[Diaspora] Space Combat comments and questions

[Yunus Wesley]

Great, thank you Brad. Now here are some more.

Attack & defense phases:

Firewall, Vector Randomization, and Point Defense stunt defenses cannot be
modified --certainly not by a PC's skill. Does "no modification" extend to
tagging or compelling aspects that might feasibly interact with the stunt?

Ships without Vector Randomization roll at 0 to defend against beams.
In-universe, does this mean the ship's pilot is actively moving the ship in
an attempt to be harder to hit? Simply the random difficulty of getting a
hit in? The chance of the ship's frame and components physically resisting
damage? Any of the above and more seem appropriate.

The defensive roll made for Beams stands throughout the Torpedoes phase;
there's a separate defensive roll made against Torpedoes. What is the
purpose of keeping the defensive Beams roll into Torpedoes, if torps are
resisted with a separate action?

Damage Control:
A hit of e.g. 8 shifts beyond the stress track cannot be reduced by
consequences... and suffers no Consequence damage. The attacker narrates the
Taken Out status, which can be ka-blooey or ready for boarding. If it is
frame damage, what does this mean? The crew and control systems are knocked
all akimbo and cannot feasibly get the ship to work, even though nothing is
essentially broken? I don't know how to interpret this.

On Wed, Feb 17, 2010 at 8:24 PM, Brad Murray <bjmurray.halfjack at gmail.com>wrote:

> On Wed, Feb 17, 2010 at 5:07 PM, Yunus Wesley <yunuswesley at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>>
>> All phases where Ship's rating is rolled, not crew skill
>> In Positioning, EW, Beams, and Guns, the ship's rating is rolled
>> "amplified" by the crew member's effective skill. Under Torpedoes (p133)
>> this is defined as "the Torpedo rating is used and increased by one if the
>> effective Gunnery rating is higher." Is this the same rule for EW and Beams?
>>
>
> "amplified by" is defined on p.10, as per the index. It is always as
> expanded in the Torpedo section.
>
>
>> Detection phase:
>> In in-universe narrative terms, can you say that the winning Navigator has
>> arranged the beginning of the engagement in positions and vectors he finds
>> most favorable?
>>
>
> Yes!
>
>
>> If the winning Navigator is trying to escape, he puts himself on a +/- 3
>> band and his opponents as far away as possible. If the winning Navigator is
>> seeking an engagement, is there any reason to put his own and an opponent's
>> ship on the 0 band?
>>
>
> That's a tactical choice. Personally I would decide based on my weapons
> loadout -- if I have both kinds of weapons to bring to bear I might want the
> 1 and -1 bars to get both weapon types in optimal range right away.
>
>
>> Positioning phase:
>> Applying burn in the Positioning phase adds to the V-shift _roll_, not the
>> rating. Ships' movement across the map is limited by V-shift rating. So burn
>> applies to relative maneuvering between ships, not sustained acceleration
>> that would imply a change to the V-shift rating?
>>
>
> Correct.
>
>
>> The V-shift roll is _limited_ by the pilot's effective Pilot skill; there
>> is no mention of augmenting/amplification. So if a V-shift 3 boat is flown
>> with effective Pilot 2, it rolls V-shift at 2; but if flown with Pilot 4, it
>> is still V-shift 3?
>>
>
> Correct. In space combat the space craft are the central characters.
>
> --
> Brad Murray (halfjack)
> VSCA Publishing
>
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