 YORIK-ET "CORALSKIPPER"
Craft: Yuuzhan Vong Yorik-et starfighter
Type: Multi-purpose bioship starfighter
Scale: Starfighter
Dimensions:
-Length: 13m (average)
Skill: Bioship piloting: Yorik-et/'Coralskipper'
Crew: 1
Crew Skill: Bioship piloting 4D+1, bioship gunnery 4D, biotech operations 2D+1
Cargo Capacity: 1.3 metric tons
Consumables: 1 day
Cost: N/A
Hyperdrive: N/A
Nav Computer: Yes (short-ranged, uses Yamosk War Coordinator)
Maneuverability: 1D-5D (see below)
Speed:
-Space: 3-15 (see below)
Hull: 5D
Defences:
-Shields: N/A
-Dovin Basal: 1D-5D (see below)
Sensors:
Passive: 25/1D
Scan: 50/2D
Search: 75/3D
Focus: 3/4D
WEAPONS:
2 'Rock Spitter' Plasma Projectors (fire-linked)
Location: Grown into the forward section
Fire Arc: Front
Crew: 1 (pilot)
Skill: Bioship gunnery
Scale: Starfighter
Fire Control: 4D
Space Range: 1-4/16/32
Atmosphere Range: 50-400/1.6/3.2km
Damage: 7D
Ammo: 20 (Hull Dice x4, see below)
Rate of Fire: 1
Yaret-Cor 'Magma Launcher'
Location: Appendage on front hull
Fire Arc: Front
Crew: 1 (pilot)
Skill: Bioship gunnery
Scale: Starfighter
Fire Control: 2D
Space Range: 1-2/4/11
Atmosphere Range: 50-200/400/1.1km
Damage: 9D
Ammo: 5 (see below)
Rate of Fire: 1
'Tractor Beam' (See Dovin Basal, below)
Location: Dovin basal, mounted under forward hull
Fire Arc: Front
Crew: 1 (pilot)
Skill: Bioship gunnery
Scale: Starfighter
Fire Control: 3D
Space Range: 1-5/15/30
Atmosphere Range: 100-500/1.5/3km
Damage: 1D-5D (see below)
Ammo: N/A
Rate of Fire: 1
DESCRIPTION:
"In the yorik-et, two minds become one."
―Yuuzhan Vong pilot's creed.
The yorik-et, referred to as a coralskipper or 'skip' by New Republic forces,
was the Yuuzhan Vong version of a starfighter during their invasion of the
galaxy.
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GAME NOTES
DOVIN BASAL: The heart of a coralskipper's defenses, propulsion and maneuverability, as well as some of it's other techniques, are tied to the dovin basal, another living creation of the Yuuzhan Vong, grown separately and symbiotically attached to the Yorik-et. The dovin basal possesses 4D worth of ability. This can be divided among Maneuverability, Speed, or as 'Shields', in any way the pilot sees fit. If placed into Speed, then the dice are divided into pips, each '1' increasing the Speed by '1'. Each division retains a minimum that can still be used if the dovin basal's power is directed elsewhere, however in an emergency the pilot can pull these reserves to gain a 5D bonus in one ability, at the expense of all others becoming a zero. This is best done as a last resort, to outrun an impossible enemy, maniacally dodge an attack of sure destruction, or to give full power to the black hole shields when nothing else will do.
Along with these, the dovin basal also has these other abilities...
-BLACK HOLE SHIELDS: The dovin basal creates miniature singularities that create strong imploding gravitational forces, absorbing missiles, proton torpedoes, laser fire and just about anything else thrown at it, be it physical or energy.
This works the same as shields, adding the extra dice to the coralskipper's Hull dice, and rolling against the incoming damage. Unless the pilot wishes otherwise, the black hole is always present, like shields (though the pilot
could maneuver the black hole to cover another vessel with a successful Moderate Biotech Operations skill roll). If attackers wish to overcome these defenses, they must make an attack roll that beats the cosalskipper's defense roll by +2 levels of Difficulty (+10 if beyond Heroic), otherwise the black hole will always try to absorb the attack. If an attacker actually beats the defense roll at +2 Difficulty, they do damage directly to the coralskipper's Hull dice alone.
If they do not but still roll higher than the coralskipper's roll to resist damage, the damage does not affect the skip, but instead overpowers the dovin basal as it gives everything it has to absorb the attack. It cannot be used
again for a number of rounds equal to how many damage categories the attack succeeded by. If the attack scored a Vehicle/Starship Destroyed result, it stays inactive for 4 rounds. The coralskipper survives, but now has no dovin
basal to defend itself, and is left with the minimum statistics given above until the dovin basal is useful again. Pilots of the galaxy eventually discovered they could have their energy weapons deliver multiple shots at less
power, called splinter fire, that would quickly tire out a dovin basal and let them attack the coralskipper's hull. If using this technigue, the take all damage done to a dovin basal in 1 round by an attack action (including if that
action grants multiple shots/higher rates of fire!) and stack it together for the purpose of overpowering the dovin basal.
-RIP SHIELDS: The dovin basal can 'rip' the shields from another starship, as it creates gravitic stresses that drain or shatter the shields from the ship. The coralskipper's pilot must make an attack roll using Biotech Operations to
project the dovin basal's gravitic abilities against the target's shields. Then the dovin basal's dice are rolled against the ship's shield dice alone. If the dovin basal beats the shields, they are out of commission for as many rounds as
achieved on the Starship Damage chart. A ship can protect against this attack by expanding it's inertial compensator to envelope it's shields, and can then roll it's Hull and Shields together to resist the shield ripping. But
coralskipper's can also unify their efforts together against one ship for stronger results, like fire-linking a weapon.
-TRACTOR BEAM: The dovin basal can use it's gravitic manipulations in the same manner as a tractor beam, using it's dice for strength/damage. (See entry above)
-INTEDICTION FIELD: While it's only starfighter scale, a devious coralskipper pilot could use their dovin basal to keep a target vessel from entering hyperspace. They must make a Moderate Biotech Operations roll to establish the interdiction
field. The target vessel may try and fly away from the field and find a vector not covered by it to enter hyperspace. The coralskipper pilot may keep the field on the target with a successful Biotech Operations roll against the target ship's piloting skil roll. A successful roll by the coralskipper means the fighter cannot enter hyperspace, failure means they can unhindered. Also, several coralskippers can overlap their fields and unify their efforts against any one fighter. If they do this, it does NOT work by the rules for Aid Another, but increases the base Coralskipper's roll by +5 per added interdiction effect. Also, several coralskippers can overlap their interdiction fields to affect a single capital class ship, but this requires seven to begin with.
REFUELING: The coralskipper has limited fuel and weapon supplies (as noted snove). It can easily refuel itself by devouring rocks, meteor, asteroids and other common spaceborn debris, taking 1 round to replenish either a single magma bolt or 1D Hull x4 worth to the 'rock spotter'.
NOTE: For more information on the divin basal, or alternative uses, see the entry for the dovin basal in the Characters section of the site where many Yuuzhan Vong creatures are listed.
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Characteristics
"And as beautiful a starfighter design as my scientists have seen. Fast, and can snap-turn with an A-wing, and with more firepower than almost anything that size we can put up."
―Lando Calrissian on a downed coralskipper.
The yorik-et was a bioship made from yorik coral, since the Yuuzhan Vong despised mechanical technology as an abomination. It was grown instead of manufactured so no two coralskippers looked alike. Despite this, every
coralskipper shared some basic features, such as a dark canopy, and a triangular body. The coralskipper's pilot could communicate with the craft via a special mask called a cognition hood at the cockpit.
The coralskipper's weapon was a yaret-kor, a small appendage at the front of the vehicle which released a searing magma rock that could seriously damage enemy craft. The coralskipper also possessed two plasma projectors at the front of the ship, sometimes referred to as 'rock spitters'. The coralskipper refueled and rearmed by eating rocks, small asteroids, and stellar debris. However, like any living organism, coralskippers aged and died.
Also, hidden beneath the front of a yorik-et was a small creature that resembled a heart called the dovin basal. The dovin basal was the most important part of the bioship because it functioned like a miniature black hole, creating
a powerful supergravity field when activated. This field could be used to overload the shields of an enemy starfighter and could also act as the coralskipper's own shield by drawing laser fire and missiles into the yawning
maw of the miniature singularity.
Like all classes of Yuuzhan Vong spacecraft, the coralskipper utilized the dovin basal as a means of propulsion, which became a weakness to exploit when destroying the coralskipper. When propelling the craft, the dovin basal was not
capable of defending the craft as efficiently as it could when remaining stationary.
Coralskippers were strictly space vehicles, and performed poorly in planetary atmospheres. Coralskippers were not capable of traveling for long-range travel in space and had to rely on a larger vessel to transport them across long
distances.
History
"The pilot was connected to her ship. It's like she was riding it more than flying it, like the Sand People on Tatooine and their bantha mounts."
―Lando Calrissian describing the alien craft.
The first recorded cases of of the Yorik-et craft was during the initial stages of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion in 25 ABY, which was spearheaded by the Praetorite Vong who had brought thousands of such fighters onboard their worldships to the ice planet of Helska IV. The Dozen-and-Two Avengers first encountered the craft and were left with only a single survivor of the attack when the vessels' dovin basals were used to strip the shields from the enemy craft. They were later used in an attack on the planet Dubrillion, though they were repulsed by the planetary defenders. A single downed Yuuzhan Vong craft was later examined by Lando Calrissian; the evaluation gave an insight into the extragalactic invaders and their technology. During the Second Battle of Helska, the coralskippers were coordinated by a Yammosk, which destroyed numerous New Republic starships before the ice planet of Helska 4 was destroyed in a New
Republic attack.
These vessels fought throughout the Yuuzhan Vong War. In the last year of the war, a new type of fighter was developed to support Supreme Overlord Shimrra's Slayers.
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