Starfinder-Dead Suns ala Fabian (Inactive)

Game Master Fabian Benavente

Do John's stats have him as having taken the Serum? Do we have rough stats for our ship? I mean I could look them up, but I'm not sure if John has them.

I assume we can have the level-up take effect before the battle, since you haven't disagreed with any of our new stats?

Yes, you can assume the new stats take effect and I'll be nicer and wipe out all damage and daily uses so you start 'fresh' at third level.

Questions?

Game on!

Do John's stats have him as having taken the Serum? Do we have rough stats for our ship? I mean I could look them up, but I'm not sure if John has them.

See my post above for current damage/uses.

I gave you full stats of the ship linked in the campaign info tab.

Notice that it has five guns so there should something for everyone to do.

Questions?

Game on!

I think Robert shall retrain that longarms prof, but a bit later... he wants his pistol back from home first.

Action 1

“Is everybody happy to stick with the same duties we had on the way over? Does anybody else want a turn playing captain?”

"We survived our first encounter. That tells me we did something right with the assignments," Robert said. It had just dawned to him that now that the ship was pressurized and they were no longer bound to their helmets, it was time to raid the ship's kitchen. If the late Captain had kept her whole ship in as good order as she had the main systems, she would surely have the galley stocked with coffee, and Robert felt he was about 10 years short of a cup.

Action 2

"Where did that come from? What are the odds Moriko Nash had a run-in with an Eoxian and they've had an APB out on the Sunrise Maiden all these years? If we can raise someone in the skeletal shark," she advised, "I'd drop the Ambassador's name early and often and hope they've heard of him."

"That, or it's here for us, the only people on the Rock who would be trying to leave," Robert grunted, eyes glued to the engineering console. He had not hoped they'd have to try out the ship in combat so soon, before any proper maintenance in a shipyard. "But why bother? I get that someone would pay to stop us from getting here - it was no secret we were coming here on the Eoxian ambassador's business, so any government who wasn't already in bed with them might have paid to put a spanner in his plans just because anything that would be good for the Eoxian would be bad for them... or another Eoxian dignitary could have tried to back-stab the ambassador in particular by spoiling whatever he was planning for personal gain. But if someone was paying a close eye on the Rock for that purpose, I'd imagine they'd have attacked the Hippo as it left, and we didn't catch any explosions on the Acreon's sensors. So why bother with us now? Trying to get one over the Eoxian ambassador I can understand, but bothering with the hired help once their usefulness was over already?"

"And I don't see the ambassador trying to kill us... if he wanted us dead, that little fellow would have blown up for real," he went on, glancing at the traitorous camera-bot. "More effective, and cheaper too. Unless it's connected with that else we saw there... But unless someone's about to nuke the Rock, someone's going down there eventually and will see all that we saw, once the government finally grows tired all the cabinet politics and decides to act. All they'd do is buy time by preventing us from telling anyone."

Whoever's on the comms... I suggest we call for help ASAP. It won't arrive in time, but it won't cost us anything and not doing it would be suspicious.

Action 1:

Kamiya made a beeline to the pilot's station as soon as they reached the bridge. She sat in the surprisingly comfortable chair and couldn't stop grinning.

“Is everybody happy to stick with the same duties we had on the way over?"

"We survived our first encounter. That tells me we did something right with the assignments

The want-to-be pilot ran her hands reverently over the controls. "I agree with keeping our original roles." Frankly, Kamiya wasn't even sure what she'd do if she wasn't allowed to pilot the ship.

Oriana gasped as the ship came into view. "What...?!"

Taking a breath, she realized that they might have their new ship only a few more moments if things went sour. "Zadie! Hail the ship, ask them what they want. And send a distress to Absalom and the fleet - maybe there's somebody near enough to help, or at least witness."

Action 2:

Kamiya's heart fluttered as the alarms sounded. The real world was proving to be a little more violent and complicated than the lashunta had originally thought. They had nothing anymore that anyone could want and yet a ship was bearing down on them.

culture for ship info, DC>5: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (9) + 7 = 16

The Sunrise Maiden identified the ship but Kamiya offered more information for the others. "That Eoxian ship is often associated with piracy. It may be naive to think that maybe the Ambassador sent the ship as an escort back to the Station but I still think we should try to communicate with it first before doing anything."

Kamiya didn't like the idea of more fighting and she especially didn't like the idea of their ship being harmed - but she needed to know what to do if it turned out the ship was unfriendly. "If it does come down to a fight, their aft is vulnerable. But they also have lots of offense. Do I just try to evade and run for the Station? Or do I try to get behind them and we blast them to bits?"

"Can we outrun them?" Oriana asked. "How long would it take to get out of reach of their guns?"

Taking a breath, she realized that they might have their new ship only a few more moments if things went sour. "Zadie! Hail the ship, ask them what they want. And send a distress to Absalom and the fleet - maybe there's somebody near enough to help, or at least witness."

Zadie coded a distress signal toward Absalom Station before activating the comm. "Hailing the Thaumtech Cairncarver, this is the Pact Worlds ship Sunrise Maiden, en route to Absalom Station on a diplomatic mission*. What can we do for you?" she asked, trying to keep her voice as calm and unruffled as the public address AI.

Would we know if they're scanning us?

And while we're at it...

She coded another distress call directed to any Starfinder Society members who might pick up the signal.

John was delighted to note the computer had an Artificial Personality. "Hello" he sent "I am John Anderson PLLC. Ownership of the Sunrise Maiden has been transferred to the group I represent - please see attached video recording. Please transmit your preferred AP Name. I am sorry for your loss."

When the Cairncarver showed up John cut the formalities, and quickly texted to the AP "I am sorry to be so abrupt, but I'm going to need to see a summary of your capabilities."

From the gunnery target John let out a low whistle. "Niiiiice. That's a gorgeous particle beam. And someone put a real surprise in the aft - the flak thrower there is one of the best weapons on the ship. Not a ship you'll want to chase in anything small, and with the speed to get away from anything bigger. Computer's a little smaller than I like - we should look at an upgrade - but if we keep the multitasking to a minimum it should do well."
John spun round to face the Captain "Captain Grandma, I suggest we prioritise computer access to Piloting and Sensors. If we start shooting we can switch to Piloting and Gunnery."

"Save being impressed by their specs till after they stop chasing us," Robert muttered.

"Not their specs." John grinned. "Ours."

"Whatever. Shoot now, drool later," Robert grunted, hiding a smile behind a hand raised to scratch his beard.

Turn 129 - Cairncarver

Read the OOC.

Questions, comments, and/or suggestions?

Game on!

piloting: 1d20 + 13 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 13 + 1 = 16

I guess we go first...what is Kamiya doing?

Engineering: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (16) + 10 = 26

Only viable options are to either boost weapons or engines, or give Science officer +2 to checks. If we move first it'd be reasonable to boost the engines (just in case we are capable of running away) or Science (in case we do scans for detailed information about our enemy.

"Do you want to run or fight?" Robert asked Oriana, his fingers dancing on the engineering console as he began redirecting power from secondary systems. "The way I see it, I can boost our engines to try and get away or the sensors to see if we can find some weakness in the enemy ship to exploit. Your call."

In case Oriana doesn't reply in time, Robert will default to boosting the sensors, as I don't think the Science officer will have much else to do on the first round except scan the enemy (well, it's scanning or targeting enemy subsystems).

Sorry, I need to relearn starship combat. I need to make myself a flow chart or something. Post coming.

I see that we get +1 to any 2 checks per round - do we decide in advance who gets that? Is that on top of the +1 to piloting, and +2 to science? If so, then lets spend one on science, and save one for gunnery.

Oriana quickly assessed the situation. "Robert, boost the sensors. We need to know what we're up against. Zadie, scan that thing, see what we're up against, and what they're doing. See if you can figure out if they're targeting us, and with what. Kamiy....I mean...Tort-Ace, put some distance between us. Open her up, and be ready evade if they fire at us."

We don't decide about gunnery until after we've moved, right?

Zadie cracked her knuckles before setting her fingers flying across the sensors. "Turn your head and cough, m#~$*&*&##@%," she muttered. "Let's see what you're packing."

Computers 1d20 + 12 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 12 + 2 + 2 = 35

Includes the +2 to Computers from the Sunrise Maiden stats and +2 from Robert's Engineering check

Kamiya couldn't help but grin as Oriana used her moniker even though her heart was pounding in her chest. In a quiet, almost tender voice she said, "Alright Maiden, let's see what you can do." Trusting in Robert and Zadie to supply the needed boost to power, Kamiya started to increase the ship's speed in an attempt to outrun the approaching ship.

Kamiya would like to increase the speed by 14 or more which looks like she would take a -2 to her piloting roll but I don't know what DC she's trying to achieve. Or is this in conjunction with one of the stunts? In which case she'd do Evasion. So ideally, increase speed and perform evasion.

piloting: 1d20 + 13 - 2 ⇒ (12) + 13 - 2 = 23 (the evade DC would be 15)

Now that I have a move, I'll recap later today.

Questions?

Game on!

Turn 130 – Maiden Fight

Read the OOC.

Questions, comments, and/or suggestions?

Game on!

John should be on 4 resolve, with almost no charges left... unless the ship's generator can power the gun.

"Ooh. Torpedos? They range us, then. Running's going to be a problem. Captain Grandma, I suggest you sit on our aft cannons and shoot down anything that's going to ram us." John spoke up "Other than that, we're pretty well matched."

Even as he spoke John was spinning the control ball like a madman, lining the enemy ship with the turret he'd commandeered. "I have a shot! he called out, waiting for instructions.
if ordered
John fired, only to find the weapon alignment had subtly drifted over the thousands of years "Pulls to the left" he muttered to himself.

attack: no additional bonuses: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10 dam: 3d6 ⇒ (6, 4, 3) = 13

Does everyone get an action in the gunnery phase, or only those who haven't already acted?
Have both Computer (+2) bonuses been used?
Flak Cannon is a Point (+8) short range weapon. Can't be used outside of Short Range (5 hexes), but allow one free action per turn to do a +8 attack to shoot down incoming torpedos. Skill is irrelevant on this.
Particle beams are medium (10 hexes)

Next round piloting check

piloting: 1d20 + 13 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 13 + 1 = 24

Captain hasn't acted. Can we boost that gunnery check? We still have a ship +1 to dole out, and I can demand he hit for a +4. But I can only do that once per person per combat, should we use it now?

demand, if we use it now: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (10) + 9 = 19

There are plenty of guns for everyone but if you do more than one action per turn, there are some penalties associated with that.

Captain hadn't acted just yet.

Once I recap here then we'll get a full round of actions from everyone.

And in case you haven't noticed, I'm still learning the starship combat rules. :)

Questions?

Game on!

gunnery: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18

Just realized I've been adding my gunnery bonus wrong. I didn't realize you added BAB OR piloting RANKS. So I'm going to retool my skills, no need to waste ranks there when I have a good BAB progression.

Was going to shoot, but just realized there is only one gun, the one John is on, that has enough range to get to the other ship. This is complicated.

Turn 131 – Well Matched

Read the OOC.

Questions, comments, and/or suggestions?

Game on!

I'll be away from home until Monday, so posting will be somewhat slower till then.

Engineering: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (11) + 10 = 21 Easy enough this time - power to the shields. Will recover 5% of the CPU value, which would be 7,5... rounded down I believe? So back shields to up to 10/15.

"Bugger," Robert muttered as their aft shields buckled and faded to almost nothing under the first salvo. He focused his attention into redirecting the extra energy he had managed to free from the secondary systems into the shield generators, bypassing compromised circuitry. "It'll take a while for the shields to recover - we can't take two of those without a breather in between."

I'm taking a +2 from the computer. There is one more. CG can retcon if problematic. Figure with a Turret he'll get a shot anyway.
attack: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 22 dam: 3d6 ⇒ (1, 4, 5) = 10
"Stay on target... Stay on target..." John muttered to himself as the Cairncarver bobbed and weaved through his targeting reticule. Finally the computer's vector tracking locked on, the reticule went red and the instant the other ship crossed through the beam's vector it discharged. "Boom!" John said happily as the shields of the Cairncarver collapsed, and the oversized maw on the front of the ship blackened.
Critical Threshold of 8, right? If it hits an unshielded spot, I think that's a critical.

The lashunta was still getting used to how the Maiden handled. But as the shields took a hit, her insides clenched. Hitting the ship felt like she was being hurt. She patted the console affectionately before whispering, "I'm sorry. I'll do better."

Kamiya let out a cleansing breath. "So continue to run and evade? The only way we're going to do any significant damage to them is to get behind them. But if our goal is to get back to the Station instead of actively engaging them then getting behind them would be a waste of energy."

Unless told otherwise, Kamiya will do the same as last round. Take the negative to increase the speed and then evade.

piloting: 1d20 + 13 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (3) + 13 + 1 - 2 = 15
Phew, just made the DC. This dice roller is really not wanting Kamiya to succeed in flying :(

Oriana was shaken from the initial hit. "If it outranges us, then there's no point making a run for it - even if we get ahead, it can just keep blasting us from behind. We need to make them give up. Kamiya, can you get behind them? What was it we tried last time? Flip and burn?"

I don't know what to do with Zadie's turn. She can balance the shields, which would amount to shifting a grand total of one shield point aft, or she can scan again, but I don't really know what that accomplishes either.

Oriana was shaken from the initial hit. "If it outranges us, then there's no point making a run for it - even if we get ahead, it can just keep blasting us from behind. We need to make them give up. Kamiya, can you get behind them? What was it we tried last time? Flip and burn?"

Kamiya's focus remained on her console but she answered her Captain. [b]"I can definitely try to get behind them but they need to be a lot closer in order to get behind them. It'll be more difficult than it was with the Hippo but I'm still confident I can do it. Should I continue to evade until then and we back off until then?"[/]

Am I correct in that for flip&burn they need to be within a couple hexes?

OOC:

The flip and burn just turns the starship around 180 degrees.
The back off leaves it facing the same way but you move to your aft. This is the one that allows you to get behind them but you need to do that once you know where the other ship is going (you go 'second').

I'll assume you 'evade' this round.

@Zadie: I agree that your previous roll told you everything already.
However, I suppose the damage should have been blind, meaning you would need to continue to scan round by round to find out what the status of the enemy ship is.

You could also jump on a gunner's seat; there are plenty of guns on this ship...

recapping now...

Turn 132 - Bugger

Read the OOC.

Questions, comments, and/or suggestions?

Game on!

@John: please update your PC sheet.

Hmm... this might actually work if Robert can keep restoring our shields, Zadie balancing power to the aft shields from the others and John mauling the enemy's failing bow shields.

Engineering: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (2) + 10 = 12 Of course, having just said that... this one just won't do, even though the DC is low enough.

Robert cursed as a secondary power conduit he had been using to force power into the aft shield generator sputtered and died under the stress. It would take him a while to figure out an alternate route. "Power spike! The aft shields are staying down for the moment, unless Zadie can coax the other generators to take up the slack."

"Captain! Take out that Torpedo!" John called, though his eyes never moved from the targeting camera trained on the Cairncarver.
Carefully he eased the trigger down - just as the conduit near his head sputtered sparks in his face and distracted him.
Shooting a torp is a free action
BOOM!+ computer: 1d20 + 7 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 7 + 2 = 11

"Power spike! The aft shields are staying down for the moment, unless Zadie can coax the other generators to take up the slack."

"I'm trying!" she shouted back across the bridge. "C'mon, you hunk of grandma junk, respond!" She hit the panel with her fist.

Rebalance shields: Computers 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (2) + 12 = 14

DC of 10 + (1.5 x 3). If Starfinder rounds down, it works; if it rounds up, it doesn't. Three 2s in a row on the forum d20! :P

Wait, do I get +2 to Computers every time I roll it? I'm not really sure what that Modifiers line means in the Sunrise Maiden stat block. If I get the bonus, that should be a success.

Do I need a gunnery role to shoot down the torpedo?

"C'mon, you hunk of grandma junk, respond!"

Kamiya was busy with the piloting controls but could hear Zadie's remark and suddenly felt very protective of the ship. "Gentle! She is NOT junk. Only the ill-skilled blame the machine."

Not really sure what our options are at the moment so I'm just going to give Kamiya's piloting roll.

piloting: 1d20 + 13 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 13 + 1 = 34
And that will basically do whatever you want her to do :)

But Captain, did you hear what that purple-belly called the Maiden?!

gunnery vs torpedo: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (13) + 8 = 21

Nevermind, I looked it up myself. What's the use of a bunch of rules-knower-types if you're not in my timezone?! Anyhow, if Zadie is rebalancing shields instead of scanning, we won't know about the torpedo anyway, right? Wait!! We can have more than one science officer! So I can scan. computers: 1d20 ⇒ 19 BOOM!

Her team seemed to be doing everything they needed to, so Oriana moved to the controls beside Zadie. "It's this one for scanning, right?" She adjusted the dial the way she'd seen the human girl do it, then hit the button. A bunch of data came scrolling across the screen in front of her, much of it gibberish, but one word stood out. "Torpedo!"

"Captain! Take out that Torpedo!" John called, though his eyes never moved from the targeting camera trained on the Cairncarver.

"What?! With what?" The android waved an arm in the direction of a set of controls labelled Flak Thrower. It had one display, and one big red button. "Looks easy enough," she said, and slammed her hand against it.

Realizing that this tactic wouldn't have worked if they were facing their foe, Oriana cried out, "Tort-Ace! Keep doing what you're doing! If they keep firing torpedoes at us, we want the flak thrower to catch them."

Realized that I never responded to Zadie's request for the battery, so we'll assume she handed it over.

Turn 133 - Torpedo

Read the OOC.

Questions, comments, and/or suggestions?

Game on!

Kamiya winced as the ship shuddered. "I'm sorry, Maiden. I will do better."

piloting check: 1d20 + 13 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 13 + 1 = 17
This dice roller does not want Kamiya to go first.

"Should I move her to the side? I'm not sure if our hull can take more damage. And they seem to be anticipating our moves."

piloting for whatever we decide: 1d20 + 13 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 13 + 1 = 34
Again, that will do whatever we want her to do

Oriana realized that Kamiya was right. "You're right, we can't keep taking hits to the bum. Let's turn her around, get closer and take advantage of the rest of these weapons."

As I understand it, (which I may not), we don't have any critical damage yet, even though we have no aft shields. So Robert's only possible action is Divert. It's just a matter of where to put it. And for Zadie, she can balance the shields, scan, or target. But if she succeeds the target DC, it still only does anything if John rolls a 19 or 20. IS this right? This is what I'm not loving about this combat - so little of what we can do seems to have any affect on anything, except for the gunner.

So, plan - Robert to divert to weapons, Zadie to target their weapons, John and Oriana to shoot, hope for the best? If you guys like it, I'll write it up.

Engineering: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (15) + 10 = 25 Divert power to the weapons it is, then... a bit underwhelming, treating 1s in damage rolls as 2s, but could help out.

Assumming Oriana does make that an order... if she reconsiders, Robert can replenish aft shields back to 7/15 as an option.

How about our Captain use the Demand action on John to give a once-in-a-battle +4 to rolls, and John use that to mitigate the -4 penalty from Fire at Will to use two of our weapons at once to do more damage. Better chances for Robert's weapons boost to be useful as well, if more damage dice are rolled.

trouble is that our aft weapon ONLY goes 5 hexes. We'd have to get them to move to one side, or the front. Alternatively we let them catch up a bit, which lets us use our 3d4 flak cannon each round.
John can get +2 to a roll from the computers. I suggest Gunner and Pilot makes sense for this roll.
He can also get the +4 from CG.
He could then roll twice at -4 to hit.