KLOANE WAR KNIGHTS - C.4 P.3

Flight Coordinator (new role)

Large capital ships can carry a complement of fighters (usually short-range, see above) to engage in ship-to-ship combat against enemy fighters, as well as to harass other capital ships. The table below shows maximum number carried:

CAPITAL SHIP	# OF SQUADRONS
Destroyer (Class 5)	1 (12 fighters)
Cruiser (Class 6)	3 (36 fighters)
Battleship (Class 7)	6 (72 fighters)
Dreadnought (Class 8)	12 (144 fighters)

One squadron consists of 12 fighters, usually organized into “wings” or “flights” of three fighters. Capital ships generally won’t launch more than half their complement (holding the other half in reserve) unless engaged in an all-out battle.

Capital ships with fighter complements will usually have a flight coordinator in charge of scrambling (launching) fighters in battle and coordinating their activity. Every round, the flight coordinator can choose to scramble a wing (three fighters) OR coordinate the efforts of a wing already deployed. Either activity requires a successful Computer skill use. A successful skill use to coordinate fighters gives the entire wing a +1 bonus to AC and “to hit” rolls during the round.

No more than one fighter wing can be deployed per round, even under optimal conditions. Scrambled wings are deployed after all other phases; fighters begin with the same SU distance as the launch ship, and may make no action during the first round of deployment.

Damage

The following damage chart should be used in place of the original critical hit table, whenever a ship is reduced to 0 hull points; as an optional rule, any attack roll of 20 can force a ship to roll as well (for a “lucky shot”):

ROLL 1D8	CRITICAL HIT RESULT
1 to 2	Explosion! All crew and passengers killed*.
3 to 6	Severe damage to one system; roll on system damage table below.
7 to 8	Shaken but still flying; all crewmembers suffer D6 damage; subsequent critical checks are at -1 till ship repaired.

*Star Knights are allowed a PRE saving throw to escape from a vessel prior to explosion; fighters and small craft have a minimal life support pod that will contain the hero for pick-up while capital ships have larger escape pods that a character may use to abandon ship prior to the vessel disintegrating in a fiery conflagration.

Whenever the critical hit roll indicates system damage, check on the following table to determine which ship components have been affected:

ROLL 1D8	SYSTEM DAMAGE
1	Computer destroyed
2	Engine shut-down
3	Helm controls frozen
4	Jump drive damaged
5	Launch tubes wrecked*
6	Severe crew injury
7	Weapon systems off-line
8	Roll D4 times, rerolling any further results of 8.

*Reroll if ship does not have a fighter complement.

Computer Destroyed: the ship cannot take action during the Navigation phase of a combat engagement and navigators take 1D6 damage from internal explosions. In addition, the ship has no ability to navigate interstellar jumps except with the use of the psychic talent reflex pilot.

Engine Shut-Down: the ship is dead in the water, as described in X-Plorers. Anyone assigned to an engineering role takes 1D6 damage from internal explosions.

Helm Controls Frozen: the ship cannot take action during the Pilot phase of a combat engagement and pilot(s) take 1D6 damage from internal explosions; will crash if entering a planetary gravity field or if forced to maneuver to avoid collision.

Jump Drive Damaged: ship’s jump-drive only works intermittently (mechanics roll necessary to get the jump drive to work; failure indicates it’s down for the entire game session unless repaired at a first-class facility). Referee may allow the ship to make a short jump to a nearby destination rather than leaving the ship stranded in space.

Launch Tubes Wrecked: capital ships with fighter complements are unable to launch or land fighters until flight deck is repaired.

Severe Crew Injury: all PCs and important characters take 2D6 damage (PHY saving throw for half damage) and ship’s crew downgraded one degree (from elite to good or from good to average). An average crew is so badly injured that they can no longer participate in combat engagements and will need to be replaced with a new crew at next port.

Weapon Systems Off-Line: ship may not take action during Gunnery phase of combat, and all gunners take 1D6 damage from internal explosions.

Sometimes PCs would rather disable a ship for boarding than destroy it outright in combat. When this is the case, the Referee should roll 1D8 upon the opponent being reduced to 0 hull points; treat a result of 1-2 as Explosion and a result of 3-8 as Dead in the Water.

[to be continued]

[Kloane War Knights is copyright 2013 by Jonathan Becker and Running Beagle Games. The X-Plorers rpg is copyright 2009, Dave Bezio & Grey Area Games. The X-Plorers trademark is used under the X-Plorers Trademark License]