Capital Ships Weapon Batteries: minion groups and dice pools?

[Vianna 0]

I'm planning on running Capital-to-Capital ship combat, and a number of issues are confusing me. 

 

What would the dice pool be for a full salvo of an ISD's 10 dorsal Twin Heavy Turbolasers, as an extreme example?

 

RAW, when we deal with minion's group skills, no skill goes above 5.

 

So what happens to the 4 additional guns on the battery? Should they provide boost dice, in which case a 10 gun salvo basic dice pool would look like this: GGGYYBBBB? (As per the "assist" action for the extra 4 guns).

 

Also, when using actions such as "Blanket Barrage", "Concentrated Barrage" and "Overwhelming Barrage", is the gunnery check made with a single gunner's basic dice pool: GG? Or can I use the minion group skill mechanics as well? 

 

Thanks in advance and sorry for my bad english, guys! 

Edited April 15, 2015 by Vianna

[Kallabecca 979]

those 4 guns just make the minion group last longer before their skill begins to drop.

[Sturn 2,676]

You might find this thread/guide useful:

 

https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/138576-capital-ship-combat-a-user-guide/

[awayputurwpn 7,682]

Consider that not all minions in the area must be included in a given combat round.

 

You've got, say, 3 NPC slots (that should be the maximum, IMO) and 5 minions groups identified as gunners. Well that just means that 3 of your NPC minion groups get to go this round, while the other 2 are "doing stuff." Make it narrative, make it fun, just don't roll for them this round. Or if you must roll, use the "Mass Combat" rules found in Onslaught at Arda I or the "lite" ruleset found in the free adventure Operation: Shadowpoint and make one roll to adjudicate the action on a grand scale. 

 

At any rate, when you intentionally limit yourself this way, you're able to have more meaningful encounters and more impactful turns. And when a minion group gets incapacitated, you've got plenty more minions ready to take their place.

[HappyDaze 9,899]

Those ten cannon could just as easily operate as two groups of five minions. They might even want to alternate turns of firing if using a Slow-Firing weapon (like turbolasers) and can spend the non-firing turn taking Aim.

[Zar 152]

You really shouldn't go crazy with minion groups with capital scale. Just determine the ship's overall gunnery skill. It should be determined just like you would any other opponent. Then once you determine that skill use it for everything that has to do with gunnery and just assume it's because those 3000 gunner's mates know how to work together to make up that overall skill.

So, inexperienced crew? We are talking , just got drafted . 1 skill 2 attribute.

Basic training? 2 skill 3 attribute

Admiral Thrawn's personal gunnery officers? 4 skill 3 Attribute.

And yes you would use that same skill for any capital ship actions.

[player546410 1,130]

Otherwise you can argue that each of the 10 guns should have a roll of YYYGGGB, as they're are way more than 12 people running each weapon, much less the battery.

[Magnus Grendel 10,571]

Yes, but only one person is really 'aiming' any single gun.

It is worth treating them as minion groups; that way, whilst you can use generic minions (I believe the Imperial Gunnery Corps is Agility 2 with Gunnery as a minion skill), you get a feel for 'weight of fire' from different weapons.

 

A five-turbolaser broadside should be a lot scarier than one or two shots - which rewards getting into an arc where the capital ship's main battery can't bear on you.

 

when firing at a fighter, for example, you've got a horrific difficulty roll - something like PPPRBB - because of the difference in silouhettes, and because a fighter pilot who doesn't have deflectors on double front and isn't pulling Evasive Manouvres when being shot at by a Star Destroyer has some serious risk assessment issues.

 

The odds of hitting with a GG shot are essentially zero, and all you're doing by firing ten shots seperately is allowing the pilot to rack up lots of threat-related benefits. Obviously this is ridiculous (and timeconsuming), hence firing the shots as a single minion group, which with five shots is YYYB (assuming you've aimed). Still possible to miss, but the odds of hitting are much more realistic, and it only takes a glancing turbolaser hit to seriously inconvenience a snubfighter.

 

Firing ten lasers can be done two ways. Either fire as two five-shot volleys, simultaneously or in alternating turns (they are slow-firing, after all), or fire as a barrage, where you get additional damage based off the number of firing weapons, even once you've reached the point you're not increasing your odds of hitting anymore.