The Order of Combat

A typical combat encounter is a clash between two sides, a flurry of cannon shots and ship maneuvers. The game organizes the chaos of combat into a cycle of rounds and turns. A round represents about 6 seconds in the game world. During a round, each participant in a battle takes a turn. The order of turns is determined at the beginning of a combat encounter, when everyone rolls initiative. Once everyone has taken a turn, the fight continues to the next round if neither side has defeated the other.

Surprise

An assault carrier exits hyperspace and immediately begins firing on its prey. Fighters rapidly exit bays to support and protect the craft. Their opponents, caught unawares, are slow to respond and take significant damage before mounting their defense. In this situation, one side of the battle gained surprise over the other.

The GM determines who might be surprised. If neither side tries to be stealthy, they automatically notice each other. Otherwise, the GM compares the Dexterity (Stealth) checks of anyone hiding with the passive Wisdom (Perception) score of each creature on the opposing side. Any ship that doesn't notice a threat is surprised at the start of the encounter.

If you're surprised, you can't move or take an action on your first turn of the combat, and you can't take a reaction until that turn ends. A member of a group can be surprised even if the other members aren't.

Combat Step By Step

1. Determine surprise. The GM determines whether anyone involved in the combat encounter is surprised. 2. Establish positions. The GM decides where all characters and ships are located. 3. Roll initiative. Every PC on a ship rolls initiative normally, and the lowest initiative on each ship sets the initiative for that ship. 4. Start a ship turn. When your ship activates based on the initiative order, the ship's reactor replenishes power dice and the crew determines how these dice are distributed through the power coupling. The crew should also decide if they want to activate their shield generator's regeneration at the start of the ship's turn. All PCs on a ship then take their individual turns on their ship's turn in an order agreed upon by the crew for that ship turn. In case of disputes, the helm has final say. The order of character turns on a ship's turn may change from round to round. 5. Take turns. Each ship in the battle takes a turn in ship initiative order. 6. Begin the next round. When every ship involved in the combat has had a turn, the round ends. Repeat step 5 until the fighting stops.

Your Role On Your Turn

All PCs on a ship take their individual turns on their ship’s turn in an order agreed upon by the crew for that ship turn. The crew should also decide if they want to activate their shield generator's regeneration at the start of the ship turn. In case of disputes, the crewmember at the helm has final say. This is also when the ship's reactor would replenish power dice to its coupling. The order of character turns on a ship’s turn may change from round to round.

Your abilities depend on where you are deployed during space combat. In a snubfighter, you control all aspects of your craft: movement and maneuvering, weapons, operation, and engines. In a larger craft, however, only one player can take helm actions.

The "Movement and Position" section later in this chapter gives the rules for your move.

Actions

You may take one action on your turn, and any action taken by a player with your ship can only be taken once per round unless otherwise stated. For example, although two different crewmembers could both cast the same force power or make an ability check with the Medicine skill, they could not both take an action granted by a ship modification or the Boost Engines action, described below. Only the crewmember at the helm can take helm actions, but all other actions may be taken by anyone on the ship as logic dictates.

Bonus Actions

Various class or deployment features, powers, and other abilities let you take an additional action on your turn called a bonus action. You can only take a bonus action if some feature gives you one, and you can only take one bonus action on each of your turns.

Other Activity on Your Turn

Your turn can include a variety of flourishes that require neither your action nor your move.

You can communicate however you are able as you take your turn.

You can also interact with one object or feature of the environment for free, during either your move or your action.

Reactions

Certain features allow you to take a reaction. A reaction is an instant response to a trigger of some kind, which can occur any turn.

When you take a reaction, you can't take another one until the start of your next turn. If the reaction interrupts another creature's turn, that creature can continue its turn right after the reaction.