(or a smaller ship such as a starfighter or a landspeeder
with a player character inside it), the vehicle immedi-
ately suffers a Critical Hit from Table 7-9: Critical Hit
Result on page 244. Additionally, the ship's systems
shut down, it reverts to emergency power, its sublight
drives sputter out, and the ship is adrift. At this point,
the ship is a near lifeless hulk, effectively out of com-
bat, and is likely being evacuated.
If the pilot or crew of a crippled ship with hull trau-
ma that exceeds its hull trauma threshold is particu-
larly desperate or foolish, they may attempt some
temporary repairs to either escape or re-join the
fray. By scavenging parts from ruined systems, raid-
ing the hold for any spares, and bypassing damaged
components, along with a Hard (•••) Mechan-
ics check, the crew can bring the ship back to some
semblance of life. The ship reduces its hull trauma
to one below its hull trauma threshold but suffers
the following penalties: speed is reduced to 1, Ma-
neuverability is reduced to -3, and all weapon sys-
tems are inoperable until fully repaired. If the ship
re-enters combat in this fragile state, any attack that
inflicts hull trauma immediately generates a Critical
Hit with +30 added to the roll on Table 7-9: Criti-
cal Hit Result. All of these effects persist until the
ship can be dry-docked and repaired.
SYSTEM STRAIN
System strain works the same way as strain suffered
by characters. A vehicle that suffers strain in excess of
its system strain threshold quickly finds itself in an un-
tenable situation. Generators overload, reactors shut
down, shields fall, engines go dead, electrical fires start,
and all manner of electrical mayhem occurs as one by
one, essential systems go offline and the ship becomes
unresponsive. Until the crew can make repairs, the ship
becomes helpless, adrift in space or hurtling along a
course from which it can neither deviate nor escape.
In game terms, when a ship or vehicle exceeds its
system strain threshold, the ship's speed drops to 0
during the following round. The majority of its systems
(such as engines, weapons, and shields) cease operat-
ing as well. This means it cannot move, its weapons
cannot shoot, and its defense drops to 0. This might
be a relatively minor situation if this is a ship flying
through deep space or a vehicle safely sitting on the
ground—or a more dangerous situation if the ship was
flying near something with a gravitational pull.While the situation aboard a ship that has exceeded
its system strain threshold is indeed dire, not all is
lost. Any crew member can aid the ship in recover-
ing strain by performing repairs and damage control
such as rebooting systems, bypassing fried circuits,
and putting out electrical fires. This is accomplished
through the Damage Control action.Ships and vehicles do recover from system strain
slowly over time. For every full day a ship or vehicle
spends without taking more system strain, it reduces
its total system strain by one.CRITICAL HITS
Occasionally a lucky, well-placed shot or collision with
a particularly large or dangerous object does more
to a ship than bounce harmlessly off the shields or
scuff up the armor. Ion cannon blasts can short out
systems, searing laser beams can pierce shields, ar-
mor, and hull alike to incinerate crew alive, and rogue
asteroids can tear a ship's innards out, leaving her
powerless and adrift in the cold dark of deep space.These rare occurrences are reflected by the results of
Table 7-9: Critical Hit Result A number of factors
can lead to a ship suffering a Critical Hit. For example,
it might suffer enough hull trauma to exceed its hull
trauma threshold, or a successful combat check could
generate enough O or ^ to trigger a weapon's criti-
cal rating. Remember, an attack's damage also has to
exceed a target's armor to deal a Critical Hit, which is
important when firing small arms at something using ar-
mor instead of soak. When an attacker generates a Criti-
cal Hit, he rolls on Table 7-9: Critical Hit Result and
his target suffers the listed effects. Critical Hits are di-
vided into four color-coded severity levels, which dictate
the difficulty of the check required to repair the Critical
Hit, as listed in the table. These difficulties can be further
modified at the GM's discretion.Once a ship or vehicle suffers a Critical Hit, it counts
as suffering that Critical Hit until it is repaired. This
status counts even if the effects of the Critical Hit only
last a single round. While a ship or vehicle is suffer-
ing the effects of a Critical Hit, any additional Critical
Hits generated against it add + 10 to the roll on Table
7-9: Critical Hit Result per existing Critical Hit.COMPONENT CRITICALS
Of all the Critical Hit results, these have the potential
to be the most devastating (outside of those that com-
pletely destroy a vessel). Component Hit Criticals func-
tionally disable, either temporarily or permanently, criti-
cal systems on a target vessel and can lead to a number
of complications. There are two charts for Component
Hit Criticals, one for small ships of silhouette 4 or lower,
and one for large ships of silhouette 5 or higher. The ef-
fects of most of these Critical Hits stack, and a ship can
suffer more than one Component Hit Critical.REPAIRING HULL TRAUMA
While system strain and the results of many Critical Hits
are temporary, hull trauma is more permanent. Repair-
ing hull trauma requires three things—proper facilities,STARSHIPS AND VEHICLES
EDCE OF THE EMPIRE