Chapter 2: Advanced Combat
In this chapter, we’ll present a number of optional rules sets that can be added on to the rules in Chapter 1: Basic Combat to customize your space combat game. Each set of rules you add increases the complexity and the time required to play out a ship-to-ship battle, but provides an additional level of detail for the game. The advanced rules include an expanded Sequence of Play, Power phase, sensor phase, expanded maneuvering rules, fire modes for shipboard weapons, a detailed damage system, special orders, and rules for ships fighting in the Fusion Age or Matter Age. None of the rules contradict each other, but you may want to try them out one or two at a time instead of wrestling with all the detailed rules systems at once. In order of detail, we recommend the following: a. Fire Modes b. System Damage c. Maneuver Checks d. Sensor Checks e. Power Distribution f. Varying game scales
Sequence Of Play
The expanded rules in the advanced combat system add several steps to the sequence of play. The advanced sequence of play is as follows: Edge Phase Power Phase Sensor Phase Movement Phase a. Capital Ships b. Medium and Light Ships c. Small Craft d. Antiship Missiles e. Counter-missile Missiles f. Mine attacks Fire Phase a. Beams and Projectiles b. Torpedoes and Special c. Missile Attacks d. Bomb Attacks Launch Phase Repair Phase Special Orders
Edge Phase
Edge is determined as described in the basic rules—each round, both commanders make crew checks (or Tactics—space tactics skill checks, if a player character is one of the commanders). The side that achieves the greatest success wins the edge. In addition to the edge check modifiers, you may add the following modifiers:
• +3 step penalty if no enemy ships are currently held by
successful sensor checks.
• −3 step bonus if the ship performed a successful Break
maneuver in the preceding round (see Movement) and there are no other friendly ships in play.
Power
Most ships are built with sufficient power generation to simultaneously run all combat-critical systems. However, battle damage to power-stingy ship designs may make it necessary for the ship commander to decide from round to round which systems will receive power. You need to assign power points only if you wish to change which systems the ship is actually powering, or if damage to the ship’s power plant has reduced the total number of power points available. With the exception of engines, there’s no such thing as partial power—a system is either powered or it isn’t (although you can save power points for use in later rounds by accumulating power in weapons that aren’t fired this round). For engines, you only need to spend power for the amount of acceleration you want to use in the movement phase. List power costs for each weapon, sensor, defense, and engine system on your ship record sheet. You may find it useful to record power distribution as well.
Accumulating Power Some heavy weapon systems require an enormous amount of power—so much power that a ship can’t muster all of the energy needed to fire the weapon. Power points can be stored or accumulated in a weapon system until it’s ready for use. For example, let’s say that a destroyer is built around a heavy matter beam—an oversized weapon for a destroyer. The matter beam requires 24 points of power to fire. If the destroyer generates 40 points of power and the captain allocates 32 points to other systems this round, he has 8 points to spare, which he can pour into the big gun. The heavy matter beam has received 8 of the 24 points it needs to fire, so it needs only 16 to power up the heavy matter beam in any subsequent round.
Weapons Hot Since ships can store extra power in the power banks of their major weapons systems, you can assume that all ships begin a battle with “weapons hot.” Hot weapons are powered to within 1 point of firing. In other words, the first time a ship fires a weapon during combat, it takes only 1 power point— regardless of the size of the weapon or its normal power demands. This rule assumes that the ship has a few minutes before
the shooting starts to stack power into its weapon accumulators. In some cases, a surprise attack may catch a fleet with its weapons cold. Instead of firing the first volley for a measly 1 power point per weapon, a ship with cold weapons must pay the full cost to power its weapons and fire. Note that this makes it possible for ships built around a high-power weapon to deliver one good punch fast—but then it might take a number of rounds to accumulate power for the next shot of the ship’s big gun.
Tactical Datalinks
Sensors
Space is big, and ships are small. Sometimes the best defense for a starship commander is hiding in plain sight. A ship that hasn’t been detected can’t be hit. Ships that are on the map sheet during a battle are considered to be contacts. Contacts may not be attacked until they have been successfully localized by a sensor check (a crew check or a System Operation—sensors skill check) and reclassified as targets.
Contacts For ease of play, there are no special rules for hidden movement or movement plots in Warships. All ships involved in a battle are contacts. You can assume that telltale radio emissions, heat signatures, or even visual observation of stars occluded by a ship’s passage provide commanders with a rough idea of where the enemy is. The miniature or counter you use to mark your ship’s location on the map represents this level of general sensor information available to the enemy.
Targets Firing solutions are a different story. Before a ship can be attacked, it must first be detected by means of a successful sensor check. Each ship may attempt one sensor check per sensor per enemy ship in range. For instance, if a destroyer has three sensor systems and there are two contacts in range, the player controlling the destroyer rolls three checks against each target—one for each sensor system. The following modifiers apply: Condition Long range Medium range Short range Range 1 hex or less Contact size Contact fired in preceding round
Modifier +3 steps +1 step +0 –3 steps by ship –3 steps
Many sensors have specific advantages or disadvantages. For example, ships equipped with EM detectors gain a –2 step bonus to sensor checks against contacts that are using active radar systems.
Tracking Once a contact has been detected and reclassified as a target, no more sensor checks are necessary—the ship that detected the contact automatically tracks the contact in each subsequent round, unless something makes the detecting ship drop track. The following conditions may break a detection:
• The detecting ship is reduced to 0 stun, wound, mortal,
or compartment points;
• The detecting ship suffers a hit that knocks out the sensor used to acquire the target;
• The target moves into a sensor shadow of the detecting
ship.
• The detecting ship fails to provide power to the sensor
used to acquire the target.
• The target moves beyond the sensor’s maximum range.
Tracks are dropped at the end of the phase in which the triggering event occurs, regardless of the current phase of the round. For example, if a ship suffers damage that knocks out a sensor in the fire phase, the target reverts to a contact at the end of the phase. Fire against the target in the current phase is resolved, but no further fire is possible until the contact is re-acquired as a target.
Active and Passive Sensors fall into one of two general categories: active and passive. Active sensors generate some kind of energy signal and transmit it, evaluating the target based on how the contact reflects the signal. Active sensors are very good for targeting, but they give away the originating ship’s position, and they can be detected at a greater distance than they can detect targets. Passive sensors simply detect energy emissions generated by the target itself. The target’s exact range and location are a matter of interpretation and data processing, so most passive sensors aren’t as good at targeting as active sensors. However, passive sensors do not give away the sensing ship’s location, since no energy is being generated and transmitted at the target. Passive sensors can usually detect a ship using active sensors at a greater distance than the active ship can detect the passive ship at. The decision of whether to go active or stay passive can
have a lot of tactical significance. Two common sensor systems—the EM detector and the CE passive scan—confer significant bonuses to the sensor check if used against a target that has “gone active.”
Battle Damage Assessment One of the most critical uses of sensor data in the course of a space battle is battle damage assessment—the evaluation of damaged enemies to determine if they need to be attacked again. Determining whether an enemy battleship has had all of its power knocked out by a hail of matter cannon fire may be crucial to a commander’s decision on whether to stay and fight or flee the scene. Battle damage assessment requires careful study of fleeting images and returns. Many sensor systems simply don’t provide the right kind of data. The following sensor systems are useful for battle damage assessment:
• Hi-res video
• Probe and advanced probe (if fitted with video systems)
• Spectroanalyzer (+2 step penalty to battle damage
assessment checks)
• CE passive scan
On a successful sensor check, the player whose ship is scanning for battle damage may examine the target ship record sheet and make a note of the amount of damage the ship has suffered, which systems are knocked out, and so on.
Movement
The movement rules are expanded by the addition of the maneuver check—a type of crew check that allows a ship to exceed its normal performance, take evasive action, or seize the initiative in a limited combat. In addition, these rules introduce an insidious new threat for the warship commander: the mine.
Maneuver Checks All ships are assigned a Maneuverability Class based on the size and hull type. However, a ship may attempt a crew check (or Vehicle Ops-spacecraft skill check on the part of the character at the helm) to increase its Maneuverability Class by 1, 2, or 3 for an Ordinary, Good, or Amazing success. For example, a destroyer has a base Maneuverability Class 3. If it’s traveling at a speed of 9, its MC is reduced by two points to MC 1. Under normal circumstances, the ship is limited to one maneuver per round. If the helmsman rolls an Ordinary success on the check, the destroyer’s Maneuverability Class is increased to 2, allowing it to perform one more maneuver this round than it would normally due to its high speed.
Acceleration and Maneuver Checks Each point of acceleration “left over” after the ship adjusts its speed for the round adds a –1 step bonus to the maneuver check (or skill check). If the destroyer in the preceding example had two points of acceleration unused in the current phase, the pilot would roll his maneuver check with a –2 step bonus.
Limits of Maneuvering A ship can’t attempt maneuver checks on consecutive rounds. Since a maneuver check represents the pilot’s efforts to push the ship to its maximum performance, it takes at least one round to recover from the stresses on both machinery and personnel before another extreme maneuver can be attempted.
Jinking Instead of using a maneuver check to increase its maneuverability, a ship can instead use a maneuver check to “jink,” making itself harder to hit. An Ordinary, Good, or Amazing result on the maneuver check adds a +1, +2, or +3 step penalty to any incoming enemy fire, missile attacks, or bomb attacks in the following fire phase. Just like a normal maneuver check, unused acceleration in the current round adds a –1 step bonus per point left over to the maneuver check. In addition, the ship’s size modifier is reversed and added to the pilot’s skill check. For example, a fighter has a +3 step size modifier for targeting, but this becomes a –3 step bonus for jinking attempts.
Mine Attacks If a ship or missile passes through a hex in which enemy mines are present, the movement phase is interrupted to perform an immediate mine attack. A ship passing through several mined hexes may have to check for mine attacks multiple times in the same move. Friendly mines never endanger ships. Mining a hex requires at least one pattern of ten mines.
Facing
Multiple patterns may be laid to create a denser and more dangerous minefield. For each mined hex, the moving ship must roll a crew check (or Tactics-space tactics skill check by the commanding officer) and consult the table below:
Table 2–1: Mine Attacks No. of Patterns
Check Result M O G – – –
A – – –
The result is the number of mine attacks the moving ship sustains in that hex. For example, a cruiser moving through a hex with three mine patterns rolls an Ordinary success on a crew check, so it suffers one mine attack in that hex. A mine attack is not an automatic hit; the opposing player simply gets a chance to make a normal attack roll for the mine, taking into account its warhead, guidance system, the target size, and so on. The effects of a mine hit take place immediately. A ship destroyed by a mine halfway through its move obviously doesn’t finish its movement for the round. Similarly, a ship that suffers mine damage that knocks out all of its power can’t make any maneuvers after it hits the mine.
Laying Mines A ship carrying mines in an ordnance cell, missile rack, or similar launcher places mines in the launch phase. The mines can be placed in any hex adjacent to the ship, as well as the hex it’s currently located in. Since it takes ten mines to make a mine pattern, a ship that lays less than ten mines in a single launch phase may have to loiter in the same hex for several rounds to complete its mine pattern. Mines are marked on the map by a mine counter, which indicates that there are telltale signs that a minefield may be in that hex. Every time a ship lays a pattern of mines, it can place a second marker on the map in a hex it might have mined. This dummy marker should make the opposing player uncertain about the actual location of the minefield.
Detecting Mines Mines are typically designed to be small, stealthy, and hard to detect. A ship that moves into a minefield marker is entitled to one sensor check to determine if the marker is a real mine pattern or a dummy counter. If mines are detected, the moving ship may attempt a maneuver of some kind to avoid plowing through the hex, provided it has enough maneuverability to do so (in other words, it hasn’t used all of its maneuvers this round). Otherwise, the ship must move into or through the mined hex.
Clearing Mines Getting rid of a mine pattern is easy, as long as a ship has time to do so. During each special orders phase spent adjacent to the minefield, the warship may attempt a sensor check to detect one, two, or three mines. The mines may then be detonated by one weapon hit apiece. A mine pattern is defeated if it is reduced to four mines or less.
Attack Phase
In this chapter, we’ll introduce three new concepts for the attack roll: targeting sensors, weapon fire modes, and missile salvoes and flights.
Weapons and Sensors Before a warship can fire on an enemy vessel, it must obtain a successful sensor check. The simple presence of the enemy miniature or marker represents a contact, a set of weak signatures and telltale emissions that gives away the ship’s general location. This isn’t good enough for a firing solution. The firing ship can fire only at targets that have been detected with a successful sensor check in a previous sensor phase. It is possible to launch missiles at a contact in the hope that the missiles’ seeker heads will successfully detect the contact when the missile reaches the enemy ship. But a missile that doesn’t have a detected target to attack simply flies past without detonating.
Power A weapon must be powered before it can fire, and the act of firing discharges all power the weapon has stored. A powered weapon doesn’t have to fire; the captain can hold fire and save the weapon’s charge for a later attack phase if he so chooses.
Fire Modes Each weapon described on your ship record sheet may fire in one or more of four different modes: single-shot (F), burst (B), automatic (A), or battery (Group). If a weapon is capable of firing in multiple modes, the player may choose from round to round how the weapon will be employed. It’s impossible to combine two fire modes at the same time. For example, four plasma cannon with burst fire capability could shoot as individual weapons using burst fire mode, or they could fire as a single four-weapon battery, but they can’t do both at the same time.
Single Shot (Mode F) This is the easiest firing method. The weapon fires one shot. All you need to do is make one attack roll per weapon firing in single-shot mode, taking all relevant fac-
tors into consideration (range modifiers, target modifiers, fire control modifiers, and so on.).
Burst Fire (Mode B) Some quick-firing weapons are capable of firing several shots in rapid succession. To represent the increased effectiveness of a burst of fire, make one attack roll with a –1 step bonus for burst fire. Make sure to take all other fire modifiers into account before rolling the attack. Burst fire is better than single-shot fire, but not all weapons are capable of firing in burst mode.
Autofire (Mode A) Sometimes rate of fire is the most important weapon characteristic. Weapons capable of full automatic fire make a special kind of attack roll: an autofire attack. Add up all the factors applying to the attack roll as you would for a normal single-shot attack. Then add a +1 step penalty, a +2 step penalty, and a +3 step penalty. Roll all three situation dice with the same control die. This will give you three results for the same attack—with autofire, it’s possible to score up to three hits with a single attack from one weapon. All targets of a weapon’s autofire attack must be in the same hex as each other. Example: The Augusta is firing one autofire-rigged plasma cannon at an enemy fighter that’s too close. The weapon accuracy, range, target size, and fire control modifiers net out at a +d0 for a single-shot attack. Firing in full auto means that the plasma cannon will make three attack rolls at a +1, +2, and +3 step penalty. The Augusta player rolls a d20 (the control die) and a d4, d6, and d8 (the situation dice). Let’s say that they come up a 6, 2, 1, and 4 respectively. These come out as attack rolls of 8, 7, and 10. Assuming the Augusta has an average crew (skill score 12), the autofire attack results in three Ordinaryquality hits. Autofire is especially useful for close-range defense with small, accurate weapons against attacking fighters and missiles.
Battery Fire (Mode G) Heavy weapons are characterized by low rates of fire and some inaccuracy due to the extreme ranges at which they’re used. To overcome these drawbacks, a number of heavy weapons are grouped together and fired as a battery. By concentrating the fire of several heavy weapons, it becomes much more likely that at least one will score a hit. Battery fire works a lot like an autofire attack—except in reverse. The base situation die for the battery fire attack is figured normally, taking into account the range, fire control modifiers, the target’s defenses, and so on. Then, each addi tional weapon firing in the battery adds another situation die
with a cumulative one-step bonus. Up to four weapons can fire as a single battery at a single target. Each situation die modifies the same roll of the control die, yielding a different result for each gun participating in the battery fire. Example: The Revenge is a battlecruiser armed with four heavy matter beams. She fires all four at the Tiger, an enemy battleship. The basic attack modifiers for the Revenge give it a net modifier of +1 step to the attack. The battery attack is rolled at a d20 (the control die) +1d4 (the first beam), +d0 (the second), -d4 (the third), and –d6 (the fourth). Assume that the Revenge needs a 14 to hit. The d20 comes up 15; the first d4 is a 3, the d0 is a 0, the second d4 is a 2, and the d6 is a 6. The results: attack rolls of 18, 15, 12, and 9. In this case, the Revenge scores two misses and two Ordinary hits with its battery fire. Each hit scored by several weapons firing as a battery is a separate hit for purposes of secondary damage, ablative shields, hit locations, armor rolls, and so on. It’s just like hitting the same target multiple times with different weapons. All weapons firing in battery must be identical. All must be powered, and all must bear on the same target. Each battery fire attack can only target one specific target, but a large ship with a number of weapons eligible for battery fire might form several batteries to engage two or three targets at the same time, especially if the targets happen to be located in different firing arcs.
Salvoes and Patterns Attacking missiles and bombs may be grouped together to increase the chance of scoring a hit. Up to four missiles or bombs can attack in this way. Just like battery fire, each warhead after the first receives a cumulative –1 step bonus to its attack roll. See “Battery Fire” for more information.
Missile Flights A missile flight is an overwhelming number of missiles designed to saturate the enemy defenses and score multiple hits on a high-value target. A flight consists of ten salvoes, or forty individual missiles. Instead of rolling forty separate attacks, you can make one attack roll using all applicable modifiers against the crew score of the ship that fired the missiles. The level of success of the attack roll dictates how many hits of what success levels the flight scores:
Table 2–2: Missile Flight Attacks Attack No. of Hits of Success… Roll O G A Failure 10 Ordinary 12 Good Amazing 16
For example, a missile flight attacks a battleship. The attacking ship’s crew has a crew check score of 14, and the modifiers for the attack add up to a –2 step bonus. If the attack roll (a d20 minus a d6) is an 11 and a 5, respectively, the total would be 6—a Good success with the missile flight. The battleship suffers 14 Ordinary hits, 8 Good hits, and 6 Amazing hits from the attacking missiles. Chances are, it’s badly damaged or destroyed. Each hit scored by a missile flight requires a separate damage roll, armor roll, damage location, and so on. If the number of missiles in the flight is reduced by defensive fire, eliminate one potential hit per missile downed. Reduce hits in this order: one Ordinary, one Good, one Amazing, one Ordinary, and then repeat the cycle until you’ve accounted for all the missiles downed by defensive fire. In the preceding example, the battleship receives twentyeight missile hits. However, if its defensive fire knocked down nine attacking missiles in the flight, the battleship only suffers nineteen missile hits. The fourteen Ordinary hits are reduced to nine, the eight Good hits are reduced to six, and the six Amazing hits are reduced to four. It’s probably a crippling strike in any event, but it’s better than getting pasted by the whole flight of missiles.
Damage
A ship is more than its four damage tracks. It’s also an extremely complex piece of machinery featuring many hundreds of sub-systems designed to work together. This set of rules adds extra effects for marking off damage boxes, plus system damage linked to the hit location of a major impact.
Additional Damage Effects In addition to simply marking boxes off a ship’s damage track, damage may cause extra penalties or effects when a damage track is completely crossed off. A ship is shaken when all stun boxes are crossed off; disabled by the loss of all wound boxes; crippled by the loss of all mortal boxes; and destroyed when all critical boxes are gone.
Shaken When all of a ship’s stun boxes are checked off, the ship is shaken. Minor systems failures, ionizing damage, and fluctuations in system operations generally reduce a ship’s effectiveness in battle. Shaken ships suffer the following penalties:
• The target must roll a hit location and check for system
damage.
• All current sensor detections are lost and must be re-acquired to fire weapons.
• All crew checks suffer a +1 step penalty.
• The ship may not perform any maneuver checks in the
following round of combat. The ship remains shaken until it repairs at least 1 stun point. Excess stun damage that strikes a ship with no stun
points left is marked off the wound track at a 2-for-1 rate (two stun points become one point of wound damage).
Disabled A ship is disabled when all of its wound points have been lost to damage. Important systems are no longer working or require constant attention to compensate for damage, portions of the ship’s interior have been opened to space, and the overall integrity of the hull is failing. A disabled ship suffers the following penalties:
• The target must roll for hit location and check for system damage.
• All current sensor detections are lost and must be re-acquired to fire weapons.
• All crew checks suffer a +2 step penalty.
• The ship may not perform any maneuver checks.
• The ship’s Maneuverability Class drops by one point.
• Enemies firing on the disabled ship gain a –1 step bonus
to their attack rolls. The ship remains disabled until it repairs at least one point of wound damage. Excess wound damage that penetrates the ship’s armor when it has no wound points left rolls into mortal damage at a 2-for-1 rate.
Crippled A crippled ship has lost all boxes on its mortal damage track. Most systems can only function through heroic efforts and jury-rigging on the part of the crew. Extensive portions of the hull have been demolished, and most of the ship’s interior is open to vacuum. A crippled ship suffers the following penalties:
• All current sensor detections are lost and must be re-acquired to fire weapons.
• All crew checks suffer a +3 step penalty.
• The ship may not perform any maneuver checks.
• The ship’s Maneuverability Class drops by two points.
• Enemies firing on the crippled ship gain a –2 step bonus
to their attack rolls. In almost all cases, a ship cannot repair lost points of mortal damage during the course of a space battle. This means that a ship crippled in a battle remains crippled for the rest of the fight. However, some special damage control systems may make it possible for mortal damage to be repaired in a matter of rounds. If a crippled ship regains at least one box of mortal damage, it is no longer crippled. Excess mortal damage that strikes a ship with no mortal damage boxes remaining becomes critical damage, at a 2-for-1 rate.
Destroyed A ship is destroyed outright when it loses all of its critical damage boxes. If the damage is more than the ship’s critical damage rating but less than twice that number, the ship re-
mains more or less in one piece—a lifeless derelict hurtling through space, continuing on its last course and speed. If the damage exceeds twice the derelict’s critical damage rating, the wreck immediately explodes. Exploding wrecks inflict damage on nearby ships as shown below. The parenthetical notes the firepower of the attack:
Table 2–3: Explosion Damage Class of Wreck Small Light Medium Heavy S-heavy
Range in Hexes d6s (S) d6s (L) d4 (S) d6s (M) d6s (L) d8s (M) d8s (L) d12s (M) d12s (L)
d4s (S) d6s (S) d8s (S)
For example, an exploding battleship (a heavy ship) inflicts d8 stun points (medium firepower) to any ship in the same hex, d8 stun points (light firepower) to ships in adjacent hexes, and d6 stun points (small craft firepower) to ships two hexes away.
System Damage In addition to losing points off the damage track, a ship that sustains a serious hit is likely to have a major system knocked out or degraded—a weapon mount, an engine, power generation, and so on. In fact, a ship may be “missionkilled” through the loss of important systems long before its hull is destroyed outright.
Checking for System Damage System damage is possible any time one of the following occurs: The target suffers mortal or critical damage. The target marks off its last stun or wound box. The attacker achieves an Amazing success with her attack and at least 1 point of primary damage penetrates the target’s armor.
•
•
•
If same hit qualifies for system damage on multiple counts (for example, a hit for mortal damage with enough secondary damage to exhaust the target’s wound track), it’s still just one hit for purposes of system damage.
Damage Checks A damage check is a crew check made to determine whether or not a system exposed to damage continues to function or not.
Hit Location After a hit qualifies for system damage, the next step is to determine what part of the target is affected. Refer to TABLE 24: H IT LOCATIONS. Roll the appropriate die and use the target aspect column that corresponds to the firing arc the attack is coming in
through. In other words, the target aspect is the firing arc the target presents to the attacking ship. A ship attacked from directly astern would use the “Aft” column, since the attack is coming in through the target’s aft firing arc. The result of the hit location roll will be a zone—for example, the FC (or forward center) zone, the AP (aft port) zone, etc.
Order of Damage Each zone of a warship is further divided into a hierarchy or progression of damage. The first system damage check may affect the first item on the list, the second may affect the next one, and so on. Basically, this represents the fact that systems that are close to the surface of the ship will tend to be affected by enemy fire before systems near the ship’s core, and large systems will tend to be affected before small ones because there’s more of them to be hit. When a system is destroyed, it is scratched off the order of damage for that zone. A future hit in that zone affects the next item on the list. If everything in the zone has been destroyed, damage then proceeds to the next adjacent zone noted on the hit location diagram on the next page.
How Many Checks per Hit? Some hits may cause damage checks for multiple systems in the same zone. The default answer is always at least one check against the first item in the damage order.
• One item is checked per 2 points of primary critical
damage inflicted.
• One item is checked per 3 points of primary mortal
damage.
• One item is checked for any other kind of system damage hit.
Note that the number of hits inflicted is determined after upgrading or downgrading for firepower and the effects of armor are taken into account. For example, if a fusion beam hit inflicts 7 points of critical damage but the target’s armor stops 4 of these, the zone affected must check against the first 3 items on the damage order. (Of course, the ship also marks off 3 points of critical damage, plus secondary damage of 3 mortals, wounds, and stuns.)
Degraded, Knocked Out, and Destroyed Many of the following results indicate that a system is “degraded,” “knocked out,” or “destroyed.” Refer to the appropriate entry for more information. Degraded: Some special effects apply to this entry. Check the description of the result in the following section. A degraded system that is degraded a second time is knocked out. Knocked Out: The system has been knocked off-line by damage. However, it’s possible to make some minor repairs or adjustments and get it running again, negating the result.
When a system is destroyed, it is scratched off the order of damage for that zone. A future hit in that zone affects the next item on the list. If everything in the zone has been destroyed, damage then proceeds to the next adjacent zone noted on the hit loca tion diagrams above and TABLE 2-4: H IT LOCATIONS on the next page.
Table 2-4: Hit Locations Target Aspect
In the damage control phase, the commander may have her crew attempt to repair a system that is out and bring it back on-line. If a knocked-out system is knocked out a second time, it’s destroyed. Destroyed: The system has been destroyed. It can’t be repaired in the course of this battle. Strike the item off of the damage order for this zone—it no longer counts as a potential hit location.
System Effects The effects of damage to each type of ship system are summed up below. Note that these effects apply for purposes of the basic game; more detailed effects are covered in the next chapter. Many of these effects call for a damage check to determine if one result occurs or another. A damage check is simply a crew check, modified by any damage control systems the ship possesses.
Accommodations One of the ship’s bunkrooms, staterooms, cabins, or similar facilities is hit. Stun: No effect. Wound: System knocked out (damage makes it uninhabitable until repaired). Mortal: System knocked out and may be destroyed. Make a damage check. On a failure, room is destroyed and explosive decompression inflicts d8–3 points of additional wound damage to the ship. This damage has a firepower equal to the ship class and ignores armor and other defenses. Critical: System destroyed. Explosive decompression occurs as described above.
Mortal: The command deck is destroyed. The quality of the ship’s crew is reduced by one grade—crack to veteran, veteran to trained, and trained to green. Green crews drop to a crew check of 8. If the command deck is a cockpit, the crew is killed and the vessel may not maneuver or attack. Critical: As above, plus explosive decompression inflicts d8–3 points of additional wound damage to the ship as described under “Cargo.” Other command systems (flag bridges or launch towers) are knocked out on wound hits and destroyed by mortals or criticals.
Computer Core The ship’s main computer is knocked out or lost. This renders all system computers inoperable, negating the bonuses the ship’s system computers provide. Stun: The ship loses all computer bonuses for one round, but the systems automatically reboot during the repair phase of the following round. Wound: The computer is knocked out. All computer bonuses are lost until repaired. Mortal: The computer is knocked out and may be destroyed. Make a damage check. Critical: The computer is destroyed.
Comm System One of the ship’s communication systems may be knocked out or destroyed. Stun: Make a damage check. On a failure, the system is knocked out. Wound: The system is knocked out. Mortal: The system is knocked out and may be destroyed. Make a damage check. Critical: The system is destroyed.
Cargo Space One of the ship’s cargo spaces, cargo bays, or cargo holds is hit. Stun: No effect. Wound: System knocked out (damage makes it unusable until repaired). About 20 percent of the area’s cargo is ruined. Mortal: System destroyed. About 50 percent of the cargo is ruined. Critical: System destroyed. All cargo ruined. Make a damage check; on a failure, room is destroyed and explosive de compression inflicts d8–3 points of additional wound damage to the ship. This damage has a firepower equal to the ship class and ignores armor and other defenses.
Command Deck or Cockpit The ship’s command deck is hit. Stun: The ship may not maneuver or change speed in the next movement phase. Wound: The command deck is knocked out. The ship may not maneuver or change speed until the command deck is repaired.
Defenses A defensive system may be knocked out or destroyed. Note that armor is never affected by enemy fire. Stun: No effect. Wound: System may be knocked out; roll a damage check. Mortal: The system is knocked out and may be destroyed; make a damage check. Destroyed capacitors inflict 1 point of wound damage per point of stored shield energy to the damaged ship. Critical: The system is destroyed. Generators for deflection inducers, particle screens, magnetic screens, displacers, or ablative shields are a special case. If one shield generator is knocked out or destroyed, the shield is degraded. Shields that add step penalties to the attacker’s roll are reduced in effect by 1 step. Particle screens are reduced to half effect. Ablative shield generators become half as effective (incoming damage creates twice as many shield points to absorb as normal). If half of the ship’s shield generators are knocked out or destroyed, the shield stops working altogether.
Engines Hits to the ship’s engines reduce its acceleration and maneuverability. Each engine destroyed or knocked out reduces the ship’s acceleration by 1 and its Maneuverability Class by 1 point. (Obviously, if the ship’s last engine is knocked out or destroyed, it can’t accelerate or maneuver at all.) A ship reduced to an acceleration of 0 or less can’t change speed, but a negative MC simply means that some maneuvers may require multiple rounds to accomplish. Stun: The engine may be knocked out. Make a damage check; if the roll fails, the engine is knocked out. Wound: The engine is knocked out. Mortal: The engine is knocked out and may be destroyed. Make a damage check; on a failure, the engine is destroyed. Critical: The engine is destroyed.
FTL The ship’s faster-than-light drive is knocked out or destroyed. Stun: Drive may be knocked out. Make a damage check. Wound: The drive is knocked out. Mortal: The drive is knocked out and may be destroyed. Make a damage check; on a success, the drive is just knocked out, but on a failure it has been destroyed. Critical: The drive is destroyed. Secondary explosions (jump drive, stardrive, or warp drive only) inflict d12–6 points of critical damage.
Hangar Hit One of the ship’s hangars is hit. Stun: No effect. Wound: System knocked out (damage makes it unusable until repaired). 10 percent of the hangar’s stored craft are ruined. Mortal: System destroyed. About 25 percent of the stored craft are damaged beyond repair. Critical: System destroyed. About 50 percent of the stored craft are ruined.
Life Support The ship may lose its life support equipment or related machinery. A ship suffers a +1 step penalty to all crew checks if no life support units remain functional. If all life support units are destroyed, the ship loses artificial gravity and may not maneuver. Stun: No effect. Wound: Life support may be knocked out; roll damage check. Mortal: Life support is knocked out and may be destroyed; make a damage check. Critical: Life support is destroyed.
Miscellaneous System If it’s not covered by an entry above, here’s a basic list of effects. Stun: The system is degraded in some way, if possible. No effect if it can’t really be degraded.
Wound: The system is knocked out. Mortal: The system is destroyed. Critical: The system is destroyed, and explosive decompression or secondary explosions inflict an additional d8–3 wound points to the target vessel.
Power Plant Hits to the ship’s power plants and power distribution system result in a loss of available power. Each power plant destroyed or knocked out reduces available ship power by the corresponding amount. If a ship loses all of its power plants to damage, it may not maneuver or fire weapons until at least one knocked-out power plant is brought back on line. Stun: The power plant may be knocked out. Make a damage check; on a success, the power plant is unaffected. On a failure, the power plant is knocked out. Wound: The power plant is knocked out. Mortal: The power plant is destroyed. Critical: The power plant is destroyed. Secondary explosions inflict 2d6 points of wound damage to the ship, which are unaffected by toughness or armor.
Sensor One of the ship’s sensors may be knocked out or destroyed. Stun: On a failed damage check, the system is knocked out. Wound: The system is knocked out. Mortal: The system is knocked out and may be destroyed. Make a damage check. Critical: The system is destroyed.
Stores One of the ship’s support systems that supply the crew with food or water is hit. There are no immediate effects to losing a stores system, but it may cause trouble after the battle. Stun: No effect. Wound: System knocked out. Mortal: System knocked out and may be destroyed; make a damage check. Critical: System destroyed.
Weapons A hit to a weapon system may degrade its performance, knock it out, or destroy it outright. Stun: The weapon mount is degraded and suffers a +1 step penalty to all attack rolls until repaired. If a degraded weapon is degraded again, it’s knocked out. Wound: The mount is degraded and may be knocked out. Make a damage check. Mortal: The mount is knocked out and may be destroyed. Make a damage check. Critical: The mount is destroyed. Make a damage check; on a failure, magazine or accumulator explosions inflict internal damage equal to a Good-quality hit from the affected weapon system.
Special Orders
Position after Ramming
Desperate times demand desperate measures. On occasion, commanders may need to consider unorthodox tactics such as ramming, boarding, and self-destruction to achieve their goals or to deny the enemy victory.
If the ramming vessel or the target is destroyed outright, the collision has no effect on the surviving vessel’s position. A fighter can’t stop a fortress ship in its tracks with a head-on ram, whereas the fortress ship would just plow through a squadron of kamikaze fighters without slowing down. If both ships survive, the larger ship loses half of its current speed and the smaller ship has its speed reduced to zero. If they’re both the same class (heavy, medium, and so on) the ship with the larger number of hull points is the larger ship. Both ships lose half their current speed if they’re the exact same size. A ship reduced to speed 0 by a collision is assigned a random facing. Roll a d6 to see which way it’s pointing after the collision. If the either ship is immobilized and the enemy vessel is traveling at an adjusted speed of 2 or less after the hit, either side may initiate a boarding action in the special orders phase.
Ramming An accidental collision is just not possible under normal circumstances. Each hex of the map is 1,000 kilometers across, and two ships a few hundred meters long maneuvering in that area just won’t hit each other—unless one of the captains is trying to ram the other. Then the odds improve from nearimpossible to just highly unlikely.
Executing a Ram To conduct a ramming attack, a captain must end his move in the same hex as his target and be moving at a speed equal to or greater than the target. Rams take place in the special orders phase, after all weapon fire. The ramming ship makes a crew check (or a Vehicle Ops— spacecraft skill check on the part of the pilot) with a +1 step penalty for each point of difference in speed between the target and the ramming ship. If the ramming ship succeeds in its attack roll, the target is at risk of collision. The target vessel can automatically avoid collision if its Maneuverability Class is currently higher than the ramming ship’s Maneuverability Class. If the ramming ship currently has an equivalent or better MC, the target vessel is entitled to a crew check (or Tactics—space combat skill check by the captain) to avoid the collision. Add the target vessel’s target size modifier to the avoidance check.
Boarding Basically, no ship can be boarded unless it consents to the act or is rendered completely unable to maneuver in its own defense. Any ship with some amount of maneuverability remaining can evade boarding pods or spaceborne troops indefinitely. The only exception to this rule is ships equipped with boarding transporters, which can beam their boarding teams directly on board the enemy vessel provided no functional energy screen interferes with the transport. Boarding is resolved in three steps: approach, entry, and assault.
Approach Ramming Damage Ramming damage is low impact (LI) damage. The target of a ram suffers damage based on the ramming vessel’s size, as shown below: Ramming Base Vessel Damage Small 2d4m Light 3d4m Medium 3d8m Heavy 4d8m S-Heavy 6d12m
Base Firepower Medium Heavy S-Heavy S-Heavy S-Heavy
Add +1 die per point of speed difference between the ramming ship and the target (maximum of twice the listed damage). The ramming vessel suffers damage equal to the damage inflicted to the target, with a firepower equal to the class of the target. A fighter that crashes into a fortress ship traveling at the same speed inflicts 2d4 points of mortal damage with medium firepower; it suffers 2d4 points of mortal damage, of Super-heavy firepower.
In the boarding approach, the boarding party faces its most vulnerable moment. An assault can be broken in moments of enemy fire while the boarding teams remain exposed in open space. Boarding Pods: Boarding pods are deployed during the launch phase and maneuver like small ships. They have an acceleration of 0.5 and a Maneuverability Class of 2. Boarding pods have 5/5/2 stun/wound/mortal points, a target size modifier of +3 steps, Good toughness, and 1d4 points of armor. Boarding pods move in the small craft segment of the movement sequence. To board a target, a boarding pod must end its move in the same hex as the target. Boarding occurs in the special orders segment of the round—after the attack phase, so boarding pods that are hit by last-ditch defensive fire probably won’t survive to deploy their troops. Spaceborne Troops: In lieu of a boarding pod, troops may be equipped with powered armor or E-suits and zero-G thrusters. To deploy spaceborne troops directly, the launching ship must end its movement phase in the same hex as the target, with the same speed and the same heading. Assum-
ing it survives long enough, the attacking ship deploys its troops in the launch phase. The spaceborne troops may board and attack in the special orders phase of the round after their launch. In other words, troops deployed in the launch phase of round 3 don’t land and attack until the special orders phase of round 4. The enemy ship can fire on spaceborne troops “in transit” during its attack phase; each troop has a +5 step target modifier and is killed (messily) by any shipboard weapon hit. Boarding Transporters: Troops teleported via boarding transporter skip the approach step.
Note that the losses are based on the size of the attacking force. In the preceding example, the defenders have 75 boarding points. They can inflict 3, 8, 15, or 23 boarding points of damage to the attackers. Boarding damage reduces the enemy’s own boarding value. The first side reduced to a boarding value of zero loses. Optionally, either side may surrender after any round of combat. If the forces are closely matched and neither side gets lucky, the assault is likely to be bloody and may last for a dozen or more game rounds.
Entry
While a boarding assault is in progress, the ship in question suffers a +3 step penalty to all crew checks (except for the check made against the boarding party). The crew is far too distracted to perform their normal duties well while they’re busy repelling boarders. Ignore this penalty if the boarding value of the attackers is 10 percent or less of the boarding value of the crew. Ten marines can’t seriously distract a fortress ship crewed by thousands of enemy troops. Crew Quality: If a ship loses half of its initial boarding value in defense, its crew quality drops by one grade due to casualties. If a ship loses three-quarters of its boarding value in defense, its crew quality drops by two grades. If losses reach 90 percent, the crew drops by three quality grades. Green crews drop to a crew check number of 8, then 6, and so on. Prize Crew: Normally, it will take a boarding party at least twenty to thirty minutes to make a captured ship ready for maneuvering or battle. They have to repair last-ditch sabotage efforts, release security lock-outs, coerce key members of the enemy crew into helping out, and so on. In general, a captured ship can’t rejoin the battle on the enemy side before the battle is over. Casualties: Assume that half of all losses in boarding value are killed in action. The other half of boarding losses are injured or incapacitated and will recover in time. If there are several different groups among an attacking force or a defending crew, assume that losses are proportional to each. For example, if a defending ship lost 80 percent of its boarding value before surrendering, you can assume that 4 out of 5 defending troops, 4 out of 5 defending crewmen, and 4 out of 5 defending passengers were casualties.
Upon reaching their target, boarding pods or spaceborne troops have to effect entry into the hull. This usually means cutting through an airlock, using a shaped charge to blow out a bulkhead, or something of the sort. Starting on the first round the marines reach the target, the boarding party may attempt a crew check to effect entry in each special orders phase. If the ship in question is shaken, disabled, or crippled by damage, the normal attack bonuses for these conditions apply to the boarder’s entry check. While effecting entry, boarders are “beneath the guns” and can’t be targeted by shipboard weapons. Boarding transporters skip the entry step.
Assault On the special orders phase in which the boarding party effects entry, they may commence the assault. You could play out the assault as a mini-scenario using the ALTERNITY game rules, or you can simply use quick and dirty rule presented here. Count up the attackers and defenders in the boarding action, assigning a point value based on the following chart: Troop in powered armor Nonpowered troop Crewman Passengers 0.5 For example, a boarding party consisting of twenty marines in zero-G body tanks has a boarding value of 100 points. A defending crew with 20 nonpowered troops, 30 crewmembers, and 10 passengers has a boarding value of 40+30+5, or 75. Each round during the special orders phase, both sides make crew checks and inflict damage based on their own boarding value: Result Failure Ordinary Good Amazing
% of value inflicted 5 percent 10 percent 20 percent 30 percent
Effects of Boarding
Self-Destruct The ultimate tactic of desperation, self-destruction is normally reserved as a last measure to prevent the capture of a ship. Self-destruction requires a crew check with a –3 step bonus in the special orders phase, although normal penalties for disabled or crippled ships apply; badly damaged ships may not have the means to self-destruct anymore. If successful, the ship self-destructs in the special orders phase designated by the commander. Usually, the captain will set the charges with a delay of several game rounds so that any surviving crew can reach escape shuttles or lifeboats
and abandon ship. However, this is not a requirement. When a ship self-destructs, it creates an explosion equal to that caused by the loss of more than twice its critical point score. See Explosion Damage, on TABLE 2–3.
Squadron Actions
Large groups of small craft can take up a lot of time and attention in a fleet engagement. To keep the game moving, you may want to use these squadron rules. A squadron is defined as any group of small craft that will maneuver and attack together. Note that there is a slight game advantage in grouping into squadrons. Not only is it more convenient for the players, but a squadron attack is a little more effective than a number of individual attacks, especially for difficult targets. Ships in a squadron also tend to retain their combat effectiveness longer under enemy fire, because individual system failures just aren’t as significant.
Creating Squadrons Small craft of 20 hull points or less may group into squadrons by beginning the round in the same hex, with the same speed and the same heading. Usually this means that a carrier launches some number of fighters in a launch phase, and all the fighters launched at the same time then form a squadron. Fighters might also choose to “loiter” near their carrier while more small craft are launched and form up. Every ship in the squadron must be identical in all characteristics. If a carrier launches six Starwind type fighters and four Hammer type fighters, these ships would have to be divided into two squadrons, not one ten-fighter squadron. It’s generally not a good idea to use the squadron rules if any of the ships are going to be piloted by a player-controlled character character. Squadrons can “break up” into any smaller formations at any time. A twenty-fighter squadron might travel together for several game rounds, and then break up into two 10-ship elements to engage two different enemy targets. For ease of play, we suggest that squadrons should consist of no more than twenty ships at a time. Whenever possible, the controlling player should try to create 10-ship elements and avoid very small or very large squadrons.
Squadron Maneuvers A single marker or miniature on the map represents a squadron. All ships in the squadron move together. If the squadron leader makes a maneuver check, all ships in the squadron pass or fail the check with the leader’s roll. For all movement purposes, the squadron is treated as a single ship whose movement is copied exactly by every other ship in the squadron. All ships in the squadron are located in the same hex, but are assumed to be spread out over dozens or hundreds of kilometers within that hex.
Squadron Attacks A squadron attack works much like a missile flight. Make one attack roll for the entire squadron, taking into account all the factors that normally apply (target size modifier, weapon accuracy, range, enemy defensive systems, and so on.). Then, refer to the table below, using the success level of the single attack roll.
Table 2–5: Squadron Attacks Attack Roll Failure Ordinary Good Amazing
% of Hits of Success O G 25% 15% 30% 20% 35% 20% 40% 25%
A 10% 10% 15% 20%
The percentage is simply the number of hits of that success obtained by the squadron, based on the total number of attacks it would have made as individuals. For example, a flight of ten fighters carrying two MRB bombs each is making twenty attacks, in effect. Under the squadron attack rule, only one ship actually rolls an attack die. If the result is a Good success, 35 percent of those twenty attacks (or 7 hits) are Ordinary-level hits for mass-reaction bombs; 20 percent (or 4 hits) are Good-level hits for mass-reaction bombs; and 15 percent (or 3 hits) are Amazing-level hits for mass-reaction bombs. The remaining six bombs miss the target. The result of each hit is resolved normally. In the preceding example, there are a total of 14 MRB bomb hits on the target that will score damage, force armor rolls, and possibly cause system damage checks. If the squadron is attacking with a weapon that is capable of battery fire (say, a fighter with four lasers in a battery), each potential hit is counted as part of the attack total. Ten fighters firing four lasers each is forty potential hits, so the number of hits is based on forty weapons. The best result of the battery fire attack roll is used as the success level of the squadron attack roll. If the squadron attacks with an autofire weapon, the total number of weapons firing is doubled. The best result in the autofire attack acts as the success level of the squadron attack roll. For example, ten fighters each firing a single autofire-capable laser count as twenty weapons, not ten.
Squadron Damage To speed play, squadrons take damage differently than individual ships. All weapons or attacks firing at a squadron make normal attack rolls. However, instead of rolling damage against individual fighters or bombers, simply track the number and level of successes scored by the attacking weapons. Then convert these into fighter losses, based on the attacker’s firepower:
Small Craft Firepower 1 Amazing = 1 kill 2 Good = 1 kill 3 Ordinary = 1 kill Light Firepower 1 Amazing = 1 kill 1 Good = 1 kill 2 Ordinary = 1 kill Medium (or higher) Firepower Every hit = 1 kill Ignore all “fractional” kills. For example, a squadron attacks a battleship. The battleship’s antifighter armament, a dozen plasma cannons (small craft firepower), scores 2 Amazing, 1 Good, and 4 Ordinary hits. The Amazing-level hits kill a fighter each, and three of the Ordinary-level hits get another one. The other hits aren’t counted.
Squadron vs. Squadron What happens when a squadron attacks a squadron? First, the squadron initiating the attack must move to a position within weapon range of the target squadron. It can fire on (and possibly be fired on by) the target squadron normally. The target squadron must immediately decide whether to engage its attackers or to keep maneuvering normally. To engage the attackers, the target squadron must be traveling at a speed of 9 or less, and the attackers must be traveling at a speed no more than 3 higher than the target squadron. It’s possible for an attacking squadron to avoid engagement by using hit-and-run tactics against a slow-moving target squadron. If the target chooses to engage the attacking squadron, both squadrons stop maneuvering normally. They remain fixed in place at the site of the attacking squadron, caught up in a furious dogfight. The dogfight lasts until one squadron or the other is destroyed or withdraws. (The dogfight must last at least one round.) To withdraw from a dogfight, a squadron must declare its intent in its step of the movement phase. The opposing squadron can let them go or can attempt to keep them engaged. Roll crew checks for each squadron; the winner decides if the fleeing squadron can withdraw or not. The side with the most ships left in the dogfight wins ties. During a dogfight, apply squadron attacks and squadron damage normally. However, unengaged ships fire into the melee attack with a +3 step penalty (they have to be careful not to hit their own fighters by mistake).
Fusion Age Space Combat
Chapter 1: Basic Combat and most of the game systems described so far in Chapter 2: Advanced Combat are intended for use in games set at Progress Level 7, 8, and 9—the Gravity Age, Energy Age, and Matter Age. Ships of these technology levels possess powerful engines that can provide thousands of “Gs” of acceleration, and some method for protecting their human cargo from the effects of such radical maneuvers. Even though the weapons and systems available
at each Progress Level are more and more capable than those available at the previous level, the change between PL 7 through PL 9 is an incremental change. Space combat in Progress Level 6 is different. The difference between ships of the Gravity Age and the Energy Age is the difference between a World War II cruiser and an Aegis cruiser; by comparison, a ship of Progress Level 6 is a ship of the line from the Napoleonic Wars. It’s an entirely different set of capabilities and style of combat. In this section, we’ll examine some of the special rules that apply to PL 6 ships and how ships of radically different Progress Level interact with each other on the battlefield.
Game Scale Battles between ships of Progress Level 6 work better on maps with scales of 50 kilometers per hex. Each game round is 5 minutes long (ten times longer than the 30-second round for normal space combat). The net effect is that hexes are twenty times smaller at PL 6, and rounds ten times longer, so PL 6 ships maneuver two hundred times slower than ships of PL 7 or higher. At this scale, a ship moving at speed 1 is traveling 50 kilometers per 5 minutes—or roughly 600 kilometers per hour. Usually, ships are traveling this slowly only for the most delicate maneuvering; on interplanetary trips, ships might reach speeds of a million kilometers per hour, which is a speed of 1,600 hexes per round. An acceleration of 1 is approximately equal to 17 G. A ship with an acceleration of 1 would require 1,600 5-minute rounds—a little more than five days—to reach a speed of one million kilometers per hour.
Sequence of Play for PL 6 Changing the scale of the game makes it advisable to change the sequence of play. For Fusion Age combats, the recommended sequence of play is: Edge Phase Power Phase Sensor Phase First Attack Phase Shipboard Weapons Movement Phase a. Capital Ships b. Light and Medium Ships c. Small Craft d. Missiles Second Attack Phase a. Shipboard Weapons b. Missiles Launch Phase Repair Phase Note that there is a fire phase before movement for directfire weapons, and a fire phase after movement for direct-fire weapons and missile attacks.
Movement at PL 6 Most engines of the Fusion Age are reaction engines. Unlike the gravity drives or space-warping drives of higher Progress Levels, PL 6 engines do not permit impossible maneuvers such as banks, rolls, or loops in space. Ships of PL 6 fly like rockets.
Vectors Forget everything we already told you about how ships change speed and maneuver. Fusion Age ships must abide by vectored movement. On the surface, this isn’t all that different from the movement rules in Chapter 1: Basic Combat—unless some force acts on the ship, it will retain its current course and speed from now until the end of time. To mark the ship’s current vector, place a marker of some kind in the hex the ship will end its next move in if nothing else happens. To maneuver (which includes speeding up and slowing down), don’t move the ship counter or miniature. Instead, move the marker that indicates where the ship is heading to. The entire sum of a ship’s maneuverability is its acceleration rating, since this is the number of hexes the ship’s vector head can be moved from its current location. For example, a Fusion Age ship flying at a speed of 8 should mark its current vector as shown in FIG. 2-1A at lower right. If the ship has an acceleration rating of 2, during its movement it can choose to shift its vector head 2 hexes in any direction. In other words, the ship can finish its move in any of the hexe indicated in FIG 2-1B directly below.
Whatever the ship does in this round becomes its beginning vector for the next. If the ship chose to slow down and round toward the right, its new vector is shown in FIG. 2-1C below right:
Facing Adjusting a vector head requires a ship to continuously accelerate in the right direction. It doesn’t happen all at once (that would turn the crew into raspberry jelly on the bulkheads). Instead, the ship points its main drives in the necessary direction and burns fuel to change its course and speed. For game purposes, this is reflected by a simple rule: A ship’s facing at the end of its move must match the direction in which its vector was adjusted. If the vector was adjusted two hexes straight back because the ship’s trying to hit the brakes, then the ship must be facing straight back. In the previous example, the vector head was adjusted two hexes back and to the right. The ship does not point its nose at its new destination hex; it points its nose at the new destination hex, as it would have to drive there from its old destination hex. If a ship doesn’t adjust its vector head, it can choose any facing desired during its movement.
Fusion Age Fire Since the game round is so long for PL 6 ships, the round sequence includes an extra fire phase before movement. In addition, there is no hierarchy of fire for beams, torpedoes, missiles, and bombs. Direct fire weapons (beams, projectiles, torpedoes,
and special weapons) fire first, followed by any kind of launched or dropped ordnance. Since the hexes are only 50 kilometers across, multiply all range figures for PL 6 weapons by five. A laser cannon has a range of 1/2/3 hexes on the standard scale, but on the Fusion Age scale the laser cannon has a range of 5/10/15 hexes for short/medium/long range. (Yes, it should be multiplied by a factor of 20, but you can assume that PL 7 ships mounting PL 6 weapons are actually carrying improved versions of those weapons with better rates of fire and better long-range targeting. In other words, a strictly PL 6 battle works better at this scale, and as long as it’s internally consistent, don’t worry about it.)
Crossing Scales The best way to handle a PL 6 ship (or a ship with PL 6 propulsion technology, anyway) fighting a PL 7 ship is to treat the PL 6 ship as a flying bunker, locked to a certain course and speed. In other words, the Fusion Age ship must plod along a straight course while the Gravity Age ship flies rings around it. Scale: Use the standard PL 7 game scale (1000 kilometers to a hex, 30 seconds to a game round). Sequence of Play: Use the standard (PL 7) sequence of play. Movement: PL 7 (or better) ships maneuver using the normal rules as presented in Chapter 1: Basic Combat. Frankly, the easiest thing to do is to rule that the PL 6 ship may maneuver normally on every tenth game round and must fly straight otherwise. This actually allows the PL 6 ship a lot more maneuvering than it should get, but it’s marginally playable.
If you want to be precise about things, the PL 6 ship must divide its acceleration figures by 200 to determine just how much it can increase speed or how fast it can adjust its vector. PL 6 Acceleration
Converts 0.005 0.010 0.015 0.02 0.025 0.03
This means that a PL 6 ship with an acceleration of 2 would have to accelerate continuously for 100 game rounds to effect a vector change of one hex from its current vector head. This is why we suggest a separate game scale of 5-minute rounds and 50-kilometer hexes for Fusion Age space combats. Fire: We recommend ignoring the change of range scales and time scales. Allow the PL 6 ship to fire just like a PL 7 ship on the normal combat scale. Obviously, this is a major improvement, but what’s the fun of controlling a flying bunker if it never gets to shoot? If you want to be more precise, divide the ranges of all the ship’s PL 6 weaponry by four. If the ship’s weapons have a range of less than 1 hex, assign a minimum range of 1 hex for a long range (+3 step penalty) shot. To account for the difference in rate of fire, the PL 6 ship may fire only once every five game rounds.