Small Craft

= Overview =

Small Craft are a mid-to-late game option available to particularly wealthy captains. To use small craft, you must install at least one launch bay, have at least one Wing job pilot, and have purchased a small craft for him or her to pilot. Each Ship hull has a maximum number of small craft it can support. For smaller ships, this number is sometimes zero. Supposing your hull can support small craft, you must have either a launch bay (large component) or a hanger (medium) component for each small craft you wish to house.

Small Craft cost 2 RP and a craft-specific amount of fuel to deploy in combat. Each type of craft/job supports a number of flight plans -- special talents that dictate what the small craft is going to do while launched. These flight plans generally last four turns but some are shorter. A flight plan might include a defensive interceptor that grants buffs to other craft while intercepting incoming torpedoes and missiles, or it could be the attack pattern of a bomber that will strike with high critical hit chance. Or it could be a pattern for a shuttle boarding that will apply a debuff on the opposing craft even if it fails its boarding roll.

Small craft are vulnerable to enemy fire while deployed. All weapons other than Grav Cannons will attempt a shot at a small craft when fired at the capital ship. To determine whether the attack versus the small craft is successful, first a percentage die is rolled incorporating the base accuracy of the weapon, any component modifiers to anti-small craft accuracy, any talent buffs and debuffs that modify anti-small craft accuracy, and a modifier based on an engine comparison check between the capital ship and the small craft. If this roll is successful, an evasion roll is performed by the small craft. This evasion roll uses the base evasion chance for the small craft, any bonus from piloting skill of the craft that is matched by the piloting skill of its pilot, any buffs and debuffs that modify small craft evasion, and a modifier based on an engine comparison check. Some traits impact craft evasion as well. The small craft is only hit if both the attack is successful AND the evasion is unsuccessful. Note that if interdictors and other craft are present at the same time, incoming attacks will be directed toward the interdictors before the other craft. If no interdictors are present, shuttles will be targeted before bombers.

Small craft are not attackable the turn they are launched. Interdictors do not intercept missiles or torpedoes the turn they are launched either.

Small craft are very expensive to purchase and maintain, and aren't a mandatory part of Star Traders. Notably, small craft are expensive to repair. They are not ship components and will not be repaired by talents that repair ship components. (There are other talents that can specifically repair them, however.)

= Small Craft Specialists =

The three piloting Wing jobs (Leader, Bomber and Commando) and the boarding specialist Saboteur apply their skill points to their craft only. So Pilot points earned from levelups in Wing Leader, Commando or Saboteur do NOT add to your capital ship's skill points, even if they are not flying a small craft at the time. Wing Tech is different. It is a totally normal crew job and its skill points apply using the normal rules. If a Wing piloting job is multi-classed as another job, such as Pilot, the Piloting skill gained from that job will be used with both their small craft AND the overall skill pools of the Ship. Bonus skill points apply to both capital ship dice pools and the small craft's bonuses, just like cross-job training. Note that training a Wing job officer as another Wing job is not generally advised. (However, Saboteurs, not being a primary Wing job, might be a decent combination with the Wing Commando.)

Some Gear exists that grants special bonuses to craft pilots. They may also grant some benefits to non-craft pilots but are primarily geared toward those in a small craft. You can buy this gear from particular Contacts and possibly via Salvaging operations or rare Exploration rewards.

Wing Tech
The Wing Tech is a support job that does not fly small craft. Their skill points apply to the overall skills used by the main ship. Their talents, however, are geared toward the support of Wing piloting jobs. Wing Techs can be recruited from High Tech or Orbital Zones with Starport Rating > 6.

Wing Leader - Interdictors
The Wing Leader pilots Interdictor craft, designed to intercept opposing missiles, torpedoes, and other small craft, or for supporting the offensive measures of bombers and shuttles. Wing Leaders can be recruited from zones with Military rating > 6 and Starport > 8. De Valtos and Alta Mesa tend to specialize in Interdictors.

Wing Bomber - Bombers
The Wing Bomber pilots Bomber craft, designed to deal significant damage to the opposing ship and often crippling its combat capacities. It is particularly effective when several bombers unleash their payloads at the same time as a full barrage of primary ship fire. They are greatly aided by talents that boost their accuracy on the turn they fire their weapons. Wing Bombers can be recruited from zones with Military rating > 6 and Starport > 8. Thulun and Cadar tend to specialize in powerful bombers.

Wing Commando - Shuttles
The Wing Commando pilots Shuttle craft, designed to board enemy vessels even while the primary ship is not in close range. One shuttle may board the enemy ship a turn. This can happen alongside traditional range 1 boarding as well in case one or the other fails. However, only one boarding battle is possible per turn! The Wing Commando is a formidable melee combatant as well and can be used effectively in that role even if you don't own any small craft. Commandos can be recruited from any world with Military rating > 8. Steel Song and Rychart tend to specialize in powerful shuttles.

Saboteur - Shuttles
The Saboteur pilots Shuttle craft as well, but does so with far less skill than the more dedicated Wing Commando. However, the Saboteur offers its own suite of post-boarding talents as the specialist in post-boarding destruction, in addition to its effective pistol talents. Saboteurs can be recruited from both contacts and during any Spice Festival.

= Small Craft Game Mechanics =

Accuracy
Unlike the attacks of large starships, the chance to hit with small craft attacks simply use a percentage dice. The percentage chance to hit has a base chance for each particular small craft. This is increased by 2% per point of gunnery and/or electronics that is present on the small craft AND matched by the gunnery or electronics skill of the pilot. Additionally, the chance to hit can be impacted by a special small craft engine agility comparison that is similar to but different from the starship engine comparison. Finally, there are many talent buffs and debuffs that can significantly modify the chance to land attacks with small craft.

Note that the chance to hit will face a second roll of the capital ship's evasion versus small craft statistic. On a small number of hulls, this evasion can theoretically reach 100% but to do so would require immense sacrifice in other areas.

Evasion
Evading attacks from starships in small craft is dependent on similar factors to accuracy. There is a base chance to evade, a 2% bonus per matched point of Piloting, an engine comparison, and the impacts from talents.

Dogfighting
Intedictors set to defensive flight plans will attack incoming small craft when they near your capital ship. Each interdictor will get one shot to take per turn. Of the craft that are in range, they will prioritize interdictors (presumably they screen for other ships), then shuttles, and then bombers. This is the same targeting prioritization for your capital ships.

The chance to hit the opposing craft will use their standard accuracy and evasion rolls. The attack roll will be modified by the difference in small craft agility as per the Agility comparison table lower in this article.

Critical Hit
Critical Hits behave similarly to capital ship critical hits, dealing bonus damage, hitting extra crew members, and increasing the likelihood of harming vital ship components. Bombers and Interdictors have a set critical hit chance that can be increased or decreased by Talents, Traits, and some gear if the pilot is an Officer or uses the limited non-officer gear slots from Captain level.

Critical hits performed by small craft always have a 100% bonus to their damage (unlike Capital Ships which have a varying multiplier based upon their weapons' RP costs.)

Critical hits that land on a small craft from a capital ship will have a different multiplier based upon the RP cost of the weapon. This multiplier is lower than the standard multiplier for capital ship critical hits:


 * 1-2 RP Weapons: +25% Damage
 * 3 RP Weapons: +50% Damage
 * 4 RP Weapons: +100% Damage

While an autocannon's +25% bonus critical damage might not seem like a big deal, remember that critical hits against your small craft often result in expensive maintenance points being acquired.

Mitigation
Small craft pilots cannot die from damage to their craft unless the craft has its hull points reduced to 0.

Armor
Armor mitigates hull damage to small craft from all sources directly according to the normal craft armor equation. As small craft contain no sub-components and the pilots in them cannot die from attacks unless their hull is breached, armor is more important than shielding to the survival of your small craft.

Shields
Small craft have no components, nor can the pilots in them die from damage to their craft. Thus, the only impact shielding has is in mitigating the hull damage from Void and Radiation damage. (Void damage is typically the more dangerous of the two, dealing 50% of its damage to hull while radiation only deals 33%. However, Radiation damage critical hits deal amplified damage while Void criticals do not.)

Speed
When small craft are being attacked while they're on the far away side of combat (enemy craft next to enemy starship, or allied craft next to yours) an engine speed comparison is made between the attacking starship and the targeted craft.

Agility
When small craft are being attacked while they're on the near away side of combat (enemy craft next to your starship, or allied craft next to theirs) an engine agility comparison is made between the attacking starship and the targeted craft. Additionally, Agility impacts accuracy of small craft versus large ships in a similar fashion.

Boarding Accuracy
Boarding has a set percent chance to succeed, much like other craft attacks and is impacted by the agility engine comparison. This percent boarding roll is performed first. If it fails, a secondary boarding roll is made using the dice pools of the owning capital ship but the engine agility of the small craft. Thus the chance to board is potentially much higher than the percent listed on the shuttle alone.

If the percent roll succeeds the secondary boarding roll using dice pools is still performed but only for the purpose of determining where on the larger ship the shuttle will land. If this location roll fails, the overall boarding action still succeeds but it sets the component landed upon as the worst possible component to damage (perhaps a cargo bay or an officer's quarters rather than a bridge or the engine.)

Talents that modify small craft boarding chance add to the dice pool, not the raw percentage. This means they help with the boarding rolls when the percent fails but also when determining which component is landed upon.

Fuel Cost
Each small craft consumes a specific amount of fuel when deployed. The amount of fuel per deployment can be seen before purchasing the craft (as well as on its stats page afterward.) This price is paid every time the craft is launched, even in the same battle. Non-combat talents used by small craft pilots do not consume water-fuel.

Crippling Hits
Rockets from interceptors and Bombs from bombers can deal crippling effects, much like your carrier. Rockets can deal Electrical Fire, Secondary Explosions, and if both are already present, can create Aftershocks. Bombs can deal Electrical Fire, Venting Hull, and if both are already present Engine Failure. Interestingly, this opens up a different path to achieving the "Prime" effects Aftershocks and Engine Failure from normal weapons.

Maintenance Points
Maintenance points represent severe systemic damage to a small craft that prevent standard repairs from being performed until they are addressed. These will register as an increase in the cost and time to repair your small craft. The amount of increase in cost and time is between 15% and 50% each point, depending on Game Difficulty.

Two situations can lead to suffering a maintenance point. When a capital ship retreats while a small craft is still deployed, substantial heroics are required to flee from the foe as well and rejoin the carrier. These heroics place unusual strain on the small craft. The other situation where small craft can acquire maintenance points is when they suffer critical hits. Each critical hit results in unusually devastating systemic failures in the craft. Both of these situations are possible sources of maintenance points, but do not guarantee them. Perhaps the foe isn't interested int the retreating small craft. Perhaps the critical hit wrecked armor but internal systems weren't compromised. Thus, a percentage roll is performed to determine if a point is accrued. This chance is 15% to 50% depending on game difficulty. Some talents can prevent maintenance points, should that roll result in a maintenance point application.

Ship Skill Stats
The Pilot, Gunnery, and Electronics ratings on small craft indicate the maximum benefit the craft can gain from a particularly skilled pilot. If, say, a Wing Leader with 6 Pilot were to fly a craft with a Pilot rating of 5, she would only get the benefit of 5 of her skill points. If the craft had a rating of 8, she would fully benefit from her 6 and as she gained skill points in Pilot, would benefit from those additional points up to this higher maximum.

Pilot
Every matched point of Pilot skill gives an additive 2% bonus to craft evasion. This is in addition to the base evasion listed on the craft details you will see before purchasing the craft.

Gunnery
Every matched point of Gunnery skill gives an additive 2% bonus to craft accuracy. This is in addition to the base accuracy listed on the craft details you will see before purchasing the craft.

Electronics
Every matched point of Electronics skill gives an additive 2% bonus to craft accuracy. This is in addition to the base accuracy listed on the craft details you will see before purchasing the craft. Electronics benefits boarding shuttles' chance of successfully boarding enemy ships by 2% per matched point.

Experience Bonus
Finishing a flight plan and returning to the main vessel will grant the surviving pilot a small amount of personal experience, similar to fighters surviving a successful crew combat.

= Craft List =

See Also: Small Craft Effects