I'm going to get a little mathematical, so bear with me.
Let me preface this with "This is not another thread about how the Wild Die or Exploding Dice make the math wonky". I'm fine with Savage Worlds at character level. My issue is when it starts to get into Vehicles and higher damage die pools. Here's a chart that shows the percentage chances of rolling a wound on your damage at character level with some fairly basic weapons from the Savage Worlds Deluxe Edition. Anything that represented below a 1% was rounded down to -. These values include dice acing.
Savage Worlds Character Damage To Wound
Target
|
2d4
|
2d6
|
2d8
|
2d10
|
3d6
|
5
|
25%
|
38%
|
56%
|
72%
|
75%
|
6
|
19%
|
31%
|
47%
|
64%
|
66%
|
7
|
14%
|
25%
|
39%
|
55%
|
57%
|
8
|
12%
|
21%
|
32%
|
47%
|
49%
|
9
|
9%
|
17%
|
26%
|
40%
|
42%
|
10
|
6%
|
13%
|
21%
|
33%
|
36%
|
11
|
3%
|
10%
|
18%
|
28%
|
30%
|
12
|
2%
|
8%
|
15%
|
23%
|
25%
|
13
|
2%
|
6%
|
13%
|
19%
|
21%
|
14
|
1%
|
5%
|
10%
|
16%
|
17%
|
15
|
-
|
4%
|
8%
|
13%
|
14%
|
16
|
-
|
3%
|
6%
|
12%
|
11%
|
17
|
-
|
2%
|
5%
|
10%
|
9%
|
18
|
-
|
1%
|
4%
|
8%
|
8%
|
19
|
-
|
-
|
3%
|
7%
|
6%
|
20
|
-
|
-
|
3%
|
6%
|
5%
|
It's a nice spread. No one has a 100% chance to wound and there is a smooth progression between damage and Target Toughness.
Now here is a chart of the Sci-Fi Companion's Starship damages. Note that this is without any additional armor to the frame and ignores Starship Shields as they just ablate anyway. These values include dice acing.
Sci Fi Companion
(Lasers) To Wound
Target
|
2d10(5)
|
3d10(10)
|
4d10(15)
|
6d10(25)
|
8d10(40)
|
10d10(50)
|
20(5)
|
13%
|
42%
|
74%
|
99%
|
100%
|
100%
|
25(6)
|
7%
|
24%
|
53%
|
94%
|
100%
|
100%
|
35(8)
|
2%
|
7%
|
21%
|
70%
|
96%
|
100%
|
45(10)
|
-
|
2%
|
7%
|
38%
|
80%
|
97%
|
50(11)
|
-
|
-
|
4%
|
26%
|
67%
|
93%
|
55(13)
|
-
|
-
|
4%
|
19%
|
57%
|
88%
|
60(15)
|
-
|
-
|
3%
|
13%
|
47%
|
82%
|
70(20)
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
7%
|
32%
|
69%
|
80(25)
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
3%
|
20%
|
54%
|
Sci Fi Companion
(Mass Drivers) To Wound
Target
|
3d12
|
4d12
|
6d12
|
8d12
|
10d12
|
12d12
|
14d12
|
16d12
|
20d12
|
20(5)
|
33%
|
66%
|
96%
|
100%
|
100%
|
100%
|
100%
|
100%
|
100%
|
25(6)
|
17%
|
44%
|
90%
|
99%
|
100%
|
100%
|
100%
|
100%
|
100%
|
35(8)
|
4%
|
14%
|
60%
|
92%
|
99%
|
100%
|
100%
|
100%
|
100%
|
45(10)
|
-
|
4%
|
28%
|
71%
|
97%
|
99%
|
100%
|
100%
|
100%
|
50(11)
|
-
|
2%
|
17%
|
56%
|
88%
|
98%
|
100%
|
100%
|
100%
|
55(13)
|
-
|
-
|
10%
|
41%
|
78%
|
96%
|
100%
|
100%
|
100%
|
60(15)
|
-
|
-
|
6%
|
28%
|
66%
|
91%
|
99%
|
100%
|
100%
|
70(20)
|
-
|
-
|
2%
|
12%
|
40%
|
74%
|
93%
|
99%
|
100%
|
80(25)
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
4%
|
20%
|
50%
|
80%
|
95%
|
100%
|
Sci Fi Companion
(Missiles) To Wound
Target
|
6d6(8)
|
8d6(15)
|
8d12(40)
|
10d12(80)
|
20(5)
|
80%
|
98%
|
100%
|
100%
|
25(6)
|
58%
|
91%
|
100%
|
100%
|
35(8)
|
22%
|
59%
|
100%
|
100%
|
45(10)
|
4%
|
26%
|
100%
|
99%
|
50(11)
|
1%
|
16%
|
100%
|
98%
|
55(13)
|
-
|
10%
|
99%
|
97%
|
60(15)
|
-
|
6%
|
98%
|
94%
|
70(20)
|
-
|
1%
|
93%
|
88%
|
80(25)
|
-
|
-
|
86%
|
78%
|
Notice a difference? The more dice added, the greater the chance of guaranteeing that 1st wound. Also, many percentages have a very steep drop.
Besides the starship complexity, this is one of the biggest issues I have with the Sci-Fi Companion. Honestly, the rest of it is awesome. But starship combat is not only lethal, it lacks the elegance of personal combat. I've tried working around it, upside down of it, left and right of it, and I've found that more dice are just a huge issue. Especially since, while the damage potential increases, you still only need to score 4 over the vehicle's Toughness just to cause a wound.
I may not totally agree with making vehicles exactly the same as characters, but the damage systems should be. I'm thinking again about a tiered damage scale system, where damage is multiplied when used against a smaller scale.
By the way, special thanks to Any Dice for giving me a tool to run these numbers.
