Vehicular Combat and Piloting
Vehicles are bigger than characters, and tend to have bigger and better weapons for attack purposes. Vehicles get an HP rating based on their size and toughness. (Vehicle HP is usually in increments of 10.) Vehicle weapons do direct damage (the amount rolled). Vehicle gunners roll against their Gunner skill to hit an enemy; the enemy may dodge (using Helm skill if a vehicle.) If the target fails to dodge, the attacker may then roll damage.
Only one weapon of a vehicle can be trained on one mansized or smaller target at a time - bigger creatures and vehicles can be hit by correspondingly greater amounts of firepower. A "normal"-sized dragon could be hit by two, a giant could probably be hit with three or four, and Godzilla could probably be hit by as many weapons as you can bring to the party, for reference's sakes.
Example: Ship's Cannon (damage by gunner skill)
The cannon is fired twice, once at a vehicle, once at a man standing on it. The gunner hits both times, and now must roll 1d20 for the damage he has inflicted.
OnlineHost: ShipCannon rolled 1 20-sided die: 20
This shot is at the vehicle - the vehicle takes 20 points of damage (before armor - vehicles usually have at least 5 points of armor).
OnlineHost: ShipCannon rolled 1 20-sided die: 20
This shot is at the rider - the poor fellow takes 20 points of damage, is probably knocked off the vehicle or at least stunned, and is hurting bad. People take the the amount rolled in damage from vehicle weapons.
Rolling a 1 on a vehicle weapon skill attack causes the weapon to suffer a mishap; jamming, overheating, or misfiring are some possible outcomes.
Rolling a 1 on a vehicle weapon damage roll causes the weapon to not fire at all (it was aimed the right way, why didn't it shoot?) or be automatically dodged (Damn! That was a perfect shot!)
Rolling a 1 on helm skill to avoid an attack causes catastrophic damage (double damage of attack, may cripple some vehicle systems.)
Reloading, rate of fire, and recharging depend on the weapon itself.
Vehicles have one last combat resort available - the ram attack. Roll 1d(max HP of ship) for the damage each ship does to the other, although the ramming ship (if equipped with a ram) can do more damage and possibly escape some damage. Incidentally, a ship can ram a character, if said character is large enough... or can't get out of the general area. Characters take 4d(max HP of ship) in direct damage from ram attacks. For reference, the ground does 1d(max HP of ship) damage to any ship to crash into it.
One last thing: Damaging a vehicle can also injure crew. If a vehicle is disabled, all occupants immediately take 1d10 direct damage, and may have worse problems (the ship begins to sink, falls out of the sky, goes out of control)...
Gunner Experience
Gunners who practice their art in combat can spend some of the XP earned as experience in the weapon they are firing. While anyone can push a button, it takes a skilled gunner to aim accurately. Gaining dice in a gunner skill only applies to that weapon - you cannot take your d50 in Cannon firing and apply it to Gatling Grasers, though perhaps you could apply it to Tank Cannon at a penalty.
Vehicle Repair
For in-flight maintenance, there are two methods:
During combat, crew can cast spells to repair the ship, using their
full dice. 1 point is healed per 10 points rolled.
Or, when out of combat, the Shipwright can use his Repair skill to
restore the ship. See Repair rules.
Hiring A Crew (Without Finding Players)
For those of you with ships and nobody to crew them, you can hire crewmen to assist you. The average crewman works for 5 GP a week, plus a share of any treasure the ship brings in. A first mate/copilot costs 20 GP a week, and probably demands a bigger share than the average crewman - but he can also pilot your ship for you and shoot the guns, and is treated just like any other character.
Crashes and Impacts
Crashes may occur when one vehicle rams or sideswipes another, or when a vehicle fails a control roll in some situations. Damage to a vehicle in a crash is equal to 4d(speed dice of the vehicle + 10) (normal damage, not direct), modified by armor, rams, and other circumstances. In a sideswipe, damage is only 1d. In a head-on collision with a moving vehicle, add speed dice together for both vehicles' damage.
Riders outside of a vehicle (such as those riding on the back of a dragon) take 1/5 of the damage of the vehicle/being they are riding. Riders within a vehicle (such as a car) take 1/10 crash damage, 1/20 damage if belted in, 1/50 damage if secured within a seat.
Flying Low
Flying low at high speed runs the risk of an accident; a control roll
is needed if speed dice exceed (height in units * 5). On this roll,
at least hit must be scored - there is a penalty of -1 to sides per
10 units that speed dice exceed height * 10, minimum d20.
Falling
Gravity is annoying - if falling straight down, without the ability to resist gravity's acceleration, the speed dice of falling are accelerated by ten units per turn, cumulatively; falling distance is considered to be maximum roll at all times, while speed dice is mainly used to calculate damage from the eventual impact and how fast one can counteract this speed.
Flying Yourself
Creatures with innate flight capability (dragons are the strongest example) are considered to have Helm(themselves) at a level equal to their current sides. This only applies to beings flying under their own power that are under full control.
Escape Distance
Standard escape distance during chase scenes is 4 * the speed dice of
the pursuer.