Spaceships take damage just like people, but the scale is different. Ships can suffer two kinds of damage: hull damage and systems damage. Hull damage decreases the ship’s Hull Points (HP), which are a measure of how big and robust the ship is. Systems damage decreases the ship’s Energy points (EP), which are a measure of the reactor’s output. EP are used to power the different systems of the ship, as described above. When a ship suffers EP damage, its effectiveness drops.
RULES
Systems damage first eliminates EP not already spent in the turn, and after that destroys EP already used.
y HULL DAMAGE
When a ship is hit by an enemy weapon system, it suffers damage just like people do in ground combat: One six on the roll inflicts hull damage equal to the weapon’s Weapon Damage. Some weapon systems inflict EP damage instead of HP damage, and some systems inflict both HP and EP damage. For each additional six after the first one on the gunner’s attack roll, she gets to choose a bonus effect:
◆More Damage: The target takes one additional point of damage.
This effect may be chosen multiple times.
◆Critical Hit: The target suffers a critical hit. This costs a number
of sixes after the first one equal to the weapon system’s CRIT rating (page 150). If even more sixes are rolled, the severity of the critical damage may be increased. More on critical damage below.
y ARMOR
The armor of a spaceship works exactly like body armor in ground combat. If you take a hit, roll a number of dice equal to your Armor Rating – for each six you roll, lower the damage by one. This roll is not an action for any crew member.
Critical Damage: If the armor roll reduces the damage suffered
to zero, any critical damage is also eliminated. The attacker must declare whether or not she intends to score a critical hit before the armor roll is made.
y DISABLED SHIP
When a ship drops to either zero HP or zero EP, it is disabled.
Hull Collapse: On a ship reduced to zero HP, the reactor and
all weapon systems stop working, and the ship also suffers explosive decompression – time to get to the escape pods or into an exo! Read more on page 99. A disabled ship is not blown to bits, however – it can be repaired using the right equipment.
Systems Collapse: On a ship reduced to zero EP, the reactor
stops working. The life support systems will keep function- ing, but no system that requires EP can be used. The ship
SHIP RAMMING
When one ship rams another (see the pilot phase, above), both ships suffer damage – each ship takes damage equal to the class of the enemy ship. The defender then suffers extra HP damage equal to the number of extra sixes on the attack- er’s roll (after the sixes necessary to win the opposed roll).
DAMAGE TO CREW
If the bridge, or some other module where crew members or passengers are located, is destroyed, its occupants risk grave injury. The attacker rolls six dice for each person in the module. The roll works like a normal ranged attack, but skill level and weapon bonus are ignored. Use the weapon system’s weapon damage and CRIT value (the scale of the damage is of course off, but the person is not hit with full force).
Torpedoes explode when they hit their target, causing more shrapnel damage than other weap- ons. On a torpedo hit, roll nine dice against each
TABLE 7.16 CRITICAL SHIP DAMAGE
2D6 CRITICAL DAMAGE
2 LIMITED DECOMPRESSION. The integrity of the bridge or some other populated module is breached, venting oxygen into space. Roll a die at the beginning of each following turn – on a six, the module suffers complete explosive decompression (page 99). The engi- neer can repair the breach in the engineer phase.
3 STRUCTURAL DAMAGE. The Armor Rating of the ship is reduced by 2, and Signature is increased by 2 until the damage is repaired. 4 DAMAGED SENSORS. The sensor operator gets a -2 to all her rolls until the damage is repaired.
5 DAMAGED THRUSTERS. The ship becomes harder to control. Maneuverability is decreased by 2.
6 DAMAGED POWER COUPLING. The power flow from the reactor to the rest of the ship is reduced. The ship’s EP pool is decreased by 2. 7 DESTROYED MODULE. A random module is destroyed – it cannot be used until the damage is repaired. Use dice to randomly deter-
mine which module is affected. The three required modules bridge, reactor and graviton projector cannot be hit (they have their own critical damage rules). If the module is populated, its occupants risk injury (see the box on the previous page).
8 DISABLED WEAPON SYSTEM. One of the weapon systems on the ship is hit and stops working. If you have more than one weapon system, determine which is hit randomly. If the ship has no weapons at all, reroll this result.
9 DISABLED GRAVITON PROJECTOR. The ship loses its propulsion. It continues forward at a constant speed. The pilot can no longer perform any actions.
10 DESTROYED BRIDGE. The ship can no longer be maneuvered. The captain, pilot and sensor operator can no longer perform their actions. The engineer and gunner stations are normally not on the bridge, so they can act normally. Everyone on the bridge risks damage, and the module suffers explosive decompression.
11 CHAIN REACTION. Roll twice on the table.
12 REACTOR DETONATION. A critical hit in the reactor is the worst possible outcome. Reactors in the Third Horizon generate enormous amounts of energy, and a critical hit in the reactor releases all this energy at once. The effect is disastrous – the ship is broken apart and lost forever. Everyone onboard risks serious damage (see the boxed text), and are of course subjected to immediate explosive decompression.
y CRITICAL DAMAGE
Critical damage will seriously affect some of the core functions of the ship. Roll 2D6 to determine the effect.
Severity: If you have more sixes to spend than those which you
need to score a critical injury, you can use them to increase the severity of the injury. For every extra six spent to increase the severity of the critical injury, you get to reroll the 2D6 crit roll once. You need to determine how many sixes you want to spend on this before you start rerolling. You are allowed to go back to an earlier result if you reroll.
Cumulative Effects: All effects from critical damage that
modify skill tests stack – if the ship suffers the same critical damage again, add the modifiers.
Destroyed Modules: Modules destroyed by a critical hit can
be repaired by the engineer. The feature Ship System can also repair destroyed modules.
y SHIP REPAIRS
Repairing a damaged ship requires technology rolls, tools and spare parts. Read more under the engineer phase on page 168. Ships are usually made up of Ordinary technology, and can therefore be repaired using Ordinary spare parts (page 113). Some modules and features are Advanced tech however, requiring Advanced parts. Repairs are easier to perform while in dock or in a space port. Repairs during travel or combat suffer a -2 to the roll, unless the ship has a service station.
Disabled Ship: A ship that has been disabled from either zero
HP or zero EP requires more extensive and time-consuming repairs. For every HP or EP you want to restore to the ship, you must spend a whole day on repairs.