Fixing System Damage
Rather
than repairing hull points, engineers can spend a week to fix a single damaged
system (successful skill check required); all such checks are made at a -2 penalty if done in space. Crew
injuries cannot be “repaired” though new crew can be hired and PCs healed with
time and medical attention.
Damaged jump-drives
are notoriously tricky to fix outside of first class repair facilities; once
damaged, any successful jump is likely to burn out the drive until it can be
jury-rigged again (a failed mechanics roll after any jump indicates the drive
is unavailable the rest of the session).
Multiple Ship Combat (Fighter Wings)
Fighter
pilots are trained to work together in coordination; when deployed as a “wing”
they are treated as a single entity rather than separate ships. The lead (“wing commander”) ship is the only one
that makes skill checks while the rest of the wing provides cover and support.
Damage is split evenly between all ships, in effect treating the wing as a
single fighter (piloted by the wing commander) with 15 hull points. When the wing’s hull points have fallen below 10,
one ship has been destroyed (if the ship is controlled by a player character or
important NPC, make the usual roll on the critical
chart, but the fighter is forced to leave the wing regardless). When the
hull points of the wing fall below 5, the second wingman is likewise eliminated
and only the wing commander remains.
As long as
there are at least two ships remaining in the wing, the commander receives a +2
on damage rolls (from 1D6 up to 1D6+2). This reflects the wing commander’s
greater ability to concentrate in the heat of battle with the cover of her
wingman.
Boarding Actions and Ramming
Any Dead in the Water ship can automatically
be grappled and boarded by another ship. Some ships may sustain so much damage
they decide to surrender and allow their opponents to board;
this is generally done by first “powering down” all essential systems (in
effect, purposefully rendering the ship Dead
in the Water). Once a ship has been restrained, it cannot “power up” unless
the grappling ship allows.
Ship that have
powered down (by choice or not) can be towed by any ship not more than one
class smaller than itself. Towing a ship is only possible for intra-system
travel; it cannot “jump” the powered down ship using its jump drive. However, a
powered down ship can be docked inside a vessel that is at least two ship
classes greater than itself (for example, a small ship could be docked within
any frigate or larger class of ship), and while docked can be carried via jump
drive to a destination.
If a ship
moves into the same SU space as another, it may attempt to make a ramming attack during the piloting
phase of a combat round. Such an attack is done in place of any other piloting
action and requires a successful skill check to accomplish; if successful, the
ramming ship is unable to shoot in the gunnery phase. Both vessels do damage to
each other; the amount of damage inflicted is a number of D6s equal to the
opponent’s ship class (for example, a destroyer will do 5D6 damage to any ship
with which it collides). In addition, the smaller
vessel must make a number of rolls on the critical
hit chart equal to the difference between its ship rating and its
opponent’s; the larger ship makes just
one critical hit roll but ignores any result of 7 or 8. If the colliding ships
are the same size, both make a single roll on the critical hit table.
Trying to
board a ship that has not powered down is usually a matter of landing a smaller
ship on it – a tricky maneuver at best, requiring both careful timing and luck.
Assuming the boarding craft is at least three classes smaller than its target,
it can attempt to land by first entering the SU of the larger ship and then
making a piloting roll at a -2 penalty.
However, if the larger ship wins initiative for the round and enters the space
of the smaller vessel, it will generally make a ramming attack on the boarders’
vessel…and attempt a gunnery attack if the ramming attempt fails! Once landed
and grappled it takes D6 rounds for a boarding party to cut its way in using
the proper tools.
Surface-to-Space Combat
As stated
in the X-Plorers rulebook, damage
inflicted by starship weaponry against a normal, surface target should be
multiplied by 10; however, attempting to target individual humanoids is only
generally possible while a ship is at rest (on a landing platform or similar).
Similarly, damage from personal weapons (including all weapons listed in Chapter 2) should be divided by 10,
rounding all fractions down, when attacking starships. Starships are made of
especially durable materials (including force screens) and receive a +2 bonus
to Armor Class when attacked by non-starship weapons; this bonus is increased
to +4 if targeted while in atmospheric flight (surface and personal weapons
can’t usually target a ship in space).
The
importance of space combat in the KWN setting cannot be under-stated: the extremely
powerful weapons available to starships allow for surface bombardment capable of reducing whole civilizations to
rubble in a matter of hours or minutes. The only thing standing between
galactic liberty and total capitulation to such foes as the Kloane Empire is
the defensive action of the heroic Star Knights; often, their mere presence is
enough to deter or delay the imperial forces. Starships are unable to commence
surface bombardment when engaged in space-to-space attacks; defensive
resistance can give planets the time they need to evacuate their citizens or
seek shelter deep underground.
[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]
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