334 Cepheus — Part 7: Starships & Space Combat

Design Philosophy

Space in 334 Cepheus is not a naval wargame. It is a pressure cooker —a fragile metal tube full of people, radiation, and bad decisions. Ship combat should feel like a submarine duel or a cockpit dogfight, not an accounting spreadsheet. We keep the drama, dump the bookkeeping.

Ship Characteristics

Every starship is defined by six core statistics.

Derived Stats

• Crew: Minimum crew to operate. Skeleton crew imposes Bane on all tasks.
• Passengers: Standard accommodations.
• Cargo: Tons of freight capacity.
• Fuel: Weeks of operation / jumps available.

The Ship Combat Card

Every ship in combat uses a Ship Combat Card —a single index card or digital tracker.

SHIP NAME: [Free Trader "Lucky Hand"]
HULL: [████████░░] 80/100
STRUCTURE: 50
ARMOR: 4
THRUST: 2
JUMP: 2
SYSTEMS: [ ] M-Drive [ ] Jump Drive [ ] Power [ ] Sensors [ ] Weapons [ ] Crew
WEAPONS:
Turret A: Twin Laser (3D6)
Turret B: Sandcaster (defensive)
CREW:
Pilot: [ ]
Gunner A: [ ]
Gunner B: [ ]
Engineer: [ ]
Sensors: [ ]
Captain: [ ]

Hull Boxes: Each box represents 10% of total Hull. When damage is taken, tick a box. When all boxes are ticked, the ship is destroyed.

System Boxes: When Hull ≤ Structure, every hit that penetrates armor rolls on the Critical table. Mark the affected system. A marked system is disabled until repaired.

Space Combat Sequence

Combat is divided into rounds of roughly 1 minute each.

1. Initiative

Each ship rolls 2D6 + Thrust + Pilot skill.

Ties: Higher Thrust wins. If still tied, simultaneous.

2. Position & Range

At the start of combat, the Referee establishes the starting range based on the encounter circumstances.

Changing Range: The ship with higher initiative may choose to:

• Close one band (move toward the enemy)
• Open one band (move away)
• Hold (maintain current range)

If both ships want to close, range decreases by one. If one wants to close and the other to open, compare Thrust + Pilot 8+. Winner dictates the shift.

3. Crew Actions

Each station may take one Significant Action per round.

Pilot

• Evasive Maneuvers: All attacks against this ship suffer Bane this round. The pilot cannot attack.
• Aggressive Positioning: All attacks by this ship gain Boon this round. All attacks against it also gain Boon.
• Standard Maneuvering: No bonus or penalty.

Gunner

• Fire Weapons: Roll to hit for each turret or fixed mount.
• Point Defense: Instead of attacking, defend against missiles (see below).
• Target Systems: Attack at −2 DM. If you hit and penetrate, roll Critical directly instead of Hull damage.

Engineer

• Damage Control: Attempt to repair one marked system. Engineering 8+.
• Overcharge: Push one system (weapons, thrust, or sensors) for +2 DM this round. Risk: on natural 2 on any ship roll this round, that system is disabled.
• Reroute Power: Shift power from one system to another. Shut down sensors to restore weapons, etc.

Sensors

• Lock Target: Sensors 8+. Success: all attacks against that target gain +1 DM until the sensors operator changes targets or loses lock.
• Jamming: Opposed Sensors vs. Sensors. Winner's allies gain Boon on attacks; loser's allies suffer Bane.
• Scan: Reveal hidden ships, identify weapon loadouts, or detect damage status.

Captain / Command

• Coordinate: Grant +1 DM to one other station this round. Requires comms.
• Bridge Drama: Once per round, describe a creative tactic, inspiring speech, or desperate gambit. If the Referee approves, any one station gains +1 DM or Boon on their next roll.

Weapons

Beam Weapons (Lasers, Particle Beams, Meson Guns)

Instant hit. Roll to hit normally.

Missiles

Abstracted. No per-missile tracking.

• Launch: One gunner rolls one Turret Weapons (or Gunnery) check to launch the salvo. No per-missile tracking.
• Impact: The salvo hits at the end of the round after launch.
• Point Defense: The target makes one Point Defense check against that salvo, using the best gunner who is not attacking (a Point Defense turret has no attack penalty). Roll Gunnery 8+. Success: reduce salvo damage by 2D6. Effect 6+: the salvo is destroyed.
• Damage: 4D6 per salvo (representing 1–6 missiles).

Kinetic Weapons (Railguns, Mass Drivers)

Defensive Systems

Attack Resolution

• Gunner declares target and weapon.
• Referee sets base Difficulty: Standard (TN 8) at Short/Medium. Difficult (TN 10) at Long. Very Difficult (TN 11) at Very Long.
• Apply range modifiers (as above).
• Apply target state: Evasive Maneuvers (Bane), Aggressive Positioning (Boon to hit them), Lock (+1 DM), Jamming (Bane).
• Roll 2D6 + DEX DM + Gunnery skill + situational DMs.
• Calculate Effect.

Damage

Roll weapon damage. Subtract target's Armor. Apply remainder to Hull.

Critical Hits: Roll 1D6 on the Critical table only when the attack's Effect is 6+, or when the hit leaves Hull at or below Structure (the ship is breached). A natural 12 is Effect 6+ under Part 1. Ordinary hits above Structure only tick Hull.

Critical Table

Repairing Criticals: Engineering 8+ and 1D6 rounds per system. Some damage requires dockyard repair.

Stealth, Sensors & Sensor Ghosts

Space is empty, but it is not honest.

Signature

Every ship has a Signature based on power output and size:

Modifiers: Running hot (+2), weapons fire (+2), active sensors (+1), damaged power plant (+1), silent running (−2).

Detection

To detect a ship, roll Sensors 8+ vs. target's Signature. Range modifies difficulty:

Sensor Ghosts

A ship may create a Sensor Ghost as a Significant Action (Pilot or Sensors). This requires:

• Dumping fuel/chaff (costs 1 ton fuel or 1 sandcaster round), OR
• Deploying a decoy drone (Cr 5,000, single use).

Effect: All attacks against the ship suffer Bane for 1 round, or until the attacker makes a successful Sensors 10+ check to distinguish the ghost from the real target.

Silent Running: Reduce power to minimum. Signature reduced by 2. Cannot fire weapons or use active sensors. Thrust reduced by 1 (minimum 0).

Bridge Drama

Once per round, the Captain or any crew member may propose a Bridge Drama —a creative, narrative action that bends the rules.

Examples:

• "I vent atmosphere from the cargo bay to spin us away from their fire." → Pilot gains Boon on Evasive Maneuvers.
• "I cross-wire the jump capacitors into the laser turrets." → Gunner gains +2 DM this round; Engineer must repair Power next round regardless of outcome.
• "I broadcast a fake distress call on their frequency to break their concentration." → Sensors/Jamming gains +1 DM.

The Referee approves or modifies the request. Bridge Drama should be risky, clever, or desperate —not free bonuses for stating the obvious.

Squadron Rules (Large Ships)

For ships over 2,000 tons or fleet actions, use Squadron Rules:

• Battery Fire: Group weapons into batteries of 4+ identical weapons. One roll per battery. Damage is ×10 (or × number of weapons, whichever is lower).
• Crew Morale: Instead of individual crew hits, roll Leadership 8+ when the ship takes Critical damage. Failure: crew performance suffers Bane for 1D6 rounds.
• Hull Thresholds: Large ships have Hull in increments of 100. Each battery hit ticks one box. Criticals occur at every 25% Hull loss.

Boarding & Close Actions

At Adjacent range, ships may:

• Dock: Requires Pilot 8+ from both ships (or one passive). Success: transfer personnel.
• Ram: Pilot 10+. Both ships take 6D6 damage, ignoring half armor.
• Grapple: Tether or tractor beam. Both ships are locked at Adjacent until one breaks free (Pilot 10+ or destroys the grapple).
• Boarding Action: Once docked or grappled, combat shifts to Personal Combat (Part 4). Boarders must breach airlocks (Engineering or Demolitions 8+) or find entry points.

Decompression: Firing weapons inside a ship at Adjacent range risks hull breach. Any damage roll of 12+ on internal weapons causes a localized breach. Unsuited crew take 1D6 Stamina per round until sealed.

Jump Travel

The Jump

A jump covers 1–6 parsecs in 1 week (168 hours ± 10%), regardless of distance. The ship enters jump space —a dimension where physics is suggestive and time is approximate.

Requirements

• Fuel: 10% of ship tonnage per parsec jumped.
• Navigation: Astrogation plot required. Navigation 8+ to plot. Failure: jump takes 1D6 extra days. Exceptional Failure: misjump risk.
• Distance: Must be at least 100 diameters from any major gravity well (planet, star).

Misjump

If the jump is improperly plotted, the drive is damaged, or the 100-diameter rule is violated, roll 2D6:

Emergency Exit: A ship may attempt to exit jump space early. Roll Engineering (Jump Drive) 10+. Success: exit at a random point along the route. Failure: misjump as above.

Jump Space Effects

• No communication with normal space.
• Sensors show only jump static.
• Time dilation: Ships report subjective time varying from 5 days to 12 days. Clocks are unreliable.
• Psychological stress: Crew must make END 8+ each week or gain a temporary mental quirk (paranoia, hallucinations, obsession with a sound).

Ship Economics

Ship Costs

Default mortgage: 1/300 of the cash price per month. That is the reduced pressure for a ship that is a home. The table uses this rate, rounded to the nearest Cr 100.

Optional harsh mortgage: 1/240 of the cash price per month after 20% down. Use this only for a Struggling campaign that wants the old squeeze.

Owned, needs repairs: The crew may instead start with the ship paid off and in need of work. See Part 8.

Maintenance: 0.1% of ship cost per year (divided monthly). Without maintenance, systems degrade: all rolls suffer Bane until repaired.

Life Support: Cr 1,000 per stateroom per month. Cr 100 per low berth per month.

Fuel: Cr 500 per ton (unrefined) or Cr 1,000 per ton (refined). Unrefined fuel increases misjump risk by 1 on the misjump table.

Crew Salaries (Monthly)

Example: The Ambush at Parsec''s End

The Lucky Hand (200-ton Free Trader, Hull 80, Structure 40, Armor 4, Thrust 2, 2× Laser Turrets) is jumped by a pirate Raider (100 tons, Hull 40, Structure 20, Armor 2, Thrust 3, Missile Rack + Single Laser) at Medium range.

Round 1 Initiative: Raider rolls 2D6+3 = 12. Lucky Hand rolls 2D6+2 = 9. Raider acts first. Raider Pilot: Closes to Short range (Thrust 3 > 2). Raider Gunner: Fires missile salvo at Lucky Hand . Standard range (Short), TN 8. Gunner skill +1. Rolls 2D6 = 7. Total 8. Marginal Success. Missiles will hit at end of Round 2. Lucky Hand Pilot: Evasive Maneuvers (Bane to be hit). Lucky Hand Gunner A: Fires double laser at Raider. Short range, TN 8. Evasive target (Bane). Gunner skill +1. Rolls 3D6 keep lowest 2 = 4. Total 5. Miss. Lucky Hand Sensors: Attempts lock on Raider. Sensors 8+, DEX +1, skill +0. Rolls 2D6 = 9. Total 10. Lock established (+1 DM next round).

Round 2 Initiative: Raider 11, Lucky Hand 10. Raider Pilot: Holds position at Short. Raider Gunner: Fires laser at Lucky Hand . Bane from evasion. Rolls 3D6 keep low = 6. +1 skill = 7. Miss. Missile Impact: Raider's missiles arrive. Lucky Hand Gunner B used Point Defense last round (declared). Gunnery 8+, +1 skill. Rolls 2D6 = 8. Total 9. Success. Reduces missile damage by 2D6. Missile damage 4D6 = 14. Point defense reduces by 7. 7 damage remaining. Armor 4. 3 Hull lost. Lucky Hand ticks 3 Hull boxes. Lucky Hand Pilot: Aggressive Positioning. Both sides gain Boon. Lucky Hand Gunner A (with lock): Double laser at Raider. Short, TN 8. Aggressive (Boon). Lock (+1). Gunner +1. Rolls 3D6 keep high = 11. +2 = 13. Effect +5. Damage 3D6 = 12. Raider Armor 2. 10 Hull lost. Raider is at 30/40 Hull. Not yet Critical. Lucky Hand Captain (Bridge Drama): "I broadcast their transponder ID to the local patrol frequency—let them know we see them." Referee approves: Gunner B gains +1 DM next round.

Round 3 Initiative: Lucky Hand 12, Raider 10. Lucky Hand Pilot: Opens to Medium (trying to escape). Lucky Hand Gunner B: Fires laser with Bridge Drama bonus. Medium range, TN 10. Lock still active (+1). Gunner +1. +1 Drama. Rolls 2D6 = 9. +3 = 12. Effect +2. Damage 3D6 = 11. Armor 2. 9 Hull lost. Raider at 21/40. Below Structure (20). Roll Critical: 1D6 = 3. Power Plant hit. Raider loses 25% power. All rolls at Bane until repaired. Raider: With power failing and outgunned, the Raider breaks off. Combat ends.