Chase Rules, Missiles

[Cory Tetrascroll]

I've been messing around with the chase rules, they seem fun at first.

Of course I was using them for a near-future dogfight, which means missiles.

My first dogfight went 20 turns before one side had an extremely lucky double Ace on 2d12 (I stopped rolling after 48 points of damage, did it really matter anymore?).

The dogfight was kind of boring. I also don't understand a few things. Can the character with the Advantage take multiple actions? Fire missiles and autocannon for example? What useful maneuvers are available? It says a non-Advantaged (but still with a card) character can do some stuff, but its seemed vague. I maybe am being to mechanical about something more abstract, but it seemed like the dogfight had no strategy, just shoot when it's your turn.

And that brings me to missiles. They don't seem valuable at all given how hard it is to hit with them. I like the idea of the target getting a chance to evade the missile a number of times. What I don't like is that it's just a regular Trait roll - albeit at -4 - and not an opposed roll. I was using stock npcs from the book that had piloting at 1d8 + Ace, and not a single missile hit over the course of those 20 rounds. It was the autocannons that did the damage, but even then it was only a super lucky hit that mattered.

The point is, how are these things supposed to work? Because either I think they're broken because I don't like them, or they're broken so I don't like them. I want the missiles to be a valuable part of a fighter jet's arsenal. I also really like the idea of "torpedo planes" in a space battle with a rack of heavy torpedoes threatening the capital ships. But as I understand it, even a dreadnaught ginormous ship could easily evade the missiles.

As a foot note to the missiles, in the main SWD book in the missile section, it talks about anti-missile systems (e.g. a phalanx system), but no where can I find stats for one. I was just using a minigun as a stand in.

[High Command]

SFC has a lot more in the way of fighter duel type chase rules. As well as the AMS