Starships are a major part of any space opera campaign. They are the only means of travel between planets and most groups will be in possession of a starship for just this purpose. Should the GM decide that his group should have a starship, the process of building one is described in this section. Starships provide additional venues for adventure and conflict in a campaign. The group should decide whether they want to be in possession of a starship and ensure that at least one of the characters has the Resources skill to afford the maintenance on one.

The rules described here may be used on their own to simulate any sort of space battle strategy scenario. They may be helpful to pass the time when waiting for people to show up for a session or to enact massive space battles. Battles using these starship rules will take longer than a character conflict, however individual characters will have the opportunity to contribute by rolling for individual systems and possibly granting a bonus to the ship's rolls with their expertise. In the case of large-scale battles, players can take the role of other starships involved on their side, or the opposite side at the discretion of the GM.

If you are looking for very fast, character-style starship battle rules, these are not it. These rules are intended for a more strategic approach to starship battles. The rules are simplified to be as quick and simple as possible - where possible.

The following section explains how starships work in a space opera universe. The starship rules and creation have been made as simple as possible with a focus on minimal specific rules - in the spirit of Fate Core. Starship creation is very similar to character creation, with the exception of a couple minor details.

Starship combat is a drawn out affair which takes much more time than a personal conflict. As a result, a lot more happens in a starship battle exchange than a character scale exchange. The time scale for each exchange at starship scale is approximately 15 minutes. Each exchange is broken out into phases during which each starship gets to perform one of the phase actions available to it. Since starships are crewed by many individuals, they are capable of taking a lot more actions than a single character.

Initiative is determined by the starship with the highest Tactics skill. If more than one starship has the same tactics, roll and the highest roll wins. When you win initiative, you perform the first action in your phase and then choose the next player to perform their action. That person then chooses the next, and so on. This continues through each phase of an exchange. The last person of the last phase of an exchange gets to choose the first person of the next exchange.

It might be beneficial to give each player a single initiative token which they can toss into a pile when they have acted in the given phase. At the end of a phase, before the first action is taken, everyone takes an initiative token out of the pile.

Space is big, extremely big. For all intents and purposes a zone in space is equivalent to a volume of 100,000 km², or roughly 10,000 km distance from one end to the other. Since starships travel in three dimensions, the actual distance travelled during combat varies greatly on what is happening.

Each starship is capable of a number of crew actions depending on its Crew rating. These crew actions may be used to perform starship actions during the Exchange Phases of the battle. Additional crew actions may be taken, however each additional crew action causes the opposition difficulty to increase by +1. This penalty is cumulative and a second additional action would have a penalty of 2; the third 3, and so on. As a result, it is important that a starship equipped with many systems is capable of taking all or most of these actions without penalty. When designing your starship consider how many actions you may want to take in an action heavy exchange and allocate Crew accordingly.

As a general rule, any initiated action which requires a roll costs a crew action in the exchange. Defensive rolls do not require a crew action, unless explicitly stated in the skill description.

Most starship systems which are capable of inflicting damage and those which provide a defence advantage do so in the form of Boosts. Boosts are bonuses which may be expanded to receive a one-time +2 bonus to a single roll. They are a type of single-use Advantage which disappears after being used. A system may have one or more such free Boosts which replenish each session - unless the specific system has been damaged by a consequence. The number of Boosts an applicable system grants is equal to the number of ranks in the associated skill.

Though you may have more than two Boosts per system, you may only expand a maximum of two Boosts per single roll. This prevents an obliterating attack where all Boosts are dumped into a single roll for a massive outcome. This limitation follows the standard Advantage rules which may grant you up to two free invokes, depending on whether you rolled a success (one free invoke) or success with style (two free invokes). You may stack up to two Boosts with other Aspects as per normal, if you spend Fate Points or invoke free Advantages.

Example: Your starship with Good (+3) Beams and Fair (+2) Shields has 3 beam Boosts and 2 shield boosts. When you make attacks using the Beam system, the Boosts may be expanded to receive a +2 bonus to the attack roll, up to two Boosts may be used per roll - for a total bonus of +4. You are not permitted to use all three in a single attack for a +6 bonus. Likewise, when defending against enemy beams, you may expand up to two Boosts per defence roll for a +2 or +4 bonus.

System Boosts may be replenished using the appropriate skill during the Weapons Phase instead of using that system to attack or defend. A system's Boosts may not be replenished until all of the remaining Boosts have been expanded. The standard Create An Advantage rules apply when replenishing system Boosts. Meaning that if you roll a success, you receive one Boost. If you roll a success with style, you receive two Boosts. This costs a crew action each time it is performed.

Failure at a cost is also an option and follows the standard rules. A minor cost could be an advantage for your opponents placed on your starship, such as Temporary Power Loss as your engineers re-route power to the shields. A major cost could be 1 stress taken to your Systems Stress Track as your engineers overload systems to power the shields. The actual cost may also be determined by the GM and/or table.

You may not replenish more boosts than your ranks in the associated skill. If you had Average (+1) Shields, you may not replenish them to more than a single boost. You are perhaps better off creating a standard Advantage in that instance.

Example: Your starship shields have been overloaded and you have expanded all of your Boosts. You want to replenish your shields and may roll your Shields skill to Create An Advantage during the Weapons Phase. If you succeed, you gain a single Boost for your shields. If you succeed with style, you receive two Boosts. You may not replenish until your remaining Boosts have all been spent. Replenishing Boosts costs a crew action.

A starship combat exchange is broken down into multiple phases. During each phase each ship has the opportunity to act. Initiative determines which ship acts first in a given phase. Once all ships have completed each phase, a new exchange occurs and the phases are repeated until the ship is Taken Out and combat ends.

Each phase and action during a phase involves the use of one of the crew actions. A starship has a number of free crew actions depending on the size of the crew. Additional actions taken suffer a -1 per action, cumulative. The exception is the Boarding phase, which is performed by the boarding party and Special phase actions.

The phases of combat are as follows:

1. Strategy Phase: The captain gives orders to his crew and Tactics advantages may be created.
2. Sensors Phase: Scanning and electronic warfare occurs in this phase.
3. Movement Phase: The starship is able to manoeuvre and move during this phase.
4. Weapons Phase: Weapons are fired and deployed. Associated defence actions are taken.
5. Boarding Phase: Any boarding actions are taken.
6. Special Phase: Special actions are taken such as launching fighters and drones or using stunts.

The Phase Crew Actions list the actions a crew may take during the phase. Each of the listed actions may be taken per exchange and each counts as a crew action. The limit of free actions taken by the crew is determined by the Crew rating.

Some systems which are both offensive and defensive may be kept in reserve to foil actions such as boarding which occur the subsequent phase. The choice to reserve weapons for defence is a conscious one and must be made during the Weapons Phase. If a system is unused by the end of a phase it could be used in, it does not get an action and remains unused in the exchange which passed.

The strategy phase is when the captain of the ship gives our orders for the exchange.

Phase Crew Actions:

• Create An Advantage: Use Tactics to create an advantage for the current exchange. The advantage only lasts until the end of the current exchange. This limits the amount of advantages which may be in play at one time and keeps the number manageable.

The sensors phase involves any actions which involve sensors. Sensors may be used to scan another ship or to attack and defend against electronic warfare. Electronic warfare causes damage to the Systems Stress Track and consequences.

See the Sensors skill. Multiple actions may be taken, each costs a crew action.

Phase Crew Actions:

• Scanning: Use Sensors to scan another starship. The scan may be opposed by the target ship at the cost of a crew action.
• Electronic Warfare: Use Sensors to make an attack on another starship's systems.
• Create an advantage using Sensors.

The movement phase involves and manoeuvres and movement the ship wishes to take. A ship may move one zone per exchange for free. Additional zones may be moved by making an Engines roll. A zone may have a movement difficulty associated with it. The standard difficulty for open space is 0.

Phase Crew Actions:

• Full Speed: The starship engages full engines in an attempt to move further while still performing combat manoeuvres. Roll Engines. If you succeed, your starship is able to move one extra zone. If you succeed with style, the starship moves two extra zones zones. The maximum number of zones a starship may move in an exchange is 3 unless otherwise indicated by a stunt. You must have an equal or greater number of shifts on your roll than the zone difficulty to move through it. If you do not have enough shifts, that zone cannot be entered or left in this exchange.
• Evasive Manoeuvres: Declare your starship is making evasive manoeuvres in order to become a more difficult target. You receive a +2 to your Tactics defence roll, however you also receive a -2 to your Weapons rolls for the exchange.
• Create an Advantage using Engines.

Typical zone difficulties:

The weapons phase permits a starship to deploy its weapons against an enemy. Each weapon may target a different enemy and each use costs one crew action. You roll the ranks in your weapon skill for that particular weapon to make an attack.

Some weapons may be kept in reserve for defensive actions, such as Flack cannons and Drones. System Boosts from those weapons may be used for an attack or defence. A weapon system may only be used once, to attack or defend - not both.

Phase Crew Actions:

• Fire Weapons: Each weapon fired during this phase counts as a crew action. Each weapon system may be used only once per exchange.
• Replenish Boosts: You may replenish boosts for weapon and defence systems. See System Boosts.
• Create an Advantage using Weapons.

The boarding phase involves launching boarding marines against another starship or performing actions of those marines which have already boarded another vessel.

See Boarding Actions for additional details.

Phase Crew Actions:

• Launch Boarding Shuttles: Shuttles are launched and the Marines skill is rolled, opposed by the starship's Tactics defence roll and any other defensive bonus. If at least one shift is obtained, the marines board the vessel and can perform boarding actions next phase.

Once boarded, Marines do not use a crew action to perform their attacks on the enemy crew or systems.

The special phase is used for everything else, from the launching of fighters, bombers and drones to special stunt actions. Actions taken in this phase do not cost a crew action unless a skill roll is required, in which case they cost a crew action.

All starships have the basic three stress tracks: Structure, Systems and Crew. Additional and independent of the starship stress tracks may be tracked for Marines and fighters and bombers a Carrier may deploy.

This stress track represents the structural integrity of the ship's hull. All starships have some structural stress. Ranks in the Structure skill represent reinforcement and armour plating of the hull.

When the ship is Taken Out due to structural stress, it is generally destroyed or beyond repair.

The Systems stress track represents the electronic functions of the starship. These may be attacked using electronic warfare to disrupt its systems. The Systems stress track is used to track any damage which does not fall under structural damage or crew casualties.

When the ship's systems are Taken Out, the ship is generally disabled, with no life support or other systems. It becomes derelict, unable to take any actions. Fighters/Bombers and Marines may continue to function as normal.

The Crew stress track represents the decreased morale and casualties which the crew has sustained.

When the ship is Taken Out due to Crew stress, the ship is dead in space and may be salvaged. If the ship was boarded and the Crew Taken Out, the ship has been taken over by the enemy.

The Marines stress track is used in a similar fashion as the Crew stress track. Marines are able to absorb stress before the Crew does. Marines which are deployed to board another ship do not provide a benefit when they are off-ship. In that instance, the Marines are an independent entity acting on the Boarding phase.

The starship may have one or more Fighters an/or Bombers stress tracks. Each represents a squadron of fighters or bombers. When launched, these act as independent entities and are considered another starship on their own.

Fighters and Bombers, when used as a defensive screen may absorb stress the starship may have taken. This makes the squadrons extremely versatile in a combat situation.

All starships, like characters, receive 3 standard consequences: Mild (-2), Moderate (-4) and Severe (-6). Also, like characters, named starships may take a special consequence, the Extreme (-8) consequence at the cost of changing one of the starship Aspects permanently to describe the extreme damage suffered. The standard consequences may be used for any of the starship's stress tracks. The nature of the replacing Aspect should reflect the type of stress which inflicted the consequence.

In addition, some skills grant additional consequences to a starship. The additional consequences are an additional column of consequences. This means that the additional consequence granted may be used for one or more stress tracks, depending on the level of the starship skills, it does not mean that the starship has multiple additional consequences of a given severity. It just means that the additional consequence may be used for multiple stress tracks.

Example: A starship has the standard Mild, Moderate and Severe consequences. It also has 5 ranks in Structure and 3 ranks in Crew. It receives an additional Mild and Moderate consequence from Structure and an additional Mild consequence from Crew. The starship now has the following consequence slots: Mild, Mild (structure/crew), Moderate, Moderate (structure only) and Severe. The starship may use the additional Mild consequence to absorb structural and crew stress, and an additional Moderate consequence for structural stress only.

When your starship suffers a systems consequence, you choose the nature of that consequence based on the type of stress suffered - unless otherwise indicated by a rule (Boarding Actions) or stunt. The systems consequence must name one of your systems (skills). From this point on, that system is disabled and may not be used until repaired.

Systems which may not be chosen as disabled are those which have an associated stress track. These being: Crew, Structure and Systems.

Tactics may be disabled with the destruction of the bridge, however the crew may continue to operate the starship. When Tactics is disabled, the starship may no longer create any tactical advantages and defends with an effective Tactics of Mediocre (+0).

Boarding actions require a ship with the Marines skill. A boarding action involves a squad of marines travelling to another starship aboard boarding shuttles. The shuttles magnetically attach to another ship and the marines cut their way into the hull and invade the starship with the intent to capture or cripple it.

A boarding action occurs in the Boarding Phase of an exchange. Two starships must be in the same zone for boarding actions to occur. The boarding marines must make an attack at the starship which is being boarded. This is opposed by the starship's defence roll from the Weapons Phase. If the marines obtain at least one shift, they board the other starship in the next exchange Boarding Phase.

Boarding actions do not use initiative. The actions occur simultaneously during the entire exchange. Immediately after the Marines attack occurs, the defending ship Crew is able to make their attack. If the attack Takes Out the defenders, the defenders still get their retaliation attack since this happens over the course of the entire exchange.

Boarding shuttles may be destroyed in-flight if the starship captain had the foresight to keep their Flack cannons or Drones in reserve. Any of these systems may make a single attack at the boarders before they come aboard. The defending ship gets to make an attack using whatever system was chosen and the boarding party defends using their skill. Stress dealt goes directly to the marines stress track. As such, boarders may be defeated before they breach the hull.

An attack may be made each time Marines make an attempt to board and a defence system is available for use. Only one system may be used to make one attack per boarding attempt.

Each boarding marine squad makes its attacks against an appropriate stress track. The boarders continue their attack until either they, or the ship's crew are Taken Out. Both sides get to damage the other during each exchange.

The attackers always roll their Marines skill when attacking. Marines are very effective against Crews and receive a +1 bonus to attack and defence when doing so. If the defender is using Marines to attack or defend with, this bonus does not apply.

The defenders make a defence roll using either their Crew skill or Marines skill, whichever the defender prefers. When stress is suffered, it must be applied to the Crew Stress Tack or the Marine Stress Track, depending on what you used to make the defence roll.

When attacking Marines may declare to target the Systems Stress Track rather than the Crew Stress Track, however this must be explicitly declared to before the roll is made. If systems was target, the Marines deal only 1 stress to the starship Systems Stress Track on a successful attack, or 2 stress if the attack was a success with style. The defender uses Crew or Marines to defend in either case. If the intent to damage systems is not declared, it is assumed the crew was the target.

If the boarding Marines inflict a consequence on the defending starship systems, the attacking player gets to determine what the nature of the consequence is. The defending player may offer up a Fate Point to the attacking player to determine the nature of the consequence instead. The attacker may also offer up a Fate point, and again the defender may counter with another Fate Point. This bidding escalation may only be performed once. The Fate Point(s) are paid to the appropriate players at the end of the battle scene.

Creating an advantage works the same was as it does for standard character exchanges. The Marines or Crew use their exchange action in the creation of the advantage and do not get an attack. The advantage created by then be invoked later using the original starship's Fate Points and any free invokes obtained.

When your character or a named NPC is involved in a boarding action the odds are greatly skewed in favour of the side with the named character. During boarding actions the Marines attack rolls receive a +1 bonus if the named character's skill (Fight or Shoot) is higher than the Marines skill. Likewise, the defence bonus is calculated. If the character's skill is same or lower rank than the Marines skill, no skill modifier is applied.

The named character may also create advantages using his own skills during the exchange, usingTactics to change the outcome of battle. When this happens the +1 modifier is not applied in the exchange and the character's stress may not absorb the stress from this exchange. It is as if he is not involved in that exchange at all. It does, however, permit the named character led Marines or Crew to perform the extra create an advantage action while the Marines press their attack or defence.

Named characters provide a larger benefit in the defence. When stress is taken, a named character may use their own Consequences to absorb stress as if these were the ship's consequences. The named character's armour may only absorb the single armour consequence, making it damaged in the process.

Named characters may also expand their Fate points when invoking Aspects, advantages or compelling consequences. This is in addition to the starship's Fate points. The character must be present in the boarding action or defence to be able to use their own Fate points.

There will be times when the boarding action does not go well and the captain who ordered the boarding action does not wish to lose his Marines. When a withdrawal is ordered, the Marines spend their exchange in retreat. They get the standard defence roll, but may not make an attack. At the end of the exchange, they are bound back for their starship of origin.

Withdrawal is only possible if the starships are in the same zone. If they are not, the distance is too great for the boarding shuttles to traverse. If the defending starship has defence systems held in reserve, they may be deployed to destroy the fleeing boarders as per the Shooting Down Boarders rules.

When the boarding Marines are taken out, this signifies either complete defeat or retreat, the choice is left up to the winner of the exchange as per usual Taken Out rules. The winning crew gets a Boost from the resulting conflict in extra arms and equipment which may be applied on the next exchange where the Crew or Marines are involved in boarding actions.

If the defending Crew and Marines are Taken Out, the starship falls under the command of the boarding captain. The Marines are not very good at starship skill and only act at Mediocre (+0) in all actions. They get 1 free Crew starship action per Marines stress box remaining, per exchange.

Damage taken to the Structure track does not heal automatically like it does for characters. Rather it must be repaired. The difficulty to repair stress on the Structure track is the value of the stress box being repaired. Only one stress box may be repaired at a time on a single stress track.

Structure and Systems stress tracks or consequences may be repaired at the same time. Crew stress may only be repaired when the crew can be replenished. Structure and Systems damage is repaired using the Crew rating. Repairing Crew stress requires a Resources roll by the owners the starship. If this is a military vessel, docking at a station may be sufficient.

All stress repairs take A day to complete by default. On a successful roll, the stress box may be unchecked and is repaired. On a success with style, the repair takes one step less on the time scale, A half day. On a failed roll, the repair takes 1 step longer on the time scale for each 1 shift which was missed.

All stress boxes must be repaired before a consequence may be repaired. The difficulty to repair the consequence depends on the severity: Mild (2), Moderate (4), Severe (6) and Extreme (8). The standard time to repair a consequence is A day and follows the same rules for success and failure as the stress repairs. Extreme consequences, though repaired leave the permanent aspect on the ship forever. The aspect should be renamed to something appropriate after being repaired.

Repair bays, repair drones and stopping at a space station or starport will add a bonus to the Crew roll, according to their facility rating.

Example: A starship has just survived a battle. It has the following stress boxes checked off: 4, 5, 8. It now needs repairs. The captain wishes to repair the heaviest damage first, the 8th stress box. The difficulty for the repair is 8 and the ship's crew has a Crew skill of Good (+3). The starship also has Average (+1) Repair Drones skill. The Crew skill is rolled and the +1 is added to the roll for the repair drones. The roll is Good (+3) for a final result of Epic (+7) (+3 roll, +3 skill, +1 drones). The repair will take one step longer on the time scale and the repair takes a few days.

Each Hull type has a maintenance cost associated with it. This is the financial cost of keeping the starship running in good condition. The maintenance includes any refillable supplies such as rations, water, ammunition and crew salaries. Failure to pay the maintenance costs results in some sort of negative aspect on the ship for the month. If next month's payments are made, then the aspect is removed, if another month is unpaid, another aspect is added. A third month of unpaid maintenance results in a permanent (compelled for free) third aspect. Once maintenance is paid, all aspects are removed except any permanent aspect, which becomes a regular aspect for the following month after which it goes away if the maintenance payment is made. This works similar to Severe Consequences except that it is done with aspects instead.

Your character will need to use Resources to pay for the starship maintenance. It is assumed that a captain of a vessel has resources enough to cover the maintenance. This may not always be the case, and the crew as a whole may attempt to pay for the maintenance. You or one of your crew must declare that you wish to pay for maintenance. At this point, a Resources roll is made against the maintenance difficulty of the starship hull. This follows the Resources skill description for the most part, except that starships are expensive, much more so than simple equipment. The roll is a contest against a number of shifts determined by the Hull maintenance rating. Should you succeed, but not with enough shifts to cover the cost, another character may help cover the difference by making a resources roll and adding the shifts generated to the roll. Taking stress on the Wealth Stress Track will add a shift to the roll as per regular Resources rules.

Each character only gets one chance at rolling Resources when paying maintenance on a starship for the month.

Example: You are a captain of a freighter with a Medium Hull (3). You have Good (+3) Resources. You must roll Resources against a 3 difficulty and obtain 3 shifts to fully cover the maintenance costs. You roll your Resources and get an Average (+1) result. This only covers 1 shift out of the 3 required. You must obtain 2 more shifts to fully cover the expenses. You may take 2 stress on your Wealth track and pay the whole thing, or have one of the other characters attempt to roll Resources at the same difficulty (3) to help pay the maintenance costs.

Most starships are equipped with cargo holds for carrying goods between star systems. Commerce between the planets of the Dominion is a common, daily occurrence.

…todo…

• Cargo quality.
• Cargo amount.

Starship creation follows the same pattern as character creation. The various starship subsystems are represented by skills which reflect the crew proficiency with the skill (or subsystem) and the quality and effectiveness of the subsystem.

The following steps guide you through the creation of a starship:

• Choose the High Concept Aspect for the ship.
• Choose the Hull for the starship.
• Name your starship.
• Assign starship Aspects based on the hull chosen.
• Choose the Starship Skills, highest rank based on the Hull chosen.
• Choose the Starship Stunts, the number is determined by Systems.
• Assign Refresh for the starship; the default is 3 but can be increased by stunts.
• Determine the Stress Tracks and Consequences for the starship based on the skills chosen.

Hull determines the size of a starship. Size is a factor on how many skills, aspects and physical crew a starship may have. The size of the hull also determines the base maintenance cost of the starship.

The table below details each hull and its capabilities:

• Maintenance Cost of the hull is the Resources roll required to keep the ship in good shape each month. See starship maintenance for more information.
• Aspects is the number of aspects a starship receives beyond its High Concept aspect.
• Average Crew Per Stress is an indication of how many crew will be on board a given ship. This only includes crew and not non-crew personnel. The actual numbers are left up to GM discretion and this acts only as a guideline to gauge size.
• Skill Column is determines how many skills the starship has in its skill column. A starship hull gets two skills, starting at the level indicated and going down to Average (+1). The skills are a 2 skill column rather than a pyramid.
• Ship Types is a guide kind of starship you might find in the given size category.

Every starship is different. The hull size determines the number of capabilities a ship may possess. These capabilities are represented as starship skills and are structured on a double skill column; rather than a pyramid like a character. The types of skills a starship has differs from characters. The skill in question defines the physical subsystems of a ship as well as the crew's skill at using that system.

Characters crewing a ship may improve a starships' skill rating if their skill is better than the crew's. The character's skill ranks do not change the physical attributes of a ship, however. A high Starship Piloting will not make the ship fly faster, only better. Likewise, a high Starship Gunnery will not make the weapons more powerful, they will just hit more often when crewed by a character.

If a starship does not have a subsystem (i.e. skill) it may not make a skill roll. An exception to the rule are: Engines, Sensors and Systems which all ships possess. These may be made at Mediocre (+0) if the starship lacks the skill.

* denotes skills which may be taken multiple times.

Cargo Holds determines how much space the starship has for carrying goods. Cargo Holds is important if the starship is to carry significant loads of goods. It is a skill many freighters and haulers possess. Cargo Holds help the starship to earn a living trading goods which reduces the maintenance cost of the ship by one category for each rank of Cargo Holds the ship is equipped with - provided the captain can justify having had the opportunity to carry cargo during the month.

Restriction: Only one skill of this type permitted per starship.

Overcome: Cargo holds are used to store things. Each rank in Cargo Holds permits the ship to carry one unit of cargo. A ship cannot carry more cargo than its Cargo Holds rating.

Create An Advantage: The cargo holds may be used to create an appropriate advantage in certain situations. For example, to impress a potential employer that the ship has ample holds, etc.

Attack: Cargo Holds cannot be used to attack.

Defend: Cargo Holds cannot be used to defend.

Requires Hull (4) minimum.

When choosing this skill, write down either Fighters or Bombers on your sheet.

The starship is a carrier for fighters and bombers. Fighters and bombers must be chosen separately and each takes up one skill slot. The ranks in fighters or bombers determines the number and effectiveness of each.

Overcome: Carrier is used as a general skill for fighters and bombers to overcome difficulties in movement, attack and defence.

Create An Advantage: Carrier may be used to create advantages for the starship such as Depleting Shields, Torpedo Swarm or Fighter Screen.

Attack: Carrier is used to directly attack another starship.

Defend: Carrier is not used to defend, rather the fighters are used to Create An Advantage when aiding defence.

The starship may also be a carrier for one or more other starships. The total number of hull sizes which may be carried is the Hull rating -2.

Fighters and bombers have differing ranges and movement capabilities. Fighters are fast and manoeuvrable, effective at very close range. Bombers are slower and are meant to approach and destroy their targets at range.

When fighters or bombers are launched, they may move at the same distance as the carrier when in the same zone as the carrier, otherwise when in another zone, they act on their own accord and have the stress indicated for the squadron. The squadron effectively becomes its own ship on the map.

Fighters and bombers also have a sticky movement capability. Once in a zone with another ship, they may stick to that starship and travel with that starship wherever it may move without requiring a roll. It is difficult to lose a swarm of fighters and bombers. This is also beneficial when fighters are being used as a defensive screen.

Equipped with beams, these fast ships swarm the enemy. Fighters have a range of 0-2. Fighters may be used to defend against torpedo attacks. When used as a defence screen, stress caused to the starship may also be allocated to the fighters and permits you to use more than one stress box from your starship and from your fighters together. Fighters are fast and may move 2 zones per exchange. They may not make Engines rolls to move further.

Equipped with torpedoes, these slow ships are used to surround and overwhelm the enemy. Bombers have a range of 1-2. Bombers are slower and may move only one zone per exchange. They may not make Engines rolls to move further.

with the stats indicated in the table below:

• Stress indicates the amount of stress the squadron can take.
• Consequence indicates the consequence the squadron can sustain before being taken out.
• Effective Skill is the effective skill the squadron operates at for all rolls.

Stress and consequences must be repaired separately from the starship, however a concurrent repair roll may be made for the carrier squadron and each roll has a default time period of Half a day. Standard starship Repair rules apply.

Crew reflects the amount of crew the starship carries. The hull size of the ship determines the average size of crew a ship carries. Additional crew help the ship perform more actions during an exchange without penalty. Ranks in Crew enable the crew to perform more free actions per exchange without extending themselves, they also add additional Crew Stress Track boxes and consequences.

Restriction: Only one skill of this type permitted per starship.

Overcome: Crew skill is used to overcome problems not covered by other skills, such as starship repair and salvage operations.

Create An Advantage: The crew may be used to create an advantage when being boarded, rather than to attack the boarding party. Advantages such as Barricades and Entrenched may be created in order to increase the likelihood of defending the starship.

Attack: Crew is used to attack boarding parties.

Defend: Crew is used to defend against boarding party attacks.

• Crew Stress: The amount of stress on the Crew stress track.
• Crew Actions: The number of free actions the crew may undertake in one exchange.
• Additional Crew Consequences: The additional consequences which may be used to absorb Crew stress.
• Crew Skill: The general crew skill which covers things not otherwise covered by other skills, such as repair, for example.

Requires Hull (3) minimum.

The starship is able to deploy automated drones to aid it in various actions depending on the type of drones. When choosing ranks in Drones, a type of drone must be chosen and written in the skill slot. You may take more than one type of drone, but each type takes up a skill slot.

Drones do not require a crew action once deployed. They are fully automated. Drones are able to perform one attack or defend action per exchange during the Weapons Phase.

Drones cannot be damaged directly, and are only Taken Out when a consequence is sustained to the Drones system.

Drones must move with the starship but may make forays into the next zone over. They are not independent as fighters or bombers and always operate in relation to the starship.

Drones receive a number of free Boosts equal to their skill rating. These Boosts are applicable when making attack or defence rolls.

Drones are small and their attack capability is limited. They attack at the effective skill level listed below:

Drones have an effective range of 0-1 in relation to the starship.

Overcome: Repair and salvage drones are used to overcome repair and salvage difficulties.

Create An Advantage: Drones may be used to create a defensive advantage or an offensive one such as Defensive Screen and Swarming Attack.

Attack: Combat drones may be used to attack another vessel within range. They make a standard attack using the Drones effective skill. Drone attacks are less effective against Shields.

Defend: Drones is not rolled for defence, rather their Boosts may be applied to the defence roll of the starship.

Combat drones are effective for attack and defence against torpedoes. When used to attack, they use their beam weaponry to attack another starship. They may also be used to defend against torpedoes with the effectiveness of flack. Using them to attack or defend does not cost a crew action. The attacking starship may apply the Drone Boosts in attacks and defend actions. Doing either expands the Drones action for the exchange.

Salvage drones are utility drones which are used to mine resources and collect debris for salvage in space. The bonus granted is to the salvage operation.

Repair drones may be deployed to field repair a starship, even in the middle of combat. The difficulty to remove a structural stress box from a starship is the value of the box. After battle, structural consequences may be repaired in the same fashion as healing for characters, provided ample spare parts are available.

Sensor drones are deployed to provide the starship with additional sensor coverage. The sensor drones are able to make an independent sensor action on behalf of the starship crew without expanding crew actions. This may be an attack or to create an advantage. See Sensors for sensor range based on the drones effective skill. The sensor range of drones is 0-1.

Engines determine how well the crew can pilot the starship, how manoeuvrable it is and how fast it can go. More ranks in engines makes your starship faster when traversing the vast distances of space. Hull size is not a factor in space, as there is no gravity acting on the starship.

In battle, the engines help when transitioning zones and overcoming zone obstacles.

Outside battle, engines reduce the amount of time taken when traversing space, the duration is reduced by 1 degree for each rank in the skill.

Restriction: Only one skill of this type permitted per starship.

Overcome: Engines is used to overcome movement difficulties when traversing zones. It is also used to determine how far a starship may move when engaging full engines.

Create An Advantage: Engines may be used to create advantages such as Erratic Manoeuvres for defence and Attack Angle for attacks.

Attack: Engines are not used to make attacks.

Defend: Engines are not used for defence.

The complement of marines the ship carries among its crew and boarding shuttles to carry them. The Marines are trained for shipboard close combat and are used for boarding actions. The marines unit also has its own Marines stress track. The skill of the marine unit is determined by the ranks in Marines.

See Boarding Actions for more details about boarding.

Overcome: Marines is used to overcome the difficulty to board an enemy starship in the same zone as your starship. The Marines must overcome the opposed evasion roll of the enemy starship before they may board.

Create An Advantage: Marines may be used to create an advantage in both attack and defence situations, such as Press The Attack to Ambush Tactics.

Attack: Marines is used to attack defending Marines or Crew and to defend against counter attacks. Marines receive +1 when attacking Crew.

Defend: Marines is used to defend against attacks by defending Marines and Crew. Marines defending from a Crew attack receive a +1 bonus to the defence roll.

• Marines Stress: The stress boxes the marines can take. This is separate from starship stress.
• Marines Per Stress: Representation of the number of marines in the unit.
• Marines Consequences: The severity of the single consequence the Marines may absorb.

The Medical Bay provides the ship with medical facilities. The medical bay may be used during an exchange to remove stress from the Crew track and post-battle to help heal crew related consequences. The skill of the medical crew and the quality of the medical facility is also determined by the ranks in Medial Bay.

Restriction: Only one skill of this type permitted per starship. Requires Small (2) Hull minimum.

Create An Advantage: The medical bay may be used to create advantages with regard to medicine and research.

Overcome: The medical bay is used in healing of crew and characters. The skill is used to begin the healing of consequences as normal physical stress for characters.

Attack: The medical bay is not used to directly make attacks.

Defend: The medical bay is not used to make defend rolls.

• Medical Facility: Is the level of the medical facility and the bonus to related Science rolls.

The Repair Bay enables a ship to enact repairs on itself or other ships. Repairs may not be done during combat (requires repair drones for that). The ranks in Repair Bay determine the quality of the crew as well as the repair facility quality. Another starship of hull size equal or smaller than the repair bay may dock and be repaired.

Restriction: Only one skill of this type permitted per starship. Requires Medium (3) Hull minimum.

Create An Advantage: The repair bay may be used to modify equipment and technology for the purposes of creating an advantage.

Overcome: The repair bay may be used to overcome difficulties associated with repair of technology.

Attack: The repair bay is not used to make attacks.

Defend: The repair bay is not used to make defence rolls.

• Workship Facility: Is the level of the medical facility and the bonus to related Crafts and Science rolls.

Sensors is the starship's ability to detect things in space. This is the equivalent of the Notice skill for characters. The sensor suite is also used to engage other ships in electronic warfare. The ranks in Sensors determines the skill of the crew as well as the range of the sensors.

The effective range of sensors is equivalent to the skill rating in zones.

Restriction: Only one skill of this type permitted per starship.

Create An Advantage: Sensors may be used to create advantages such as hiding the starship's presence and sneaking up on an enemy vessel. Sensors may also be used to disrupt enemy actions through electronic warfare and cause stress and consequences to the target ship.

Overcome: Sensors may be used to scan another starship to learn its capabilities. For each shift gained, you may ask 1 new thing your sensors revealed about another starship. You may ask about Aspects, Skills and Stunts. If you ask about Aspects, you will learn one of its aspects. If you ask about a specific Skill, you will learn its rating. Asking about Stunts will reveal a stunt the starship possesses.

Attack: Sensors may be used to wage electronic warfare against the systems of another starship. Through hacking and interference, another ship may be impaired and even crippled.

Defend: Sensors is used to defend against electronic warfare attacks. It may also be used to actively counter a sensor scan at the cost of one crew action.

Shields determines the strength of the starship's shield defence. These shields are only effective against beam weapons and do not stop torpedoes or flack cannons.

Restriction: Only one skill of this type permitted per starship.

The starship receives a number of free invokes on their shields equal to the skill rating of the skill. A starship with Good (+3) Shields will have 3 free invokes which may be used to reduce the attack stress received from beam weapons.

Structure determines the hull integrity of the starship. High structure indicates a heavily armoured hull. All starships have the basic consequences: Mild, Moderate and Severe. High structure grants additional consequence slots.

Restriction: Only one skill of this type permitted per starship.

Structure is a passive skill, it determines stress and consequences and is not used actively as a skill otherwise.

• Structural Stress is the amount of Structural Stress boxes the starship has.
• Additional Structural Consequences is the additional structural consequences on top of the standard consequences which may be allocated to structural stress.

Systems determines how many additional stunts the starship may take. All ships have at least two stunts, systems indicates the ship was upgraded in a variety of ways. See Starship Stunts.

Restriction: Only one skill of this type permitted per starship.

Shields is a passive skill, it determines stress, consequences and additional stunts and is not used actively as a skill otherwise.

• Additional Systems Consequences: The additional consequences the starship can sustain to its systems.

The starship is outfitted with a variety of weapons. Each weapon type takes a skill slot and each may be taken more than once. A ship may, for example have Fair (+2) Beams and also Average (+1) Beams. This permits a ship to make two attacks, or attack multiple targets in one exchange during the Weapons Phase. The Crew limits how many actions may be taken during an exchange by the crew however, without penalty.

Each weapon system grants the ship a number of Boosts applicable when when that weapon is used. The number of Boosts gained per battle scene is equal to the number of ranks in the skill.

Create An Advantage: Weapons may be used to create advantages in a similar fashion to character attacks. Advantages such as Full Power To Weapons or Defensive Fire Pattern Delta may be created.

Overcome: Weapons may be used to determine whether they are effective against a non-starship obstacle or object. Some examples include breaking up asteroids, orbital bombardment, etc.

Attack: Weapons is used to make attacks against enemies.

Defend: Weapons are not used for defence, however the Boosts of some weapons (flack) may be used to help in the defence against Torpedoes.

The different types of weapons have varying zone ranges.

The starship is equipped with flack cannons. Flack cannons have a range of 0, only able to attack targets in the same zone as the starship. They are however, an effective defence against torpedoes. They may also be used offensively against another ship or a squadron of fighters/bombers. Flack may not be used more than once per exchange per skill slot taken. Each flack cannon system may either offer a defence bonus or to make an attack against another ship, not both.

Each rank in Flack grants a free Boost for the battle. These Boosts may be used both offensively or defensively against Torpedoes, Boarding Actions, Fighters or Bombers which stray too close.

The free invokes may not be used when attacking another starship when attacking with flack cannons. Flack is not very effective against strong hulls such as those of starships. Advantages created, however, may be used.

The starship is equipped with beam batteries. Beam attacks are less effectve against starships equipped with Shields. Beams are an effective medium to short range weapon and have a range of 0-2.

The starship is equipped with torpedo tubes. Torpedo attacks are less effective against starships equipped with Flack cannons. Torpedoes are effective at long ranges, they are ineffective at very close range due to the hypervelocities involved. Their range is 1-3.

All starships have a refresh of 3. This may be increased with the Dependable stunt up to a maximum of 5. Starship Fate points may be spent by any of the crew at any time. Characters are also able to use their own Fate points while on the starship.

A stunt may be taken only once, unless otherwise indicated.

• Gravitic Net. The starship is equipped with a gravity generator capable of snaring and drawing other ships closer. The ship uses its Sensors skill in an opposed Engines roll with the target ship. On a success the target is drawn one zone closer. On a success with style, the target is drawn 2 zones closer. The attacking ship may only use the net on starships with a hull size less than it. The range of the net depends on the sensor range of the starship.
• Armoured Plating. The starship hull has been reinforced with armoured plates. The starship gains +1 to its structural track.
• Advanced Targeting System. The starship gains a +1 to its Weapons: Beam roll.
• Armoured Carriers. The starship carries armoured boarding shuttles with enhanced range and manoeuvrability. Boarding actions receive a +2 bonus.
• Experienced Crew. The crew is well trained and allows the crew to perform 1 more action per exchange.
• Stealth Package. The starship is outfitted with a stealth package which grants it +2 to evading scanning and detection.
• Colourful History. The starship has been around for a long time. It gains an additional aspect describing its colourful history.
• Escape Pods. The starship is outfitted with lifepods which can be used to escape the ship should it ever be destroyed. Athletics roll is made opposed by difficulty 4 to get to a life pod. If the roll is failed the character suffers a Major consequence, if the roll is failed by 3+, a Severe consequence. Getting out is dangerous when the ship is disintegrating around you.
• Drop Pods. The starship is capable of dropping its Marines complement on a planet in a matter of minutes. These drop pods crash through the atmosphere and land roughly, disgorging its marines.
• Atmospheric. The starship is capable of entering the atmosphere of planets and landing on them. Otherwise a transfer vehicle must be used.
• Shuttles. The starship has a shuttle for use in transferring crew and cargo between the planet and the ship. The starship has a number of shuttles equal to half the Hull size (round down). Only ships with a Medium (3) or larger hull may have shuttles.
• Auxiliary Systems. The starship has backup systems which may be brought on-line after damage has occurred. Once per scene, a Mild or Moderate consequence may be ignored.
• Sensor Decoy. The starship carries a sensor decoy drones which may be deployed once per scene to grant a +2 bonus to Tactics evasion rolls. By spending a Fate point, the decoy works perfectly and the ship avoids any stress caused in that exchange. This may be decided after the fact. The drones are capable of deploying holographic and sensor deception techniques.
• Gravity Disturbance Generator. The starship is equipped with a generator capable of disturbing gravity in the localized space. This allows the ship to create a gravitic disturbances which when active, grants the Gravity Disturbances aspect on the scene. Starships wishing to open a conduit may do so at extreme risk of creating a black hole. The number of zones the gravitational disturbance covers equals the hull size. This stunt is limited to Large (4) or larger hulls.
• Superluminal. The starship is equipped with a superluminal drive, capable of traversing the vast distances between planets at faster than light speed. This stunt is limited to Medium (3) or larger hulls.
• Armed Crew. The starship's crew is armed and knows how to use weapons. When being boarded, the ship receives an additional +1 bonus to attack and defence rolls. This applies even if there are no Marines on board. If Marines are available, they do not receive the +1 bonus, only the crew.
• Dependable. The starship gains +1 refresh. This stunt may be taken up to twice for a maximum Refresh of 5.
• Pin Point Accuracy. The starship systems permit it to target specific systems and destroy them. When you spend a Fate point, you decide what the consequence your target just took is, rather than your target. If they don't like it, they can pay you a Fate point to prevent you from choosing. This may be escalated once for a total of two Fate Points.
• Hardened Systems. The starship's systems are hardened against attack. Receive an additional Systems stress box.
• Hotshot Fighter Pilots. The starship's fighters receive a +1 bonus to attack and defence.
• Hotshot Bomber Crews. The starship's bombers receive a +1 bonus to attack and defence.
• Advanced Guidance Systems. The starship's Weapons: Torpedoes receive a +1 bonus to attack.
• Advanced Tracking Systems. The starship's flack cannons receive an extra Boost per scene.
• Advanced Shield Systems. The starship's shields receive an extra Boost per scene.
• Master Engineers. The starship has a complement of master engineers on board to aid in repairs. These engineers add +2 to repair rolls.
• Rod From God. The starship is outfitted with launch tubes for kinetic rods which may be fired from orbit at ground targets. The impact with the ground causes massive amounts of kinetic energy to be released - obliterating an area approximately 1km² and creating a massive crater. Whatever was on the ground or below ground is destroyed. Attacks are made using Sensors with a +2 bonus against planetoid sized hull objects or larger. The range is 0-1 zones. Minimum Large (4) Hull is required.
• Orbital Beams. The starship is outfitted with beams which are capable of striking individual targets on a planetoid or larger object surface. These beams attack at the skill level of the starship's Sensors skill. Requires least a Large (4) Hull.
• External Cargo Pods. The starship is outfitted with external cargo pods which add +2 to the starship's cargo rating. The pods add +1 to the starships structural stress track. Unfortunately these can become easily damaged and any stress suffered immediately results in the loss of the cargo in those pods.
• Firewalls. The starship is hardened against electronic warfare attacks and receives a +1 bonus on Sensors system defence rolls.
• EW Specialists. The starship is crewed by electronic warfare specialists. Receive a +1 Sensors bonus when attacking another ship with electronic warfare.
• Psyberbrain. The starship is equipped with a psyberbrain intelligence which can automate most of the ship. The starship is capable of making up to 2 crew actions per exchange on its own at a skill level of Good (+3). The starship's psyberbrain has has a personality quirk which adds another aspect to the starship describing this quirk. The psyberbrain is now one of the systems on the starship and can be affected by any consequences taken.
• Powered Marines. The Marines are equipped with powered armour and receive +1 to their boarding, attack and defend rolls. A powered marine boarding action is usually followed by immediate surrender as crews generally do not stand a chance against these guys.
• Tactical Genius . The starship is captained by a seasoned commander. It receives a +2 bonus to Tactics when creating an advantage. Each phase this bonus may be offered up to an ally ship instead during the Tactics Phase on your turn.
• Advanced Drive. The starship is able to move 2 zones for free during the movement phase rather than the one. It is able to traverse any zone which has a difficulty of Average (+1) or less without needing to roll Engines.

Ship Title

• Hull:
• High Concept:
• Aspects:
• Skills:
  • Legendary (+8):
  • Epic (+7):
  • Fantastic (+6):
  • Superb (+5):
  • Great (+4):
  • Good (+3):
  • Fair (+2):
  • Average (+1):
• Stunts:
  • Stunt 1:
  • Stunt 2:
• Refresh:
• Structural Stress: [][]
• Crew Stress: [][]
• System Stress: [][]
• Shields:
• Consequences:
  • Mild:
  • Moderate:
  • Severe:

The following is an example map which might be used for a starship battle. A similar map was used for one of our playtest sessions.

This is a starship sheet which we used for playtesting. Right click and choose _save as_ or _save image as_ to save the image. It can be printed on a regular sheet for use.