PILOTS		COMBAT

MOVEMENT

During the Movement Phase, actions take place in the following order:

GENERAL MOVEMENT PROCEDURE

Movement in INTERCEPTOR is much like that in other RENEGADE LEGION games. Each ship must keep track of its velocity and use thrust points to change velocity, heading and facing. A ship must travel in a straight line until its commander alters its heading. The ship's velocity remains constant until the ship's commander changes it by applying thrust. Thus, a ship can remain in the same hex with a velocity of 0 or coast at a constant velocity for as long as it stays on the mapsheet. 1 point of velocity equals 1 hex of movement on the board.

Each ship and pilot has two ratings that affect the ease or difficulty of using thrust. These are the Thrust Rating and the Safe Operating Thrust (SOT).

Each ship is designed with a specified Thrust Rating, which is the maximum number of Thrust Points that a player may spend in one turn to change velocity and/or heading. Pilots may push the plant and try to get extra Thrust Points, but this could also result in severe damage to their craft.

The Safe Operating Thrust is the average of the ship's Thrust Rating and the pilot's Piloting Skill Level (rounded up). The SOT is the number of Thrust Points that the pilot may safely spend and still maintain control of his craft. If he spends thrust over his current SOT rating, he must make an SOT Saving Roll.

For example: TOG Pilot Marcos' PILUM Class fighter has a thrust of 7 and a beginning velocity of 3. In this case, before any other movement, he may spend up to 3 Thrust Points to slow down his fighter to a velocity of 0, or he may spend up to 7 Thrust Points to speed up his fighter to a velocity of 10. He chooses to speed up to a velocity of 5 by spending 2 Thrust Points. His fighter must now move five hexes. In this example, Pilot Marcos did not exceed his SOT, and so no Saving roll is necessary.

Thrust Points are used for the following:  Changing a ship's facing; Changing its heading; Changing its orientation by rolling; Increasing or decreasing its velocity.

Thrust example: A ship equipped with 1 set of DCS and at a velocity of 12 would have to use 5 Thrust Points to change heading by 1 hexside -- (12 / 3 = 4) + 1. If this ship had 2 DCS, it would have to use only 4 Thrust Points -- [(12 velocity - 1 for extra DCS, or 11) / 3 = 3.67, rounding to 3)] + 1.

Movement examples: Pilot Marcos wants to maneuver his PILUM fighter (with a thrust rating of 7 and a single set of DCS) to get a rear shot against the Commonwealth fighter, which is next to an asteroid. At this point, his ship's heading and facing are identical. Before movement, he raises his initial velocity from 3 to 5 by expending 2 Thrust Points, leaving 5. Marcos moves four hexes forward and then makes a heading change. At a velocity of 5, this will cost 2 Thrust Points -- (5 / 3 = 1.67, rounding down to 1) + 1. Marcos now moves one last required hex, which puts him directly behind the enemy fighter. He now makes another heading change to be able to shoot at it. At his velocity of 5, the Thrust Point cost is 2 as calculated before. Marcos has now used 6 of his 7 Thrust Points and wishes to do nothing further. The unused Thrust Point cannot be saved for future turns. Had he wished to, Marcos could have changed his PILUM's facing, rather than its heading, in order to fire at the Commonwealth fighter; this would have cost 1 Thrust Point (148 tons / 1000 = .148, but the minimum cost is 1 Thrust Point). If this had been done, the ship counter's bow would be facing toward the Commonwealth fighter, but a directional arrow counter would show that it is still moving in the original heading direction.

 

In another example, Commonwealth Pilot Victor Erskine sees one of his squadron mates being attacked by TOG Pilot Marcos and wants to help his buddy by maneuvering to get a shot at the TOG fighter. He is flying a CHEETAH Class fighter with a thrust of 10 and an initial velocity of 9. From the diagram, we see that Pilot Erskine must make at least two heading changes to move in the direction of the TOG fighter. For the best shot, it would be even better to make three heading changes and end up in the enemy's rear arc. At a velocity of 9, however, heading changes cost 4 Thrust Points each, and so Pilot Erskine decides first to slow his fighter by spending 4 Thrust Points to change his velocity to 5. He then makes two heading changes before moving, moves five hexes, and finally makes another heading change to position himself directly behind the TOG fighter. The total number of Thrust Points spent is 10 (4 for initial velocity change and 6 for three heading changes at a velocity of 5). In this example, Pilot Erskine has exceeded his SOT, requiring a roll on the appropriate table.

In a combat situation, a pilot will sometimes do anything to get that extra little bit of power to put his ship in the best firing position. In cases where he needs more Thrust Points than he has, he may push the powerplant at the risk of breakdown. To find out what can be accomplished and at what risk, refer to the Pushing The Plant Table.

1 
2 
3 
4 
5+

1    2    3    4    5
8    -    -    -    -
8    A    -    -    -
8    6    A    -    -
8    6    4    A    -
8    6    4    2    A

Pushing the plant always results in the pilot obtaining the extra Thrust Points he desires. The catch is whether or not he damaged the plant in getting those Thrust Points. If the roll fails, the pilot must immediately mark off one-quarter of the total original number of his power plant boxes (rounding up) on the Internal Component Block and note the changes to his maximum thrust on the data portion of the Ship Record Sheet.

For example, Pilot Marcos' PILUM has suffered damage, putting his current maximum velocity at 4. He needs to spend 6 Thrust Points (pushing the plant by 2 thrust points) in a single turn. Referring to the Pushing The Plant Table, we see that he must roll a 6 or less to keep from damaging his fighter.

The SOT is a measure of the pilot's Piloting Skill in the ship he is flying. This is determined by averaging the Pilot's Piloting Skill Level and the thrust rating of his ship. In most cases, green pilots will have an SOT that is equal to or less than the maximum thrust of their ship. Experienced pilots may have SOTs with ratings higher than the thrust of the ship in question. This means that an experienced pilot is able to get the most out of his ship (and maybe even more than that), while a green pilot will have his hands full just flying his ship to its capabilities. The SOT also takes into account the fact that pushing the plant usually requires exceeding the SOT, especially on ships with lower accelerations. This means acceleration at levels for which the acceleration compensators are not equipped and that the forces acting on the pilot are much greater than usual.

Whenever a pilot needs to spend more thrust in one turn than his SOT Rating, he must make an SOT saving roll. First, he subtracts the number of additional Thrust Points needed from the SOT, then he must roll a number equal to or less than that target. If the roll succeeds, the maneuver is successful. If the roll fails, the ship is SOC, or Seriously Out of Control.

When a ship needs to exceed its SOT, simply move the counter normally. At the point where the SOT is exceeded, make a Piloting skill roll. If the SOT roll succeeds, complete the move. If the roll fails, make a roll on the Random Movement Maneuver Table to find the series of random movements the ship will suffer. If a ship was making a 4 Thrust Point heading change that would cause it to exceed the pilot's SOT by 2 and he failed his roll, he would then have to roll for 4 points on the Random Movement Table, NOT the 2 Thrust Points by which he exceeded his SOT.

In some cases, a pilot may have to push the plant AND exceed his current SOT. In such cases, he must make both rolls and suffer the consequences of any failures.

For example, Pilot Erskine, who has a Piloting Skill Level of 5, is flying a CHEETAH with a maximum thrust of 10. To perform the maneuver given in Movement Diagram 2, he must exceed his SOT to make the final heading change. At the point just before making the heading change, Erskine makes his roll. In this situation, Erskine's SOT is 8 -- ([5 + 10]/2 = 7.5, rounding up). He must make a roll of 8 (his SOT) - 2 (the number of Thrust Points over the pilot's SOT) = 6 or less. If the roll succeeds, he will end his movement as shown. If the roll fails, he must roll for 2 Thrust Points on the Random Movement Table.

When a ship is seriously out of control, either through damage or the failure of an SOT roll, the pilot loses control over all of the maneuvering functions of his ship; the craft is tumbling or skidding while the pilot fights to regain control.

To determine where a randomly moving ship will end up, the player first rolls against the Random Movement Maneuver Table to determine what maneuver the ship will attempt. Next, the pilot determines the number of Thrust Points that maneuver will cost. First, he finds the ship's current velocity in the first column of the Random Movement Thrust Cost Table and cross-indexes along the row to the column number that corresponds to the previous Random Movement Maneuver Roll. This process continues until the player has spent the ship's current maximum number of Thrust Points. If the rolled maneuver costs more Thrust Points than the ship has left, the ship will drift one hex while a new maneuver is rolled. In some cases, the ship may drift any number of hexes, but it may never drift more than its beginning velocity. Random movement is the only case when a ship's velocity can change in the middle of movement.

The effects of a failed SOT roll are relatively minor because only a small number of Thrust Points must be spent on the Random Movement Table. A pilot who fails to regain control of his craft and must spend a whole turn suffering the effects of random movement is usually SOL.

To recover from random movement, a pilot must roll less than or equal to his Piloting Skill Level. This roll is made before movement during the Movement Phase.

A randomly moving ship may still make direct fire attacks, but with a +3 To-Hit die roll modifier in lieu of all other modifiers; it may not attempt missile lock-on.

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Remember that each hex moved also counts against the movement limit of the beginning velocity, no matter what the ending velocity turns out to be.

For example, Pilot Erskine must spend 2 Thrust Points on the Random Movement Table. His current velocity is 5. His first roll is a 2. According to the table, this is an increase of 1 point in velocity, at a cost of 1 Thrust Point. He still has one remaining Thrust Point. At his new velocity of 6, Erskine moves as shown. His next roll is a 6, which is a one hexside heading change to the right. At a velocity of 6, this costs 3 Thrust Points. With only 1 point left, the fighter drifts one hex. This completes Erskine's Random Movement, as he had already drifted five hexes before exceeding his SOT. If he had missed his SOT roll before drifting the number of hexes dictated by his initial velocity, he would have to keep rolling against the Random Movement Table until the remaining Thrust Point was spent or until he had drifted a number of hexes equal to his initial velocity.
At the beginning of movement of the next turn, Erskine must make a Piloting Skill Roll of 5 or less to regain control of his fighter. If the roll fails, he must roll 10 Thrust Points of movement on the Random Movement Thrust Cost Table.

OPTIONAL: VARIABLE MASS AND THRUST CALCULATION

A ship's Thrust Points are calculated on the basis of its engine power divided by its tonnage, as explained in the CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM (see below). For simplicity's sake, we do not recalculate thrust after each change in mass, and in most cases it would make little difference; we also finesse the distinction between volume and mass, as most of the ships commonly seen in this game are "solid" warships.

If desired, however, players can make thrust calculations as needed based on changes in the ship's full-load tonnage (such as firing missiles, dumping fuel or cargo, and so on) or when rated tonnage and actual tonnage are very different (such as with an unloaded freighter, or a carrier which has lost its fighters). In all cases, the new thrust is rounded to the nearest full number, with .5 rounding up. Details will have to be agreed between the players before play.

An additional consideration is the acceleration compensator mounted by the ship. Crewmen will not be able to stand thrust above the compensator's limits that is more than 50% (rounding down) of their race's normal limit. Designers may wish to take this into consideration for ships which have a widely-variable thrust.

This optional rule is not recommended for any but the most experienced players, as it will make the game much more complicated, to put it mildly!

Example 1: A TOG LANCEA weighs 70 tons (9 of which are 3 missiles at 3 tons each, and 4 of which are fuel for the engines and powerplant) and has 700 points of engine power, which gives it a basic full-load thrust of 10. After firing its first missile, its thrust doesn't change appreciably -- 700 / 67 = 10.45, which rounds down to 10. Once the second missile is gone, the LANCEA'S thrust goes up by 1 -- 700 / 64 = 10.94, rounding up to 11. Firing the third missile makes no further difference, as 700 / 61 = 11.48, which rounds down to 11. Determined to get the extra thrust point, the LANCEA pilot dumps half a ton of powerplant fuel, which does the trick -- 700 / 60.5 = 11.57, rounding up to 12. One can only hope that he had the fuel to waste, or he may have a long walk home!

Example 2: A 2,000 ton freighter with a 1,000 ton cargo bay has 8,000 points of engine power, which gives it a basic full-load thrust of 4. Its crew are Baufrin, which require a thrust compensator at any thrust of 4 or greater, and a Thrust 4 compensator is installed. If the ship is running with an empty cargo bay, it could theoretically have a thrust of 8 -- 8,000 / 1,000 actual tons. However, since the compensator can only handle Thrust 4, the maximum thrust the crew can endure is 6 -- 50% of the Baufrin tolerance of 4, plus the 4 that the compensator already handles.

Not all battles occur in the depths of space. Ships must often attack planetside targets or chase other ships to prevent them from landing on or taking off from a planet. Ships move in different ways in each environment, as explained below.

When playing near a planet, the following changes are made to the map. One hexrow at the edge of the mapsheet is declared to be the ground. The next five hexrows are the planet's atmosphere, and the next hexrow is the space/atmosphere interface. Movement between and within these different zones, ground, atmosphere, interface, and space hexes is different. The rules given so far in this book are for space movement. The rules for movement in the other zones are listed below.

SPACE/ATMOSPHERE INTERFACE

The interface is a barrier separating the vacuum of space and the denser atmosphere, which can be used or abused by pilots. Skillful pilots may use the interface zone to slow down and change their heading by bouncing. They do this at the risk of entering the zone unintentionally, or worse, burning up. To enter the zone, the ship's heading and facing must be the same, and a Piloting Skill Roll must be made. If the player's modified die roll is less than or equal to the basic chance of success, he has successfully entered the interface zone from space, and so continues his movement in the direction of his heading. If the roll is greater than the modified target, the attempt failed. The pilot must now check the Failed Entry Table for the result of his maneuver, using the difference between his target and his die result as the reference number.

The same procedure is followed if the pilot is attempting to bounce off the zone. Prior to entering the zone hex, the pilot makes a Piloting Skill Roll. If the roll is successful, the ship's heading may be changed up to 180ø without changing velocity. The Failed Bounce Table is used to determine the results of a failed roll. Damage from a failed bounce is taken in the same manner as asteroid damage.

   Basic Chance of Success = Piloting Skill Level         +4  

   Die Roll Modifiers:
    Ship in random movement                               +2
    Per every 10% of internal boxes lost                  +1
    Per each 25% of engine power lost                     +1   
    Powerplant disabled                                   +4
    All Directional Control Systems disabled 
          (per side -- unstreamlined ships only)          +3
    Atmospheric Control System disabled 
          (per side -- streamlined ships only)            +2

 Modified Die Roll Exceeded                   Effect
  Basic Success Chance By:
     1                       Ship enters zone but suffers 5 points of damage to its Forward side
     2                       Ship enters zone but suffers 10 points of damage to its Forward side
     3                       Ship enters zone but suffers 15 points of damage to its Forward side
     4                       Ship enters zone but suffers 25 points of damage to its Forward side
     5                 	     Ship bounces and suffers 10 points of damage to its Forward side
     6                 	     Ship bounces and suffers 15 points of damage to its Forward side
     7                 	     Ship bounces and suffers 25 points of damage to its Forward side
     8 or more         	     Ship burns up during reentry: ship and crew are destroyed

 Modified Die Roll Exceeded                   Effect
  Basic Success Chance By:
     1                       Ship bounces and takes 5 points of damage to its Forward side
     2                       Ship bounces and takes 10 points of damage to its Forward side
     3                       Ship bounces and takes 15 points of damage to its Forward side
     4                       Ship bounces and takes 25 points of damage to its Forward side
     5                       Ship enters zone and suffers 10 points of damage to its Forward side
     6                       Ship enters zone and suffers 15 points of damage to its Forward side
     7                       Ship enters zone and suffers 25 points of damage to its Forward side
     8 or more               Ship burns up during reentry: ship and crew destroyed

When in atmosphere, an unstreamlined ship using anti-grav lifters may not move at a velocity greater than 2; each hex moved costs 1 thrust point. The ship can change facing and heading at will, at a cost of 1 thrust point per hexside rotated. The ship may also hover motionless, at a cost of 1 thrust point. If no thrust is applied during a turn, 1 point of velocity is lost. An unstreamlined ship at velocity zero that is not hovering will fall directly toward the ground at 1 hex per turn. If it reaches the ground and has no usable thrust, it will crash, completely destroying the ship, crew and any passengers or cargo. If the ship has usable thrust when it reaches the ground, it must make a standard landing roll, modifying as necessary (see CAMPAIGNS).

A streamlined ship in atmosphere has a maximum velocity of 6. Its heading and facing must always be the same. Because they can turn using their airfoils, streamlined ships can turn 1 hexside at the end of all movement at no thrust cost; any additional turning costs 2 thrust points per hexside turned. If no thrust is used during a turn, 1 point of velocity is lost, to a minimum of 1. A streamlined ship with a velocity of 1 which does not use thrust moves 1 hex toward the ground in addition to any other movement -- it is assumed to be gliding downward. If it reaches the ground and has no usable thrust, it must make a deadstick landing (see LANDING under CAMPAIGNS, below); if it has usable thrust, there is no additional modifier. A failed roll means a crash, with effects as above.

Note in both the above movement types, a ship always loses one point of velocity should it expend no thrust in a given turn, hence, unlike space, a ship cannot coast indefinitly, it must spend thrust to stay aloft!

A streamlined ship that mounts and can power anti-grav lifters may use either movement mode. It must still have the same heading and facing if it begins normal flight, but may have a maximum velocity of 6 even if using anti-gravs.

Any ship that hits the ground as a result of random movement automatically crashes.

GRAVITY

Ships in the vicinity of a planet may be subject to the effects of gravity. If the world is Earthlike, gravity is too slight to be noticeable within INTERCEPTOR's time and distance scales. If gravity does need to be simulated, however, all ships are moved one hex closer to the mapedge that has been designated as the ground at the end of all movement. If this takes ships into the interface zone or the atmosphere, resolve this as shown above. Ships that end their movement in the hexrow closest to the ground are assumed to have landed and must make a landing roll as described in the CAMPAIGN section of the rules. In addition to the above effects, ships traveling directly toward the ground increase their velocity by 1 at the beginning of each turn; ships traveling directly away from the ground decrease their velocity by 1 each turn. Note that orbital installations will almost never be seen in such high-gravity areas, as their station-keeping thrusters are not powerful enough to resist the 1-hex-per-turn pull.

OPTIONAL: ADVANCED ATMOSPHERIC MOVEMENT RULES

Normally, the INTERCEPTOR map shows a planet's surface, atmosphere and interface zones in "cross-section". For the purposes of these optional rules, visualize the map as having been rotated 90 degrees so that one is looking down on the surface of the planet. Players will have to keep track of the altitude of each ship; level zero is the surface, with levels 1-5 being the atmosphere, 6 being the interface and from 7 upward being space. Each scenario should define the altitude level that is the "top" of the map. All references to being in atmosphere, interface or space hexes should be read as being in those altitude levels.

An unstreamlined antigrav-equipped ship must pay 5 thrust points per hex to move in atmosphere; a streamlined ship must pay 2 thrust points per hex. Ships may voluntarily move at less than full speed by throttling back, although the restrictions for minimum speed and hovering as shown above are still in force. The rules for turning, facing and heading are also unchanged except as shown below.

While in atmosphere, each altitude level moved upwards costs the same as moving 1 hex. Diving does not cost thrust points, but an unstreamlined ship may not dive more than (Total Thrust Rating / 10, rounding down) altitude levels per turn; a streamlined ship may not dive more than (Total Thrust Rating / 4, rounding down) altitude levels per turn. Each level dived gains 1 free hex of movement on the turn AFTER the dive was carried out. If, during the same turn, a ship dives and then climbs, it loses the benefit of the dive and will not receive any free hexes on the next turn; it would receive the bonus, however, if it had first climbed and then dove. A dive-gained hex may also be used in lieu of a thrust point when paying to turn more rapidly (simulating various aerobatic maneuvers); turns "paid for" in this way can be taken at any point in the ship's move, rather than just at the end as with streamlined ships' free turns. A ship must use all dive-gained hexes in a turn; if this would put its velocity over 6, it must throttle back until its thrust rating (divided as above) plus its dive-gained hexes are equal to or less than 6.

Example: A streamlined fighter with a thrust rating of 8 moves 4 hexes and dives 2 levels on Turn 1. It could only make one 60-degree turn at no cost at the end of its movement, since it used all of its thrust for straight-line flight. On Turn 2, the fighter dives another 2 levels; it now can move 6 hexes and turn once (4 for its basic velocity, plus 2 for last turn's dive, and taking its free turn), move 4 hexes and turn twice (4 for its basic velocity, plus its free turn, plus using the dive-gained hexes to turn), or some other combination. On Turn 3, the fighter does not dive. It has the same options as Turn 2 again, since it dove last turn. On Turn 4, the fighter is back to moving 4 hexes, having lost the energy gained by diving.

       1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10   11   12   13   14   15 
 1     1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10   11   12   13   14   15 
 2     2    3    4    4    5    6    7    8    9    10   11   12   13   14   15 
 3     3    4    4    5    6    7    8    9    9    10   11   12   13   14   15
 4     4    4    5    6    6    7    8    9   10    11   12   13   14   15   --
 5     5    5    6    6    7    8    9    9   10    11   12   13   14   15   --
 6     6    6    7    7    8    8    9   10   11    12   13   13   14   15   --
 7     7    7    8    8    9    9   10   11   11    12   13   14   15   --   --
 8     8    8    9    9    9   10   11   11   12    13   14   14   15   --   --
 9     9    9    9    9   10   10   11   11   12    13   13   14   15   --   --
10    10   10   10   11   11   12   12   13   13    14   15   --   --   --   --
11    11   11   11   12   12   13   13   14   14    15   --   --   --   --   --
12    12   12   12   13   13   13   14   14   15    --   --   --   --   --   --
13    13   13   13   14   14   14   15   --   --    --   --   --   --   --   --
14    14   14   14   15   --   --   --   --   --    --   --   --   --   --   --
15    15   15   15   --   --   --   --   --   --    --   --   --   --   --   --

STACKING

There is no stacking limit in INTERCEPTOR, though there are reasons why ships should not bunch up in the same hex. Besides the fact that stacked pieces are awkward to handle, especially if the ships have different headings and/or facings, collisions become much more likely and shots that miss one ship may hit another close to it (see DANGER SPACE, below, for further details).

COLLISIONS

Collisions can happen either accidentally by moving in too-close formation or mistiming a maneuver, or intentionally by ramming the foe. In INTERCEPTOR, collisions are possible if any unit moves into or through an asteroid hex or if two ships occupy the same hex at the end of all movement. Possible collisions are resolved after all movement and combat have been completed, with the exception of movement through asteroid hexes (see ASTEROIDS, below).

When neither unit is attempting to ram the other, resolve all combat and then roll one die for each ship. If the numbers are the same, there has been a collision. Determine which sides of the ships have struck each other; in most cases this should be fairly obvious, but in the event that there is a question, roll 1D10 for each ship. The armour facing of the ship on the side directly opposite the ship that struck it can never be damaged; a roll of 1 or 2 would indicate that the next armour facing clockwise from the "immune" hexside was hit -- a 3 or 4 would indicate the second clockwise, and so on. Note that an unintentional collision cannot result from a ship's attempt to launch from or dock with an orbital installation or lock on to another ship for towing -- it is assumed in these cases that having matched vectors and velocities before coming close, the chances of collision are insignificant in game terms. The amount of damage inflicted by an unintentional collision is calculated using the Collision Damage Table below. All damage resulting from a collision is applied row-by-row across the entire armour and/or Internal Component block(s).

If one ship is attempting to ram another, use a slightly different procedure. Ram attempts must be declared in the Movement Phase before the would-be rammer begins to move or fire. If the ship's nationality is not KessRith, it must pass a morale check with a +2 die roll modifier in order to carry out the attempt (see MORALE, below) -- if it fails, it will permanently morale out; if it succeeds, it need not check morale again during the game. KessRith ships NEVER take pre-ramming morale checks. The ramming ship must suffer any fire from the target ship or others during its movement; assuming it makes it into the ram hex, the attempt takes place at the end of all movement and combat.

The rammer and its target both roll the die; if the rammer's roll is within 3 points of the target's, a collision has taken place. The differential between the rammer's and target's rolls will affect the amount of damage to both (see below). If the target of a ramming attempt is an orbital installation, a dieroll is not necessary -- the rammer will automatically hit his target, and there are no modifiers based on the dieroll differential.

COLLISION DAMAGE TABLE
The amount of damage inflicted on the colliding armour facings of both ships is equal to: Ramming Ship's Tonnage x ( [Velocity of ramming ship] - [Velocity of target ship] / 3, rounding down; minimum of 1 ) if rammer strikes through any of target's three rear hexsides -- OR ( [Velocity of ramming ship] + [Velocity of target ship] / 3, rounding down; minimum of 1 ) if rammer strikes through any of target's three front hexsides -- OR ( Velocity of ramming ship / 3, rounding down; minimum of 1 ) if target was an orbital installation.
MODIFIERS Ram Die Roll DAMAGE Differential REDUCTION 0 0% 1 25% 2 50% 3 75% Target's shield: 10% per 10 flicker rate higher than rammer's 0% if equal or lower Unintentional: 75%	The minimum amount of damage inflicted by a collision is always 10 hits. Note that a ship that has its powerplant destroyed in a collision will explode, with the appropriate effect -- see DESTROYING A SHIP, below.

ASTEROIDS: Unlike ships, asteroids are much easier to collide with since they aren't trying to save themselves! At the instant that a ship enters a hex occupied by an asteroid, the pilot must make a Piloting skill roll, modified as below.

If a pilot passes his skill roll, he continues to move; if he fails the skill roll, his ship suffers damage as though it had rammed an orbital installation against its front facing (see above). A ship in Random Movement that collides with an asteroid must roll on the table below to see where it takes the damage.

 1 -  2
 3 -  4
 5 -  6
 7 -  8
 9 - 10
11 - 14
15 - 20
20+

 0
+1
+2
+3
+4
+5
+6
+7

 1 - 4
 5 - 6
 7 - 8
9
10

      Forward
 Left Forward
Right Forward
 Left Aft    
Right Aft    

Truly adventurous players may put the asteroid field in motion. Each asteroid counter has an identification number and a small arrow on it. Before the game begins, simply roll a six-sided die to determine the direction of travel of the entire field for the rest of the game. As noted above, this direction of travel must be re-rolled for an asteroid that survives a collision with a ship. At the end of each Movement Phase, move each asteroid one hex in the direction of its arrow. If it enters a hex with a ship in it, add the asteroid's velocity of 1 to that of the ship to find the Piloting Skill Roll modifier for the ship. If a collision happens, the ship takes damage on the side from which the asteroid came.

If two or more asteroids end their movement in the same hex, consider it a collision. During the next asteroid Movement Phase, roll new directions of travel for each asteroid. If the results of the roll would send them all in the same direction, new directions must be rolled in the next turn.

An asteroid can suffer 200 damage points before being pulverized and removed from the board. If someone wants to go on an anti-asteroid crusade, he should keep track of any damage inflicted on these poor, defenseless hunks of rock. Asteroids may be damaged by weapons (hits equal to the total amount of damage done at the range in question), by collision with one another (which will inflict 100 hits per collision), or by colliding with a ship (taking the same amount of damage that was inflicted on the ship).

PILOTS		COMBAT