Hopefully, these are 'final' rules or, at worse, just need a little tweak.
They have just had two changes from Missiles II - we now allow missiles to be fired at Close and Adjacent ranges by losing the Smart trait, and damage is now calculated differently (it now takes armour into account, which was always missing before).
There has been a concern raised about a) the number of rolls for EW and b) for PD. The former I am not too worried about, as you can only do it once for every salvo, and not all missile launches will be at Distant range, so there will be less rolls here than it looks at first glance. As for PD, we will have mechanisms in High Guard to handle large numbers of turrets (and dedicated PD systems will take much of the strain anyway), so we really are just looking at sub-2000 tonners there. High Guard will also have 'firing solution' software that will counter the better sensors and other anti-missile devices.
The one thing I would like to draw everyone's attention to is the DM applied for the number of missiles - at the moment it is DM+1 per 5 missiles, but that is the placeholder I put in when these rules were first written. I _think_ it should probably be a sliding scale (5-10 missiles +1, 11-20 +2, 21-50 +3, or something similar). Thoughts in this direction would be appreciated.
Anyway, without further ado, I would like to present the revised Missile rules, intended for the Core Rulebook;
Missiles
[[[ Replace text on pages 161-162 ]]]
Missile Combat
Unlike most weapons which travel at or close to the speed of light and so hit enemy ships almost instantly, missiles take time to cross the gulf of space. However, despite this drawback, missiles are capable of doing a great deal of damage when they hit an enemy ship.
Launching Missiles
Missiles used against targets within Adjacent or Close ranges lose any Smart trait they possess, as there is not enough time for them to obtain a solid lock and take advantage of their advanced guidance systems.
Missiles are launched in salvos. A salvo is all the missiles launched by a ship against a single target in the same combat round. This could be a single missile from one turret or dozens from multiple turrets or bays (see High Guard for more information on weapon bays).
Missile salvos effectively have a Thrust of 10 and will reach their target a number of combat rounds after they have been fired, as shown on the Missile Flight table.
Missile Flight
Range Rounds to Impact
Short and below Immediate
Medium 1
Long 2
Very Long 3
Distant 5
Note that while missile salvos can be fired at Distant ranges, the attacking ship must have detected its target before they can be launched. Given the limited information that can be gained from sensors at this range, friendly fire incidents may be common among Travellers who are too trigger happy with their missiles.
If a missile has not reached its target within 5 rounds, it will run out of fuel and become inert.
Countermeasures
Combat involving missiles creates a very tense atmosphere. The target spacecraft will likely have detected the launches and its crew will have several anxious minutes to watch the blips on their sensor screens gradually get closer and closer.
Fortunately, the crew need not be idle as they await their destruction as there are several countermeasures that can be taken against incoming missiles.
As missiles can take several rounds to reach their targets, you should keep track of how many missiles remain within each salvo, reducing them as countermeasures take effect.
Electronic Warfare: A Traveller performing sensor operator duties on a spacecraft can use the Electronic Warfare action to destroy or misdirect incoming missiles before they impact his vessel or another ship within Close range.
The sensor operator must succeed at a Difficult (10+) Electronics (sensors) check (1 round, INT) in order to destroy or render inert incoming missiles within a single salvo. The Effect of this check will immediately remove that many missiles from the salvo.
Electronic Warfare may be performed upon a salvo multiple times over several rounds, with the effects being cumulative. However, a salvo may only be subjected to Electronic Warfare once per round, no matter how many sensor operators are available.
Flee: A spacecraft under missile attack may simply turn around and engage its manoeuvre drive, thrusting away from the missiles. Missiles are extremely long-ranged weapons and so it is not normally possible to outrange a missile in this way, but it can perhaps buy enough time to prolong electronic warfare or make a jump.
Point Defence: Finally, just as a salvo is about to strike, gunners may engage in point defence, as detailed on page 160.
Missiles and Targets
When a missile salvo reaches its target, the missile makes an attack roll as normal. However, the Gunner skill of the Traveller(s) that fired the salvo is not used as a DM.
Instead, the number of missiles remaining in the salvo greatly affects their chances of making a successful attack. Apply DM+1 to the attack roll for every full 5 missiles in the salvo.
Note that missiles almost always have the Smart trait (see page 75). For missiles, use the TL of the missile itself or that of the attacking ship, whichever is greater.
Finally, missiles launched at Distant range expend most of their fuel just reaching their target, leaving little to counter the target’s manoeuvres. Missile salvos launched at Distant range suffer DM-6 to their attack rolls.
Impact
If an attack roll for a missile salvo is successful, the target will sustain damage. Roll for damage as if for a single missile and deduct the target’s armour as normal. Any damage is then multiplied by the number of missiles remaining in the salvo.
Variant Missiles
High Guard introduces different types if missiles that are more accurate, carry more fuel or are faster, but these rules suit all missiles included in this Core Rulebook. If a ship launches different types of missile at the same target in the same round, then all the missiles of each type are counted as a different salvo.
[[[ Replace text on page 160 ]]]
Point Defence (Gunner)
Using a turret-mounted laser (beam or pulse), a gunner can destroy incoming missiles. Note that a weapon used for point defence cannot be used to make attacks in the same combat round, and vice versa. Point Defence may only be performed against missile salvos (see page 161) as they are about to make their attack roll against a target – missiles are too small and too fast to be targeted at greater ranges. A gunner may only attempt Point Defence against once every round.
The gunner must succeed at a Gunner (turret) check against any missile salvo that is about to make its attack roll against his spacecraft. The Effect of the check will remove that many missiles from the salvo.
They have just had two changes from Missiles II - we now allow missiles to be fired at Close and Adjacent ranges by losing the Smart trait, and damage is now calculated differently (it now takes armour into account, which was always missing before).
There has been a concern raised about a) the number of rolls for EW and b) for PD. The former I am not too worried about, as you can only do it once for every salvo, and not all missile launches will be at Distant range, so there will be less rolls here than it looks at first glance. As for PD, we will have mechanisms in High Guard to handle large numbers of turrets (and dedicated PD systems will take much of the strain anyway), so we really are just looking at sub-2000 tonners there. High Guard will also have 'firing solution' software that will counter the better sensors and other anti-missile devices.
The one thing I would like to draw everyone's attention to is the DM applied for the number of missiles - at the moment it is DM+1 per 5 missiles, but that is the placeholder I put in when these rules were first written. I _think_ it should probably be a sliding scale (5-10 missiles +1, 11-20 +2, 21-50 +3, or something similar). Thoughts in this direction would be appreciated.
Anyway, without further ado, I would like to present the revised Missile rules, intended for the Core Rulebook;
Missiles
[[[ Replace text on pages 161-162 ]]]
Missile Combat
Unlike most weapons which travel at or close to the speed of light and so hit enemy ships almost instantly, missiles take time to cross the gulf of space. However, despite this drawback, missiles are capable of doing a great deal of damage when they hit an enemy ship.
Launching Missiles
Missiles used against targets within Adjacent or Close ranges lose any Smart trait they possess, as there is not enough time for them to obtain a solid lock and take advantage of their advanced guidance systems.
Missiles are launched in salvos. A salvo is all the missiles launched by a ship against a single target in the same combat round. This could be a single missile from one turret or dozens from multiple turrets or bays (see High Guard for more information on weapon bays).
Missile salvos effectively have a Thrust of 10 and will reach their target a number of combat rounds after they have been fired, as shown on the Missile Flight table.
Missile Flight
Range Rounds to Impact
Short and below Immediate
Medium 1
Long 2
Very Long 3
Distant 5
Note that while missile salvos can be fired at Distant ranges, the attacking ship must have detected its target before they can be launched. Given the limited information that can be gained from sensors at this range, friendly fire incidents may be common among Travellers who are too trigger happy with their missiles.
If a missile has not reached its target within 5 rounds, it will run out of fuel and become inert.
Countermeasures
Combat involving missiles creates a very tense atmosphere. The target spacecraft will likely have detected the launches and its crew will have several anxious minutes to watch the blips on their sensor screens gradually get closer and closer.
Fortunately, the crew need not be idle as they await their destruction as there are several countermeasures that can be taken against incoming missiles.
As missiles can take several rounds to reach their targets, you should keep track of how many missiles remain within each salvo, reducing them as countermeasures take effect.
Electronic Warfare: A Traveller performing sensor operator duties on a spacecraft can use the Electronic Warfare action to destroy or misdirect incoming missiles before they impact his vessel or another ship within Close range.
The sensor operator must succeed at a Difficult (10+) Electronics (sensors) check (1 round, INT) in order to destroy or render inert incoming missiles within a single salvo. The Effect of this check will immediately remove that many missiles from the salvo.
Electronic Warfare may be performed upon a salvo multiple times over several rounds, with the effects being cumulative. However, a salvo may only be subjected to Electronic Warfare once per round, no matter how many sensor operators are available.
Flee: A spacecraft under missile attack may simply turn around and engage its manoeuvre drive, thrusting away from the missiles. Missiles are extremely long-ranged weapons and so it is not normally possible to outrange a missile in this way, but it can perhaps buy enough time to prolong electronic warfare or make a jump.
Point Defence: Finally, just as a salvo is about to strike, gunners may engage in point defence, as detailed on page 160.
Missiles and Targets
When a missile salvo reaches its target, the missile makes an attack roll as normal. However, the Gunner skill of the Traveller(s) that fired the salvo is not used as a DM.
Instead, the number of missiles remaining in the salvo greatly affects their chances of making a successful attack. Apply DM+1 to the attack roll for every full 5 missiles in the salvo.
Note that missiles almost always have the Smart trait (see page 75). For missiles, use the TL of the missile itself or that of the attacking ship, whichever is greater.
Finally, missiles launched at Distant range expend most of their fuel just reaching their target, leaving little to counter the target’s manoeuvres. Missile salvos launched at Distant range suffer DM-6 to their attack rolls.
Impact
If an attack roll for a missile salvo is successful, the target will sustain damage. Roll for damage as if for a single missile and deduct the target’s armour as normal. Any damage is then multiplied by the number of missiles remaining in the salvo.
Variant Missiles
High Guard introduces different types if missiles that are more accurate, carry more fuel or are faster, but these rules suit all missiles included in this Core Rulebook. If a ship launches different types of missile at the same target in the same round, then all the missiles of each type are counted as a different salvo.
[[[ Replace text on page 160 ]]]
Point Defence (Gunner)
Using a turret-mounted laser (beam or pulse), a gunner can destroy incoming missiles. Note that a weapon used for point defence cannot be used to make attacks in the same combat round, and vice versa. Point Defence may only be performed against missile salvos (see page 161) as they are about to make their attack roll against a target – missiles are too small and too fast to be targeted at greater ranges. A gunner may only attempt Point Defence against once every round.
The gunner must succeed at a Gunner (turret) check against any missile salvo that is about to make its attack roll against his spacecraft. The Effect of the check will remove that many missiles from the salvo.
