[none]

I forgot to mention that the Fast Play AC and Fast Play Hit Points are
ideas I created. I decided to forego some realism in vehicle-combat in
the interests of speeding up gameplay when I created the Fast Play
Statistics. Here's a sample from the supplement I made to describe these
statistics.
*****************************
Variant: Fast Play Statistics

While ships Large-sized or smaller have a single set of AC, hit points,
and hardness statistics, the Arms and Equipment Guide describes larger
vehicles in terms of sections. According to the manuscript, one section
fits into the space of a 10' by 10' by 10' cube (1,000 cubic feet)[1].
Each section lists its own hit points, hardness, and AC. Sections may
not only vary in materials construction, they may also have multiple
layers as well (including several layers of armor).

During combat, characters and ships attack the opposing ship's sections.
For oceanic ships, you need only destroy one section, usually along the
waterline, to sink the ship. There's no mention of how you determine
which section takes a hit, so players must either randomly target a
section or make called shots. Hence, controlling players must keep track
of each section's current hit points. That's a lot of bookkeeping,
especially when the whole fleet gets involved! These variant rules
suggest a Fast Play method to reduce bookkeeping.

In the Fast Play rules, Huge or larger vehicles still list their total
number of sections as well as each typical section's hit points,
hardness, and AC- you need these statistics when characters attack ships
during boarding actions. But for this variant rule, you use three new
vehicle statistics: Fast Play Hit Points, Hardness, and Armor Class.
These statistics don't apply to Large or smaller sized vehicles[2].

Like the A&EG rules for sinking sectioned ships, Fast Play Hit Points
recognizes that you don't need to destroy every square inch of a vehicle
in order to effectively destroy it. Fast Play Hit Points list a
vehicle's overall health as a single number, just like character hit
points. To compute Fast Play Hit Points, take the total hit points for a
typical section, including armor and hull hit points, and multiply the
value by the total number of sections of that type. If a vehicle has
sections made of different materials, then repeat the process for all
sections of the different types, and add the results together. Next,
divide the total sum by 10 and use the quotient as the Fast Play Hit
Points. For example, the Illithid Lance has 30 sections, with each
section comprised of 5 inches of wood and 2 inches of ceramic armor. The
total hit points per section is 90 (50 for the hull, 40 for the armor),
so the total hit points is 30 X 90 = 2700. Dividing the total sum by 10
gives 2700/10 = 270 Fast Play Hit Points.

Computing the Fast Play Hardness is similar: add the hardness ratings
for each layer in a typical section and use it as the Fast Play
Hardness. In the case of different section types, take the average of
the total hardness for each section type, and use the average for Fast
Play Hardness. For example, The hammership is mostly made of wood
(hardness 5), but it also has a bow made of iron (hardness 10). Taking
the average of the two yields a hardness of 7.5, but since the ship is
more wood than metal, assume the Fast Play hardness is 7. Finally, for
Fast Play Armor Class, use the same method as computing Fast Play
Hardness but substitute section AC instead.

1. Technically the manuscript says a section is 10 feet by 10 feet, but
it's not a stretch to include height.
2. A&EG states vehicles are described in sections if their longest
dimension is 20 feet or more, putting sectioned vehicles in the Huge
category or above.
*****************************

Even when using Fast Play Hit Points, combat may take awhile, so I also
came up with batteries and salvos.. But that's a concept for a later
time.

-Mike