Here are some rules I came up with to use Torpedos and Fighter Craft
Torpedoes
Slow Moving, High Penetration and High Explosive ordinance designed for maximum impact and to cause radical changes in the opponents bearing and heading to avoid taking heavy damage from these potentialy devastating weapons. Torpedoes are generaly mounted onto Frigates (The Torpedo Frigate being the most common that bear these weapons) and are designed as such. They can be retrofitted to be placed on other Hull types but the cost to retrofit the weapon and the hull to accomidate these is increased as is the space required. Torpedo launchers and it's ordinance are large and require extra space than those of Macrocannon batteries and lances which is why some Frigates were designed to carry these ordinance specificaly to carry out "artillery" like attacks from the outer perimiter of a space battle, the devestating quality of the payload to any ship makes the torpedo ships high priority targets in any engagement, which is my most Torpedo Frigates are part of a fleet of ships and are very rarely, if ever, seen by themselves. Though they would be a great target for any Pirate, Raider or Rogue Trader to loot if one were every abandoned or immobilized in a fight for the high price the torpedo launchers and ordinance would fetch on a black market or to even be fitted to the ship itself.
Stats: Appropriate Hull Type Power Space SP Strength Damage Crit Rating Range Availability
Torpedo(Standard) - Frigate* 4 5 2 5 1d10+3** 3 6*** Very Rare
Torpedo(Heavy) - Frigate* 5 6 3 3 1d10+5**** 3 5*** Extremely Rare
* - May be mounted on other Hull Types, but increase the Space and SP by +1 to account for the retrofitting of the hull and the weapon to accomodate each other
** - Damage ignores void shields and 5 AP on the target due to the penetrating nature of the Torpedo, this reduction is only done once per salvo regardless of how many hits you achieve during your attack and only applies to the Torpedos and not any other attacks you make this round. i.e a salvo is launched and 3 torpedoes hit your target, damage is rolled and goes against targets armor - 5, the rest is applied to hull integrity (assuming no torpedoes were shot down)
*** - See Rules for Torpedoes: Range for special rules regarding firing past the Torpedoes range.
**** - Heavy Torpedoes are very dangerous but have a limited salvo due to the size of the ordinance, damage done with Heavy Torpedoes ignore 10 points of AP on the target
Rules for Torpedoes -
1.) Range - Firing torpedoes from longer than it's listed range is still possible but a penalty to the BS test to hit the target are Hard (-20) due to the slow moving projectile and the fact that the opponent is not standing still making it more difficult to lock in the target and in some cases the gunner will have to judge where his target will be when firing as opposed to trusting his systems targeting. Certain components can alter this.
2.) Extended actions used by the opponents can make the attack much more difficult. If the opponent used the Adjust Speed and bearing attack since the beginning of its last turn, any BS test to fire torpedoes upon the target are difficult (-10), if the oponent used Come to a New Heading the difficulty is then Hard (-20), Evasive Maneuvers apply their penalties as normal.
3.) Turrets can shoot down torpedoes before they get to cause any damage. To determine if a turret successfuly defends is a roll taking into account your crew rating (i.e. a Competant Crew = 30) + 10 for each Turret Rating. I.e. Torpedo Frigate launches a salvo and the roll comes up with a hit with 2 degrees of success, meaning 3 torpedoes hit, defender has a Turret rating of 2, rolls his crew rating + 20, on a success the crew has shot down a single torpedo + 1 torpedo for every degree of success. No benefits or penalties apply if the Turret roll fails other than the fact that all the torpedoes hit its mark. Against Heavy Torpedoes 1 degree of success is required to shoot down 1 torpedo and 1 torpedo for every 2 degrees of success afterwards.
4.) Standard Torpedoes were designed with anti-Light Cruiser and heavier ships in mind, attacking ships that are smaller than this hull type imposes a further -10 penalty to the attack roll, Therefore firing Torpedoes at a Raider from Long Rage is a Very Hard (-30) attack roll. Heavy Torpedoes were designed with Battleships in mind, attacking smaller targets imposes a -10 penalty to any hull type not of equal size to a battleship or larger.
5.) Smaller torpedoes can be simply classified under the Macrocannon category as barrages of these "missles" cannot be completely eliminated with a ship's turrets alone, but instead void shields would be the first line of defense against these salvos.
6.) All torpedoes require the Munitorium Supplemental Component (all benefits and penalties from having this component apply).
7.) Torpedo launchers are bulky and the ordinance very heavy, speed of the ship with Torpedo launchers on them are at -1 and maneuverability is at -5, Torpedoes have a specific purpose and arent mounted by just any ship due to the amount of space required to have them be effective. Another reason why ships with Torpedos on them are escorted into a fight by other more maneuverable ships to protect them.
Supplemental Components Appropriate Hull Types Power Space SP
Advanced Torpedo Targeting Systems Any 3 0 1
Having this Targeting System equipped to the ship makes attacking from longer than listed range Difficult (-10) instead of Hard (-20), firing within range grants a bonus of +5 to the Ballistic skill test. This component is External and can only be damage or destroyed by a critical hit.
Fighters/Bombers/Guncutters
Supplemental Components Appropriate Hull Types Power Space SP
Fighter Bays Frigate 2 3 2
Fighter Bays Light Cruiser 3 4 2
Fighter Bays Cruiser 4 5 3
Fighter Bays
Top Guns - When working towards a military objective, add 50 Achievement points toward completing the objective
Bombers/Interceptors - Grants access to the Assemble the Fighters/Bombers!, Intercept, Attack Run/Bombing Run and Escort/Squad Leader extended actions
Extended Actions
Assemble the Fighters/Bombers! - character can make a Challenging (+0) Command Test to assemble their fighters and launch them, Fighters/bombers will be launched and ready to accept the next command this turn, a failed command test means that they will have to wait til next round to accept any orders or be able to preform any actions
Intercept - Character can assemble his fighters in a group to attack enemy fighters/ bombers. If a character is involved in the combat, he can make a Challenging (+0) Command Test +10 for each size category he has over the opponent (i.e. Characters fighters were from a cruiser vs opponent who came from a frigate = +20)or -10 for each size category he is under the opponent opposed by the Crew Rating (or Command from the NPC, whichever is higher) of the opponents ship +10 for each size rating he has over the character (opponent's fighters came from a cruiser and character came from a frigate = +20)or -10 for each size category he has over the character. For each degree of success generated, a cummulutive -10 penalty is imposed to the losing side and the loser also loses 1 crew population and 1 crew morale for each degree of success that he loses. If 3 degrees of success are achieved on one side, the other side "bugs out" back to their ship. No further extended actions for fighters and bombers can be made by this ship as their squadrons have been exhausted or destroyed. If no side acquires any degrees of success over the other, it is assumed that each side has suffered minimal losses and may confinue the next round. If a character is involved in the losing side of combat, roll d100, on a 94-100, the character is hit in the combat. roll again, on a 01-65 the ship the character is in is damaged and can make it back to the ship, on a 66-90 the ship is heavily damaged and character has 1d10 rounds to be picked up before his craft explodes. on a 91-100 the craft explodes and the character is instantly killed. Intercept can be used even if no enemy fighters or bombers are out on the opponents side, but when fighters are assembled, they immediately go into Intercept. A successful Augury(active or focused) attempt since the previous round by either side gives a +10 bonus for each degree of success towards the Command test for Intercept.
Attack Run/Bombing Run - Character can make a Difficult (-10) command test to issue the order for an attack run, this is used to attack the turrets of an opponents ship, same bonuses and penalties apply regarding ship size from the Intercept action. The Turret rating of the opponents ship is used as a penalty to the attack run (-10 for each turret rating). 1 degree of success indicates that the attack run has disabled the opponents turrets and a cumulative -1 to turret rating for every 2 degrees of success after that (i.e. -2 turret rating with 3 degrees of success). Every degree of failure imposes a -10 penalty on all future Extended Actions for fighters and bombers and lose1 crew population and 1 crew morale, a total of -30 means that the fighters/bombers bug out back to the ship. Bombing Runs use the same rules but success indicates direct damage to the ship. On a successful roll the bombers score a hit +1 hit for each degree of success, bombs damage = 1d10+1, void shields have no effect on the bombs, critical rating of 5 (very difficult to achieve with just bombers). A use of Augury(active or focused) since the previous round by either side grants a +10 bonus (or -10 penalty from the defending side) (i.e. Opponent has used active augury and achieved 1 degree of success, character's side had used active augury and achieved 3 degrees of success, character would be granted a +20 bonus to the command roll as he had 2 degrees of success more than the opponent thus giving him important information to better command his squad.
Escort/Squad Leader - Character can make a Challenging (+0) Pilot (Space Craft) test to escort the bombers to their intended target, or to lead the squadron of fighters himself, on a successful roll the character can add +5 to the next Command test for the fighters/bombers +5 for each degree of success.
Special Rules for Fighters/Bombers
- Only 2 extended actions may be taken involving Intercept and Attack Run/Bombing Run, (1 Intercept + 1 Attack Run/Bombing Run or 2 intercepts or 2 attack runs/bombing runs) before the fighters/bombers have to return to the ship to rearm and refuel.
-Fighters and Bombers may not venture further than 10 VUs from their ship lest they run out of fuel and be stranded.
-All space craft are availability Very Rare to replenish.
- Fighter Bays (Frigate) are Scale - Major regarding repleneshing and upkeeping
-Fighter Bays (Light Cruiser) are Scale - Significant regarding repleneshing and upkeeping
-Fighter Bays (Cruiser) are Scale - Vase regarding repleneshing and upkeeping
I have tested the numbers on these a bit, they seem to work but I know I need a little tweaking here and there, any ideas on improving this or if I'm just insane let me know. I didn't want to wait to get a supplement with these rules and I figured it would be best if I just came up with my own, the rules seem very flexible enough for house rules so I decided to have a go of it. I used this in a test group who i am trying to teach the rules to and they wanted some space combat so I decided to throw this at them too to see how everything would work out. It's not perfect, but its better than nothing right now.