DARKSTAR CAMPAIGN UPDATE: DUCHESS ANNABEL’S WAR IS OVER

Okay, so here’s a very brief primer on how torpedo spreads are resolved in this system.  A total of 28 torpedoes are headed for the Black Dragon light cruiser Zhang Jia.  This is the torpedo spread the Black Dragon player decided to focus on with his point-defense guns.

Each ship takes its shot, rolling a d6 on the mass driver table.  Results are determined by how many guns the ship has, electronic warfare, targeting suites, and EW of the firing ship (after launching torpedoes, a ship can jam enemy tracking as they try to shoot the torpedoes down, if the firing ship has the right upgrades).

Black Dragon ships manage to shoot down 10, 8, 4, and 0 torpedoes (22 total) , leaving six to actually try to hit Zhang Jia.  The target for a Russian Type III torpedo is 7 on a d10, -3 for Zhang Jia’s shields,  -1 for her upgraded shielding, -1 for her EW upgrades = -5 total, for a net chance of 2.  Yet the Russians roll great, and our of 6 d10 torpedo strikes,  4 hit!

The facing of the Zhang Jia that is hit is determined by where the torpedoes were placed by the owning player, subject to restrictions during the torpedo movement phase.  Usually, the shooting player tries to hit the stern, this is where most of the engines, reactors, and other critical components are located that can quickly cripple a ship.

Next, where on the stern?  Each type of warship has a different number of hit columns per facing (light cruisers have 5).  So a d5 is rolled for each hit (d10 / 2).  And the three points of Type III torpedo damage is applied to for each hit, its exact location indicated by the d5 roll.

So far the Russians are getting pretty lucky, with four torpedo hits, all in good spots.  Already two complete engine blocks (red outline) of the Zhang Jia are down, reducing the ship’s available thrust by -2, impacting not only movement but initiative as well.  Engines are also highly explosive, and there’s already a solid chance the Zhang Jia may be crippled here.

Russian Scouts are also getting lucky.  The Black Dragon K-206 has been heavily damaged by Russian destroyer fire and lost one of its shields.  Russian scouts now attack this unshielded facing (port bow) and with some lucky die rolls, actually do just enough damage to hit the bridge and knock out the ship.  This is very rare, scouts are armed basically with machine guns.  To take out the equivalent of a submarine with nothing more than two .50 cals is actually pretty amazing.  Again, the Russians were very lucky here, and this corvette was already heavily damaged (the conn was torn open, this blast of MG fire perhaps killed enough of the bridge crew to cripple the ship).

Black Dragon torpedoes and guns tear into the sterns of the Russian destroyer Rusalka (Commander Alexandr D. Kharechev).   Again, you can see where the Black dragon player aimed his torpedoes at the Russian stern.  Black Dragon (usually Chinese) torpedoes are much weaker and less accurate, but there are a $h*t ton more of them.  Successive hits have knocked out of Rusalka’s mass driver turrets, one of her main armament turrets (aft 0 kg plasma projector), knocked out both starboard engines and starboard reactors, damaged her aft sensors, and knocked down aft shields.

Most importantly, four critical boxes (red) have been hit.  This means the Black Dragon player may have already crippled the Rusalka.  Each type of ship starts with a “cripple number,” from which you subtract the number of critical boxes hit.  Destroyers have a Cripple Number of 7, which after you minus -4 critical hits =3.  Thus, the Black Dragon player has crippled this ship on a d6 roll of 3+.

Even if the Rusalka’s engineers keep the ship running, however (i.e., the Black Dragons miss that 3+), this ship is in very serious trouble.

Not as much trouble as this ship!  The Lazarev is blown almost completely inside out.  Light Cruisers start with a cripple number of 10, and 10 critical boxes have been hit.  This leaves the Black Dragon player with a 0+ roll on a d6, i.e., automatic.  But if this net cripple target ever gets into NEGATIVE numbers, there is a chance the ship can EXPLODE on the spot, killing almost everyone aboard and damaging nearby ships as well.