Question is in the title. I'm wondering because next game my group is gonna get attacked by a ship that want them dead, so they won't be able to negotiate in anyway if they lose the battle. Because the enemy ship want them dead, it will use all it can to exterminate the party. So if my party fail and they try to use escape pods to survive what should happens?
1. Escape pods are too slow/unstealthy so everyone dies because the enemy ship get plenty of time to destroy them.
2. Escape pods are slower/somewhat stealthy than ship but fast enough for the five player to scatter in all direction, or to find a way to hide behind an asteroid, or some space debris, and each of them hope they won't be the ones that get destroyed.
3. Escape pods are an ''escape-button'' and are meant as a ''Deux-ex Machina'' to prevent players from dying in a space fight.
If the ship is floating in deep space at the time, option 1 is the most likely -- escape pods can survive entry into atmosphere and crashing on a planet, but they don't have propulsion, so they're going to be moving on a very predictable trajectory at a fixed rate of speed. There really is no hiding behind asteroids or space debris. About the most that one could hope is that they keep their transponder turned off until the enemy leaves and that they're mistaken for debris from the destroyed ship.
That said, these are your PCs. Having an enemy ship blow them out of the sky while they're helpless in an escape pod doesn't make for a particularly fun time for anyone, so option 3 is probably more practical at the gaming table.
As a GM, it's a good idea to come up with a reason why they don't finish the PCs off -- maybe the battle is in a nebula that makes sensors unreliable, so the baddies have a good reason to believe the PCs are dead when the ship is destroyed. Or maybe they're in orbit of a planet, so the escape pods can more easily blend in with the other debris breaking lose from the ship as they plummet to the surface, and then the baddies have to go hunt them down on the ground if they want to be sure of finishing them off. Another option would be the arrival of a third ship to chase the baddies off...it wouldn't even need to be friendly, just an enemy of the baddies.
Alright, thank you very much, i that's what i thought but i wasn't sure i missed anything.
I agree that killing PCs after a space battle doesn't make for a great game ending. On the other hand i don't see the end as necessarily a bad thing. After all, a game ending is an opportunity to start a new one.
As for the scenario involving the space battle, i can't do much because it's a pre-written adventure (i don't want to spoil which one). I don't have that much freedom. I could probably make another ship intervene if things get out of hand.
I'll probably think of something, but if there's anything i hate when i'm playing it's when GM saves me with ''Deux-ex Machina''. IMO it feels like pity and i prefer losing a character than having to deal with the idea that my character would have died if not for some miraculous intervention earlier in it's career. Beside, i think that to be fun, a game has to be risky in some ways, otherwise victories feels scripted and shallow.
That being said i'm not the players, and i gotta admit i have no idea what they would prefer. So if we are faced with the situation i'll ask them.
The enemy wants them dead, but they want knowledge that the PCs have slightly more. They will attempt to capture and torture them first, potentially leading to a prison escape session.
The enemy wants them dead, but the PC's ship A.I. figured out how to mask their life signs after the ship was disabled, making it look like they were all killed. The enemy leaves, satisfied.
The enemy wants them dead, but the battle is close enough to a primitive planet that the PCs are able to escape to the surface in pods. There is no docking facility on the planet; the enemy can't follow.
The enemy wants them dead, but a bigger, worse enemy wants them alive for some reason. After the PCs get disabled, a vastly larger ship drifts in and crushes the enemy, places a geas on the players to accomplish some difficult task, and then leaves.
Lots of possibilities.
Maybe have the enemy board the craft once it hits 0 hp to ensure the pcs are dead and it's during this time the characters escape in the pods. have the fight be over a planet and have them crash down, as the escape pods are built to survive re-entry, but not much else.
Unfortunately that won't be possible, as they are 2 hours of spaceship flight away from the nearest planet.
Dracomicron thank you, your suggestion are all good. Although, my possibilities are limited, because players will be attacked when returning to their base and since i describe the ''road'' as empty as space can be, there's isn't much i can change.
I might have an idea, but i won't post it here, as i don't wanna spoil anything about the adventure i'm currently running. I'll try to come up with a risky solution that may involve players deaths if they screw up again, otherwise it feels too much like a ''Deus-ex'' and i hate those.
One possible solution is the enemy ship is better armed but slower. Once the PCs realise they're losing, they can flee to the nearest space station, which is neutral. The station doesn't care about the PCs but chase away the enemy for shooting. Ships shooting each other in the system is just bad for business. This leaves the PCs safe with the facilities of a station but with a damaged ship. It's up to the PCs how to deal with their problem.
One possible solution is the enemy ship is better armed but slower. Once the PCs realise they're losing, they can flee to the nearest space station, which is neutral. The station doesn't care about the PCs but chase away the enemy for shooting. Ships shooting each other in the system is just bad for business. This leaves the PCs safe with the facilities of a station but with a damaged ship. It's up to the PCs how to deal with their problem.
That is not a bad idea, but unfortunately i'm dealing with what i'm given and the enemy ship is faster. Beside, i don't really have the time to rebuild a full ship.
There's really no sissyfooting around the issue. If you are in an escape pod and someone wants you dead, you're just fish in a barrel. The fact escape pods have no propulsion at all means you are a sitting duck astronomically speaking. And unless starfinder does something to address it, stealth is not really an option in space if you are going for the undetectable kind. (For example, any ship with life support would glow with several hundred watts of thermal radiation) They can't run and they can't hide, they are just totally screwed if they end up in that situation.
The best option is to either not end up in that situation in the first place, or do something that takes away/interferes the enemies reason for going full destruct-o-mode.
The best worst case scenario is for the players to survive is for them to fake out the enemy and jettison the escape pods without entering them, hoping to triune they are dumb/cocky enough to take the bait and leave afterwards. Praying their environmental protections last long enough until rescue.
The best option is to either not end up in that situation in the first place, or do something that takes away/interferes the enemies reason for going full destruct-o-mode.
Yeah, well i guess it's the danger of space battle.
The best worst case scenario is for the players to survive is for them to fake out the enemy and jettison the escape pods without entering them, hoping to triune they are dumb/cocky enough to take the bait and leave afterwards. Praying their environmental protections last long enough until rescue.
That's brilliant! It's risky and it something the players has to think about. I like it!
You also have to hope they don't scan for lifeforms, it's an incredibly easy sensors check.
You also have to hope they don't scan for lifeforms, it's an incredibly easy sensors check.
I wonder if the crew going into some sort of cryostasis would affect the DC of that check. Then when they launch the escape pods, the enemy blows them up and doesn't see anyone else alive.
Then you could have some sort of controlled fire in the engine room to dissuade them from boarding. Pull a the ol' Akitonian Possum trick.
You also have to hope they don't scan for lifeforms, it's an incredibly easy sensors check.
Oh thanks for the reminder!
In the future, if you want to have a space battle with a murderous foe but don't actually want to murder your PCs, you will need to make better accommodations than trusting to luck.
Well, to be honest i asked if escape pods were a safe way to flee from space battle just to be prepared in case the player try to do so. I really hate last minute ruling on things that important, so i generally look-up for the answer in advance.
Have some NPCs on hand who can potentially show up and interfere ( note: not necessarily friendly to the PCs! ), something like that. This is not "pity", any more than the GM putting an implacably murderous enemy on the map is "hatred". Your the GM. *You* are responsible for these decisions. If you don't want the NPCs to murder your PC group? Change them!
That's only my opinions, but having random NPCs showing up at the last minutes to saves the day almost always feels worst than TPK. Unless said NPCs arrives by complete chances with a percentage roll or were planning to rescue the group, or to join them at some point in the first place. I know it can be done well, and i don't judge DMs that use that kind of trick to save their campaign, afterall campaign are a lot of effort and ending it on a ''random'' encounter can feel bad, but i just hate resorting to this kind of trick and to me it does feel like ''pity''.
As for not putting murderous NPCs on the map, i'm only following what's written in the adventure path. Those enemies has reasons to want them dead and it's those reasons that justify their presence. I could change those reasons, but i think it's legit to have high stake battles from time to times.
At this point if you can't really change up the danger of the encounter, the best you can do is maximize player preparation for it. Telegraphing to the players that these enemies will kill them if they get the chance is very important. That way if the party dies, they at least felt like they had a chance to do something about it and gave it their all.
When I think of a scenario like this, this is what I imagine:
The space battle has just ended, and was fairly traditional save one caveat: the PCs lost. Their ship is now helplessly adrift in space, and they fully expect to be boarded and forced to fight or be taken prisoner soon.
But then the enemy fires on them again, rattling the ship and shaking the crew's morale further. It immediately becomes clear that the enemy isn't going to be boarding, and aren't going to be taking prisoners.
First, the captain hails the enemy ship and voices surrender, but the ship simply shutters under a second assault in response.
The order to abandon ship is given.
The GM tells the players it will take them a full round to get to the escape pods, a move action to open the escape pods, a second move action to enter them, a third to strap themselves in, and a fourth to launch. Three rounds at a minimum.
From there on out, everyone is making a mad dash to their individual life boats (some stopping along the way for things or pets they cherish) in initiative order, while the GM rolls for battle damage each round. This may or may not include obstacles put into place by battle damage and require skill checks on the part of the players to advance through the ship.
Say all but one make it in time. The remaining victim watches from inside his escape pod as the ship starts to comes apart from around him, damaging his pod in the process, and shaking him violently.
From there it is a frantic race to repair his pod from the inside with some quick fix skill checks before the incoming debris crushes him, or the enemy comes upon him, or the pod depressurizes, or whatever else. His shipmates, on the other hand, are safe in their pods, floating into the nearby nebula/asteroid field/whatever to get away from their attackers.
That is how it should play out, in my humble opinion. As a player, I would be TOTALLY satisfied with such a scenario, even if my character didn't make it in the end.
You also have to hope they don't scan for lifeforms, it's an incredibly easy sensors check.Oh thanks for the reminder!
Oh they will be fine as long as they remember to wear their tin foil hats.
When I think of a scenario like this, this is what I imagine:
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That is how it should play out, in my humble opinion. As a player, I would be TOTALLY satisfied with such a scenario, even if my character didn't make it in the end.
Amen. That’s a very good scenario that gives player a chance to escape without making some magical solution on the spot. Failures should haves some consequences or risk involved, otherwise it feels too much scripted and I’d rather read a book or watch a movie.
I had another similar solution in mind, because the battle happened really far from any asteroid or planetoid. When it would be clear that the fight was lost, I would have let anyone with engineering try to boost the propelling devices for the escape pods with some explosives or something else, to increase speed at which Escape pods would be launched, that way, if the escape pods managed to withstand the blow and all the PCs scattered in different direction some would have had a chance to flee thanks to how space conserve speed. That being said I would probably had given a 20-25% chance for each of the escape pods to straight up explode at launch and a least one of them would probably had died. I know it’s hardly a realistic solution, but it’s at least cinematic and failure would have had consequences.
On another note, I ran the game yesterder and my player barely won the fight, but at least they made it! For those of you who feel like knowing how it went, I’ll describe the battle in the spoilers below, as the stories contain some spoilers about Dead Sun Adventure path.
Oh they will be fine as long as they remember to wear their tin foil hats.
I don’t get that reference D:
At first the fight looked really desperate, as the The Iron Rictus was ridiculously overshadowing them in term of gunner skills*, raw firepower and gun range thanks to their coil gun. TheIron Rictus also had a better speed than the Sunrise Maiden . It was thanks to their superior shield, power core, hull and their incredible Operative Pilot that they manage to stay alive for a while dodging some of the Plasma Torpedo and staying in the gunless aft arc of the TheIron Rictus while regenerating their shield thanks to the engineer.
Eventually though, even if the party pilot was incredible, he had a couple of bad roll, and the enemies gunners were still incredibly better than the party gunners; both side had suffered heavy damage. With a spark of genius, or folly, the party engineer asked the Ship AI to fetch Commander Eskolar that was patiently waiting in her crate. After half a minute she arrived on board like a hero while saying something like ‘’ It would seems your having some trouble.’’. Then she proceeds to take the captain role pressuring the poor sickly vesk Gunner to shoot straight.
Thanks to everyone concerted effort and commander Eskolar** last minutes directions, the party managed to pull through with 29% Hull integrity left(16/55). They all felt relieved when the science officer told them the wave of heat is scanner were detecting was the Iron Rictus self-destruction explosion.
So overall I thought the fight dragged for a while 2 hours of play time is a lot! I also found weird that the Sunrise Maiden best secondary gun, the flak thrower, is placed in the aft arc, the party pilot where thus fighting with their back manoeuvring to present their back arc to the enemies, I found it funny.
* What the heck is that +12 bonus to gunnery at Tier 2, that’s insane! I’m pretty sure the print messed out and added both gunner +6 to hit together for a total of +12, that would explain how they had such amazing skill. I still kept it that way and I’m glad I did because the PCs are heavily optimised and it made for a great and tense fight.
** I'm not sure why the corpse fleet wanted to get her alive, but i made her a Corpse Fleet defector, so it made sense for her to help the crew.
Well anyway, thanks every one!