Delta Vector Space Game - Damage System 2.0

For those interested, here are some proposed changes I've made to damage rules for my homebrew space game. Most of rules are "general" rather  than specific as I'm just looking at the feel of the rules, rather than precise balance etc. 

Weapons

I want only a few types of weapons, in order to make it easier to balance. But I want them to act quite differently.  Most notably, ranges are measured in different ways.  

LASERS.  The benchmark weapon.  The firer measures from the closest its course comes to the target ship. Loses effectiveness at range.  Varieties: pew-pew, and continuous beam

KINETICS.  These are measured from the closest the firer comes to the target’s vector marker (future location.)   Easily dodged by agile ships. Varieties:  pew-pew, continuous fire (minigun-style), and shotgun

MISSILES.  These are launched from the firer’s vector marker (future location) and attack enemy ships within/moving though a certain radius.  This means missiles act a bit like hostile terrain that should be avoided.  Varieties: multirole, swarm, torpedo, mine

Click on the photo to enlarge.  It shows how kinetic and laser weapons measure range differently. 

 

This shows how missiles work. Ships (a) and (b) can be attacked as they either start within or pass through the missile attack radius. Missiles will work this way (or similar fashion) to provide area "terrain"  and also emphasize the important of vector movement. 

Damage System 2.0

To hit:  A dice is compared against a target number.  If it exceeds the target number (ship size/agility), it does that many hits. (Capped at a maximum of 3 or so)    Example:  A laser battery fires.  It rolls a dice (d10) against a target number (let’s say 4).  A 6 is rolled, resulting in 2 hits.  

To damage:  A dice is compared to a target number. If it exceeds the target number (defence), it does that much damage.   Example:  The two laser hits are rolled.  Perhaps they are small lasers and use a d6.  Anyway, the TN to beat is 4 again.   The dice come up 3, and 6.  The 3 has no effect.  The 6 results in 2 damage rolls.

Damage Chart (“Systems Only Damage”)

I’m not sure if I’ll use this, or a d8 or d10 to allow more locations.  Basically each ship data card will have one and it describes the location and effect of a hit. 

Example: We roll two d6 rolls for our laser hit and consult the chart.  A ‘2’ and a ‘5’ is rolled. The boxes are ticked off.  The next turn the ship must choose to halve shields or thrust, and halves its turreted weapons.    If the roll was two ‘2’s – both hits on the same location - the second hit would mean the ship could not use its turrets at all. 

Roll	First hit	Second hit
1	Thrusters hit – halve thrust	No thrust
2	Turrets hit – halve firepower	No shooting from turrets – also roll d6 – ‘6’ ship explodes from capacitor hit
3	Weapon Bay hit – halve missile firepower	No missiles – also roll d6 – ‘6’ ship explodes from magazine hit
4	Hull Breach – penalty to all crew rolls	Hull breaks up – ship destroyed – also roll d6 – ‘6’ ship explodes from reactor breach
5	Hull (Power Grid) – halve thrust or shields	No shields, thrust reduced to 1
6	Sensors – halve detection/command range	No offensive reactions; penalty to command rolls – any special systems are knocked out

This is just an example chart and is by no means my final decision.  I quite like the “systems damage only” because each hit is meaningful. 

This is a bit more complex than my original idea.  This had only two possible locations, and didn’t need an extra “hit location” roll (I just looked to see if the original to hit roll was odds or evens).

Roll	First hit	Second hit
Odds	Weapons halved	Weapons out
Evens	Thrusters halved	Thrusters out

A third hit to any location destroyed the ship.

 

Since I’ve decided to halve the amount of ships, I think I might go the “grittier” approach, as it isn’t really more to remember (effects are explained as you tick it off on the card) and it’s still less recording than Full Thrust and about as complex as Warmachine (which was my design goal). 

I don't like more complication, but with less ships, I'd like to make them more individually interesting.