2.4: Damage Control

With a crew of hundreds or thousands of beings, most involved in the maintenance and upkeep of the vessel, capital ships can effect repairs to their systems even while in combat. While many of these repairs will take far longer than combat will last, it can be used in a campaign situation or to make crucial repairs during battle.

The basic damage control concept is that each pip of damage, to any system, has a corresponding number of repair points needed to restore it. The ship rolls its base capital ship repair against one or more of these systems, as ordered by the bridge crew. Once the rolls total the repair points to repair one pip of damage, a pip of the appropriate system is restored.

A ship can make multiple damage control attempts per turn, depending on its size. This corresponds to the number of maintenance personnel it has, as well as their level of specialization spare parts carried. See the table below to determine the number and type of damage control attempts per turn. Note that the larger the vessel, the more specialized the repair staff becomes.

Any repair staff can be assigned to repair damage to the hull, although this takes quite a bit of effort to repair even one pip and is not likely to be something that a vessel will accomplish in a battle. Sensors or Communications can be assigned to repair command damage. Otherwise, repair rolls cannot be assigned out of their specialties.

On Rebel cruisers, after a battle, consider all repair rolls to be pooled, available to any system. They are only assigned to certain departments during battle. Imperial vessels remain specialized.

The repair points are per pip of damage. If a system is reduced to 0D, it must be repaired to 0D+1, then 0D+2, then to a full die. Sensor damage applies to both passive and active systems, which must be repaired separately. Fire control damage applies only to an individual gun. Repair can be concentrated on a single gun or spread across the damaged guns. If fire control was reduced because of sensor damage, the sensors must be repaired.

For example, a Corvette has taken 10 Hull Points of damage, had its sensors hit with one point of damage for a full die, and three of its guns were hit with counter-battery fire and disabled. Each gun requires 100 damage control points to be fully operational, the sensors require 3000 points to be fully operational, and the shields can be repaired with only 600 points of work. The guns will not be restored to full fire control until the sensors are fixed, even if they are completely repaired. The ship will remain severely damaged until 5000 points of work go into repairing one hull point of damage. Then the vessel can jump into hyperspace.

For each damage control roll allowed, roll the appropriate repair skill, either capital ship repair or capital ship weapon repair. The total is the number of damage control points generated.

Damage control points go toward repairing a system even if the system is further damaged before it has been repaired. For instance, if shields are reduced and 70 damage control points are rolled, then the shield takes another pip of damage, only 30 damage control points are required to repair one pip of shields.

Write the repair points needed in the space next to each system on the capital ship template.

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