Commanding a Capital Ship in Combat

jmanski · Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2012 6:42 pm Post subject:

Not to be too picky, but you've got 110% there, garhk.
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CRMcNeill · Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2012 8:55 pm Post subject:

Just out of curiosity, has anyone ever used the RAW full crew / skeleton crew stat in a game? It doesn't seem very well thought out; you have X amount of crew, but if you get down to Y amount of skeleton crew, all your rolls to pilot the ship increase by Z, but if you go below Z, you can't operate the ship at all. It seems to generate more questions than it answers. Does that mean that an Imperial Star Destroyer with its 36,755 crew can operate without penalty with just 5,001 crew, but as soon as it drops to 5,000, the difficulty for all actions shoots up by +20?
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

lurker · Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2012 11:16 am Post subject:

CRMcNeill · Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2012 11:25 am Post subject:

So, I'm at a dead end. I've got a system that I like established to represent a ship taking crew casualties when it takes damage, but when I try to come up with a good rule to simulate some of those crew being returned to battle, I'm drawing a blank. The closest I have come is using a secondary percentage to break down the ship's casualties by killed/missing, injured and trapped, and use percentages to represent that.

For example, if the Star Destroyer in the previous example took 55% casualties (20,397, rounded up) 10D% of those casualties will have been killed, 10D% of them will have been injured, and the remainder will be trapped and later rescued. Rolling those percentages (against 55%) breaks the total casualties down to 20% fatalities, 23% injuries and 12% trapped. Of the three categories, two are relatively easy to solve: the dead are beyond saving, and the living uninjured can be returned to duty relatively quickly (probably subject to the initial Capital Ship Repair rolls post-combat), so this leaves what to do with the injured. How quickly will they be healed and able to return to duty? What is the breakdown of Wounded / Incapacitated / Mortally Wounded, and at what rate will those beings be able to return to duty, and how soon?
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

CRMcNeill · Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2012 11:31 am Post subject:

CRMcNeill · Posted: Fri Dec 28, 2012 12:58 am Post subject:

Since Capital Ship Repair is missing from the crew skills of pretty much all ships, what would be a good baseline? Should it be equal to Piloting? Shields? Some other factor?
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

CRMcNeill · Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2015 5:30 pm Post subject:

So, this topic has come up more than once recently, so I figured I'd give it a bump. I've been wanting to update and consolidate what I have, as the topic is somewhat disjointed, and there are additional ideas scattered around the forum that would be applicable here. I'm going to be working on this tonight, but if anyone is interested, let me know what you think or what you would like to see.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

CRMcNeill · Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2015 5:40 pm Post subject:

Converting Existing Stats
Step 1: Generate a Command Difficulty Modifier for a ship, based on crew size. Use the following tables:

Crew Size (including gunners) = Command Difficulty

The modifier is applied to Difficulties listed under the Command Skill. Under normal circumstances, a Ship Captain's Base Difficulty is Very Easy, but circumstances can modify it up or down.

Using the previous examples and adjusting the difficulty gives the following results:

Step 2: Generate a Crew Quality Modifier.
This modifier is applied to the ship's Crew Skill dice to represent the relative shift in the crew's proficiency at their duties. The modifier can be applied to all of the ship's Crew Skill, or to some and not others at GM discretion.

If you wish to generate a Crew Quality Modifier for a Random Encounter, roll a D6 on the following table:

EDIT: Added Random Quality Table.

EDIT: Changed the Command Difficulty Table to a Command Difficulty Modifier Table.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

Naaman · Vice Admiral Joined: 29 Jul 2011 Posts: 3191

Now, I don't want to derail, so we can move to another topic if appropriate, but I think this fits:

Are we assuming that a capital ship cannot be operated without a commamder?

I mean, what halpens if the commander fails his role or else is killed (lets say the top three or four guys on the ship are taken out in a surgical strike or by Darth Vader or whatever).

In any case, can a ship function without its commander?

CRMcNeill · Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2015 7:42 pm Post subject:

Naaman · Vice Admiral Joined: 29 Jul 2011 Posts: 3191

But how is it handled in-game? Can the pilot not "dodge" or the gunners not shoot at new targets of opportunity?

Does the crew require a comma d roll just to use their base stats?

cynanbloodbane · Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2015 11:03 pm Post subject:

CRMcNeill · Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2015 12:28 am Post subject:

Exactly. Individuals or small groups may be able to coordinate when performing their specific tasks, but for the ship to function as a whole, it requires someone giving orders.

The goal of this rule is not to determine the resolution of how those small groups (presumably PCs) resolve their issues; that would be situation specific, and more focused on their individual parts, with the rest of the battle happening in the background.

The idea here, however, is to develop a rule that allows a single character (or small group of characters) to function as the command team of a capital ship, much like how a group of PCs might act as the crew of a space transport, except that in this case, rather than piloting or shooting themselves, they are acting as the OIC of that particular division of the ship's operations. Alternately, it will allow each individual PC to act as the captain of a separate vessel, each operating in concert.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

CRMcNeill · Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2015 1:13 am Post subject:

Here are some additional (mostly situational) modifiers that can be applied to the base difficulty:

EDIT: For example, a Nebulon B Frigate would have a base Command Difficulty of Easy. However, if you throw in a captain who is new to command, the difficulty goes up to Moderate.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

CRMcNeill · Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2015 1:24 am Post subject:

The Effects of the Command Skill
It is not realistic to assume that an order will not be carried out just because the OIC bungled the order. As such, the Command roll is rolled against the ship's Command Difficulty to generate a modifier which is then applied to the appropriate skill:

Command Roll > Difficulty by = Bonus

Command Roll < Difficulty by = Bonus

EDIT: So, using the same Nebulon B as above (Moderate Difficulty), the Captain (with a Command of 5D) gives an order, rolling his Command skill for a result of 19. Since 19 beats the base difficulty of 15 by 4 points, the roll generates a +1 bonus which is then applied to the Crew Skill roll to perform the specified action.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

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