D-Wing Strategic Reconnaissance Starship

[garhkal]

How's about This for a re-write..

Craft: FreiTek Shadow Works Division's D-Wing
Type: Strategic Reconnaissance Starship
Scale: Starfighter
Length: 32 meters
Skill: Starfighter Piloting: D-Wing
Crew: 2 (1 @ +5), plus 1 Astromech
Crew Skill:
Astrogation 5D+1
Starship Gunnery 5D+2
Starfighter Piloting 7D
Starfighter Shields 4D+1
Sensors 5D
Passengers: None
Cargo Capacity: 200kg.
Consumables: 2 weeks
Hyperdrive Multiplier: x 1/2
Hyperdrive Backup: x8
Nav Computer: Yes
Maneuverability: 0D
Space: 18*
Atmosphere: 900; 2,200 kph*
*Sensor skill rolls to detect and identify the D-Wing receive a +5 bonus if the D-Wing is at Full Speed, and a +10 bonus if it is at All-Out.
Hull: 2D
Shields: 1D (Can also be used in Stealth Mode, which applies a -1D penalty to opposed Sensor rolls, but can not be used in both modes simultaneously). IF Sensor net is deployed, shields can NEVER be placed in the aft arc, or they fry the sensor grid.
-Fire Control Jamming: -3D to all Fire Control rolls targeting the ship (-1D for Capital Ships). If sensor grid is out, this HAS to be turned off, otherwise the sensor net causes a feedback in both the jammer AND the net, shutting both off for 2d rounds.
Sensors:
Passive 60/1D
Scan 75/2D
Search 90/3D
Focus 6/4D
Stealth +1D (Sensor Baffling External Coat)
Game Note: Similar to Y-wing long probes, the sensors are spooled out, and if the ship travels faster than cruise, it causes damage to the sensors. It takes 3 full rounds to spool out or 2 to retract the sensor grid. Going at Full speed causes 4d damage to the sensor grid, and even if they don't take much damage (2d body unless otherwise noted), their effectiveness is reduced 25% across the board for range and -2d.
If the ship attempts flank speed while the sensor net/grid is out, it takes 6d damage, and causes 4d to the rear of the ship with all it's bouncing around.
The sensor grid/net CAN be jettisoned, as the ship speeds up, taking a 'double action' for MAPS though it only requires the pressing of a button, thus allowing the ship to go from cruise to full (or cautious to cruise).

Weapons:
Self-Destruct System
Damage: 9D
Range: 1Su. If the ship takes only a light damage, all those in the same SU, suffer 4d damage. If this ship takes a heavy damage, those in the same SU take 5d+2. If the ship takes a severely damage result, all those in the same SU take 7d+1. Only if the ship is destroyed do other targets take the full 9d damage.
When activating it, the pilot (Or co-pilot) need to roll a moderate Demolitions roll, and if they roll less than a 5 total (or get at least one "1" in addition to the wild die being a "1", then the Self-Destruct system has shorted out and will NOT blow up.
Ion damage can never affect this system, but it takes over the 'Ship destroyed, takes 1d rounds to break apart' spot on the Severely damaged chart.

Capsule:
The D-Wing is a product of the Shadow Works division of Alliance Engineering, which would eventually become part of FreiTek Incorporated after the Restoration of the Republic. Alliance High Command had need of a dedicated reconnaissance platform that could penetrate heavily defended Imperial facilities using a combination of speed and stealth.

To achieve that goal, Shadow Works' designers had to impose some pretty severe compromises on the design. While their previous stealth design, the R-Wing Stealth Strike Starfighter, was extremely stealthy at the expense of speed, the D-Wing was slanted heavily towards speed over stealth.

The D-Wing is visually identical to the classic Baudo-Class Staryacht. The Baudo design was selected due to the sensor dissipating nature of its basic profile. The insides of the ship, however, are a completely different creature. The ship's internal volume is almost entirely consumed by a massive stardrive and sensor array, leaving just enough room in the bow for a cockpit and a cramped living space for the ship's crew.

The D-Wing is capable of cruising at speeds that normal starfighters can only dream about. In fact, the D-Wing is without a doubt the fastest starship in known space, even out pacing the venerated TIE Defenders, and her engines produce a spectacular fireworks show when she goes to full thrust. An unfortunate side effect is that the massive energy signature produced by the engines actually disrupts the very sensors that allow the D-Wing to perform its reconnaissance missions. As a result, the D-Wing is usually forced to dart into a target area and drop to minimal speed to get a clean sensor sweep before reengaging its drives to escape before enemy forces can intercept it. D-Wing missions often resemble a deadly game of cat-and-mouse in space.

In addition, to achieve the ship's awesome speed capability, the designers were forced to exclude any sort of armament, so the D-Wing is entirely dependent on speed and stealth to survive any sort of threat. As an added concern, the ship requires almost constant maintenance attention between missions, and is very expensive to maintain and operate.

Alliance Command has only a single squadron of D-Wings in service, and they are all attached directly to Fleet Command. They are considered a special mission asset, performing missions exclusively for Alliance Intelligence and High Command. Normal deployments consist of one or two D-Wings accompanied by a pair of light freighters transporting the support staff.


All additions/edits were bolded.
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[CRMcNeill]

AFAIK, the Longprobe didn't have towed probes. That was the Recon X-Wing from the X-Wing comics. Even the Recon-X from the Black Wing crisis didn't have a towed array, and it actually has comparable sensor range to the D-Wing...

Plus, your version of the self-destruct seems awfully complicated...
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[garhkal]

I based that on cover. Since the self destruct system is internal to the ship, it should need to suffer some level of damage for anything outside it to be affected.
And i always thought the longprobe's array was towed. I just checked the rebel source book (Its first mention) and see nothing of that.
Though a towed array might explain WHY it has to go slower to use its better sensors.
_________________
Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[CRMcNeill]

[garhkal]

I just prefer a more granular/graded level of damage, vice a flat 1/2 rate.. BUT that's me.

Also you mention it needs a LOT of downtime and maintenance, but give no actual info on how long/cost/rolls etc?
_________________
Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[CRMcNeill]

[garhkal]

I offered one, where the blast to all in the surrounding space is based on the ships level of damage it takes..
_________________
Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[CRMcNeill]

So, I'm thinking of giving this a reboot, using a modified Nubian J-Type (the Naboo Royal Starship from TPM) as the baseline, in line with what I did here. The big difference would be the replacement of the chromium hull with a couple layers of Arakyd Nightshadow Sensor Baffling, so the ship would be matte black instead of all chrome.

A lot of people objected to the Space of the original, and while I stand by my original choice (one can not, after all, do an homage to the SR-71 by making it slow), I'm willing to entertain suggestions as to how the top speed can be balanced out. A few thoughts I've had are...

-Some sort of engine additive injected into the drives that causes a massive burst of speed at the cost of stealth and maneuverability.

-An auxiliary reactor of some exotic form (anti-matter, perhaps) with a massive power output that is on permanent standby, and only powered up when the ship needs to make a run for it.

-Some sort of exotic phase field system that takes the ship's mass partially out of phase with gravity, thus reducing its effective mass, and allowing the drive to generate much higher thrust without increasing its output.

-Some combination thereof, such as having the phase field require massive power output, thus necessitating the use of an anti-matter reactor.

I realize the A-Wing is stated to be the fastest starfighter in the galaxy, but there are ways that can be twisted in order to allow faster vessels, such as making it the fastest production starfighter (with the D-Wing not being built in sufficient numbers to qualify as a "production" vessel), or the fastest official starship (with the R-Wing being highly classified, such that in order to qualify as the fastest starship, it would have to be officially acknowledged as existing at all).
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[CRMcNeill]

After some thought, I think I'm gonna let this one stay in the Recycle Bin. At least with the N-Wing, it was possible to balance thing out by making it an otherwise mediocre fighter with really good stealth. It might be sneaky as all get out, but if an enemy can actually spot it, it's at a serious disadvantage.

With this, though, there's just no way to make a balanced game stat without going against the spirit of the original homage, and the reconnaissance aspect is technically also performable by the N-Wing, too. I'll leave it up, though; maybe somebody will find a use for it some day...
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[CRMcNeill]

Coming back around to the idea I had about remaking this as a modified Nubian J-Type because I stumbled across an amazing model of the ship that really seems to fit well. Here's a few images...






_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[Whill]

Not bad...not bad...a Nubian. Cool model.


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[CRMcNeill]

Just wish I could find a version that wasn't very obviously sitting on someone's desk.

I'm thinking of redoing the stats to a more normal base Speed, then statting the third engine at the back of the fuselage as a SLAM module that can push the ship to Space 14 or so. The premise will be that it can be stealthy or blazing-fast, but not both at once. This works better with my re-stat of the TIE Avenger and Defender to revise their top speeds. As things currently stand, the fastest ships in my SWU are unmanned droid ships with a Space of 15, so having something manned that comes within a hair's breadth of that works well for what the ship does.

I'm also considering giving it a basic ordnance launch capability, in order to be able to deploy sensor probes and buoys and the like.

EDIT: Might change the name to J-Wing, too, in recognition of the source ship.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[CRMcNeill]

Some more thoughts on this...

On account of the original author of the Blockade Runner's Guide mentioning it in the FB group, it got me wondering if it would be fitting to add an extra step to the background, specifically, that the ship's design is an extension of existing blockade runner tech, as in, the modified J-type posted above was a blockade runner first, and then subsequently altered with scanning equipment taking up most/all of the cargo bays...
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index