Scaling System

Scaling is a reference to Size and relative power. It started as military jargon within Human Space, but it has drifted out into the general populace enough that it's not uncommon for everyone use these scales for everything from marketing to political canvassing to police action to mining and shipping logistics.

Size Scale

The Scaling System represents the differences for sheer Size. It comes in grades: Nano, Micro, Mini, Standard, Decade, Century, Millennium and Eon.

Nanoscale is microscopic, such as nanites and bacterium.

Micro-Scale is everything between Mini-Scale and microscopic.

Mini-Scale (Mini-) is 1/10th of standard, from -10 to -4, 0.05 yard to 0.5 yard.

Standard (S or S-Scale) is just that: standard Size. This is SM -3 to 3. 0.7 yard to 7 yards.

Decade Scale (D or D-Scale) is SM 4 to 6. 10 yards to 20 yards.

Century Scale (C or C-Scale) is SM 7 to 18. 30 yards to 1.136 miles.

Millenium Scale (M or M-Scale) is SM 19 to 25. 1.7 miles to 20 miles.

Eon Scale (E or E-Scale) is 26 to 37. 28 miles to 2,000 miles.

Crew Scale

A "crew" gets a sheet. This refers to individual operators (who operate at S-scale) to armies, nations, crews of capital ships, etc. It also comes in grades, named after the Greek Alphabet.

Alpha (1) – Solo operator, lone traveler, a single technician, Pilot, or soldier. (No modifier.)

Beta (3-6) – A fireteam, a small work crew, a small ship crew, a household, a vehicle crew (tank, fighter, shuttle), a trio of mercenaries. (x3 modifier.)

Gamma (18-36) – A squad to platoon-sized element, a medium-sized work crew, a small neighborhood, a general staff, a bridge crew of a corvette or small frigate, an explorer group. (x6 modifier.)

Delta (108-216) – A company of soldiers, a large neighborhood or apartment block, the staff of a research station, a full merchant ship crew, the command structure of a Planetary Defense Force. (x9 modifier.)

Epsilon (648-1,296) – A battalion, a large corporate office, a colony ship crew, the workforce of a medium-sized industrial complex, the full crew of a small capital ship, a hab-dome settlement. (x12 modifier.)

Zeta (3,888-7,776) – A regiment, a small city district, the crew of a major space station, a megacorp headquarters staff, an industrial colony, a generational ship’s permanent crew. (x15 modifier.)

Eta (23,328-46,656) – A full planetary defense brigade, a medium city, a large colony, a corporate arcology, a capital ship’s battle crew, a regional administrative zone. (x18 modifier.)

Theta (139,968-279,936) – A planetary defense army, a major metropolitan area, a full planetary capital, an entire megacorporation's active workforce, a full deep-space mining operation, a lunar colony population. (x21 modifier.)

Iota (839,808-1,679,616) – A planetary army command, a planetary industrial base, a major orbital shipyard's workforce, the population of a large lunar colony, a corporate-controlled city-state. (x24 modifier.)

Kappa (5,038,848-10,077,696) – A planetary Grand Army, the population of a major industrialized city, a planet-wide workforce, the full fighting force of a major interstellar corporation, a fleet headquarters staff. (x27 modifier.)

Lambda (30,233,088-60,466,176) – A continental nation’s military force, the full labor force of a fully industrialized world, the crew and passengers of a massive generational ship, the active staff of a major spacefaring polity. (x30 modifier.)

Mu (181,398,528-362,797,056) – The population of a major industrialized planet, a fleet battle group with planetary support, the full fighting force of a major interstellar empire’s military arm, the population of an orbital megacity. (x33 modifier.)

Nu (1,088,388,288-2,176,776,576) – The workforce of an entire multi-planet economy, the standing army of a fully militarized world, a massive planetary defense network, the total combined personnel of a sector-wide security force. (x36 modifier.)

Xi (6,530,329,728-13,060,659,456) – A fully populated planet, a Dyson Swarm habitat cluster’s total workforce, the full military strength of an entire star system, the active personnel of an interstellar alliance’s defense force. (x39 modifier.)

Omicron (39,181,978,368-78,363,956,736) – A fully mobilized interstellar nation, the combined forces of multiple populated star systems, the workforce of a multi-system industrial empire, the personnel supporting a partial Dyson Swarm. (x42 modifier.)

Pi (235,091,872,208-470,183,744,416) – The total workforce of a sector-spanning empire, the population of a fully developed artificial world, the crew and populace of a completed Dyson Swarm, the combined forces of a major galactic power. (x45 modifier.)

Rho (1,410,551,233,248-2,821,102,466,496) – A full interstellar civilization’s combined active workforce, a Dyson Sphere’s total population, the fighting force of a multi-sector hegemonic empire, the administrative structure of an interstellar government ruling thousands of worlds. (x48 modifier.)

Sigma (8,463,307,399,488+) – The total combined population of a massive multi-stellar civilization, the workforce maintaining a vast intergalactic Dyson Network, the entirety of a species-spanning empire that has fully colonized an entire galactic cluster. (x51 modifier.)

Combat Between Scales

As a rule, you can meaningfully engage at a scale one step above or two steps below your scale. To engage targets two steps smaller, the larger object generally need to use subsystems such as defensive turrets, mounted guns, or self guided weapons (such as missiles). To engage targete two or more steps above your scale, the smaller object must generally enegage the subsystems of the larger target. IE: targeting defensive turrets, reactors, eyes, hands, etc. Subsystems are always smaller than the whole, and have their own Size Modifier for the purposes of engagement.

One exception for the large-targeting-small rule is targeting an area. An M-Scale space station can't really reliably hit a target the Size of a human, but its weapon systems CAN reliably target the 10 yard area on which that human is standing. That's not to say that the station's weapons aren't precise in aim, just that the scale of their destruction is likely to cause collateral. Using small weapons systems sized below their maximum punch (such as mounting lasers designed for starfighters on a turret) is also a good way around this, but potentially a waste of a weapon mount. Hence, most M-Scale Starships have fleets of C and D-Scale ships accompanying them. If targeting an area divide the damage evenly by surface area, after multiplying for Size. If on the edge of the affected area or near potential cover, a person in the area can take the Dodge action to potentially save themselves from some or all of the damage. See Examples section, below.

For smaller objects targeting larger targets' subsystems, calculate the subsystem's Size independently (it may still be on a larger scale.) The smaller opponent must still find a way to penetrate into the subsystem, which means that internal systems of, say, a starship would still be protected by the overal hull and overall DR unless the smaller attacker can find a weakness such as an exhaust port or exploiting a crack in the hull caused by a larger ship.

Multiplier for Damage and Damage Reduction Between Size Scales

*Using weapons at scale against a peer scaled opponent above Standard (IE: D vs. D, C vs. C, etc.), calculate the maximum possible damage of a weapon, divide by 10 and that's the number of die rolled (use the tenths place as a +). See Examples section below for examples.

Hit Point Increases and Decreases

When fighting at scales above Standard by a peer scaled opponent, use the chart above to determine the multiplier. Multiply the DR of the combatants by a like amount, but not the hardness or armor penetration, which remains the same. Likewise, any modifiers on the armor (such as Flexible, Shield, etc.) or on the HP (such as vulnerabilities, flammability, resistances, etc.) remain.

For objects within the same scale, HP is also reduced according to the chart above.

For DR changes at different scales, use the chart above. See below for examples.

Rolls Between Crew Scales

Opposed rolls between Crew Scales are modified by the numbers noted above. This is for all opposed rolls, from pursuit rolls to combat rolls. For instance, an "Alpha" unit (one man) fighting a "Beta" unit (a fireteam) rolls x1 for attack and x1 for damage against x3 the "Beta" unit's defense, as they're sure to be looking out for each other. The "Beta" unit coordinates fire, which gives them x3 to their attack roll (an almost certain hit unmodified) and 3x their damage, meaning the single soldier is in serious trouble if it comes down to this. Likewise, if a "Beta" crew is attempting to evade capture from a "Zeta" scale city population as the city's most wanted, they roll their evasion skill checks with x3 the best skill, while the city would roll at x15 to find them; they're going to have to get creative and improve their modifiers or impose penalties on the city (such as jacking their citywide surveillance system, causing a distraction or finding disguises) if they expect to make it out unseen!

Multiplier for Damage and Damage Reduction of Size vs. Crew Scales

Multiplier for Damage and Damage Reduction of Crew vs. Size Scales

Ability Points, Hit Points and DR for Crew Scales

Ability Points for a crew are represented by the best Ability Point in the crew, or the crew's leadership. IE: A team with four members who all have average scores except each chooses a different score to make 14 would have 14 in every score.

Hit Points takes the average HT score from every member and applies the modifier. Crews over Delta take the racial standard (10 for humans) as the assumed average unless something specifically changes it (the Wolfguard units go through rigorous physical and chemical treatments and their average HT score is considered 12 as a standard). This means an "Epsilon" sized battalion of Venus' PDF has 120 HP. When reduced to half, the bonus on their actions only function as one crew Size lower. Otherwise, all HP loss conditions apply as normal.

Damage Reduction is average for the equipment of the crew. A "Gamma" sized mining crew on a riot is unlikely to be using much in the way of armor, but commandos are usually equipped with armor and shields, the average of both are transferred to the crew. Additionally, the crew can assign a 'vanguard,' a lead element positioned to take the brunt of the enemy attack. This vanguard gives the overall average between the crew average and their own as a crew DR, meaning that if they have significantly better gear than the rank-and-file, they can boost the DR meaningfully, at least until they're taken out. A vanguard has to be one step lower than the larger unit (one soldier for a "Beta" crew, an "Iota" army command functioning as the vanguard for a "Kappa" Grand Army, an "Epsilon" sized police force for a "Zeta" sized city district, etc.

For more details and examples, see: Crew Sheets

Examples

A single Light Starfighter (Decade) piloted by Leeroy Jenkins takes on the Medium Corvette (Century) GDL Bugzapper. Captain Jenkins fires a Genius Missile from Angel Range at the Bugzapper, which counters successfully with the Tactical Crew's point defense roll (x6) and then returns fire with an LB Laser Cannon. The Bugzapper crew makes the attack based on the Tactical Officer's team (Skill: 18) and target Jenkins' Starfighter without their x6 advantage because they fire the one gun. Jenkins fails his defense roll, taking 8d(2)x10 damage: 210 damage with a penetration of 2. Jenkins' Defense Screen (DR 50 with a divisor of 6) absorbs all but 20 damage, which is absorbed by Jenkins' Carbexene plating (DR 15, divisor 5). Jenkins is without a shield until it recharges, but is unharmed and still believes he has a chance. He uses his Afterburner Technique to pass through Cherub range and get into Close range and fire his MP Laser Turret, scoring a direct hit. He rolls 16d(2)x0.1, rolling a 6.2(2). Close range is inside the Bugzapper's Defense Screen, but their CCOF armor (DR 20, divisor 2) absorbs the damage with little trouble. The crew of the Bugzapper boosts their engines and performs a Ram maneuver against Jenkins, working together; the two ships roll opposed piloting maneuvers, with the Bugzapper performing theirs at x6. Jenkins is a good Pilot, but not that good. He rolls an 8 against his skill of 15, for a 7 gap. The Bugzapper crew rolls 15 against their skill of 12, which is multiplied by x6 for a skill of 72. The fairly green crew succeeds at their ramming maneuver by 57. Since the range was already Close, the damage is the Bugzapper's DRx10(scaling)+6(number of hexes between the ships at the start of the maneuver), or 206. Jenkins' 15 (5) armor absorbs all but 26 damage, which takes his 100 HP down to 74 and reduces his armor to 10. By contrast, Jenkins' ship deals ramming damage to the Bugzapper at (15+6)x0.1, 2 damage which barely scratches the paint of the larger ship. Seeing the writing on the wall, Jenkins bugs out, swearing revenge

— Single starfighter vs. a corvette and crew

Leeroy Jenkins comes back with a Beta sized wing of fighters to harass the Bugzapper once again. They swoop in and release a missile salvo using Genius Missiles with a x3 to their combined attack vs the crew's x6 for point defense; Jenkins' fighters roll 12 vs. their modified skill of 36 (base skill 12) for a 24 point success vs. the Bugzapper's defense roll of 13 against their modified skill of 36 (base skill 12, halved for defense), for a 13 point success, 11 points short of what they needed. Leeroy's wing hits with a Genius Missile, the projectile isn't a ray, so the Bugzapper's Defense Screen only applies its hardness of 6 against the missile, which is going to blunt the ballistic damage but not the payload. The ballistic damage is 6d pi++, reduced to 4 by the shield's divisor and to 0.4 (effectively zero) by the scale between Decade and Century. However, the missile had a tritium warhead, which deals 6d(2)x10 burn sur rad, reduced to scale for 21 damage. It's not much, but 1 penetrating damage does mean that the surge plays hell with the Corvette's system. The crew has to spend the next round restoring the ship's electronics, while Jenkins' fighters take another shot. This time they opt to crowd in Close range and strafe from inside the Bugzapper's Defense Screen. The fighter wing fires their x3 to attack, succeeding by 21. Their attack is too close for evasive maneuvers, so they deal their 16d(2)x0.3 (0.1 for Size scaling x 3 for crew scaling) and roll very well at 25, penetrating the armor by 5 and reducing the Corvette's CCOF armor to 19. The Bugzapper comes back online and opens their own D-scale turrets, all low band. Using the whole crew for targeting, they're able to apply their x6 modifier and roll a 13 against their skill of 18 modified to 108, a tremendous success of 90. Jenkins' crew fails their defense roll, and the Bugzapper does 102d(2) damage with its laser salvo (that is, 8d(2) for the weapon system+9d for the critical die for a maximum of 102 damage which scales to 102d for the purposes of Decade vs. Decade damage, as the LB Laser turrets of the Bugzapper are Decade scale). The Bugzapper rolls 364(2) burn damage, which burns through the DR 50(6) defense screens of the fighters with 71 left over. The fighter wing's average armor is 15(5), which means that 23 penetrates, leaving the fighter wing with 277 HP and damaged armor, leaving them with a DR of 11. Jenkins is going to have to have a good long think about whether it's worth it to continue.

— A wing of starfighters vs. a corvette and crew

Two squads, both Gamma scale, are fighting for control of the corridor of a facility. ATS synths are defending while the SCC clones are attacking. The synths go first, firing while moving and taking positions behind cover. They roll a 13 against their skill of 9 (skill 12, -3 for the bulk of their carbines) modified to 54 for a success of 45. The clones roll a defense of 11 against their skill of 42 (14x6/2 for defense) for a success of 31, losing by 14. The robots roll 6d(2) burn (5d, +1d for every +10 they succeeded by, then scaled ), scoring 78(2) burn damage. The clones are wearing hardened HSTA combat armor (DR 50(4)) which absorbs the attack easily. The clones return fire, they are already dug in, so they can make an All-Out Attack with their own laser carbines, rolling ten attacks in a row using all three of their actions in a round. RoF of the carbines is 10, so they make ten attacks against a skill of 84 (base 14, -1 for Suppression, then x6). They succeed by: 76, 73, 72, 74, 68, 71, 71, 70, 83, and 76. Because the synths are behind half cover obstacles, they have a 50% chance to hit the cover instead; Miss, Miss, Miss, Hit, Hit, Miss, Miss, Hit, Hit, Miss. The shots that hit are 74, 68, 70, and 83. They roll 12d(2),11d(2), 12d(2), 13d(2), all burn damage and each scaled x6 for the squad action. They roll 36(2), 43(2), 37(2), and 43(2). All four defeat the ATS synths' DR of 30 (2), resulting in a cumulative damage of 39, more than half of the synths' collective HP, meaning that they'll be scaling as a Beta fireteam now, and their HP has been reduced to 21. They make an All-Out Attack maneuver, sacrificing all actions to attack, and they, too make ten shots; 6, 12, 16, 13, 9, 15, 12, 7, 18, 10. Their score has been reduced to 16 (12x3-20 for suppression), so they only succeed by 10, 4, 0, 3, 7, 1, 4, 9, a miss, and 6. They roll 6d(2) burn, 5d(2) burn, 5d(2) burn, 5d(2) burn, 5d(2) burn, 5d(2) burn, 5d(2) burn, 5d(2) burn, and 5d(2) burn, for 75, 66, 30, 63, 42, 57, 48, 45, and 51. None of these successfully penetrate the clones' armor. The clones decide to charge the weakened synthetics rather than allow the Suppression to throw off their shots. They charge in mass with electron-sheathe bayonets set to Focus. It takes two actions to arrive at the synthetics' position, so they attack with a roll against their skill 90 (15x6). They roll 11, succeeding by 79. The synths roll a defense against 18 (12x3/2 for defense) and roll a 12, succeeding by 6. The clones beat the synths by 73, dealing 1d+1x6 imp (6) sur. They roll a 6, resulting in 42(6) imp sur damage, more than enough to finish the remaining synths.

— Two Gamma scale squads