Vehicle Actions
p. 233
In general, all Personal Actions apply in all forms of combat (with a certain level of common sense).
Vehicle Action Limitations
A vehicle may benefit from only one Pilot Only action per round, no matter how many crew-members are aboard.
Pilot-Only Vehicle Actions
Dangerous Driving
- Silhouette: Any
- Current Speed: 1+
The pilot attempts to control the vehicle as it takes a sharp turn, tries to coax the vehicle through a series of narrowly placed obstacles, or otherwise performs an improbable feat of operating prowess.
When performing the Dangerous Driving action, the character makes a Piloting check with a difficulty equal to the Silhouette of the vehicle. Keep in mind that the current speed of the vehicle can alter the difficulty of such checks — and amplify the consequences of failure!
Gain the Advantage
- Silhouette: 1-4
- Vehicle Maximum Speed: 4+
This action reflects the frantic give-and-take of a dogfight between small vehicles. It allows a pilot to gain the upper hand against a single enemy vehicle, positioning to deny that foe shots while setting up attacks of their own.
To execute this action, the pilot chooses one enemy vehicle and makes a Piloting check, the difficulty of which is determined by the relative speeds of the vehicles involved in the attack:
| Difference in Speed | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Initiating vehicle is traveling at the same speed as the target. | Average () |
| Initiating vehicle's speed is one or more higher than the target. | Easy () |
| Initiating vehicle's speed is one or more lower than the target. | Hard () |
| Initiating vehicle's speed is two or more lower than the target. | Daunting () |
If the pilot succeeds, they gain the advantage. While a pilot has the advantage, Upgrade the ability of all combat checks made from the pilot’s vehicle against the target vehicle twice, and Upgrade the difficulty of all combat checks made by the target vehicle against the pilot’s vehicle twice.
Reversing the Advantage
Once a pilot gains the advantage, on a subsequent turn, the opponent may attempt to cancel out the Advantage by using Gain the Advantage as well.
This works as described earlier, but the difficulty of the Piloting check is increased by one.
All Crew Vehicle Actions
Perform a Combat Check with Vehicle Weapons
- Silhouette: Any
- Speed: Any
See: Vehicle Combat Check Steps, Vehicle Combat Checks
Vehicle Combat Checks are similar to the Personal Combat Check Action, with some minor differences as to how it is implemented.
Damage Control
- Silhouette: Any
- Speed: Any This action is an attempt to mitigate some of the stress caused to a vehicle's systems through combat or accident.
System Strain
Using this action, any Player Character who makes a successful Mechanics check recovers one point of System Strain. The difficulty of the Mechanics check is determined by the Strain the ship is currently suffering:
Damage Control can be attempted as many times as needed to reduce a ship's System Strain to zero (with the caveat that a single character can still only perform one Action per turn, of course).
Hull Trauma
In general, PCs can only attempt one Damage Control check to reduce Hull Trauma per encounter (there are only so many repairs that can be accomplished without the facilities of a proper shipyard).
| Total System Strain | Total Hull Trauma | Difficulty                     |
|---|---|---|
| System Strain less than half System Strain Threshold. | Hull Trauma less than half Hull Trauma Threshold. | Easy () |
| System Strain equal to or more than half System Strain Threshold. | Hull Trauma equal to or more than half Hull Trauma Threshold. | Average () |
| System Strain exceeds System Strain Threshold. | Hull Trauma exceeds Hull Trauma Threshold. | Hard () |
Critical Hits
Damage Control can be used to repair Critical Hits the same way as out of combat; the difficulty of repairing a Critical Hit is equal to the severity rating of the Critical Hit.
Checks to repair Critical Hits can be attempted multiple times, until the Critical Hit is repaired.
Additional Vehicle Actions
These Actions are all covered by the "Perform a Skill Check" Action, and are by no means an exhaustive list. However, they do serve to provide a range of ideas.
| Action | Skills and Difficulty | Results |
|---|---|---|
| Copilot | Average () Piloting Check | The crewmember serves as the vehicle's copilot, managing systems and auxiliary equipment to allow the pilot to focus on flying or driving. On a successful check, each success downgrades the difficulty of the pilot's next piloting check by I. |
| Plot Course | Average () Astrogation check or Hard () Perception check | The crewmember studies the terrain ahead and plots a course that should take the vehicle safely through it. On a successful check, each success reduces the suffered for Difficult Terrain by 1. |
| Boost Shields | Hard () Mechanics check | The crewmember re-routes power from other systems to boost the defensive systems of a vehicle. This only works if a vehicle already has a defense rating. On a successful check, the vehicle suffers 1 System Strain, and increases the Defense of one Defense Zone by one until the beginning of the crewmember's next turn. Additional increase the duration by one round per . |
| Manual Repairs | Hard () Athletics check | In some cases, repairs can be as simple as a sturdy metal plate welded over a damaged system. If the GM allows and the crewmember has the proper tools for the job, they can attempt to use the Damage Control action with Athletics rather than Mechanics. If successful, they may remove one point of Hull Trauma from the ship, plus one additional point for each additional . This follows the limitations to Damage Control, and thus may only be attempted once per encounter. |
| Fire Discipline | Hard () Leadership check or Hard () Discipline check | The crewmember forgoes fighting to analyze the opponents' tactics and direct their fellows to greater accuracy with their weapons fire. If successful, the next crewmember firing a weapon aboard the ship can add to their check. Each additional grants this to an additional crewmember. In addition, the crewmember may spend to allow every hit from shipboard weapons to inflict 1 System Strain on their target as well as regular Damage until the beginning of their next turn, as the carefully timed shots pummel shields and overload systems. |
| Scan Target | Hard () Perception check | The crewmember uses the ship's scanners to study the target. If successful, they learn what weapons the ship has, any modifications, and their System Strain and Hull Trauma Thresholds. If they spend , they can also learn the target's current System Strain and Hull Trauma levels. |
| Jam Target's Comms | Average () Computers Check | The crewmember uses the vehicle's systems to jam the communications of enemy vehicles. On a successful check, the enemy must make a Average () Computers check to use their communication systems. The difficulty increases by one for each additional and the jamming affects an additional target for each spent. |
| Slice Target's Systems | Hard () Computers check | The crewmember uses powerful shipboard computers to attempt to disrupt the systems of a target vehicle. If successful, they reduce the Defense of one zone on the target vehicle for one round per . A may be spent to disable a weapon system for one round, and may be spent to inflict one system strain on the target vehicle. |
| "Spoof" Missiles | Average () Computers check or Hard () Vigilance check | The crewmember tracks incoming attacks and uses vehicle systems to disrupt weapon tracking systems, or times incoming missiles and drops flares and chaff at the opportune moment. If successful, any attacks against the crewmember's ship or vehicle using weapons with the Guided quality upgrade their Difficulty by one (plus an additional upgrade for every additional ) until the start of the crewmember's next turn. |
All Crew Vehicle Actions - Large Silhouette
Blanket Barrage
- Silhouette: 5+
- Current Speed: 0-3
The gunner uses the ship’s weapons to raise a curtain of fire around the ship, protecting it from smaller vehicles. Any smaller vehicle attempting an attack run will must brave a hurricane of heavy weaponry. This action also speeds up combat when your vehicle has lots of guns.
When performing the Blanket Barrage action, your character makes an Average () Gunnery check and selects all weapons of a single type that share a firing arc. Those weapons count as firing that round. This action requires at least two weapons to use, and it cannot be used if there are not two weapons of a single type that share a firing arc.
At the GMs discretion, the Blanket Barrage might not cover all arcs of the vehicle, leaving some areas open.
Blanket Barrage Effects
Until the end of their next turn, all vehicles of Silhouette 4 or smaller upgrade the difficulty of any combat checks made against your character’s vehicle once, plus one additional time per on the check.
If their combat check generates , they suffer one automatic hit, which deals half the base damage (rounding up) of the type of weapon used in the Blanket Barrage action.
If their combat check generates , they suffer one automatic hit dealing the full base damage instead.
Concentrated Barrage
- Silhouette: 5+
- Current Speed: 0-3
The Concentrated Barrage action can only be used to target vehicles with a Silhouette of 5 or higher.
The gunner directs the vehicle’s fire to focus on a precise point on the opponent’s hull. Focusing fire in this way has the potential to deal significant damage. This action also speeds up combat when your vehicle has lots of guns.
When performing the Concentrated Barrage action, the character selects all weapons of a single type that share a firing arc. This action requires at least two weapons to use, and it cannot be used if there are not two weapons of a single type that share a firing arc. Although the character is firing multiple weapons, the character makes a single combat check, as per the rules for the Perform a Combat Check with Vehicle Weapons action. If the attack succeeds, the character may spend once to add Damage equal to the number of weapons involved in the attack to one hit of the attack.