[Diaspora] Space Combat comments and questions

[Yunus Wesley]

Bizarrely, this didn't come through into my email, but it did fall
into the archive... thanks again for the answers! I'll probably ask
again when I hit the social combat section.


*Brad Murray Thu Feb 18 18:50:22 MST 2010*

On Wed, Feb 17, 2010 at 9:17 PM, Yunus Wesley <yunuswesley at
gmail.com <http://box547.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/diaspora_phreeow.net>>
wrote:

>* 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?*

"No modification" is an unclear way to say that the base for the roll is
zero. With or without a defensive stunt like vector randomization, the
player can always tag ship aspects.


>* 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 intent is that the pilot is busy making the ship achieve the separation
and vector variance required to achieve positioning success: that is, he's
trying to maintain an advantageous range, pursue, or escape. He's not
playing any defensive tactical games at all but rather strategic ones. The
software (or whatever story you have for that) does the tactical jinking for
him.


>* 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?*>**
The defensive roll made during the Beam phase stands only through the Beam
phase. The confusion is that in the Torpedo phase, you are rolling your
Beams *again* to shoot down incoming ordnance. Defensive rolls stand through
their phase (so against multiple torpedo attacks) but no longer.

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.*

As there are no consequences, the attacker may choose how to narrate his
victory. He can choose to dictate that the enemy vessel is blown asunder,
scattered as confetti, or that the crew has surrendered without taking any
harm at all -- the excellent roll represents a fire control solution so good
and so obvious that no sane man would keep fighting. Or anything in between.

If you're uncomfortable with handing that story to the players to describe
(and many are, and there's nothing wrong with that -- just a matter of
taste) then I would insist on either complete destruction or three
consequences and a dead/surrendered crew.

-- 
Brad Murray (halfjack)
VSCA Publishing
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