Guided Ship Combat: Instructions v1.3 · 31 Oct 2026

1. Quick start

1. Press Use my Ship Sheet ship (or add a quick ship), then Next.
2. Press Roll the contact (or use the NPC Fleet's newest contact), then Next.
3. Press Start the fight. When it's your roll, press Roll for me or type the dice you rolled and press Use my dice.
4. At the end, press Write the damage back.

2. Your ships and theirs

Yours: your ship from the Ship Sheet, with your Star as Captain if the sheet says so (and any damage it's still carrying), or quick ships by Class with a Captain's Rep and Attributes. You roll for all of your ships, allies included.

Theirs: the newest contact from the NPC Fleet (its cards are marked with the damage afterwards), a Contact in Space rolled here (Who Are They, Whose Flag by Ring, How Many against your ships; a 6 is a Random Event instead), or ships added one at a time by Class. Each has its own Captain, whose Rep and Attributes come from the book's tables.

3. A round, step by step

• Who Fights Who: each side's best Captain rolls 1d6 + Rep (you roll yours). The winner has the Advantage and places its ships against enemy ships, one each before any doubling up. If they win, any of your ships they don't place against sit the round out. With one ship each, they just face off.
• Cut and Run: tick any of your ships that try to break away. The NPCs try when they're out-run (Thrust 2+ lower) or have taken 2+ Hull damage.
• Maneuver: 1d6 per point of current Thrust against the Captain's Rep (Initiative, Quick Reflexes and Slow to React count). More passes gets to fire; Same means both go to Continue On. A ship cutting and running breaks away if it passes the same or more. Two (or more) against one: the lone ship must beat them all to fire (you pick on whom); every attacker that beats it fires.
• Fire: 2d6 (3d6 for a Crack Shot Captain) against Firepower. Passing 1 or 2 dice is one hit, and an extra d6 says where it lands: 1–2 on Thrust, 3–6 on Hull. Thrust 0: it can be boarded. Hull 0: it explodes.
• Continue On: 2d6 against Rep, −1 per point of damage and −2 if it tried to Cut and Run (Coward, Poser and Wussy count). Pass 2 or 1: stay in (pass 1 when outnumbered 3 to 1 counts as 0). Pass 0: Run for It, 1d6 + Thrust each: higher escapes, otherwise it surrenders. A Star Captain may use Free Will to run without rolling.

4. Boarding and Surrender

When an enemy is dead in space you choose: board it with the Boarding table, play it as a Boarding Action deck by deck (Known Space; the ships are handed over, and you say who won when you're back), play it out in the Guided Fight as a Confrontation (using the ships' Crew) and say who won, or leave it. Pirates, Slavers and the Military always board; Traders and Freighters don't. When they board you, you choose the same way: the Boarding table, a Boarding Action, or the Guided Fight.

Boarding: both Captains roll 2d6 against Rep (Born Leader 3d6, the lowest 2 count; Rage +1; Military aboard +1; a Star may add 1d6 for Extraordinary Effort by setting the Dice box). Same: both −1 Rep and fight on. The winning Captain gains ½d6 Increasing Rep d6, the loser ½d6 Decreasing. If the defenders win, they get away.

Surrender: the surrendering ship rolls 2d6 against the boarders' Rep, and the result depends on who boarded: Pirates, the Military or Slavers. You count as Pirates unless you fly a Cutter.

5. The end of the fight

The fight ends when one side has no ships left in it. You get +1 Increasing Rep d6 for each enemy ship destroyed or taken, plus Boarding's ½d6. Write the damage back puts your ship's damage on the Ship Sheet with a line in its log, and marks the NPC Fleet's cards. Repair on a planet: 1 Decreasing Rep d6 per point (p.87). Save log (.txt) saves every fight, roll by roll, for a blog post.

6. In the Guided Campaign

A Contact in Space in the Guided Campaign ends with Set up the space fight: your ship (from the Ship Sheet, or your Star's Vehicles, or the ship you're a passenger on) against the ships its rolls turned up. The Rep d6 go into the Encounter, the damage is written back, and the whole fight goes in the play log. You can still choose to play it on your own table.

7. Shipyard ships

Ships built with 5150: Shipyard (on the Ship Sheet, or rolled with Ship rules: Shipyard variants on the Their ships step or in the NPC Fleet) bring their modules and Risk Conversions into the fight (Shipyard p.28–33). The cards show them, and everything they do is written in the log:

• Who Fights Who: Advanced Sensors +1 (not against Military), Target Array +1, Slow to React −1.
• Fire: Missile Rack +2 and Weapon Overcharge +1 Firepower on the first shot; the target's Point Defense Grid −1 the first time it's shot at; a Target Array rerolls one complete miss. Hits can be stopped by Civilian Armor (the first), Reinforced Bulkheads (one), Heavy Bulkhead (two), Military Armor (the first two to the Hull) and Resilient Systems (the first to the Thrust).
• Risk: Thin Shielding, Compartmental Gutting, Structural Compromise and Shield Phase Instability can add damage; Reactor Overdrive can bite when a boost is used; Risk 3+ ships may overheat after firing (−1 Firepower next round); Risk 4+ ships may lose Thrust when they lose a Maneuver, and are −1 to Run For It; Limited Fuel Capacity can stop a ship running.
• Continue On and Run For It: Advanced Repair Systems +1d6; Extended Fuel Bunkers +1; Engine Boost +1 Thrust when it would change the outcome.
• Boarding: Marine Bay +2d6, Security Section +1d6, and defending, Reinforced or Heavy Bulkheads +1d6 each; Risk 3+ crews −1 Rep; Illegal Dockyard Expansion: defenders −1 in the first round.
• After the fight: a Repair Bay may patch 1 Hull (4+); a Salvage Rig on the winning side may find a Cargo Slot of salvage (4+).

The once-a-fight boosts go off at the first chance by themselves, for both sides (a "for now" choice, listed for Ed Teixeira).

8. Where the book isn't clear

These "for now" choices are listed for Ed Teixeira in the tools' notes: each passing Fire die is a hit; the surrendering side rolls the Surrender test; the fight's Rep d6 are counted like enemies down on the Battle Board; a Trader or Freighter that catches a runner lets it go.