Probing *giggles*

[Quoth 13]

I can find all the explanations for scanning a ship and crits effecting parts of a ship you know are there.

But what happens if the party do not scan a ship at all and just blast away at it? What happens to the crits that effect components the party knows of when they dont know of any components?

 

 

Also, does a ship attacking automatically reveal exactly where the ship is or just that there is one 'somewhere' firing at your ship.

[Errant 185]

In my games, if you don't know the location of any actual hardpoints, the crit does nothing. You'll typically notice the players going for the enemy's guns first anyway, which are automatically detected when they're used against you.

 

AFAIK, yes. Rogue Trader is very much 17th Century Age of Sail, so there's no real way to hide from the enemy and attack at the same time, unless you've got certain xeno stealth technologies.

[Quoth 13]

Okay cool thanks dude!

Other than guns is there anything else the party knows of? My last game the RT argued that the enemy ship clearly had Void Shields and Engins so should be able to target them, but is it more about knowing where the components are, rather than knowing their there?

[Tenebrae 429]

It is indeed.

The core book actually goes into some detail, and it is made explicit that weapons (specifically) can be seen (once fired).

[Nameless2all 210]

For some reason, I thought if the players didn't know of any components other than the weapons, then the crit was random.  No idea wh.... maybe I house ruled it.  *shrugs*

[Tenebrae 429]

For some reason, I thought if the players didn't know of any components other than the weapons, then the crit was random.  No idea wh.... maybe I house ruled it.  *shrugs*

IIRC, if the players don't know about a component, there is no official ruling on how to handle it.

The crit being wasted appears to be the actual RAW.

[bzro 17]

I play it that a missed crit does a little extra damage to the population, representing just bitting some hallways rather than anything actually vital.

[Tenebrae 429]

I play it that a missed crit does a little extra damage to the population, representing just bitting some hallways rather than anything actually vital.

Best option I've seen yet.

Better than my own bid I think.