Right so first off, if you don't like dice based mechanics, then you're gonna hate this. You have been warned Anyways, here's a system for ship combat that I've devised. It all comes down to a few things, Pilot skill and Ships and Components. Pilot Skill First off, the most common argument against dice rolls are "Hurr Durr, it doesn't account for my character's skill and shit". Well here you go, something that accounts for skill that most table tops do anyways; boost dice. Basically its additional dice you roll which accounts for knowledge that your pilot. The thing is, your character knows how to fly a giant metal box, but can he or she know every single situation they're put in? No, you can't account for everything that you'd face in your life, and neither can your character. Thus, the most fair thing to do is add in boost dice, depending on skill level of a pilot. Levels and Dice 1 = +1D2 2 = +1D4 3 = +1D6 4 = +1D8 5 = +1D10 6 = +1D12 7 = +1D14 8 = +1D16 9 = +1D18 10= +1D20 In the end its up to the individual player to know what level their characters are. Most non career pilots, (IE. Fighter Jockies, Space Truckers, Commercial Pilots, Explorers, ect)) would start at level 4, while most people who at least own a ship would be at level 1. In the end, its player's choice on the level and when or if they deserve a higher level. Ship and Component Type Lets face it. Everyone has a very different type of ship, and it'd be impossible to define a ship type by model, make, or even after purchase upgrades. So one of the easiest ways to define ships by their size, speed, and maneuverability. For example, a large ship tends to be slower, and less maneuverable, but very much stronger against damage. At the same time, a smaller ship tends to be faster and maneuverable, but can't tank very much hits. Silhouette The ship's size is based on a very simple scale of 1 to 10. 1 being a small escape pod, and 10 being a capital ship. 1 = Maneuver 10, Speed 10, health 10, Damage 5 2 = Maneuver 8, Speed 8, Health 25 Damage 10 3 = Mauenver 6, Speed 6, Health 45 Damage 15 4 = Maneuver 4. Speed 4, Health 50 Damage 20 5 = Mauenver 2, Speed 2, Health 75 Damage 25 6 = Maneuver 0, Speed 0, Health 115 Damage 30 7 = Maneuver -2, Speed -2, Health 150 Damage 45 8 = Maneuver -4, Speed -4, Health 225 Damage 50 9 = Maneuver -6, Speed -6, Health 270 Damage 55 10 = Maneuver -8, Speed -8, Health 300 Damage 60 In the end though, the ships speed, maneuverability and health is up to you, but this is a general guideline when planning out what kind of ship yours would be in a fight. The Maneuverability is what you add or subtract from the dice pool when you make your dodge rolls, while speed calculates far your ship can travel. Distance is based on the simple formula, with the farthest being Extreme range, and the closest being Engaged range. At speed 10, you can reach from Extreme range to Engaged range in one turn, while at speed -8 you can reach from Extreme range to Long range in one turn. Distance Engaged (+4 to attack roll, -4 to dodge roll) = You are almost or actually touching the other ship Short (+2 to attack roll, -2 to dodge roll)= You're still next to the other ship Medium (No addition to any rolls) = You're both staring each other down while orbiting the same planet Long (-2 to attack roll, +2 to dodge roll) = You're at the opposite side of a planet from the other ship Extreme (-4 to attack roll, +4 to dodge roll) = Your ship is orbiting the moon while the other is orbiting earth Ship Weapons (Credits to Raideck)) Ship Upgrades Its ultimately up to the player, though please be reasonable about it. Lets not have a giant battleship that's faster than a tiny fighter ship. Upgrade types Note (R) means restricted items, which is only found in black markets. Improved sublight engines +2 Speed to ship. Cost 10K Automated Turrets: Allows for a second attack roll for 10 damage. Cost 10K Signal Jammer: Prevents radio calls and missles. Cost 20K (R) Improved Warp Drives: Warping to escape takes one less turn. Cost 10K Targeting Computer: +D4 to your dice pool. Requires 1 turn with no attacking Cost 5K Countermeasures: +D4 to dodge roll. May only be used against missles Cost 5K Rolls In short, the rolls come down to this. Dodge vs Attack. The highest number wins. All you really need to do is put this equation into Rolz.org and let the thing do it for you Attack = 1D20 + Speed + Pilot Level Dodge = 1D20 + Maneuver + Pilot Level Anyways, that's the basics of my system. Give it some thought
Nifty for a mechanic that won't really be used. nobody wants to lose their pretty ships. Except throwaways that were made for the sole purpose of ship combat.
I'm also considering things such as taking 2-4 turns in order to jump away from a fight, as well as damage to specfic systems such as engines, scanners, warp drives, ect For example, Damage the sublight engines, and your ship instantly gets a -8 in speed and maneuverability Damage Warp engines, and you can't escape at all
Ship combat can be fought with many weapons. The basic are the batteries. Light Battery 5 Damage S: 1 Medium Battery 10 Damage S: 2 Heavy Battery 15 Damage S: 3 Then there are missiles Scatter Missiles 8 Damage each BV:3 S: 3 Strike Missile 20 Damage S: 4 When I say each I mean it shoots multiple of the and the Bv is Burst Value it just means how many. To figure out how many hits out of the Bv it determines on how the attack and dodge rolls turn out. For example, attacker gets 14 and defender gets 12 that means two hits. Now moving on to some deadlier weapons; lazers. Small Cannon 9 Damage S: 2 Medium Cannon 18 Damage S: 3 Heavy Cannon 27 Damage S: 5 Now these can be combated by having force screens. What are force screens? Force screens are basically force fields that prevents lazers. Small Screen 100 sp S: 2 Medium Screen 300 sp S: 5 Heavy Screen 500 sp S: 7 Now weapons of mass destruction. Core Cannon 250 Damage S: 9 This bad boy takes 3 turns to charge before it can fire and can only be aimed in a straight path. Now I know you might think; why don't I have a small ship with all these weapons? Because every ship has only so much space. All the "S" is the space it takes to have. If you refer back to the list of ships the number next to the ships 1-10 is what I used used as the space.
Use an FTL: Faster Than Light setup for systems. Players have to assign areas for systems and subsystems.
Alas, most factions are broke and shipless... Otherwise this system could be used for some interesting financial setbacks causing faction-conflict, since ships are expensive, and losing one is a kick to the faction-economy balls.
Hm what about the different races' technologies. For example I would but an Apex design ship as superior to the other races' ships.
I'd like this is it wasn't dice. I don't like dice for RP. Don't get me wrong, it's good, but I'll likely never use it.
I think dice are fine as long as escape pods are thing. You might lose a ship and the use that comes with but can still escape.
See, the usefulness of this system lies in the fact that it still uses bits and pieces of the traditional honor system in roleplay. That simplifies things. HOWEVER, like John has said, most factions are ship-less or broke. But planning this now will lead to a better future. Ships will still get damaged and need repair if ship combat is a thing. I just hope that people won't try and fix things themselves. Smokestack, my character, was planned for almost a year now in preparation for the day that ship combat and repair are more relevant.
