Space Hazards & Ship Malfunctions In Star Probe
Space Hazards & Ship Malfunctions In Star Probe
Every time a ship makes a jump it must be determined if it has done so safely. Each of the TSR games has hazards related to making these FTL jumps.
From Page 13 of Star Probe
Star Probe has you roll once a 1D100 which you then compare to two charts, one for malfunctions and the other for encountering natural hazards of space. The game gives a base 8% chance for a malfunction and a 6% of encountering a space hazard under optimum operational conditions of 1000 crew members. In theory therefore (8+6=14) every jump has a 14% chance of something happening. The game has a built in system in the malfunction chart though to increasing the risk of things going wrong based on your crew numbers. Every time you loose 2 units of crew (200 souls) numbers are added to the chart that if you roll them bad things happen. The numbers are cumulative.
As you look at the charts below remember they are taken together and are not separate dice rolls.
Explanations:
Ship Malfunction Table
No. Of Naval Die Roll. Distance Direction Drive Break Repair Time
Personnel. 200 400 600 800 1000. Down. Number Of Months
39,47. 36. 19,27. 16. 1. 5. O Yes. 2 months
40,48. 35. 20,28. 15. 2. 2. R. No. —
41. 34. 21. 14. 3. 3. L. No. —
42. 33. 22. 13. 4. -3. S. No. —
43. 32. 23. 12. 5. 3. S. No. —
44. 31. 24. 11. 6. 4. L. Yes. —
45. 30,38 25. 10, 18. 7. 2. R. Yes. —
46. 29, 37 26. 9, 17 8. 5. O. No. —
Distance
So if the ship in Star Probe jumps 3 hexes and malfunctions and distance is added or subtracted to that original jump distance. Keep in mind each hex equals 5 light years.
Direction
Refers to the final direction of travel by your ship. S = direction you meant to go, O = opposite direction, R = you go 90 degrees to the right, L = you go 90 degrees to the left.
Drive Break Down
If a yes you must stay stationary for the time listed in order to repair it, during that time you cannot explore the system.
If your new course puts you in a hex that has a star at the same level as your ship, there is a 33% chance that you will be in that system. (Keep in mind this refers to the 3D nature of the Star Probe map)
Space Hazard Table
Die Roll. Hazard. Megatons Of. Time Lost
Structural Damage. In Months
95. Hydrogen Clouds. 3. 0
96. Space Debris. 5. 0
97. Radiation Storms. 7. 1
98. Black Star. 11. 1
99. Cosmic Storm. 13. 2
100. Hyper-Space Distortion. 17. 3
In Star Empires the hazards seem to mainly occur as aspects of battle scenarios which I will look at in another post.
In considering these tables it is important to understand the % the charts are generating for a problem to occur.
With 1000 crew 6+8=14%
With 800 crew 6+8+10= 24%
With 600 crew 6+8+10+10= 34%
With 400 crew 6+8+10+10+10=44%
With 200 crew 6+8+10+10 +10+10=54%
In looking at the chart you can see what the percentages work out to per type of problem.
I have combined the charts below so you can see it all together.
In looking at the chart you can see what the percentages work out to per type of problem.
Ship Malfunction Table
No. Of Naval Die Roll.
Personnel.
200 400 600 800 1000.
39,47 (7%) 36 (5%) 19,27(4%) 16 (2%) 1 (1%)
40,48 (7%) 35 (5%) 20,28 (4%) 15 (2%) 2 (1%)
41 (5%) 34 (4%) 21 (3%) 14 (2%) 3 (1%)
42 (5%). 33 (4%). 22 (3%). 13 (2%) 4 (1%)
43 (5%). 32 (4%) 23 (3%). 12 (2%) 5 (1%)
44 (5%). 31 (4%). 24 (3%). 11 (2%) 6 (1%)
45. (7%) 30,38 (6%) 25 (4%) 10,18 (3%)7 (1%)
46. (7%) 29, 37 (6%) 26. (4%) 9, 17 (3%) 8 (1%)
I have combined the charts below so you can see it all together.
Number Die Roll Hazard/Malfunction
Of Crew
1000 1 Drive Breaks Down 2 Months Repair & 5 (25 light year)
Misjump in Opposite Direction
1000 2 Misjump 90 degrees Right 2 (10 light years)
1000 3 Misjump 90 degrees Left 3 (15 light years)
1000 4 Misjump in direction you were going -3 (15 light years)
1000 5 Misjump in direction you were going 3 (15 light years)
1000 6 Drive Breaks Down & Misjump 90 degrees Left 4 (20 light
years)
years)
1000 7 Drive Breaks Down & Misjump 90 degrees Right 2 (10 light
years)
years)
1000 8 Misjump in Opposite Direction 5 (25 light years)
800 9 Misjump in Opposite Direction 5 (25 light year)
800 10 Drive Breaks Down & Misjump 90 degrees Right 2 (10 light
years)
years)
800 11 Drive Breaks Down & Misjump 90 degrees Left 4 (20 light
years)
years)
800 12 Misjump in direction you were going 3 (15 light years)
800 13 Misjump in direction you were going -3 (15 light years)
800 14 Misjump 90 degrees Left 3 (15 light years)
800 15 Misjump 90 degrees Right 2 (10 light years)
800 16 Drive Breaks Down 2 Months Repair & 5 (25 light year)
Misjump in Opposite Direction
800 17 Misjump in Opposite Direction 5 (25 light years)
800 18 Drive Breaks Down & Misjump 90 degrees Right 2 (10 light
years)
years)
600 19 Drive Breaks Down 2 Months Repair & 5 (25 light year)
Misjump in Opposite Direction
600 20 Misjump 90 degrees Right 2 (10 light years)
600 21 Misjump 90 degrees Left 3 (15 light years)
600 22 Misjump in direction you were going -3 (15 light years)
600 23 Misjump in direction you were going 3 (15 light years)
600 24 Drive Breaks Down & Misjump 90 degrees Left 4 (20 light
years)
years)
600 25 Drive Breaks Down & Misjump 90 degrees Right 2 (10 light
years)
years)
600 26 Misjump in Opposite Direction 5 (25 light years)
600 27 Drive Breaks Down 2 Months Repair & 5 (25 light year)
Misjump in Opposite Direction
600 28 Misjump 90 degrees Right 2 (10 light years)
400 29 Misjump in Opposite Direction 5 (25 light years)
400 30 Drive Breaks Down & Misjump 90 degrees Right 2 (10 light
years)
years)
400 31 Drive breaks Down & Misjump 90 degrees Left 4 (20 light
years)
years)
400 32 Misjump in direction you were going 3 (15 light years)
400 33 Misjump in direction you were going -3 (15 light years)
400 34 Misjump 90 degrees Left 3 (15 light years)
400 35 Misjump 90 degrees Right 2 (10 light years)
400 36 Drive Breaks Down 2 Months Repair & 5 (25 light year)
Misjump in Opposite Direction
400 37 Misjump in Opposite Direction 5 (25 light years)
400 38 Drive Breaks Down & Misjump 90 degrees Right 2 (10 light
years)
years)
200 39 Drive Breaks Down 2 Months Repair & 5 (25 light year)
Misjump in Opposite Direction
200 40 Misjump 90 degrees Right 2 (10 light years)
200 41 Misjump 90 degrees Left 3 (15 light years)
200 42 Misjump in direction you were going -3 (15 light years)
200 43 Misjump in direction you were going 3 (15 light years)
200 44 Drive Breaks Down & Misjump 90 degrees Left 4 (20 light
years)
years)
200 45 Drive Breaks Down & Misjump 90 degrees Right 2 (10 light
years)
years)
200 46 Misjump in Opposite Direction 5 (25 light years)
200 47 Drive Breaks Down 2 Months Repair & 5 (25 light year)
Misjump in Opposite Direction
200 48 Misjump 90 degrees Right 2 (10 light years)
Any sized crew 49-94 No Hazards or Malfunctions
Any sized crew 95 Hydrogen Clouds and 3 damage
Any sized crew 95 Hydrogen Clouds and 3 damage
Any sized crew 96 Space Debris and 5 damage
Any sized crew 97 Radiation Storms, 7 damage and lost for 1 month
Any sized crew 98 Black Star, 11 damage and lost for 1 month
Any sized crew 99 Cosmic Storm, 13 damage and lost for 2 months
Any sized crew 100 Hyper-Space Distortion, 17 damage and lost for 3 months
By Bob Layzell
Misjumps In Star Frontiers
In Star Frontiers 15 light years is the furthest distance a ship can jump without penalties being applied. Ships that jump further than 15 light years (3 hexes in Star Probe) incur a 10% chance per additional light year that the ship will misjump.
Breakdowns are based on the age of the ship and maintenance history. A new ship has a 1% chance per voyage of a breakdown, for every 5 years of age that a ship has been in service add another 1% chance. Every ship needs a yearly maintenance if it misses this preventative maintenance it adds a 5% chance to breakdown and if it has gone more than two years add 10% and so on.
Star Frontiers allows for player character's skill to effect jumps. Normally the success rate is 100% on a charted rate with proper preparation time. Every lightyear requires 10 hours of time to plot. If an Astrogator does not spend all the time required to plot a jump they are Risk Jumping or "smoking the jump".
Risk Jumping Success Rate for a known route is determined by the following formula the number of hours spent calculating the jump/light years to be traveled + Skill Level x 10%
(25 hours/5 light years + 3 SL) x 10 = 80%
Note there are two formulas given for this, but the one above is the one the rules actually give an example for. The other formula is 10% x skill level + 10% per hour.
(10 x 3SL) + (25/10) = 32.5% I feel this formula is a printing error.
Note these are for known space routes not for uncharted routes. Also in Risk Jumping if the Astrogator rolls a 96-100 the ship always Misjumps. If the Astrogator spent less than 2 hours plotting time per light year it is also a Misjump.
If the ship has all top of the line high-quality astrogation equipment then the Astrogator gets to add a +5% to his attempts to lay in a course properly.
Charting New Routes which is what the crew of the T'tet is doing over in Star Probe uses the following formula in Star Frontiers. 50% + 10% x Skill Level - 5% x light years thus in the case of the T'tet jumping 15 light years assuming only 3 Skill Level... 80% - 75% = 5% if however the Skill Level of the crew is higher say Skill Level 5 then 100% - 75% = 25%
If a crew Misjumps in Star Frontiers the Astrogator will need to figure out where the ship is, if the ship Misjumped into a colonized area which will be well charted it will only take the Astrogator 1d10 hours to know the location the ship has ended up in. If the system is uncharted it takes 2d10 x 10 hours of calculations and a roll by the referee (d100) against the Astrogator's success rate for this subskill. If the result is equal or less, the Astrogator knows where the ship is in the amount of time the referee rolled... if however the roll is a failure depending on how bad the Astrogator will know he is lost if it is 30 to 40% higher than the Astrogator will think he knows where the ship is but is wrong. Any new jump will be a Misjump and any attempts to locate location will be at a-10% cumulative with each new Misjump. Once an Astrogator does know his location if it is an unknown
system the ship is in he must plot a course back using the Charting New Routes rules.
So what happens when a Star Frontiers ship Misjumps The ship will enter space somewhere near a star system, however it cannot be the system the ship was trying to reach. A misjump can cause the ship to appear anywhere within a circle of the targeted system at the center. This circle has a radius equal the light years from the starting system to the target system. The referee assigns numbers to the stars in the radius and randomly rolls which system the ship entered. If there are no stars in the radius the radius is extended till two star systems are in it's radius.
Star Frontiers allows for player character's skill to effect jumps. Normally the success rate is 100% on a charted rate with proper preparation time. Every lightyear requires 10 hours of time to plot. If an Astrogator does not spend all the time required to plot a jump they are Risk Jumping or "smoking the jump".
Risk Jumping Success Rate for a known route is determined by the following formula the number of hours spent calculating the jump/light years to be traveled + Skill Level x 10%
(25 hours/5 light years + 3 SL) x 10 = 80%
Note there are two formulas given for this, but the one above is the one the rules actually give an example for. The other formula is 10% x skill level + 10% per hour.
(10 x 3SL) + (25/10) = 32.5% I feel this formula is a printing error.
Note these are for known space routes not for uncharted routes. Also in Risk Jumping if the Astrogator rolls a 96-100 the ship always Misjumps. If the Astrogator spent less than 2 hours plotting time per light year it is also a Misjump.
If the ship has all top of the line high-quality astrogation equipment then the Astrogator gets to add a +5% to his attempts to lay in a course properly.
Charting New Routes which is what the crew of the T'tet is doing over in Star Probe uses the following formula in Star Frontiers. 50% + 10% x Skill Level - 5% x light years thus in the case of the T'tet jumping 15 light years assuming only 3 Skill Level... 80% - 75% = 5% if however the Skill Level of the crew is higher say Skill Level 5 then 100% - 75% = 25%
If a crew Misjumps in Star Frontiers the Astrogator will need to figure out where the ship is, if the ship Misjumped into a colonized area which will be well charted it will only take the Astrogator 1d10 hours to know the location the ship has ended up in. If the system is uncharted it takes 2d10 x 10 hours of calculations and a roll by the referee (d100) against the Astrogator's success rate for this subskill. If the result is equal or less, the Astrogator knows where the ship is in the amount of time the referee rolled... if however the roll is a failure depending on how bad the Astrogator will know he is lost if it is 30 to 40% higher than the Astrogator will think he knows where the ship is but is wrong. Any new jump will be a Misjump and any attempts to locate location will be at a-10% cumulative with each new Misjump. Once an Astrogator does know his location if it is an unknown
system the ship is in he must plot a course back using the Charting New Routes rules.
So what happens when a Star Frontiers ship Misjumps The ship will enter space somewhere near a star system, however it cannot be the system the ship was trying to reach. A misjump can cause the ship to appear anywhere within a circle of the targeted system at the center. This circle has a radius equal the light years from the starting system to the target system. The referee assigns numbers to the stars in the radius and randomly rolls which system the ship entered. If there are no stars in the radius the radius is extended till two star systems are in it's radius.
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