RT Starship Combat and YOU: Abridged Guide

So I have been looking over the the Starship Combat in RT and I rather like the system. However I have become aware that given the number of options and little rules involved might make the system seem more complex than it really is. Therefore I have taken it upon myself, in all my arrogance and pretension, to write up a guide on some of the more basic and more advanced elements of fights in space. Obviously this is all dependent on how the GM wants to run THEIR game.

So what I present are the rules as presented by the book. It is still quite long, mind you. Just not as long as the book. There is no need to read this all to understand how your particular position in the crew works. Just find the parts that matter to you. Though I recommend everyone reads Strategic Turns as it sets out the basics.

Basics
Sections: Presence, Strategic Turns, Actions, Battle (all bolded)

Presence: I bring this up because after spending so much time running your character to where ever you need to be to get something done is probably ingrained in the minds of most players. On board the ship, this is not necessarily the case. You are an advisor, and as such it is not necessary for you to get "stuck in wit da boyz" every time you want to complete an action. An Explorator can use pict casters and voxlines to determine damage of a component and instruct lesser Enginseers and servitors to do the work for him. You don't need to spend large quantities of time/turns traveling about a ship the size of the city. If you WANT to be there personally or the GM determines that you actually have to be on site to do what you want to do, that is different. Otherwise, just assume you can vox your orders and then make your roll.

Strategic Turns: Unlike normal combat that occurs within the space of seconds involving fast pace sweeps of the blade and hailstorms of bullets, space combat works on "strategic turns" which is akin to about 30 minutes of activity. This is because of the massive distances involved and the massive momentum/inertia of crafts don't allow for near instantaneous activity.
Because of this, players do not roll for initiative against each other to see "who goes first". Only the ships do. The players of a ship instead each have a single action they can accomplish during their strategic turn, and THEY decide the order. The reason for this is that you are all working together to make sure things run smoothly. Someone pilots, someone else shoots the guns and the rest take other extended actions. As some extended actions can assist other actions, this allows those who are helping others to choose to go first, such as using the "Lock on Target" option to increase BS for the gunners.

In a strategic turn there MUST be a move/manoeuvere action, there MAY be a shooting action and all others not doing one of the above MAY take a different extended action. The only hard and fast rule on which order these occur in is that each person MUST complete the entirety of their action before the next person starts. So if you are moving the ship, you must finish moving the ship in its entirety before any other actions are carried out. Similarly, once one gun is fired all guns that will be fired that round must be resolved at that time. There is no "shooting before we move then shooting afterward."

The other key rule is that EVERYONE selects their role for the strategic turn BEFORE anyone starts rolling. The assumption is that you all decide what you are doing and spend the needed time to make sure it gets done. The reason why this is key is because it throws a level of uncertainty into the mix. If someone fails an attempt to put out a fire, you cannot simply magic up a firefighting crew when you've been spending your time Locking on Target. While people can act redundantly and have two people (or more) do the same action in case someone else fails, only one person actually needs to succeed (in a case where degrees matter, the highest is taken). If your redundant action is completed before you roll your dice, then you simply skip your turn.



Actions
I will break down the various actions one can do based upon the duty they are fulfilling (ex. Pilot, Gunner, Troop Commander). I will include any penalties to the actions and the basics of what it does. Go look it up yourself if one of the actions is in your job description. Don't rely on this guide as it doesn't include all of the rules/restrictions.

Pilot: Whoever steers the ship. Not necessarily the person who tells the ship where to go, but for the one who is actually making all the rolls.
The most basic move a Pilot can do without any tests is to move either at Full Speed Value or Half Speed Value in a straight line and in whatever direction it is currently facing, followed by a single turn of 90 degrees (or 45 degrees if larger than a Frigate). Requires Pilot (Space Craft) and decent agility.

All of the follow actions add (or subtract) the ships Manoeuverability modifier to a Pilot (Space Craft) roll.

Adjust Bearing- (+0) Decreases distance the ship must move before it can turn. Every degree of success cuts back the required move by one VU before its turn, allows the turn, then continuing the rest of its move. Minimum 1 VU forward before turn.

Adjust Speed- (+0) On a successful roll, the ship can move 1 VU more or less than normal, per success, to a minimum of zero and to a maximum of 1 VU below double its normal Speed Value.

Adjust Speed & Bearing- (-20) Basically combines the two above into one action. Every degree of success affects both your speed adjustment as well as your bearing adjustment as per the rules above. Normal limitations still apply.

Come to New Heading- (-10) Allows the ship to turn once after moving half its Full speed value, then turn again after moving its full speed value. -20 to all Ballistic attacks made by ship during this maneuver.

Disengage - (+0) Once 8 VU's away from enemies (at the end of the round), you can attempt to shut the ship down to silent running to escape. Opposed test versus enemies Detection+Scrutiny (+0). Read up on rules (pg. 215) before attempting as there are risks involved.

Evasive Manoeuvers- (-10) Attempt to make it harder to be hit. On a success and every degree after add a -10 penalty to BS attempts to hit the ship. Penalty applies to evading ship's BS as well.



Gunner: Person(s) shooting the guns. More on this will be talked about in the Combat section later. One person can shoot all the guns or the various guns can be rolled by different players. Requires BS.

Basic action is to choose the target ship and fire. This can be done by either shooting each weapon mount individually (and rolling each separately) or firing them as a salvo (rolling all guns involved with one BS roll). The difference being that firing a weapon individually allows multiple targets and allows for multiple potential critical strikes (from each gun) but requiring that each shot pass through the armor, while a salvo only allows for one potential critical strike per roll, but adds the damage together of all the guns and only applies the armor once to that total.
Tip: If the enemy ship has void shields (most likely) then make sure you state that you are firing your weakest weapons first as any hits overload the shields as it does not depend on hitting power, just number of hits. This applies weather firing individually or with a salvo. This insures that your more powerful guns get through. Especially important if using a Lance weapon.

Commander/Social Person: Whether due to casualties, boarding actions, or just shouting encouragement, this person uses their social capacity (command, charm, intimidation or scrutiny as the roll depends) to get the job done. Mostly requires a decent fellowship and the required skill, but other characteristics like strength for intimidation may be needed.

Disinformation:- Deceive or Blather (-10). Increase crew morale by 1d5 per degree of success. Applies only to duration of Combat. Returns to previous when fight is over (unless of course morale is lower than it was before battle).

Hail the Enemy- Free action: Attempt to contact the enemy and talk, threaten or buy into submission or allowing escape. Miscellaneous action by nature.

Hit and Run- (+0) Pilot (Space Craft) roll and (+10) Command Roll. When within 5 VU's of enemy ship can attempt to board and attack. On success, roll 1d5 for critical damage and cause 1 Hull Point damage per degree success on opposed Command roll.

Hold Fast!- (+0) Willpower. Reduces morale damage from any attack in the PREVIOUS round by 1, plus 1 for every degree of success to a MINIMUM of 1 Morale loss.

Prepare to Repel Borders!- (+0) Command. Adds +10 to any defense attempt against boarders, +5 for each additional degree of success. Bonus is maintained as long as player maintains this action.

Put Your Backs Into it!- (+0) Intimidate or Charm. Basically adds +5 to any other one test being accomplished by another character. Can add +5 to a different action for every 3 degrees of success.



Repair and Triage: Those involved in keeping the ship fighting despite enemy attempts to blow it apart. This includes repair as well as minimizing loss of Crew. Mostly requires Tech-Use, one requires Medicae, both of which use Intelligence.

Aid the Machine Spirit- (+0) Tech-Use. Adds +5 to ships Manoeuverability or Detection for remainder of the turn. Additional +5 for every 2 degrees of success to the same system.

Emergency Repairs- (-10) Tech-use. Repairs one unpowered, damaged or depressurized Component. Requires 1d5 turns of work. Each degree decreases the work time by one turn to a minimum of 1 turn repair. Destroyed components must be replaced outside of battle (usually by being bought/acquired).

Flank Speed- (+0) Tech-use. Increases speed of ship for that turn by 1 VU. Every extra degree adds another VU of speed. Failure by 2 or more degrees counts as a Engines Crippled critical hit.

Jam Communications- (-10) Tech-use. Prevents target ship from using tech based forms of communication to communicate with other ships. Psychic communication (such as through Astropaths) is unaffected.

Triage- (-10) Medicae. Reduces damage to Crew Population by one, plus an additional 1 for every degree of success, to a MINIMUM of 1. Only cancels crew losses from the PREVIOUS turn.




Detector/Observer: These guys watch the battle, look for the enemy, determine their strength and lock in targeting solutions. Whether searching for new trouble or trying to find the best way to destroy the current issue, their eyes are open. Requires Scrutiny which is linked to Perception.

All of the following Actions add (or subtract) the ships detection to the characters Scrutiny for the roll.

Active Augery- (+0) Searches for and reveals all basic/noteworthy objects within 20 VU's of the vessel (stars, ships, asteroids, etc). +5 VU to range for each degree of success.

Focused Augery- (+0) Attempts to scan a particular ship and determine information about its contents and Components and their locations, making them available targets for critical strikes or raids.
Basic Success = All essential Components except Auger Arrays and Void Shields
One Degree Success = All Weapon Components
Two Degrees Success = Auger Arrays, Void Shields and any combat related Components.
Three Degrees Success = All Components aboard the ship.

Lock on Target- (+0) Attempts to assist the Gunner(s) in their shots. Adds +5 to any one weapon component's shot, and an additional +5 to the same test for every 2 degrees of success.




Battle
Step 1: Determine if surprise applies. Anything from a ship appearing from a blindspot, silent running, treachery or even an issue with the ships Augery systems. Whatever the case this allows for a single attack/round before initiative is rolled and all ships join combat. Void shields and armor still apply as normal.

Step 2: Roll initiative. Each ship (not each crew member) rolls a 1d10 plus the tens digit of the ships Detection characteristics (so a Detection of +15 would be 1, +20 would be 2 and so on).

Step 3: Take turns as per initiative order, with each ship going in turn. PC ships involve each character/player making a single action, including a mandatory move action, a shooting action if desired, and any other extended actions that are applicable.

Step 4: End of round occurs once all ships that can act have (whatever form that takes) and Step 3 begins again at the top of the Initiative order until GM determines combat is done.

As mentioned earlier, the only restriction on when each action can take place is that you must complete your action in its ENTIRETY before the next person acts. If someone is allowed to act after you have, your turn is done for the round. This includes all move, gunnery and extended actions. If multiple people are involved in shooting, they must take their turns one after another until all shooting that is going to be done has taken place.

The weapons themselves have several characteristics that will be described here before we go into the battle itself. All weapons have the following characteristics: Strength, Damage, Crit Rating, Firing Arc and Range.

Strength: This number determines how many hits a weapon CAN hit with each round, per degree of success if a macrobattery or for every 3 degrees of success for lances, an additional hit is added to the overall damage of the strike. So if a weapon has a Strength of 3, it can "hit" up to 3 times, and add three rolls of damage into that hit. If they rolled four total degrees of success (initial success and three extra degrees), then they would still only get 3 hits, as determined by the Strength.

Damage: Just like damage in normal play. Applied against the armor (after Void shields go down), and any damage that overcomes the armor takes away Hull Points and does 1 damage to both Crew Population and Morale per Hull point damaged. Lances ignore armor. Every shot from a single weapon (or from a salvo) adds all the damage together before applying against armor.

Crit Rating: This number represents the number of extra successes required to cause a lucky or well placed shot that, in addition to normal damage, rolls a 1d5 on the Critical Damage chart and applies it as appropriate. Each weapon (or salvo) can only achieve ONE critical per shot, no matter how many hits are in that one BS roll.

Firing Arc: Basically just determines which way you can shoot. If a gun in on the Port side (left) then you can't shoot something on the right. If a gun is dorsal it can shoot any direction EXCEPT backwards. Prow can only shoot forward except on Light Cruisers or larger which can shoot any direction except to the rear. Keel can shoot any direction.

Range: Determines how many VU's a shot from a gun can travel. A weapon can shoot up to double its range, but takes a -10 to BS while over its range. A weapon can also add +10 BS if the target is within half of the guns range.


Now we will go over a basic attack.

Step 1: Gunners decide whether to fire all weapons as a salvo or individual. Look at the "Gunner" section under actions to determine the differences for each. They choose their target(s) and roll BS to fire, taking into account all bonuses and penalties that apply due to range, actions of other players, etc. If a BS roll is a success, the enemy ship is hit. There is no "dodge" action in space combat. A hit is a hit.

Step 2: Determine the number of successes. For each success, up to the weapons strength, add the weapons damage to the hit. For example if a ship is hit with two extra successes (so 1 hit for beating the BS and two more for being 20 or more under the required characteristic) from a Mars Pattern Macrocannon barrage (1d10+2) then the total damage for that weapon hit is 3x(1d10+2) or 3d10+6. If they rolled three extra success they still will only causes 3x damage as the strength of the weapon is 3.

Step 3: Apply Void Shields. Void shields prevent a number of individual hits per the shields rating. For example, a Void shield with a rating of 2 will stop 2 shots. This does not mean that it prevents two weapons from hitting, just two shots from that weapon. For example, if we take the 3x hit from above and apply it to a ship with a Void Shield rating of 2, then only one shot gets through and only 1d10+2 damage is rolled. This applies to each ships attempt to shoot the ship. So if your first strike pulls down the shields, all future strikes in THAT round don't have to pass through the shields. But that only applies to your attacks. Any other ships firing on your target have to go through the void shields too. The Void Shields apply to ALL weapons (in the current RT book anyway) including Lances.

Step 4: Apply Armor and Hull Points. Damage is now rolled. Once damage has been totaled, after the total number of hits has been reduced by Void shields if any, apply that number against the ships armor. If the total is less than the armor, no Hull Points are lost. If the total exceeds armor, than the remaining damage subtracts Hull Points like you would wounds, and decreases the targets vessels Crew Population and Morale by 1 per Hull Point lost. If all Hull Points are lost, further damage is applied to the Critical Hits table. (Note: Lances ignore armor and attack Hull Points directly)

Step 5: Determine if there is a Critical Hit. If the total number of extra successes equals or surpasses the crit rating, a Critical Hit has occurred. This attack ignores Armor and Hull Points and requires a 1d5 roll on the Critical Hit table and applies it as normal. If a gun manages a Critical Hit but fails to pierce the armor and cause hull point damage, than automatically apply 1 Hull Point damage.

Step 6: Determine affect on the Vessel. If the Thrusters have been damaged, the Bridge blown away or the Plasma Drives suddenly exploded, take this into account. The ship will probably slow down, become less responsive (read that as more difficult rolls) or explode, respectively. Affects such as Fire and Depressurization will be looked at later. Most of the effects as listed in the Critical Hit tables are pretty self-explanatory and don't require any particular attention on my part.

Step 7: Return to Step 1 and follow the same pattern till all weapons that will be fired this round are fired.

Example:
Ship A shoots at Ship B with a round of Mars Pattern Macrocannons. Gunner for Ship A rolls a 5, which beats their BS of 55 for a difference of 50. The total number of successes, including the basic success hit, is 6. However, the Strength of these macrocannons is only 3, so only 3 successes will be considered.

The damage of Ship A's guns are (1d10+2). As three shots hit, the present damage to be applied is 3d10+6.

Ship B has a Void Shield with a rating of 1, therefore only 2 shots from the Mars Pattern Macrocannons make it through, causing 2d10+4 damage. When rolled we get a 7 and a 6, making the total damage for that gun to be 17.

Ship B has an armor rating of 10. As there was 17 damage from that weapon strike, the 7 damage over the armor is applied to Ship B's Hull Points, decreasing them by 7. Ship B has a total of 15 Hull Points, and is now down to 8. It has also lost 7 Crew Population and 7 Morale from the blast. If it takes more than 8 damage before it is repaired, the shots will begin to apply to the Critical Hit table.

But wait! The gunner from Ship A rolled 5 extra successes, which equals the Crit Rating of the macrocannons. Although there were only 3 shots due to strength, the critical hit still applies. A 1d5 is rolled and it comes up as 4. By the critical table (pg. 222) that is a hit on the Thrusters! The table calls for a 1d10 roll which comes up as a 3. According to the table this means that the ships Manoeuvrability bonus is now down by -20. All future tests by Ship B, until the crit damage is repaired are at -20 when involving Piloting tests.



Here I must make a note, as I believe what I am about to say next is the proper rules, but the book does not make it entirely clear. So I say this now to clarify in case others choose to believe otherwise:

Critical damage for ships, unlike when applied to people is not cumulative. If a ship has taken a total of 3 damage from a critical hit, no matter how they got it (loss of all Hull Points, critical shot, Hit and Run raid), the next critical hit does not add that 3 to the new critical damage. It simply applies itself anew and causes more havoc. Given that the book sees the chance of ships being actually destroyed as a somewhat rare occurrence, and far more likely of it being pummeled into submission or perhaps hulked (unless you are Ork or Chaos in which chaos you either fight to the last ork/man or self-destruct your own Warp Drive because you're an ass like that).

Part of the reason I believe this is because it also insures a few lucky rolls in a couple Hit and Runs or Lancer strikes don't allow a Destroyer to rip a Cruiser to shreds in two turns. While it should still be possible, it should be based on the cleverness of the player, not lucky dice.
This by no means gimps the power of of causing Critical Hits to a ship. Three critical hits, even if all at the 1d5 level can utterly screw over a vessel and crew that don't respond quickly and properly. Damaging an important component, making a ship unable to turn by a hit to the thrusters and blinding the sensors via a crit to the auspex array would leave a ship unable to dodge, turn to avoid issues (or even see them coming) or use the component that might have been key in counterattacking, like say damaging the a ships turret that allowed it to shoot behind it where you might now be.

That's about all of it. I'll get into the more advanced stuff like effects of Turret Ratings, Damage effects later.


Edit: Went through and made a few slight corrections and cleared up some unclear statements.

Damage Types:
There are essentially 6 types of Damage that occur from Critical Hits or other certain conditions: Special, Damaged, Unpowered, Depressurized, on Fire and Destroyed.

Special are simply those critical hits that explicitly state what has happened, such as a Critical Hit of 3 that damaged the Sensors. Unless otherwise stated these can be considered "damaged" and can thus be repaired. Most of these occur in the Critical Hit table 8 and below.

Damaged: Due to a hit of some sort this component is now inoperative. If it is a gun, it will no longer fire. If it is a teleportarium, it will no longer function. Until repair this device offers no bonuses in nor out of battle. Repair using "Emergency Repairs" in battle is possible, as are less rushed efforts out of battle. A damaged component is considered Unpowered. If a player needs to enter a damaged component they will find it a dangerous place to be.

Unpowered: For whatever reason this device is not receiving power. Whether from damage or lack of output from the plasma drives, this component does not function. It provides no benefits in nor out of battle. In addition the gravity plates are deactivated (making it a Zero-G environment), powered hatches don't work and lighting is minimal if existent at all.

Depressurized: The component still works fine, but crew are unable to work within it unless wearing void suits. When depressurization occurs the component causes 1d10 Crew Population damage and 1d5 Morale damage. Characters trapped within need to get out within a few rounds or suffer the effects of decompression.

Fire: Immediately causes 1d5 Crew Population damage and 1d10 Morale damage. If fire not stopped within one Turn, component becomes damaged and then moves onto a new component nearby. There are several ways to deal with this. (pg 223)

Destroyed: The component is a twist of metal, bodies and ruptured power lines. The component ceases to exist in terms of Game Mechanics, though still exists in terms of being a hazard to anyone who tries to go inside.




Advanced Combat
While there are the basics of shooting the other guy until he is dead, there are other options for battle which can be employed which can be much more efficient and potentially profitable. Or just more fun. I will now go over several other options available to those who really want to get down and dirty with their space combat. Or for those who just want to run away.

Ramming: Enough of this prissy shooting tomfoolery! Warhammer 40k is about hitting the other guy as hard as you can! Ramming allows for exactly that. This involves a Hard (-20) Pilot (Space Craft)+ Manoeuvrability Check IF you end your Manoeouvre Action within 1 VU of the other ship AND the bow is facing the target.
If it succeeds you cause an amount of damage based on your ship size (1d5 Transports/raiders, 1d10 Frigates, 2d5 Light Cruisers, 2d10 Cruisers) plus your prows armor rating. Your prows armor rating will effectively be that of your ships normal armor rating unless you have a special prow attachment. The ramming ship also takes damage. 1d5 plus the rammed ships armor rating against your prows armor.


Boarding Actions: If you are aiming to claim a new ship for yourself or get some new cargo without paying for it, this is the way to go. When within 1 VU of the enemy ship after completing our Manoeouvre Action, you can make a Hard (-20) Pilot (Space Craft)+ Manoeuvrability Check to crash into the enemy ship and send over boarding parties. This is where the various bonuses can get tricky.
The system seems a little odd (and more than likely misprinted, but oh well) and doesn't seem to take into account stuff like ship size, simply Crew Population and Hull Points (which I suppose is as close as you get to ship size comparison). Here we go:

This is an opposed Command Test (+0) with several modifers. For every 10 points of Crew Population that one side has over the other, a +10 Command bonus is given to that size. Also, for whichever ship has the higher remaining Hull Points, it receives +10 for every 10 difference in Crew Population between the ship. Additionally, your ships Turret rating comes into play, adding +10 per 1 rating to your command test.
Whoever wins (not just the person who started the boarding action) gets to either do 1d5 Crew damage AND 1d5 Morale Damage OR gets to cause 1 Hull Point of damage (with associated Crew and Morale loss).
Whomever loses that Command test must make a morale check. If they roll below their current morale, the battle fights on. If they roll above, however, their side surrenders. If it is the NPCs who surrender, the ship is yours. If it is YOUR side that surrenders, you had better think of a way out quick, because things are about to turn ugly.
If you ever seek to flee a boarding action it takes another Hard (-20) Pilot (Space Craft)+ Manoeuvrability Check, with success meaning you move away and failure costing you a -20 on your next command test.

Here is an example:
Ship A decides to smash into Ship B and try to board it. Ship A passes its (-20) Boarding Check and begins the action. Here are some stats we shall use.
Ship A has: 90 Crew, 80 Morale, 20 Hull Points left, 1 turret rating. Command = 40
Ship B has: 70 Crew, 60 Morale, 8 Hull Points left, 2 turret rating. Command = 40

The command tests now begin. Because Ship A has 20 more Crew population than Ship B, it receives +20 to its Command test. Additionally, because Ship A has at least 10 more Hull Points than Ship B, by the rules, it receives ANOTHER +20 to the Command test (due to still have 20 more Crew than Ship B). Ship A has a turret rating of one and therefore receives another +10. For a total, the commander of Ship A gets a bonus of +50 to his command test.
Ship B, has fewer crew and less Hull Points so it receives no bonuses for that. Ship B does have a turret rating of 2, which gives it a +20 to its Command test.

The two sides roll. Ship A rolls a 30 and Ship B rolls a 15. They both passed, so now we see who has the most successes. Ship A needed to beat 40+50 = 90. Which it did, by 6 extra degrees. Ship B beat 40+20=60. Which it did by 4 extra degrees. As Ship A gained more successes, they get to choose what to do. They choose to do 1d5 Crew and 1d5 Morale damage, rolling a 3 and a 5.

The stats for Ship A are unchanged as they won. The stats for Ship B are now:
67 Crew, 55 Morale, 8 Hull Points left, 2 turret rating. Command = 40

Because Ship B lost the Command test, they must now roll a 1d100 to see if the crew surrenders. If they roll at or under the crews morale of 55, they fight on. If they roll 56 or higher then the crew surrenders.
If Ship B passes its Morale check and decides to make a run for it, they can make their (-20) escape roll. If they pass then they are free to make a break for it. If they fail, their next command test takes a -20 to Boarding, which would hurt bad.

Note: In regards to the bonus for Hull Points, it only says that the one who has more gets +10 for every 10 Crew Population DIFFERENCE. By this wording, it would mean that a ship with 21 Hit Points (versus one with say 20) with a Crew Population of 20 would get a +80 to their Command test if the other ship still had 100. This obviously makes no sense as a ship nearly without a crew shouldn't be able to take on one with all of theirs, even if the ships are of vastly different sizes.
If we assume that they meant that it was only if you had MORE Crew Population than the other ship that Hull Point difference mattered, it still doesn't address the issue of ship size and just gives bonuses to the guy that is already winning. I would recommend house ruling it so that size difference adds bonuses, or that Hull Point difference is based on Morale or something. As it stands it is just weird.



Stern Chase: When one craft tries to run and other craft tries to follow, a Stern Chase occurs. These rules basically make it more about rolls and "skill" rather than "Is by speed value higher than yours? Yes? Than I get my way."
The system is fairly straight forward. A Stern chase can begin when the fleeing ship(s) and pursuing ship(s) are out of range of each others guns. If one can still shoot the other, it is not a Stern chase yet.
If pursuing:
You must achieve a certain base of extra successes equal to the ship class you are pursuing (Transport/Cruiser 3, L. Cruiser/Frigate 5, Raider 7) and then must achieve that using a single roll from each member in the party. The extra success value is modified by the faster ship (if you are faster, -2 from required success, if they are faster +2 required successes) as well as external factors that can add +1 per. The characters than roll a skill they (and the GM) feels is appropriate in an attempt to pursue their quarry. Pilot (Space Craft) for the chase, Tech-use for getting more juice out the engines, Scrutiny to try and determine the enemies course and head them off, and so on. If, after all the success are totaled you have exceeded the threshold you catch up and battle begins anew (or the other guy surrenders). If you fail, the pursued ship escapes your vessel.

If being pursued:
Same situation, except the enemy ship determined the ship class and difficulty (same as above) and being faster than the pursuers gives a -2 successes required and being slower gives a +2 successes required, with external factors subtracting a -1 per. It is still up to the characters to gain the required successes, only now they do it to escape, with failure forcing combat again or requiring a more diplomatic tact.

Stern chases use the same rules as an Exploration challenge. This means that each test affects the one that comes after it. If three players are in the Stern chase, then the first person rolls at (+0). If the fail, they not only subtract the number of successes they have gained thus far (or if they are first, added more required successes) but the next person's test is at -10. If they pass, they add their successes and the next persons test is +10. If the second person passes they add their successes and the third person gets +20. If the second person failed they subtract successes with their degrees of failure and the bonus goes back down to 0.



Crew Population and Morale

The effects of Crew Population on ship activity are present on page 224, as are the effects of morale. Generally speaking, as those values for your ship lower, things don't get done as effectively.

Morale, however, has another element to it. Whenever it drops below the thresholds of 70, 40 or 10, the Captain must make a Command test. On a failure a mutiny begins which must be dealt with. The rules for how to deal with a mutiny are found on pg. 225. The one thing to watch out for on the tests to end the mutiny is a failure by 3 or more degrees. If this happens the mutiny succeeds and the characters will find themselves running from their lives from their treacherous crew. These morale checks do not occur during battle, even if the Morale threshold is crossed. Wait until the battle is over to make the check. Evidently the crew don't fancy their chances of mutiny when crazed Orks might be trying to storm their ship.

Rules for replenishing Morale and Crew are found on page 226. Basically if you want some morale back, let the people rest or buy them off (again, check the rules). Replenishing crew is an Acquisition check, with modifiers based on the world type (a lot easier to find people to hire or press gang on a Hive than on an Agriworld).


That should be about all of it. If there is more i'll update later.

this should help alot! i hope it clarified ship battles from now on. its kinda complicated for people like me.