Testing proposed narrative space combat system

As detailed in my previous posts I have been trying to come up with a solution to the problem of lengthy combats leaving certain people out, I decided to 'test run' a number of ideas this evening with the results shown below.

***

Statistics

For the examples below the combats pit the Venerus against a Pirate Cruiser, the two ships have to following stats:

• Venerus (Engine +1, Hull +4, Trade +2, Weapons +3)
• Pirate Cruiser (Engine +3, Hull +1, Trade +2, Weapons +4)

***

Idea 1

Each player makes a roll for their engines and weapons score and totals the final results together to equal the damage done to the other side, each side then rolls their trade score to represent their attempts to repair their ship and subtracts it from the damage done.

Try 1

Venerus = -1 +6 = 5 dmg done to pirate -5 repair = 0 dmg to pirate

Pirate = +5 +7 = 12 dmg done to venerus -2 repair = 10 dmg to venerus

Try 2

Venerus = +2 +5 = 7 dmg done to pirate -0 repair = 7 dmg to pirate

Pirate = +2 +3 = 5 dmg to Venerus -4 repair = 1 dmg to venerus

***

Idea 2

Each player rolls for their engines, weapons and trade, totalling the rolls and this gives the dmg done to the other side.

Try 1

Venerus = +2 +4 +2 = 8 dmg done to pirate

Pirate = +4 +4 +0 = 8 dmg done to venerus

Try 2

Venerus = +0 +4 +2 = 6 dmg done to pirate

Pirate = +4 +5 +3 = 12 dmg done to Venerus

***

Idea 3

Total up Engine, Weapon & Hull scores and then add a 4DF roll, this gives you the damage done to other side.

Try 1

Venerus = +1 +4 +3 = 8 + roll(+1) = 9 dmg to pirate 

Pirate = +3 +1 +4 = 8 + roll(-2) = 6 dmg to venerus

Try 2

Venerus = +1 +4 +3 = 8 + roll(+0) = 8 dmg to pirate 

Pirate = +3 +1 +4 = 8 + roll(+1) = 9 dmg to venerus

Try 3

Venerus = +1 +4 +3 = 8 + roll(+3) = 11 dmg to pirate 

Pirate = +3 +1 +4 = 8 + roll(-2) = 6 dmg to venerus

Try 4

Venerus = +1 +4 +3 = 8 + roll(+1) = 9 dmg to pirate 

Pirate = +3 +1 +4 = 8 + roll(+3) = 11 dmg to venerus

***

Idea 4

This would be run more like a normal attack roll with each ship making a weapons roll vs the other ships hull roll and the number of shifts being the amount of damage caused.

Try 1

Venerus attack = +3 -1 = 2

Pirate defend = +1 +0 = 1

1 damage done to Pirate

Pirate attack = +4 -3 = 1

Venerus defend = +4 -2 = 2

0 damage done to Venerus

***

All of the ideas proposed so far have their individual merits and flaws, however their main flaw in my opinion is that that they all effectively involve adding a variety of stats together and then adding a dice roll as a randomiser; whilst this has a certain amount of logic to it given that this is how most challenges work in numerous roleplaying games, the various methods proposed above seem to result either in both ships taking crippling levels of damage or barely anything at all.

***

Idea 5

Make the opposing fleet a difficulty level to be beaten as part of an Overcome action:

Low quality (ragtag fighters, low tech vessels) +0

Medium quality (cobra class destroyer) +2

High quality (rogue trade vessels, havoc & hazeroth class ships) +4

Superb quality (warships, dictator class, space marine strike cruiser) +6

Legendary quality (retribution class, space marine battle barge, vengeance class grand cruiser, mechanicus ark) +8

+1 for every additional ship beyond the number of vessels possessed by the players fleet

If the players exceed the difficulty then they have forced the enemy to surrender (unless they are particularly zealous in which case they are destroyed), if the player ties on the roll then either the combat ends in a stalemate with both sides withdrawing to lick their wounds or the players win but at a heavy cost.

If the players win by 3 shifts or more then they have succeeded with style and may choose to destroy the enemy vessels if they wish; however if the players lose then they have been defeated, if they fail by 3 shifts or more then the enemy have beaten them in style and the consequences may be severe.

Try 1

Venerus vs 1 pirate hazeroth cruiser.

Difficulty = +4 (high quality vessels)

Venerus rolls a -1, adding their weapon skills of +4 = 3

Not enough to defeat the enemy fleet.

Try 2

Venerus vs 1 pirate hazeroth cruiser.

Difficulty = +4 (high quality vessels)

Venerus rolls a 0, adding their weapon skills of +4 = 4

This is a stalemate, so either both sides retreat to lick their wounds or the Venerus wins but at a high cost.

Try 3

Venerus vs 1 pirate hazeroth cruiser.

Difficulty = +4 (high quality vessels)

Venerus rolls a +4, adding their weapon skills of +4 = 8

The Venerus has beaten the difficulty by more than +3 and so they have defeated it With Style and can choose to destroy the enemy if they wish.

Try 4

Venerus vs 3 pirate hazeroth cruisers.

Difficulty = +4 (high quality vessels) + 2 (for the additional pirates) = +6

Venerus rolls a -4, adding their weapon skills of +4 = 0

The Venerus has lost by more than 3 shifts and so they are at the mercy of the small pirate fleet.

Try 5

Venerus vs 3 pirate hazeroth cruisers.

Difficulty = +4 (high quality vessels) + 2 (for the additional pirates) = +6

Venerus rolls a +2, adding their weapon skills of +4 = +6

This is a stalemate, so either both sides retreat to lick their wounds or the Venerus wins but at a high cost.

Try 6

Venerus + Lunatic Pandora vs 3 pirate hazeroth cruisers..

Difficulty = +4 (high quality vessels) + 1 (for the additional pirate vessel) = +5

Venerus rolls a 0, adding their weapon skill of +4 = 4

The Venerus and Lunatic Pandora are narrowly defeated by the pirate fleet.

Try 7

Venerus + Lunatic Pandora vs 3 pirate hazeroth cruisers..

Difficulty = +4 (high quality vessels) + 1 (for the additional pirate vessel) = +5

Venerus rolls a +3, adding their weapon skill of +4 = 7

The Venerus and the Lunatic Pandora have defeated the pirate fleet.

***

Out of all the ideas that i've suggested in this post the final one is the most appealing, reducing the combat to a single test with a difficulty set by the quality of the opposition and modified via fate points, Aspects and Stunts as per normal tests (although this is not reflected in the tests shown above).

I certainly plan to test out Idea 5 a game situation at some point, the only thing left to be decided on would be how to adjudicate the amount of damage done to the defeated fleet and the victors; although I am half tempted to leave this to narrative fiat.