Spaceship collections – updated

After a reread of the space combat rules, and discussion with community members, I have realised that the starship collection previously uploaded on this site may give the wrong idea about spaceship combat with regards to serious losses.

The updated versions of these files are now uploaded. The reasoning behind the changes are laid out below.

To clarify. Normal Losses (NL): can be taken multiple, up to six (6) times, increasing the effect. This is clear. Serious Losses (SL) are less obvious. What seems clear is that a ship can take as many “Weapon Offline” SL as the ship has weapon systems. Once all weapon systems are offline, it makes sense to interpret that as the ship no longer having a weapon system, thus Reactor Offline becomes the only SL option. The question that remains is: what constitutes a weapon system?

Weapon system

Based on rereading spaceship qualities in the core rulebook (page 123), a weapon system appears to be one fire arc of PDCs (Fore, Aft), one per Rail gun, and arguably one per torepdo launcher/tube.

The rules state that “Two qualities set up a PDC network that covers all angles around the ship” (page 123). I take this to mean that Full Coverage must be made up of two (2) weapon systems, one Fore and one Aft. This means that a ship with full coverage may stay in the fight longer than one with only Aft or Fore coverage.

Grapplers are also listed under weapons on page 121, but not as weapon systems. Looking at ships armed with grapplers, the number of grapplers are listed, just like rail guns and torpedo launchers. Thus, I count each grappler as its own weapon system with regards to the Weapon Offline SL. For one, these cannot cause damage (except through creativity, high risk, and a fun GM), not much at least, and are mainly tools. Insofar as they can be rendered inoperable through a Serious Loss, I count them as individual weapon systems.

This, then, beggs the question about how many Weapon Offline SL a ship can take. My conclusion is a balance of granularity and game-friendliness. Thus, I would argue that a ship can take as many Weapon Offline SL as it has weapon systems (as per the interpretation above) up to a maximum of 6 Weapon Offline SL. The rationale for ships with more than 6 weapon systems (there’s a few) is that at such levels of damage, power lines, data cables and connectors, and general powerloss will render any remaining weapons inoperable until the ship’s electrical and data systems and networks are repaired, or jury-rigged.

Of course, for the most massive of ships, like the Donnager-class with its 14 torpedo bays, 2 rail guns, and full coverage point defense network – which would count as at least 18 weapon system (depending how you count a “torepdo bay“) – a case can easily be made for it being able to sustain far more than 6 Weapon Offline SL. However, I’d argue a Donnager-class battleship is more like terrain, a force of “nature”, than a conventional, or beatable, opponent for most groups of player characters (unless they’re in control of a similar ship, with sufficient crew – but that’s another matter).

Reactor

Ships have one reactor. That appears to be the case in the novels, the show, and the game does not have rules for multiple reactors, whether for redundancy or backup reactors to be started up after one fails. This makes sense, cost, radiation, maintenance, and more, makes it potentially risky, costly, and demanding – both in construction and to run. Thus, it appears that a single Reactor Offline SL is possible, which arguably the rules also indicate.

Still. I would not be me without suggesting some untested homebrew ship qualities and house-rules:

Ship Qualities

Coupled Reactor (Quality): Ship has an additional reactor. This backup reactor ensures complete power redundancy. The ship can ignore the first Reactor Offline Serious Loss suffered in space combat. The ship must be built with this Quality, although rumours have it that some OPA shadow ports, and UNN and MCRN shipyards, have experimented with retrofitting ships with backup reactors. The ship also gain High Maintenance Flaw, increasing the Lifestyle Cost of the ship by +1 (or more, GMs discretion). Ships with this quality generally have reduced internal space, usually reducing cargo capacity to make room for the extra generator,

Parallel Reactors (Quality): The ship runs two reactors in parallel to ensure full redundancy. It is capable of losing one reactor and still remain at full power. The ship can take two (2) Reactor Offline Serious Losses in space combat before losing power to its Epsteins and having to rely on battery power. The ship must be built with this Quality, although rumours have it that some OPA shadow ports, and UNN and MCRN shipyards, have experimented with retrofitting ships with backup reactors. The ship also gain High Maintenance Flaw, increasing the Lifestyle Cost of the ship by +1 (or more, GMs discretion). Ships with this quality generally have reduced internal space, usually reducing cargo capacity to make room for the extra generator,

These two qualities do the same thing, in different ways. I’d suggest you choose one to add to your game. I prefer the “Parallel Reactors” for gameplay reasons, but I can see good “Coupled Reactor” being preferred by others. Below is a third “Backup Reactor” that is not as convenient, but would be arguably cheaper?

Backup Reactor (Quality): Ship has been fitted with an extra reactor for redundancy. When a ship with this Quality takes the Reactor Offline Serious Loss, the backup reactor can be started up. During the startup process the ship is subject to the Reactor Offline conditions on page 138. Depending on the crew’s preferences, it may be an automatic sequence starting with the main reactor shutting down, automatically at the flip of a switch, or a manual process. The automatic (reactive or flip switch) process is a fairly safe process requiring only a Basic TN 11 Intelligence (Technology or Engineer) test that takes 15 minutes. The manual process requires a TN 13 Advanced Intelligence (Technology or Engineering) test, with a threshold of 20 and time increment of 1 minute. Any failed tests restarts of the power-up process. Ship must be built with this Quality, although rumours have it that some OPA shadow ports, and UNN and MCRN shipyards, have experimented with retrofitting ships with backup reactors. The ship also gain High Maintenance Flaw, increasing the Lifestyle Cost of the ship by +1 (or more, GMs discretion). Ships with this quality generally have reduced internal space, usually reducing cargo capacity to make room for the extra generator,

Damage Control and Repair Challenge

In most situations, where a reactor has gone offline due to ship combat – and assuming the core hasn’t been dumped – repairing it is an Interlude activity, most likely at an appropriate space station with repair facilities and a drydock. Ships of the Expanse also covers restarting a reactor (page 44). However, for the daring – and competent – engineers and crew, I offer the following Challenge Test to try and get an offline reactor (from a Serious Loss) back online, whether during space combat or straight afterwards:

Emergency (re)start a reactor turned off due to ship damage (Challenge test)
Success Threshold: 20
Ability Focuses: Intelligence (Technology) TN 15; Intelligence (Engineering) TN 15; Intelligence (Science: Physics) TN 13.
Time per test: 1 minute per test (or 1 round of space combat)
Consequences:
Minor
The system throws errors and starts shutdown procedure, make a TN 13 Intelligence (Technology) test to stop shutdown, on a failure make a TN 11 Constitution (Tolerance) test or take 1d6 damage from radiation as the reactor shuts off. Future tests increase TN by +2 as more safety measures and warnings hamper progress. (Optional: also, increase Churn by +1).
Moderate
Reduce accumulated progress by 2+ Drama Dice result on failed test as the system throws errors of overheating; make a TN 17 Intelligence (Engineering) test to prevent overheating and emergency shutdown, on a failure make a TN 13 Constitution (Tolerance) test or take 2d6 damage from radiation as the reactor shuts off. (Optional: also, increase Churn by +2).
Major
Alarms blare as containment loss is imminent, make a TN 15 Intelligence (Science: Physics) or TN 17 Intelligence (Engineering) test to prevent containment loss and dumping the core, on a failure make a TN 15 Constitution (Tolerance) test or take 3d6 damage from radiation as the ship dumps the core. (Optional: also, increase Churn by +3).
Epic
Alarms blare as containment fail, make a TN 21 Intelligence (Science: Physics; or Engineering; or Technology) test to prevent reactor going critical. On a failure: Make a TN 17 Constitution (Tolerance) test or take 4d6 damage from radiation; and/or refer to page 44 of Ships of the Expanse to deal with overloading reactors (and get a hazmat suit due to ongoing radiation leakage); or simply “Game Over” as ship becomes a brilliant and short-lived star brightening an otherwise dull afternoon.

How to use this challenge test:

• Considered and reflexive GM’s discretion is needed here to ensure fun gameplay, understanding of player expectations, and to convey the actual risk.
• Suggested # of failures to activate first consequence: 2.
• After dealing with, or suffering, a Minor consequence for the first time, if the next test is a failure, it is fine to let it go with no consequence. Any further failure activates either a Minor or a Moderate consequence.
• After dealing with, or suffering, a Moderate consequence for the first time, if the next test is a failure, it is fine to let it go with no consequence, or optionally activate another Minor consequence. Any further failure activates either a Moderate or a Major consequence.
• After dealing with, or suffering, a Major consequence for the first time, if the next test is a failure, it is fine to let it go with no consequence, or optionally activate another Moderate consequence. Any further failure activates either a Major consequence again, the optional Epic consequence, or the ship automatically dumps the core.
• The optional Churn increase for each consequence level is for GMs that want to up the tension, regardless of success or failure on dealing with the consequences.