[1]
G
a l a C T i Ca[2]Agi d6, Str d12+d4, Vit d6, Ale d8, Int d8, Wil d10; [3]LP 26; [4]Init d6+d8; [5]Scale Spacecraft;
[6]Speed 5 (SL/JC)
[7]Traits Formidable Presence (d4), Destiny (d12), Loved (d6), Past It’s Prime (d4)
[8]Skills Heavy Weapons d6, Mechanical Engineering d4, Perception d6, Pilot d4
[9]Armament Heavy planetcraft scale skirmish range point defense system(d12); 24 spacecraft scale capital range primary assault railguns (d12+d2); 12 spacecraft scale short DRADIS range missile systems (d12+d4); 12 spacecraft scale short DRADIS range nuclear missile systems (d12+d8); 80 Vipers (full stock), 20 Raptors, 12 assorted craft
[10]Armor Wound 6, Stun 4
[11] Description 4,593 x 1,725 x 739 feet; Crew 3,100; Passengers 7,000
1. Vehicle name or design.
2. Attributes are Agility (Agi), Strength (Str), Vitality (Vit), Alertness (Ale), Intelligence (Int), Willpower (Wil).
3. Life Points equals the maximum value of Strength + Willpower dice.
4. Initiative combines the Agility die with the Alertness die for autonomous functions.
One or more of a driver’s, pilot’s, or captain’s Attributes often factors into Initiative.
5. Scale is planetcraft or spacecraft.
6. Speed capacity during combat is abstracted by the Speed Class number. SL and JC mean
“sublight capable” and “jump capable,”
respectively
7. Assets or Complications, if any.
8. Skills and Specializations, if any.
9. Armament and weaponry, with scale, range, and damage, if any.
10. Armor against Wound and Stun damage, if any.
11. Vehicle dimensions (length, breadth, and height), crew, passenger and cargo capacity, and other relevant information.
0
Chapter Six
Wireless serves key air and space traffic control and communication needs for military and civilian craft. It’s most widespread use was, and still remains, civilian entertainment, such as the Talk Wireless Network.
Specifications
Specifications are the details of a starship or planetcraft’s stat block. Some of these components have no direct game mechanic. They are simply useful in determining what a vehicle looks like, how much it can carry, its mission, how many crew or passengers it may take on, etc. Others are specifically game-oriented and are used when the ship is involved in combat or a dramatic maneuver.
v e h i C l e a TT r i b u T e s
Vehicles have six Attributes, just as player characters do, but their interpretation is slightly different (see tables across). Attributes with a rating of zero are possible.
Agility
A craft’s Agility represents its reaction speed and maneuverability. Agility 0 indicates an orbiting base or space station, such as Ragnar Anchorage, that has only minimal attitude control.
Strength
A vehicle’s Strength represents both its size and power as well as its toughness. Strength 0 shows something barely able to hold itself together.
Vitality
Vitality reflects the reliability of the craft and how much “babying” it might need to repair and maintenance. Vitality may be temporarily reduced to zero, but only as a result of neglecting routine maintenance.
Alertness
Alertness characterizes the range and quality of a vehicle’s DRADIS sensors and wireless communication equipment. Many civilian vessel owners skimp on electronics, installing only the bare minimum. The Colonial Fleet and Cylon ships tend to the opposite extreme. Alertness 0 is for vehicles, including most planetcraft, that have no sensors, communications, or avionics. It could also represent a spacecraft with its DRADIS system turned off or
otherwise disabled.
Intelligence
Almost all spacecraft have an autopilot—
something elegant enough to follow simple course instructions and keep the craft from crashing during routine operations. More advanced planetcraft also have autopilots. Intelligence reveals the expert systems available in a vessel’s control, navigation, and guidance suite. Intelligence 0 indicates manual controls with no autonomous capability at all.
Willpower
Willpower represents the redundancy and safety margins built into the design of a vehicle. It measures the ability of a craft to operate under distress, to bypass malfunctioning systems, and to employ temporary fixes until more permanent repairs can be made.
Willpower also measures how far it can be pushed beyond its design limitations.
v e h i C l e l i f e P o i nTs
Vehicle Life Points are calculated in a similar fashion the way character Life Points are calculated.
One main difference is the use of a vehicle’s Strength attribute over its Vitality attribute as sheer mass absorbs damage.
To get a vehicle’s Life Point total, add its Strength + Willpower maximum die values.
v e h i C l e i n i T i a T i v e
Initiative rolls are the same for vehicles as they are for characters—Agility + Alertness. The vessel’s Attributes are used if it has autonomous capacity (an Intelligence Attribute) and if one of the autonomous functions is being used.
Planetcraft sometimes use the pilot/driver’s Agility in initiative rolls, but the vehicle’s maneuverability imposes a hard limit. If the pilot/
driver has a higher Agility, use the vehicle’s Agility.
Spacecraft don’t care how agile their crew members are. Use the craft’s Agility + the captain/
pilot’s Alertness in most initiative rolls.
It’s theoretically possible that a vehicle’s sensors might be very advanced, able to collect information around it better than its crew does. Even so, unless the vehicle is acting autonomously, it has to wait for the crew to catch up before acting. Use the captain/pilot/
driver’s Alertness in all non-autonomous cases.
s P e e d
In Battlestar Galactica, sublight speeds are capable of propelling starships hundreds if not thousands of miles per minute, allowing spacecraft to conveniently travel from planet to planet within a solar system.
V ehicles
T a b l e 6.1—v e h i C l e a T T r i b u T e s Agility
Ability Score Description
d2 Slow: Deep-space bulk refinery
d4 Ungainly: Heavy cargo transport, battlestar, truck
d6 Average: Passenger liner, Cylon heavy raider, military planet aero-fighter d8 Good: Light cargo transport, Raptor
d10 Exceptional: Viper, Cylon raider
d12 Near perfect: Theoretical craft with the maneuverability of a hummingbird
Strength
d2 Bare minimum: Escape pod, motorcycle d4 Weak: Small transport, VTOL air-car
d6 Average: Gemenon Traveller, Viper, Marine interceptor boat d8 Good: Large transport, Colonial One, Raptor
d10 Exceptional: Manufacturing spaceship d12 Massive: Battlestar, basestar
Vitality
d2 Highly delicate, prone to regular breakdowns d4 In need of regular service
d6 Performs well with standard maintenance d8 Newer model or design requires low maintenance d10 New model or design has redundant systems built in d12 Fresh-off-the-line model
Alertness
d2 Rudimentary: Only the barest DRADIS nav-sat, wireless access, and communications equipment;
planetcraft with avionics rise to this level
d4 Basic: Typical needs for a privately owned civilian vessel, including long range emergency drone for distress situations
d6 Average: Standard commercial vessel d8 Good: Standard military vessel d10 Excellent: Colonial Fleet listening post
d12 Amazing: Expensive DRADIS and Wireless gear designed to scan all spectrums, and analyze all frequencies
Intelligence
d2 Bare-bones: Can make only basic corrections, stop in emergencies, or sound an alarm
d4 Substandard: Can handle mundane flight details, and issue automated responses to communication attempts
d6 Average: Can auto-calculate a flight plan with correct input, account for unusual (but not unfamiliar) anomalies during flight
d8 Good: Fast response and crash avoidance, auto-landing routine on predictable terrain
d10 Excellent: Auto-checks sensor information to verify its accuracy, extensive emergency response programming
d12 Amazing: Can handle most flight details without pilot assistance
Willpower
d2 Rudimentary: Auxiliary life-support if needed, but little else
d4 Basic: Automatically seals bulkheads at critical sections, backups available for most critical systems d6 Average: Able to maintain optimal function after modest damage
d8 Good: Most systems have an auxiliary backup
d10 Excellent: Damage containment protocols and redundant backup systems allow craft to function after significant damage
d12 Amazing: Modular, redundant system designs and integrated emergency procedures allow vehicle to function even after extensive damage
Chapter Six
Differences in sublight speed capacities exist, but they are largely irrelevant in combat systems. At that speed, there’s no time for maneuvering or shooting at passing targets. For the most part, the only important factor is if a craft has sublight capacity (noted by the designation SL).
In combat, Speed Class comes into place. This is an abstract number summarizing the speed and maneuverability of the craft. It is used when attempting to keep a target in range of certain armaments. Speed Class 0 is very slow, the territory of characters and flat-bottom boats. Armored vehicles are not much faster at Speed Class 1, helicopters are Speed Class 3, and aero-fighters reach Speed Class 5. In atmosphere, a Viper can push Speed Class 6; in space, the fighter can get up to Speed Class 8.
FTL jump capable vehicles are given the notation JC.
v e h i C l e T r a i Ts
Quality control, especially as the fleet gets farther and farther from the Colonies, varies widely. Might as well throw out the official specification-sheets of any given vessel. Crews simply do the best they can to keep everything in working order. As the ship is repaired and modified, “work arounds” are devised.
This creates any number of oddities in a craft. A similar process occurs in any older planetcraft that’s seen a lot of service.
Unusual or special features can also be part of a vehicle’s design. That means they arise even in a new planetcraft or spacecraft.
The sum total of a vehicle’s eccentricities make it unique, even among those of the same make, model, or class. It’s these features that lead some to view the craft as having a personality.
Most of the time, the oddities are minor quirks, but sometimes they become so pervasive that
they become Assets or Complications.
Quirks: A vessel may have one or more tweaks that have no direct game effect, but are interesting enough to provide Plot Points to those characters who interact with it on a regular basis. One example might be a ship that groans and shudders whenever the FTL drive is spun up. Although it has no effect on the performance of the FTL, life is more interesting for those aboard.
Game Masters and players are encouraged to invent bits of flavor like this—especially as time goes on and modifications are more prevalent. Characters should stay on their toes—no telling when an oddity graduates from personality to imminent danger.
Whenever a quirk results in a problem (e.g., a spark from a conduit distracts the engineer’s attention at a critical moment), the GM should award Plot Points to the player.
Assets and Complications: These are, just as in the case of characters, significant features that distinguish
one vehicle from another. A list of Traits suitable for a vehicle appear above (some are versions of personal Traits, a few are unique to vehicles). At the GM’s discretion, other character Traits from Chapter Three:
Traits & Skills can be applied to vehicles, performing in a similar manner.
T a b l e 6.2—v e h i C l e T r a i T s
Trait Type Description
Allure Asset Bonuses come into play when craft’s appearance is a factor; see Chapter Three
Destiny Asset Has a role to play; see Chapter Three
Loved Asset Crew has a deep connection with vehicle
Mass-Produced Complication Common model
Memorable Complication Easy to recognize; See Chapter Three Past It’s Prime Complication Older and prone to problems
Short-Range Complication Flies only short-range
T a b l e 6.3—v e h i C l e s k i l l s
Skill Description
Athletics Collision avoidance systems
Covert Stealth programming
Heavy Weapons Automatic targeting Knowledge Internal encyclopedia/database Mechanical Engineering Interactive maintenance manual
Perception DRADIS and internal security checks
Pilot Autopilot/autonav
V ehicles
Loved [d4]
Crew can come to “love” their vehicle, particularly a spacecraft that they live and work on for long periods of time. Commander Adama’s love for Galactica is a good example. This love is similar to that a person has for a nation or a branch of armed services. It’s about being part of something. The craft is as much a symbol of that “something” as it is a mechanical construct.
Loved for a military ship includes pride of cause and a shared duty station. Civilian ships are
Loved as homes and livelihoods.
The crew of a Loved ship can spend personal Plot Points on rolls using the ship’s Attributes or Skills, even if the characters aren’t directly involved.