Starship Critical Damage to Weapon Arcs


Rules Questions


5 people marked this as FAQ candidate.

If a ship receives critical damage and the roll is 31-60 the System that is hit is "Weapons array" pg 319 CRB. The Effect is "Randomly determine one arc containing weapons; condition applies to all gunner actions using weapons in that arc (a turret counts as being in all arcs)"

My problem is how do you handle turret damage?

1. If the turret counts as all arcs and there are weapons in Fore, Port and Starboard, do I roll 1d3 or 1d4 with the 4 being "aft" and affecting only the turret?

2. If you roll for damage and determine the Fore arc of weapons is damaged does that only affect the turret when it shoots to the Fore arc or since the turret counts as "all arcs" is the turret damaged no matter which arc you are shooting into with it?

3. If the latter part of #2 applies and the Fore and Port arcs are both hit once each, "Glitched", is the turret now "Malfunctioning" because it has taken 2 Critical hits, one from the Fore Glitch and one from the port Glitch?

It seems like the easiest answer would be that there are 5 potential arcs on the ship rather than 4 and 1 that counts as all at the same time, at least for critical damage purposes. That way you just roll and get Fore, Aft, Port, Starboard or Turret. That way you could track each of the "5 arcs" separately.

If #3 is true then Turrets are going to take a beating.

The Exchange

Starfinder Charter Superscriber

The way we've been playing it is that if you receive a weapon critical it criticals the turret and a random arc. So yes the turret takes a beating, since it's the most powerful arc because it can fire regardless of your facing this seems intended.

Liberty's Edge

I believe the first part of #2 is correct. If the forward arc is glitching then if a turrets fires in the forward arc it would have a pentalty.

I don't see critical damage stacking up for turrets. That just makes it harder and the rules try to keep it simple.


Gary Bush wrote:

I believe the first part of #2 is correct. If the forward arc is glitching then if a turrets fires in the forward arc it would have a pentalty.

I don't see critical damage stacking up for turrets. That just makes it harder and the rules try to keep it simple.

I actually read it the other way. Turrets usually are something that stick out and are more vulnerable. They pay for this vulnerability by being more flexible in what they can do.

Dark Archive

I'm with Matt2vk turrets count as all arcs and as such will take a beating. I feel that's why ships have guns pointing out different arcs and not just all in a turret.

Liberty's Edge

The physics of the Starfinder universe is different from what we would consider the physics in our real world.

Going to back to the OPs post, they included the what the rules say about critical hits on the Weapons Array. It is important to note that it says, "Weapons Array", not individual weapons, arcs, or turret.

Weapons array pg. 319 of CRB - Critical Damage Effect (top of right column) wrote:
Randomly determine one arc containing weapons; condition applies to all gunner actions using weapons in that arc (a turret counts as being in all arcs)

So breaking down this sentence, it says to randomly determine one arc that has weapons. There are only four arc (but in some cases there could be few than 4 arc considered because not all arc have weapons in them). Next, apply "to all gunner actions using weapons in that arc", the appropriate penalty. Finally, in brackets, we are reminded that "a turret counts as being in all arcs". Because the Devs put this in brackets, it is intended as informational. The Devs are pointing out that turrets fire in all arcs and if a turret is fired in an arc that has a critical condition, then the weapons on the turret also take the penalty.

So no turrets are not hosed. By RAW, they take a penalty only when they fire in an arc that has a critical condition. They don't take a penalty when they fire in the other arcs.

As always, a GM can modify this, but doing so would cause an imbalance in space combat and make turrets less effective.


Gary Bush wrote:

As always, a GM can modify this, but doing so would cause an imbalance in space combat and make turrets less effective.

I wouldn't have a problem hosing turrets, because the concept of a turret mounted weapon in Starfinder combat is quite powerful, because they dramatically offset both the result of a failed pilot check and poorly-considered maneuvers. However, I can't fault your logic with the wording of "Weapons Arrays" and the penalty being from the arcs.


Thanks for all the insight so far folks. I am pleased that it wasn't my poor reading comprehension that caused the confusion. A little clarity here will go a long way I think.

Until then I tend to agree with Gary Bush and will be ruling my games that way until I hear an official word otherwise... or a more convincing argument :)

My group tends to run with only 4 so hosing the turret is a little more penalizing than in a full group where you might have more gunners.

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