Space Combat

Realistic space combat is not cinematic. It primarily takes place at vast distances (thousands of kilometers), far beyond visual range. Engagements are short, deadly, and decided by software. It is recommended that space combat be treated as a plot device, part of the background story that helps create drama and tension, rather than an event that characters actively participate in.

Weapons and Swarms

The primary weapon in space combat is missiles: they cover great distances, make high-g accelerations, and are loaded with ALI pilots. While lasers and rail cannons are potent weapons, they are less effective at vast distances; their primary use is in close engagements or as point-defense systems against missiles.

Weapon systems are only part of the battle, however. Most ships field swarms of disposable devices in combat situations: decoys, sensor buoys, missile drones, smart mines, and so forth. These swarms help blind, confuse, and target the enemy.

Not all ships are equipped with weapons, but every ship has at least one: their drive. The output from a drive is devastating to anything within a close range of it. For this reason, ships are restricted from engaging their drives close to habitats, using thrusters or tugs to clear a safe distance first.

Stealth and Sensors

It is incredibly difficult to be stealthy in space. The torch flare from a ship’s drive is highly visible, meaning that you can be spotted any time you accelerate or decelerate. Ships also radiate heat (in fact, heat buildup can be a major issue), meaning that their black-body radiation can give them away. Ultra-wide telescope arrays around the system, both public and private, regularly track ships and their trajectories. Active sensors or wide-area communications will also broadcast your position.

When ships close in and engage in hostilities, the initial conflict is often a game of hiding your exact position to avoid being targeted. This includes shutting off your drive and active sensors to avoid detection and fielding decoys to misdirect your enemies. It also means deploying sensor drones to find the opponent without activating your own sensors, and using laser drones and other systems to blind the opponent’s eyes.

Deep Space vs Orbital

Fights in deep space typically take place at high velocities with strict trajectories, with little room for major course changes. Fuel rationing can be an issue. As the ships and their accompanying swarms close to engagement range and pass by each other, the battle itself is quick and fierce. The fight usually ends there, as any survivors are unwilling or incapable of turning back around.

Orbital battles are similar, except they may involve defensive installations. Stealth is important here, as smart mines and orbital weapon platforms lie hidden and dormant until an attacker nears. Some attackers launch strikes from positions far out, well in advance (days or even months), allowing them to approach cold and silent. Orbital battles can also be complicated by the presence of non-combatants, such as civilian habitats and shuttles, and the fact that asteroids, moons, planets, and even habitats create sensor shadows and opportunities to hide. Ground-based weapons are largely ineffective, but orbital bombardments are devastating to those below.

Character Options

One reason we discourage space combat as a direct focus of the game is to avoid situations where a few failed PC die rolls lead to a total party kill. It is also not always practical for all of the PCs to contribute to a conflict, given how much of it is handled by AIs. That said, there are plenty of opportunities for PCs to play a role in an ongoing space battle and influence the outcome. Here are a few suggestions for incorporating characters and tests into a space combat narrative.

Detection and Stealth

It is difficult to attack an enemy you can’t target. PCs use Interface skill to operate sensors and swarms to locate and lock onto opposing ships. Interface skill is also used to deploy sensor jamming, decoys, and other countermeasures to evade detection. Appropriate Know and Hardware skills are used to identify other ships as well as their capabilities and weaknesses.

Hacking

Ships lock down communications during fights to avoid detection and hacking, relying on QE comms as necessary. This makes hackers ineffective against opposing ships. That said, it is sometimes possible to spoof a signal to an opposing ship, particularly if there are multiple ships or they make heavy use of swarms. Hacking can also play a role if a ship was hacked in advance or if an intruder on board opens a communication channel. Swarms and drones deployed by ships are also vulnerable to direct hacking and spoofed signals.

Maneuvering

While most ships are piloted by ALIs, PCs can use Pilot: Space to obtain a position of advantage in a fight, perform a high-g maneuver, evade a pursuer, ram another ship, or stealthily maneuver using only thrusters to avoid detection. Use Fray to avoid incoming attacks.

Engagement

Most ship weapon systems are operated using Interface skill. In certain close-range situations, Guns skill will apply to laser or railgun fire. These same skills also apply to point-defense systems and similar defensive measures.

Damage Control

Taking a hit in ship combat can be devastating. Even small hits and debris will put holes in your ship, causing atmospheric decompression and possibly killing biomorphs who aren’t wearing vacsuits. Hardware: Aerospace and similar skills are used to repair damaged hulls and systems.

Boarding

Due to velocities and trajectories, boarding other ships is often not feasible. Polite methods of boarding including hacking or cutting open an airlock. Impolite methods involve cutting open the hull and decompressing the interior.

Other Narrative Options

There are many ways in which an ongoing space battle can play a role in a story’s background. You might negotiate with hostile forces, repel boarders, stage a mutiny, treat the wounded, escape out the airlock, hide out while the pirates sack the ship, or locate and stop a saboteur.

While losing a space battle is usually deadly, it does not always need to be the end. Perhaps the ship is disabled, but you survive in the wreckage — and must jury-rig your way to survival or rescue. Or you manage to keep the ship together just long enough to crash it on the nearest planet, moon, or asteroid. Or you end up adrift in space, at the mercy of whatever happens to come along to pick you up…