WCRPG Combat Demo

capi3101

Admiral
Morning, all. Er...afternoon, evening...sucks to try and figure out what to say when you've got folks on a forum from all over the world. Let's just go with howdy. There. Nice local colloquialism.

Anyways...

Two weeks ago I received the following PM from Sinclair:
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Hello,

I was an old member of the WCRPG for many, many years and am greatly curious about the work you have been doing. A few friends and I have been talking about playing a game set in the wing commander universe again but unfortunately, none of the current RPGs and communities seem to really fit what we are looking for. I was wondering if you would be able to provide some additional information, specifically related to space ship combat, or if a demo would at all be possible, as the rules, while similar, are somewhat different to what we are used to.

Thanks a lot
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Here was my response:
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I'd be willing to put together some kind of demo for y'all, though bear in mind that I am knee deep in proofreading at the moment, so it may be a while before I can put it together.

To help me better tailor the demo for y'all, let me ask you a couple of questions:
1) Which era are y'all wanting to play in? Or (perhaps a better question) which one are you used to?
2) Which WCRPG are y'all familar with? I'm assuming The Edge Of Chaos but I know there are a few other Wing Commander-themed RPGs (such as the one written by Michael Coe).
3) What would constitute a satisfactory demo for you (a 2-on-2 dogfight, a capship strike, etc.)?
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Since it's been two weeks since this all went down and I haven't heard back, I decided I'd put it to the community as a whole. I think a combat demo is not a bad idea; might make some folks less hesitant to try out WCRPG.

So, same three questions: in which era should I set it, which set of "combat methods" should I use, and what scenario should I set up?

Going to put a corresponding thread over at RSI, just to see if anybody over there wants to chime in too.
 
For a scenario, I'd suggest the first encounter in Heart of the Tiger p.33. If you have tbe novel you can read the encounter. If you don't have access to the book I can post some excerpts that'll explain the initial encounter, and subsequent ambush.

Features Thunderbolts vs Dralthi IVs.
 
I think I know which one you're talking about; Blair's first hop with Hobbes off of Victory, right? That'd be a good one. Any others?
 
That covers ship-to-ship combat well enough. How about torpedo defense? Two missions stick out in my head but tbese are just examples. The attack on Olympus Station by a small group of Grikath in Wing 2 and the attack on Victory by Paktahn and Darket in Tamayo mission 1's scramble.

And now vice-versa...

The first strike by (then) Captain Blair with Ferrets escorting two Broadswords for a torpedo strike on a Fralthra escorted by Sartha and Jalkehi.

Another one I like is the choice to either torp or leech the Lexington in WC:IV. The choice and the mind of the pilot feature prominently here.
 
Well, preferably I'd do just one scenario and preferably it'd be one that covered the most common type of combat occurrence. Doesn't necessarily have to be one we see in the games or novels, either. That said, I had thought about doing Locanda 2. That one had almost everything: CSMS, torps, fighters...about the only thing you're not doing is defending a target.

Let's talk styling for a minute. WCRPG has "combat methods" which can be used to set up a style of combat tailored for individual player groups. So I could do something like an early Final Fantasy-style combat scenario, I could do something like TacOps, something like D&D, something like Battlefleet Gothic, probably something even like Classic Traveler. I could do the same scenario over and over again in each of them; which one should I do first?
 
I need to look at it more closely, but my Imperial Sourcebook for Star Wars RPG had a relatively simple style for calculating skill sets vs maneuvers. When I get in front of my PC again ill post their system if you don't have your own similar book. Lost my Rebel one years ago or I'd still be playing the Galactic Civil War.
 
Second ed? Yeah...I've got the Rebel and Imperial Sourcebooks for that one. If I just had the Core Rules, I'd be set. Found a first edition set at my local comic book store once; still kicking myself for not snatching it up at the time. Can't buy anything with an empty pocketbook...

From Sinclair's original message, I'm assuming he either used to play the Original WCRPG or TEOC. I have the rules for both; reviewing them might be helpful.
 
Found a PDF of the Star Wars RPG this morning online. Had to sign up with 4shared to get it. Annoyed about that but still happy to have one of the first RPG resources I ever worked with. Maybe my sourcebooks will finally start making some sense.

Anyway, it looks like that system used what WCRPG would classify as a "no grid, turn-based" set of combat methods. That one probably needs the most testing of the method combinations, so that'll be what I do first.

Okay...so now I need a scenario. Hell...let's just go with the Gwynedd C mission - Blair and Shadow escorting Broadswords against a Fralthra. 5 Sartha at the Fralthra's nav point. 3 Jalkehi when we get back to Concordia. Crap...that's only the third mission of WC2; I never realized they upped the difficulty on you that fast in that game......
 
Like any good GM, I'm taking the time at the moment to review the mission and gather up notes. I don't have stats for Primetime and Killjoy, so I'll be filling in their roles with Buck and Pueblo from Prelude. Likewise, I'll be using Blackeye from Enyo for the generic Kilrathi pilots and Ape Ripper from Enyo (a 400-point Cat Pilot) for the Sartha Drakhai. Concordia and the Fralthra (KIS Please Torpedo Me) will be using generic crews. Of course, WC2 Maverick and Shadow both have stats in the Who's Who. I've also sifted through the notes for the relevant combat statistics on the various craft that will be involved - Ferrets, Broadswords, Sarthas, Jalkehis, Fralthras, Confederations, and torpedoes (it'll be a mixed-scale scenario, after all).

I'll see how much I can get done on this today. Pre-mission number crunching's up next.
 
Alright - numbers are crunched:

combat_demo_map.png


So what we have here is a comparison of the Combat Maneuvers, Evasive Maneuvers, Size Classes and HD ratings for the various combatants that are going to appear in the scenario. We need the SC information due to the cross-scale combat scenario; otherwise that could be ignored. HD ratings are assumed to be the standard rating except for Concordia and the Fralthra; the listed rating there is their BHD (since the only thing that's going to hurt them is a torpedo strike). In a few cases, some of these pilots have EVM specializations and their use has been added to this chart (which is why you've got stuff like "Maverick-Iman" in the defender column.

So, what do these numbers mean? Well, it gives us the Effective HD ratings for each combat matchup not accounting for range. For example, let's say Maverick is attacking Blackeye. Under normal circumstances, the EHD is 43; this means that Blair's got a 43% chance of hitting Blackeye at least once at point-blank range, going down 1% for each range increment.

Negative values? Hits can occur only on a roll of 00 - a 1% chance (so Ape Ripper is nearly invincible after he pulls a Hard Brake). There are no values over 100 on the chart; those would indicate a 1% chance of a miss (on a roll of 99).

Only other pre-combat crunching that needs to be done is the determination of available weaponry (since this will be a gridless scenario, all combatants only have the weapons that can shoot into the Forward Narrow arc, the zone from bearing 338-22 degrees). I've already done that too; The Ferrets and Sarthas will have all their available weaponry, the Jalkehi and Broadswords will have everything except their turret guns available, Concordia will be able to fire four Flak Cannons, seven Antimatter Guns and her PTC, and the Fralthra can fire 8 flak cannons and 4 Antimatter Guns.

We're set. I need to work through the figures for navigation and then we can get started.
 
Well, it definitely looks like I need to make some tweaks. I'll get the long story up tomorrow. Short version - the Fralthra survived and Blair was accidentally killed by Concordia in the very last round of combat. I suppose the realistic side to it was that the Sarthas all went after the Broadswords all at once...
 
Short version - the Fralthra survived and Blair was accidentally killed by Concordia.
I'm sorry but I LMAO'd at this. Maybe Jazz calibrated that Anti-Matter shot...sorry I lol'd again. Maybe a small tweak using Rapiers instead of Ferrets. WC2 was a bit brutal and your skills as a pilot in the sim was a lot different to rolling dice.

From a tactical standpoint, I'm not so sure I'd have agreed with Col. Deveraux's choice of sending recon fighters to escort heavy bombers in a space-superiority role. Epees at a bare minimum. The only reason I can divine is that the only two operational fighters were Maverick and Shadow's Ferrets. The briefing seemed to mention other wings so they had to have something better on the flightline. Perhaps Tolwyn thought he would grease himself across the Fralthra's bow. Maybe Ol'Geoff is a sadist, or just plain wants Blair to fail at a kill the Concorida herself could achieve.

Instead someone aboard Concordia did it for him. Ouch. Remember Blair has something of a "heros" touch since "WE" did control his direct skill (in-game anyway). Even if he was cooling his heels in the In-Sys for 10 years he was a veteran of three very brutal campaigns. Not to mention being the first survivor of a Strakha attack.
 
All true. I'll go ahead and run the scenario one more time as is to see if a different outcome happens; if not, we'll beef up the Confed forces a bit.

Meantime, I can spot three big potential problems with the system as is:
1) Critical Miss Rules. This one's actually been plaguing me since SFRPG; I thought I'd taken sufficient measures to keep it from cropping up as much but I had eight occurrences of critical misses in this scenario (and only eight rounds of combat overall). So that shows what I know. Current rules state that in the event of a critical miss, you wind up with a friendly fire situation wherein the "target" can either take one or two times the full amount of damage from a weapon.
2) Structural Fatigue Rules. The current rules state that structural fatigue requires an Internal Systems Check to keep a craft from blowing itself a part the moment it takes any core damage, with the amount of core damage subtracted from the DC of the check. Problem there is that almost none of these pilots had an Internal Systems DC score of note, so the only way they could save themselves was with a natural 00 on the dice. That happened once - right after a critical miss, no less. I may need to change it to just a general fatigue Check - a DC of 100 minus the amount of core damage. That way ships with just 1% core damage will stop flying apart at the seams...
3) Ejection Rules. I need to change this to a Reflex Save. Right now, the only way to survive the destruction of your craft is if you have Readied an eject action - burning up one of your two actions in this process. Current ready rules state that you have to re-prep them every round, so you'd have to do this over and over and over. Not a problem for the Cats, but being able to quickly reach down and pull the D-ring might've saved Blair.

Let's try the scenario again with a couple of tweaks in place for Structural Fatigue and Ejection; I still don't know what to do for Critical Misses. Meantime, I can post the first run-through.
 
Alright. So the strike group flew out to Nav 1 to keep the Cats from tracking Concordia's location. Having hit the turn point, they vectored in on the Fralthra. Upon reaching the Fralthra's nav point, they found her guarded by a group of 5 Sartha, one of which was flown by a Drakhai.

So the combatants are Maverick and Shadow in Ferrets, Primetime and Kilroy in Broadswords, Blackeyes 1-4 in Sarthas, Ape-Ripper in a Sartha, and the Fralthra. First thing that happens is the roll for Initiative to establish the order of battle (this is a 2d10 roll for each combatant plus the Initiative value of their craft. Ape-Ripper came up as 24, so he's up first. Blackeye3 and Primetime both rolled 21, so there's a tie-breaking roll made (1d10 each); Blackeye3 is next (5) followed by Primetime (1). Kilroy and Shadow both rolled 20; Kilroy's next (9) followed by Shadow (6). Blackeey2 and Maverick both rolled 16; Blackeye2 is next (5) followed by Maverick (3). Blackeye1 (14), the Fralthra (12) and Blackeye4 (10) round things out.

Ape-Ripper's turn is first. He targets Primetime (using the auto-targeting schema, all combatants target the opponent with the next highest Initiative Check value) and rolls range (2d10 for everybody this round since everybody's selecting new targets), which comes up as nine. Ape-Ripper afterburns to close the range to 2 (he's down to 4 more afterburns) and fires his Neutron Guns. Ape-Ripper's Marksmanship score is 20; his Tactical score is 120, so there's a +12 DC bonus to all Tactical Skills in effect - his Marksmanship DC is effectively 32. Adjusting the EHD by -2 for range against Primetime (look at the chart I posted already) gives an EHD of 70. So, Ape-Ripper will hit Primetime on an attack result of 70 or less, and rolling less than 32 will give him the opportunity for multiple Neutron Gun hits. The rolls come up as 88 and 82 (he's got two Neutron Guns and he's firing them both, hence two attack rolls), so the result is a clean miss. Even skilled pilots sometimes have problems hitting the broadside of a barn.

Blackeye3 is next. He also targets Primetime and rolls range; it comes up as 15, so he also afterburns to close the range, closing to 8. That puts him in range for his DF missile, which he uses. Blackeye3 has an effective Ballistics score of 05 (50 Tactical and 0 in Ballistics), but that won't matter since the missile can't be spoofed anyway. What does matter is that he's firing that DF from outside optimal range - which carries a -5 range penalty per range increment to EHD; a -40 penalty overall. This lowers the EHD to 20 (Blackeye3 probably should've waited and done something else this turn). The attack roll is made - 90, which is a critical miss. The next highest Kilrathi combatant is Blackeye2, so the DF hits him instead. The check for double damage comes up as 58, which is higher than the 24 EHD that would ordinarily be necessary for one of the Sarthas to hit another, so the missile only does normal damage. Still ,that's sufficient to cause 7% Core Damage and four occurrences of systems damage. Blackeye2 rolls for an Internal Systems Check for structural fatigue, which comes up as a natural 00, so he doesn't blow up right away. He also gets to reduce the Core Damage to 2%. The systems damage turns out to cause 50% shield damage, 25% ordnance damage, 25% life-support system damage, and 25% damage to the ejection system - which a Sartha doesn't have, so that counts as an extra 10% Core Damage - moving him up to 12% Core Damage.

Primetime's turn. He targets the Fralthra and rolls range, getting a 14. That's within torpedo range, so he begins the lock-on process as a free action. He readies his guns to return fire at the next person who shoots at him (a dumb move, since that would count as changing targets and break his lock on the Fralthra in the process). He uses his second action to make a Targeting Check to target the Fralthra's Guns; this check comes up as 94, which is technically a critical failure but has no ill effect since Targeting does not have critical potential.

Kilroy mirrors Primetime's turn - the only difference is that he gets a range of 8 to the Fralthra.

Shadow's up next. She targets Blackeye2 and gets a range of 10. Shadow afterburns to close to gun range (a range of 1; Ferrets are faster than Sarthas on AB), kinduva risky move since both she and Maverick are very limited on how many times they can use afterburners and still have enough fuel to make it back to Concordia. Shadow fires her Mass Drivers - effective Marksmanship is 28 and EHD for that range is 31. The results are 61 and 56, both misses.

Blackeye2 gets his turn next, targeting Maverick and getting a range of 8. He has almost no chance of hitting the mighty future Heart of the Tiger, but is going to try anyway since it's likely his fighter's going to pop in the next round. He afterburns to close the range to 1 and fires Neutron Guns. His effective Marksmanship is 10 and the EHD is 01; the rolls come up as 37 and 49, both misses.

Maverick's next. He targets Blackeye1 and rolls for range; the range result is 2, so Blair won't have to do any maneuvering to close range. He takes the time to ready a Shelton Slide to execute if he gets fired upon, and then shoots. Maverick's effective Marksmanship is 34 and the EHD on his target is 41. The rolls come up as 56 and 28, one miss, one hit. In the case of the hit, the degree of success for the Marksmanship Skill is six (34 - 28 = 6). Mass Drivers have a refire rate of five, so in theory Blair could've hit his target up to five times; the degree of success of six is good enough to count a second hit, so Blair actually scored two hits on Blackeye1 for 90 points of damage. This is just enough to peel the shields and armor off a Sartha, leaving five points to go on to systems damage. Because a Sartha is a SC6 craft, however, the extra five points of damage are neither enough to cause any amount of core damage nor is it enough to cause an instance of systems damage. Blackeye1 is in a bit of trouble, but he's not limping yet.

Blackeye1 comes up next. Now, at this point there are no Confederation combatants with a lower Initiative Check score; the auto-targeting schema says that when this happens, the combatant will target the opponent with the highest Initiative Check value - which is Primetime in this case. So Blackeye1, the Fralthra and Blackeye4 will all target Primetime. Blackeye1 rolls the range; 17, too far away to do anything. Blackeye1 decides to start jinking. That will lower his EHD by ten points but also throw off his Marksmanship and Ballistics by the same amount; not a big deal in this case since he's too far away from his target. He also readys an Immelman for use the next time he gets fired upon.

The Fralthra's range roll comes up as 14; it stands-by and does nothing.

Finally, Blackeye4's range comes up as 13. He decides to afterburn into missile range to try his luck with his DF. The EHD on Primetime at that range and accounting for the -30 HD penalty is 24; the attack roll results as 13, so against all odds he hits Primetime for 130 points of damage. A Broadsword has some pretty thick shields, though; all this does is lower Primetime's SHP count to 50.

Now it's time for end-round actions. Both Maverick and Shadow fired off both their guns, so one they recharge one gun for use in the next round. Blackeye2 and Ape-Ripper also fired off guns, but because Sarthas are equipped with Gun Cooler +1, they get to recharge both their guns for the next round. Finally, Blackeye1, Blackeye2 and Primetime are at less that full SHP, so they each add their effective Defenses scores back to their SHP - 5 points in each case. Because Blackeye1 has damage to his Shield system, though, he must first make a Check for malfunction; his Shield system does indeed malfunction, so he gains no SHP back this round.

And that's Round One.
 
Now, there's a set of rules in 9.1 marked "An Alternative System for Non-Gridded Combat". I'll be using that system to determine ranges for the next few rounds; I haven't really had a chance to test it out yet...

So on with Round Two:

Ape-Ripper maintains his target on Primetime. Since his rolled range to target was less than ten last round, he'll roll 1d10 for range this round (debating if I want to change this little tidbit here - he rolled a nine but he closed to two, so should he have rolled 1d5 for range instead?). The range comes up as five, so Ape-Ripper just uses a normal movement to close to within gun range (Range 3) and opens up with the guns. EHD in this case is going to be 69. The rolls come up as 69 and 27, both hits, and the 27 is a degree of success of five points less than his Marksmanship (which, again, was 32), which counts as an extra hit. So Ape-Ripper scores three hits on Primetime for 90 points of damage. This knocks down Primetime's shields and reduces his AHP to 105. (Also thinking of adding systems damage whenever AHP damage occurs; just one occurrence in all cases). Because Primetime had readied a return gun fire action, he now gets to take that action, losing his lock on the Fralthra (and just realizing it with a gigantic D'OH!!). The range is 3; Primetime's Marksmanship is 28 amd the EHD is less than zero so he'll need a natural 00 to hit Ape-Ripper. He gets three attack rolls, one for each of the Broadsword's Mass Drivers - 46, 17, and 28, all misses.

Blackeye3 rolls 1d10 for his range roll on Primetime; he gets a 4, so he closes to gun range (2) and opens up. Blackeye3 has Marksmanship (MKM from here on out; that's a big word) of 10 and the EHD in this case is 58. The attack rolls are 53 and 46, good enough for two hits for 60 damage. Primetime's AHP is reduced to 45.

Primetime rolls 2d10 for his range roll on the Fralthra, suddenly realizing he's a big fat target that everybody's gunning for. He re-starts the lock-on process with the Fralthra and begins jinking, standing-by with his second action.

Kilroy rolls 1d10 for his range roll and gets a three - which is within AMG range of the Fralthra should it decide to return fire. He therefore moves to back off, readies his guns for return fire (obviously not learning from Primetime), and targets the Fralthra's guns; his Targeting Skill is 37 and he rolls a 16, so when that torp hits it's going to damage the Fralthra's guns no matter what.

Shadow's up next. Her 1d10 roll for range comes up as a four, so she moves to close the range to 1 and opens up on Blackeye2. She only has one gun available to shoot (since she hasn't fully recharged yet). EHD is 31; she rolls 07. That's a degree of success of 21, so she gets the full five hits out of that single attack roll for 225 damage. That's enough to move Blackeye2 to 59% damage; the Internal Systems (ITS) Check comes up as a 32. Kitty go boom.

Since Blackeye2 is dead, Maverick is next. Since his rolled range last time was 2, he rolls 1d5 for his range to Blackeye1 and gets a 4. He moves to close the range back to 1 and opens up with his single available gun. Blackeye1 had readied an Immelman, so he makes a quick Evasive Maneuvers Check to see if he pulls it off; the DC is 25, the roll is a 51, so he fails and Maverick gets to use the EHD of 32. His roll is an 06, a degree of success of 28, so he also gets the full five hits (a Mass Driver's maximum refire rate is 5, so he only hits five times despite rolling a Check well enough to score six hits). That's 225 points of damage, enough to give Blackeye1 38% Core damage. ITS check comes up as a ninety. Kitty go boom again.

Since Blackeye1 is now also dead, it's the Fralthra's turn. The Fralthra decides to switch targets to Kilroy since he's too close; range is not rolled since Kilroy rolled range to the Fralthra earlier in the round. The current range is 5; the Fralthra closes to 4 and opens up with its AMGs. The Fralthra's Marksmanship is 35 and the EHD on Kilroy will be 30 in this case. It can use four AMGs, so it gets four attack rolls - they come up as 90, 28, 17 and 72. There are two hits there; AMGs have a re-fire of 1, so there's just the two hits. Doesn't matter: that's 600 points of damage on Kilroy, enough for 35% Core Damage. ITS is 77; Kilroy's mug at the Vacuum Breather's Bar now needs to be gilt...

Blackeye4 rolls 2d10 for his range roll on Primetime and gets a 9. He afterburns to close to gun range (2) and fires off his Neutron Guns with an EHD of 58. The attack rolls - 16 and 30, good enough for two hits, enough to give Primetime 1% Core damage. The ITS check comes up as 70; Concordia's now on the WC2 losing track, folks.

It's the end of the round. Maverick and Shadow both get one of their Mass Drivers recharged, Ape-Ripper, Blackeye3 and Blackeye4 all get both their Neutron Guns back, and the Fralthra gets its AMGs back.
Maverick and Shadow have failed their mission; their goal now is to extract themselves from the hairball and get back to Concordia intact.
 
Round Three begins sans four of the combatants from Round Two - Primetime, Kilroy, Blackeye1 and Blackeye2. In each case, the targeting schema remains the same; each combatant goes for the opponent with the next lowest Initiative Check value, or the one with the highest value if no such opponent exists.

So Ape-Ripper now targets Shadow. Because that's a new target for him, the range roll is 2d10; it comes up as 14, too far away to do anything useful. Ape-Ripper readies a Hard Brake and hails Maverick to taunt him. Ape-Ripper's Translate score is 10; he rolls an 11, so he fails to taunt Maverick.

Blackeye3 is now also targeting Shadow and rolls 2d10 for range, also coming up with a 14. He readies an Immelman and stands-by on his second action.

Shadow is next; she targets Blackeye4 and rolls 2d10 for range, coming up with a nine. She burns her second and last afterburn, closing to Range Zero. She opens up on Blackeye4 with her Mass Driver; the EHD is 32. The roll - a 94, a Critical Miss that damages Maverick instead. Fortunately, Maverick has a low EHD against Shadow (10) and only sustains normal damage - 45 points worth. Maverick's SHP is reduced to 15.

Maverick now also targets Blackeye4, rolling a range of 9. He decides to ready an auto-eject and also readies a Shelton Slide.

The Fralthra now targets Shadow; the range roll comes up as 16, so the Fralthra just stands-by.

Blackeye4 now targets Shadow; his 2d10 roll for range also comes up as 16, so he starts jinking and readies an Immelman.

That's it for Round Three - not a lot happened. Maverick and Shadow get one Mass Driver back (note that this puts Maverick to where he can fire both guns in the next round) and Maverick gets 15 SHP back from his Defenses score.
 
Ape-Ripper rolls 2d10 for his range on Shadow, getting a 9. He feels comfortable enough to afterburn into gun range (2) and fires; his MKM is 32 and the EHD is 23 - note that here's a case where he could succeed in his MKM Check and still miss. That doesn't happen - he rolls 35 and 79, both misses.

Blackeye3 rolls 2d10 for range on Shadow, getting a ten. He also afterburns (to range 3) and opens up with guns, having MKM and EHD both at 10. His rolls are 29 and 28, both misses.

Shadow rolls 1d10 for range on Blackeye4, getting a 6. She moves into gun range (3) and fires; Blackeye4 had readied an Immelman, so he now makes his EVM check (DC 25). The result is 81, so that fails and Shadow may use an EHD of 22. She rolls an 80 and misses.

Maverick rolls 1d10 for range against Blackeye4 and gets a 3. He moves to Range Zero and opens up with both guns - EHD of 43. He rolls a 7 and a 31, scoring a total of six hits for 270 damage. Blackeye4 sustains 30% Core damage; his ITS check comes up 39. Blackeye4 is transformed into a whiff of vapor...

Fralthra goes last, targeting Shadow. His 2d10 roll for range comes up as a 5; it moves to range 4 and opens up with AMGs. Shadow's Ferret is a good deal smaller than a Broadsword; the EHD is a natural 00. The rolls are 84, 48, 54 and 23, all misses.

It's the end of the round - Blackeye 3 and Ape-Ripper get their guns back, both Shadow and Maverick have 1 Mass Driver ready for the next round, the Fralthra gets its AMGs back, and Maverick gains 15 SHP again.

That's Round Four - not a lot happened, so let's go straight into Round Five...

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Ape-Ripper rolls 1d10 for range on Shadow and gets a zero, so he decides to perform an Alpha Strike on Shadow, a combination MKM (32) and Ballistics (22) Check for double damage. He rolls a 55 and a 52, so its a no-joy that wastes his DF missile in the process (fortunate for Shadow, who could've been facing up to 710 points of damage had that succeeded). Alpha Strikes are full-round actions, so that's all he gets to do.

Blackeye3 rolls 1d0 for range on Shadow and somehow gets a 14 (obviously I was falling asleep here yesterday and rolled 2d10 instead). Since he can't close to gun range, he readies an Immelman and stands by.

Shadow targets Ape-Ripper; range has already been established at zero. She fires her Mass Driver against an EHD of 10 and gets a 42 for a clean miss. She decides to standby for her second action.

Maverick rolls 2d10 for range on Ape-Ripper (new target) and gets a 14; he readies an Immelman and stands-by.

The Fralthra rolls 2d10 for range on Shadow and gets a 1. It moves to Range Zero and opens up with AMGs on her fighter; the EHD is 01 in this case. The attack rolls are 44, 36, 97 and 63, so not only does it miss Shadow, but it hits Ape-Ripper instead (the 97 is a critical miss). 300 points of damage give the Drakhai 35% Core Damage and of course his ITS fails, sending another brave warrior to Sto-Vo-Kor......wait, wrong franchise...

Maverick and Shadow get a Mass Driver back for the next round (Mav's got two guns again), the Fralthra gets its AMGs back and Maverick's SHP recovers to maximum.

On to Round Six...

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Blackeye3 starts this round since we sent Ape-Ripper to Sto-Vo.....no, wait...wrong franchise again. Anyway, he rolls 2d10 on Shadow and gets a 10. He afterburns to gun range (3) and opens up with an EHD of 10. The attack rolls are 97 and 23. Now, that 97 is a critical miss, but the only other Kilrathi target around is the Fralthra, so he hits the Fralthra with guns. The Fralthra is a Phase Shielded ship, so no damage results in any case.

Shadow now targets Blackeye3. Range has been established as three, so she saunters over (closing the range to zero) and opens up against an EHD of 32. Her attack roll is 09, good enough for four hits, giving Blackeye3 15% Core Damage. I'll just cut to the chase; we wind up with another dead Cat.

Maverick does nothing. There's nothing he can do...

The Fralthra now rolls 1d5 for range on shadow and gets a 1. It moves to range 0 for the EHD of 01 and opens up. It rolls 54, 61, 03 (awful close) and a 96...a critical miss. There are no other Kilrathi around, so the Fralthra hits itself for 300 damage - and since AMGs bypass shields, it gets reduced to 4200 AHP.

Blair and Shadow could rely on the crappy shooting skills of the Fralthra's crew to kill itself, but realize the odds are better that they'll wind up getting converted to mesons. They retreat, their mission a failure, looking forward to a chewing out and a beer on Concordia's deck...

...of course, they still have to deal with the welcoming committee awaiting them when they get back, three Jalkehis that have already taken out Concordia's CAP.
 
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