Defensive Systems
The following types of spaceship defenses are available in the Basic Game. If a ship has more than one defensive system, an attack's chance to hit is calculated against the most effective defense.
Reflective Hull. This is mirror-Iike paint that is sprayed onto a ship's hull. It will often cause a laser beam to bounce off the ship without causing any damage. A reflective hull is the most common defense on spaceships.
Masking Screen. A masking screen is created when a ship releases a cloud of water vapor into space. The vapor crystalizes a nd forms a protective cloud surrounding the ship. Besides making the ship more difficult to hit, a masking screen absorbs energy from a laser. If a ship is hit by a laser while inside a masking screen, the amount of damage that is rolled is divided in half (fractions are rounded up). The result is the number of damage points inflicted on the target ship. A masking screen has exactly the same effect on a laser fired out of the screen as it does on a laser fired into the screen. If a ship surrounded by a masking screen fires its lasers, resolve the attack as if the defending ship is masked.
To indicate that a ship is using a masking screen, place a screen counter on top of the ship counter.This screen counter stays on top of the ship as long as the ship travels in a straight line at its current speed. If a ship or space station in orbit around a planet creates a masking screen, the screen will last through one complete orbit. The hex the ship or station was in when the screen was created should be marked with an upside-down counter, so players will know when one orbit is finished. A ship can carry only a limited number of masking screens. These must be marked off the ship's record sheet as they are used. When all of them are used, the ship cannot create any more masking screens.
Interceptor Missiles (ICM). Interceptor missiles are small missiles that can be fired at incoming torpedos, assauIt rockets and rocket battery barrages. Before the torpedo or rocket attack is resolved, the player controlling the target ship can declare that it is launching ICMs. The player must declare how many ICMs the ship is using. The attack's chance to hit is determined as if the attack was hitting a reflective hull or a masking screen, whichever the ship is using. The number of ICMs launched by the target ship is multiplied by the modifier on the Combat Table, and the result is subtracted from the attack's chance to hit.
EXAMPLE: A torpedo is launched at a ship with a reflective hull. The player that controls the target ship announces that it wiII fire two of its ICMs in defense. The torpedonormaIly has a 70% chance to hit, but each of the ICMs lowers this by lO%. The torpedo's final chance to hit is !70 - 20 =) 50%. A ship carries a limited number of ICMs. Whenever one is used. it must be checked off the ship's record sheet. ICMs can defend onlv the ship that launched them.
None. This is a category used to describe the many ships (usually civilian) that do not have even a reflective hull as a means of defense.
Proton Screen. This screen is a field of charged particles which surrounds a ship. It is effective in blocking proton and disruptor beams, but actually attracts electron beams!
Electron Screen. This screen is the opposite of a proton screen. It blocks electron and disruptor beams, but attracts proton beams.
Stasis Screen. A stasis screen is moderately eff ective aga i nst all electrical beam weapons. It is not as good as a proton or electron screen against their respective weapon types, but it does not attract any beams. However, the electrical pulse of a stasis screen allows missiles and rockets to home in with increased accuracy.
NOTE: When using electron, proton or stasis screens, exceptions will occasionally arise to the rule that states "A weapon's chance to hit is determined against the most effective defense in use." Since some defenses actually attract a weapon type, the percentage chance to hit is calculated against the defense that is attracting it, not the defense that is most effective against it.
When a player activates a screen. he simply circles in pencil the notation for that screen on his ship roster. When the screen is deactivated. the circle is erased. No more than one screen can be activated on a ship at one time.
Combat Table
The Advanced Game Combat Table is used the same as the Basic Game Combat Table. All weapons and defenses used in the game are included on the Advanced Game Combat Table.
Each entry on the Advanced Game Combat Table has two percentages; the first is used in the Advanced Game, and the shaded number is used with characters who have gunnery skills (see Skills in the Campaign Book). Use only the unshaded entries for now. [Web Editor's Note: Yellow cells were added for referencing purposes only and were not found in the original, printed version. References to "shaded" numbers on the table are in the blue and green colored columns.]
| COMBAT TABLE | ||||||||||||||
| Defense | ||||||||||||||
| Weapon | None | Reflective Hull | Proton Screen | Electron Screen | Stasis Screen | Masking Screen | ICM | Hull Damage | ||||||
| Laser Cannon | 75% | 60% | 60% | 45% | 75% | 60% | 75% | 60% | 75% | 60% | 25%* | 10%* | --- | 2d10 |
| Laser Battery | 65% | 55% | 50% | 40% | 65% | 55% | 65% | 55% | 65% | 55% | 20%* | 10%* | --- | 1d10 |
| Proton Beam Battery | 60% | 50% | 60% | 50% | 25%* | 15%* | 70% | 60% | 40% | 30% | 50% | 40% | --- | 1d10 |
| Electron Beam Battery | 60% | 50% | 60% | 50% | 70% | 60% | 25%* | 15%* | 40% | 30% | 50% | 40% | --- | 1d10 |
| Disruptor Cannon | 60% | 45% | 60% | 45% | 50% | 35% | 50% | 35% | 40% | 25% | 50% | 35% | --- | 3d10 |
| Torpedo | 50% | 45% | 50% | 45% | 50% | 45% | 50% | 45% | 75% | 65% | 50% | 40% | -10 / ICM | 4d10 |
| Assault Rocket | 60% | 50% | 60% | 50% | 60% | 50% | 60% | 50% | 60% | 50% | 60% | 50% | -5 / ICM | 2d10+4 |
| Rocket Battery | 40% | 30% | 40% | 30% | 40% | 30% | 40% | 30% | 40% | 30% | 40% | 30% | -3 / ICM | 2d10 |
| Mines | 60% | 60% | 60% | 60% | 80% | 60% | -5 / ICM | 3d10+5 | ||||||
| Seeker Missile | 75% | 75% | 75% | 75% | 90% | 75% | -8 / ICM | 5d10 | ||||||
| * Weapon causes half-damage (rounded up) on Hull hits. | ||||||||||||||
| DAMAGE TABLE MODIFIERS | |
|---|---|
| Laser Cannon | 0 |
| Laser Battery | 0 |
| Proton Beam Battery | +10 |
| Electron Beam Battery | +10 |
| Disruptor Beam Cannon | +20 |
| Assault Rocket | -10 |
| Rocket Battery | -10 |
| Torpedo | -20 |
| Mine | -20 |
| Seeker Missile | -20 |
| ADVANCED GAME DAMAGE TABLE | |
|---|---|
| Modified Die Roll | Type of Damage |
| -20 -- 10 | Hull hit: double normal damage |
| 11 -- 45 | Hull hit: roll normal damage for weapon |
| 46 -- 49 | Drive hit: lose 1 ADF point |
| 50 -- 52 | Drive hit: lose 1/2 total ADF (round up) |
| 53 | Drive hit: lose entire ADF |
| 54 -- 58 | Steering hit: lose 1 MR point |
| 59 -- 60 | Steering hit: lose entire MR |
| 61 -- 62 | Weapon hit: LC; LB; PB; EB; AR; RB |
| 63 -- 64 | Weapon hit: PB; EB; LB; RB; T; AR |
| 65 -- 66 | Weapon hit: DC; LC; AR; T; LB |
| 67 -- 68 | Weapon hit: T; AR; EB; PB; LB; RB |
| 69 -- 70 | Weapon hit: LB; RB; T; AR; PB; EB; LC |
| 71 -- 74 | Power short circuit: lose all screens and ICM's |
| 75 -- 77 | Defense hit: PS; ES; SS; MS; ICM |
| 78 -- 80 | Defense hit: MS; ICM; SS; PS; ES |
| 81 -- 84 | Defense hit: ICM; SS; PS; ES; MS |
| 85 -- 91 | Combat Control System hit: -10% on all attacks |
| 92 -- 97 | Navigation hit: lose maneuvering control |
| 98 -- 105 | Electrical Fire: roll additional damage at +20 each turn |
| 106 -- 116 | Damage Control hit: DCR cut in half |
| 117 -- 120 | Disastrous Fire: DCR cut in half; lose entire ADF and MR; -10% on all attacks; roll addtional damage at +20 each turn |
Explanation of Results
Hull Hits. Hull hits affect the ship's hull points. The player that scored the huII hit rolls the correct number of dice (indicated by the weapon's HDR) and the result is subtracted from the target ship's hull points. If the result indicates "Double Damage," the attacker should roll the dice and multiply the result by 2.
When more than half of the ship's hull points are gone, the ship is severely damaged and there is a chance it will break apart. Whenever a severely damaged ship accelerates, decelerates or turns, the player controlIing the ship must complete the following steps to determine if the ship breaks apart:
A ship that is torn apart is completely destroyed.
EXAMPLE: A destroyer with 50 hull points has taken 32 points of damage. The player that controls the destroyer wants to get it away from the battle as quickly as possible, so he decides to accelerate and turn one hex side. The destroyer's ADF is 3, and 1 MR point is used to make the turn. Subtracting one-half of the destroyer's original hull points from the ship's damage gives (32-25=)7. The ship is using (3+1 =)4 ADF and MR points this turn. The chance the ship will break apart is (7x4=) 28%. The player rolls d100 and gets a 29--the destroyer makes its move successfully! If the player had rolled 28 or less, the ship would have been destroyed.
All weapons cause the same damage when they hit anything other than the hull. The attacker does not roll dice to reduce the ship's hull points unless the result on the Damage Table was a Hull Hit. The number of dice rolled is determined by the weapon that was used.
Drive Hit. A drive hit can cause a ship to lose 1 ADF, one-half of its original ADF or all of its ADF. If a ship with 3 ADF loses 1, its ADF is reduced to 2. If it loses one-half of its ADF, its ADF is reduced to 1 (one-half of 3. rounded down). If the ship loses its entire ADF, its ADF is reduced to 0. If a ship has taken some drive damage, and receives a "1/2 ADF" hit, it loses a number of ADF points equal to one-half of its original ADF.
Losing ADFs does not affect the ship's current speed. A ship that loses its entire ADF can turn, but it cannot accelerate or decelerate. The ship may recover ADF during the Repair Turn.
Steering Hit. Steering hits reduce a ship's MR. The hit will either lower the ship's MR by l, or reduce the ship's MR to 0. A ship with an MR of 0 cannot turn or change its facing, even if it stops and remains in a single hex. Damage to a ship's MR can be repaired.
DRIFTING. A ship that loses all of both its ADF and MR will drift. A drifting ship travels at the same speed and in the same direction it had before it started drifting. It cannot turn, accelerate or decelerate until repairs are made.
Weapon System Hit. If a weapon system is hit, the system that is destroyed is the system that is Iisted first at that Damage Table result. If the damaged ship does not have that type of system, then the system listed second will be destroyed, and so on. If the ship has none of the listed systems, then treat this result as a huII hit. If an LTD system with no ammunition left is hit, the system is still destroyed.
EXAMPLE: A destroyer is damaged in combat. The attacker rolls d100 and gets a 66--Weapon hit: DC. LC, AR, T, LB. The destroyer does not have a disruptor cannon. The next system listed is a laser cannon. The destroyer does have a laser cannon, so the laser cannon is destroyed.
Power Short Circuit. All active defenses on the damaged ship stop working. This includes ICMs and electron, stasis and proton screens, but not reflective hulls and masking screens that have already been launched. No new masking screens can be released, however. Repairing a power short circuit will remove all effects of the hit.
Defense Hit. Defense hits are handled the same as weapon system hits, except defensive systems are destroyed instead of weapons.
Combat Control System Hit. The ship's automatic targeting devices are damaged. The player must subtract 10% from this ship's chance to hit with any weapon.
Navigation Hit. The ship's navigation and steering equipment is damaged. The player controlling the ship must roll 1d10 before the ship moves. If the result is 1-5, the ship must turn to the left in each hex it enters until its MR is used up. If the result is 6-10. the ship must turn to the right. The ship remains out of control until the damage is repaired. If the ship's hull is severely damaged, these turns affect the ship's chance of breaking apart. A stopped ship can ignore a navigation hit.
Electrical Fire. Electrical equipment in the ship is burning. Place a "fire" counter on top of the ship's counter. The player must make another damage roll for this ship with a +20 modifier at the start of his opponent's combat step every turn, until the fire is put out. If a fire causes hull damage, it will cause 1d10 points of damage.
Damage Control Hit. The ship's DCR is cut in half (round fractions up). This can be repaired, the same as normal damage.
Recording Damage
The player that controls a damaged ship must mark the damage on his ship roster. If a weapon or defense system is damaged, then that system is crossed off the roster in pencil. If a torpedo, assault rocket or other LTD weapon is damaged, the entire system is shut down, not just one torpedo or rocket. When a ship's movement ability is damaged, the original ADF or MR is crossed out and the modified number written in penciI. ElectricaI fires, navigation, combat control and damage control hits are recorded in the box labelled "Damaged Systems" on the Advanced Game ship roster.
Most damage is cumulative. For example, if a ship takes three drive hits and each calls for the ship to lose 1 ADF point, the ship loses 3 ADF points altogether. If the ship had only 1 or 2 ADF points to begin with, then its ADF is brought to 0 and all further drive hits are treated as hull hits. Damage will remain in effect until it is repaired (see Repair).
Combat control system and damage control hits are not cumulative. After one of these systems has been hit, any more hits on that system are considered hull hits. Also, a ship can have only one fire at a time, so a result that would cause a second fire is treated as hull damage.
If the damage table indicates a hit on a system that a ship does not have (a weapon hit on a civilian ore carrier. for example), the hit is considered as a hull hit. Likewise, if a hit is scored on a ship's system that has already been destroyed by damage (a drive hit on a ship with no ADF left, for example), that hit is treated as a hull hit.
Defensive Fire
As in the basic game, the non-moving player gets defensive fire at the moving player's ships as they move. The moving player finishes moving, and then the non-moving player can shoot at the moving player's ships in any hexes they traveled through. Any damage that is caused does not take effect until the ships have finished moving, however. For example. a ship that lost its entire MR at the beginning of its move could still maneuver during that turn.
