"Give me a tablet, some specs and a week and I'll give you a ship that'll rewrite military doctrine for the next twenty years. But, anyone in this room should be able to think outside the box enough to design a ship with a curveball. No, what separates a good design from a great one is when she shows up on sensors and ends the fight without ever firing a shot."
—Admiral Alastair McKenzie to a group of naval architects
Starship weapons in the RFI universe fall into two primary categories: energy weapons and projectile weapons. Each type has distinct advantages and limitations that make them suitable for different tactical situations. Understanding these differences is crucial for any freelancer crew operating in the dangerous void between the stars.
Energy weapons draw power directly from the ship's reactor, requiring no ammunition but demanding significant energy allocation. Projectile weapons rely on physical ammunition but can often deliver devastating damage regardless of the ship's power state.
Starship weapons have a Weapons Rating that represents the overall firepower and sophistication of the ship's weapon systems. This rating provides a damage bonus to all weapon attacks made by the ship, reflecting the quality of targeting systems, power management, and weapon integration.
The ship's Weapons system rating determines the damage bonus according to the following table:
| Weapons Rating | Damage Bonus |
|---|---|
| 6 or Lower | +0 |
| 7-8 | +1 |
| 9-10 | +2 |
| 11-12 | +3 |
| 13+ | +4 |
Example: The CS Chilkoot has a Weapons rating of 8, giving all of its weapon attacks a +1 damage bonus. When Anya Tyr fires the ship's grazer turret (base damage 5), the attack deals 6 damage plus any additional damage from excess successes.
This damage bonus represents the ship's integrated fire control systems, power coupling efficiency, and the crew's familiarity with their weapons. Ships with higher Weapons ratings have more sophisticated targeting computers, better power management systems, and often mount higher-grade weapon variants.
Starship weapons have the following categories:
• TYPE: This will list Energy or Torpedo.
• RANGE: This will list one of Close, Medium, or Long. Attacks cannot be made at any distance beyond the weapon's listed range category.
• DAMAGE: The base amount of damage inflicted when making an attack. A weapon's Damage rating gains a bonus from the ship's Weapons rating, as noted in the Damage Bonus from Weapon Rating table.
• QUALITIES: Any other special rules or effects that usually apply to the weapon's use. The following are the most common weapon qualities:
All starship weapons possess certain qualities that determine their tactical characteristics and effectiveness in combat. These qualities work similarly to personal weapon qualities but are scaled for ship-to-ship combat.
Weapons with this quality affect multiple targets or a wide area. When attacking with an Area Effect weapon, you may target a number of ships equal to X within Close range of each other. Make a single attack roll and compare it against each target's defense separately.
Example: Anya Tyr fires the Chilkoot's plasma cannon at a cluster of three pirate fighters. The weapon has Area Effect 2, so she can target two of the three fighters with a single attack roll, comparing her result against each fighter's individual defense.
Weapons with this quality have been specifically calibrated to defeat certain types of defenses. When attacking a target with defenses that include defense screens or gravitic screens, add X to the weapon's damage.
This weapon is difficult to bring to bear against a target, increasing the Difficulty of an attack made using it by 1. If this weapon is a torpedo or missile system, it cannot be fired as part of a salvo.
This attack drains the target's reserve power, causing widespread disruption. If the target has Reserve Power available, it loses 1 Reserve Power.
This attack strips away the protective layers of deflector shields. The attack cannot cause the ship to be shaken, but the Momentum cost to increase damage is reduced to 1.
When this weapon inflicts one or more breaches, it inflicts X additional breaches.
This weapon system is concealed from scans. When the weapon is hidden, it cannot be detected unless a specific scan is attempted; this scan is a task with a Difficulty of X.
This weapon inflicts massive damage to energy vessels. If the attack inflicts one or more breaches to a system, it inflicts one additional breach (or steps up the Potency of a breach inflicted by 1—attacker's choice).
Intense weapons overwhelm defensive systems through focused energy delivery. When determining if an attack causes a breach, treat the target's Resistance as being 2 points lower than normal.
This weapon sends out a scattering field, disrupting the target's sensors or communications systems. Until the end of the current round, the target increases the Difficulty for all tasks assisted by Communications and Sensors by 1.
Piercing weapons reduce the target's Resistance by X when determining damage, to a minimum of 0.
The weapon continues to cause damage over time. At the end of each round for X rounds after the initial hit, the target suffers 2 damage that ignores Resistance.
Until the end of the current round, characters aboard the target vessel cannot use the Keep the Initiative Momentum spend.
This weapon fires multiple projectiles or beams simultaneously. When making an attack, you may choose to fire a spread pattern, reducing the attack's Difficulty by 1 but also reducing the damage by 2.
The weapon can be configured for different tactical situations. As a minor action, you may change the weapon's configuration, replacing one of its current qualities with a different quality of value X or lower from the same weapon family.
Energy weapons are the backbone of most modern starship arsenals. They require no physical ammunition, drawing power directly from the ship's reactor systems. However, they demand careful power management and are vulnerable to certain types of defensive systems.
Damage: 5 Range: Long Qualities: Calibration 1, Intense
Grazers are gravity-assisted particle accelerators that fire streams of accelerated neutrons at near-light speed. Despite their name being a corruption of "gravitic laser," grazers are actually particle weapons that have become the standard energy weapon for most military and civilian vessels.
Grazers excel at long-range precision strikes and are highly effective against standard defensive screens. Their focused particle beams can penetrate most armor systems, making them ideal for disabling specific ship systems rather than causing wholesale destruction.
Example: Riley Aimes targets the approaching hostile's engine section with the Chilkoot's port grazer turret. The weapon's Intense quality helps overcome the target's gravitic defenses, while its Calibration 1 quality provides additional penetration against the enemy's defense screens.
Military Variants:
Damage: 8 Range: Medium Qualities: Area Effect 1, Intense, Persistent 1
Plasma weapons fire magnetically contained streams of superheated matter that deliver devastating thermal and electromagnetic damage. While shorter ranged than grazers, plasma weapons are incredibly destructive and effective against both armor and electronic systems.
The main limitation of plasma weapons is their range - magnetic containment can only maintain plasma coherence for limited distances, forcing ships to close to "knife-fighting" range to use these weapons effectively.
Example: Mikhail Janson waits until the pirate vessel closes to medium range before unleashing the Chilkoot's ventral plasma cannon. The weapon's Area Effect allows him to catch both the primary target and a nearby fighter, while the Persistent quality ensures continued damage from electromagnetic radiation.
Military Variants:
Damage: 7 Range: Long Qualities: Calibration 2, Intense, Persistent 1
Gravitic plasma weapons represent the cutting edge of plasma weapon technology, using artificial gravity wells to maintain plasma coherence at extended ranges. These experimental weapons combine the devastating power of plasma with most of the range advantages of grazers.
Still highly experimental, gravitic plasma weapons are found only on the most advanced military vessels and some specialized research ships. Their complex systems make them difficult to maintain and repair in the field.
Special: Gravitic plasma weapons are considered Restricted Technology. Acquiring or installing such weapons requires special permits and may draw unwanted attention from military authorities.
Projectile weapons launch physical objects at high velocity to damage targets. While they require ammunition, they're often more reliable than energy weapons and can function even when ship power is compromised.
Damage: 6 Range: Long Qualities: Piercing 1, Versatile 2
Railguns use magnetic acceleration to launch solid projectiles at tremendous velocities. These weapons are prized for their reliability, accuracy, and ability to penetrate heavy armor. Military-grade railguns can vary their projectile velocity to adjust damage output based on available power.
Railgun projectiles are typically solid metal slugs, though specialty ammunition like explosive or penetrator rounds can be used for specific tactical situations.
Example: Emmy Sinclair loads armor-piercing rounds into the Chilkoot's dorsal railgun before engaging a heavily armored transport. She configures the weapon using its Versatile quality to replace one quality with Devastating 1, preparing for a precision strike against the target's bridge.
Ammunition Types:
Damage: 7 Range: Long Qualities: Piercing 2, Versatile 1
Gravitic railguns use artificial gravity manipulation instead of magnetic fields to accelerate projectiles. These advanced weapons can achieve higher velocities than conventional railguns and are not affected by electromagnetic countermeasures.
The complex gravitational systems required make these weapons expensive and difficult to maintain, limiting their use to high-end military vessels and wealthy independent operators.
Damage: 4 Range: Long Qualities: Spread, Versatile 3
Missile launchers fire self-propelled, semi-autonomous weapon systems that can track and engage targets independently. Missiles are relatively small and short-lived but can be equipped with various warhead types for different tactical situations.
Modern missile systems include basic guidance computers and can adjust their approach based on target movement and defensive measures.
Example: Walker d'Ardenne orders a missile barrage against three pirate fighters harassing a merchant convoy. Using the launcher's Spread quality, he reduces the attack difficulty while the missiles' guidance systems help ensure hits against the agile targets.
Warhead Types:
Damage: 10 Range: Long Qualities: Devastating 1, Piercing 1
Torpedoes are large, autonomous weapon systems with sophisticated guidance, longer endurance, and heavier warheads than missiles. Military-grade torpedoes can operate independently for extended periods and include advanced countermeasures against point defense systems.
The size and cost of torpedoes limit most civilian vessels to basic models, while military ships carry advanced variants with specialized warheads and improved guidance systems.
Example: The military patrol vessel LNS Resolute launches a heavy torpedo at a suspected smuggler attempting to flee. The torpedo's Devastating quality ensures significant damage if it penetrates the target's defenses, while its autonomous guidance system pursues even if the target attempts evasive maneuvers.
Torpedo Variants:
Turret-mounted weapons can rotate to engage targets in multiple directions, providing excellent tactical flexibility. Most civilian and many military vessels favor turret mounts for their versatility, though they sacrifice some power for this flexibility.
Benefit: Turret weapons can engage targets regardless of ship facing and gain +1 to attack rolls when engaging multiple targets in the same round.
Fixed-mount weapons are installed along the ship's hull or integrated into the spaceframe, typically offering higher power output at the cost of tactical flexibility. Fixed weapons must be aimed by maneuvering the entire ship.
Benefit: Fixed weapons gain +2 damage but can only engage targets in their forward arc.
Lance weapons are high-powered, fixed-mount variants designed for maximum damage output. These weapons typically run along the ship's spine or are integrated into the forward hull.
Benefit: Lance weapons gain Devastating 1 and +1 damage but have their complication range increased by 1 due to their complex focusing systems.
Spinal-mount weapons are the largest and most powerful ship-based weapons, typically running the entire length of a vessel's spine. These weapons are found only on the largest military vessels and represent the ultimate in ship-to-ship firepower.
Benefit: Spinal weapons gain Devastating 2, Piercing 1, and +3 damage, but have their complication range increased by 2 and can only fire once every two rounds due to power requirements.
Energy weapons require regular calibration and component replacement to maintain optimal performance. Failure to maintain energy weapons properly increases their complication range and may result in reduced damage output.
Maintenance Requirements: Energy weapons require 1 hour of maintenance per week of operation. Skipping maintenance increases complication range by 1 (cumulative).
Projectile weapons require ammunition management, especially during extended operations far from supply bases. Running out of ammunition in combat can leave a ship defensively vulnerable.
Ammunition Capacity: A ship carries enough standard ammunition for 10 combat encounters. Specialty ammunition is limited to 2-3 uses per type unless specifically acquired.
Resupply: Ammunition can be purchased at most civilian stations and all military facilities. Specialty warheads may require special permits or black market contacts.
Standard ship targeting systems provide basic fire control using the ship's sensor array and tactical computers. These systems are adequate for most combat situations but may struggle against highly maneuverable targets or in sensor-degraded environments.
Military vessels and high-end civilian ships may mount advanced fire control systems that provide improved targeting against multiple targets, enhanced tracking of maneuvering targets, and compensation for sensor interference.
Benefit: Advanced fire control reduces the Difficulty of all weapon attacks by 1 and allows engaging one additional target per round without penalty.
Many larger vessels mount point defense systems - arrays of small, automated energy weapons designed to intercept incoming missiles and torpedoes. These systems operate independently of the main weapons and provide defensive coverage.
Benefit: Ships with point defense gain Cover against missile and torpedo attacks, increasing the Difficulty of such attacks by 1. Point defense stops functioning if the ship suffers 2+ breaches to Weapons systems.
Experienced crews often employ mixed weapon loadouts to handle diverse tactical situations. Long-range grazers for initial engagement, plasma weapons for close combat, and missiles for area denial create a versatile combat capability.
Energy weapons compete with other ship systems for reactor power. Crews must balance offensive capability against defensive screens, sensors, and propulsion when allocating power during combat.
Smart crews conserve their most powerful ammunition for critical moments, using standard rounds for most engagements and reserving specialty warheads for high-value targets or desperate situations.
Example: During a running battle with multiple pirate vessels, Anya Tyr carefully manages the Chilkoot's ammunition. She uses standard railgun slugs against fighter craft but saves the ship's limited supply of EMP torpedoes for the pirates' command vessel, hoping to disable it rather than destroy valuable salvage.
Most freelancer crews and pirate bands operate with limited budgets and even more limited access to legitimate military suppliers. When your ship's original weapons are failing, credits are tight, and the next job requires more firepower than your aging grazers can provide, improvisation becomes a survival skill.
These jury-rigged weapon systems are cobbled together from salvaged military components, civilian equipment pushed far beyond manufacturer specifications, and whatever spare parts can be "acquired" from derelict hulks or black market dealers. While unreliable and often dangerous to operate, improvised weapons can provide the extra edge needed to survive in the lawless regions of space.
The debris fields left by centuries of warfare provide a treasure trove of components for resourceful crews. Freelancers and pirates regularly strip weapons, ammunition, and targeting systems from wrecked military vessels, attempting to integrate advanced hardware into their civilian-grade ships.
Any weapon type could serve as the basis for an improvised system—perhaps grazer emitters carefully extracted from a destroyed cruiser's turret, missile guidance computers salvaged from a derelict fighter, or plasma containment systems jury-rigged from a battleship's point defense array. The challenge lies in making disparate components work together without catastrophic failure.
Improvised Weapon Rules: Creating improvised weapons during gameplay can be handled by establishing a trait during a scene, such as "Jury-rigged Plasma Array" or "Salvaged Military Targeting System." The gamemaster may require appropriate skill checks and resources, and improvised weapons typically have increased complication ranges due to their makeshift nature.
Example: After raiding a derelict League destroyer, Riley Aimes and Emmy Sinclair spend three days in the Chilkoot's cargo bay, attempting to integrate a salvaged plasma cannon into their ship's weapon grid. Using spare power couplers, hull-grade welding equipment, and more luck than sense, they manage to create a functional if temperamental weapon system. The improvised plasma cannon gains the Unreliable trait—increasing its complication range by 2—but provides the crew with devastating close-range firepower for their next job.
Desperate times call for creative solutions. Freelancer engineers have been known to modify mining lasers into makeshift beam weapons, convert cargo manipulation systems into improvised railguns, and even rig reactor coolant systems to project streams of superheated plasma.
These modifications rarely result in weapons that would pass any military inspection, but they can provide crucial firepower when facing better-armed opponents. The key is knowing when to push the limits of jury-rigged systems and when discretion is the better part of valor.
Common Modifications:
The weapons described here represent common civilian and military variants available to freelancer crews. More exotic weapons exist but are typically restricted to major military powers or require special licensing. Crews operating in dangerous sectors would be wise to invest in quality weapons and maintain good relationships with reliable suppliers.