Starship Combat - Engineer Actions - Patch

[xris]

I would like to check I understand the Patch action by an Engineer during Starship Combat. In particular, this section on page 324.

If the check succeeds, the severity of the critical damage is unchanged, but it is treated as one step less severe for the remainder of the combat, until 1 hour has passed, or until the system takes critical damage again (which removes the patch and applies the new severity).

Let's take an example. The Engines have taken Critical Damage and are now Glitching. Pilot Actions take a -2 penalty.

I take this to mean...

• (i) While the Engineer might succeed at the check to reduce a Glitching system, it doesn't mean the condition has been removed. It is only treated as being "removed" for the moment.
  
• (ii) Since the Glitching condition on the Engines has been temporally removed for the moment, Pilot Actions do not take a -2 penalty.
  
• (iii) If the Engines take another Critical, they are now considered to be Malfunctioning, the patch (i.e. the early fix of the Glitching system) is removed and the new severity is now applied (i.e. the Engines are now Malfunctioning, not Glitched again).
  
• (iv) Since the Engines are now Malfunctioning, Pilot Actions take a -4 penalty and they cannot take "Push" Actions.
  
• (v) If a single Engineer wants to Patch a Malfunctioning Engine, then it will take at least two Rounds. The two successful rolls do not have to be consecutive but as long as the Engines don't take further Critical Damage between the successful rolls, the Engines will only count as Glitching once this has been done. Pilot Actions take a -2 penalty.
  
• (vi) The Engineer can now attempt to patch the Glitching Engines, if successful the Engines are temporally considered to back to "normal". Pilot Actions do not take a penalty.
  
• (vii) If the Engines take a third Critical, they are now considered to be Wrecked. The patch (i.e. the early fix of the Malfunctioning / Glitching system) is removed and the new severity is now applied (i.e. the Engines are now Wrecked, not Glitched or Malfunctioning). Pilot Actions that require a roll automatically fail. The Starship can still move and turn as normal but the Pilot can only take the Fly Action.

Critical Damage can be fixed but only outside Starship Combat (as per the rules on pages 321 and 322). This does actually remove the Glitching, Malfunctioning, or Wrecked Conditions.

Is the above correct?

["Dr." Cupi]

That is correct.

[Michael Gentry]

That all seems to make sense except for maybe a slight quibble with point (vi)? I would rule that you can't patch a Malfunctioning system twice in a row to remove the penalties entirely. Per point (i), after you patch the Malfunctioning system the first time, it's treated as though it were Glitching, but it's still actually a Malfunctioning system. Therefore the second patch is not being applied to a Glitching system but to a Malfunctioning one.

That said, it kind of hinges on how you choose to parse the phrase "treated as". Although I'd personally rule it as I described, your interpretation is probably equally legit.

[xris]

Michael Gentry wrote:

That all seems to make sense except for maybe a slight quibble with point (vi)? I would rule that you can't patch a Malfunctioning system twice in a row to remove the penalties entirely.

Interesting point! Just to be clear what you are saying.

Are you suggesting that step (vi) requires another two Action Patch to the Malfunctioning Engine (instead of just a single Action Patch to a Glitching Engine)?

You're not suggesting it can't be done, you're pointing out the Engines are still Malfunctioning (even if they are being "treated" temporarily as only Glitching) and as they are Malfunctioning then they will need a second two Action Patch at the higher DC (15 + 1/2 Tier).

This is a good point. I think I might agree with you on this. I might still allow my players to do this as it seems taking four rounds to do a Patch is rather long, the Combat will be over by then. But yes, good point.

Or are you suggesting you can't patch a Malfunctioning system twice in a row? If so, I'm not sure I understand this. Are you saying a single Engineer can't spread Patching a Malfunctioning system over two rounds (because that's the only way I can see how a single Engineer can do this). Or are you saying something else is stopping an Engineer spending consecutive rounds Patching the same system.

Thanks for the reply guys!

[Michael Gentry]

xris wrote:

Or are you suggesting you can't patch a Malfunctioning system twice in a row? If so, I'm not sure I understand this. Are you saying a single Engineer can't spread Patching a Malfunctioning system over two rounds (because that's the only way I can see how a single Engineer can do this). Or are you saying something else is stopping an Engineer spending consecutive rounds Patching the same system.

I'm suggesting that the patch action can only ever improve a given system one level higher than its "actual" status.

For example, you have malfunctioning engines, giving the Pilot -4 on all rolls. You patch them (using as many actions over as many rounds as that takes), so now they are treated as glitching for the purposes of determining action penalties. Pilot action penalties are now -2, but the engines are still malfunctioning. This means, if you patch them again, they would just be treated as though they are glitching, and since they are already being treated as glitching, there would be no effect.

In other words, you can't use patch make a malfunctioning engine go away entirely, the best you can do is improve it to glitching for the duration of the battle.

Also to clarify, this is how I think I would rule if it came up in my game (it hasn't ever, yet), but I think there are a number of valid ways to interpret it, depending on how tough you want to be on your players. (I don't do society play, so I have no thoughts on how they do it over there. )

[xris]

Michael Gentry wrote:

I'm suggesting that the patch action can only ever improve a given system one level higher than its "actual" status.

For example, you have malfunctioning engines, giving the Pilot -4 on all rolls. You patch them (using as many actions over as many rounds as that takes), so now they are treated as glitching for the purposes of determining action penalties. Pilot action penalties are now -2, but the engines are still malfunctioning. This means, if you patch them again, they would just be treated as though they are glitching, and since they are already being treated as glitching, there would be no effect.

In other words, you can't use patch make a malfunctioning engine go away entirely, the best you can do is improve it to glitching for the duration of the battle.

Ahhhh, I now see what you mean, thanks for explaining it further.

I can see the logic behind the interpretation. I will need to decide how I will GM this in the future, you've given me food for thought. Cheers!