Torpedoes

“I think it was from a
story that my mother
read to me when I was
young, from an ancient
book. Its stories still
ring true so many
thousands of years later.
“I saw the Draconian
Goliath, and I asked
myself, what else could
defeat such a creatures
but a rock thrown by a
young man in his first
battle?”
Hamad laughed at
that all the way home.
76
Deflection
Deflection simulates the effect of a
target’s aspect in relation to the firer. Due
to the ships’ relative movement, it is more
difficult to hit a target with cannons if it’s
crossing your field of fire than if it’s moving
toward or away from you. Additionally,
sitting ducks (i.e., ships with a Drive of 0)
are incredibly easy to hit, especially if you’re
heading directly toward or away from the
mostly stationary ship.
To use the Deflection To Hit Modifiers
Table, read across its top to find which of
the defender’s firing arcs the attacker is in.
Then read down the table’s side to determine
which of the attacker’s firing arcs the
defender occupies. Cross-index the row and
column to determine the Attack Dice To
Hit modifier for this attack.
Add the modifiers presented in the chart
at the top of the page to your cannon’s Attack
Dice total to figure if there is a hit.
Deflection modifiers do not affect damage.
If a vessel occupies two eligible firing arcs
(is in a hex on the border between adjacent
firing arcs), the defender chooses which of
the available columns and rows of the Deflection
Table to use for that attack.
Example: Mark’s Salamander fires at
Dan’s Epping with his 360° Pulse Laser.
Mark determines that he is in the
Epping’s Rear Quarter Right firing arc,
so he goes to the Rear Quarter Right
column of the Deflection Chart. Next,
he sees that Dan is in his Front Quarter
Left firing arc, so he cross indexes
on the Front Quarter Left row of the
Deflection Chart. The result is a +1,
so when Mark rolls the Attack Dice,
he adds +1 for To Hit purposes.
Deflection To Hit Modifiers Table
Defender is in this
Attacker is in this Arc of the Defender
Firing Arc of the Attacker F FQL FQR R RQL RQR Target
Has Drive 0
Front 0 –2 –2 +1 0 0 +2
Front Quarter Left –2 –1 +1 +1 –1 +1 +1
Front Quarter Right –2 +1 –1 +1 +1 –1 +1
Rear +1 0 0 0 –1 –1 +2
Rear Quarter Left 0 –1 +1 0 –1 –1 +1
Rear Quarter Right 0 +1 –1 0 –1 –1 +2
Automatic Hits
and Misses
Some situations may arise where a target
becomes hit-proof against certain weapons,
while others ships become so susceptible
to attacks that its rare that they’re ever
missed. To remedy this, you may institute
the automatic hits and misses options.
When using auto hits and misses, it’s
important to differentiate the Base Attack
Dice from the Attack Die Bonus. There’s
little problem when the Attack Die Bonus
is of a different size than the Base Attack
Dice, but when they are the same (e.g.,
3D6), you’ll have to use different colored
dice, noting one as the Attack Die Bonus
and the others as the Base Attack Dice.
Automatic Hits
A target is automatically hit if the Base
Attack Dice come up as doubles of their
highest possible value (e.g., two sixes on
2D6, or two eights on 2D8). The Defensive
Value of the target is ignored in the case of
an automatic hit. It is hit regardless.
Automatic Misses
A target is automatically missed if the
Base Attack Dice come up as double 1s. The
Defensive Value of the target is ignored. The
target is not hit, regardless of the resulting
Attack Dice total.
Range Increments
You may find that the range increments
on the Master Weapons Table do not sufficiently
reflect the effects of range on cannon
fire. In this case, use the range increments
and To Hit modifiers on the Alternate
Range Effects Table (page 165).