Crew Actions

As starship combat progresses, the various crew members aboard each vessel can take the actions their roles allow.

Actions

You can take one action (usually defined by your role) per round of starship combat. Certain actions require a minimum character level or number of ranks in a certain skill. NPC crew members are assumed to have a number of ranks in the appropriate skill equal to the starship’s tier. Class features and items affect crew actions only if specifically noted in the class feature or item. If a starship’s tier is less than 1, treat it as 1 for this purpose.

Push

Push actions (indicated in an action’s heading) are difficult to perform but can yield greater results. You can’t perform a push action if the necessary system is malfunctioning or wrecked (as noted in Critical Damage Conditions on page 321).

Changing Roles

You can switch between roles (or assume a role if you don’t already have one), but this change must occur at the start of a round before the engineering phase. You can switch to the captain or pilot role only if that role would otherwise be vacant (or if the character in that role is unable to take actions).

Starship Combat Resolve

As your combat expertise grows, you gain extra resolve that can help with high-level crew actions. At 8th level and again at 16th level, you gain 1 Resolve Point at the start of any starship combat encounter. These points can exceed your normal pool of Resolve Points; unspent points gained this way are lost at the end of the encounter.

Gunner Actions

As a gunner, you can take any of the actions below, depending on your character level. These actions can be taken only during the gunnery phase. Though each of a starship’s weapons can be fired only once per round, multiple gunners can take actions to fire different weapons in a single round. Actions that allow you to fire starship weapons use the rules for attacking on page 320.

Fire at Will (Gunnery Phase, Push)

You can fire any two starship weapons, regardless of their arc. Each attack is made at a –4 penalty.

Shoot (Gunnery Phase)

You can fire one of your starship’s weapons. If you use a turret weapon, you can target a ship in any arc.

Broadside (Gunnery Phase, Push)

At 6th level, you can expend 1 Resolve Point to fire all of the starship weapons mounted in one arc (including turret-mounted weapons). Each weapon can target any vessel in that arc. All of these attacks are made with a –2 penalty.

Precise Targeting (Gunnery Phase)

At 12th level, you can perform a very precise strike by spending 1 Resolve Point and firing one starship weapon at a single target. If the attack hits and the enemy ship’s shields on that quadrant are depleted before your attack, you deal critical damage to a random system. If the attack would normally cause critical damage, the normal critical damage applies as well (meaning your attack could potentially deal critical damage multiple times; determine which system is damaged as normal each time).

Pilot Actions

As a pilot, you can take the following actions, depending on your ranks in the Piloting skill. These actions can be taken only during the helm phase.

Fly (Helm Phase)

You move your starship up to its speed and can make any turns allowed by its maneuverability. This doesn’t require a skill check.

Maneuver (Helm Phase)

You move your starship up to its speed. You can also attempt a Piloting check (DC = 15 + 2 × your starship’s tier) to reduce your starship’s distance between turns by 1 (to a minimum of 0).

Stunt (Helm Phase, Push)

You can attempt any one of the stunts described on page 319. The DCs of the Piloting checks required and the results of success and failure are described in each stunt’s description.

Full Power (Helm Phase, Push)

If you have at least 6 ranks in Piloting, you can spend 1 Resolve Point to move your starship up to 1-1/2 times its speed. You can make turns during this movement, but you add 2 to your starship’s distance between turns.

Audacious Gambit (Helm Phase)

If you have at least 12 ranks in Piloting, you can spend 1 Resolve Point and attempt a Piloting check (DC = 15 + 2 × your starship’s tier) to pull off complex maneuvers. You can move your starship up to its speed, treating its distance between turns as if it were 2 lower (minimum 0). You can also fly through hexes occupied by enemy vessels without provoking free attacks. At the end of your starship’s movement, you can rotate your starship to face in any direction. If you fail the check, you instead move as if you had taken the fly action (but still lose the Resolve Point).

Minor Crew Actions

Minor crew actions are computer-aided actions that allow a starship limited functionality if it doesn’t have the necessary crew to fill all the roles (for instance, the lone crew member aboard a Tiny starship might always be the pilot but may need to fire one of the vessel’s weapons in an emergency). You can take a minor crew action regardless of your current role, but only if no other action was performed this round for the role associated with that minor crew action. A minor crew action can be performed only once per round and doesn’t count as your action.

Glide (Helm Phase, Minor)

You move the starship at half its normal speed. The starship can take turns during this movement, but the starship’s distance between turns increases by 2. You can add your ranks in the Piloting skill to the starship’s AC and TL for this round. You can only take this action if no other pilot actions have been taken during the helm phase (including glide).

Snap Shot (Gunnery Phase, Minor)

You can fire one of your starship’s weapons with a –2 penalty to the gunnery check. You can take this action only if no other gunner actions have been taken during the gunnery phase (including snap shot).