Combat happens often in the Magitech Chronicles, and much of it takes place in the void. Dragons brawl with starships, and you as the GM need to keep track of it all.
I am a science fiction author by trade, and I had to decide how much actual science I wanted to use. Simplicity is the watchword of The Magitech Chronicles, but we still want fairly realistic combat.
Here's how space combat differs from regular combat:
Velocity
All ships have a velocity rating. Each turn a pilot may spend an action to increase or decrease velocity by 1. Speeding up and slowing down takes concentration if you're a mage, physical effort if you're a Wyrm, and fuel if you're in a conventional starship.
Most vessels have a velocity of 3. Each time they raise their speed they multiply the velocity times the speed. If a vessel can move 10, and a pilot spends both of their actions to accelerate to velocity 3, then they are now moving 30 (squares or hexes, depending on what you have handy), and will move 30 that turn.
When the ship moves again each move will be 30. Not 20. Not 10. A full 30, like it or not. You are moving at speed, until you decide to decelerate.
When targeting a vessel in combat their dodge is increased by their velocity, so if a cruiser had a dodge of 4, and was going velocity 2, then their effective dodge would be a 6.
Magical Piloting
Piloting a starship with magic requires a spelldrive, which is wired into the core of the ship. Every spelldrive is different, and some are built to only work with specific aspects. Some can work with all aspects, though such vessels are exceedingly rare. Most spelldrives are very specialized.
The Mark VII above takes void, life, and fire, but can be customized to work with other aspects.
Air Drives
Air capable drives are generally limited to atmospheric flight. Air drives can accept dream as a substitute, since the aspects are sympathetic and dream will morph to fit its environment.
Life Drives
Life drives create plasma in an engine chamber, and expel that plasma to create thrust. They can be used in atmosphere, or post-atmospheric flight.
Dream Drives
Dream drives literally warp reality to move the vessel. Dream is nearly as versatile as void, though usually slower, and with less precision.
Fire Drives
Fire drives are extremely similar to life drives, though far more popular. They create fire, which is expelled through an engine as thrust. Fire drives can be used in both atmospheric and post-atmospheric flight.
Void Drives
Void drives are the cream of the crop, as void is the undisputed master of propulsion. Void can literally teleport, and uses gravity magic for moment. Void drives can be used anywhere, including underwater.
Earth Drives
Earth drives are more common than you'd expect. They summon highly volatile minerals into an engine chamber, where they are converted into thrust. Earth drives can typically be used in atmospheric and post-atmospheric flight.
Spirit Drives
Spirit drives convert souls into propulsion, and are only employed by the Krox. Even the Krox often look askance of such devices, though many binders take a very waste not want not approach to souls and have no problem using such drives.
Water Drives
Water drives are the rarest of all, outside of dream. They typically only function in underwater environments.
Spell Matrices
A mage needs a spell matrix to connect to a spell drive. The artwork is being worked on, but should be here by the time you are reading this.
The mage taps the sigils on the bronze, gold, and silver rings depending on how powerful a spell or effect they are attempting to use. Most matrices are now universal, but some are limited to offensive spells, or defensive spells like wards.
A vessel with 3 matrices could have one mage warding the vessel, while one mage is evading, and another is casting a disintegrate.
Mages can all contribute magic to the same spell if their matrices are universal. This allows many mages to power spells, vastly increasing their magnitude. This is how magic can stand up to the mighty Ternus fleets.
Elevation
Outside of velocity there aren't too many differences from standard combat. You're just on a larger map, and (hopefully) in a ship that has a lot more armor and hit points than you do.
There's only one wrinkle. Ships can move in all three dimensions, so how do you represent that on a two dimensional map? All vessels and scenery will place a die next to them if they leave elevation 1. The die reflects their current elevation, and is the only time a d20 is useful in this system.
If your vessel goes beyond that you can track it another way, but make sure each vessel has an elevation. This requires a little tracking, but what we've found in combat is that most ships fight as if they're on a 2 dimensional battlefield, and only slightly vary their elevation.
Also remember that elevation can go negative if you are in space.
Actions
Pilot Actions
Each vessel's attacks / actions are equal to the total of crewed consoles or spellmatrices. (note: an advanced AI can take the place of a crewmember, but still requires a console to act during the turn)
Move - Pilots must fly the ship the entire movement allocated each round. They may spend an action to accelerate or decelerate within the limits of the ship's velocity. See below.
Attacks
Beam Weapons – attack resolves against target ship’s Dodge, then Shield Strength is subtracted from damage, and damage is applied to shield HP first.
Guided Weapons – missiles and torpedos have guidance systems providing higher accuracy. They can, however, be shot down by active defenses and deflected/disrupted by passive defenses.
Depletion – firing a weapon puts it into the “depleted” state. An action must be spent to recharge the weapon before it can be fired again.
Perception - scanning with sensors reveals information about target
DT1 = public ID information, positions
DT2 = velocity, possible trajectory
DT3 = trajectory, possible destinations
DT4+ = technical details about a particular ship, DT based on value of knowledge
Accelerate/Decelerate – spend an action increasing/decreasing speed by 1 velocity increment
Recharge - The pilot may perform one recharge action for free each round, either recharging a weapon system or adding +25% HP to the shield.
Power Cores - Each power core beyond the first provides an additional recharge action that can be used. An action must still be expended on recharging.
Crew Actions
Any crew may perform the following actions with a console instead of executing an attack.
Balance Shields – Engineering roll DT2. +10% shield power recharge through efficient shield management.
Damage Control – repair +10% HP through efficient system rerouting.
Scrounge Power – Engineering roll DT4, initiate a recharge action, even if no recharge actions remain. Useable once per combat.
Repair System – if a ship’s systems are damaged, an Engineering roll DT = number of systems damaged. Successful roll indicates temporary repair, lasting remainder of combat. Further damage can undo repairs.
Ready Countermeasures – hesitate action, preparing countermeasures. Upon attack, Engineering roll adds successes to dodge when countermeasures are activate.
Lock On – obtain weapons lock, adding Engineering roll successes to all Gunnery rolls by all crew.
Called Shot – target a ship’s systems, aiming for weak points. Perception DT = criticality of system to locate target, attack at penalty = perception DT, vs. opponent’s Skepticism instead of Dodge. Successful attack results in no HP damage, but loss of system until repaired.
Perception - scanning with sensors reveals information about target
DT1 = public ID information, positions
DT2 = velocity, possible trajectory
DT3 = trajectory, possible destinations
DT4+ = technical details about a particular ship, DT based on value of knowledge
Combat Maneuvers
Pilots may spend an action to initiate any of the following maneuvers.
Barrel Roll – hesitate and prep the Barrel Roll maneuver. Upon enemy attack, add 2x piloting roll successes to dodge. Must be at velocity 2 or higher
Pursuit – match velocity and stay on enemy’s tail. Requires +1 velocity higher than enemy. Add piloting roll successes to Gunnery.
Flip and Burn – if being pursued, drop -1 velocity and perform a 180 degree turn, and take an attack. Dodge -2.
Strafe – take a single attack during the move action, at any point during the move, adding piloting success to Gunnery. Must be at +1 velocity higher than enemy.
Taunt – if in radio contact, taunt your opponent. Add Negotiation successes to Piloting until opponent no longer taunted (opposed Negotiation each round).
Break Off – if opponent has successfully obtained weapons lock, the pilot can attempt to break it off through evasive maneuvers. Piloting roll vs. DT = lock on bonus.
Ship Captains may spend an action on the following.
Rally – inspire crew, +2 all crew actions
Tactics – Warfare roll DT = bonus to either Piloting or Gunnery desired
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