Shooting missiles down?

[garhkal]

Brought out of This thread

What rules have you seen/adopted for if/when PC's (or your NPCs) try to shoot an incoming missile/torpedo that was shot at them?

If you go by initiative order, technically it can't be done unless you allow shooting the missile as a 'reaction'..
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[atgxtg]

Well, I've allowed it as a reaction, but then I'm the guy who adopted a "snap shot" rule to interrupt a target to shoot before it gets out of range.

[garhkal]

Snap shot rule? Care to share?
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[atgxtg]

Sure. I though I had already. The snap shot rule is something I adapted from Star Warriors for 2R&E. Basically by the RAW it's possible for a starfighter to move so fast that it can move into and out of firing range in one turn and completely avoid being shot at because by the time the other side gets to act, the ship is gone. While this might be justified at close ranges it gets kinda silly when a fighter is 25 SU away and zips past the firing arc at 40+ SU a turn.

What the snap shot rule does is allow a gunner to interrupt movement in order to get off a shot, as a reaction (and only as a reaction). This gives the gunners a chance to get a shot off, but ensures that the suffer a multiaction penalty since they have to rush the shot. Since it is a reaction, and not an action the gunner's other actions don't help. And snap shot can't be used like normal shots, you still got to declare those.

I believe I had a limit of 1 snap shot per SU of movement. That is the target gets to move at least 1 SU between snap shots. That's so gunners can just keep taking more and more reactions to shoot at a ship that is just about to leave their firing arc or move out of range. If you wanted to you could just limit a gunner to 1 snap shot per turn or one per target, but for us MAPs tended to prove limiting enough.

[garhkal]

So effectively if they didn't take any actions, they could "Snap shot" 3-4 times as if they had declared 3-4 shots, but are interrupting the enemy's action...?
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[Naaman]

Well, now that you mention it (OP), I suppose if a missile were to "hit" on the same round that it were fired, shooting it down would not be allowed. However, if the pilot can evade the initial attack, then the gunner could use his action to shoot at the missle. I would think, however, that the missile is a character scale target.... though it would not have the sense to "dodge" the laser cannon,, so it should still be a fairly easy target.

[atgxtg]

[garhkal]

[Naaman]

Well, this is a house rule, after all. So let's remedy that. I might just let the missile keep the shooter's original attack roll, or, base its secondary attempt on some difficulty derived from the weapon system's fire control. For example, the missile might hav a maneuverability of 4D. Then, add the weapon system's fire control (for example, 2D) for a total of 6D. The difficulty to shoot the missule down would ignore both those characteristics, since the missile doesn't "know" its being shot at. I would make the difficulty north of 25, for sure.

[Kytross]

[CRMcNeill]

In Rules of Engagement, it is mentioned that artillery shells in flight can be shot down on a Very Difficult roll. It might be a place to start, but it leaves a lot of unanswered questions (what kinds of weapons are required, how durable are shells, etc.)
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[garhkal]

Don't remember that, since most 'artillery in SW seems to be energy based..
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[CRMcNeill]

[atgxtg]

Hmm, one odd thing about the M012 is that since the range bands are 1-5/10/20km, the shell is moving twice as fast at long range than at short or medium. That indicates that the shell is still accelerating during flight, suggesting that ti has it's own source of propulsion.

[shootingwomprats]

Thing about missiles is that they almost NEVER hit. a typical starship moves at 6+ (yes there are those at 5 or lower but not many). Even an ISD moves at 6 and a TIE fighter at 10.

If you refer to R&E p.127 "Missiles, Bombs and Proton Torpedoes" you will see that a ship traveling at 5 increases difficulty +15 and 6 to +20. Making the average Difficulty to even hit another ship at Easy: 23 (8+15), 28 (8+20), Moderate: 28 (13+15), 33 (13+20), and Difficult: 33 (18+15), 38 (18+20).

These base numbers make it nearly impossible to hit anything with missile weapons. Take into account that its a single use weapon, meaning it does not keep trying to acquire target after it is fired. So there are some serious issues to be considered besides "can I shoot a missile down".
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