Range

[Doug Taylor]

In starship combat, range doesn't seem to play much of a role, other than having beam weapons be a bit weaker at longer ranges.

Is there something I've missed that makes shooting a weapon harder when one is at Long or Extended range, as opposed to Point Blank? In Lord of the Rings, it's harder to shoot an arrow at somebody from far away, but in Trek it doesn't seem to have much impact on sensors or ship weapons, at least as far as I can see.

[Tomcat]

My houe rules...

Starship Combat

Range modifier in Starship combat - All Tactical maneuvers will be affected by range; the following penalties are incurred based on range:
Point Blank = +1
Short = ±0
Medium = -1
Long = -3
Extended = -5
Extended +1 = is irrelevant due to no damage effects beyond Extended

Size modifier in Starship combat - Ship size will affect Tactical maneuvers in combat; the following penalties or bonuses apply based on the size of the target ship in comparison to the attacking ship. An attacking ship gains or suffers a +2 / -2 modifier for each size difference of its target. Example: a Medium ship attacks a Huge ship and gains a +4 bonus to all Tactical Maneuvers; the same ship attacking a Tiny shuttlecraft would suffer a -4.

Ship Size Size scale
Tiny 1
Small 2-3
Medium 4-6
Large 7-9
Huge 10-12
Gigantic 13-16
Titanic 17-20


Rate of Fire - a ship may make one Fire Maneuver per weapon system per round - so, a ship could Fire twice, but it would be phasers and then photons. The Tier 2 maneuver, Multiweapon, reduces the action count to 1 to fire multiple weapon systems at once.

Weapon Recharge time - after firing a weapon system, it needs time to re-load/charge; see the table below

-Phasers may be fired each round
-Photon Torpedoes require one round to re-load after the round that they were fired
-Plasma Torpedoes require two rounds to re-charge after the round that they were fired

[Tomcat]

Actually, now that I have posted this, I remember IKI finding problems with my size modifiers.

It needs re-tooled, and I never got around to it - so I will have to run some test combats to fix the size variance mods.

[IKI]

He Tomcat
I loved the Idea and I worked a little bit on it.
Here is what I came up with (I used the ranged combat modifiers for the size):

I use your range modifiers + the rules below.

Ship Size: Size scale: Protection Modifier:
1 Miniscule +9
2-3 Tiny +8
4-6 Small +6
7-9 Medium 0
10-12 Large -4
13-16 Huge -6
17-20 Titanic -8

Defense = The Highest value of either the Shield or Unshielded Defense
Shielded Defense = Protection Rating
Unshielded Defense = 5 (or Hull Plating) + Size modifier

Examples

Defiant: (S5) Shielded Defense: 17
Unshielded Defense: 11

Brid of Prey: (S3) Shielded Defense: 12
Unshielded Defense: 13

Sovereign: (S8) Shielded Defense: 18
Unshielded Defense: 5

D'Deridex: (S10) Shielded Defense: 17
Unshielded Defense: 1

Borg Cube: (S16) Shielde Defense: 18
Unshielded Defense: -3

[PGoodman13]

In starship combat, range doesn't seem to play much of a role, other than having beam weapons be a bit weaker at longer ranges.

Is there something I've missed that makes shooting a weapon harder when one is at Long or Extended range, as opposed to Point Blank? In Lord of the Rings, it's harder to shoot an arrow at somebody from far away, but in Trek it doesn't seem to have much impact on sensors or ship weapons, at least as far as I can see.

Table 6.17, Ranged Combat Modifiers, on page 89 of the Narrator's Guide , applies to starship combat as well as interpersonal ranged combat. So there are some modifiers built into the system.

Relative size doesn't play a part, but some people clearly think it should.

[Fugazi Grrl]

My houe rules...

Love them ! And I'm going to show them to our Narrator and see about maybe using them in our next game !

[Doug Taylor]

Great stuff, especially the house rules by Tomcat (and as modified by IKI). Thanks, all for the great help!!!

[Doug Taylor]

Table 6.17, Ranged Combat Modifiers, on page 89 of the Narrator's Guide , applies to starship combat as well as interpersonal ranged combat. So there are some modifiers built into the system.

I completely didn't realize that this applied to starship combat, but it totally makes sense that it does. Thanks, Patrick!

[Doug Taylor]

I completely didn't realize that this applied to starship combat, but it totally makes sense that it does. Thanks, Patrick!

Reading over the example of starship combat in action (in "A First Test"), I now see how those Range modifiers were used, and they totally make sense. It's one of those 'd'oh'-kinds of obvious things, now that I see it. Most rules sets would have reminded the GM/Narrator again about this in the combat section, though (and used it in an example).

The range modifers are pretty minimal, too, so it doesn't look like they make a huge impact on combat. I think they make sense, though, and will certainly incorporate using them!