Missile weapons

[Winchester]

I'm not giving an essay on the hows and whys of why I did this - suffice to say, I found the book rules unsatisfactory compared to what's on screen...

Concussion Missile
Scale: Starfighter
Space: 75 (all-out)
Endurance: 4 rounds
Attack Skill: 6D
Damage: 8D

Proton Torpedo
Scale: Starfighter
Space: 50 (all-out)
Endurance: 8 rounds
Attack Skill: 4D
Damage: 9D

Missiles can be dodged when they catch up to their target - if the missile misses, but still has more endurance left, it'll go around for another try until it runs out of endurance or hits. Range is still limited by the launching fighter's targeting sensors - a successful gunnery skill roll is required to fire the missile. (I haven't worked out the ranges for this yet)

Comments; Yes, I know what I just did to the absolute ranges of these things - you can now fire Torpedoes from 400 space units away. Of course, at that range it's a snap to just turn tail... and capital ships still have a good chance of shooting the pesky things down.

They also aren't wonderweapons - any competent pilot will be able to dodge a single missile, and they don't do any more damage than they used to.

SP

[jmanski]

I'm like you, I don't like the short ranges of the missile weapons. You play a game like Battlefront II and your players are like "I have to get HOW close?"

My only humble critisism: I think the concussion missile would have a longer range than the proton torpedo, but thats just me. All in all- I like it.
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Blasted rules. Why can't they just be perfect?

[garhkal]

Agreed. Say making their 'endurace' 10-12 rounds...

Or take the proton down to 32 (all out) for speed and make it 3 rounds for endurance, and make the concussion 48 for all out and 6 rounds for endurance...
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Gry Sarth]

I think you've really got something good cooking in here. Here's how I would do the actual firing:

Proton Torpedo
Scale: Starfighter
Space Range: 5-20/80/180
Atmosphere Range: 500-2/8/18 Km
Space: 60 (all-out)
Endurance: 3 rounds
Attack Skill: 4D
Damage: 9D

Concussion Missile
Space Range: 2-50/120/240
Atmosphere Range: 200-5/12/24 Km
Scale: Starfighter
Space: 40 (all-out)
Endurance: 6 rounds
Attack Skill: 6D
Damage: 8D

You can fire a missile (or torpedo) blind, which means you simply make the attack roll against the target. If you succeed and you're at point-blank range, the target is hit. If you succeed but your missile will take some rounds to reach the target, the target can keep on dodging until it beats your roll or the missile catches up to him. If the target beats your roll before its hit, the missile goes wide and that's it.

If you want to aquire a target lock on your target, you must beat the difficulty (either the range difficulty or the target's dodge) two rounds in a row. If you manage that then the missile is locked on the target and the Missile's skill takes over. The target can keep on dodging every round, but the missile can keep on trying to hit every round as well, until it either hits or runs out of endurance.

One thing to consider though. The rules for going all-out state that all your difficulties are increased by one or two levels. Do you think this should apply to the missile's attack roll as well?
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"He's Gry Sarth, of course he has the stats for them."

[Winchester]

This works - though I don't like the speed of the concussion missiles being dropped like you've done. About the only source that actually states that one is faster than the other is Lucasarts, and there, missiles are significantly faster than torps, which is why I assigned the speeds I did.

I mostly only stated all-out speed because I don't want any confusion - missiles travel at the listed speed, period. If they miss, they swing around to attack again.

More rules I've come up with - some of which are for "modern" air-to-air combat:

Wild Die effect: If a missile misses its attack roll, and the Wild Die turns up a 1, the missile detonates harmlessly in flight.

Countermeasures: Dispensed countermeasures (chaff, flares) give an extra 1D bonus to dodge and full dodge actions when trying to avoid missile fire. If towed decoys are deployed, roll 1D: on a 1 or 2, the missile will go for the decoy.

Wild missile: if a missile loses lock completely, it goes off in a random direction (roll scatter dice). If a target appears in front of it, roll 1D: on a 1 or 2, the missile will attempt to attack the new target.

[Gry Sarth]

You might be right about the speeds. I just don't have any clear reference for it. The Essential Guide to Weapons and Technology only states that the Torpedoes are "high-speed" but then say that some craft can outrun it. The book also uses WEG's ranges for the Missile.
Then, I guess the speeds you listed work fine. Only the endurances seem a bit high, I prefer 3 and 6.

One thing I was thinking, though, is that the range of the weapon must not really be tied to its endurance. Again using LucasArts for referencing, you can fire at a target well beyond your targeting range and still the "blind" missile might score a lucky hit. I used to pull that trick a lot. So I think the actual range should be something not SO much greater than a Laser's range. Something like 50 space units max range for Missiles and 40 space units max range for Torpedoes. Come to think of it, I believe these are about the ranges from LucasArts games...
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"He's Gry Sarth, of course he has the stats for them."

[Gry Sarth]

Another thing to consider: Firing at incoming warheads. It should be harder. Warheads won't dodge incoming fire, so it's only the range difficulty. But since they are Starfighter scale, hiting a warhead is just as easy as hitting a freighter. I think we should make warheads Walker or Speeder scale for the purpose of hitting them. There's no need for a Body rating, though. If you hit it, it explodes.
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"He's Gry Sarth, of course he has the stats for them."

[gollummen]

While we are at it would one please tell me if shields protect against missiles/torpedoes or not.
I thought that they did not help at all, but then I saw something in Tramp Freighters about "hard shields".

I also think that it is a problem that it is almost impossible to hit a starfighter going more than space 6 if you follow the modifications in the book. How would it work if we just ignored the modifications and just made it a matter of starship gunnery vs pilot skills?
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All stats 2D, except: brawling parry: versus boxing 2D+2, melee combat: swords 3D, melee parry: swords 2D+2, languages: english 2D+1, scolar: history 3D, scolar: social studies 2D+1, brawling: boxing 2D+2, computer programming/repair 2D+1.

[Gry Sarth]

Starships have both energy and particle shields, so I believe shields do count against warheads.

I don't understand what you mean by it being impossible to hit a faster than 6 ship. What modifications are you talking about?
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"He's Gry Sarth, of course he has the stats for them."

[gollummen]

The modifications in Star Wars RPG R&E page 127.

Starships going 6+ space have +20 to their dodge!

Or am I reading it wrong?
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All stats 2D, except: brawling parry: versus boxing 2D+2, melee combat: swords 3D, melee parry: swords 2D+2, languages: english 2D+1, scolar: history 3D, scolar: social studies 2D+1, brawling: boxing 2D+2, computer programming/repair 2D+1.

[Gry Sarth]

No, you're reading it right. I just never used that chart. I suggest it be scraped. I think our rules work fine without them. The extra difficulty of that chart is compensated in these house rules by giving the target repeated chances to dodge.
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"He's Gry Sarth, of course he has the stats for them."

[garhkal]

[Gry Sarth]

If the speeds you listed are all-out, then they're too low. With a Space of 25, any ship that has a Space of 7 (all-out 28 ) will be able to outrun it. It shouldn't be so easy.
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"He's Gry Sarth, of course he has the stats for them."

[garhkal]

Why? I know in the game (xwing v tie) that a ship going all out in that (has redirected everything to engines) outruns most anything but advanced missiles...
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Vartax]

With concussion missles in various books the damage is really different from 6d to 8d+1 (fire-linked is 9d). The only thing we could come up with was different kinds of ammo (high end vs. low end) Any ideas?