WOIN Starship Point Defences

[knikpiw]

So my group is about to be ambushed by a fighter squadron.

Now, they have a Class III freighter, and 3 Defence lasers, with an Aura of 1.
So the defence bonus is Point defence/Ship Class. +3 defence for these poor bois.

Defence Bonus understood!

Now, when a fighter squadron flies within their aura (1 hex radius) the fighters take casualties, and it says that the casualties is 1d6. Is that 1d6 static? Or should the number of casualties be the exact same as the defence bonus.

It seems that being attacked by a large squadron (e.g. 32, 64) is extremely detrimental with only being able to shoot down 1d6 each round.

Is the best defence your own fighter squadron or have the point defences got a bit more bite.
Thanks, I feel annoying with this question...

 

[Morrus]

That's correct, yes.

Note that the squadrons take damage if they enter *or* start their turn in the aura, so if they're attacking a bigger ship with a bigger aura, they may suffer those casualties more often (depending how fast they're moving). And remember some PD weapons add to the aura size. A big Star Destroyer size ship, about Class XX, has an aura of 7 hexes using its heavy turbo laser batteries. That's 15 hexes diameter - a big area!

 

[knikpiw]

But a fighter squadron has a speed of 10, that's an instant trip to the ships hex. Let's say a 64 squadron attacks a Class XVI Solar Mk II.
The squadron has an elite crew 6d6 with a good tactical computer +1d6.

With the defence bonus from the PDs, that's 21 defence.

The squadron will hit 50% of the time.

It's a long slog of 1d6 fighters going down and an average of 32 damage each round. 4 rounds is the max expected lifespan of a Solar Mk II carrier if it doesn't deploy it's own squadron. And that is just a single squadron!

It just feels that point defences are only truly useful against missiles and not really fighter squadrons.
"Queue The Last Jedi opening sequence!!!!"

 

[Morrus]

Yeah, that’s why you launch your own squadrons. Getting attached by 64 star fighters is no trivial thing! That’s a lot of fighters.

A carrier should also have support ships with overlapping PD auras.

If you prefer PD to be more deadly, you can certainly increase the damage in your game (or reduce the damage from squadrons).