Space Combat (starship systems)

[Umbran]

It's certainly how the Millennium Falcon works. Luke, get on those guns! R2 see if you can figure out why the hyperdrive isn't working!

Note that the doesn't tell R2 to shoot the guns, and Luke to repair the hyperdrive. Ever. Astromech droids are built to do repairs in space, help manage power distribution, and to help in hyperdrive navigation. That is literally the reason they are built. Their raison d'etre. He's merely telling people to do the things they have some competence at.

There are some fairly common roles in small group tactical combat in our games. There's no reason to think that ship-to-ship combat should not have roles based off of skillsets and abilities, too. So, while maybe the tactical officer can go and reverse the polarity of the neutron flow of the engines... they probably shouldn't. And maybe the doctor doesn't have a lot of training with the ship's weapons.

What you can do is separate the ground-combat roles from the space-combat roles. The guy who's good at shooting and stabbing on the ground.. maybe they're the Communications officer in flight, and so on.

Any suggestions?

Ashen Stars has a space combat system that is designed to allow everyone to act over the course of a combat. However, while it has tactical choices, they are abstract, not based off concrete ideas of physical positioning or the like. From what you've said, I'm not sure you'd find it satisfying.

A little while back, I played a Savage Worlds knockoff of Star Wars that had a reasonable set of starship combat mechanics that passed the baton around the team a lot. I don't know what exact ruleset the GM was using, however.

 

[Jd Smith1]

Open question for anyone who has been in this situation, just out of curiosity, how do you handle PCs without relevant ship operation skills?

Most of the time, I mention the possibility of ship operations in ChaGen, but there’s always the chance someone’s PC concept won’t involve relevant skills. (I’ve been that player myself, TBH.)

In my experience, those PCs start assisting with damage control and casualties.

To ensure it doesn't crop up, I remind them that if their PCs lacks relevant skills, they will lack a role, purpose, and part in a starship engagement.

IMO/IME it's the same as any other RPG situation: its up to the player to make sure he's prepared. If he drops the ball, its not my job to babysit him. Although if they were new to gaming, an experienced player will coach them in chargen. It's never been a real problem for me.

My players all run two PCs, generally a combat-focus type and a specialist, with some in-party redundancy so they can split the group into two fire teams..

 

[aramis erak]

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.

Yes, it does; the same basic mechanics are in the first edition corebook.

Star Trek Adventures similarly breaks combat out to rolls by multiple players.
Alien has a good set, too, albeit a bit more limited.

 

[Kobold Stew]

Open question for anyone who has been in this situation, just out of curiosity, how do you handle PCs without relevant ship operation skills?

Most of the time, I mention the possibility of ship operations in ChaGen, but there’s always the chance someone’s PC concept won’t involve relevant skills. (I’ve been that player myself, TBH.)

In my experience, those PCs start assisting with damage control and casualties.

In Diaspora, it's specifically called out that players should make a choice as t whether to have space-faring skills. They can choose not to, of course, but if they do, it's up to them to find something to do on their turn. This might include -- repelling boarders, wrangling errant passengers, jerry-rigging missiles for use next round, etc.

 

[Jd Smith1]

In Diaspora, it's specifically called out that players should make a choice as t whether to have space-faring skills. They can choose not to, of course, but if they do, it's up to them to find something to do on their turn. This might include -- repelling boarders, wrangling errant passengers, jerry-rigging missiles for use next round, etc.

This is the second time I've seen this, so I'll ask: how are there boarders if your ship is in action? As in, how did the boarders get from their ship to a hostile ship without drawing fire?

If boarders can just teleport over, why bother with ship combat.

Why would you need to 'jury-rig' a missile, and if missiles somehow need this, why did the PCs wait until battle was joined before they bothered?

 

[Kobold Stew]

This is the second time I've seen this, so I'll ask: how are there boarders if your ship is in action? As in, how did the boarders get from their ship to a hostile ship without drawing fire?

If boarders can just teleport over, why bother with ship combat.

Why would you need to 'jury-rig' a missile, and if missiles somehow need this, why did the PCs wait until battle was joined before they bothered?

Fair enough -- there won't always be boarders. But it's possible to board, and for that to happen alongside the spacecombat system.

(I'm not sure if you're asking a question specifically to the mechanics of FATE/Diaspora or if it's a questions about the game narrative; more details possible either way.)

 

[MarkB]

Open question for anyone who has been in this situation, just out of curiosity, how do you handle PCs without relevant ship operation skills?

Most of the time, I mention the possibility of ship operations in ChaGen, but there’s always the chance someone’s PC concept won’t involve relevant skills. (I’ve been that player myself, TBH.)

In my experience, those PCs start assisting with damage control and casualties.

My suggestion would be, even if the system doesn't normally support it, to give each character separate pools of advancement choices for personal-scale combat and ship combat. That way, everybody picks up at least some of both.

 

[Tun Kai Poh]

My suggestion would be, even if the system doesn't normally support it, to give each character separate pools of advancement choices for personal-scale combat and ship combat. That way, everybody picks up at least some of both.

Beam Saber, Flying Circus (not a space game) and Warbirds (has a space expansion) do this, as they expect that each PC is going to be a heroic pilot. Fun over realism!

 

[moriantumr]

I will be honest, having PCs that don’t have space skills add to the drama as they bungle around doing things poorly and occasionally come in clutch at just the right time. As a dm, this makes my job easier, as the crew create their own problems and I let them solve them. It is much easier and more organic for the characters to create the issues on the ship then me adding “issues” to spice up space combat.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

My suggestion would be, even if the system doesn't normally support it, to give each character separate pools of advancement choices for personal-scale combat and ship combat. That way, everybody picks up at least some of both.

The last time I played a game like that, the campaign was set in an interstellar carrier, and the PCs were all some kind of mecha pilots. Mine was a pilot in name only- she was the unit’s combat engineer/field tech. She was as close to a mechanical “wizard” as the skill system allowed, but was barely functional as a pilot. Each PC had 3 attempts to “qualify” for away missions by landing on the carrier while it was maneuvering. Her third attempt as the only one she didn’t actually crash...