Last Hope of Humanity... the UFP Exodus fleet
There is quite simply no more difficult task for humans to undertake than FTL Navigation. (Other than maintaining good relationships…)
Anytime a Jump is involved, the following Game sequence occurs:
1) Determine Spin Time 2) Engineering Test for success on Spin 3) Navigation Difficulty determined 4) Navigator declares Jump Difficulty level 5) Jump location determined 6) Results of Jump expressed.
If it is a multiple jump FTL sequence, repeat as necessary.
FTL engines require time to spin up. Creating the Energy and sheilding to allow a safe jump, without ripping the ship apart or blowing the FTL drive takes time. Each ship has a spin rating, based upon the size of the ship and the tech level of the ship. For example, a Leviathan Frieghter, at Tech level 8 takes 5 turns to spin up it’s FTL drive. At tech level 9 it would take 4 turns, etc… Each ship has it’s spin time listed on it’s sheet.
An Engineer or Tech can attempt to speed up the spin process, by reducing the spin time. A contested Engineering test is taken, where the target number is the sum of the spin total reduction. So, if a tech wishes to reduce the Spin of a T8 Leviathan from 5 to 4, it is a difficulty of 5. To reduce it from 5 to 3 would give a difficulty of 5+4 = 9 and to reduce to 2 would be 5+4+3 = 12, etc… The older and larger the ship and drive, the more difficult the spin reduction becomes. A failure increases the spin count by 1. A failure by over 3 damages the drive, requires a “spin down” prior to attempting another FTL jump, equal to the spin rating. This may also have an engineering roll to reduce the spin down time.
Once the Spin time is established, The Navigator takes over. Navigation Difficulty is determined, starting at a base of 6.
Distance: More than 10 LY = +1 More than 100 LY = +2 More than 1000 LY = +3 etc…
Obstacles: In a Nebula or Asteroid Field = +1 Uncharted Destination = +2 Through a Planetary system = +2 Through a Stellar Mass = +3 From a Star Port = +3 While in Drydock or Boarding/Boarded = +4
Damage: Each Damage Box to Frame adds 1 to the difficulty to jump. Armor and Sheild do not count for this calculation. The Ships need to stay intact during the jump, which adds to the difficulty.
Navigational Computer: Navigational computers reduce the difficulty of the roll Mark I = -1 Mark II = -2 Mark III = -3 Mark IV = -4 etc..
For Example, Andrew is attempting to jump 10 LYs to an uncharted destination in a damaged Alcyon hull (2 pts). He would add +2 for the distance, +2 for uncharted, and +2 for Damage. The total is +6, plus the base of 6 for a total of 12. The Alcyon has a Mark III jump computer, reducing the total by 3 to 9.
After computing the difficulty of the jump, compare it to the skill of Navigation, with any modifiers for attributes and bumps.
Andrew would now roll, and compare this to his Navigation skill. Andrew has a Astrogation of 5, which makes means he would need a +4 from the dice to succeed. However, Andrew has the trait “expert Astrogater”, which adds +2, so that he needs to roll a 2 on the four dice.
Andrew rolls a -2, which is a horrible result. His total is (-1) + difficulty(4)= 2. Andrew uses the stunt “Astrogator” to re-roll and rolls a +3. His result is 7.
This is compared to the following destination Chart-
1- Failed Jump (3 consequences) 2- Crash (2 consequences) 3- Damaged (1 consequence) 4 – Lost 5 – Off course by 10 LY+ 6 – Close, within 1 LY 7 – At Destination, within 1 LS 8 – Perfect Jump, Navigator chooses spot of destination arrival 9 – Early Jump, Arriving ship is at perfect location and has 1 free action
With Andrew’s first result, he would have Crashed his ship, suffering two consequences. Perhaps he jumped into an asteroid, a mine field, or a comet trail.
With Andrew’s second result, he arrives within 1 LS of his destination, an amazing jump from such difficult circumstances.
Only one Engineer and one Astrogator can act with any one ship. There are no group roles or group bumps for this activity.