# Firing

*The Starship Armory, Vehicle and Starship Weapons for Exodus NDS. Source: https://exodusnds.com/sourcebooks/starship-armory/firing*

This chapter is the whole procedure for attacking with a vehicle weapon. Where a Universe has its own ship combat rules, those govern.

## The Attack

**Who fires.** A gunner fires one weapon, or one twin or quad fitting, with an action. A pilot may fire **Fixed** weapons with an action. Each weapon fires once in a round.

**Skill.** Ranged. A Universe with a Gunnery skill uses Gunnery.

**Difficulty** is set by range.

| Range | Difficulty |
|:--|:--|
| Engaged | Easy |
| Short, Medium | Average |
| Long | Hard |
| Extreme | Severe |

**Scale.** As the core rules say: attacking a target 2 or more Scale smaller adds Bane Dice equal to the difference, and attacking one 2 or more Scale larger removes that many Bane Dice. The attacker's Scale is that of the firing vehicle.

**Defense.** The target's Defense adds Bane Dice. A screen adds its own Bane Dice against the types it names.

**Arc.** The target must be in the weapon's arc.

## Damage

On a hit, work in this order.

1. **Total.** Hull damage is the listed number plus 1 for each uncancelled Success. A weapon that deals only System Damage adds the Successes to that.
2. **Screens.** Subtract a screen's Damage Reduction if it names the weapon's type.
3. **Armor.** Subtract the target's Armor, less the weapon's Pierce. Armor does not reduce System Damage.
4. **Apply.** What is left is Hull Damage. System Damage is applied in full.

A vehicle is disabled when its Hull Damage reaches its Hull Points, and loses control when its System Damage reaches its System Points, as in the core rules.

## Critical Hits

Spend net Boons equal to the weapon's **Crit**, or a Breakthrough, to inflict a Critical Hit on a target that suffered at least 1 Hull or System Damage from the attack. Roll on the Critical Hit table in the core rules, adding 10 for each Critical Hit the target already has.

A hit on a vehicle that is already disabled inflicts a Critical Hit automatically.

## Spending Results

| Result | The gunner may |
|:--|:--|
| 1 Boon | Add 1 Boon Die to the next attack on the same target by any weapon on this vehicle |
| 2 Boons | Trigger Linked or Auto-Fire for one more hit; trigger Blast or Scorch; ready a Slow-Firing weapon at once |
| Boons equal to Crit | Inflict a Critical Hit |
| Breakthrough | Inflict a Critical Hit, or choose which system a Critical Hit strikes |
| 2 Bane (GM spends) | The weapon makes 1 extra Heat, or the firing vehicle's next attack adds 1 Bane Die |
| Calamity (GM spends) | The weapon jams, overheats, or runs dry: it cannot fire until a crew member spends an action on it |

## Missiles and Torpedoes

**Lock-On.** A weapon with this quality needs a lock before it fires. Taking a lock is a maneuver by the gunner or a sensor operator. It is automatic against a target with no countermeasures. Otherwise it is an Average Ranged check, with Bane Dice from the target's countermeasures. A lock is lost when the target changes range band or leaves line of sight.

**Interceptable.** After the attack hits and before damage, the target may use point defence or countermeasures against it.

**Tracking.** Ordnance that misses comes round again. At the end of the next round, make the attack once more with the same pool, at 1 less damage. It then burns out.

**Salvo X.** The launcher fires up to X missiles at one target on one lock. Roll a separate attack for each.

## Point Defence

A weapon with **Point Defense X** may be fired as a **reaction**, once in a round, when an Interceptable attack hits its own vehicle or another within Short range.

| Incoming | Result |
|:--|:--|
| Rockets, missiles, drones, pods | The weapon destroys up to X of them with no check |
| Torpedoes | Each needs an Average Ranged check by the gunner. On a success it is destroyed |
| Capital torpedoes | As torpedoes, at Hard difficulty |

A reaction makes the weapon's Heat. A weapon fired as a reaction may still fire as an action in the same round.

A dedicated point-defence suite from Chapter 14 has its own rating and needs no gunner.

## Ammunition and Reloading

**Limited Ammo X** is the number of shots in the weapon's magazine or on its rails.

A weapon with an internal magazine is reloaded from the ship's stores by a crew member with an action. External racks, pods, and bomb bays are reloaded in port, or by a crew member in a suit taking ten minutes.

**Slow-Firing X** is the time to cycle a heavy weapon. A crew member's **Reload** action removes one round of it.

| Mount | A full reload weighs | A full reload of shells costs |
|:--|:--|:--|
| Light | 5 Encumbrance | 5% of the weapon's price |
| Standard | 20 Encumbrance | 5% of the weapon's price |
| Heavy | 50 Encumbrance | 5% of the weapon's price |
| Capital | 200 Encumbrance | 10% of the weapon's price |

Missiles, torpedoes, bombs, and mines are priced by the round in Chapter 8.

## Batteries

Weapons of one kind in one arc may fire together as a **battery** on one officer's command. The officer makes one attack check, with Gunnery or Leadership.

| Weapons in the battery | The attack gains |
|:--|:--|
| 2 or 3 | Linked 1 |
| 4 to 7 | Linked 2 |
| 8 to 15 | Linked 3 |
| 16 to 31 | Linked 4 |
| 32 or more | Linked 5 |

Each hit is reduced by screens and Armor separately. A battery makes the Heat of one weapon for each hit it scores, and draws the Power of one weapon for each step of Linked, plus one. This is how a capital ship with forty guns is run at the table.

## Massed Fire

Small ships hurt a large one by attacking together.

When two or more vehicles attack the same target of larger Scale in one round, each attacker after the first adds 1 Boon Die to its attack, to a maximum of 3.

A corvette's Heavy weapons get through a battleship's Armor a few points at a time, and its torpedoes do better. Four corvettes working together are a real threat to a capital ship, and the capital ship's main battery will disable one of them with most hits. A fighter's Light weapons do nothing to a capital hull: fighters carry torpedoes for that, or they go after its turrets and sensors with **Precision**.

## An Example

Ilse, gunner on a Scale 3 patrol boat, fires a **Railgun Battery** (5 Hull, Crit 3, Pierce 1) at a Scale 4 freighter at Long range. The difficulty is Hard. The freighter is one Scale larger, which is not enough to change the dice. It has Defense 0 and Armor 2.

She rolls 2 net Successes and 3 Boons. Hull damage is 5 plus 2, which is 7. The freighter has a deflection screen, which does nothing against a Ballistic weapon. Armor 2 less Pierce 1 stops 1. The freighter suffers 6 Hull Damage. She spends the 3 Boons on a Critical Hit.