Shadow Queen said:
And first there is an opposed Sencors roll yes??
then an orders
then shooting
then damage yes??
Okay to try and avoid any further confusion I'll lay out spaceship combat as it stands "post" release in the current Rules.
STEP ONE - (PRE COMBAT) ASSIGN CREW
All vessels will have a commander. If this commander is
Not a PC then simple use the normal Crew BAB and training bonuses for all attack and skill rolls.
However if it
is a PC or a "specific" NPC (someone other than joe Average) then they use thier own, normally calculated attack and skill bonuses.
NOTE Any without the Spacrecraft proficiency suffer a -4 penalty to ALL relevant skill and other rolls.
You may also assign individual PC's or notable NPC's to individual roles aboard a vessel as shown on the
Shipboard roles and Skills Table on page 185.
OR They may provide a bonus to someone in a role by "Helping Out". All this is discussed and explained on Page 184-185 of the rulebook.
STEP TWO - POSITIONING
All Space Combats involve a "centre" this is something of a story device.. think of it like a Movies Point of Focus.. I.e the Scene shifts to one major focal point and other scenes that it cuts away too are happening at various points away from this "Major" event/location.. B5 space combat works in much the same way. The Gm determines what the centre is, typically it is a large landmark (Jumpgate, space station, planetary orbit.. important vessel etc...) and everything else happens in various
Range Bands moving out from this focal point.
There are Four range bands effectively -
Beyond Sensors Band (effectively out of range, out of combat, escaped, out of sensor range),
Sensor Band (close enough to scan an area but outside of weapons range),
Long Range Band (far from the battles "centre" but still capable of interacting), and the
Close Range Band (In the Heart of the action, near to the "centre").
The GM essentially determines which band each ship is in and what is the centre (which may change). Vessels are capable of closing or retreating from one range band to another via various orders (
Close for BAttle and
Pull Back for instance.
the exact effects of each range band, what actions ships of each range band may take with vessels of another range band etc.. is all explained on pages 186-187 of the main Rulebook.
STEP THREE - DETECTION
Most (but not all) engagements begin with vessels disngaged from one another, as they enter the sensor range band in order to scan for opponents and then move to close to the long and/or close range bands before engaging. However vessels are not always aware of each other and so each vessel must make a Sensors Roll
to make a sensor roll d20 + Sensor skill + Vessels Sensor Bonus + modifier (+5 with within long range of vessel being scanned, or +15 if within close range).
this number is compared to every other vessels Stealth rating (-5 per action they have performed that round), if the sensor check equals or exceeds this rating then it is detected!
NOTE The Sensor check is also the order in initiative the ship has (highest check first, through to lowest last).
some Orders will also automatically make your presence aware to opposing vessels and the Exact specifics of Detection such as how vessels arriving via a Jumpgate etc. factor into detection is all explained partially on page 187 but mostly on page 188 of the main rules.
STEP FOUR - ORDERS
Each vessels based on the commander/Pilots relevant feats or the Crews quality can perform anywhere between 0 and 5 orders each round.
Orders are broken into four categories
Offensive - forms of attacking,
Defensive - forms of reducing enemies combat effects, shaking locks and the like and finally
Tactical - these are various maneouvers that dont fall into the other two categories like launching fighters, damage control, pulling back and the like. and finally
Responses - responses are orders that act in opposition to some effect or circumstance in direct response to some specific order issued by an opponent in the hopes of negating or reducing the benfit they may have recieved.
Orders may be issues in any order and combination (i.e Offensive, Defensive and Tactical) during a players turn and any not issues may be kept to be used as
Responses.
Final Note
STRESS, some orders requires a vessel to suffer potential stress damage. If the order check fails it must make a Stress check yb making an Operations (Piloting) check against a DC equal to the vessels Stress statistic. Success means it avoids any stress damage, whereas failure means it suffers 2d6 Armour damage.
STEP FIVE - ATTACKING
Once vessels have determiend detection and therefore the order of initiative those who wish to can issue an offensive order and attack.
all attacks are limited by two factors..
Range and
Arc of Fire, all weapons have a range, which means they cannot fire outside of that range band with that particular weapon. And all vessels mount weapons in one of four arcs - Fore, Aft, Port and Starboard and may only fire at vessels moving into that arc. (
NOTE Turretted weapons can fire into ALL four arcs.
Once a vessel fires at an opponents, in much the same way as Personal Combat works the Gunner (or pilot if a solo craft) makes an attack roll.
ATTACK rolls work as follows IF he is also the pilot Firers BAB + Firers Dex modifier + Targeting Computer Bonus (provided a lock is obtained via the Lock Weapons order) + miscellaneous modifiers.
otherwise the attack roll is determined as follows Firers BAB + firers INT Modifier + Targeting Computer bonus (provided a lock is obtained via the Lock Weapons order) + miscellaneous modifiers.
If thew weapon is being fired by a non notable, non PC, then the formula is as above bute the Crew BAB is used as is no addition stat modifier is taken into account and then add the targeting bonus (if applicable) and any miscellaneous modifiers.
NOTE a natural roll of "1" is ALWAYS a miss and a roll of "20" is ALWAYS a hit, but may also be a critical.
If the result fo this roll equals or exceeds the opposing vessels Defence Value then the attack is a hit.
When a hit si scored you need to determine to the Total Offence of that hit especially if more than one weapon was involved (i.e a Barrage via relevant orders). This is done by taking the weapons with the greatest Offence rating used plus half the Offence for each subsequent weapon which hit.
specific rules for Twin, Tri or Quad linked weapons and special qualities, arrays, rapid fire etc..etc.. and hitting in general begins on page 189 and ends on page 190 of the main rulebook.
STEP SIX - APPLY DAMAGE
Once a hit has been determined and the tyotal offence been calculated damage is applied to an opposing vessel.
calculating Damage is done as follows Total Offence - armour = Damage. If the calculated damage of a hit is reduced to 0 then the attack is completely absorbed by the opponents armour and does no damage.
If however the damage of the attack is 1 or more then the attack has succeeded in damaging the opponent and for EACH point of damage caused one structural space on the opposing vessel is destroyed. These spaces are determined per hit not per space by rolling 2d6 and consulting the Random Craft Damage table on page 191 of the main rules.
When a Structural area of a ship is damaged and lose spaces (i.e Engines, Control, Crew, Cargo, Hangar or Weapon systems) it must make an
Impairment resistance Check, the exact nature of this roll is shown on the Effects of Craft Damage table on page 193 of the main rules. If the roll succeeds the area isnt impaired and you continue with the round. If the roll fails then that aspect of the ship suffers the impairment effects as shown on the table mentioned. Each section may only be impaired once, but remains so until repaired..however a section may become Destoryed as mentioned below.
If ALL spaces of a particular area (Engines, Control, Crew, Cargo, Hangar, or Weapon Systems) then the vessel suffers the Destroyed Effects for that section of the vessel as shown on the table mentioned above (pg 193).
STEP SEVEN - REPEAT
Go back to Step Two at the beginning of each new round. Note however Initiative order stays the same for the most part so Detection is only necessary again if new people join combat (needs to joi the initiative order) or leaves combat (exits the order).
And that is essentially it... simple