GM Jhaeman's "Dawn of Flame, Chapter 3: Sun Divers" (Inactive)

Game Master Jhaeman

Xylian's dangerous maneuver seems to pay-off, as the Sun Diver has a clear shot at the anomaly! "Whoo-eeee!" shouts Hop. "That there's a daredevil in the pilot's seat!"

Bold! But it worked, and in the gunnery phase, the gunner can pick any arc they want on the anomaly, and need not worry about range increments.

Using quantum movement, the anomaly briefly disappears and then reappears some distance away from its previous location.

Round 10: Gunnery Phase

Engineer: Hani
Pilot: Xylian
Science Officer: Zharis
Gunner # 1: Jin
Gunner # 2: Tulgram

Bold should go!

Jin targets the aft quadrant of the anomaly, before it vanishes!

Chain Cannon vs. AC: 1d20 + 7 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 7 + 3 + 1 = 15
Damage: 12d4 ⇒ (4, 1, 4, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 2) = 39

Obviously, the lowest gunnery roll comes with the highest damage

"Watch out! That hornet can still sting!" shouts Hop, as the Sun Diver shakes from from impact. "Aft shields down and our engines have been hit!" Red emergency lights kick in and warning klaxons sound.

Jin's attack missed. The anomaly hit for 38 damage, knocking out the aft shields and doing 8 additional points of Hull Damage, which causes the Sun Diver to cross a critical threshold. The engines are now Glitching, which imposes a -2 penalty on all Piloting actions.

Sun Diver: 28/50 Hull Points (8 damage from siccatite degradation).
Shield Points: Forward: 20/30; Starboard: 30/30; Aft: 0/30 Port:
21/30

Round 11: Engineering Phase

Engineer: Hani
Pilot: Xylian
Science Officer: Zharis
Gunner # 1: Jin
Gunner # 2: Tulgram

Bold should go!

Can I switch to Engineering for this round? If so, I attempt to patch the glitching engines so Hani can stick with restoring shields.

Engineering: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (16) + 14 = 30

If not, I'll use the roll adjusted to do some Science Officery stuff later, posting separately. Just let me know. Sorry, just not sure when I am allowed to switch--not trying to break the rules.

Oh, and story stuff for if it is allowed:

Hop, hop... oh, this is not good.

Zharis flips through her captain's screens quickly until she gets to the engineering menu. Crap, what was that process? It had been too long. Oh yes, patch. Drawing on her extensive experience playing an engineer on vids, she attempts to patch the system with only a few prompts from hopalong... and stunningly, it works!

"Shields! The shields! MORE shields!"

engineering to divert power to, you guessed it, SHIELDS!: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (10) + 16 = 26

We can only have one engineer--you two sort out who it's going to be :)

Oh, sorry. In the engineering part I saw "Unless otherwise noted, each action can be performed only once per round, no matter how many engineers are on a starship." so I thought that meant there could be more engineers. Hani is engineer. I'll do something else.

@Zharis: No worries--it's confusingly written. I think the idea they're stating is that even though a large ship might have 20 engineers in the engine room, they collectively only get one action.

@Hani: You succeed in restoring 10 points to the shields--it's up to you how you want to allocate them across the quadrants.

Round 11: Helm Phase

Engineer: Hani
Pilot: Xylian
Science Officer: Zharis
Gunner # 1: Jin
Gunner # 2: Tulgram

Bold should go!

@Xylian: The anomaly automatically loses initiative (even with your -2 to piloting checks), and I've now moved it. You can go ahead and take your turn.

Computers (Balance Shields using previous roll): 16 + 9 + 1d6 + 1 ⇒ 16 + 9 + (3) + 1 = 29

Zharis is going to move 10 shield points from starboard to forward, telling Xylian,

Maxxing out forward shields. Let's face them head-on.

Hani can either restore some aft shielding, or buff up our sides.

Xylian flips the ship and burns towards the anomaly, which has created a surprising amount of space.

Shame Full Power is locked behind 6 ranks of pilot. So close, yet so far... Anyways, it's in the front weapon arc but well out of range =(

@Zharis: Apologies! Two engineers are indeed allowed, as Jin explained in the Discussion thread. Do you want to do the Engineering action to patch the engines or the Science Officer action to rebalance the shields?

I prefer patching the engines. Appreciate you giving me the choice. :)

Jumping all over the bridge, Zharis flips switches and jiggers wires to keep the engine turning over smoothly!

The engines have been patched.

Round 11: Gunnery Phase

Engineer # 1: Hani
Engineer # 2: Zharis
Pilot: Xylian
Gunner # 1: Jin
Gunner # 2: Tulgram

Bold should go!

As Xylian noted, the Sun Diver is now just a little too far (14 hexes) away from the anomaly to use its projectile-based weapons (max 10 hexes while in the sun). Those of you listed as gunners may be able to do a minor crew action or something else during the gunnery phase?Unfortunately, the anomaly's persistent particle beam has a long range (20 hexes) and it will get an attack.

The stats below assume Hani decided to reinforce the forward shields.

Sun Diver: 28/50 Hull Points (8 damage from siccatite degradation).
Shield Points: Forward: 30/30; Starboard: 30/30; Aft: 0/30 Port:
21/30

Unable to hit the enemy, Jin just waits for the next opportunity.

As far as I remember, these minor crew actions are announced before anyone else.

Now trailing some distance behind the anomaly, the Sun Diver's able to avoid another deadly ray of energy.

Good thing too--that was a 40 pointer!

Round 12: Engineering Phase

Engineer # 1: Hani
Engineer # 2: Zharis
Pilot: Xylian
Gunner # 1: Jin
Gunner # 2: Tulgram

Bold should go!

Hani continues to divert power to shields.

Let's keep putting them in the front until it fills up, otherwise we'll divide them between other quadrants that need shields.

engineering: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (5) + 16 = 21

preeemtive piloting check: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (11) + 10 = 21

Taking one of the "open" crew actions.

Zharis does some range finding for Jin.

Range Finding

Open

You use any one of a number of your ship’s systems to identify the range to a specific target or spatial feature, and you relay that information to another crew member so that they are free to focus on other aspects of the task they’re attempting this round. Select one crew member filling the gunner, pilot, or science officer role. They gain +1 bonus to one attack roll or skill check of their choice related to starship combat that’s attempted before the end of this turn.

As the strange battle inside Mataras continues, Hani channels solar power from the engines to the shields while Zharis gives Jin a hand with the chain-cannons.

Hani succeeds on restoring 10 points of power to the shields, and as instructed they've been split between the two quadrants (the aft and the port) that were not full yet).

Sun Diver: 28/50 Hull Points (8 damage from siccatite degradation).
Shield Points: Forward: 30/30; Starboard: 30/30; Aft: 5/30 Port:
26/30

Round 12: Helm Phase

Engineer # 1: Hani
Engineer # 2: Zharis
Pilot: Xylian
Gunner # 1: Jin
Gunner # 2: Tulgram

Bold should go!

The anomaly *just* loses initiative. I have now moved it. Xylian, you can go ahead and complete your Pilot turn.

"I reckon she's gettin' away from us pards," calls out Hop. "We better fish or cut bait!"

Xylian pursues but cannot close the gap enough to bring the anomaly into weapons range.

Move down 10 and turn one degree starboard. Looks like we can't catch it.

Yep, from my count you're still 12 hexes away. Your speed is greater than the anomaly's (10 vs 8), so you'll get within range next round if you keep up the pursuit.

Xylian corkscrews the Sun Diver to avoid another lance of energy from the anomaly.

The anomaly missed.

Round 13: Engineering Phase

Engineer # 1: Hani
Engineer # 2: Zharis
Pilot: Xylian
Gunner # 1: Jin
Gunner # 2: Tulgram

Bold should go!

Zharis does range finding again.

Hani diverts power to engines.

engineering: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (16) + 16 = 32

+2 movement. Hopefully we'll finish them this round. We're a bloodthirsty bunch it appears.

I wasn't thinking of it as bloodthirsty, but just finishing an opponent that could be dangerous in the future as well... we don't want to run into it on the way back. If opponents can think and reason, we almost always talk first. This is just an exception. :)

Round 13: Helm Phase

Engineer # 1: Hani
Open Crew: Zharis
Pilot: Xylian
Gunner # 1: Jin
Gunner # 2: Tulgram

Bold should go!

@Xylian: Please roll a Piloting check for Initiative. If you don't beat a 19, you can go ahead and move (and remember the Sun Diver's speed is 2 higher thanks to Hani's work on the engines).

piloting: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (10) + 10 = 20

@Xylian: Okay, I've moved the anomaly and you can now take your turn.

Slowly the Sun Diver begins to gain on the anomaly...

Moved.

Round 13: Gunnery Phase

Engineer # 1: Hani
Open Crew: Zharis
Pilot: Xylian
Gunner # 1: Jin
Gunner # 2: Tulgram

Bold should go!

Okay, you're now only 9 hexes away, so fire at will!

Jin is bloodthirsty and believes in destroying the enemy entirely!

Jin finally targets the fleeing enemy again and tries to finish the battle:

Chain Cannon vs. AC: 1d20 + 7 + 3 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 7 + 3 + 1 + 1 = 21
Damage: 12d4 ⇒ (2, 2, 3, 3, 2, 2, 4, 3, 4, 1, 4, 4) = 34

In an epic battle in the burning heart of the sun, only one side can emerge victorious and it is . . . the Sun Runner! With a final burst of chain-cannons, the experimental starship manages to completely disintegrate the strange photonic anomaly that threatened utter destruction of the ship and its crew.

Jin's attack hit, and the anomaly missed, and we are officially off Initiative. Whew! That was a slugfest--thanks for your patience and diligence.

Nice! If the ship didn't have so many restrictions I'd have tuned it into a much more efficient battle ship - but at least we survived. Was the anomaly tier 5 or something?

Well done, team.

Zharis sighs in relief and curls up in the captain's chair trying to relax.

Full diagnostics, Hop, and then get us back on course. If you see anything else like that, stay far away and alert us at once.

"Hyaah!" shouts Hopalong, spurring the Sun Diver into motion as Xylian once again sets course for the coordinates of the mysterious Noma.

@Everyone: Next stop, Noma! (whatever that is!). XP is in the Discussion thread. After that *long* battle against the anomaly, I'm going to suggest everyone feel free to take a day or two off (in the real world) to relax. Though if you feel like doing some casual role-playing in the meantime, that's fine too!

@Jin: Yep, Tier 5.

On Day Five, before arriving at the coordinates, the Sun Diver takes 4 points of siccatite degradation.

Sun Diver: 24/50 Hull Points (12 damage from siccatite degradation).

Hani, what was that song you were humming earlier?

@Jin: Yep, Tier 5.

By the Designing Starship Encounters entry in the CRB, this was a Challenging encounter: PC starship tier – 1.

Considering the environment restrictions, tiny customization of the ship and accumulated hull damage, we were very, very lucky to win this battle!

Let us be thankful for luck then, and hopefully we don't run into another one on the way back since our hull is practically half gone.

It seems like an eternity has passed. What to say... I hope our reward as scientists is worth it all. Tulgram walks a little wearily towards the cabin, but then turns around. Good shooting, Jin. Better than mine in general, although I was not bad at first. You are a born warrior, like all your people. It seems he wants to praise the others too, but this is too much for him. He hesitates, then snorts something displeased and goes to rest.

Hani smiles as he replies to Zharis. "Oh, that was just an old pop song from Pygos. It was popular 30 years ago. I can remember hearing it when I was a kid. I think it was part of the soundtrack to a holo-vid about time travel."

When I typed that, the song "The Power of Love" by Huey Lewis & the News was going through my head. Obviously I changed it to "The Power of Slugs."

... Hmm. Maybe we should look it up and get it added into our media library. It sounded kind of catchy.