D20 Modern Star-Ship Basics

Star ship Basics While the Force was the most complicated aspect for incorporating into d20 Modern rules, star ships have been the most challenging. Do to simply figuring out how to calculate the purchase DCs for the various craft but otherwise take them directly as is, or do a reconstruct of them using the rules given in d20 Future? While taking star ships directly from the core rulebooks is by far the easiest option, it really doesn't lend itself to balance very well. Take, for instance, personal weaponry. in the movies, personal weaponry doesn't seem capable of doing more than destroying the paint job of a ship, yet with the rpg stats a single storm trooper can destroy a small craft without even having to reload. This fact alone was almost enough to decide which option to use. Add to that fact that the various sources on the capabilities of Star Wars ships varies,

in some cases by an almost insane amount, and i'm left with having to reconstruct a multitude of craft. As i had been hoping to avoid such a workload, i sighed in defeat. Fortunately for me, d20 Future already has a large variety of pre constructed ships, and a plethora of rules for modifying them. Now all that remained was deciding on the base ships, and how i would modify it into the appropriate craft. i have broken the list of ships into different categories to help with finding what your adventure calls for. if you're trying to decide what kind of fighter support that neutral colony world is using, you don't want to have capitol ships interspersed throughout them. i have also had to create a few rules adjustments and ship systems. As these are universal changes, not for specific ships, they are posted below.

Star-ship Costs: The star-ships listed in d20 Future are a little overpriced for the universe. To properly represent ship prices, reduce the base purchase DCs of the star-ships by one-third, rounding fractions up (eg, a purchase DC 52 would become 34.667, rounding to 35). Star-ship weapon costs are all reduced by one-half (rounding fractions up) before any other modifiers. All other subsystems remain unchanged, and final

star-ship prices are calculated as normal (convert into dollars, or credits in this case, add together, then convert into a final purchase cost). Whenever a sub-light engine type is specified, and by all physical appearances, it seems that star-ships use some variant of an ion engine. Being as they seldom seem to need refueling (and when they do the process is soon over), we can assume that it is not the engines, but the fusion reactor that powers the ships that need the fuel. That said, we can treat all star-ships engines as particle impulse engines, but still use the stats from other engines to represent differences between performance ratings and manufacturers. Star-ships are also fitted with repulsor lifts for landing and take off. This functions similar to an induction engine, but only has a movement of 500 ft (one square) a round. While moving with this drive, a ship does not get a 500 ft adjust as normal. Also, due to the slow speeds at which it is traveling, the pilots dexterity modifier does not apply. Repulsor lift drives are included on all spacecraft, even ones that have no drive listed. This is either so that they do not damage spaceports and hangers, or to allow adjustment in orbit.

Weapons: No combat is complete (or even possible) without weapons. In the universe, almost every spacecraft has at least some form of armament. Blaster technology scaled up to immense proportions make up the majority of the offensive measures employed by the galaxy at large. Blasters (or lasers, as they are sometimes called) can be represented by laser, neutron, and particle weapons from the d20 Future book. Keep in mind that some alien species use divergent technologies, so other types are around, but likely quite rare. When ray shielding proves too much for your guns to deal with, you switch to missiles and torpedoes. These will generally have the benefit of being able to follow a target, which can make taking down an enemy craft that's close to a friend a bit easier. Concussion missiles can easily be represented with the nova burst missile. Proton torpedoes are best represented with star-load missiles. They represent the destructive capability best, and are also able to be mounted on most star-fighters.

Defenses: With all this destructive power coming at you ship, you'll want some way of averting it. Armor, shields, and stealth options all come in handy. As armor is fairly basic, all PL7 an below armor is available at the listed costs. Autopilot systems are nice additions, but few ships come with them per-installed. Point defense systems seem to be non-existent in Star Wars, at least among the factions we've seen fighting. it's quite probable some sectors utilize them, but the galaxy at large seems to decide that other systems are more critical for the cost. Particle shielding, mostly used to keep micrometeorites from damaging ship systems, also provides protection against missiles. Magnetic fields represent it the best. Ray shielding is a little more sensitive of an area. While a particle field best represents it, it does not wholly capture it's capabilities. Angling shields allows for greater protection from one direction, but leaves the rest unprotected. This has been a tricky issue to deal with, but the mechanics do work out. As a move action, a character may make a Computer use check (DC 15) to provide an additional +2 bonus against one specified target, but against all other targets the shield bonus does not apply. A second Computer use check (DC 15) is required to stabilize the deflectors. Damage control systems are generally not used during combat, as it requires a move action for the ship, and thereby lessens it's combat capabilities. They are frequently used outside of combat, as star-port repair charges add up over time. Top of the line ships are frequently fitted with repair drones, although star-fighters rarely have them, as such a system makes them too costly. Decoys, stealth screens, and other concealment devices are illegal in most civilized systems. Possession of one is commonly punishable by death, on assumption

of piracy or hostile military action. of course, unless a ship is heavily inspected, such a system will go by undetected unless used. Cloaking devices, such as the cloaking screen, are incredibly large and cannot be installed on ultralight star-craft. As this technology is also advanced and rare it's final cost is doubled, making it (15 + one-half the base purchase price of the star-ship

+ 5 for advanced technology) x 2.