Before we get into the list of main actions the crews can perform during starship combat, let's revise a few minor details and rules.
Powerful Opponent
A more experienced crew can prove to be quite a challenge to the adventurers, even if they are inside a worse vehicle. As such, the Powerful Opponent rule is applied just as it is on normal combat. The Overlord can determine a Crew Level for each ship, and the sample vehicles in this chapter provide a standard Crew Level for each ship in case it’s needed. The Crew Level of specific opponents are used just as HD in the Powerful Opponents rule in the Chapter 4: Rules of the Game.
The Crimson Nebula was used to outrunning pirate ships in the Outer Regions. These bloodthirsty criminals were a common problem there, but this particular assault ship was proving to be a problem. The ship captain was no other than Phikun, the Shadow Claw. Having 5 HD, the Difficulty to outrun his ship was a lot higher! Since the Crimson Nebula’s pilot was only 2nd level, the Maneuverability test had a Difficulty of 3.
Movement
As it is done with character to character combat, movement is dealt with in an abstract way in vehicle and starship combat. During a round, a pilot can move the vehicle to a short distance and still act, or move to a medium distance and forego his Action in that round.
During a great battle when a Void Destructor tried to obliterate the independent forces of Iazharan, instead of moving only to a short distance and trying to attack, the Crimson Nebula’s pilot opted to forego his Action to move further away to a medium distance.
Chases
Chases are a big part of any action story of adventurers in the space or in the ruinous worlds of a desolate future. In these action scenes, vehicles are not only trying to outrun each other, but are also dodging obstacles, firing weapons, making faints, and all other sort of maneuvers.
In game terms, the Overlord may choose to determine the result of the whole scene with just one roll, or choose to stipulate a number of successes a participation must achieve above his opponent to “win” the chase (either escape the pursuer or catch the pursued). This mean participants will be making Maneuverability tests to outrun their rivals, to avoid crashing into asteroids, Intellect tests to find a safe path through the city map or a cosmic storm, or all sorts of crazy stunts they can come up with.
For most chases, the participant who gets 3 successes ahead of the others accomplishes their objective (be it to escape, or to catch the rival). However, the Overlord may decide that more important or more dramatic chase scenes require 5 or more successes over their opponents, or even come up with other victory requirements.
Kaylia and her companions were exploring the depths of the great planet metropolis of Khran, where old streets and tunnels laid abandoned, and obscured by the shadows of the upper layers of the mega city. Then, suddenly a gang of the feared mutant cannibals of the sewers showed up on motorcycles. Kaylia stepped on the gas and a chase began. Kaylia first action was to try faint a maneuver to confuse the pursuers, and the Overlord asked for an Difficulty 3 Intellect test. With a success, some of the mutants were left behind. A few more these great ideas would surely save their skin.
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