Realistic Small Craft Complements

[CRMcNeill]

In a discussion elsewhere, it has come up that the small craft complements on ships in the SWU aren't really an accurate reflection of how many fighters can be launched in the context of the game. For example, an ISD may have 72 TIEs of different types hanging on its launch racks, but those TIEs can't all just be spam launched the round after the PCs do a strafing run on the ship's bridge. Any realistic rule would have ships launching in stages, with the characters first facing the ship's Combat Air Patrol already in flight, followed up a few rounds later by the ready alert fighters, followed several by everything on the ship that didn't get downchecked on pre-launch (assuming the threat is dire enough to necessitate a full-deck launch).

Bottom line, it's far less useful for a GM to know exactly how many fighters are carried by a big capital ship than it is to know A) how many fighters are already in flight when the battle starts, B) how many can take off within the next 2D rounds, and C) how many more can take off within the next 1D minutes.

For a story driven campaign, it's far more useful for the GM to be able to say, "there's a flight of four TIE fighters in your path and they're moving to intercept. If you're going to fight them, make it fast because the destroyer is getting ready to launch two full squadrons in [rolls 2D] eight rounds," than it is to know that an Executor carries two full TIE wings (which was always a ridiculously low number for a ship that massive anyway).

What I'm picturing is using the existing Starfighter Complement stat block as a base from which to generate fighter strength for PCs to face that will increase the longer they're in the fight. In rough terms, it would be something like so:

Standard Patrol
CAP (already in flight): /12
Ready Alert (warmed up & ready to launch in 1D rounds): /6
Full Scramble (can be launched in 6D rounds): All Remaining
Yellow Alert (Heightened State of Readiness)
CAP: /6
Ready Alert: /3
Full Scramble: All Remaining
Red Alert (Battle Ready)
Ready Alert: All Fighters.

So a Nebulon B, for example, with 24 TIEs assigned, would always have 2 on patrol, with another 4 waiting in the bays ready to launch at a moment's notice, and the remaining 18 available within a couple minutes or so. However, if it were on Yellow Alert, the CAP would be doubled, with 4 TIEs constantly on patrol and 8 more ready to launch in 1D rounds, followed in 6D rounds by the remaining squadron. And finally, if on Red Alert, the Nebulon would have its entire complement either ready to launch or already in space by the time combat starts.

Now, I use the term "realistic" advisedly, as we aren't gaming in a realistic universe. In a truly realistic setting, prepping fighters to launch from a cold start could take an hour or more, and combat could easily be long over before most ships could even get off the deck. The goal behind this idea is to add a blend of realism and cinema to starfighter readiness operations.

I'm tired as I write this, so I'm sure I'm missing something (or somethings), but I want to get this out there. Let me know what you think.
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"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

[Pel]

I like where you're going with this. Now I won't claim to know much about carrier operations so hopefully we have at least one knowledgable carrier salt among us, but your CAP number seems high. Also, don't forget the escorts. Capital ships are rarely alone and unescorted.

I'd say for Standard Patrol, knock your CAP down to 4 (2 elements performing early warning / interception) along with the escorts (who are spread out specifically to detect threats before they can blow up the big important capital ship).
Ready Alert: 6 seems reasonable, allowing for a good watch/duty rotation.

For Yellow Alert, just double the numbers. If they're expecting trouble, they'll want more fighters in space.

You might want to substitute one or two TIE/rc's to your CAP to act in an AWACS role or maybe a couple of dedicated TIE Bombers. Other than that, you have a solid idea and a good foundation.
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Aha!

[CRMcNeill]

My reasoning has a lot to do with the maintenance time per flight hour that's mentioned in the RASB (pg. 72) and AJ# 10 (pgs. 247 & 250). The premise is that fighters have to spend a lot more time being maintained for combat readiness than they do actually flying or fighting.

The premise I'm working on in the OP is that, in a normal 24-hour day (standard patrol w/o combat), every ship in a 12-ship squadron will be spending 2 hours actually flying, then 18 hours down on diagnostic tests, standard maintenance, refueling and rearming, then 4 hours on standby waiting to launch, which starts the cycle over again.

It's also likely that, in addition to the 12 ships in the normal operational cycle, the squadron will have 2-4 additional ships being worked on in the hangar, undergoing some sort of major repair or overhaul, which won't be available in the launch cycle or for combat scrambles. This number may vary, of course, so the total number of ships available to a squadron at any given time might be more like 9+1D rather than a flat 12.

Of course, this assumes that required maintenance hours and down-time for diagnostics is going to resemble that of real world fighter aircraft. We could alternately assume a higher readiness state, because [insert technobabble], an double the numbers on standard patrol. That would be a 2-ship element from each squadron on a four-hour patrol flight, with 4 more on standby in the bays ready to launch, and the remaining six somewhere in the standard maintenance and refueling pipeline.

With the higher alert states, you could either double those numbers, with a 4-ship flight already in space, with the remaining 8+ sitting in the bay waiting to launch and the maintenance routine thrown right out the window. Of course, this sort of op-tempo couldn't be maintained for long, and would probably require some sort of significant down-time with no ships launched at all.

Then you'd have the highest alert state, usually reserved for a pre-planned attack where everything is either in the bay ready to launch the moment the carrier comes out of hyperspace, or already launched and either ready to fight or accompanying the carrier via their own hyperdrives.

EDIT: Bear in mind that the heightened alert states aren't something that can be instantly activated, probably more like an hour or two to come to that state. Usually, a ship's captain will have some sort of reason to go to either version. Yellow alert would be something implemented if a captain was expecting an eminent attack, but couldn't confirm precisely when the attack would occur. Red alert would be implemented pretty much only on the offensive, where the captain would know precisely when and where he planned to attack.

For example, the Imperial fleet at Endor could potentially have been at Yellow Alert, but it would depend greatly on who the Emperor told about the Alliance's planned attack. The Alliance fleet, on the other hand, would most definitely been at Red Alert, with every fighter possible in space and ready to fight the moment they dropped out of hyperspace.
_________________
"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

[Bren]

[CRMcNeill]

[Pel]

Maintenance and repairs are made easier by droids, so that should allow a fairly robust op tempo. Plus, it's the Empire so you do your work or you're shot.
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Aha!

[Sutehp]

[Bren]

[CRMcNeill]

[CRMcNeill]

In fact, the base Command Difficulty could be tied into this, with the captain's success or failure on his Command roll being used to generate either bonuses or penalties in both how his crew performs in combat and in how well his starfighter crews respond to sudden emergencies...
_________________
"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

[Bren]

[CRMcNeill]

[CRMcNeill]

Of course, there would also need to be some mechanism for randomizing a captain or commodore's Command skill, 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

[CRMcNeill]

So how does this look as a 2D Random Table for generating a Crew Competence modifier (applied to the Crew Skill stat for 2E ships?

2D Result (Odds) = Crew Rating (Modifier)
2-5 (10-in-36)= Green (+0D)
6-8 (16-in-36)= Average (+1D)
9-10 (7-in-36)= Veteran (+2D)
11-12 (3-in-36)= Elite (+3D)

I know this is getting off topic, but I see realistic fighter capacity as part of a larger ship readiness concept, so this will all tie back in in the end.
_________________
"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

[Pel]

I'd knock each tier down 1D (so Green is -1D and Elite is +2D). For one, you'll never have an all-green or all-elite crew. Two, rookie crews make mistakes and lots of them. Granted, they learn from them, but that takes time.
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Aha!