Detailed spacecraft damage and failures.
I wrote this article to add a sense of detail on spacecrafts in my campaign. I wanted spacecrafts in my campaign to suffer actual injuries and breakdowns, instead of just an abstract loss of Vitality Points, when damaged by accidents or enemy attacks. Another important motivation for this article was a desire to making something to do for spacecraft engineers in may campaign. I wanted to let my engineer players have actual injuries to grapple with during combat, and to make them feel more involved in the action. I have stayed clear of technobabble nonsense, and instead tried to come up with realistic things that can go wrong on a spacecraft, especially when in battle. If I succeeded is up to the reader, but here goes:
Whenever a starship takes more than Size Rating worth of damage in a single turn it will experience a Minor Malfunction (generally requires 4 vtp. to repair). If a starship suffer more than Size Rating x1,5 worth of damage in a single turn (round up) it will experience a Major Malfunction (requires about 8 vtp. to repair). If it suffers more than Size Rating x2 worth of damage in a single turn it will experience system brake-down or a chain of system failures (requires 15+ vtp. to repair), resulting in a Critical Malfunction. These starship damage effects are in addition to the loss of ship Vitality, but penalties from starship damage are NOT cumulative with Vitality loss penalties (e.g. the loss of "vital" Vitality points, in which case the greatest penalty should be applied). In any case penalties can not go beyond -10.
When a ship takes damage roll a D20 to see where the damage is sustained
1-10: Starship hull *
11-13: Weapon systems (choose a random weapon system or Autogunner)
14-19: Ship systems
20: Multiple damage (re-roll twice and ignore further 20's)
* Note, if the ship has a lot of guns (more guns than Size Rating in number) all 10 results counts as a hit to both hull and weapon systems
When a random malfunction severity is called for in the tables below roll a D6
1-3: Minor Malfunction
4-5: Major Malfunction
6: Critical Malfunction
A ship that goes without maintenance for too long gradually degenerates. A complete overhaul (in a dry-dock with proper equipment and technicians) is required every [onboard Engineer's Tech Characteristic] months, or else the ship will suffer from Wear. For each missed overhaul roll once on the table below.
| D20 | Wear and tear |
| 1 | Ship maintenance costs Size Rating x2 Firebirds each week due to minor burn-outs, short circuits, and system failures |
| 2 | Ship maintenance costs Size Rating x10 Firebirds each week |
| 3 | Dirt and filth results in some moss/grass growth in the ship, and it also attracts vermin |
| 4 | Crew must make Endurance + Vigor +6 each week. Failure means suffering a 2 penalty to all tests due to allergies, diseases, irritations, lice, food poisoning and general hygiene problems aboard the ship |
| 5 | Comfort tools/gear/facilities steadily and repeatedly breaks down and malfunction |
| 6 | One onboard non-vital system (comfort-based) malfunction. A door regularly jams, a shower malfunction etc. |
| 7 | Roll D20 every day. On a roll of 20 a random crewmember has been injured due to falling objects, slippery floor, over-heated shower, protruding objects etc, suffering 5d worth of damage |
| 8 | Annoying sounds, awful odors and uncomfortable temperatures |
| 9 | Bad exhaust, gas leakage and smoke. Dock Masters might increase docking fees |
| 10 | False alarms |
| 11 | Cosmetic degeneration. The ship now looks like a piece of junk. No-one will hire this ship for anything |
| 12 | Each time a 20 is rolled on a ship-based test, the engines unexpectedly shuts off for 1 turn |
| 13 | Ship-actions are delayed and controls lag. 2 to all ship-based Initiative tests |
| 14 | Ship is hard to start, especially on cold mornings |
| 15 | Gradual breakdown. Increase overhaul costs by 10% every week until overhauled |
| 16 | All ship-based Redemption tests are at -2 |
| 17 | All ship-based tests are 1 vtp harder |
| 18 | Every time a 20 is rolled on a ship-based test, a Minor Malfunction occurs (consult the tables below) |
| 19 | Roll D20 each week. A roll of 20 means the ship suffers a Minor Malfunction (consult the tables below). On further scores of 20s increase Malfunction to Major and Critical respectively. Add Size Rating x50 to maintenance cost |
| 20 | General digression of ship. Minor Malfunctions occur when suffered half Size Rating damage. Major Malfunctions occurs when suffering Size Rating damage. Critical Malfunctions occur when suffering Size Rating x1,5 damage |
A complete overhaul costs about Size Rating of the ship x100 and takes Size Rating x10 hours to complete (although this may vary greatly due to local prices and practices, overworked staff, poor equipment, and local demand. In addition, big docks are often more expensive and have longer waiting lists, but also employ better technicians and tools).
Hull Damage Table | ||||
| D20 | Hull Damage | Minor Malfunction | Major Malfunction | Critical Malfunction |
| 1-4 | Superficial damage | No additional problems. Very light repairs required (2 vtp). | No additional problems. Light repairs required (4vtp). Costs Size x 10 FB. | No additional problems. Some repair needed (8 vtp). Costs Size x 100 FB. |
| 5-9 | Hull damage
(Note: For pressure change due to hull breach, see Ship systems ->Life support Malfunction below) | Damage minimal. No additional problems | Minor hull breach. 4vtp to repair. Size Rating hours to do it before damage is critical. Some minor pressure loss. Roll D20 every 10 minutes. On a roll of 20 a random Minor Malfunction occur. On further rolls of 20 a Major Malfunction, and then a Critical Malfunction occur. | D20:1-12: Major hull breach (6 vtp to repair. Half hour) 13-17: Severe hull breach 10 vtp to repair. 15 min.) 18-19: Critical hull breach. 10 vtp to repair in successive turns (failure = start again from scratch). 20 turns before critical 20: Rapid decompression. |
| 10 | Cargo/supplies damage | Cargo/supplies shook up and might be damaged or broken. | Cargo/supplies damaged or broken. Inaccessible. | Cargo/supplies destroyed |
| 11 | Escape pod damage | D20: 1-15: Superficial/cosmetic damage. No repair required although 2 vtp. worth of repairs is recommended to mend some of the scaring 16-19: Slight malfunction (launch problems, comfort hampered, gear loss etc.) 20: Roll D20 twice and apply the lowest number to the Major Escape pod Malfunction table | D20: 1-10: Reduce range by 1 AU 11-15: Halve range 16-17: Beacon dead (4 vtp. to repair) 18-19: Life support down (6 vtp. to repair. Major Life support Malfunction) 20: All systems shutdown after launch (6 vtp to repair, +6 vtp for Life support; +4 vtp for Beacon; range halved) | Escape pod destroyed. D20: 1-12: No further damage to ship or systems 13-17: Additional Minor Malfunction to hull 18-19: Additional Major Malfunction to hull 20: Additional Major & Minor Malfunction to hull |
| 12 | Landing-gear damage | Landing not safe. 2 to Drive Spacecraft for purpose of landing the craft | Landing very unsafe. 6 to Drive Spacecraft for purpose of landing. 5d vtp damage. | Landing results in automatic crash. |
| 13 | Structure damage (if a Void ship, count this as a Hull damage instead) | No Grade change. All atmosphere maneuvers are at -2 | Bump the ships grade down one level (Lander, to Atmosphere, to Void) | Grade = Void. Entering atmosphere will tear the ship apart. |
| 14-15 | Shield damage | D20: 1-8: -1 Shield on one flank for 1 turn. 9-14: One flank shield-less for 1 turn. 15-17: -1 Shield on one flank for 5 turns. 18-19: One flank shield-less for 5 turns. 20: Shields down for one turn | D20: 10-12: -1 shield on one flank 13-16: Shields dead on one flank 17-19: -1 shield on both flanks 20: All shields dead for 5 turns, then shields return at the rate of 1 shield per round (random flank) | All shields down (6 vpt to repair per shield per flank) |
| 16-17 | Fire | D20: 10-15: Mostly external fire and little damage done. Dies out almost instantaneously 16-19: Contained fire. If not put out theres a risk it will cause further damage. Roll D20 each turn. On a roll of 20, a Minor Malfunction occur. Next 20 cause Major Malfunction, and then Critical Malfunction 20: Spreading fire. Cause a random Malfunction every 20 turns (random severity) | D20: 1-10: One area/system compromised by fire. Dangerous to put out. Additional damage in 5 turns (random severity) 11-14: Spreading fire (see Minor Malfunction column) 15-17: Fire cause instant random Minor Malfunction 18-19: Fire cause instant random Major Malfunction 20: Fire cause instant random Critical Malfunction | D20: 1-10: Spreading fire (see Minor Malfunction column) 11-14: Fire cause a instant random Minor Malfunction each turn. 15-17: Fire cause instant random Major Malfunction 18-19: Fire cause instant random Critical Malfunction, and a Major Malfunction every 5 turns 20: Inferno! Ship must be abandoned |
| 18-19 | Engine damage | D20: 1-10: Slight maneuverability problems (-2 Drive Spacecraft for 5 turns) 11-17: Engine stall. Automatic decelerate (one thrust level) 18-19: Temporary energy boost. Accelerate one thrust level. 20: Temporary Sathra Dampers shutdown (this is unknown to the crew!) | D20: 1-8: Poor maneuverability (-2 Drive Spacecraft) 9-11: Maneuverability out (-6 Drive Spacecraft) 12-14: Maneuverability malfunction (-10 Drive Spacecraft) 15-16: Sathra Dampers down (6 vtp to turn them back on) 17-18: Maximum Ύ thrust engine speed 19: Maximum half thrust engine speed 20: Maximum Ό thrust engine speed | D20: 1-15: Engines dead for 5 turns. Then roll on Major Malfunction table 16-17: Sathra Dampers destroyed (expect heavy church interrogation to get new Sathra Dampers). 18-19: Engines disabled (12 vtp to get them back on line, then roll on Major Malfunction table) 20: Engines wreaked (costs 10% of ship-cost to replace) |
| 20 | Fuel-system damage
(Note: Most ships have a fuel capacity of about 300 Aus worth of travel when tanks are full. It is possible to convert cargo space into extra fuel tanks at a rate of 1 AU worth of fuel per ton of cargo space converted. This costs about 50 Firebirds in most warfts) | D20: 1-10: Fuel feeder damaged. Ship cannot accelerate or decelerate for 1 turn. 11-15: Loose 10 AU worth of fuel (fuel leaks off into space) 16-18: Loose 5 AU worth of fuel every hour (fuel leaks harmlessly off into space) 19-20: Fuel feeder disabled. Ship cannot accelerate or decelerate until repaired. | D20: 1-5: Fuel feeder damaged. Ship cannot accelerate or decelerate for 5 turn. 6-8: Loose 20 AU worth of fuel (fuel leaks off into space) 9-11: Loose 10 AU worth of fuel every hour (fuel leaks harmlessly off into space) 12-13: Loose 20 AU worth of fuel every hour (fuel leaks harmlessly off into space) 14-15: Fuel feeder damaged. Ship cannot accelerate or decelerate for 10 turns 16-17: Fuel feeder disabled. Ship cannot accelerate or decelerate until repaired. 18: Loose half fuel 19: Loose all fuel 20: Cooling units damaged. Runs the risk of fuel over-heating. Roll D20 every 5 minutes (100 turns). On a roll of 20 the ship suffers a Critical Fuel Malfunction
| D20: 1-5: Fuel feeder damaged. Ship cannot accelerate or decelerate for 20 turns 6-9: Fuel feeder disabled. Ship cannot accelerate or decelerate until repaired. 10-12: Fuel feed hiccup. Extra fuel injected to the engines. Automatically accelerate or decelerate one thrust speed 13-15: Loose half fuel 16-17: Loose all fuel 18: Leakage! Radiation and dangerous gasses leak from fuel tanks. Exposed crew must roll Endurance + Vigor every 10 turns or suffer 8d damage (-2d for breathing gear; -2d for thick clothing) 19: Cooling units down. Runs the risk of fuel over-heating. Roll D20 every 5 turns. On a roll of 20 the ship suffers a Critical Fuel Malfunction 20: Fuel explodes! Ship takes damage equal to remaining fuel (measured in AUs worth of fuel) divided by 10. |
Weapon Systems Damage Table | ||||
| D20 | Weapon Sys. Damage | Minor Malfunction | Major Malfunction | Critical Malfunction |
| 1-5 | Exterior damage | Minor scaring. No damage suffered | Bad scaring. Roll again for a Minor Malfunction. Ignore further rolls of 1-5 | Sever scaring. Roll again for a Major Malfunction. Ignore further rolls of 1-5 |
| 6-8 | Turret/mount damage (if no turret/mount, count as exterior damage) | D20: 1-15: Wheeling damaged. Takes one turn to change flank 16-19: Wheeling stuck. Cannot change flank 20: Unstable mount. 2 Warfare Gunnery | D20: 1-8: Wheeling damaged. Takes one turn to change flank 9-13: Wheeling stuck. Cannot change flank 14-16: Unstable mount. 2 Warfare Gunnery 17-18: Shaking mount. 4 Warfare Gunnery 19: Quaking mount. 6 Warfare Gunnery 20: Wheeling stuck. Roll again for additional damage | D20: 1-8: Wheeling stuck. Cannot change flank. Also Minor Power failure 9-13: Quaking mount. 6 Warfare Gunnery 14-16: Loose mount. 8 Warfare Gunnery 17-18: Gun disabled 19: Direct hit! Re-roll for Major turret/mount damage and also roll once for Critical Power failure 20: Turret/mount shot off! |
| 9-10 | Power failure | D20: 1-6: Can fire no more then twice per turn for 1 turn 7-11: Can fire no more then once per turn for 1 turn 12-14: Loose power for 1 turn. Weapon useless 15-17: Loose power for 5 turns. Weapon useless 18-19: Can fire no more then twice per turn for 5 turns 20: Can fire no more then once per turn for 5 turns | D20: 1-7: Can fire no more then twice per turn for 5 turns 6-11: Can fire no more then once per turn for 5 turns 12-16: Loose power for 1 turn. Weapon useless 17: Loose power for 5 turns. Weapon useless 18-19: Can fire no more then twice per turn until repaired 20: Can fire no more then once per turn until repaired | D20: 1-8: Loose power for 5 turns. Weapon useless 9-13: Loose power for 10 turns. Weapon useless 14: Loose power for 20 turns. Weapon useless 15-17: Can fire no more then twice per turn 18-19: Can fire no more then once per turn 20: Loose all power. Weapon disabled |
| 11-14 | Fire | As for Hull or Electrical Fire. | As for Hull or Electrical Fire. | Hull or Electrical Fire. A roll of 20 means the weapon explodes as for Ammo/feeder damage below instead of the ship |
| 15-17 | Targeting system damage | D20: 1-10: Autogunner disabled (if no Autogunner present count this as a 11-15 roll instead) 11-15: Gunnery 2 for 1 turn 15-17: Gunnery 4 for 1 turn 18-19: Gunnery 6 for 1 turn 20: Gunnery 8 for 1 turn | D20: Autogunner, if present, is disabled on all even rolls 1-10: Gunnery 2 for 5 turns 11-14: Gunnery 4 for 5 turns 15-17: Gunnery 6 for 5 turns 18-19: Gunnery 8 for 5 turns 20: Gunnery 10 for 5 turns | Autogunner disabled D20: 1-8: Gunnery 2 9-12: Gunnery 4 13-15: Gunnery 6 16-17: Gunnery 8 18-19: Gunnery 10 20: Gun disabled |
| 18-19 | Weapon energy leakage (Counts as a 20 roll for non-energy weapons, but roll for Malfunction twice and apply the lower score) | D20: 1-10: Small leakage. No effect 11-15: Reduce damage by 1d for 1 turn 16-18: Reduce damage by 2d for 1 turn 19-20: Gun fires blank this turn | D20: 1-10: Small continuous leakage. Roll Minor Weapon Energy Leakage each turn 11-15: Reduce damage by 1d for 5 turns 16-18: Reduce damage by 2d for 5 turns 19-20: Blank fire for 5 turns | D20: 1-10: Large continuous leakage. Roll Major Weapon Energy Leakage table each turn 11-15: Reduce dmg by 1d 16-18: Reduce dmg by 2d 19: Gun disabled 20: Leakage (see Critical Fuel Sys. damage) |
| 20 | Ammo/feeder damage | D20: 1-15: Feeder hiccup (unable to fire for 1 turn) 16-19: Feeder jam (2vtp) 20: Extensive jam (cannot be repaired while in combat) | D20: 1-15: Feeder jam (4vtp) 16-19: Extensive jam (cannot be repaired while in combat) 20: Ammo hot! On continued fire count any 6s for damage rolled as damage to own ship | D20: 1-10: Extensive jam 11-17: Ammo hot! 18-19: Weapon disabled 20: Weapon explode. Crew take weapon dmg x2. Roll for Critical Hull damage |
Ship Systems Damage Table | ||||
| D20 | Ship Sys. Damage | Minor Malfunction | Major Malfunction | Critical Malfunction |
| 1-5 | Electronics failure | Some burnouts and non-vital malfunctions with onboard electronic systems. Might cause annoyance and discomfort. | As for Minor Malfunction D20: 1-5: One or more Internal control panels dies (door pads, thermostat, radio, R&R Center, refrigiator etc) 6-9: Light goes out in one or two rooms 10-13: Lights goes out in entire ship. Some emergency lights available. 14-15: Intercom shuts down 16-17: Ship Com. Sys. lost 18-19: Think Machine failure (random severity) 20: Minor electrical fire | One minor system after the other shuts down (choose one randomly each turn). D20: 1-3: Ship experience no additional problems 4-8: Targeting system Malfunction (random severity) 9-13: Weapon power failure (random severity) 14-17: Shield damage (random severity) 18-20: Roll again on Ship Systems Damage table (random severity) |
| 6-7 | Gravity Repulsor Pad (Note: Gravity is noted in Gs, 1G being Urth standard. When gravity changes, characters are affected as follows. STR increase or decrease exactly opposite of the change in G. At 2G character STR is a 50%. At 0,75G character STR is at 125%. Speed is affected similarly. Damage Bonus is not affected. DEX is reduced by 1 for every full G over 2G. Manual DEX like shooting or surgery isnt affected by low gravity. Physical DEX like fighting and moving suffers a 1 penalty per quarterly decrease in G, except for characters with the Spacesuit skill who doesnt suffer low G penalties) | One room or hallway affected. D20: 1-12: G constantly changing throughout the ship. This makes physical tasks difficult (-2 penalty due to G confusion) 13-16: G change by +/- 0,25 17-19: G change by +/- 0,5 20: G change by +/- 1 | One deck or section of ship affected. D20: 1-6: G constantly changing throughout the ship. This makes physical tasks difficult (-4 penalty due to G confusion) 7-11: G change by +/- 0,25 11-14: G change by +/- 0,5 15-17: G change by +/- 1 18-19: G increase by +2 20: Gravity push. Beings and objects violently pushed to the floor, suffering 3d of damage. G returns to what it was. Roll D20 each turn. On a score of 20, roll again for further gravity changes on the chart above. | Entire ship is affected. D20: 1-5: G constantly changing throughout the ship. This makes physical tasks difficult (-8 penalty due to G confusion) 6-11: G change by +/- 0,5 12-16: G change by +/- 1 17-19: G increase by +2 20: Gravity push. Beings and objects violently pushed to the floor, suffering 8d of damage. G returns to what it was. Roll D20 each turn. On a even score, roll again for further gravity changes on the chart above. |
| 8 | Think Machine systems failure (Note: If main Think Machine is knocked out, all ship operation has to be done manually at 6, +loss of Jumpgate calculation capabilities, Jumpkey operation, travel log, sensors, Shields relocation and much more. Also 4 to all non-Mechanical Tech Redemption tests) | One secondary system affected only (choose randomly). If no secondary system, then main system is out for 5d turns. D20: 1-10: Reduce affected Think Machine goal numbers by 2 11-15: Reduce affected Think Machine goal numbers by 4 16-18: Secondary system out for 10 turns. 19-20: Secondary system out for one hour. | Main system and one secondary system affected (choose randomly) D20: 1-5: Reduce affected Think Machine goal numbers by 2 6-10: Reduce all Think Machine goal numbers by 4 11-15: Reduce all Think Machine goal numbers by 6 16-17: 1 secondary sys. out 18-19: 1 secondary system out, + 1 sensor or Think Machine Major Malfunction. 20: Primary system out (all secondary sys. dies with it) | All Think Machine related systems affected. D20: 1-5: Reduce all Think Machine goal numbers by 6 6-10: Reduce all Think Machine goal numbers by 8 11-15: Reduce all Think Machine goal numbers by 10 16-20: Primary system out (all secondary sys. dies with it) |
| 9-11 | Sensors failure | Randomly choose one active sensor type to be affected. D20: 1-7: Reduce sensor range by 1 AU until repaired. 8-11: Unreliable sensor readings (Sensor tests 2) 12-14: Reduce sensor range by 2 AU until repaired. 15-17: Faulty sensor readings (Sensor tests 4) 18-19: Sensor (choose randomly) out for 5 turns 20: Sensor out until repaired | All active sensors affected. D20: 00: Unreliable sensor readings (Sensor tests 2) 00: Reduce sensor range by 2 AU until repaired. 00: Faulty sensor readings (Sensor tests 4) 00: Reduce sensor range by 4 AU until repaired. 00: Active sensors out for 5 turns 00: Active sensors (choose randomly out for 5 minutes 20: Active sensors out until repaired | All sensors, active or passive (including Transmissions) affected D20: 1-4: Faulty sensor readings (Sensor tests 4) 5-8: Reduce sensor range by 4 AU until repaired. 9-11: Erroneous sensor readings (Sensor tests 8) 12-14: Reduce sensor range by 8 AU until repaired. 15-17: Sensors out for 5 minutes 18-20: Sensors out until repaired. Ship is blind. |
| 12-14 | Power failure (Note: Ships with a working auxiliary power sources will suffer power shortage/failure for a maximum of 1 turn. The range from planet to jumpgate is about 50 60 AU at average, although this varies greatly of course) | All shipboard tests are at a 2 penalty until repaired. D20: 1-12: No further problems 13-19: Minor Ship Sys. Malfunction 20: Minor Ship Sys. Malfunction every 5 turns. Count further Power failure results as Major Power failure Malfunctions. | All shipboard tests are at a 4 penalty until repaired. Further Ship Sys./Weapon Sys. Malfunction next turn (random severity). Re-roll for inappropriate malfunctions (i.e. Exterior damage etc) D20: 1-15: Ship dead in space for 1 turn. 16-19: Minor Engine damage 20: Ship dead in space for 5 turns | All shipboard tests are at a 8 penalty until repaired. Further Ship Sys./Weapon Sys. Malfunction every 5 turns (random severity) D20: 1-8: Ship dead in space for 1 turn 9-12: Ship dead in space for 5 turns 13-15: Major Engine damage 16-18: Roll D20 each turn. Ship will work on even scores. 19: Reactor breach and radiation leakage. See Critical Fuel System Malfunction 20: Ship dead in space until repaired |
| 15-18 | Electrical fire | Small easily quailed fire. Will die out by itself quickly, causing only minor damage as per Minor Electronics Malfunction. | D20 (each turn): 1: Fire dies down and becomes a Minor Electrical fire. 20: Fire spread and becomes a Critical Electrical fire. If put out within 5 turns the fire will cause a Major Electronics Malfunctions. If put out within 10 turns the fire cause Major Electronics Malfunctions and a Major Ship Sys./Weapon Sys. damage (ignore further fires). If not put out within 10 turns the fire will spread and become a Critical Electrical fire, as well as causing a Major Electronics Malfunction and a Major Ship Sys./Weapon Sys. damage (ignore further fires). | Electronics failure each turn (random severity). D20 (each turn): 1: Fire dies down and becomes Major Electrical fire. 20: Fire spreads causing a Major Hull fire. D20: 1-8: Further Ship Sys. damage every 5 turns (random severity) 9-16: Weapon Sys. damage every 5 turns (random severity). 17-19: Fire spreads throughout the ship! (See Hull Damage Table. Random severity) 20: Ship Sys./Weapon Sys. damage every turn (random severity) |
When a ship starts loosing it's last 5 Vitality Points, the ship and it's crew and passengers are in deep trouble. The ship is barely holding together, having suffered massive damage and malfunctions, and is now a total wreak (it will probably be cheaper to sell the wreckage as slag and then buy a new ship, then to repair all the damages sustained). The following rules applies to ships loosing "vital" Vitality Points.
At -2 (having lost the fifth remaining VP), the ship suffers a random Major malfunction, and it can travel a maximum of 150 AUs before running out of fuel or breaking down. A Minor malfunction will occur every day until this lost Vitality Point is recovered through repairs.
At -4 (having lost the fourth remaining VP), the ship suffers a random Critical malfunction, and it can travel a maximum of 75 AUs before running out of fuel or breaking down. Two Minor malfunction will occur every day until this lost Vitality Point is recovered through repairs.
At -6 (having lost the third remaining VP), the ship suffers one Major and one Critical random malfunctions, and it can travel a maximum of 40 AUs before running out of fuel or breaking down. Three Minor malfunction will occur every day until this lost Vitality Point is recovered through repairs.
At -8 (having lost the second remaining VP), the ship suffers two Major and two Critical random malfunctions, and it can travel a maximum of 20 AUs before running out of fuel or breaking down. Four Minor malfunction will occur every day until this lost Vitality Point is recovered through repairs.
At -10 (having lost the last remaining VP), the ship suffers four random Critical malfunctions, and it can travel a maximum of 10 AUs before running out of fuel or breaking down. Emergency power for life support, radio transmissions and minimal shield coverage (enough to protect the ship from space debris) will last for a number of days equal to the ship's rating x5, -1 per person aboard. Five Minor malfunction will occur every day until this lost Vitality Point is recovered through repairs.
As a ship is damaged through combat or accidents, the people onboard runs the risk of suffering injuries from being thrown about, from falling/flying debris, from electrocutions, from minor explosions and countless other hazards.
Every time the ship takes enough damage to cause a Malfunction, consult the chart below to see if/how much damage is passed over to passenger and crewmembers.
| | Directly affected (person is in the room where the Malfunction occur and is working on/with/near the source of the Malfunction) | Partially affected (person is in close vicinity of the source of the Malfunction, but not directly affected) | Indirectly affected/ Unaffected (person is in part of the ship not touched directly by the Malfunction) |
Minor Malfunction | 4d | 2d | N/A |
| Major Malfunction | 8d | 4d | 2d |
| Critical Malfunction | 16d | 8d | 4d |
If the character has taken precautions (using seatbelts for instance) or is aware/extra careful when the Malfunction occurs s/he will suffer reduced damage (usually halved). This often requires a skill roll versus Dodge (or perhaps Drive Spacecraft, or some other skill as the GM deems appropriate). Armor and energy shields will give protection as the GM see fit.