Space Combat (starship systems)

[Jd Smith1]

I've run a number of sci-fi campaigns, and these inevitable lead to starship combat at some point. I used the rules from FASA's Interceptor, and later, Silent Death because they had sufficient tactical depth to ensure that every player, if not every PC, was involved, and the damage system was detailed enough so that defeat did not equate into a TPK as the PCs' ship blew up.

But had the set-back, however, of being stand-alone combat rules sets, so the learning curve was such that three or four starship engagements over 60-odd game sessions meant that there was not a lot of player innovation.

I'm going to be using a magic-free, psi-free version of 5e (from Spilled Ale Studios, primarily), so all I want are starship combat rules that are simple but have enough nuance to involve five players, and a damage system that is not just 'ships have hit points, hit zero and it is over'. And yes, dice must be involved.

I don't need a setting or overall rules.

Any suggestions?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Wow! Haven't touched Silent Death in YEARS!

I’ve used Star Fleet Battles, Federation & Empire and Starfire in much the way you describe. Which one I used depended on who I was playing with and how much space combat was actually involved.

In many ways, Battletech and Crimskn Skies are also mechanically similar to SFB. In all three, ships don’t have HP, you damage vehicles by damaging discrete systems. Very crunchy, and can be kinda slow, but certain players find thar EXTREMELY rewarding. Especially if they’re able to customize their vehicles or even design them from scratch.

Hell, file off the serial numbers, and Car Wars could be used the same way.

Wargames like F&E or the plethora of WW1 & WW2 aerial r naval combat games could work for simplified combat. But you’ve already seen that in action.

Starfire is somewhere in between. It’s much simpler than SFB and similar games, but you still track individual ship systems. However, this is VERY abstracted and plays similarly to simpler wargames, but the ships take more than a single hit to disable or destroy. Like SFB, damage to a ship affects what the ship can do, system by system. Best, while simple and abstract, the option for customization is intrinsic to the game design.

Starfire

Ship-to-ship space combat wargame set in the far future.

boardgamegeek.com

 

[dragoner]

Last space combat I ran recently, within the last few months, is the Classic Traveller "Book 2" style (also found in The Traveller Book) with its pseudo-newtonian movement, and with a few mods for a little bit harder sci-fi.

 

[Ryder]

If I recall, the FASA Star Trek Starship Combat Simulator, had an option for team play. With PC's taking the roles of Helmsman, Engineering etc.
If ship combat isn't a common element in your game; perhaps pull out a boardgame like Space Cadets for the night. That way everyone gets to do something fun and co-operative in the battle. Then you can guess-timate what the effects of the ship damage is in your main games ruleset.

 

[GMMichael]

I'm going to be using a magic-free, psi-free version of 5e (from Spilled Ale Studios, primarily), so all I want are starship combat rules that are simple but have enough nuance to involve five players, and a damage system that is not just 'ships have hit points, hit zero and it is over'. And yes, dice must be involved.

5e already has these rules.

Glob each PC together into a "starship." The weapon-characters get to attack, the engines character gets to move (and rotate), and the captain/bridge character gets to do everything else, like perception and help-actions. Since each character/portion of ship has HP, "killing" that character means that portion of the ship is disabled.

My character would run the escape-pod section

 

[Morrus]

Whatever you do, don't strap characters into specific immovable chairs and grant them only a couple of things they can each do for the entire game. Let any character do anything each round (fire a gun, do some first aid, rush to fix an engine, etc)

 

[Jd Smith1]

Whatever you do, don't strap characters into specific immovable chairs and grant them only a couple of things they can each do for the entire game. Let any character do anything each round (fire a gun, do some first aid, rush to fix an engine, etc)

How would that work? PC 1 shuts down ECM to run over and man a PDW because he feels like it? That's not how a crew operates.

In the past, I've used one PC on the helm , one on ECM/EW/CM, one on missiles/torps, one or two on guns, and the rest on damage control.

I'm just looking for better rules.

 

[Jd Smith1]

5e already has these rules.

Glob each PC together into a "starship." The weapon-characters get to attack, the engines character gets to move (and rotate), and the captain/bridge character gets to do everything else, like perception and help-actions. Since each character/portion of ship has HP, "killing" that character means that portion of the ship is disabled.

My character would run the escape-pod section

My players would never go for something like that. Besides, there are skills involved.

 

[Jd Smith1]

If I recall, the FASA Star Trek Starship Combat Simulator, had an option for team play. With PC's taking the roles of Helmsman, Engineering etc.
If ship combat isn't a common element in your game; perhaps pull out a boardgame like Space Cadets for the night. That way everyone gets to do something fun and co-operative in the battle. Then you can guess-timate what the effects of the ship damage is in your main games ruleset.

Thanks, but not an option my players would accept. I guess I'll just dust off Silent Death and make another try at present the rules in a lighter package.

 

[moriantumr]

Stars Without Number revised edition has some decent starship combat rules. While the ship does have hp, subsystems can be targeted separately and there is a mechanic called Ship Crises that makes things more interesting than standard hp loss.
In short, once per turn the captain can negate a hit by enemies and take a ship crisis. The dm comes up with the crisis and they crew than have to deal with it. This leads to more narrative play than just plinking away at the hp, and let’s players who may not be outstanding pilots or gunners participate in ship combat by using their skills to solve crises that come up.
Bonus, you can get the free edition of SWN on dtrpg and if you like it can then pay what you want later.