 Moves = The ship's drives are disabled; it's dead in space. The drives can be repaired, but are Severely Damaged.
-5 Moves = The ship's drives are destroyed; it's dead in space and the drives can not be repaired. The ship must either be abandoned or towed to a shipyard where a replacement engine can be installed.


PASSENGER DAMAGE
Passengers may be injured when a ship suffers damage or crashes. Use your judgment to decide whether a character takes damage, using the following chart as a baseline:
Lightly Damaged: 1D
Heavily Damaged: 3D
Severely Damaged: 6D
Destroyed: 12D
When calculating damage to crew and passengers aboard larger ships (with crews in the dozens to hundreds of thousands), use the following penalties, applied to the ship's Crew Skill dice values, representing how crew casualties affect the crew's ability as a whole to operate the ship.
Lightly Damaged - -1D for 1 round.
Heavily Damaged - -3D for 1 round, -2D for remainder of battle, -1D until crew casualties can be replaced.
Severely Damaged - -6D for 1 round, -4D for remainder of battle, -2D until crew casualties can be replaced.
Catastrophic Damage - Special: reserved for PC manned ships. Characters will have an indeterminate number of rounds to evacuate the ship before it is Destroyed.
Destroyed - All crew killed. The only exceptions will be NPCs who managed to make it to escape pods with seconds to spare. This allows the GM to preserve the life of major villains and such in the interests of continuing the story.


IONIZATION DAMAGE
Ionization damage can have a cumulative effect that completely overwhelms a ship's systems, causing permanent damage that must be repaired before the ship can be used. Using the following chart for cumulative Ionization damage:
0-4 = 1D Ionization
5-8 = 2D Ionization
9-12 = 3D Ionization
13-16 = 4D Ionization
17+ = Controls Dead (See Below)
If in a single round, Ionization damage exceeds 4D, it causes permanent damage to the target ship's systems. For example, if a ship suffering a -2D Ionization penalty is hit by an ion cannon for 3D of Ionization Damage, totalling 5D Ionization, the ship suffers the Controls Dead result, and is dead in space, adrift, with all drives, maneuvering and other ship systems disabled. For degree of damage, use the following chart:
17-20 (5D Ionization) = Controls Dead (Lightly Damaged)
21-24 (6D Ionization) = Controls Dead (Heavily Damaged)
25-28 (7D Ionization) = Controls Dead (Severely Damaged)
29+ (8D Ionization) = Controls Dead (Destroyed)
Repair Difficulties and Times are as listed under the appropriate Repair skill.

Once a ship has been disabled by a Controls Dead result, it can no longer suffer additional Ionization results until it is repaired. This is due to blown circuit breakers and loss of power protecting ship's systems from additional power surges.


Appendix A: Command Difficulty based on Crew Size
Crew Size (including gunners) = Command Difficulty
1-19 = Very Easy (1)
20-39 = Very Easy (2)
40-59 = Very Easy (3)
60-79 = Very Easy (4)
80-99 = Very Easy (5)
100-279 = Easy (6)
280-459 = Easy (7)
460-639 = Easy (8)
640-819 = Easy (9)
820-999 = Easy (10)
1,000-2,799 = Moderate (11)
2,800-4,599 = Moderate (12)
4,600-6,399 = Moderate (13)
6,400-8,199 = Moderate (14)
8,200-9,999 = Moderate (15)
10,000-27,999 = Difficult (16)
28,000-45,999 = Difficult (17)
46,000-63,999 = Difficult (18)
64,000-81,999 = Difficult (19)
82,000-99,999 = Difficult (20)
100,000-189,999 = Very Difficult (21)
190,000-279,999 = Very Difficult (22)
280,000-369,999 = Very Difficult (23)
370,000-459,999 = Very Difficult (24)
460,000-549,999 = Very Difficult (25)
550,000-639,999 = Very Difficult (26)
640,000-729,999 = Very Difficult (27)
730,000-819,999 = Very Difficult (28)
820,000-909,999 = Very Difficult (29)
910,000-999,999 = Very Difficult (30)
1,000,000+ = Heroic (31 and up)

Appendix B: Capital Ship Stats

Nowhere (Capital Scale):
Quad Turbolasers:
Fire Arcs: 3D Front, 2D+1 Left, 2D+1 Right
Fire Control: 4D
Damage: 6D
Range: 3-15/35/75
Dual Laser Cannon:
Fire Arcs: 3D+2 Front, 3D Left, 3D Right, 2D+1 Rear
Fire Control: 4D
Damage: 5D
Range: 1-5/10/20
Ion Cannon:
Fire Arcs: 2D+1 Front, 2D+1 Left, 2D+1 Right
Fire Control: 4D
Damage: 3D
Range: 1-5/10/20
Star Destroyer (Capital Scale):
Turbolaser Batteries:
Fire Arcs: 4D Front, 4D Left, 4D Right
Fire Control: 4D
Damage: 5D
Range: 3-15/35/75
60 Ion Cannon:
Fire Arcs: 4D Front, 3D+2 Left, 3D+2 Right, 3D Rear
Fire Control: 2D+2
Damage: 3D
Range: 1-10/25/50

[CRMcNeill]

[The Bissler]

[Ray]

Command Difficulty: You have to take into consideration that the Captain isn't commanding his entire crew at once (well, micromanaging horrorshows aside that is), he's ordering his officers and some of the Non-Commissioned Officers. The Officers are ordering NCOs based on the Captain's Orders, then the NCOs are telling the crew from there. Sometimes droids get involved, such as when repairs need to happen in a vacuum, and when something needs to be cleaned up.

On a big enough ship, however, that still makes for one hell of a lot of officers for a Captain to keep track of. And each officer will have a huge amount of NCOs. And the NCOs still have to make sure the crew doesn't screw up (because, let's face it, that's the unofficial job of a crew, isn't it? To make their NCOs and Officers go prematurely grey.)

[CRMcNeill]

[CRMcNeill]

[The Bissler]

[CRMcNeill]

[The Bissler]

[Raven Redstar]

I'm fine with the Captain rolling Perception, I like to think of it as his wits for coming up with his commands at that moment based on information from Sensors. The only benefit that Sensors should be able to give is for actually detecting your enemy before they do, and that comes down to range more than power (dice), IMO.

I haven't been able to read much more, but I'll take a look if I get some time before your game. Looking forward to reading about how this turns out!
_________________
RR
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[The Bissler]

[CRMcNeill]

[CRMcNeill]

[The Bissler]