At first I assumed they did, just like personal weapons, but I've been reading pages 320-321 and I don't see it. Perhaps the only effect of critical hits is (potentially) damaging ship systems?
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At first I assumed they did, just like personal weapons, but I've been reading pages 320-321 and I don't see it. Perhaps the only effect of critical hits is (potentially) damaging ship systems?
As far as I can tell there is nothing to indicate double damage on a crit. Critical hits only affect ship systems.
It's kind of a bummer for the excitement of getting a crit, because if the base weapon damage doesn't penetrate shields, it's no different than a normal hit. And even forcing a system to "glitch" isn't that exciting (though I know the cumulative effects can be significant if the battle lasts a while).
Here's a question,
All Weapons are assumed to be fired simultaneously, so if multiple weapons hit an arc, can the crit be put "last" so as to not be absorbed by the shield?
Not important if your ship is only firing one weapon, but in SFS we typically have multiple gunners.
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Here's a question,
All Weapons are assumed to be fired simultaneously, so if multiple weapons hit an arc, can the crit be put "last" so as to not be absorbed by the shield?Not important if your ship is only firing one weapon, but in SFS we typically have multiple gunners.
That is a good question. All weapons are not fired simultaneously, only the the damage is applied simultaneously. Looking at the rules can help.
Attacks are made during the gunnery phase of combat, in the order determined during the helm phase, but the damage and critical damage effects (see page 321) are applied after all of the attacks have been made (meaning every starship gets to attack, even if it would be destroyed or crippled by an attack that happened during the same gunnery phase).
So attacks are made in the same order as determined during the helm phase, or stated another way, whoever moved first gets to fire first. But both ships get to fire. Which gunner takes their action first is determined by the crew.
Next is damage:
When a gunner hits with an attack, she rolls the damage dealt by the weapon she is using and determines which quadrant of the targeted starship she hits. A starship’s shield quadrants are the same as its firing arcs. Damage is first applied to any shields the target starship has in the quadrant hit by the attack, depleting a number of Shield Points equal to the amount of damage dealt.
This is a continuation of the Gunner action of firing a weapon. The Damage is calculated and the impact to the ship is determined. If there are shields still protecting the hull, than there is no critical.
If that quadrant’s Shield Points reach 0, that shield is entirely depleted and any excess damage is applied to the target starship’s Hull Points.
This is when a critical would happen. This also when additional critical effects would happen for cross a critical threshold.
So no, the crit can't be put last as there is an order to the attacks and resulting damage.BTW, flagging this to be moved to the rules area as it not related to Society.
Edit: Admins are on top of moving threads! Thanks!