Here is an example of ship combat.
It's an example completely based off of actual play, with the actual rolls.

It may not be exactly what everyone is looking for, but since people are always asking for examples of ship combat, I thought I would post it.

A Rebel YT-1300 and Headhunter fighter are examining a derelict Star Destroyer, ruined in some past space battle, when an Imperial TIE fighter and YT-2400 fly into view.

Here's how initiative pans out.
1 - Imp
2- Imp
3 - Reb
4 - Reb
5 - Imp
6 - Reb
7 - Imp
8 - Reb

All at Speed 3, Short Range to start. Close range with the Derelict.

Round 1 - The TIE flies into close range and opens fire on the Headhunter.
Rolls 1 success, 3 Threat. Hits the Headhunter for 7-3=4 Points, and spends 3 threat to have difficulty of all shots against it this round -1 difficulty.
It flies straight into the Headhunter, shots bouncing off the Headhunters hull, but the TIE pilot barely pulls up in time to avoid crashing into the derelict Star Destroyer, and swerves into open space where he is vulnerable!

The Imp pilot of the YT-2400 flies to Close range.

The Headhunter pilot increases his speed to 4, and wingtip lasers at the TIE.
1 success, 2 advantage. Activates Linked for 2 6-2=4 damage hits.
The rebel pilot guns it and swerves around on the TIE fighter. Unleashing his wingtip lasers, the TIE explodes in a fireball.

The Rebel co-pilot makes a pilot check to try to make the Pilots next check easier. 0 success, 2 advantage. He fails to help the pilot, but notices a chance for the Headhunter to slip behind the YT-2400 (giving him as Boost to next shot.)
The Co-Pilot also angles all the YT-1300 deflectors to aft.

The Imp co-pilot tries to boost shields and rolls no successes.
He angles deflectors to the front.

The rebel gunner fires his laser turret. He rolls 5 Threat!
He upgrades the difficulty of the Reb Pilots next roll.
The YT-1300 gunner opens fire with the turret on the Imperials in the YT-2400 freighter, but he misses and strafes the side of the derelict, blowing bits off that become dangerous space debris.

The Imp gunner fires at the Headhunter.
2 Success, 4 Threat.
The Imp Pilot has a Difficulty Upgrade to next roll due to the debris as well, and the Headhunter takes 8-3=5 Damage! Another hit will kill him, as his Hull Trauma is now 9, right at the threshold!
The gunner in the YT-2400 has Imperial training and strafes the Headhunter with laser fire. His shots also blow some debris off the derelict, causing even more space obstacles.

The Rebel pilot turns the YT-1300 and attempts to thread through a hole in the derelicts structure to escape the battle.
He rolls a Failure, and reduces speed by 1 due to failure.
The pilot can't find an opening large enough as he skims the surface.

Round 2

The Imp gunner fires at the Headhunter again.
Failure with 1 Advantage!
He adds a boost onto his next allies action.
The imp gunners next shots miss the Headhunter, but cause him to swerve defensively.

The Imp pilot spins the YT-2400, performing Evasive maneuvers, upgrading all shots against them, and all their own.

The Reb Headhunter pilot performs Stay On Target, and upgrades his shots, and those against him. He fires at the YT-2400 with linked Concussion Missiles. 1 success, 2 threat. The Headhunter takes 2 Strain, and the YT-2400 takes 7-4(negated by Breach 4)= 7 Damage.
The Headhunter, holding tight to the YT-2400 despite the danger he is in, fires off a missile volley at the Imperial freighter. One of the missiles impacts on the freighter, doing moderate hull damage.

The Reb Gunner fires at the YT-2400. He rolls 0 success, 1 Triumph.
He spends the Triumph to remove the Headhunter safely from the battle.
The YT-1300's gunner sees that the Headhunter is in danger of destruction, and takes a chance firing at the derelict and sending a cloud of debris up which cloaks the Headhunter long enough for it to make an escape.

The Imp co-pilot attempts to reduce Hull Trauma after spending his maneuver to move to the hull damaged section, rolling only 2 Advantages. He gives the pilot a Boost on his next action.
Running to where the hull took a hit from the missiles, the co-pilot sees that the damage is not repairable at this time, but he does reroute some power from damaged couplings.

The Reb Pilot flies out to Short Range of the YT-2400.
The Reb Co-Pilot flies into Engaged with the Derelict. (YT-1300 takes 2 Strain for a second maneuver)
The GM decides that the derelict adds 2 setback dice to the YT-1300 for anyone not engaged with the derelict. Being engaged with the derelict also causes pilots to roll checks for actions that normally would not require them, as well as make required rolls more difficult.

Round 3

The Imp Pilot flies into Close Range with the YT-1300.
The co-pilot spends his maneuver to move back to his seat, and flies into Engaged with the derelict. YT-2400 takes 2 strain.
The Rebel freighter dove in to dangerously strafe the wreckage, and the Imperial freighter followed closely behind it.

The reb pilot increases Speed to 3 and performs Stay on Target (2 Strain for a second maneuver to both the ship and the pilot.)
This requires a roll due to the proximity to the Derelict.
1 Success, 2 Threat, 1 Despair! The YT-1300 performs the maneuver but takes 2 Strain, and has a collision! Crit roll is 50-20(shields)=30 Knocked off course! He can't make maneuvers till he corrects his course with another roll.
The Rebel Pilot is determined to line up a steady shot for the gunner, but he holds the position a moment too long and collides with a turret on the derelict Star Destroyer. The Rebel YT-1300 careens off, out of control as it flies through the wreckage.

The reb gunner fires. Failure and 4 Threat!
The gunner is bouncing all over thanks to the collision, getting a setback to next shot, and offering the enemy gunner a Boost.

The imp gunner fires. 4 successes! Damage 10-3=7 Hull Trauma.
The Imperial gunner takes the opportunity to line up a shot with the out of control YT-1300 and strafes along its hull with fire.

The reb co-pilot attempts to give the pilot some help with his next check.
0 success, but 3 Advantage.
He manages to pull up enough to avoid the wreckage of the derelict for 1 round. (This will make the Pilots next Out of Control check a bit easier, not adding the terrain difficulty.)

Round 4

The imp Gunner fires again. 1 success, 3 Threat, 2 Triumph!
The YT-2400 takes 3 Strain, and the GM and players agree to let the 2 Triumph be used to take out the YT-1300 engines. The wounded ship skims to a stop along the derelict, and the Imps prepare for boarding!

Thanks for sharing. I will have to read again at home with book.

No problem.

If you see anything you think is wrong, or have any questions, let me know.

why not just have all the NPCs in one slot, instead of spreading them out?

I have a space encounter with my group next session, might write that up as well. ony drawback is they are rather new to the rules, so I doubt they will have the nuances figured out

If I was running a larger battle, I would have only the most vigilant/Cool character on each ship roll for an initiative slot.

In a smaller battle like this, it's quite fun to have individual crew members taking different slots, more strategy of timing comes into play.

(And it's no harder to run than a personal combat with an equal number of participants.)

If I was running a larger battle, I would have only the most vigilant/Cool character on each ship roll for an initiative slot.

In a smaller battle like this, it's quite fun to have individual crew members taking different slots, more strategy of timing comes into play.

(And it's no harder to run than a personal combat with an equal number of participants.)

I'd perhaps go for this solution for larger battles, or go for the pilot/captain for each vehicle.

Very good example.

Fantastic description. You manage to interpret the dice very well.

Cheers,

That is great!

I love how you've interpreted the dice, and I really appreciate the interpretations of the Despair and Triumphs and stuff like the derelict ship making rolls more difficult, etc.

Thanks!

Thanks guys, glad it's useful.

Bumped due to inability to paste anything into this forum.

Good stuff.

Quick question: it seems you allow co-pilot to perform "pilot only" maneuvers and actions. Is there somewhere in the rules that states it is the case? It seems the core book make the co-pilot more of an assistant, but that there is one flight stick only, and thus a co-pilot wouldn't be able to do pilot only maneuvers and actions. I like what you did, but I haven't found where it is explicitly stated.

Yes, p.232 top of the right column.

Any ship with a Co-Pilot can act this way.

I hope I can make my starship encounters half as good. We finished the GM screen adventure last night, and the Lookout chase was pretty anti-climactic. After making a couple of piloting rolls in their YT-1300 (accompanied by another PC in a Z-95), to catch up, our BH/Assassin fired one shot from the dorsal cannon and rolled 5 net Success. After reducing with armor, the cloud car was still vaporized.

My face went blank, and all my players went squee. Afterwards, even they were a bit let down, expecting a bit more of a fight, but it was too late.

I hope I did it right... Did I?

I hope I did it right... Did I?

If everyone had fun, you did it right. Next time, just have 3 adversaries, that aughta wipe that smug look off their faces!

That encounter isn't so much a dogfight as a race against time. As long as the Pilot rolls are narrated excitingly, I'd say you ran that one fine. It was probably pretty cool (from a Players point of view) to catch up to the ship and blow it up with one hit.

Yes, p.232 top of the right column.

Any ship with a Co-Pilot can act this way.

Do you mean the following:

"Some ships can have multiple pilots, in which case each can perform a Pilot Only maneuver and only the ship suffers the strain. However, these ships are rare".

Well that's the thing, those ships are rare, however ships with pilots + co-pilots are not rare in the core book. There is however no instance of any ship (so far) stating two pilots, except some capital ship that lists "pilots".

Is allowing a co-pilot the fly/drive maneuver a second time in addition to the pilot own fly/drive not making freighters much more swift than fighters? Shouldn't a given maneuver be only available once per turn?

I don't have enough experience to judge, which is why I am asking?

Thanks

I'll admit that the wording is a bit mysterious, but I see no reason not to allow a co-pilot to co-pilot a ship. A single pilot ship can still do 2 Pilot only maneuvers (silhouette 4 or less) as long as the Pilot takes 2 Strain. The Ship takes 2 Strain regardless. Co-Pilot doing a second maneuver only takes some Strain off the main Pilot, which honestly is EXACTLY what a co-pilot should do.

Agreed. The rules are clear about limits for maneuvers per turn, they don't say anything about who performs them. If a ship lists a co-pilot or pilots, let er rip. As long as that PC states they are sitting shotgun and performing actions appropriate to that station, it's all good.

Right! That's another important point. In freighters and such, you definitely want to make characters spend maneuvers (and Strain if needed) to move to different areas on the ship where they can perform actions. I think it adds a lot to the drama, tension, and feel of space combat. (Images of Han running through the Falcon.)

I see you are aiming deflectors, where did you get the rules for that? Or is it house rules?

EotE Core book, top of pg 233 under 'Angling Deflector Shields'.

Thank you for that amazing example. I've been hesitant to include more space-battles, but your example whet my appetite.

For general tips, I always try to find ways where a fight brakes out. Just two ships clashing in empty space gets rather boring fast, even adding a big ship to fly around helps a lot, either a disabled one like your - again - great example or just another bigger ship, like a freighter.

Same as with ground battles I try to include a differentiated WHERE and WHY?

The WHERE is mostly for enviromental effects, which in turn are also defined by the WHY.

Maybe someone would like to pin your example, since this question arises regularly in this forum? or add it to the compiled ressources list?

ed.: because I'm sure I will want to read it again in the future.

I know this is a really old thread but it is still applicable.

So i am Slightly confused on initiative then. It would seem that there are only two ships. So why are there 8 initiative slots? Are there 3 crew in each freighter and then one in each snub fighter?