Ship Engagements #

At the beginning of the engagement, each side declares a goal. Combats are rarely to the death. Starship engagements are played in rounds.

During a ship engagement, either one or neither of the ships has the Upper Hand. Each round, ships exchange fire and attempt to outmaneuver each other, jockeying for the Upper Hand.

A ship accomplishes its goal if it has the Upper Hand at the end of a round and fulfills at least one other requirement. Requirements for common goals are listed below.

Either side may surrender at any point, granting the opponent their goal.

Goal	Requirement (In addition to Upper Hand)
Reach a position in the local star system, for example, getting from the gate-in point to a world.	Thrusters not disabled
Jump to gate space to escape the star system	Gate core not disabled
Forcibly dock with and board an enemy ship	Enemy thrusters damaged or disabled, own thrusters in better condition than enemy thrusters.
Leap from your ship to theirs.	Boarders throw to land on the enemy hull, adding the Agility skill if they have it. On a failure, 50/50 chance of smacking into the other ship and dying instantly, or missing completely and drifting into space.

Starship Engagement Throws #

A starship engagement is a series of Task Throws. If a crew member has the relevant skill, they may add their Skill Rank to the throw.

The Impact of throws made in a starship engagement is limited by ship’s components. For example, if a ship has Thrusters 2, no maneuver throw can have an Impact higher than 2, regardless of the total rolled.

If members of a ship’s crew have the Software, Pilot, or Gunnery skills, a crew member may add their skill rank to relevant throws. Each crew member may not add their skill to more than one throw each round.

Procedure #

Before the first round, each side Throws + Software, Impact limited by the ship’s Computer rank. The side with greater Impact begins with the Upper Hand. If Impact is tied, or neither side succeeds, neither side begins with the Upper Hand.
Each round:
1. Gunnery Phase
  - Each side throws + Gunnery, Impact limited by the ship’s Guns rank. The opposing ship takes points of damage equal to the Impact of the throw. If one side has the Upper Hand, they shoot first. Otherwise, damage happens simultaneously.
  - If one side has the Upper Hand, they may sacrifice it to dodge, avoiding all damage this round. Declare a dodge after the Gunnery throw, but before rolling hit locations
2. Maneuver Phase
  - Each side’s pilot throws + Pilot, Impact limited by the ship’s Thrusters rank.
  - If one side scores greater impact than the other:
    - If neither side has the Upper Hand, the winner gains the Upper Hand.
    - If the losing side has the Upper Hand, they lose it.
    - If the winning side has the Upper Hand, they keep it.
  - If Impact is tied or both sides fail the roll, the Upper Hand doesn’t change.

Damage #

For each point of damage a ship suffers, roll 1d6. On a 1-4, a ship component is hit. On a 4, the crew is hit. On a 5-6, the attacker chooses a target. The first time a component is hit, it is damaged. The second time, it is disabled. Damaged and disabled components will limit a ship’s ability to function.

1d6	Component	Damaged Effect	Disabled
1	Thrusters	Maneuver throws are disadvantaged.	Automatically lose the Maneuver phase.
2	Guns	Gunnery throws are disadvantaged.	Cannot roll in the Gunnery phase.
3	Gate Core	Can make one jump, then disabled when reentering real space. If the ship doesn’t have a gate core, treat as Thrusters.	Cannot jump to gate space.
4	Crew	If the players’ ship is hit, a random PC takes 2d6 damage. If an NPC ship is hit, roll 1d6. If the result is less than or equal to the total number of crew hits made during this engagement, it surrenders or retreats.
5-6	Attacker Chooses from above.