Even on a ship we should have simple stations and things the individual manages without the necessary permission of the Captain. Though I guess, First Contact is Captain's Prevue so...disregard this message
Is the station like a post or check point (traffic control, refuel) or more robust... with communities, permanent residents, etc... Population 20 or 2000?
Is the station like a post or check point (traffic control, refuel) or more robust... with communities, permanent residents, etc... Population 20 or 2000?
It's toward the upper end of Huge Starship size, almost 2000 ft at the longest points. No way to know exactly how many people are on board (short of some detailed scans, which they would likely frown upon), but Joyride recons a crew of about 50 just to run the station's functions, plus up to 200 more residents and visitors.
I'm not up on starship combat, can we intercept/destroy that missile? Or can the station?
I found dis.
Choose one active tracking projectile that is moving toward (but has not yet reached) its target. Your starship moves up to its speed and can turn as normal. If it moves through a hex occupied by the projectile, the starship attempts to interfere with the projectile’s tracking system, causing it to veer off course and take a –4 penalty to its next gunnery check to continue moving toward its target. To perform this stunt, you must succeed at a Piloting check (DC = 5 + the tracking weapon’s speed + 1-1/2 × the attacking starship’s tier) with a circumstance bonus to your check equal to the bonus to TL granted by your starship’s defensive countermeasures. If you succeed by 5 or more, you cause the projectile to detonate harmlessly, destroying it. If you fail, your starship moves as normal but does not penalize the tracking weapon’s gunnery check. If you fail the check by 5 or more, the tracking projectile immediately attacks you instead; it makes a new gunnery check against your starship’s TL, dealing damage if it succeeds and veering off course to explode harmlessly if it fails.
We don't know if that missile is coming for us or the base. It's speed is 10 or 12, I think. The basics of combat are that the gunner aboard that ship has to make a gunnery check every turn vs our (or the base's) TL (Betty's is 16) to keep a lock on us. If he loses the lock, the missile is destroyed. IF it's hunting us, with our speed of 10, we might be better off playing keep-away so the missile takes longer to impact us... and more chances for their gunner to botch their lock.
Also, it might be worth scanning to detect what kind of weapons they have before we drive straight into their firing range.
Joyride probably understands what Burlap needs in terms of range, he would have accommodated, possibly at an angle and trying to not go directly into the missile.
Is think no need to burn a Resolve.
Our Speed is 11, 10+1 (chosen ride, for today).
Strategy discussion continues?
I think Vael doing a Scan with the other +2 bonus would be useful. On a good roll, we could learn about their weapons and defenses.
Joyride probably understands what Burlap needs in terms of range, he would have accommodated, possibly at an angle and trying to not go directly into the missile.
17 M? 17 L? Missile is at 19 H.
How do you count? Not used to hexes.
If up is North, I'm thinking diagonal South South East... away from missile but closer to enemy for Burlap.
I think engineering can give us a speed boost if they choose to a well
Joy : Counting hexes is just like squares, your course just has to 'weave' a little bit doing diagonals but each hex only counts as 1 regardless. Putting something like a ruler down makes it a little easier to see and count.
OK, unless I'm missing something Cherry successfully diverted power to the engines [DC = 10 + (1.5 x 3) {our Ship Tier} thus a 14 (or 15 if you round up) was needed and she rolled 15] so we get a speed boost of +2 hexes. With Joyride's bonus, our total move is 13 hexes this round.
In Starfinder, we also have to consider facing and turn ability. Betty is nimble but she still has to move a single space before she can change her facing 60 degrees (1 hex FACE).
Betty's pic has her facing E but she should be facing NE or SE so she is looking at a hex face. If we assume she is looking SE, her first move takes her to 7H where she pivots and heads directly S. I'd go with the next 9 hexes straight South before turning SE and using up the rest of our move. On the last hex, I'd turn the face the enemy ship (in it's current location). That would put Betty at 11R, facing the enemy. At that location, we'd be a bit out of the missile's range and we'd be about 17 hexes from the enemy ship. Unless they intend to stand-off and shoot, I expect they will close the distance (with either us or the station)... but that depends on whatever weapon systems they have aboard. 17 hexes puts them in range of the coilgun and if they come within 10 hexes, hopefully we can bring the particle beam to bear as well.
Rando, could you possibly drop a red dot or something on the map for the missile's position? It would help when figuring courses and distances.
Love it...
Any benefit in masking our full capabilities? Not using full speed or tight turning?
Bluff?
I'm not an expert on Starfinder Rules but it looks to me like as long as they have scanners with decent range and their science officer isn't too busy rebalancing shields (as his crew action) then he can keep hitting us with scans and eventually he'll learn everything about Betty. So trying to hide our capabilities won't do much for us.
They went first so while their gunner launched a missile, their science guy had a chance to do a scan. The good-ish news:
1. he/she would had to choose between scanning us and that big base last round.
2. Since Betty abused their forward shields, if he's smart he'll be rebalancing shields this round so no scan is possible.
OK... 11R it is. Thanks all for your patience, everyone.
@Captain - are you heavy/well versed on the starship combat rules? I'm the pilot, so a bit torn between just obeying Captain's orders and "figuring stuff out" as I learn more about the rules. Then there is the Captain being sauced aspect to consider.
Mean no disrespect IC or OOC.
Is Alzura's callsign going to be 'Hangover'? LOL
Is Alzura's callsign going to be 'Hangover'? LOL
Last Call.
Weekends were made for starship combat it seems!
Ok, it's been a while, I'm the Science Office position in combat, right?
What do you guys need me to do?
Scan that enemy vessel, please. Feel free to roll really really well so we know everything down to the status of their relationships. :D
Do we know where that first missile is heading?
If the missile is coming after us, could we fly in a trajectory away from both missile/ship (split the difference)... full spread or less?
I guess if not after us...the same?
Other thought was to basically orbit the enemy vessel as a range that helps Burlap.
Happy to try 10+ stunts. 15+ stunts seem too risky.
I don't think we can fly away without Rando having to expand the map. Some stunts are worth doing. If the baddies are after us, they could come in our direction and lob a missile which may be able to impact us in a single turn. (That depends on where exactly they are facing)
We are at a pretty good distance for plinking them right now. So, my suggestion was going to be having Joyride use this stunt:
Evade
The ship moves up to its speed and can turn as normal, but it gains a +2 circumstance bonus to its AC and TL until the start of the next round. To perform this stunt, you must succeed at a Piloting check (DC = 10 + 1-1/2 × your starship’s tier) . If you fail, the starship moves as normal. If you fail the check by 5 or more, the starship moves as normal, but it also takes a –2 penalty to its AC and TL until the start of the next round.
Missiles need to maintain TL until they hit, so Evade could help us ‘destroy’ any incoming missiles.
We're kind of in a game of chicken here. My advice would be to hold position. I suggest we define our move as Joyride zig-zagging around the sky to throw off any target locks (Evade) but ending our move back in our starting hex. If that first missile is coming towards us, it can’t reach us until Round 3 (stopping short of us in this round) and the Evade could help to kill its target lock. The enemy may get close enough to launch another missile that will hit us this round… and the Evade could benefit us there as well.
BTW, Rando, thank you for putting the missiles on the map!
UGH! I'm an idiot. I just realised I could have fired both weapons using the Fire at Will action... the Particle Beam would just incur an addition range penalty. That would be totally worth the risk since the enemy ship's shields are already weak.
Rando can I amend my action or is it too late?
Evade is what I was thinking. Glad I'm starting to get the hang of it.
Thanks all, for the help.
continue diverting power to engines or somewhere else
Shields?
Hmmm... Diverting the engines doesn't get us anything if we are just flying in a circle. Diverting to shields can't be done because (if I'm reading this correctly) you can only boost a damaged shield. You can't exceed your maximum. You could divert energy to guns which would do 1 extra damage on my shot (converting my roll of a 1 to a 2). Diverting to science to distribute bonuses is cool but right now I don't think it is needed.
UGH! I'm an idiot. I just realised I could have fired both weapons using the Fire at Will action... the Particle Beam would just incur an addition range penalty. That would be totally worth the risk since the enemy ship's shields are already weak.
Rando can I amend my action or is it too late?
Yeah, just make the additional attack with the penalty. Your first shot would have hit even with the penalty, so no need to reroll it.
Thanks! On it!
Mostly for fun, (trash talk-ing) smack!
And dangling that the key is available for purchase :)
We can do a Bluff vs Sense Motive for that, but I was thinking mostly for story.
I haven't re-read those sections in awhile, but I don't think that is a thing. There may be some systems that could do it (laser array or a trash thrower maybe?) but we don't have them and we can't target a missile with our weapons. We didn't scan the base so we don't know her defenses and countermeasures but she is pretty big so she likely has a lot of Hull and may even have better shields than others. I strongly suspect she can soak a missile or two.
EDIT: I looked it up. Only a ship/base with a Flak Thrower or Laser Net (something with the Point quality) can intercept missiles.
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We should ask Cherry to develop that... counter-missile missiles and counter counter-missile missiles :)
Some kind of chaff that mimics the ship's ID, so if it misses... it misses. But, if it hits... kinda like Mirror Image spell... level/2 could be how many "images".
Maybe a Missiles Vaccine!
Forgot to move... is it weird to turn and move back to G11?
What's needed of me this round?
Joyride, I'm not sure what we'd gain by moving back there but I also don't see any harm in doing it. Up to you, I guess.
Vaelorin, I think we've gotten all the details on the enemy ship. It might be worthwhile to scan the base to see how much of a beating it can take so we know if we have to seriously pound on the enemy vessel, maybe?
Speaking of anti-missile systems... I was trying to work that into Betty's build but I ran out of BPs to do it. The cheapest (and funniest) one is a Garbage Ejection System. You can only use it once per battle... but you basically launch all your on-board trash at the enemy ship or missile. When we level up, I'll see if I can fit it into our build.
Joyride, I'm not sure what we'd gain by moving back there but I also don't see any harm in doing it. Up to you, I guess.
Just tell me when it's time for... Ramming Speed!
Also, wanted to position ourselves in a more defensive (of the station) position.
LOL!
Next round is likely to be your moment, Joyride. Depending on how the exchange of missiles is resolved, and hopefully you win us initiative, the enemy will have weakened shields or possibly a missing shield in one section. Then you can Evade-fly Betty to within 10 hexes at the weakest quadrant. Betty fires both guns at the weak point. If things go well maybe we'll do some damage to an internal system. Combine that with the base lobbing more missiles and the baddies could be in serious trouble. We may catch a missile for our trouble but if we can knock out the baddies, that's an OK trade, I think.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained!
He's pissed they didn't even try to buy the key!
Maybe they figure blowing up the base will stop us?
Does the stunt Slide... have to be the whole distance (say, 10 hexes) or can it be a portion there of?
Straight for 5 hexes then Slide for the other 5? I guess the consequences of failure would work for the remainder of the move/speed.
I know it's a turn based game but, technically we're never still... starship is in constant motion.
Imagine if you will... Looks like you are going to ram them and then you slide.... firing at will.
Just like the visual, I suppose.
It looks like you can define the length of the slide from 1 hex to your max distance. I'm not sure if you are allowed to combine it with the regular part of your move.
It looks like you can define the length of the slide from 1 hex to your max distance. I'm not sure if you are allowed to combine it with the regular part of your move.
I'll allow it.
Forgot to move... is it weird to turn and move back to G11?
Still on your phase, Round 2.
You still planning on moving back to G11 while Evading, or where did you want to end up? Want to get that sorted before I do the missiles and enemy vessel movement and update the map.
Forgot to move... is it weird to turn and move back to G11?Still on your phase, Round 2.
You still planning on moving back to G11 while Evading, or...
Sure, G11
Which system do you want to take out over there, and I'll start locking on, so we can be fishing for crits.
I'd try to take out weapons or engines, but up to you guys.
Yeah, those or take out their high speed internet!
Yeah, those or take out their high speed internet!
That's cruel.