I posted this idea in a different thread, wanted to give it some more visibility with its own thread.

I've been thinking about a new pilot ability that I'm surprised is not a mechanic this game already has: Counter attacks.

When defending, if the attacker rolls less (closed hit) or (open hit) than you roll (evade), the attacker suffers damage equal to the amount of excess (evade)

This give a ship Horn-like attack capabilities, and would work extremely well on something like a Z-95 that already has a reduced attack capability.

I think if it's something like "roll the excess in red dice and the original attacker suffers that damage", then you're on to something. There are only 3 sources of auto damage in the game (soon 4) so 2-3 auto damage would be a bit much but the 50/50 chance of 1-2 damage would be ok.

I forgot to add that it would need to be a 2 agility ship to nullify one-shots.

We're talking top tier PS here.

Like I said... Still think roll for damage vs. auto damage is better and the. You dot have to limit it to 2 AG ships

If this was a sword fighting game I could see now a great defense could be turned into an attack, but doing a good job dodging someone's shots really well shouldn't hurt them back.

Now you can out fly an opponent which helps you avoid damage as well as dish it out but that is already accounted for in this game.

I think a couple of items should be added. First I agree with the above that the damage should not be automatic. Also that that attacker would have to be in the defender's fire arc. With these additions I think it could make for a good pilot skill.

My only other table top experience would be Heroscape, in which the characters that can perform counters do so immediately. I don't really see why immediate damage is a bad thing. It would make a ship (again) like the Z-95, a very feared platform instead of filler fodder.

I will concede to the portion where the arcs need to be correctly aligned, that will keep good pilots from being on the receiving end of a counter attack.

Let me reiterate, it's a very high skill pilot ability, on a 1-2 agility ship. It wouldn't be game breaking, but it could be a key momentum shifter.

Well a phantom is 2 agility and I would hate to be penalized just for attempting to shoot at the stupid thing. I think you could have a good concept here but I agree is should be possible damage instead of automatic damage.