Capital Combat Capital ship combat should be slightly more complicated than the rules infer. After all, should the combined actions of many weapons do more than rolling each one separately. The way the rules have it now, you could fire 20 turbolasers at a Star Destroyer and they would not even scratch it. That is unrealistic. I have, therefore, developed the following system: Capital ship combat * Die codes in this system become pips. Once a ship has its shields down to 0 pips, they lose shields. Also, the same happens for hulls. Each die code for shields and hulls is 10 pips. Each pip in a die code is equal to 3 pips. Therefore, a Star Destroyer would have a shield value of 30 (if all shields were raised in that arc) and a hull value of 70. * When a ship fires at another ship, the attacks are resolved normally (to reduce the number of rolls for this you could roll 5 and then use that as the ratio saying if 3 of 5 hit, 12 out of 20 hit). Damage, however, is dealt differently in this system. * To find damage, roll the die codes for weapon damage +1D for each weapon that successfully hit. (If three turbolasers at 4D hit, the damage is 6D). The weapons must be of the same type to do this(even if damage codes are the same). Compare this to the current shield and hull values (combined) for the ship. If greater, use the following chart: Damage>shield/hull * 1-20 = subtract from shields (unless shields themselves at 5, then subtract remainder of damage from hull) * above 20 = subtract whatever damage above 20 from hull (the reason for this is the force of the blast, no matter how much shields a ship has, won't be able to be completely deflected) Shield values cannot be returned until the shields are repaired, but only require repairs when 10 or more pips is lost. Damage assessment * The ship itself becomes damaged when it begins to lose its hull value (this is not compounded and not actual hull integrity....it is how much one hit (or sequence of) ONLY does; the values are purely for comparison). Percentages are used to equalize this chart for use with ALL ships. Twenty hull damage on a Corellian Corvette is a larger chunk of the hull value than a Star Destroyer! According to my system, a Corellian Corvette would be severely damaged by this much damage, and a Star Destroyer would just lose it's shields. A lot more realistic if you ask me, and if you have a calculator it isn't that complicated! Damage outcomes for hull (calculator is very helpful) * 0-10% of ORIGINAL hull value lost = controls ionized * 11-30% of ORIGINAL hull value lost = lightly damaged * 31-45% of ORIGINAL hull value lost = heavily damaged * 46-60% of ORIGINAL hull value lost = severely damaged * 61% or more of ORIGINAL hull value lost = hull integrity fails, ship destroyed * The damage LEVELS compound in the same way as before and the numbers are the same for ion cannon blasts with the same results (heavily damaged above is still the same as 3 controls ionized for ion cannon damage assessment). Normally, a ship may be lightly damaged any number of times, remember, and the percentages above are NOT compounded, rather indicative of the ORIGINAL hull values. * Repairs work in the same fashion, but are all or none events....if shields are successfully repaired during combat, you get 10 pips back for each shield die code repaired. Hull value cannot (obviously) be brought back up during combat. * Mon Cal cruisers can still bring up extra dice of backup shields. Each die adds 10 points to the shields. * Shields can NEVER have more pips than what they began with at the beginning of a battle. It would overload the systems. * Tractor beams still work the same way. Any questions? Please ask. Example A Star Destroyer and a Nebulon-B frigate have engaged in combat. In the first round, the Nebulon-B is hit by 10 turbolasers from the starboard turbolaser batteries of the Star Destroyer. The Damage is 14D (5D damage per turbolaser plus 1D for each additional weapon). The total hull and shield total for a Nebulon-B frigate is 56(20 shields and 36 hull), because all shields were raised in that arc. The Star Destroyer rolls 60. The Nebulon-B's shields drop to 16. The Star Destroyer Captain decides to use more batteries to cause more damage. This time, 15 of his gunners hit. The Nebulon-B is now at 52 (16 shields and 36 hull). The damage is 19D now. The Star Destroyer rolls 80 for damage. That's 28 greater. The powerful turbolasers rip into the weaker shields of the frigate. Sixteen of it destroys the shields and the remaining 12 (33% of the original hull value) cause the Nebulon-B to be heavily damaged. The Nebulon-B's hull is NOT at a value of 24 now. The actual condition of the hull is never measured. It's original value is constant when determining damage. Next time the Nebulon-B is hit, you still use the original hull value of 36 to determine how much damage is caused. This way, you only have to keep track of changing numbers for shields. The Captain of the Nebulon-B, seeing the awesome power of the Star Destroyer, decides he should escape (if he can). Copyright 1997 Michael R. Fryda