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View Full Version : Pathfinder [PEACH] [Starfinder] Homebrew Starship Bomb and Expansion Bay



Tsunamiatunzen1
2018-09-04, 02:22 PM
I've been interested in running Starfinder starship combat but I've noticed that despite having fighter-based ships, the actual numbers don't add up as a fighter squadron against ships many times larger than them would just end in disaster since there aren't a lot of good options for a fighter squadron looking to take advantage of a capital warship that can't target them due to their weapon selection.
So I've decided to do two things:
1. Make a weapon that could actually HURT if you got pegged with one despite it coming from a fighter.
2. Devise some mechanics to allow for fighter squadrons to help allow the possibility of carrier fleets becoming a thing.
However, I'm still working on the fighter squadron thing so if you have any ideas to help jump start it, that would be appreciated. For now, I present the Bomb special quality and a possible expansion bay that will help fighters wanting to specialize in Tracking Weapons.



Name
Range
Speed
Damage
PCU
Cost (In BP)
Special Properties


Light Weapon


Miniaturized Bomb
Short
As Base Heavy Weapon
As Base Heavy Weapon
As Base Heavy Weapon
As Base Heavy Weapon X2
Bomb, Limited Fire 1


Heavy Weapon


Heavy Bomb
Short
As Base Capital Weapon
As Base Capital Weapon
As Base Capital Weapon X2
As Base Capital Weapon X4
Bomb, Limited Fire 1


Special Quality: Bomb
While it is more akin to a magnetized orbital mine, the use of the heaviest payload and minimalistic guidance systems make this weapon effective against hardened targets. A weapon with this special quality uses a base tracking weapon to determine it's damage, PCU, and cost in BP (as shown in the chart above). In order to use this weapon, a pilot must first conduct the Flyby Stunt against the target. Success on the stunt gives this weapon a +5 bonus to the attack and weapon speed. Weapons with this special quality cannot be fired beyond the first range increment and cannot be fired at a target of the same size, or smaller, than your ship or ships smaller than Medium. Bomb weapons are always tracking weapons.
The idea here was to allow smaller ships to equip something dangerous enough to warrant fighter squadrons. Historically, aircraft were used to drop payloads and fighter planes were developed to deal with this threat. Starfinder had the latter but the former was sorely missing to justify having a fighter squadron instead of a Destroyer.
I didn't want these bombs being used on other fighters since:
1. That would just be broken.
2. A magnetized weapon is going to go to something with a LOT more mass than some dinky ship.



Expansion Bay
PCU
Cost (in BP)


Hangar Support Bay
15
10




Hangar Support Bay
A hangar support bay takes up two expansion bays. A hangar support bay contains equipment necessary to receive, resupply, and conduct field repairs on a fighter squadron in the middle of a fight. If a vessel needs to dock during combat, it occurs at the end of the helm phase and requires a successful DC 15 Piloting skill check and open space in a hangar or similar expansion bay capable of holding a starship of its size; this check takes a –1 penalty for each hex the smaller ship has moved this round. A failed check means that the ship doesn’t dock with the larger vessel. If a Tiny or Small starship docks with the ship, the docked ship may spend 1 round of starship combat (decided during the Engineering Phase) to reload their Limited Fire weapons as if 10 minutes outside of starship combat had passed. During this time, any Engineers aboard the carrier ship may conduct Engineer actions on the docked ship.
The ship can only resupply 8 Tiny Starships and 4 Small Starships once per combat in this manner. Afterwards, it must take 20 minutes outside of starship combat to recharge and rebuild the ammunition before it can be used again.

Please review and give feedback! I'm excited to see how this goes as I'm planning on using these in a game.

Tsunamiatunzen1
2020-01-09, 08:20 PM
The rules in Starfinder don't have a lot of options for docking in a fight so I'm going to fix that with this expansion update. (changes in red)

Hangar Support Bay
A hangar support bay takes up two expansion bays. A hangar support bay contains equipment necessary to receive, resupply, and conduct field repairs on a fighter squadron in the middle of a fight. If a vessel needs to dock during combat, it occurs at the end of the helm phase and requires a successful DC 15 Piloting skill check and open space in a hangar or similar expansion bay capable of holding a starship of its size; this check takes a –1 penalty for each hex the smaller ship has moved this round. A failed check means that the ship doesn’t dock with the larger vessel. If a Tiny or Small starship docks with the ship, the docked ship may spend 1 round of starship combat (decided during the Engineering Phase) to reload their Limited Fire weapons as if 10 minutes outside of starship combat had passed. During this time, any Engineers aboard the carrier ship may conduct Engineer actions on the docked ship.
The ship can only resupply 8 Tiny Starships and 4 Small Starships once per combat in this manner. Afterwards, it must take 20 minutes outside of starship combat to recharge and rebuild the ammunition before it can be used again.