Starfinder Encounter: False Flags Over Castrovel

Posting just so I can favorite the story.

Posting just so I can favorite the story.

same

Hope folks enjoy the encounter!

If you want to give your party an extra challenge, you can run the battle in the lowest level of the planet's atmosphere. In that case, the increased friction would make fast movement even more dangerous and limiting (dealing damage for every hex moved beyond 1 in a given round), and the mountain peaks would become hazards themselves!

Great work Mike! That is actually one of the Starships I designed for the Starship Operations Manual!

Nice job, Mike!

So what exactly is the endgame here? Without drift engines this is basically a "suicide" attack as the interceptors have no way to escape after the attack.
Sure, such attacks do happen, either by terrorists or be criminal organization who are prepared to be caught and go to jail for it, but to warrant this kind attack there must be some bigger buildup. It does not simply happen out of the blue.

Considering the encounter is meant to be inserted randomly into a campaign, I figure the motivation behind the attack has to be up in the air. The reason to attack a party in dead suns can be very different to attacking a party playing through threefold conspiracy or a home game.

Not to mention that drift engines aren't exactly a great escape mechanism. Though it depends on your GM's interpretation of the length of a starship combat round.

So what exactly is the endgame here? Without drift engines this is basically a "suicide" attack as the interceptors have no way to escape after the attack.

Sure, such attacks do happen, either by terrorists or be criminal organization who are prepared to be caught and go to jail for it, but to warrant this kind attack there must be some bigger buildup. It does not simply happen out of the blue.

If you're over a habitable planet, who says you need a Drift Engine to escape? Doesn't the option exist for an Interceptor to dive for cover (for instance, the approaching storm) if things go sour, and then land in some deserted forest clearing, where the pilot then sets timed explosives to destroy the evidence, and then makes a getaway? (Alternatively, could they bail out in the storm and figure that their ship flying on for a while might act as a decoy? -- but that sounds dangerous, if possible at all.)

Ixal wrote:

So what exactly is the endgame here? Without drift engines this is basically a "suicide" attack as the interceptors have no way to escape after the attack.

Sure, such attacks do happen, either by terrorists or be criminal organization who are prepared to be caught and go to jail for it, but to warrant this kind attack there must be some bigger buildup. It does not simply happen out of the blue.

If you're over a habitable planet, who says you need a Drift Engine to escape? Doesn't the option exist for an Interceptor to dive for cover (for instance, the approaching storm) if things go sour, and then land in some deserted forest clearing, where the pilot then sets timed explosives to destroy the evidence, and then makes a getaway? (Alternatively, could they bail out in the storm and figure that their ship flying on for a while might act as a decoy? -- but that sounds dangerous, if possible at all.)

Or just fly away. They are faster than the average PC ship I've seen at any rate. They might need rations and would be sore later, but in-system travel is only 1d6+2 days.

You completely ignore that the PCs do not exist in a vacuum (a common trend in starfinder).

Castrovel until recently was engulfed in a war which was ended not be defeat or exhaustion, but diplomacy. That means the radar coverage is most likely very good. Especially as the first AP has shown that they are quite strict about no fly zones.

So the chance that this attack is not noticed is pretty much zero. And while they might be faster than the average PC ship, that might most likely not include any craft Castrovel sends to intercept them.

Flying away through normal space has the problem that the window for interception gets much larger and their vector can be tracked and their target location can be warned that they have criminals incoming.

And even if their destination has no form of authority, a conventional escape also makes it more likely they are identified and put on watch lists.
All problems a escape through the drift would if not solve at least reduce.

You completely ignore that the PCs do not exist in a vacuum (a common trend in starfinder).

Castrovel until recently was engulfed in a war which was ended not be defeat or exhaustion, but diplomacy. That means the radar coverage is most likely very good. Especially as the first AP has shown that they are quite strict about no fly zones.

So the chance that this attack is not noticed is pretty much zero. {. . .}

Unless somebody has been instructed to look the other way. The PCs chase one of the Interceptors to the ground, and find it abandoned in a clearing, and it blows up almost in their faces. When they come to, they find they are under arrest for illegal possession and use of explosives and for starting a forest fire. When they get a lawyer, they find that they get stonewalled in their attempts to find out what happened, and when they do get through, they find that defense forces were instructed to stand down to allow a set of military exercises to take place, and that the radar system recordings of the time and place where the battle occurred have a mysterious Gap(*) in them.

(*)And who knows, maybe The Gap was something like this on a larger scale, but it went too far . . . .

While I agree that the players are not living in a vacuum, you also have to keep in mind the size of the area surveilance has to cover and the efforts it cost to track everyone.

Also Starfinder is not "the reality" but it's a "fantastic adventure story" about heroes their evil advesaries. So there is a certain level of "accepted incredibility" to drive the story on. ;)

About the topic: I really like it, the premise of some "rogue militia" who try to make some extra coin, the stats look good for an low-level encounter and the ship artwork looks nice. :)
Also the abundance of a Drift drive makes total sense to a ship which is only ment to be operated in one system (I do the same thing for my players starter ship in the last campaign. This way they stay "at the scene" and once they managed to get their hands on a drift drive, it's a major upgrade which opens a complete new level of adventure to them).

While I agree that the players are not living in a vacuum, you also have to keep in mind the size of the area surveilance has to cover and the efforts it cost to track everyone.

Also Starfinder is not "the reality" but it's a "fantastic adventure story" about heroes their evil advesaries. So there is a certain level of "accepted incredibility" to drive the story on. ;)

About the topic: I really like it, the premise of some "rogue militia" who try to make some extra coin, the stats look good for an low-level encounter and the ship artwork looks nice. :)
Also the abundance of a Drift drive makes total sense to a ship which is only ment to be operated in one system (I do the same thing for my players starter ship in the last campaign. This way they stay "at the scene" and once they managed to get their hands on a drift drive, it's a major upgrade which opens a complete new level of adventure to them).

As the PCs just arrived at Castrovel they are on a approach corridor to a starport and those will certainly be monitored for travel control alone.

And "its just fantasy" is in my opinion no good excuse.

Flying away through normal space has the problem that the window for interception gets much larger and their vector can be tracked and their target location can be warned that they have criminals incoming.

Considering they are in a common military surplus craft, and starfinder ships have a tenuous relationship with real physics. I have to wonder if there would be any consequences other than a general alert to stewards and other pact worlds the equivalent of: 'be on the lookout for a white nissan, subject is considered armed and dangerous'. Unlike real world ships, they should be able to pretend to head to absalom, but then mid flight redirect to akiton outside any planetary sensor ranges.

Ixal wrote:

Flying away through normal space has the problem that the window for interception gets much larger and their vector can be tracked and their target location can be warned that they have criminals incoming.

Considering they are in a common military surplus craft, and starfinder ships have a tenuous relationship with real physics. I have to wonder if there would be any consequences other than a general alert to stewards and other pact worlds the equivalent of: 'be on the lookout for a white nissan, subject is considered armed and dangerous'. Unlike real world ships, they should be able to pretend to head to absalom, but then mid flight redirect to akiton outside any planetary sensor ranges.

Technically "outside of planetary sensor ranges" does not exist. There is no stealth in space.

You forget its just not the white nissan reference, its also the license plate (transponder). And why would the wanted information just go to Absolom and not to all Pact Worlds? Sure, different worlds might be more or less zealous about how to follow up, but its pretty easy to share a general wanted list between the worlds and whenever a matching transponder is picked up a alarm goes off.

Also, its not only the craft itself, but also the owner and the pilots. There will be records about that and probably also scans of whoever checked that ship in and out a hangar.

Looks like a Naboo Starfighter.

@Ixal: because sharing police information works so good on a global level, it have to work even better on a inter-planetary scale, or? ;)

I think you really try to hard to add over-realism to a Science-FANTASY world. Sometimes it's just a cool story (otherwise 90% of all movies/TV series/boooks would not work^^).

this is a great intro to almost any AP. just run it as a one-off with new players to get them used to the mechanics of starship combat.

Technically "outside of planetary sensor ranges" does not exist. There is no stealth in space.

But obviously, Starfinder has different ideas about that.

While somewhat true, accurately tracking ships departing from a crowded orbit would require a vast network of specialized space telescopes. That seems somewhat unlikely to exist. It's true that after a few weeks of making calls and correlating various organizations observations of the sky they can probably figure out where you went... but real time-lag tracking across the solar system? I find that unlikely. Most planets do not have single governments in the pact worlds, but many. If any ship you're tracking joins into traffic of other ships around other destinations and hides their trail I'm pretty sure it's going to be difficult to find them.

You forget its just not the white nissan reference, its also the license plate (transponder). And why would the wanted information just go to Absolom and not to all Pact Worlds? Sure, different worlds might be more or less zealous about how to follow up, but its pretty easy to share a general wanted list between the worlds and whenever a matching transponder is picked up a alarm goes off.

That's assuming it isn't easy to fake a transponder. Considering it's done in at least one adventure so far, it probably is. Though I'll note I was assuming the wanted list does go out to the whole system, I assumed the stewards are the ones most likely to react and I believe they are headquartered on absalom. So, absalom is the key recipient of any message.

Also, its not only the craft itself, but also the owner and the pilots. There will be records about that and probably also scans of whoever checked that ship in and out a hangar.

But there probably aren't records of whoever stole the ship or built it in a black market shipyard, or under the table purchases, and if they're based out of a lawless or bribe happy destination, there likely aren't scans either.

Another reason not to have a Drift Drive is if those deploying the ship expect to have to ditch it (or otherwise lose it). Less cost.

Another reason not to have a Drift Drive is if those deploying the ship expect to have to ditch it (or otherwise lose it). Less cost.

Starships are free silly =P. They don't have a cost.

You forget its just not the white nissan reference, its also the license plate (transponder). And why would the wanted information just go to Absolom and not to all Pact Worlds? Sure, different worlds might be more or less zealous about how to follow up, but its pretty easy to share a general wanted list between the worlds and whenever a matching transponder is picked up a alarm goes off.

Also, its not only the craft itself, but also the owner and the pilots. There will be records about that and probably also scans of whoever checked that ship in and out a hangar.

I'm amazed nobody else brought this up, but it's *written in the scenario* that they have false identity codes (altered to disguise the fact the ships are AWOL - so they have *already been* reported and hacked their way round it). So basically they have a fake/stolen licence plate which is police/military. Do Castrovel flight control have the Computers skill to identify those codes as false? Would they believe random adventurers (PCs) over supposedly official database records? Have they been bribed/threatened to look the other way?

Also the rest of the thread has all this talk of a suicide attack or rigging the fighters to explode, but its totally unnecessary to sacrifice the fighters if they escape the combat (or win, which is what the pilots intend). For example:
1) They could land at the official spaceport if their fake codes hold up (and claim the PCs fired first/resisted arrest).
2) They could have a drift-capable mothership in orbit that's too big to enter atmosphere, or doesn't have fake codes and needs to stay out of ground control sensor range (a GM wanting to expand the encounter could even have the fighters intended to lose and flee, drawing the PC ship in pursuit up into range of the mothership).
3) They they could just fly 'below radar' (or through the storm cover) and land at some secret ground base (which really just needs to be a clearing in the jungle, since Castrovel has those big patches of dangerous wilderness nature reserve that don't seem to be patrolled). Again, the GM could expand the secret ground base into its own encounter if the PC ship pursues (perhaps drawing inspiration from drug cartel jungle airstrips in the real world, or doing a more scifi underground secret base).

Also, as long as the pilots believe they can get away and believe they are going to get paid, they might not mind too much if they have to ditch the ships.

An alternative to the flight controllers being bribed or threatened is for their computer systems to have been hacked (to conceal the fact that the transponder codes have been marked stolen, and maybe even mark the PCs ship as stolen) at the same time as they have been given false instructions that a military exercise (or something) is taking place.

Heya,
This Starship looks amazing! Keep these encounters coming!!