Capital Ship Mass Combat

[hivemind]

In my current Jedi campaign (set 10 years after the Battle of Endor), I'm going to put my players in command of a New Republic Fleet, up against an equally-sized fleet of the Imperial Remnant.

Each PC will receive a ship to command and in the background, there will be lots more action going obviously.

The rules in the SW Rules Companion seem the obvious choice to use.

Does anyone have experience with this kind of scenario? Any comments or suggestions?

[jmanski]

Will all the action be determined by the PCs or will there be some GM discretion (IE description of events)? I ask because if all the action is a function of the PCs only, you will need more planning based on how well or poorly they do.
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Blasted rules. Why can't they just be perfect?

[hivemind]

As I said, other stuff will be happening around them (at GM's discretion), but I do want the players' actions to influence the overall outcome (good or bad).

For the rest of the campaign to continue as planned, this major battle WILL leave the New Republic's forces seriously depleted. HOW depleted will depend mostly on the players' actions.

[schnarre]

...I've done such battles before, & it's rewarding if handled well. From my own experience, this is what I would recommend:

1) Decide the fleets' allotment of craft (what classes of ship, how many of each--for both Capital Ships & Fighters).

2) Decide what ship the PCs will be assigned & in what capacity (Cap Ship crew or Fighter pilots, or combination thereof); it is a LOT easier if they are assigned to the same ship.

3)Draw up the opposing commanders' stats (both sides--even using NPCs' stats from different sourcebooks saves a good deal of work!), with the objective desired, but have a backup plan if things don't pan out like you intend--For example, if either side wins overwhelmingly, you could have the supply convoys &/or relief forces intercepted which would prohibit an ideal capitalizing on the gains made.

4) Let any good planning by PCs show through, as this encourages good planning & rewards good roleplaying.
-- In one example, I had a group assigned to carry out a raid to destroy a new orbital facility. The PC in charge was assigned 2 destroyers & a good number of fighters. He trusted his gut feelings, however, & pulled all his Bureaucracy & similar skills to have any unassigned ships added, which brought the force up to a third destroyer & a Light Cruiser which became the command ship. These additional ships had their own contingents of varying size, but it was a stronger force & they were soon underway.
...Upon arriving they soon observed the facility had just received a warship for servicing, & was soon on alert, deploying its own fighters. The facility was also more well-armed than Intelligence reports indicated, & craft from the planet the facility orbited came up to join the battle. When the battle was finally concluded, the facility & the warship being serviced were taken out, & the bases on planet were also crippled or destroyed. To offset the success, 2 of the 3 destroyers were lost, the other two ships were heavily damaged but were able to return, & nearly 1/2 the combined fighter contingent was lost (1/3 of what was left ended up having to be scrapped). All players involved found it challenging yet appreciated the rewarded efforts. 8)

& 5) Most importantly, resolve ship-ship encounters well ahead of time. I cannot overemphasize this, since that saves a LOT of work & allows the game to proceed without any delays. Star Warriors can be used for resolving fighter combat beforehand. With all this behind you, you can adapt as the battle actually proceeds & effect any possible alterations on the fly with relative ease.



...that's my 2 credits worth anyway. Sounds like a fun scenario! Let us know how it turns out.
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