The Cross-Scale Spine

Damage scales logarithmically: each scale step is x10, so a capital weapon can be enormously more powerful than a rifle while no number in play exceeds two digits.

This is a rounded abstraction, not a measurement. Real muzzle energies do not sit on clean powers of ten — a rifle round is about 3.4 kJ and a tank sabot about 10 MJ, a ratio nearer 3,000 than the 100 the ladder assigns. The ladder is chosen because it is tractable and monotonic, and it is labelled provisional like everything else.

Scale	Multiplier	Representative
0	x1	Unarmoured people, small drones
1	x10	Powered armour, heavy weapons
2	x100	Vehicles, light mechs
3	x1,000	Heavy mechs, fighters
4	x10,000	Dropships, corvettes
5	x100,000	Frigates, destroyers
6	x1,000,000	Capital ships, stations

Converting across scales

Damage at target scale = Damage x 10 ^ (attacker scale - target scale)

Attacker	Target	Multiplier	Effect
6	0	x1,000,000	Annihilated; roll only for narrative detail
5	2	x1,000	Annihilated; roll only for narrative detail
3	2	x10	Overwhelming; expect location destruction
2	2	x1	Meaningful exchange
2	3	x0.1	Damages exposed components only
0	2	x0.01	Cannot threaten the hull; must target components or crew
0	6	x0.000001	Cannot threaten the hull; must target components or crew

Why small units still matter

Components live at their own scale. A sensor array, an airlock seal or an exposed crewman is a small target bolted to a huge hull.
Angular size ignores scale. A boarding torch at 2 m hits essentially automatically.
Progress thresholds are scale-free. Sabotage, hacking and boarding accumulate Margin, not damage.

Infantry threaten warships by attacking things a rifle can actually break.