Starship statistics & system

Except where noted otherwise, Starships are
based on the skyship rules provided on Books of Sorcery 1: WotLA, pages 30-33,
supplemented by the naval rules provided in the Scrolls of Esoteric Wisdom 2:
SoK, pages 42-44.

All starships are piloted with, and all rolls
correspond to (Wits + Sail), unless otherwise specified.

Construction

A Starship is a magitech construct, a powerful
device that uses Essence-manipulation and reality-alteration rituals in order
to stay functional. Most civilian Starships do not require supernatural
crafting or occult knowledge to operate, although all of them require it for
maintenance, repairing or construction. For this reason, and the fact that
Sorcerers are the only people capable of piloting Starships outside of
established routes, it is them that maintain most of the commerce throughout the
empire by issuing piloting permits and performing maintenance and construction
of ships and routes.

Some positions aboard a starship might require
complementary abilities, like Linguistics for communications, Awareness for
manipulating sensors or Craft (Magitech) for making on-the-spot repairs.
Finally, many repairs will suffer a difficulty penalty if the character does
not have either Crafts (Air) or Crafts (Fire) – for example, repairing a Starship’s
armor plating suffers a -3i penalty if the character does not have Crafts
(Fire), while repairing engines or weapons suffers a -3i penalty if they lack
Crafts (Air). Neither is required for basic maintenance.

Basic maintenance requires the character to have
a Crafts (Magitech) rating equal to the level of the Starship being maintained.
Maintenance must generally be done once a month, or else the ship becomes
erratic. Erratic ships reduce the level of their Warp Drive, Shielding, and
Engines by 1, to a minimum of 0. Each failure at Maintenance reduces them by 1
more, until the ship is nonfunctional. Generally, actual repairs are required
to fix a ship that has become erratic. Maintenance has a cost equal to the
Artifact level of the ship. The time it takes is based on the size of the ship;
see the Frame section of the Starship background for more details. If a ship
must remain running while maintenance is underway, the duration of maintenance
is doubled, and the required Crafts (Magitech) for it to be automatic increases
by 1.

Starships grow increasingly complex as they
become larger, and proper repairs become difficult. Level 1 and 2 Starships
have a Repair rating of 2. Level 3 and 4 Starships have a Repair rating of 3.
Level 5 and N/A Starships have a Repair rating of 4. However, as large
artifacts, the Maintenance modifiers for the Frame also apply to Repair times.

Statistics

All Starships have the following statistics,
based on the sky ships located in Wonders of the Lost Age.

THRUST: The thrust of a Starship is its maximum
output power for sub-light travel and is expressed in thousands of kilometers
per hour (or meters per tick under combat time, separated by a slash). Large
ships suffer a Thrust penalty; this is reduced from the ship’s total speed. As
with other vehicles, Starships cannot Dash (but see Boost, below.)

SPEED:
The speed of a Starship is its maximum hyper-luminic cruising speed and is
measured in Brynns. The formulas to relate Brynns and speed are  and  . Transluminic drives
cannot be engaged inside an atmosphere, as the concentration and energy to fold
dense space is beyond that of even the

greatest Sorcerers.

BATTERY:
Starships use vast quantities of essence, and as such, rely on batteries to
supply them. Batteries come in varying sizes, depending on
their application. A player must decide upon embarking if he will recharge the
Essence battery directly or if he will use a hearthstone. Recharging the
battery directly requires a person to remain in the Engine room during the
course of the flight, and this method is highly inefficient as 2 motes of
Personal Essence will recharge a mote of the Battery. Using hearthstones is the
preferred way to charge a battery, Every hour, a hearthstone will provide a
battery with its Rating in motes.

MANEUVERABILITY: A Starship’s maneuverability is
added to the Wits + Sail roll for all piloting attempts. Large Starships also
suffer a penalty to maneuvering. All Starships suffer a -4e Maneuver penalty
while within an Atmosphere. Starships use their Maneuver rating in place of
Essence to determine their Dodge DVs (along with the Wits + Sail of their
pilots).

CREW: This is the minimum number of people
required to pilot a Starship. Depending on the Starship, this can be a very
small or moderately large number. Crew numbers do not cover any dedicated
gunners or pilots for other ships berthed on a Starship. If a crew is operating
between half and full efficiency, a Starship suffers a -1 die penalty to all
actions, including repairs and maneuvers. If a crew is operating between half
and a quarter, the penalty increases to -3, and if the crew is under one
quarter, the penalty is -6.

CARGO: This covers the number of passengers or
amount of extra space that a ship can comfortably hold. This number tends to
grow much faster than that for the Crew. Passenger numbers are in addition to
crew.

ARMOR: The soak of the ship. Starships are
considered to be of ‘First Age’ construction; their soak is entirely armor, but
damage is rolled against them normally.  While magical materials are used in
the hull, hulls are not made entirely of the magical materials (as a rule), and
thus they can be damaged normally.

HEALTH LEVELS: Starships use the Health Level
rules found on page 30 of Wonders of the Lost Age: Undamaged, Minor Damage,
Critical Damage, Inoperative, and Destroyed. And they’re modified as follows:

Crafts currently under “Minor Damage” will see
their speed and maneuverability reduced to one half and thrust reduced to two
thirds. (In the case of thrust, round down to the closest multiple of 2.5).

Crafts currently under “Critical Damage” will
see their maneuverability reduced to 0, their speed reduced to one quarter and
their thrust to one half. (In the case of thrust, round down to the closest
multiple of 2.5).

Crafts in the “Inoperative” condition cannot
move or fire their weapons. Their speed, thrust and maneuverability is
effectively 0. The Communications Array and Escape Pods are the only systems
that will work on an Inoperative vessel. In these conditions, the cost for
maintaining the ship’s frame operative doubles, if there’s a hearthstone
connected to the battery, it ceases to transmit motes and life support will
last for as long as the battery has enough motes to power the frame.

WEAPONS: Starship weapons cost a number of motes
per shot, otherwise they function normally.

Starships use the Inoperative Vehicles,
Destruction, Ramming, and Piloting Rolls rules found on pages 32-33 of Wonders of
the Lost Age. Note that space itself doesn’t have a “ground” but often
destroyed or inoperative ships might drift and crash with planets, asteroids,
moons or other disabled ships.

Starship Background

Starships are extremely complex devices, using a
number of interlocking devices. These devices: the Frame, Warp Drive, Impulse
Thrusters, Shielding, Weapons, Communications Array, Sensors and Battery
determine the overall power level of a Starship in Artifact points.

● – Simple
personal ships, usually used for small intra-system trips or landing directly
without using a Space Elevator: 11 Points to construct a Starship.

●● – Typical
passenger transport or cargo ship, used by most civilians in their day-to-day
trips: 16 points to construct a Starship.

●●●
– Most standard military vessels fall in this category: 25 points to construct
a Starship.

●●●●
- A powerful and versatile ship. These Starships are very rare and expensive,
only the wealthiest houses or the Imperial family can afford them: 35 Points to
construct a Starship.

●●●●●
- One of the truly marvelous Starships, this great ship may be legendary, only
the Academy of Sorcery possesses ships like these: 48 Points to construct a Starship.

Frame

First, the characters must decide how large the
ship is. Larger ships can carry much more cargo and personnel, but are slow and
ponderous. Larger ships also increase the cost for Shielding, Life Support and Warp
Drives, as there is more energy needed to cover them. A Starship’s Frame
controls her Crew, Cargo, Armor, and Health ratings, along with having a base
mote requirement, and modifying both Speed and Repair times.

Small (1 pt): Generally just a cockpit for one
or two people, usually a fighter or courier, uses 2 motes per day to power.
Armor: 4/6/4 B/L/A. Structural Levels: Ux6/Mx4/C x1/I x1/D. Minimum Crew: 1

Medium (2 pts): Contains a cockpit and one to
three secondary rooms, plus engine and technology space. Could comfortably hold
ten to twenty people, uses 4 motes per day to power. Armor: 6/8/6 B/L/A.
Structural Levels: Ux11/Mx6/Cx2/Ix2/D. Minimum Crew: 3

Large (4 pts): Contains a cockpit, engine room,
and two or three central rooms plus eight to ten small side rooms and a cargo
area that might also fit one or two Size 1 Starships, can comfortably suit about
a hundred passengers, uses 6 motes per day to power. Armor: 9/10/8 B/L/A.
Structural Levels: Ux16/Mx10/Cx3/Ix3/D. Maneuver Rating: -1, Thrust: -1.8/5.0, Repair
Time: x2. Minimum Crew: 10.

Massive (5 pts): In addition to a bridge, engine
room, gunnery stations, and ten to twelve subsidiary rooms, it has anywhere
from a twenty to about two hundred crew quarters, as well as one or two bays
capable of holding cargo, or four to six Size 1 Starships; alternately, it may
have a cargo bay for two Size 2 Starship or a single Size 3 Starship, uses 8
motes a day to power. Armor: 11/12/10 B/L/A. Structural Levels: Ux22/Mx14/Cx4/Ix4/D.
Maneuver Rating: -2, Thrust: -2.7/7.5. Increases Essence cost of Warp Drive and
Shields by 1/3, Repair Time: x3. Minimum Crew: 20

Incredible (7 pts): This huge Starship contains
a bridge, engine room, gunnery stations, generally has two to three cargo bays
and at least two to three launch bays for ten to twelve Size 1 ships, each of
which could also fit four or five Size 2 ships or up to three Size 3 ships. It
also contains anywhere from fifty to over a half thousand crew quarters, and a
dozen secondary rooms, uses 10 motes a day, Armor: 14/15/12 B/L/A. Structural
Levels: Ux27/Mx17/Cx5/Ix5/D. Maneuver Rating: -2, Thrust: -4.5/12.5. Increases
Essence cost of Warp Drive and Shields by 2/3, Repair Time: x5. Minimum Crew: 50

Warp Drive

Low-Power Engine (1 pt): The most basic of
transluminic engines, generally used by shuttle pods or intra-system
transports, has a maximum speed of 1.5 Brynns. Cost: 1 motes per day.

Sub-Par Engine (2 pts): Slightly better than the
Low-Power models, these drives are used mostly in merchant freighters or
personal transports. Speed: 3 Brynns. Cost: 2 motes per day.

Standard Engine (3 pts): This is the standard
issue drive for most military vessel and newer civilian ships. Has a maximum
Speed of 5 Brynns. Cost: 3 motes per day.

Advanced Engine (4 pts): This expensive engine
is uncommon and used mostly on imperial vessels subject to urgency. Speed: 6.5
Brynns. Cost: 5 motes per day.

Frigate Engine (5 pts): These engines are
usually reserved to ships owned by The Academy of Sorcery and are rarely seen
anywhere else. Speed: 8 Brynns. Cost: 6 motes per day.

Intrepid Engine (6 pts): These are the fastest
engines currently in existence. Only the newest ships owned by the Academy of
Sorcery are fitted with them. Speed: 9.5 Brynns. Cost: 8 motes per day.

Thrusters

While Warp Drives are used for inter-system
travel, the speeds provided by them are generally incompatible with things
other than travel; thrusters are normally used to travel short distances,
maneuvering, docking or combat.

Low-Power Thrusters (1 pt): These thrusters are
the bare minimum needed to move a ship. Output: 11520/3200, Maneuvering: +0,
Boost: 500. Cost: 1 motes per day of operation.

Standard Thrusters (2 pts): These thrusters
provide decent speed and a somewhat improved maneuverability. Output: 15480/4300,
Maneuvering: +1, Boost: 750. Cost: 2 motes per day of operation.

Military Thrusters (3 pts): Military thrusters
are especially designed for combat, they provide increased maneuverability. Output:
20160/5600, Maneuvering: +2, Boost: 1000. Cost: 3 motes per day of operation.

Courier Thrusters (3 pts): These thrusters offer
a greater speed, albeit sacrificing some maneuverability. Output: 23040/6400, Maneuvering:
+1, Boost: 1500. Cost: 5 motes per day of operation.

Thrust Vectoring System (4 pts): These advanced
thrusters have a mechanism allowing the pilot to modify the direction of thrust
of each individual thruster, providing a notable gain in maneuverability. Output:
17280/4800, Maneuvering +3, Boost: 800. Cost: 6 motes per day of operation.

High-Yield Thrusters (5 pts): These are the
state of the art in thruster technology and are seldom seen on any but the
newest and most advanced ships. Output: 28800/8000, Maneuvering: +3, Boost: 2000.
Cost: 7 motes per day of operation.

Shields

While Starships are sturdy due to the jade that
reinforces their frames, they are still prone to injury while travelling at
high speeds. This is why shielding devices have been developed to protect ships
from the dangers of space or attack by other vessels. Shields provide an extra
layer of defense to the ship’s hull; they’re most effective against energy
weapons and are amongst the first systems to be disabled on a ship. All
shields, regardless of their level, will become inoperative once the ship loses
its last “Undamaged” Health level. Shields are affected by an onslaught penalty
similar to DVs. When receiving multiple attacks in a single tick, shields have
a cumulative -1 soak penalty against each attack after the first.

Weak Shields (1 pt): Provides only a mild
protection against most weaponry. Soak: 0/3/4 B/L/A, Hardness: 0/2/3 B/L/A.
Cost: 2 motes per scene.

Standard Shielding (2 pts): The kind possessed
by most starships in case of trouble. Soak: 3/6/8 B/L/A, Hardness: 2/4/6 B/L/A.
Cost: 3 motes per scene.

Combat Shields (3 pts): Shields specially tuned
for combat. Soak: 4/9/10 B/L/A, Hardness: 3/7/7 B/L/A. Cost: 4 motes per scene.

Advanced Military Shields (4 pts): usually
possessed by advanced military ships. Soak: 4/11/12 B/L/A, Hardness: 3/7/8 B/L/A.
Cost: 6 motes per scene.

Top-Grade Shields (5 pts): The best energy
shields available. Soak: 7/15/18 B/L/A, Hardness: 5/12/15 B/L/A. Cost: 8 motes
per scene.

Weapons

* Treat multiple shots by this weapon in
the same action as a single, continuous attack that does not suffer multiple-action penalties unless other weapons are involved.

** This weapon imposes -4i penalty for a
complete action on the target and any adjacent ships.

*** If the attack hits, this weapon deals
half its damage to any ships within a hundred meters of the target.

Batteries

Due to the large amounts of essence used by
Starships, they’re generally equipped with large batteries to store and supply
it.

Shuttle-class Battery (1 pt): The smallest
batteries available, used to power small or simple ships. Capacity: 50 motes.

Merchant Battery (2 pt): Slightly larger essence
battery, widely used for ships that need go a bit faster or use some additional
systems. Capacity: 75 motes.

Large Battery (3 pt): Larger batteries, designed
for more complex ships. Capacity: 100 motes.

Military Battery (5 pt): Large battery designed
specifically for combat ships that use costly weapons and shields. Capacity: 130
motes.

Colossal Battery (6 pts): These immense
batteries are designed for the most advanced ships owned by The Academy of
Sorcery. Capacity: 180 motes.

Other Systems

Communications Array (1 pt): Most ships use
specialized devices, based on the charm “Wind-Carried Words Technique” that can
fold messages into an essence pattern and transmit them through subspace
towards their destination. This device uses 2 motes per scene and allows the
transmission of messages within distances up to 1 light year. Additional motes
may be used to extend its range. Each 2 additional motes extend the maximum
range by a factor of 5.  A character may use charms to encrypt messages sent
over these systems normally.

Targeting System (2 pts): This system was
designed mainly to supplement ships with small crews. It allows a character to
interface with it and replace his Archery rating with either his Sail or
Awareness ratings for the purpose of firing weapons, costs 2 motes per scene of
use.

Active Defense System (3 pts): This system was
designed mainly to supplement ships with small crews. It uses the ship’s warp
engines to create a weak field as a perimeter and detect fluctuations in the
field caused by ballistic weapons. A dedicated Essence Beam then aids in
shooting them down. Mechanically, this system gives a +4 bonus to Parry DV,
costs 3 motes per use.

Escape Pods (2 pts): Spread throughout the ship,
escape pods are made of Jade, Generally, ships have as many escape pods as half
their crew capacity, each escape pod may hold two persons. Pods have the
following statistics: Low-Power Thrusters and 15/6/4 B/L/A soak and hardness.
Each escape pod is equipped with an emergency 10-mote essence battery and a
basic atmosphere system, able to supply fresh air at a cost of 1 mote per day
of use.

Sensor Array (2 pts): By harmonizing with the
essence patterns of nearby vessels, sensors enable a crew to assess potential
threats. As a reflexive action, a ship’s crew may roll (Perception + Awareness
or Sail), with (Essence) in automatic successes. One success reveals the kinds
of weapons possessed by an enemy ship. With three successes, one can also sense
the specifications of their thrusters and other systems. Five successes on this
roll net the character all of this information plus the current status of the
ship in terms of essence reserves and damage, costs 2 motes per use.

Ablative Armor (3 pts): Made especially for
combat, this optional extra suit of armor grants a ship an extra two “Undamaged”
Structural Levels. This armor does not have an associated essence cost to power
as it’s just an extra layer of protection that flakes off when under attack.
This upgrade increases repairing time by a factor of 1.5 and the ablative armor
cannot be repaired on the fly.

Combat

Starship combat works essentially identical to
regular Exalted combat. There are a few modified or new rules, which will be
explained here.

Action Options

During a tick in which he may act, a character
may execute a myriad of different actions. This section explains the different
action possibilities and their characteristics.

• Activate Charm/Combo (Varies / Varies):
  This action works per RAW on the Exalted Corebook.
• Lock (3 / -1): This action is identical to
  Exalted’s “Aim” action, as described in the core book.
• Attack (Varies / -1): Attacking uses the
  same rules as regular attacks; the dice pool for attacking with starship
  weapons is (Wits + Archery + Weapon’s Accuracy + Applicable Specialties +
  Other Bonuses). Additionally, one may choose to attack a particular system
  on board a ship, instead of the entire ship. To do this, a player must
  declare a called shot and specify what sub-system is being targeted. If
  the attack is successful and deals at least three levels of damage, the
  system is taken offline. Attacks executed in this fashion suffer an
  external penalty depending on the targeted system, according to the
  following table:









Engines	:	-2e
Weapons	:	-4e
Thrusters	:	-3e
Shield Generators	:	-3e
Other Components	:	-2e





• Boost (Reflexive): Thrusters can increase
  their output for short times in combat or dangerous situations. At a cost
  of 2 motes per tick, Thrust is increased based on the Boost amount noted
  on the engine. Boost increases the difficulty of all Piloting rolls
  (Includes attacking, among other things) by 2 except for DV which
  increases by half the thrusters’ Maneuver rating.


• Dash: Starships cannot Dash; see Boost
  instead.


• Evasive Maneuvers (3 / 0): This action is
  identical to Exalted’s “Guard” action, as described in the Corebook.


• Flurry (Varies / Varies): Flurrying uses
  the rules outlined in the Exalted Corebook, except for the case of Essence
  Beams; see the Weapons table for more details.


• Miscellaneous Action (5 / -1): This is
  actually a variety of different actions, all with the same speed and DV
  penalty. Most Miscellaneous actions described in the Corebook are not
  applicable to Starships; actions not detailed here would belong in this
  category, however.


• Reroute Power (5 / -2): During combat, a
  crewmember with a Craft (Magitech) of at least 2 may attempt to reroute power
  to damaged systems in order to bring them back online. To do so, he must roll
  Intelligence + Craft (Magitech), at a difficulty equal to (1 + the external
  penalty imposed by a called shot aimed at taking that system down), this is a
  miscellaneous action that takes 5 ticks. If the character does not have enough
  Craft (Magitech), increase the difficulty by one for each dot he’s missing.
  Systems powered in this way increase their cost of operation by one quarter
  (rounded up) until turned off and repaired properly.

• Move (0 / None): This action works as
  described by the Exalted Corebook, but the maximum rate of movement per
  tick is the second value listed under a Thruster’s Output.

Attack Resolution and Steps

Attack resolution uses the following set of
steps:

Step 1 – Attack Declaration: The attacker must
declare his attack, this includes his target and any charms or combos used, if
any.

Step 2 – Defense Declaration: The defender must
declare a valid defense for the attack, along with any charms that may
supplement it. If he declares a Dodge, the defender may turn his Boost on. One
may only parry Essence weapons with other Essence weapons.

Dodge
DV: The character attempts to dodge an attack, this value is equal to half
(Wits + Sail + Maneuverability), rounded up.

Parry
DV: The character attempts to stop an attack by countering it with one of his
weapons, this value is equal to half (Wits + Archery + Defense of desired
weapon + Applicable Specialties + Other Bonuses), rounded up.

Step 3 – Attack Roll: At this step, the attacker
must roll the appropriate dice pool for his attack.

Step 4 – Attack Reroll: The attacker may re-roll
his attack on this step if he so wishes and has access to re-roll effects.

Step 5 – Substract External Penalties/Apply
Special Defenses: All external penalties to the attack are applied in this
step, the defender’s DV is the last one of these.

Step 6 – Defense Reroll: The defender may re-roll
his defense on this step if he so wishes and has access to re-roll effects.

Step 7 – Calculate Raw Damage: Raw damage equals
the weapon’s listed damage value plus the extra successes achieved on the
attack roll and any damage that might be added by charms. There’s three
different forms of damage. Bashing damage corresponds to blunt impacts and
represents crashing or solid projectiles. Lethal damage represents explosive
weaponry and Aggravated damage represents Essence Weaponry. Different damage
types are inconsequential to a ship besides the fact that a ship’s defenses are
not equally effective against all types.

Step 8 – Apply Hardness and Soak: If an attack
cannot penetrate a shield’s hardness, the attack is dispersed without causing
any damage, if it deals more damage than the listed Hardness, then both the
shield’s and frame’s soak must be applied to the raw damage. When receiving
multiple attacks in a single tick, shields have a cumulative -1 soak penalty
against each attack after the first.

Step 9 – Counterattacks: If available to the
defender, he may use a Counterattack in this step, per the rules found in the
core book.

Step 10 – Roll Damage/Apply Results: This is the
final step of attack resolution and works as described in the Exalted corebook.