SWRPG (SWSE) Starships of the Galaxy (C-2007)

[Jedi Master Spock]

SWRPG (SWSE) Starships of the Galaxy (C-2007)

I saw Point45 referencing RPG statistics, and I thought I might check out a book or two. "C-2007" means this is "C" continuity material dating to 2007.

"Starships of the Galaxy" is a role-playing game supplement. It's meant to serve as the main sourcebook for information on starships for people playing the Star Wars Role-playing game. This one is a Wizards product, and fairly recent; there are other older SW RPGs. Sarli, Rostoni, and Chee are all mentioned in the front flap, along with a bunch of names I don't recognize.

Even discarding the actual in-game statistics, there's actually a wealth of material here that any EU completist should be most respectful of. After all, it's C-2007 material! Perhaps it's just me, but when I read it, I'm thinking that the people writing it don't have such a different opinion from myself on what Star Wars is actually showing as Saxtonites.

Foreword:

Starts off with a note saying that the stats here and the stats in the core rulebook differ, and that this should be considered the authoritative source. Nice to see some consideration for canon conflicts here.

Travel in Realspace:

"Starships also have ion drives capable of incredible acceleration (thousands of times the force of gravity) due to a combination of exceptional thrust and manipulation of the starship's mass relative to its exhaust. In addition, repulsorlift drives are preferred for delicate maneuvering during takeoff and landing. In fact, the mass manipulation that makes ion drives so efficient in deep space is markedly less efficient in atmosphere, so almost all starships use both drives in conjunction during atmospheric flight, particularly when near the surface of a planet."

Sarli reinvented ST impulse drive in 2006 to reconcile older RPG material with the ROTS: ICS. Not surprising to see it show up here! Also not surprising to see repulsorlifts are the primary liftoff engines - see "antigravity" reference in ANH novelization. There's also a table of typical times to travel around in real space.

Travel in Hyperspace:

"A starship in hyperspace is effectively cut off from communication with starships in realspace."

Also provides a lengthy "mass shadow" explanation talking about how it's a safety feature, and some technobabble about how a ship exiting hyperspace emits "Cronau" radiation, which lingers for some time and can tell you where a ship went.

The section spends a while talking about how recent astrogation data makes it less risky to go through hyperspace and gives three main sources for navigational data. A table gives the game-mechanical difficulty, with entries starting at day-old "fresh" data and going to "old" data of more than a year. Apparently hyperspace routes make minor shifts all the time.

Communications

Communications travel "millions of times faster than the speed of light." They are also "instantaneous" from one end of the galaxy to the other. One of these two things is hyperbole.

But I'm Not A Pilot!

Almost everybody can fly a starship with few exceptions - "an Ewok fresh of the forest moon of Endor, for example."

Quotable quote: "Obi-Wan Kenobi didn't fly a fighter in the opening sequence of Revenge of the Sith because he was a master pilot: He flew one because there was a fight going on in space, and he needed to be part of it."

Damaging Environment

"Though most space combats take place in a vacuum, some battles might take place in thick dust clouds, the upper atmosphere of a corrosive gas giant, electromagnetically charged nebulae, or even in close proximity to a star - and any of those features can damage a vehicle."

Here "vehicle" means "starship."

Proton torpedoes

"Proton torpedoes use a proton-scattering warhead that essentially causes a small nuclear explosion on the target's surface."

Cloaking device

A quick series of retcons to explain the apparent existence of both good and bad cloaking devices in Star Wars.

Acclamator-class assault ship

"Produced on a scale to match that of the clone troopers it was designed to carry, dozens of the ships were crewed and ready to depart when Jedi Master Yoda arrived to mobilize an invasion force."
"The Acclamator is designed as a legion-level troop transport."
"In dire situations, several Acclamators could join forces to perform an orbital bombardment designed to eradicate all factors of production (including all sentients). Codenamed Base Delta Zero by Old Republic, Confederacy, and (later) Imperial forces, such a technique was used sparingly against systems that were too rebellious to be conquered."
"If the Acclamator has one weakness, it is its overspecialization as a ground attack platform. Though it can certainly defend itself from small spaceborne threats, it doesn't have the staying power or flexibility to stand against a concerted attack by capital ships. It is for this reason, more than any other, that the Acclamator design was eventually abandoned by the Empire in favor of larger, less specialized vessels."

Acclamator-II

"Armed with two heavy proton torpedo tubes, in addition to a full complement of turbolasers, a single assault ship could snuff out life on an entire continent in the course of a few hours."

Delta-7 Aethersprite

"The Delta-7 Aethersprite was conceived primarily as a reconnaisance platform, and its light armament reflects this."
You might also be interested to know it is given shields.

ARC-170 Starfighter

"The ARC-170's ultimate failing was not lack of firepower or ability, but the high supply cost to keep it in combat. The starfighter needs regular maintenance and requires a three-person crew, making it expensive in terms of training, personnel, and upkeep. As a result, once the TIE fighter replaced it in Imperial squadrons, there was very little demand for the ARC-170. Though some were liberated by the Rebellion, most were mothballed or scrapped simply because the Rebels lacked the flight crews and repair bays necessary to keep the older ARC-170s ready for combat."-
"Though taxing, it was possible for the crew to sleep in shifts, allowing the starfighter to be alert and ready for action for days at a time."

A-Wing

"During the Battle of Endor, A-wings were responsible for the destruction of the Super Star Destroyer Executor."

A couple Saxtonite eyes were poked in the writing of this sentence.

Banking Clan Frigate

"In an ideal situation, a star frigate could focus on protecting larger capital ships and eliminating smaller, more weakly armed ships. Its prow-mounted heavy turbolasers could punch through the shielding and armor of smaller capital ships, allowing the Munificent-class ship to take on military-grade targets. In practice, however, Banking Clan vessels often had to contend with Star Destroyers - conflicts that rarely went well for the frigates."

The Banking Clan frigates are mid-size capital ships.

B-Wing

"Capital ships often find the B-Wing starfighter to be an extremely dangerous opponent. Particularly fearsome are the proton torpedoes, which can be brought to bear against a starship with devastating results. In fact, a squadron of B-wing fighters was responsible for destroying an Imperial Star Destroyer at the battle of Endor, a feat that no other fighter type could claim at the battle."

Of course, in the X-wing series, this would seem practically commonplace, but this is precisely the sort of thing that Saxtonites seem to want to bury under the carpet.

Carrack-class Light Cruiser

"Given the amount of weaponry a Carrack can bring to bear on a target, it poses a significant threat, even to larger enemy vessels. When employed in small squadrons, Carracks can wreak havoc on starships ten times their size."

Small ships threatening big ships. Hm. I sense a theme.

Commerce Guild Destroyer

"The Confederacy produced a large number of Recusant destroyers, deploying them en masse against the Republic. During the Clone Wars, it was rare to see fewer than four Recusants deployed at once, each concentrating its fire on a single target. "

"After the Separatists were defeated, Recusants still found use throughout the galaxy. The Rebel Alliance had at least one such vessel - albeit heavily modified and more amenable to organic crewmen - while another half-dozen continued to serve in the fleet of the Corporate Sector Authority."

Pay attention to the numbers here.

Corellian Corvette

"A smaller capital ship that is just a step up from a space transport,"

The blockade runner is a capital ship. Well, barely.

Dreadnaught-class Heavy Cruiser

"Designed by Rendili StarDrive in the waning days of the Old Republic, the Dreadnaught-class heavy cruiser is a heavily armed battleship that remains in active use despite being supplanted by superior technologies."

That sentence says a lot, I would say.

Droid Starfighter

"a single computer virus can scramble the programming of thousands of droid starfighters"

Eta-2 Actis Interceptor

"Featuring twin S-foils designed to diffuse heat"

The mysterious S-foils!

Slave I

"Armed with more weapons than many capital ships carry, Slave I represents an example of how a Firespray-31 can be customized to fit the needs of an individual owner."

The Slave I is really heavily armed.

Geonosian fighter

"From the time each one hatches, a Geonosian pilot is paired with a specific flight computer. This has the effect of forming a seamless bond between the pilot and his starfighter. So strong is this connection that pilots who lose their ships in combat often waste away and die within weeks of the loss."

Nothing technical, this was just so WTF I had to quote it.

Ginivex-class Starfighter

"The Ginivex's solar sail is its most distinctive asset."
"As an added bonus, the solar sail can be used to propel the Ginivex if its sublight drives are damaged."

Apparently all Geonosian fighters need WTF moments. Installing a solar sail on a starfighter is up there.

Imperial Assault Shuttle

I just wanted to say this thing really looks like a boarding torpedo from WH40k.

Imperial Star Destroyer

"Few starships inspire terror the way a Star Destroyer can. A symbol of the Empire's might and an instrument of its tyranny, the Imperial Star Destroyer is a dagger-shaped vessel of pure destruction. Armed with powerful weapons and nearly impregnable defenses, the Imperial Star Destroyer is a one-ship command platform that can be used to fill a variety of roles. Star Destroyers act as assault warships, planetary defenders, even escort vessels for extremely important ships."

The multirole Star Destroyer. Normal deployment: One.

"During the height of the Empire, Star Destroyers were deployed in every sector, and some planets even have their own Star Destroyers assigned to them. The Imperial Fortress worlds of the Deep Core often had multiple Star Destroyers assigned to a single planet, and important planets such as Coruscant might have as many as a dozen Star Destroyers, if not more, in orbit at any given time. Unlike the Old Republic, the Empire built enough ships to extend its reach all the way to the Outer Rim, and multiple Star Destroyers patrolled the space lanes on a regular basis."

Occasionally, you see a dozen Star Destroyers in the same place. Or - wow - MORE! Also, a nice note on how the Empire massively expanded the military, something that happens to be a core of my analysis of the hexology.

"Imperial Star Destroyers are capable of delivering precise orbital strikes - destroying only a small section of a planet - as well as delivering bombardments that will wipe out all life and industry on a world (a tactic known as Base Delta Zero). Only planets that have powerful shields can withstand the turbolasers of an Imperial Star Destroyer, and some worlds (including Caamas) have been devastated by such tactics."

The BDZ: Alive and well in RPG literature.

"With twenty turbolaser batteries, a Star Destroyer can pound on other capital ships, reducing their shields in a matter of minutes."

The ever-varying turbolaser count of the ISD. Note the time-scale to down other ships' shields: Minutes.

The Victory II-class Star Destroyer

"Though smaller and less durable than the Imperial-II-class Star Destroyer, the Victory II-class are still incredibly powerful and often operate in pairs."

Normal deployment: 2. Class: Overwhelmingly potent compared to most other ships.

"Since the ship lacks a large TIE fighter escort, the Victory II-class Star Destroyer is often paired with escort ships or fleet carriers that have a large number of starfighters that can be quickly deployed."

Underline this in your notes, ladies and gentlemen: Fighters are critical.

Lancer-class Frigate

"After the Imperial defeat at the battle of Yavin, Naval Command developed the Lancer-class frigate as an antifighter escort for larger ships that might be susceptible to the Alliance's starfighter tactics."

Wait, capital ships are vulnerable to starfighters? Oh, yes, they are.

"Early Lancers were plagued with severe fire control malfunctions that could shut down more than half of the craft's laser cannons, making the craft less than useless."

I'm not sure I agree with this math.

Marauder Corvette

Terran battlecruiser. Seriously. You don't even have to squint.

Mon Calamari MC80 Cruiser

"Of the dozens of Mon Calamari warships that joined the Rebel fleet, the MC80 is the most powerful."

Dozens of types of Mon Calamari warships joined the Rebel fleet. Hm. We don't see that many, do we?

"As equipped, the MC80 is the largest ship in the Rebel arsenal."

Repeat, the 1200m wonder is the big ship.

"Even though the MC80 is a full 400 meters shorter than an Imperial class Star Destroyer, it is more than capable of giving its larger opponent a sound beating. The recklessness of Imperial commanders, combined with the skill of the Mon Calamari gun crews, cost the Empire several of their most powerful warships."

OK, did you hear that? This is plainly obvious from watching the Rebels beat the Impies over Endor. This ship is less than 40% of the size of an Imperial Star Destroyer, but it's more specialized, and kicks copious amounts of Prussian-uniform wearing tail. Also, reiterate: The Imperial Star Destroyer is widely considered top of the line.

"Despite the superior engineering that went into their construction, the fact remains that the Mon Calamari ships are smaller and less well armed than Imperial Star Destroyers. In order to make up for these deficiencies, the Mon Calamari have developed several tactics that take advantage of their ships' exceptional speed and maneuverability."

Actually, they kind of wallow like stuck pigs compared to fighters. Or Star Trek ships. But I can believe that they're better off than ISDs.

"Even if the losses were equal on both sides, the Empire would have a vast numerical advantage over the Alliance."

It goes on to talk about the comparison a lot. In general, the ISD has a little bit of an edge in brute power and numbers, but the Mon Calamari ships are faster, smaller, nimbler, more sophisticated, and have regenerative shielding. Oh, and:

"The one thing that often makes the difference are the small, well-equipped starfighters that are so commonly employed by the Alliance. A single MC80 is equipped with as many as 36 fighter craft"

And an ISD? 72. Unfortunately, TIEs are not too hot at attacking enemy ships. They're meant to protect against enemy fighters, not attack enemy capital ships.

Home One

"The Liberty type (named after the Liberty, which fought at the Battle of Endor) is considered the "standard" design type for all MC80 cruisers. The other variant, referred to as the Home One type (named for the Rebel command ship), is slightly tougher and more heavily armed.

N-1 Starfighter

"Unlike many other planetary defense fighters, the N-1 starfighter is equipped with powerful weapons systems. Despite its outward appearance as a piece of art, the N-1 carries laser cannons and proton torpedoes that rival those used by strictly military vessels. The mere presence of proton torpedoes puts the vessel in a higher class of combat starships, allowing it to drive off raiders that have competitive weaponry."

Interesting.

Nebulon-B Frigate

"The Nebulon-B escort frigate was incredibly well suited to a number of tasks, such as antistarfighter screening and suppression of medium-sized warships."

The Nebbie is about 300 meters long. It's actually about five sixths of the size of the original Enterprise. And it can "suppress" medium-sized Star Wars warships. Let me emphasize that. Medium-sized. Either the Nebbie is a heck of a tough cookie... or the median warship size isn't all that large. Also: Underline the fact that antistarfighter screening is important. The Nebbie carries a number of fighters.

Strike-class Medium Cruiser

"The Strike-class is designed from the ground up to be a flexible, efficient, modular starship with half the functionality of a Victory Star Destroyer for 25% of the cost."

Super Star Destroyer

"The 19-kilometer-long Super-class Star Destroyers were the largest class of ships built by the Empire. (Though a few larger mobile space stations, such as the two Death Stars, were also put into service, they were neither common enough to qualify as a class nor, properly speaking, starships.)"

May I add underlines? Yes, I think I will. This is, by the way, another EU vote for 19 km and for the "Super" class name.

Executor

"More than one hundred times as massive as an Imperial-class Star Destroyer, the Executor can hold far more resources than the Empire normally has available to fill it."

Ouch.

Eclipse

"The Eclipse-class axial superlaser is two-thirds as powerful as one of the component projectors of a Death Star superlaser, and thus lacks the power to destroy a planet-sized target. It can, however, smash through any conceivable shields and render a planet uninhabitable or destroy any lesser target."

For those of you counting rays in your head, 2/3 * 1/8 = 1/12th the total power. Note that rendering uninhabitable more or less meets the description Saxton uses for his BDZs, so the super-duper-powered Eclipse is able to do what Saxton generally claims would require a single Acclamator.

TIE Fighter

"In order to save on production costs, the TIE/ln lacks many of the features that are considered to be standard on other starfighters. The relatively fragile craft is not equipped with deflector shields, a hyperdrive, or a life support system."

OK, so shoddy engineering on the ISD, defective fire control on the Lancer, and the Strike cruiser is designed to be really cost-efficient... and when starfighters are really critical to combat, the Empire builds the cheapest ones possible. Is it just me, or do you get the impression that the Imperial Navy is straining for budget here? Something about giant boondoggle projects eating up all the discretionary spending? The biggest piece of which rhymes with "meth bar"?

Trade Federation Battleship

"Since the Lucrehulk-class battleships are converted freighters they carry no special systems designed specifically for combat, and have a number of design flaws that make them vulnerable to attack."

Venator-class Star Destroyer

"An able warship and among the most dangerous ships of its era, the Venator serves best as part of a massive fleet, acting as both a primary fighting ship and a starfighter carrier while supporting numerous more specialized combat ships."

Generalist ship. This one designed to work in teams rather than solo.


S-2007 material:

I know it's not especially high-level material, but I thought I would post the comparison between the ISD and the MC80 game stats:

Code: Select all

Stat                ISD   MC80  H1     
hit points:        2100  1800  1950   
Damage Resistance:   20    20     -   
Shield Rating:      125   150     - 
Threshold:          256   254     -
Speed:                3     3     -
Ref Defense          18    16     -   
Fort Defense         56    54     -
Armor:              +16   +13     -
Fighters:            72    36   120
Crew:             37085  5402     -
Challenge Level:     20    19     -



Armament:

ISD Atk +15
5 heavy TL batteries +15 11d10x5 damage
5 TL batteries +15 8d10x5 damage
4 heavy ion batteries +15 3d10x5 ion damage
2 tractor beam batteries +15 GRP +68

MC80
4 TL batteries +15 5d10x5
5 heavy ion batteries +11 3d10x5
Tractor beam battery +15 GRP +66

Home One
6 TL batteries +15 5d10x5
6 heavy ion batteries +15 3d10x5
Tractor beam battery +15 GRP +66

So in the actual gameplay... the ISD has a lot more firepower. Its shields also generate half as fast - they get back 5 points of shield rating on a recharge, the MC80 has a special ability that lets it get 10. The thing that's striking isn't really that the MC80 is supposed to be a close to fair match for the ISD (and I think the game stats might not be such a close match, but it's not as if I've actually tested that by playing the game) but how much smaller and more efficient it really is.

[Mike DiCenso]

"In dire situations, several Acclamators could join forces to perform an orbital bombardment designed to eradicate all factors of production (including all sentients). Codenamed Base Delta Zero by Old Republic, Confederacy, and (later) Imperial forces, such a technique was used sparingly against systems that were too rebellious to be conquered."

Well, here's an interesting statement on the BDZ. Not only does this statement completely contradict Saxton's AOTC:ICS, but restores the original concept definition of what a BDZ is supposed to do. A single Acclamator is not going to be slinging petatons of firepower so that it alone can devastate a planet, but rather at least 3 or more such ships, and even then they will not be bringing to bear anything like the firepower necessary apparently to reduce the target planet's crust to a molten state. Instead what we have is a Star Trek Starfleet General Order 24 type of attack, that does a mass, precision bombardment of a planet to wipe out industry, spoil the eviroment and wipe out sentients. This is confirmed again in the next entry on the Acclamator-II description:

"Armed with two heavy proton torpedo tubes, in addition to a full complement of turbolasers, a single assault ship could snuff out life on an entire continent in the course of a few hours."

Hello here, a single Acclamator armed with heavy proton torpedo tubes and TLs needs mutliple hours to snuff out life on a continent. Not an entire planet, a mere continent. And while that is impressive, it is nowhere near what the Saxtonites have been touting that an Acclamator should be able to do. A single 200 gigaton TL would do the trick with one or two well-placed shots in a matter of minutes at most, and have additional severe effects on the planet as a whole. The description above makes it seem as though the Acclamator is weilding firepower that acts more a real-life conventional nuclear strike.

The fact that the Eclipse super star destroyer entry has the only thing resembling a Saxtonite BDZ and even then by making use not of conventional TLs, but rather a downgraded version of the Death Star superlaser, is rather telling. The 1/12th power rating is also rather interesting since it indicates once again that the DS SL cannot simply be a DET weapon as Saxtonites and pro-Wars debaters have touted for years and years. So even multiple Acclamators, or Venators, and or ISDs are not capable of carrying out a Saxtonian BDZ, only a massive super weapon-equipped super star destroyer.
-Mike

[Mr. Oragahn]

The problem with the Wongies and Saxtonites is that they don't realize that with the firepower they claimed, any suicidal civilian who possessed a small freighter and had a fang against society could pick his ship and blast out some kilotons/megatons shot just because, and any one could hold an entire metropolis as hostage.

I'm surprised the thousands of gees made it, but that's only enabled with mass lightening tech, which means it's good to cover the distance across a star system over linear trajectories and orbits, but not useful nor practical in direct space combat.
Perhaps it also takes time to turn them on. That said, being C material, it still bows to facts from the movies, such as the linear deceleration RSA calculated for the ISDs in TESB, before impact.

[Mike DiCenso]

The problem with the Wongies and Saxtonites is that they don't realize that with the firepower they claimed, any suicidal civilian who possessed a small freighter and had a fang against society could pick his ship and blast out some kilotons/megatons shot just because, and any one could hold an entire metropolis as hostage.

Yes, a small starship the size of the Falcon or Slave I should be enough by itself to enable such terrorism. However, we don't see that. But given the way the Saxtonites love to rationalize away things, they'd claim that every SW city or even the podunk towns of Tatoonine have super neutrino absorbing technobabble that limits the damage ships like that can do, or even the poorest of households has access to a full up megaton capacity deflector shield.
-Mike

[Mike DiCenso]

Oh yeah, speaking of Slave I, I loved this quote:

", Slave I represents an example of how a Firespray-31 Armed with more weapons than many capital ships carry can be customized to fit the needs of an individual owner."

This should pretty much put to rest some of the Warsie nonsense that the firepower demonstrated by Slave I does not represent an upper limit cap on what starfighter firepower can achive. So no lasers or blasters, nor even proton torpedoes on X-wings are likely going to top what Slave I demonstrated at Geonosis.
-Mike

[The Dude]

To be fair, you could just engage the main drive and accelerate straight up. IIRC there was something in the EU about not engaging the drive in atmosphere, can't remember the book. One of Zahn's most likely.

[Mr. Oragahn]

Zahn is also the guy who came with Cronau particles or radiations, iirc.

[The Dude]

Zahn is also the guy who came with Cronau particles or radiations, iirc.

What the heck are they?

[Mike DiCenso]

The Wookiepedia article states this:

"Cronau radiation was radiation emitted by an object leaving hyperspace along an axis perpendicular to the object's realspace vector."

It is first mentioned according to the article in "Tyrant's Test" by Michael P. Kube-McDowell.
-Mike

[User1350]

If you're going to use Cronau radiation to track someone, shouldn't it be emitted on entering hyperspace or traveling through it. If it's on leaving, the tracker has to wait until the trip is over, the radiation needs ridiculous range, and it will need to be separated from millions of other sources.

[Mike DiCenso]

Who knows and who cares, The whole thing is just stupid technobabble anyway and runs almost completely contrary to the highest canon depictions of hyperspace travel in the movies and TV series where an actual physical homing beacon had to be secured to a vessel to track it's exact course in hyperspace.
-Mike

[Mr. Oragahn]

The cronau rad only tells someone if a ship exited hyperspace there. It's not going to replace a beacon that broadcasts a signal over a long range, in and out of hyperspace I suppose.

[Jedi Master Spock]

OK, so you remember when I got involved with debating WH40k and Battletech, and decided I had to learn how the game mechanics worked and how twitchy they were before I started saying much about it?

Well, I guess it's because I'm something of a numbers guy at heart, but I've been gripped by the readily available statistics in the game, and decided to take a close look at the system that's behind them, and what it means for comparing the ISD and MCC.

Now, any of the analysis coming out of the game mechanics can be considered at best S level material, so really, it's practically worthless - although if you're an EU completist, the fact that almost nothing is more specific should oblige you to pay attention to it. (Even so, since most supposed EU completists active in VS debates are Saxtonites, and game mechanics inevitably present fighters in a more favorable light than Saxton, EU completists tend to ignore game mechanics completely rather than treat them as a lower form of canon.)

However, the contrast between the statistics and the fluff is odd, here. The Mon Calamari cruiser looks to be severely outgunned by its counterpart, and yet is supposed to be able to be "more than capable of giving its larger opponent a sound beating."

The next couple paragraphs will be boring if you happen to be someone who actually plays this game, but I don't think too many of us have. If you have, skip down to the bold-headed part, where I go into actual math in comparing how the stats play out inside the game mechanic.

The SWSE game engine is unlike the WH40k engine in being mostly linear, but while damage is strictly linear-effect in BT, and constant for each weapon, weapons deal variable amounts of damage, and there's a constant reduction value based on shields and armor. In BT, the mechanic is hit roll-location roll-apply damage-roll for critical effects. In WH40k, the mechanic is roll to hit-roll to wound-apply wounds-roll saving throws-take casualties. In the SWRPG, the mechanic is roll to hit-roll damage-apply damage to shields-apply damage to damage resistance-apply damage to unit-check threshold.

In the case of starships, large numbers of ten-sided dice are being rolled, giving an approximately normal damage distribution. We may as well approximate them with a normal function, since starships will be rolling at least 3d10 on each damage roll; the variance of each die is 33/4, and the mean 11/2, and since these are independent random variables, each one is added linearly. The hit roll is made not on six sided dice (D6) as is the case in WH (1 six sided die) or BT (2 six sided dice) but a D20 (twenty sided die). 1 automatically misses, 20 automatically hits and does double damage ('critical' hit).

The Reflex Defense of the target is the number on the D20 required to hit. (In Warhammer, it's Ballistic Skill of the shooter; in Battletech, it's Gunnery of the shooter). This roll is modified by the presence of cover (realistically, in space, there is no cover, but in Star Wars, super-dense asteroid fields happen), range (a -2 penalty at short range, -5 at medium, -10 at long), and the attack bonus of the gunner (which is usually at least +0, and can get pretty high). Each hit that deals enough damage to get through the shields drops their rating by five points, so ships gradually lose shields as damage bleeds through.

Comparing the MCC and ISD within the game mechanic

What we can see immediately is that the ISD gets +15 to hit bonus on all its attacks, and the MCC has a 16 RD. The ISD will hit the MCC 95% of the time at point-blank range, if nothing else is in the way. At further ranges, this drops to 85%, 75%, and finally 50%. The ISD's heavy weapons deal 11d10x5 = 302.5 +/- 47.33 damage plus an extra 1d10x5 for each 3 points by which the hit roll exceeded the required hit roll, and the MCC's shields only absorb 150 points. Seeing as you'd have to have a roll three standard deviations below the norm on the damage roll with a bare minimum hit roll, almost every heavy turbolaser battery that hits will punch straight through the MCC's shields and deal significant amounts of damage. Even at long range, each heavy turbolaser hit deals an average of 335.5 damage, and each turbolaser hit 253 damage, and in a single combat round, you'll expect to see five hits, taking 25 points off the MCC's shields and on average 671 hit points off its charts.

It can recover 10 points of shields each turn, meaning it takes an average of 746 points the next turn, and then 821 points the third turn - and now, given that the standard deviation of the damage (ignoring critical hits) is about +/- 130, and it's taken more than four hundred more damage than it has, this means the MCC is dead well over 99% of the time.

So how's the MCC doing damage back? Well, it is going to land an average of 2.5 hits the first turn. Its weapons deal less damage, but the first hit has a 65% chance of breaching the ISD's shields and a 41% chance of getting through its damage resistance. After the shield rating has been reduced to 75 points - requiring at least ten hits - the next attack will most typically deal 40-45 damage (if it isn't a critical hit). If the MCC's gunners are incredible and hit every single time, dealing average damage the first ten hits and making critical hits on the next five in their final round of survival... they take 1350 off the ISD's hit points, not enough to kill it.

So according to the game, it's suicidal for anything to get within turbolaser range of an ISD. The ISD simply has overwhelming firepower. On the other hand... what about those fighters? Let's look at carrier-based tactics, in which the two ships stay out of range of each other.

The ISD carries a standard load of 48 TIE fighters, 12 TIE interceptors, and 12 TIE bombers, according to Wookieepedia. Now, the TIE bomber has a load of 16 medium concussion missiles, with 9d10x2 damage. On a normal hit, this has next to no chance of damaging a pristine MCC. A critical hit will most commonly take off 26 or 30 hit points and 5 points off the shield rating; you need to make more than two critical hits per turn in order to make progress on the MCC, since it can regenerate those shields. On average, the TIE bomber wing will deal 0.6 critical hits per turn.

There is a mechanic by which the bombers can attack the MCC as a group, adding +2 to their hit number and adding 1 die per 3 points that they exceed the needed hit roll. (It's the same mechanic that makes the ISD's turbolasers extra deadly.) The groups can range in size from 2 to 6. I'll consider each case quickly. The best case, relative to bombing individually, is when TIE bombers use groups of six; 2 groups of 6 have +17 to hit, so hit 95% of the time; ~24% of non-critical hits pierce the shields, so 26% of attacks are effective (0.52/round). They're actually better off hoping for individual critical hits if they want to bring the shields down for the other fighters. Maximum damage happens with groups of two, typically 116 hp on a critical hit, but only dealing 0.3 critical hits per round - meaning the TIE bombers can account for about one third of the MCC's hit points before they run out of ammunition (the distribution is skewed high).

The fighters and interceptors only cause a threat on a critical hit while operating in groups. You could have 30 such groups scoring an average of 1.5 critical hits per round - 0.94 of which would actually breach a 150 shield rating by themselves. The odds go up slightly because the second hit of a turn only has to breach 145 point shields, but not much. The MCC would take damage, but then, it's also capable of shooting down an average of 0.45 TIEs a round. By the time that the bombers run out of ammunition, it could have destroyed most of the interceptors (on average 7.2) which present the greater threat. Even a full group of 6 TIEs has a "most typical" through-put of 72 hp on a critical hit. While it is possible that the TIE wing would be able to destroy the MCC, it is difficult and will take some time.

The MCC would typically have A,B,X, and Y-wings. Since A and B wings are newer, let's say it has 6 of each of those, and 12 each of the others. This fighter wing will try to take down the ISD. Unlike the TIE bombers, they may fire-link their torpedoes for an extra damage point.

I'll consider the case where the A-Wings operate as a single unit and all the other fighters operate in pairs. The A-Wings have +17 to hit against an RD of 18, and so hit 95% of the time, and breach the ISD's 125 point shields 44% of the time. The B-wing pairs have +10, hitting 65% of the time, with a 36% chance of breaching intact shields. The X-Wing and Y-Wing pairs have +9, and 32%; if the ISD's shields have been breached once, that goes up to 41%; twice, and it's 46%; after three hits, a single X-Wing or Y-wing has a 50% chance of breaching the remaining 110 point shields with a non-critical hit.

Accounting for the fact that each hit will reduce the shields further, the ISD's shields are likely to be down 40 points after the first round. The B-Wing has an exceptionally low RD, and so the ISD has a 15% chance of hitting them, on average being able to shoot down two in this first round. Now there are 32 Rebel fighters, all of which can individually blow through the ISD's shields with fire-linked missiles with the same degree of ease that 16 groups of them did in the first round as pairs; the Y-Wings are able to add some very effective laser attacks at this point, especially if they keep operating with their wingmates. The ISD's shields will be down by the end of the second round. In the third round, with its shields down, the ISD will typically take over 1500 damage; since the ISD only had 2100 hit points to start with, and has likely taken more than 600 damage while losing its shields, this is the point at which the ISD bites the dust - possibly taking the last two B-Wings with it.

Now our picture is a little more complicated. The ISD is well-suited to blowing the stuffing out of other capital ships, but between its lower shield rating and lower shield regeneration rate, it is far more vulnerable to fighters - and the Rebels have good fighters.

This is actually precisely the sort of action that we expect from books covering the exploits of Rogue Squadron, incidentally, and the game mechanics reflect a serious increase in the effect of fighters in the hands of more skilled pilots. Increase the attack bonus by five, and a pair of X-wings suddenly has a 55% chance of taking the first 5 points off an ISD's shields, not 32%.

[Kazeite]

Interesting.

Thanks for breaking it down for us :)

[Mr. Oragahn]

Pretty much in line with the SotG that says a MCC wouldn't engage an ISD directly, but rely on its fighters. At some point, the MCC would have enough firepower and shields to help its fighters finishing off the ISD.