Building The Red Planet Empire - Mixing Warriors of the Red Planet (WotRP) with the Domain-level Architecture of ACKS II Rpg - Skyship Construction & Combat

 

Building a Sky-Ship (or Sky-Galley) using Warriors of the Red Planet (WotRP) within the framework of ACKS II turns a simple vehicular purchase into a major logistical, engineering, and financial project. This blog post picks up right from Building The Red Planet Empire - Mixing Warriors of the Red Planet (WotRP) with the Domain-level Architecture of ACKS II Rpg

In ACKS II, large construction projects are managed by the day, the gold piece, and the specialist labor required. Here is the step-by-step procedure to source, design, and build a Martian Skyship from laying the keel to taking flight.

1. Establish the Workshop & Sourcing Labor

You cannot build a radium-lofted hull in an ordinary medieval shipyard. A Scientist or Engineer needs specialized facilities.

• The Sky-Yard: Requires a dedicated workshop space valued at a minimum of 25,000 gp (consisting of high-heat smelting forges, glass-blowing apparatuses for radium conduits, and lift-harness rigging).

• The Work Force: Under ACKS II infrastructure rules, building large structures or vehicles progresses at a rate of 1 day per 500 gp of value. To maximize efficiency, you need a crew of master shipwrights, specialized radium-smiths, and a supervising Scientist.

2. Blueprint Design Phase

Before a single frame is cut, the vessel must be drafted. A Scientist must spend time mapping out the hull's displacement, the lift capacity of the Radium-Levitation cores, and propulsion sail area.

• Design Throw: The Scientist makes a Weird Science / Magical Research throw. The difficulty depends on the size of the ship (the hull's capacity measured in Stones of encumbrance).

• Cost & Time: Blueprints cost 10% of the total target vehicle cost and require 1 week of isolation per hull size class.

3. Sky-Ship Hull Specifications & Costs

Below is the structural breakdown mapping the pulpy fliers of WotRP to the logistical hull profiles of ACKS II.

Hull Type	WotRP Equivalent	ACKS II Chassis Base	Construction Cost	Cargo Capacity	Crew (Min/Max)	Structural HP
Light Scout	One-Man Flier	Launch / Skiff	5,000 gp	200 stone	1 / 2	1d6+4
Sky-Galleon	Reconnaissance Cruiser	Small Galley	25,000 gp	1,500 stone	8 / 20	3d6+10
Heavy Ether-Liner	Imperial War-Flier	Large Merchant Ship	65,000 gp	6,000 stone	20 / 50	5d6+20
Cloud-Leviathan	Dreadnought / Citadel	War Galley (Huge)	120,000 gp	12,000 stone	50 / 150	8d6+40

4. Engineering Modifications (The "Weird Science" Plug-ins)

A standard wooden hull is useless without planetary romance tech. When assembling the ship, the Scientist must allocate gold from the total budget to install mandatory propulsion and flotation machinery:

A. Radium Levitation Core (Flotation)

• Cost: 30% of the base hull cost.

• Mechanic: Utilizes the planet's latent magnetic lines or localized anti-gravity rays to keep the ship aloft. Without an active core, the ship drops out of the sky.

B. Solar-Ether Sails or Radium Propellers

• Cost: 20% of the base hull cost.

• Mechanic: Dictates operational speed. Solar sails are fast in cloudless light but slow down in dust storms or during the planet's freezing nights; Radium Engines run consistently but require scarce fuel components.

C. Radium Disintegration Turrets (Artillery)

• Cost: 5,000 gp per turret installment.

• Mechanic: Functions as a heavy ballista/catapult hybrid in ACKS II structural combat, but deals Disintegration damage, ignoring mundane wood/metal armor values on enemy ships.

5. Construction Sequence

Building a mid-sized Sky-Galleon (Total Value: 35,000 gp including basic lift engines and weaponry) requires managing the production timeline:

1.Drafting the Blueprints:1 Week / 3,500 gp.

The Lead Scientist isolates themselves in the laboratory to calculate lift-to-weight ratios. Requires a successful Engineering check to finalize blueprints.

2.Laying the Light-Metal Keel:20 Days / 10,000 gp.

Scavenged alloy sheets (like Forandus or ancient structural scrap) are smelted and shaped into a lightweight, ribbed structural frame that can withstand thin atmospheric pressures.

3.Weaving the Radium Conduits:30 Days / 15,000 gp.

Specialized artisans lay down the glowing pipes that distribute levitational force from the central engine core out to the stabilizers arrayed along the hull's wings.

4.Rigging, Sails, and Armament:20 Days / 6,500 gp.

Mounting the thin, iridescent solar-collecting sails and calibrating the defensive radium turrets.

5.The Maiden Launch:1 Day.

The core is permanently pressurized. The crew conducts an initial steering test over the dead sea bed. Total labor time: 71 days using standard yards.

Logistical Reality Check: Operating Costs

Once built, your sky-ship is an ongoing line-item in your kingdom management ledger. Under ACKS II domain rules, maintaining a complex vehicle requires paying a monthly upkeep equal to 1% of its total construction cost in spare parts, radium fluid, and specialist crew salaries. Fail to pay, and the vessel suffers cumulative structural degradation penalties.

 To blend the grand structural scale of ACKS II ship warfare with the daring, swashbuckling boarding actions of Warriors of the Red Planet (WotRP), tactical combat splits into two parallel tracks: The Range Phase (naval maneuvering and artillery duels) and The Boarding Phase (skyside melee).

The goal here is to preserve the tactical weight of ACKS II's structural damage while ensuring a well-placed leap with a radium-sword can completely turn the tide.

1. The Tactical Engagement Round

Aerial combat uses a modified 1-minute round split into four distinct steps.

[1. Initiative] ──> [2. Helm & Maneuver] ──> [3. Radium Broadside] ──>
[4. The Boarding Leap]

Step 1: Initiative

Roll $1d6$ per vessel, modified by the Helmsman’s Dexterity bonus or relevant proficiency (Navigation or Savage Skies Piloting).

Step 2: The Helm Phase (Maneuvering)

The winner of Initiative dictates the engagement bracket for the round. Ships operate in three abstract ranges:

• Long Range: Only heavy radium artillery or long-range psychic attacks can find a target.

• Short Range: Light blasters, small arms, and grappling anchors become viable.

• Boarding Distance: The hulls are close enough that a character can leap across the open sky.

To close or widen the distance, the helmsman must make a Piloting Check versus the opposing helmsman. Winning allows you to shift the range by one bracket.

2. The Broadside Phase (ACKS II Structural Damage)

When firing ship-mounted weaponry, attackers roll to hit using the gunner's Attack Throw, but damage is dealt directly to the enemy ship's Structural Hit Points (sHP).

Mundane hand-weapons cannot damage a Sky-Ship hull; only vehicular artillery or specific weird-science gadgets can strip sHP.

Weapon Type	Range Bracket	ACKS II Attack Throw	sHP Damage	Special Traits
Light Blaster Turret	Short Only	Gunner's Base	$1d4$ sHP	Accurate (+1 to hit)
Radium Disintegrator	Long / Short	Gunner's Base	$1d8$ sHP	Armor-Melting: Ignores hull plating.
Ether-Cutter Beam	Short Only	Gunner -2	$2d6$ sHP	Breaching: Instantly creates a structural breach.

The Critical Hull Breach (ACKS II Conversion)

Whenever a ship loses more than 25% of its total structural hit points in a single round, or drops below 0 sHP, roll on the Atmospheric Critical Table:

1d6	Critical Effect	Mechanical Consequence
1-2	Hull Breach	A section of the deck shatters. $1d6$ random crew members must make a Paralysis saving throw or fall into the open sky.
3-4	Radium Line Leak	Glowing fuel pipes rupture. The deck becomes hazardous terrain; anyone entering the zone takes $1d6$ damage per round from radiation.
5	Engine Crippled	Flotation/propulsion drops by 50%. The ship automatically loses all initiative rolls for the remainder of the combat.
6	Catastrophic Core Vent	The radium core goes critical. The ship will explode or crash in $1d4$ rounds. Evacuate immediately.

3. The Boarding Phase (WotRP Swashbuckling)

Once a helmsman successfully maneuvers the vessel into Boarding Distance, the engagement transitions from naval combat into an active dungeon/skyside encounter.

          [ YOUR SKY-SHIP ]
                |  |  (Grappling Anchors Locked)
                V  V
   ~ ~ ~ [ THE OPEN ABYSS ] ~ ~ ~ 
                ^  ^
                |  |  (The Boarding Leap / Swing)
          [ ENEMY SKY-GALLEY ]

Securing the Hold: Grappling

Before boarding, a ship must lock the target in place. Crew members use light ballistas to fire Harpoon Anchors.

• Roll: Standard Attack Throw against the enemy ship's base Armor Class.

• Requirement: It takes at least two secured grappling lines to prevent a rival helmsman from using the Helm Phase to break away into Short Range.

The Boarding Leap

Characters jumping across the gap from one moving sky-vessel to another must brave the thin Martian air. This is handled via a Strength or Dexterity Saving Throw (Player's choice, representing brute athletic power vs. precise timing).

• Success: The character lands dramatically on the enemy deck, ready to fight. They may take their regular combat action immediately.

• Failure: The leap was mistimed. The character misses the deck but catches themselves on the safety rigging, hanging over the drop. They are considered Helpless and lose their turn while climbing up.

• Failure by 5 or more: The character plummets into the dead sea beds below unless a companion uses an immediate reaction or psychic ability to catch them.

4. Resolving Mass Crew Clashes

While your player characters are hunting down the enemy Jeddak or Scientist on the main deck, the rest of the crew is engaged in a chaotic melee. Rather than rolling for fifty individual sailors, use the ACKS II Battle Group Mechanics condensed for the deck space:

Every 10 Crew Members form a single Combat Unit.

• Calculate the unit’s total Hit Dice based on their average level (e.g., 10 Level-1 Fighting Men = a 10 HD Unit).

• Each round during the boarding phase, the units trade attacks. For every 1 HD of damage a unit takes, one crew member falls overboard or is slain.

• If a crew unit's morale breaks (using standard ACKS II Morale Throws), they throw down their radium blades and surrender the vessel.

The Capture Objective

In a Sword and Planet campaign, sinking a ship is usually a massive waste of resources. The primary goal is almost always to preserve the hull while eliminating the steering crew. Stripping a ship to 0 sHP forces a crash landing, but executing a flawless boarding action preserves a fully functional Sky-Galley worth tens of thousands of gold pieces for your player's growing empire.