Combat Slicing

[CRMcNeill]

Hints have been dropped in various sources to the effect that it's possible to slice another ship's systems. Examples include the Hyperspace Marauder from Dark Empire, where Lo Khan's sidekick Luwingo can use the ship's multi-band broadcast antenna to slice the systems of nearby ships. There is also an Upgrade Card in Armada where a ship with the Fleet Support card Slicer Tools can alter the actions of an enemy ship.

I also just ran across an unofficial write-up for one of Fractalsponge's ships where a particularly advanced recon / electronic warfare platform could potentially slice the comm systems of enemy ships and listen in on their conversations. And then there are other, non-SWU examples, like the Cylons of the re-make of Battlestar Galactica, who were particularly adept at hacking the systems of human ships.

How would you handle rules for this in-game? Obviously, it has to be pretty limited; in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the overemphasis on the human factor in SWU ships was a result of decentralization to keep a single slicer from completely taking over a single ship, and the larger vessels are likely going to be much more difficult to slice.

Maybe require a slicer to roll their Computer Programming skill like a weapon attack against the Hull + Scale Modifier Difference of the target ship (larger, more powerful ships will have better defended comm and computer systems)?
_________________
"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

[Ning Leihrec]

Are you saying ship to ship slicing can be done with the right equipment? If so would that device play a part in the final die code rolled? Like scanners? Or would something like Luwingo’s antenna provide a bonus whereas any Slicer with a comm system could attempt it but without the bonus?

As for what to roll against, scale definitely makes sense to apply, but maybe instead of hull you could use your homebrew comscan rating as a representation of the resilience of the ship’s interior network.

[CRMcNeill]

[MrNexx]

I think the scale modifier is a good idea... no one wants to park a TIE fighter under Home One and render it ineffective. I'd say a specific electronic warfare suite would be needed, definitely... something on the scale of a weapons system.

So, the attack skill here is Slicing, and the defense skill can be either Slicing or Communications:Firewall. On a successful attack, it does damage, but, rather than damaging the ship, it imposes a penalty to one particular system... fire control, manueverability, shields, etc.

I could see this getting a lot of use on Interdictors... pair a Slicer Module with some tractor beams and they're going nowhere.
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[garhkal]

[CRMcNeill]

A less ambitious (and more practical) application would be slicing the enemy's comm frequencies to send them false commands. This would be in keeping with how this is used in the Armada rules, as well.
_________________
"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]

Communications would slice you in but would it be command or Con, to 'give them false info"?
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[Kytross]

To get in Universe the ship would need to have a slave circuit to control it remotely. Like the Katana Fleet.

Ships in Star Wars are specifically designed to not be able to be controlled remotely, unless they have a slave circuit installed.

[CRMcNeill]

It's sounding more and more like this would be more plausibly used to slice encrypted communications and issue false orders to enemy units, such as ordering a TIE squadron to come to a new bearing that leaves a temporary opening in the fleet's defensive screen for a squadron of Y- or B-Wings to exploit.

EDIT: In fact, the wouldn't even invalidate the examples I cited. If something like Fractalsponge's Indictor-Class really was capable of slicing the communications systems of enemy ships and listening to their onboard conversations, that would still technically be within the confines of what's described above, just at Heroic+ Difficulty levels.
_________________
"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

[Mamatried]

Could space troopers (and similar units even droids) attach to a ship hull, open a panel and hack a system or set up a slave circiut or something similar to gat a way into the systems?



is not fully hacking as you do physically attach, but it can be used for sabotage, attach said device on a ship in a ship yeard or a docking bay

[garhkal]

[CRMcNeill]