Ok, so I guess I need an idiots guide to Starship Combat. Maybe my mind just doesnt work like the writer. In any case, here are some of my main concerns.

1. Crew rating - It seems that in order to hit a target and have any room in your roll to get successes for crits, then you must have a really high crew rating. Some of the crit ratings are so high (mars broadsides of a 6) that it seems you need a crew rating of 70 or 80 to score a crit.

2. When you actually score a crit, it doesnt seem to say how to resolve it. It only states as far as I can tell, that you roll 1d5 on the crit table. Shouldnt you roll 1d10? Otherwise why is the table numbered in that fashion?

3. It seems that detection rating should be added to a crew's chance to hit in shooting but it doesnt allow for that. Why?

Thanks ahead of time.

izrador said:

1) Generally either a PC or statted out NPC would do the shooting. Only use crew rating when you dont have one of those.

2) Roll 1d5 like the book says. The higher numbers are for critical damage after the hull points go to zero. It works the same way as when a character takes damage past their HP

3) Being able to see something dosent mean you can hit it.

izrador said:

1. For NPC ships, I assume that the captain hires a decent bridge crew, somewhere near as competent as the players. If you run a combat with NPCs rolling for the players ship (like you might do if you have a small group of players), after the first combat they will want to hire a more expert NPC.

2. As Korjik said. 1d5 is for when the ship still has hull points. After that, 1d10. The vehicles rules in Into the Storm follow the same model.

3. It does in a way. See Lock on Target on p. 218. A good detection rating with a good Master of Augers can give the gunner quite a boost.

1. Modifiers count. So if they're in close, that's +10. If they have a +10 from exceptional leader or some other trait, that makes it +20, so it's not inconceivable for a crew rating of 30 to get 5 successes. In general I think that ship crew rating is designed to "scale" with the potency of the weapons involved. You shouldn't have rating 30 crew manning a cruiser. But a frigate with Sunsears? 3 successes is all you need, practically.

2. 1d6-10 results are for if the ship is crippled (lost all its hull integrity)

3. As someone mentioned above, you can use the Lock On Target ability for that bonus.

The Competent (30) crew of a cruiser has a greater access to components like the Shipmaster's Bridge that aid in certain actions. In my games, they also have a larger chance of having significant officers (NPCs with capabilities similar to the PCs).

On crew rating. I always assume these days that a small vessel run by reasonably competent crew has a crew rating of 40. A ship trained for war and resonably experienced is about 45 to 50 and a larger more impressive ship like a light or normal cruiser is probably about 50. A cruiser with an enemy rogue trader should be well into the 60s.

Otherwise you'll find that your players even a few ranks in can consistently outshoot, fly and anything else the foe.

Also, make sure tha baddies can add +10 to any one roll a turn to represent all the bonus giving actions. On a bigger ship such as a flagshp, make it +15. I found that tracking an enemy ship doing lock on target or put your backs into it just slowed things down and so i give NPC ships just the flat, once a turn bonus instead.