FC Critical Hits

Monty · Post by **Monty** » Tue Sep 04, 2012 8:22 pm

Has there been a published attempt to port over the SFB Critical Hit optional rule to Fed Commander? I remember it being quite fun back in the day.

mjwest · Post by **mjwest** » Tue Sep 04, 2012 9:14 pm

No, and it isn't in the list of Borders of Madness, either.

Really, if I am remembering it correctly, you should be able to just use it straight up.

Monty · Post by **Monty** » Tue Sep 04, 2012 11:05 pm

Here's what I've got so far, not sure if the effect of #2 below is close enough to the passive fire control penalty in SFB.

Should #4 affect shield reinforcements as well?

In the spirit of FC record keeping reductions, I assume these are repaired at the end of the turn.

On 20 or more hits to a shield in one impulse, roll for a critical hit. A ship may only take one critical hit per turn.

Roll two six sided dice.

2 -- Fire Control Disrupted --
Double the range to your target and you may not launch seeking weapons for the remainder of the turn. Immediately drop tracking on all ship guided seeking weapons.

3 -- Battery System Failure --
Immediately discharge energy equal to your remaining batteries.

4 -- Transporter Failure --
Cannot use transporters for the remainder of the turn.

5 -- Lab Power Failure --
Cannot use labs or probes for the remainder of the turn.

6 - 8 -- No Critical Hit --

9 -- Tractor Beam Breakdown --
Drop all active tractor links. Cannot use tractor beams for the remainder of the turn. This critical has no effect on negative tractors.

10 -- Shuttle Launch Controls Jammed --
Cannot launch shuttles for the remainder of the turn.

11 -- Maneuver Restricted --
Reduce base speed to 8. Cannot HET or EM for the remainder of the turn. Turn mode increased by one.

12 -- Warp Engine Power Failure --
Discard half of your remaining energy. Reduce the base speed of your ship to zero for the remainder of the turn.

Post by **Steve Cole** » Wed Sep 05, 2012 5:53 pm

Why do we need this?

FC needs to resist the temptation to port over every SFB rule (some of which should be deleted from SFB anyway).

Monty · Post by **Monty** » Wed Sep 05, 2012 8:53 pm

This is not a proposal for the FC core rulebook; it's for my personal use only. My old SFB group occasionally asks me if we can use it when we play FC and I keep telling them I'll look around for it.

It added suspense and uncertainty. It was fun. Relative to the FPS tactical shooter it was like playing with 'headshot's' turned on. Not meant for every game, but when it was all said and done it sometimes delivered great war stories.

Magnum357 · Post by **Magnum357** » Mon Sep 17, 2012 6:34 pm

I don't know. I grew up with SFB since I was kid, and when I found out about Fed Commander I thought to myself "they should have thought of this system decades ago". I get worried when I see SFB creep rules trying to push into the system.

Glad to hear that you are only suggesting it for house rules.

Mike · Post by **Mike** » Tue Sep 18, 2012 2:28 am

There are a couple of published FC scenarios that begin with a ship having taken a critical hit. That doesn't set any kind of precedent, but it does indicate that there can be a place for critical hits in FC under certain circumstances.

Monty, thanks for posting the critical hit system above!