An alternate set of ship combat rules for SWN with no command points, instead each department gets to choose one action per turn from a list of department actions (by default). These department actions can be found below or in PDF form in the SWN books folder on the Drive.
Department Actions Captain
Additional Homebrewed Actions
Captain's Gambit
Roll opposed Lead/Int or Lead/Cha against a single enemy's captain. If you succeed, their crew loses one action on their next turn.
Bridge
Comms
Engineering
Gunnery
NPC/Enemy Ships
NPC ships use a simplified ruleset, sitting somewhere between the vanilla rules and the new rules for a PC manned ship.
Non-Military ships and fighters: 2 actions per round (one crisis per combat)
Military ships: 3 actions per round (one crisis per combat)
Veteran military ships: 4 actions per round (one crisis per round)
Elite military ships: 5 actions per round, and can take 2 crises per round. Alternatively, treat the elite NPC ship as a PC ship, which is doable, though a little slow if there are lots of combatants.
While they still use command points, players of intrepid PCs strapped into the controls of a single-seat fighter might find these rules more to their liking for dogfighting in space. Note that the length of a ship combat round need not change. Each ship generates 4 Command Points, like normal. The only difference is the larger menu of actions available to the pilot. Vessels with a second crew seat generate 3 CP automatically. The additional crewman is usually fills the Comms position and can now generate CP on their own using Do Your Duty or Go Above and Beyond, or perform a Comms action. Certain vessels allow a Virtual Intelligence robot to fill the Engineering position instead of Comms. Pilots of single-seat fighters may still elect to take a Crisis rather than have their craft suffer damage, though dealing with some crisises while strapped into a starfighter might well be impossible.
Single-Seat Fighter Pilot Available Actions
Escape Combat (4 CP): Roll an opposed Int/Pilot or Dex/ Pilot skill check plus your ship’s Speed against the fastest opponent’s skill check plus their ship’s Speed. On a win, all enemy ships gain one point of Escape. If an enemy ship gets three points, after three uses of this maneuver, your ship gets away from that ship and is no longer in combat with it.
Evasive Maneuvers (2 CP): Roll Int or Dex/Pilot against difficulty 9 to add your Pilot skill to the ship’s AC until its next turn. Usable once per round at most.
Pursue Target (3 CP): Opposed Int/Pilot or Dex/Pilot skill check plus Speed against the target ship’s skill check plus Speed. On a win, you shed one point of Escape rating the target ship may have on you.
Dogfight (4CP): Opposed Int/Pilot or Dex/Pilot skill check plus Speed against the target ship’s skill check plus Speed. On a win, you gain a bonus to hit equal to your Pilot skill, and can perform a single Fire a Single Weapon action. The target ship can still fire at you, but suffers a -2 penalty to hit.
Fire One Weapon (2 CP): A gunner fires a single ship’s weapon of their choice.
Target Systems (1 CP): A Fire One Weapon action you take this round may target a ship’s weapons, engine, or fittings the GM decides are vulnerable. Such targeted attacks take -4 to hit. On a hit, do half damage before applying Armor. If damage gets through the system is disabled or drive is degraded by 1 level. Disabled systems hit again are destroyed. You may take this action more than once to aim additional shots you may fire.
Focus for Ace Starfighter Pilots
Ace Starfighter
You have a tremendous natural talent for ship combat, and can make any starship you captain a significantly more fearsome opponent. You must take the captain’s role during a fight as described on page 117 of the Ship Combat rules in order to benefit from this focus. You may also benefit from this focus while piloting a single-seat fighter.
Level 1: Gain Pilot or Shoot as a bonus skill. Your fighter gains 2 extra Command Points at the start of each turn.
Level 2: A fighter you pilot gains bonus hit points equal to 20% of its maximum at the start of each combat. Damage is taken from these bonus points first, and they vanish at the end of the fight and do not require repairs to replenish before the next. In addition, once per engagement, you may resolve a Crisis as an Instant action by explaining how you resolve the problem.
