in Table 7-4: Silhouette Comparison. This reflects
the fact that large ships find it difficult to hit small, fast
vessels, and their bulk makes them an easy target for
those same small craft. Thanks to the advanced target-
ing computers installed in most starships, the range of
a shot has no bearing on the attack's difficulty; if the
target is within range, a starship can hit it. The check
is further affected by modifiers brought on by starship
maneuvers, talents, terrain, or any other modifiers at
the Game Master's discretion.
When attacking a ship of silhouette 4 or lower, the
defender chooses which defense zone the attack hits.
Smaller ships are more agile and constantly in motion,
meaning that during combat they are constantly juk-
ing, dodging, evading, and generally positioning them-
selves so that their strongest defense zone is always
facing their attacker. When attacking ships of silhouette
5 or higher, the defense zone affected by the attack is
determined by the position of the ships in combat. The
relative position of ships in combat is determined by
both the Game Master's and the Player Characters' ac-
tions, and is illustrated through the cinematic game-
play style inherent in EDGE OF THE EMPIRE.TABLE 7-4: SILHOUETTE COMPARISON
Difference in Silhouette Difficulty
Firing vessel has the same silhouette as
target, or the silhouette is one larger or
smaller than the target.Average (44)Firing vessel has a silhouette two or
more points smaller than the target
vesselEasy (4)Firing vessel has a silhouette two
points larger than the target ship. Hard (444)
Firing vessel has a silhouette three
points larger than the target ship. Daunting (4444)
Firing vessel has a silhouette four or
more points larger than target ship.Formidable
(•••••)- POOL RESULTS AND DEAL DAMAGE
Once the player rolls the dice pool for his character, he
evaluates the results. As with any skill check, the check
must generate more # than T to be successful.
When making a combat check, after calculating over-
all success, each remaining & adds + 1 damage to a
successful attack. If the attack affects multiple targets,
the additional damage is added to each target. Remem-
ber, most weapons on vehicles or starships deal damage
on planetary scale, meaning each point of damage is the
equivalent of ten points of damage on a personal scale. - RESOLVE O AND ($
As with every skill check, O and ($) can be spent to
gain incidental beneficial effects on a combat check.
However, just as the rules governing encounters are
somewhat more regimented than the rules governing
narrative gameplay, some of the options governing the
spending of O and ($) are more clearly defined. In en-counters, the player controlling the activated character
determines how his character spends O and ($) unless
the GM has a specific reason to decide for him instead.
The first way to spend O and ($) in an attack is to
activate Critical Hits or active weapon qualities. As de-
scribed on page 158 and page 243, each weapon
has a Critical Rating that consists of a numeric value.
The user can spend that many i> to inflict one Criti-
cal Hit on the target in addition to regular effects and
damage. (If the target is an individual, it inflicts a Criti-
cal Injury as per page 21 6). For more information on
starship and vehicle Critical Hits, see page 243. Re-
member, the attack must deal damage past armor to
inflict a Critical Hit.Weapon qualities are special effects and abilities that
apply only when using that particular weapon. They
come in two forms, active and passive. Active abilities
require the user to spend a certain number of O to trig-
ger them. Generally this is O O, although some quali-
ties require more or less. Qualities can inflict effects on
a target, which unless specified otherwise, are always in
addition to other effects, Critical Hits, and damage.
In addition to always counting as an additional ($)
can be spent to activate these abilities as well. ($) may be
spent to inflict one Critical Hit (no matter what the Criti-
cal Rating on the weapon is) on a successful attack. In ad-
dition, may be spent to activate one weapon quality,
no matter how many O it would normally take to do so.
However, there are additional options for spending
O and in starship or vehicle combat. A list of the
most common can be found on Table 7-5: Spending
O and ($i in Starship Combat. As in regular combat,
this list is not intended to be absolute, but to provide
guidelines for players and GMs.- RESOLVE ® AND V
In the same fashion that the controlling player de-
termines how his character spends O and in his
combat check, the GM then determines how to spend
any <§> and & generated in the check. By default, the
GM determines how <§) and ^ are spent, although in
some cases (such as checks made by NPCs) he may
give the players the option to spend these instead.
Unlike O and most weapons do not have specific
options for spending <§> and ^—although this is not al-
ways the case. Some particularly volatile or dangerous
weapons do have these options, and if they do, the op-
tions are detailed in the weapon's description. There are
specific options for spending ® and ^ in starship encoun-
ters, however; the most common of these can be found on
Table 7-6: Spending ® and ^ in Starship and Vehicle
Combat. As with O and ($), keep in mind that these are
not intended to be the only options available. As always,
GMs can invent other ways to spend ® and ^ depending
on the specific circumstances of the encounter, and any
option that the players and GM agree on can be viable.STARSHIPS AND VEHICLES
EDCE OF THE EMPIREw v