reaCtions

Just as in other forms of combat, those on board a spacecraft can perform reactions in response to the enemy they are ighting. Reactions can only be performed by Travellers assigned to speciic duties, as described below. evasive action (Pilot) The pilot of a spacecraft may dodge incoming attacks, so long as the spacecraft has unspent Thrust after movement and combat manoeuvring. Each point of unspent Thrust will allow the spacecraft to attempt to dodge one attack. The attack suffers a negative DM equal to the pilots skill. Point Defence (gunner) Using a turret-mounted laser (beam or pulse), a gunner can destroy incoming missiles. Note that a weapon used for point defence cannot be used to make attacks in the same combat round, and vice versa. Point Defence may only be performed against missile salvos (see page 161) as they are about to make their attack roll against a target – missiles are too small and too fast to be targeted at greater ranges. A gunner may only attempt Point Defence against once every round. The gunner must succeed at a Gunner (turret) check against any missile salvo that is about to make its attack roll against his spacecraft. The Effect of the check will remove that many missiles from the salvo. A double turret equipped with lasers provides DM+1 to this check, while a triple turret will provide DM+2 Disperse sand (gunner) While cheap and versatile, laser weapons are easily foiled by dispersed particles, or sand as it is often called. Sandcasters are designed to create temporary defences against incoming laser attacks. Using a turret-mounted sandcaster, a gunner can attempt to block laser attacks. The gunner must succeed at a Gunner (turret) check against a laser weapon and, if successful, he will add 1D plus the Effect of his check to the ship’s armour against that laser attack only. Each Disperse Sand reaction uses one canister of sand. Sand may also be directed against incoming boarding parties. If the Gunner (turret) check is successful, each target in the boarding party suffers 8D point of damage at Personal scale.

aCtions step

Once all ships have resolved their attacks, their crew can perform various actions. This is done in initiative order, and the actions a crewman can perform are determined by the duty he was assigned to. improve initiative (Captain) The captain of the spacecraft may perform a Leadership check. The Effect of this check (even if it is negative!) is applied to the initiative of the spacecraft for the next round only. Jump (engineer) See Jump Travel on page 148. Jumping in combat is the same as jumping in normal conditions but the astrogation calculations have to be done in a hurry, incurring DM-2 on both the Astrogation and Engineer (j-drive) checks to bring the time down to 1D minutes (within one combat round). ofline system (engineer) Speciic systems and weapons on board the ship can be powered down to reduce the Power point requirement on the power plant, allowing Power points to be used for other systems. A successful Engineer (power) check (1 round, EDU) will allow the engineer to shut down any number of systems, freeing up their Power points for subsequent rounds. It requires another round to bring any of these systems back online. overload Drive (engineer) By overloading the manoeuvre drive, the engineer can lend the ship extra speed and manoeuvrability. A successful Dificult (10+) Engineer (m-drive) check (1 round, INT) will increase the ship’s Thrust by one during the next round. If the check fails with an Effect of –6 or less, the manoeuvre drive suffers a critical hit with Severity 1, as detailed on page 160. This check suffers a cumulative DM-2 each time it is attempted after the irst. This penalty can be removed by performing maintenance on the drive, a procedure that requires Engineer (m-drive) and 1D hours. overload Plant (engineer) A favourite of engineers on action vids, the power plant can be overstressed on a temporary basis to provide the ship with more Power points. A successful Dificult (10+) Engineer (power) check (1 round, INT) will increase the ship’s current Power points by +10% during the next round. If the check fails with an Effect of –6 or less, the power plant suffers a critical hit with Severity 1, as

detailed on page 160. This check suffers a cumulative DM-2 each time it is attempted after the irst. This penalty can be removed by performing maintenance on the power plant, a procedure that requires Engineer (power) and 1D hours. repair system (engineer) A Traveller on engineer duty can attempt to effect a quick repair to the effects of a critical hit. This requires an Average (8+) Engineer check (1 round, INT or EDU) with a negative DM equal to the Severity of the critical hit. A cumulative DM+1 is gained every round the Traveller works on repairing the same critical hit. If the spacecraft receives critical hit to the same location during this time, the Traveller must start again from the beginning with no positive DM. Note that only the effects of the critical hit can be repaired, and these quick repairs will only last for 1D hours. Any Hull damage and destroyed equipment and weapons cannot be repaired this way and will require the spacecraft to leave combat. reload Turret (gunner) During prolonged battles, turrets mounted with sandcasters or missile racks may run out of ammunition. A turret may be reloaded by any Traveller with the Gunner skill but it will be unable to make any attacks in that round. sensor lock (sensor operator) An improved target lock may be obtained on an enemy spacecraft with a successful Electronics (sensors) check. Attacks made by the spacecraft against this target gain a Boon until the sensor lock is broken (see Electronic Warfare). electronic Warfare (sensor operator) A ship’s sensor operator may attempt to jam the communications of an enemy by making an opposed Electronics (comms) check against the sensor operator in the target spacecraft. The same process may be used with the Electronics (sensors) skill to break a sensor lock. Boarding action (Marine) If two ships are at Adjacent range, it is possible to launch a boarding party to storm an enemy ship. Boarding actions are covered on page 163. reassignment (any) Any Traveller may elect to change their assigned duty instead of performing any other action. They do nothing else in this round but will have adopted their new duty in the following round.