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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
Joined: 05 Apr 2010
Posts: 16283
Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.
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 Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2016 7:56 pm Post subject: Alliance Bomb Ship |
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In the days of wooden ships and the age of sail, ships would, on occasion, be loaded with combustibles, deliberately set afire and steered into enemy formations in order to destroy ships, break up the formation or simply cause a panic. Obviously, such a tactic is useless in space, yet it does make one, tiny appearance in the SWU. From the novelization of Return of the Jedi, page 164, during the Battle of Endor: | Quote: | | Cargo ships loaded with charge were set on collision courses with fortress vessels [star destroyers], their crews abandoning ship to fates that were uncertain at best. |
In terms of trade-off, losing a $h!tty transport like the GR-75 in trade for taking out a Star Destroyer is a win for the Alliance. So here is my take on it...
Alliance Bomb Ship
Because they are so vastly outmatched and outnumbered by the Empire, the Rebel Alliance is often forced to use desperate and unorthodox techniques just to survive, and none more so than the Bomb Ship.
A Bomb Ship is just that; a space-going bomb inside a stripped-down Gallofree GR-75 Medium Transport. Every piece of non-essential equipment, from the weapons to the bulk of the ship's consumables supply and even the nav computer have been removed (nav calculations are performed by the nav computer on the attached escape shuttle). In its place, Alliance engineers have filled the ship to maximum capacity with high-powered explosives. Crewed by only the foolhardy, the insane, or those with nothing to lose, the Bomb Ship is aimed at a high-value Imperial target, such as a space station or capital ship, and then locked on course with its reactor set to overload levels. Once this is done, the ship's crew has less than a minute to abandon ship and escape with their lives.
After the crew has jumped ship, the bomb ship continues on its course. The overloading reactor generates massive amounts of power, which is directed into the ship's engines and shields, temporarily increasing the bomb ship's speed, maneuverability and resistance to damage. Under normal circumstances, this excess energy would quickly slag the engines and shield generators beyond the point of repair. No bomb ship has ever lasted that long.
Locked on a collision course, the bomb ship inflicts massive damage when it detonates (ideally on contact, but the ship is fitted with backup proximity detonators in case the target manages to dodge out of the way). Of course, because of the volatile nature of the overloading reactor, bomb ships will occasionally detonate before they reach their target, but even then, ships caught too close to the blast can still be damaged by the massive energy discharge.
Craft: Gallofree GR-75 Medium Transport (modified)
Type: Special Attack Ship
Scale: Frigate (+10D)
Length: 90 meters
Skill: Space Transports: GR-75
Crew: 6 (3 @ +10)
Crew Skill: (Droid Brain - Regular crew skills vary widely)
Piloting 4D
Sensors 3D
Passengers: None
Small Craft Complement: 1 light shuttle
Cargo Capacity: None
Consumables: 1 month
Hyperdrive Multiplier: x4
Hyperdrive Backup: None
Nav Computer: None
Maneuverability: 0D / 2D*
Space: 2 / 6* (1D/3D)
Atmosphere: 225; 650 km/h / 330; 950km/h*
Hull: 3D
Shields: 1D / 3D*
*When the ship's reactor is set to overload, it generates a massive amount of power for a short period of time, boosting the ship's stats to the values indicated in parenthesis.
Sensors:
Passive 10/0D
Scan 25/1D
Search 40/2D
Focus 2/3D
Weapons: None
Game Use:Volatile - Being that the ship is literally a flying bomb, any damage has the potential to set off the explosives. In the event of damage of any kind, roll a D6 on the following table. Any result equal to or less than the number indicated cause the explosives to detonate.Controls Ionized = 1
Lightly Damaged = 2
Heavily Damaged = 3
Severely Damaged = 4
Destroyed = 6
Targeting - Once the ship is in sensor range, the ship's Sensor operator Locks On to the target (successful Sensor Focus roll). The target may attempt to evade the Sensor Lock as it would a normal attack. Once the crew abandons ship, the bomb ship's droid auto-pilot takes over maintaining the lock-on. The Lock-On adds +1D to the ship's Piloting roll for the Ramming attack (see below)
Overload - Once the ship's reactor is set to overload, roll 2D every round. If the result of the 2D roll is less than the number of rounds since the reactor was set to overload, the reactor detonates and destroys the bomb ship, regardless of whether it has reached its target or not.
Ramming - Once activated, the Bomb Ship moves at Full Speed towards its target. Once it is within 12 units, it makes a Ramming attack. To resolve this, roll the Bomb Ship's combined Piloting and Maneuverability (+1D from the Lock-On) against the Target's Maneuverability (+2D due to the precise navigation required to actually ram another ship in the vastness of space). Scale modifiers also apply, so any target of Destroyer-Scale or higher suffers a penalty to Dodge.
Detonation - On impact, the Bomb Ship detonates, inflicting 12D Damage at Destroyer Scale (+12D). Resolve as normal.
Near Miss - If the target manages to Dodge the Ramming attack, the Bomb Ship travels another 1D Space Units before its proximity detonators trigger. Reduce damage inflicted to the target by 10 points for every Space Unit of distance between the target and the detonating Bomb Ship.
House Rule Notes:COMMAND DIFFICULTY MODIFIER: +1
SHIELD & SHIELD CONTROL: 1D/3D @ 2D
VELOCITY MODIFIER: 0D+2 Flight (1D+2 in Overload Mode)
I came up with this on the fly, so let me know if there is something I missed.
_________________
"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
Last edited by CRMcNeill on Sat Jan 22, 2022 1:30 pm; edited 7 times in total |
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Kytross
Line Captain
Joined: 28 Jan 2008
Posts: 782
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| Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2016 8:38 pm Post subject: |
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I think it's a great idea.
The issue I see is about range. An ImpStar 1 will have this thing destroyed or tractored before it gets close enough to kamikaze. |
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
Joined: 05 Apr 2010
Posts: 16283
Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.
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| Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2016 10:11 pm Post subject: |
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| Kytross wrote: | I think it's a great idea.
The issue I see is about range. An ImpStar 1 will have this thing destroyed or tractored before it gets close enough to kamikaze. |
True. Mainly, I didn't want this thing to be too good. Historically, fire ships could destroy other ships, but were also useful for causing them to break formation or just cause general panic.
_________________
"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
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garhkal
Sovereign Protector
Joined: 17 Jul 2005
Posts: 14173
Location: Reynoldsburg, Columbus, Ohio.
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| Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2016 12:20 am Post subject: |
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Another thing.. Even if it does not get shot out of space, what happens to the friends of the ship when it gets whakked and blows up in THEIR midst.
Other than that, i loved the write up.
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
Joined: 05 Apr 2010
Posts: 16283
Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.
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| Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2016 12:22 am Post subject: |
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| garhkal wrote: | Another thing.. Even if it does not get shot out of space, what happens to the friends of the ship when it gets whakked and blows up in THEIR midst.
Other than that, i loved the write up. |
Well, I included the rules for a near-miss. I'd probably just leave it up to GM discretion as to how close any escorting vessels might be.
_________________
"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
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
Joined: 05 Apr 2010
Posts: 16283
Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.
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| Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2016 12:51 pm Post subject: |
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EDIT: Made a couple changes, increasing the Overload Maneuverability to 2D, and changing the blast radius rules, as the rule I originally had would still be affecting starfighter-scale targets at extreme distances.
_________________
"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
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