Starship Movement
Starship Movement
Starship movement works just like vehicle movement. Every ship has a Space score: it's how many Space units it moves at cruising speed.
A slow ship might have a Space of 2 or 3, while an average freighter would have a Space of about 5 or 6. The galaxy's fastest starfighters—like A-wings and TIE interceptors—have Space movement as high as 11 and 12.
Moving is an action, just like firing a blaster or dodging. A ship can move once per round.
When a ship moves, you describe the "terrain" and then pick a difficulty level and a difficulty number: • Very Easy: 1–5 • Easy: 6–10 • Moderate: 11–15 • Difficult: 16–20 • Very Difficult: 21–30 • Heroic: 31+
The player decides how fast he wants to pilot the ship and then rolls the ship's piloting skill (capital ship piloting, space transports, or starfighter piloting). If the ship has a maneuverability code, add it to the pilot's skill roll. • If the roll is equal to or greater than the difficulty number, the ship moves through space with no problems. • If the roll is lower, the ship has a movement failure.
Movement Speeds
The pilot can pick one of four speeds.
Cautious Movement
This is very slow movement: the ship goes up to half its Space. Round up. (A ship with Space 9 would move up to 5 units.) • In Very Easy, Easy, and Moderate space, cautious movement is a free action, and the pilot doesn't have to roll his space transports (or other piloting skill). • In Difficult, Very Difficult, and Heroic space, roll the character's piloting skill, but reduce the difficulty one level. (Very Difficult becomes Difficult; Moderate becomes Easy.)
Example: Rhen, the brash pilot, jumps behind the controls of Thannik's Thunder, a stock Ghtroc class 720 freighter. The ship has Space 3 and maneuverability 1D. Rhen's space transports skill is 5D.
She's piloting in open space (Easy space) at cautious speed. She doesn't have to roll—the Ghtroc freighter automatically moves 2 Space units. If she were also firing Thannik's Thunder's double laser cannon, she'd get to roll her full starship gunnery skill of 5D, because piloting in Easy space is a free action.
Later, Rhen is flying through the heart of a dense asteroid field—it's Very Difficult space. Since she decides to fly at cautious speed, the space is considered one difficulty level easier: it's only Difficult (the gamemaster picks a difficulty number of 17). Rhen rolls her space transports 5D and the Ghtroc's maneuverability 1D and gets a 19. Thannik's Thunder maneuvers through the field with ease.
Cruising Movement
Cruising movement is the normal movement speed for a starship: it moves at its Space speed. • Moving at cruising speed counts as an action, but the pilot can automatically make the move for Very Easy, Easy, and Moderate space. • The pilot must roll his piloting skill for Difficult, Very Difficult, and Heroic space.
Example: Rhen is flying Thannik's Thunder through open space (Easy terrain), with two Imperial TIE fighters closing in fast. She can automatically fly the ship at cruising speed (it goes its Space of 3), but it's an action. Firing the double laser cannon is a second action, so she rolls 4D (subtract the −1D penalty from her starship gunnery of 5D) to hit one of the TIEs.
Later, Rhen's racing through a thick asteroid belt (Difficult terrain; difficulty number 19) at cruising speed. She rolls her space transports of 5D and the ship's maneuverability of 1D and gets a 19—she just barely swings around a large asteroid as two smaller pieces of rock go tumbling by a little too close for comfort.
High Speed
High speed movement is pushing a starship for added speed: the ship moves at twice its Space speed. • The pilot must roll for Very Easy, Easy, or Moderate space. • When moving at high speed, the difficulty for Difficult, Very Difficult, and Heroic space increases one level: • Difficult → Very Difficult • Very Difficult → Heroic • Heroic → Heroic +10
Example: Rhen is flying Thannik's Thunder through open space (Easy terrain; difficulty number 8) while trying to avoid space pirates in Z-95 Headhunters. She decides to go at high speed to outrun them. Her space transports and maneuverability rolls total 11—a success. The ship's Space is 3, so it moves 6 Space units.
Later, Rhen is still trying to avoid the pirates, this time by maneuvering through the girders of a partially completed space station—it's Difficult terrain. Because she's moving at high speed, the terrain is considered Very Difficult (difficulty number 24). Rhen rolls her space transports and maneuverability, getting a 23: she fails. To find out what happens, see "Starship Movement Failures."
All-Out
A ship going at all-out speed moves at four times its Space.
Characters piloting a ship at all-out speed may not do anything else in the round, including starship dodges or firing the ship's weapons. • Increase the difficulty one level for Very Easy, Easy, and Moderate space. • Increase the difficulty two levels for Difficult, Very Difficult, and Heroic space.
Example: Rhen knows Imperial TIE fighters are closing in on her, but if she's quick enough she may be able to make the jump to lightspeed and escape. She decides to move Thannik's Thunder all-out.
The space is Easy terrain; since Rhen is moving all-out, the difficulty increases to Moderate (difficulty 12). Rhen rolls her space transports and maneuverability, getting a 15—success! Thannik's Thunder has a Space of 3, so it pulls ahead 12 units.
Later, Rhen decides to fly all-out while moving through a thick bunch of starships orbiting a planet. It's Difficult space, but because she's moving all-out, the difficulty increases two levels to Heroic (difficulty number 38). Rhen rolls her space transports of 5D and her ship's maneuverability of 1D and gets a 27. Rhen realizes she's pushed Thannik's Thunder too hard and the ship is about to go spinning out of control! See "Starship Movement Failures."
Acceleration and Deceleration
Starships may increase or decrease their speed one level per round.
Example: Rhen is piloting Thannik's Thunder at high speed one round. The next round, she may maintain high speed, decrease to cruising speed, or increase to all-out speed. She may not slow down to cautious speed or come to a stop.
Partial Moves
Starships can move anywhere between half their move speed and the full move speed.
Example: A starship with Space 6 is going at high speed (up to 12 units). The ship can move anywhere between 6 and 12 units.
Long-Distance Movement
All-out movement takes its toll on starships: a starship continuously going all-out must make a hull code roll every 10 minutes. • The first hull code difficulty is Very Easy; increase the difficulty one level for each additional roll. • If the ship fails by 1–10 points, it's suffering strain (severe power fluctuations, etc.) and must "rest" for twice as long as it moved all-out. • If the ship fails by 11 or more points, the ship has suffered a mechanical failure and requires a Moderate repair roll and at least one hour of work.
High speed movement also requires hull code rolls: roll once every hour. The first roll is at Very Easy difficulty and increases one difficulty level for each additional roll.
Starship Terrain Difficulties
• Very Easy (1–5): Flying a starship in clear space with no navigational hazards.
• Easy (6–10): Flying near other starships (orbiting a space station). Flying around minor obstacles (a small, dispersed asteroid belt).
• Moderate (11–15): Flying in crowded space (busy spacedock staging area). Flying in moderate debris, or down the Death Star's artificial canyon.
• Difficult (16–20): Starfighter combat with many ships nearby. Flying through an area clogged with debris or asteroids.
• Very Difficult (21–30): Flying in an area densely packed with ships or debris.
• Heroic (31+): Nearly impossible flying—e.g., flying the Millennium Falcon inside the Death Star to reach its reactor core; flying through the Hoth system's asteroid field.
Maneuvers
The difficulty number covers basic starship maneuvers: straight-line flight, a couple of turns, and other simple movement. If the pilot wants a more difficult maneuver—like a series of spins that bring several enemy fighters into the ship's gun sights—add modifiers as needed: • +1–5: Maneuver is fairly easy. • +6–10: Maneuver is somewhat difficult and requires a certain amount of skill. • +11–15: Maneuver is very difficult and requires a very talented (or lucky) pilot. • +16+: Maneuver appears to be almost impossible. Only the very best pilots can pull off a maneuver of this difficulty.
Starship Movement Failures
A starship that fails a movement roll may slow down, go spinning out of control, or suffer a collision. (Collisions are fairly rare in space.)
Find the number of points by which the movement roll failed: • 1–3: Slight slip. The ship "slips," nearly spinning out of control. While it completes the movement, the pilot suffers −1D to all actions for the rest of the round (in addition to normal multiple action penalties). • 4–6: Slip. The ship "bobbles," nearly spinning out of control. It completes only half its Space move. The pilot suffers −3D to all actions for the rest of the round, and −1D to all actions for the next round. • 7–10: Spin. The ship completes one-quarter of its Space move and then goes spinning out of control. The pilot cannot control the ship for the rest of the round and the next round. • 11–15: Minor collision. If there's anything to hit, the ship has a minor collision (−3D to normal collision damage; see "Collisions"). Otherwise, it goes spinning wildly out of control (see "Spin"). The pilot cannot control the ship for the rest of the round and the next round. • 16–20: Collision. If there's anything to hit, the ship has a collision, suffering normal damage. Otherwise, it goes spinning wildly out of control (see "Spin"). The pilot cannot control the ship for the rest of the round and the next round. • 21+: Major collision. If there's anything to hit, the ship smashes into an obstacle at such a poor angle as to increase collision damage by +4D (see "Collisions"). Otherwise, it goes spinning wildly out of control (see "Spin"). The pilot cannot control the ship for the rest of the round and the next round.
Collisions
Collision damage depends on how fast the starship was moving. (Don't forget to take into account scale differences where pertinent.)
| Speed | Collision Damage |
|---|---|
| Cautious | 2D |
| Cruise | 4D |
| High Speed | 6D |
| All-Out | 10D |
Roll collision damage and compare it to the starship's hull code roll. "Starship Damage" explains what happens.
If the ship runs into another ship, damage may vary by collision angle (most are T-bone crashes, but some qualify as head-on, rear-ender, or sideswipe): • Head-on crash: +3D • Rear-ender / sideswipe: −3D • T-bone: 0D
You may want to adjust collision damage to reflect what the starship runs into. If a ship hits something very light (for example, a primitive ship with a weak hull), reduce collision damage by −1D, −2D, or more.
Source: REUP:131