Vehicles
Most of the time a vehicle is scenery that moves you from A to B. These rules matter when someone is chasing you, shooting at the engine block, or daring a hairpin skid on a rain-slick quay.
The abstract sheet
Every vehicle is summed up as:
| Trait | Role |
|---|---|
| Size | Small → Medium → Large → Huge → Enormous (and Colossal for vast starships) |
| Hull | Armour Points against incoming damage |
| Structure | Hit Points of the whole vehicle |
| Speed | Abstract band from Ponderous up through Fleet |
| Systems | Vital components (power plant, controls, crew section…); Size sets how many System hits it can take |
| Traits | Special advantages (Superior Handling, and setting-specific tags) |
| Shields | Optional energy screens in high-tech settings; may ablate under fire |
| Weapons | If armed—use the combat rules with vehicle-scale common sense |
Compare Speed within the same class of craft. A Rapid sports car and a Rapid dropship are not racing each other on one chart without translation.
Taking hits
- Reduce damage by Hull.
- Leftover damage comes off Structure.
- Penetrating damage has a percentage chance equal to that penetrating amount of affecting a System.
- Structure 0 means destroyed or scrap.
Military hulls sit higher than civilian ones of the same Size. Starships use heavier Structure bands and thicker military plating—see the Vehicles reference tables when building or inspecting a ship.
Speed tricks
Nominal Speed is the safe operational band. A successful Drive (or Pilot) roll can push +1 Speed step for 1d6 minutes (Critical: 1d12 minutes) before you must ease off or risk the power plant. Pushing +2 steps is a Herculean roll, lasts at most 1d3 minutes, and a Critical does not extend it. Emergency speed is a resource, not a lifestyle.
Handling and manoeuvres
Sudden or evasive moves need Drive/Pilot. The vehicle's Handling (Easy, Standard, Hard, Formidable, Herculean) is the baseline difficulty; the manoeuvre's ambition adds grades on top. Default Handling is Standard for Large and smaller craft. Huge defaults toward Formidable, Enormous toward Herculean—some stunts are simply impossible at that bulk.
Fail the roll and you lose control. On terrestrial craft, roll 1d100 on the Loss of Control table (swerve through skid, roll, write-off, explosion, catastrophic crash). Occupants may face Endurance rolls and location damage when the chassis tumble-grounds. Air and space need reframed results (spins, tumble, uncontrolled re-entry) with the same severity ladder.
Combat from a vehicle
- Attacking personal-scale targets or other vehicles uses the relevant Combat Style, gunnery skill, or vehicle weapon rules your campaign defines.
- Your shots and defence may be capped by Drive/Pilot when the Games Master judges control is the bottleneck.
- Passengers can fire from windows or pintles while the driver spends AP on manoeuvre and control rolls.
- Crashes and rams are narrative collisions adjudicated with Speed, Size, Hull, and Structure—expect violent Structure loss and ugly passenger damage when heavy metal meets heavier metal.
What you owe the driver
Call manoeuvres early ("I want the handbrake turn onto the pier—Hard?"). Track Structure and obvious System damage in the open. When the cargo speeder is smoking scrap on 4 Structure with a coughing plant, start looking for a door—not another full-auto strafe from the sunroof.
Sample craft in the project (ground cars through oddities and star-frames) show how the abstract stats dress up. Steal their patterns when you need a getaway ride in a hurry.