Starships, Tumbling and dodge...???

[garhkal]

Was just having a strange daydream based on stuff i have read/seen happen in othe people's game. Basically the synopsis of it was that the pcs in an attempt to 'infiltrate' an enemy planet, has their ship 'pop out' of hyperspace, then something goes BOOM!.. This gives the 'illusion' the ship has suffered lots of damage, and the pcs' put it into some sort of 'uncontrolled tumble' towards the planet.
Now if say those ';guarding the planet' tried to have a ship lock on with a tractor beam to arrest that tumble, it gave me a quandary.

Would the tumble be irratic enough to 'make for a ship dodge' against that tractor lock on? Or would it just increase the base (range) difficulty...
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[Ankhanu]

A modified added to the tractor beam attack difficulty would make sense. Exactly how much? I don't know, maybe +10 if it's really erratic, but if it's just tumbling in a straight line, I don't see why it would be any different, since there's no change to trajectory.

[garhkal]

Also, to "pull of" the we are damaged and tumbling out of control... what would it take to do so?
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[scott2978]

First of all, unless the PCs are just passengers on the ship, the choice of exactly how to infiltrate the planet should be up to them. If the PCs have their own ship (either one they own or one provided to them) they are unlikely to choose a course of action that may lead to all their deaths if the planetary tractor beam operator has a high chance of failure when he tries to save their lives, as you suggest he might. Therefore, I would either make it an easy simple thing, like tell the PCs "oh this sort of thing would be cake for any competent tractor beam operator, as long as they don't want your ship falling onto their city/base/hideout/ect we should be fine".

Also, for them to make it look good depends on how much scrutiny the "planet people" are likely to give their ship once it's on the ground. If it's a major spaceport the PCs may just have to pay a fine and that's it, leaving them to purchase their own repairs. If it's supposed to be a secret hideout for someone, they are SURE to be curious, or outright paranoid and do a full scan of the ship.

To make it look good you basically have 2 options: really blow up the engines, or fake it. Really blowing them up is a gamble unless you're pretty damn sure the "planet people" will save you, but it has the advantage of looking truly legit. On the other hand, here are some things you might do:

1. Spread some wreckage around in the engine room and put a piece of highly radioactive material in there. Claim that the ship's engines are leaking radiation. That may keep them out unless they are truly dedicated and go find a rad suit. remember to bring a rad suit yourself to get rid of the radiation later.

2. Distract the investigators (I use the term investigators here but they might be mechanics, a scanning crew, law enforcement or whatever). Maybe one of the PCs can try to seduce the investigator "Hey there, you come to... 'peek at my engine' ??? Well, I have some other parts you should take a look at too. Why don't you come to my cabin so we can discuss it?" Or, maybe the chief investigator has a hobby the PCs know about. If he's a swoop racing fan, obtain a signed helmet from a highly regarded swoop racer and put it in a conspicuous place along the way to the ship's engine room...

3. Fake the control loss and THEN intentionally blow up the engines once you're on the ground. Use a demolitions expert working with someone who has starship mechanics knowledge so he can make it look like a secondary explosion.

There are a lot of other possibilities too. you should pose them all to the PCs and let them choose how to do it. Of course, if they really blow the engines they will need an "exit strategy".

Lastly let me mention that for a Star Wars ship to tumble out of control from space crashing onto a planet's surface, both the ion engines AND the repulsorlifts would have to be out. You could do this with a total power loss, but technically the ship has battery backup that should last a few hours. It would be enough to at least power the repulsorlifts. SO, to make it look really authentic, the ship would have to be in REALLY bad shape. Something like major and severe damage from a space battle, or from extreme neglect or incompetent maintenance. For a structurally sound ship to lose both repulsorlifts and sublight engines AND all backups but be otherwise fine should be whacky enough to be easily discovered by any kind of scrutiny at all.


Scott

[garhkal]

I was more thinking of how they could 'fake it' while stil in space... eg to make it look legit to thsoe ships up there, if they came to check..
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[scott2978]

Hmm well if the ship claims to be damaged, and is in space, and gets looked at while still in space, you should determine just how much info the scanning ship can get with it's sensors. Maybe the radiation bit would still work (or at least help). My opinion is that unless they actually board the ship it should be hard to tell the full extent of any damage because faking it should be relatively easy. But, if they board you to take a look, you better have a plan. See my post above, most of those ideas should still work in space.

Scott

[Pel]

Random thruster firing is a great way to introduce tumbling into one's course. If your ship has multiple engines, you might also try turning at least one of them off. That produces a really nice spin effect and would look very convincing on sensors.
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Aha!

[garhkal]

But wouldn't a good enough sensor roll show that there is no damage?
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[Pel]

Yes it would, but I think it would have to be a pretty good sensors roll or the sensing ship/base would have to be close enough to use their focus sensors. A lot of that would depend upon the situation. If the tumbling vessel is trying to pose as space debris entering an atmosphere the scanning party might not care to perform a detailed scan. It boils down to how much of a hazard the tumbling ship poses, and the distance and disposition of the scanning ship. I mention disposition since the scanning ship could destroy, assist, or merely observe the tumbling ship dependent upon the specfic situation.
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Aha!

[scott2978]

[garhkal]

Good point on the operator...


And thanks. Now if i can just figure out the rest of the mission, i have yet another module to write!
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[vong]

well, if it now against an operator, would you roll your space transports vs their con? Because you are trying to fake them out, and let you in, which they would normally not do. Or would it actually just be your space transports vs their sensors roll (so it is more relevant)...

Food for thought.
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[Pel]

I'd probably use space transports with applied modifiers for how thorough the player wants to be, such as simulating a reactor leak, ejecting debris, etc. That sort of stuff could only help the situation.
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Aha!

[garhkal]

Wel, what i have so far, is that (insert reason) our belovid rebels have to infiltrate a Corporate sector base/mining site/Gruel producing facility, to (insert task). To make their insertion look haphazard, maybe they are told/decide to do the 'ships damaged and tumbling out of control, thing. But i am looking at having say, 2-4 corvettes, a dreadnought and maybe a pair of Z-95 squadrons as the defenders. If say one of the 95's or even a CC did a 'flyby to check on the ship, and "see if help could be rendered" EG maybe use sensors to see if structure of the tumbling ship could take a tractor beam to slow it down/capture it...
I was basically tossing around the thought of what they would use to 'resist' said sensor check..
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[Pel]

Probably the applicable piloting skill, usually space transports. It's easy to send a ship into an uncontrolled spin: just push buttons and pull levers until bad things happen. The hard part's making it look convincing while maintaining the ability to regain control. I'd give the players bonuses to their roll if they toss in extras like ejecting the aforementioned debris.

Of the ships you mentioned, the Z-95's will pose the most danger to the plan. Their sensors aren't that good, but they don't have to be when they can just fly right up to your ship. That part might take some finesse.

The wounded duck approach will attract everyone's attention. If you don't want the CSA nosing around they should probably think the ship burned up in the atmosphere, otherwise one must produce a convincing crash site. Adventurous players could always crash the ship on purpose and obtain other means off-world, but perhaps they like the vessel they have or just aren't that nuts.

Another possibility is a low-key inertial insertion. Have the ship align itself way out, then cut all power and coast in. It won't even show up on passive scans and typical search scans will show it as unpowered space junk or a meteor. Not usually worth anyone's attention, so long as it's not headed for anything important. Once the ship begins to enter the atmosphere, the players could perform an emergency restart and swoop along with no one the wiser. It's pretty risky, but on the bright side, even if the players really botch the job, no one will know they were there.
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Aha!