I'm sure you all have questions.  Frankly, I do too.

I want combat to be fast and fun and easy and dramatic and skill-influenced.

Like a lot of things in life, you can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you get what you need.

So:  my order of importance is

dramatic
easy
skill-influenced
fun
fast

I sincerely believe that if we used the system in the game, one small combat would take a month, and be really boring.

So I propose that we stream-line it a lot.  We're going to test in the simulator.


Roll Initiative
Roll for one add on skill - Spot, or Tactics, or Computer Use (sensors) or ?.  For every 4 over 17, add one to a roll. (17-20, +1, 21-24, +2 etc.)
Declare your Primary Action (All Out Attack, All Out Defense, Defensive Flying, Interception, Fly Cover/Wingman, Maneuver For Advantage, Strafing Run), Roll Once adding Pilot Skill+Action Modifier
Declare your Secondary Action (All Out Attack, All Out Defense, Defensive Flying, Interception, Flyby, Fly Cover, Maneuver For Advantage, Strafing Run), Roll Once adding Pilot Skill+Action Modifier

Think about the usual level-based add-on to dex, for attacks.  It acts as a 'weapon skill'.  Here, you have Pilot skill, and since that includes dex, we'll try using that.  Yes, it'll lead to high numbers.  We may have to model the defense better, so we can simulate an opposed roll.  ANyway:

After the Primary or Secondary Roll, you can roll for a 'Stunt' that if successful, can improve your roll.  If the Stunt fails, it's going to be bad.  If it fails critically, it's worse.

After any roll, including a Stunt roll, you can add a +1 if you have (and use) the heroic surge feat.

After any roll (success or fail), you can use a Force Point to roll 1d6 and add that to your result.

Any result that destroys your ship, you can use a force point to eject.  You may eject before destruction as well.

Ok: so Let's see how that looks:

Beef slides into the simulator and fires it up

It's a Nyubba-class cargo barge with 2 Z-95's that are flying cover for it.  They're refusing to comply and the Z's appear hostile.  Could be rebels.  Prevent the barge from escaping and disable or destroy the Z's.

Z's have Init of 14, Barge has Init 1.
Z's Intercept 14 & Fly Cover 15

Beef's #'s
Init +7
Skill Add +6 Tactics
Primary Action: Intercept the Z's, +10 Pilot
Secondary Action: Strafe the Barge, +10 Pilot

17:22, Today: Huffinton Brent Sallin rolled 19 using 4d20 with rolls of 4,12,1,2.  Sample Space Combat Rolls.

Ok these are comically bad rolls.  In this case Z's Intercept is better by 2, and their Fly Cover is better by 3.  At least he can add a point to a roll, not that it makes a lot of difference. (Because his tactics result was 12+6 = 18, and that 18 gets him a +1 to use for one roll.)

Because it's a simulator, Heroic Surge and Force Points wouldn't apply, so the Intercept and Strafe actions are both losers.

Brent sees this and declares a 'Stunt' to try to get himself back on top, and re-rolls the intercept.

17:51, Today: Huffinton Brent Sallin rolled 1 using 1d20.  Stunt roll.

Unbelievable!  Critical Failure. I may offer you death, or something that involves living but some miserable (but game-enhancing!) penalty, like getting a public dressing-down by the XO, having your shipboard 'special friend' dump you, having the ISB decide that you might be a rebel sympathizer, or worse.  In this case, you'll never forget that your LCDR balled up the first sim with you all watching.  Worse, he won't either.

I expect to see it all written...

Example:

Beef gets into the simulator and straps in.  Cocky, confident, a leader - that's what he tells himself.  He designed some of these missions himself, and the rest he's great at, so it should smooth like synthasilk...

The sim helmet whirrs to life; the cool black of space opens up, and the mission loadout apears:

Flight: Solo
Mission 131 Profile: Barge + 2 Escorts

He crushed the thrusters to Flank Speed and fired the sensors; "Two by Z-95 Headhunters and  a Brick.  Intercept and Disable.  Beef Out." he found himself saying outloud.  The Z's moved to intercept too, but somehow, they were on a better angle?  He's run a simple split pattern in his head, but they'd crossover spun; and now he was facing a concerted 2:1!  He juked and ramped-over; his shots were wild!  WTH was happening?  They were bouncing his speed; skittering between his 5 and 8; the scarred one wouldn't get off his six; he tried a freestyle reverse, and it worse than failed, it put him square to the triple blasters of the one with the blue tail!  Out of the frying pan, into the fire, as his front viewport cracked and melted!  Only a swift jam on the eject saved him...

He took off the helmet and looked stunned. "Figures that the worst sim I've ever run, I would run in front of my first team, first day.  But take from this that not every mission in there is a cakewalk, because not every mission Out There will be one either.  As of right now, I'd rather have a live pilot and no TIE, than a dead pilot and a dead machine too.  Don't make me change my mind."

He sets the sim helmet back, muttering in his peculiar accent "Sheesh.  Unbeliefable.  Torn ahpawat.  Foist sim.  Foist day."

"So who's next?"

Note: Re-posted to the Myrmidon, F Deck 2-5-18 0630 thread.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:08, Fri 10 Feb 2023.

Primary & Secondary actions:

(Still a Work-In-Progress)

These are partly the choices of maneuver from the books, and partly the way you want to prioritize the mission.

All Out Attack - P & S : +4 Attack, double damage, no other action, -8 to Defense
All Out Defense - P & S : +4 Defense, damage taken at 1/2, no other action
Defensive Flying - PS : +2 Defense, -4 Attack
Interception - PS : Standard Attack
Flyby - S : Using a capital ship as an aid to your defense
Fly Cover - PS : Protect your capital ship from attack
Maneuver For Advantage - PS : As a primary action, a successful result vs. opponent's DR adds +2 to your secondary action.  As a secondary action, a successful result vs. opponent's DR adds +2 to your defense.
Strafing Run - PS : Attack on a capital ship to disable or destroy.  DC depends on size of target.
Wingman - P : Successful result vs. opponent's DR adds +1 attack and +1 defense to wingleader.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:54, Fri 10 Feb 2023.

Atmospheric Speed is pretty easy, and generally published.

Space Speed however is all over the place.

One thing to remember with a lot of the space fighters is that their 'max speed' is kinda a misnomer.  Maximum speed in a zero gravity situation is constant acceleration for half the total fuel, at which point the craft would turn 180 degrees and constantly accelerate in the _opposite_ direction in order to stop at the destination.

Star Wars space movement ignores avoids such hard sciency things in favor of cool, which is fine, but leads then to some wierdness with speed.  Enter MGLT, a Star Wars unit and abbreviation of Mega Light Speed, where 1 MGLT is .0755 Light Years Per Hour (hearafter 'LYPH').

For our terms, this is patently bizarre on a few levels.

1) .0755? An odd number, but since that's using earth hours, maybe on the planet where this measure was originally codified, it's 1 LYPH, and even though the Empire is in charge now, we're all still using the same Light Years (an all-universe constant), and the Imperial Hour is different, .0755 LYPH could make sense...

2) LYPH?  This means that basically all space ships in Star Wars are faster-than-light vehicles...and that doesn't jive at all with the films, books, comics, shows, etc.

2a) 9.46 trillion km in a light year; 5.88 trillion miles...so 1 MGLT is 714,290,000,000 (714 billion KPH)  we see all the time that ships need TIME to fly around.  And this is 1 MGLT - - - TIE Fighters are apparently capable of 100 MGLT!!  So a Tie Fighter can travel 7 light years per hour?? So (checking math) 20 billion kilometers per second?

That's insane.

More later!