When shooting around inside a spaceship or an industrial complex …

[Cacique Caribe]

I always wondered … with all the shooting taking place, are there any games that require a roll to make sure you don’t hit a critical conduit or cooling system by mistake and end up blowing up the whole facility, with them inside?

Or are there critical sections of the facility where both sides limit themselves to melee weapons to avoid going boom?

Thanks,

Dan

[Burgundavia]

Rogue Stars has something for this, I've attached the chart below. Not yet used it in game, but will likely move it over to my sci-fi coop game.

[Gunner Dunbar]

Not sure, but I have read a few sci-fi novels that ships crews use bladed weapons when boarding/repelling to avoid hull breach’s, which makes sense, house rule it.

[ced1106]

Depends on if you're looking for a simulation, or something cinematic. The Rogue Stars chart looks pretty good, though I'd put a modifier for cheap hulls.

Airline cabins are the closest reality to shooting inside a spaceship, and here's what How Stuff Works says.

"If the bullet simply punctures the skin of an airplane, then it's no big deal. The cabin of the airplane is pressurized, and the hole creates a small leak, but the pressurization system will compensate for it. A single hole, or even a few holes like this, will have no effect.

If the bullet blows out a window, that's a problem. A big one. When the window blows, the plane will depressurize over the course of several seconds. Since all of the air in the cockpit is rushing toward the missing window, a lot of debris will be heading in that direction with it. If the person sitting next to the window isn't strapped in, then it's possible that he or she will get pushed out -- another good reason to wear your safety belt at all times! ...

If the bullet hits wiring (or worse, if the bullet hits something important like the instrument panel in the cockpit), it could cause problems that range from trivial (in-flight entertainment stops working) to severe. The damage depends on what gets hit and how important it is.

Finally, there's the problem of the fuel tanks. Commercial jets store a lot of their fuel in the wings, but there are also tanks in the fuselage (or body of the aircraft) on many planes. For example, a 747 stores thousands of gallons of fuel in the fuselage. If a bullet were to puncture a tank, it would at least cause a leak and would have some potential to cause an explosion.

https://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/science-questions/gun-on-plane.htm

[has.been]

Sometimes you just wonder at how silly some wargamers can be.
Examples I have known as an umpire:-
1) Sci-Fi boarding action. Star Trek type phasers. Very first action for
    one player, dial it up from 'stun' to 'FULL POWER' (Blew out a bulkhead
    and sent himself & his team-mates into the void.)
2) Firing at the objective, 'To stop them (other team) from getting it' I just
    had to quote John Travolta from 'Broken Arrow' , 'Would you mind NOT
    firing at the Nuclear missile.'
3) A team of 40K Marines, who had blown the five previous doors they had
    encountered, asked (upon reaching the central room of the Space Station)
     if that door was locked. I said that I had not said that ANY doors on the
     Space Station were locked.

I could go on, but you get the picture.

[Sgt_T]

Another alternative to get around the problem:

I read a sci-fi novel (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seveneves) a while ago where fire arms development moved towards firing miniature robots at human targets in spacecraft. These robots were programmed to recognize and move to exposed skin or thin clothing to deliver their lethal payload.

Of course special body armor and countermeasures were developed against these am(mo)bots.

I like the chart by the way.

T

[Redmao]

It is well known that in the age of energy (laser) weapons, ships interior are coated with a special paint that makes them impervious to blaster shots. That's why people can shoot away without a care in most sci-fi franchises.
Of course that paint is super expensive, so nobody can afford to put it on individual armor and that only a few special doors have received a coat of that paint which explains why you can shoot some doors and others require breaching charges.

[Vanvlak]

You could also have a device which neutralizes all energy or projectile weapons - as in The Forever War - and then it's back to blades and clubs and staffs.

[v_lazy_dragon]

From memory in 40k they use 'low energy projectile weapons' - like shotguns and slug-guns/auto-guns - for shipboard combat.

[zemjw]

I seem to remember Traveller using cutlasses in boarding actions.

I heard/read something about air marshals using subsonic ammunition, but that could have just been in a book/on a TV show

Shotguns, especially flechette rounds (presumably the Geneva Convention no longer applies  )

[Burgundavia]

You could also have a device which neutralizes all energy or projectile weapons - as in The Forever War - and then it's back to blades and clubs and staffs.

Dune also has this - their sonic shields basically make anything but really large munitions and blades useless.

[War Monkey]

I have always wondered the "What If" when a shot misses it target, such as that on a ship, space station or even a space port. For example, two opposite teams starting a shootout in a space port, no one knows that these two teams are going to have a shootout
 so, there should be NPCs roaming around the port. when the shooting starts between these two teams and the first few missed shots happen where did they go? Could this lead your team from being heroes to being villains for shooting an innocent bystander?

[zrunelord]

This is an interesting read.
To continue the airplane decompression description read here for a real life incident

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Airways_Flight_5390

My thoughts the discussion are these. First that table looks very interesting thanks for sharing.

A) This should only happen on a fumble or botched up roll.
E.g. roll 00 on a d100. So the % of a disaster is quite low but still possible, as usually used in rpg's.( keep in mind that the whole party can be effectively killed permanently. No reserections in scifi  )

B) Tables are great & useful but the more you have the more complicated & slow things become. This is off course up to the player/s but the " keep it simple stupid" kiss acronym holds true for a usually more enjoyable game.

Z

[ithoriel]

A) This should only happen on a fumble or botched up roll.
E.g. roll 00 on a d100. So the % of a disaster is quite low but still possible, as usually used in rpg's.( keep in mind that the whole party can be effectively killed permanently. No reserections in scifi  )

Z

Wot? No Bene Tleilax, or the like, in your universe?

[has.been]

that the whole party can be effectively killed permanently. No reserections in scifi

To paraphrase the musicals,
'Send in the Clones, there have to be Clones...'