Pre-SysNES2: Beta-testing and Submission

[Thlayli]

That's an impressive design, though it wouldn't be able to kill a massively shielded satellite like Matt's due to being defense-only.

Are shields working as intended? I'm having trouble getting any shielding with Plasma Shields.

 

[Symphony D.]

Defense is stronger than attack right now anyway, or at least cheaper. Making it mobile is difficult but possible, but you could just wait a little and out-tech someone putting up "invulnerable" defenses. Designs are ultimately just tactics, not strategy.

 

[Thlayli]

CSS Outrider Mk VI

15x Burst Drive
5x Deuterium Drive
2x Pulse Drive
1x Habitat Section
2x Computational Module
1x Scanners
2x Ion Cannon (refined)
3x Titanium Armor (refined)

Cost: 79e (36e) / 39m / 29v / 0a / 0t / 33s
Size: 73 / Mass: 53 / HP: 66 / Power: 0 / Heat: -10
IS: 1 / IP: 3 / Range: 2
Init: 3 / Dodge: -15 / Avoid: 0 / Armor: 18 / Shield: 0
Refine: 112e / 28s

Two different particle fleet approaches to overcoming opponents with < 3 shields.

If Mk VI is Escort Edition, Mk VII is Raider Edition with the addition of 1x Kinetic Lances. Weapon versatility and speed means it can dance around slower shielded ships and whittle down their HP. Ideal for ruining a merchant navy's day, and can stay at range against many T3 ships. Probably a bit less useful in a fleet battle though due to the reduced Int debuff. Surprisingly enough, refining anything extra makes it better, mostly due to increased space to pack on armor and stay at IP 3.

Still T3 and Rugged Designers.

CSS Outrider Mk VII

15x Burst Drive
5x Deuterium Drive
2x Pulse Drive
1x Habitat Section
2x Computer Module
1x Scanners
1x Kinetic Lances
1x Ion Cannon (Refined)
1x Titanium Armor (Refined)
4x Carbon Armor

Cost: 80e (36e) / 36m / 27v / 0a / 0t / 33s
Size: 75 / Mass: 53 / HP: 67 / Power: 3 / Heat: -10
IS: 1 / IP: 3 / Range: 2
Init: 3 / Dodge: -15 / Avoid: 0 / Armor: 14 / Shield: 0
Refine: 112e / 28s
Particle Cannon Damage: 8
Fast Missile Damage: 6

Mark VIII is Power Edition, and makes Mark VI semi-obsolete (bending the cost curve slightly up). Tri-coupled refined Ion Cannons renders low-level shields inadequate.

CSS Outrider Mk VIII

15x Burst Drive
6x Deuterium Drive
1x Pulse Drive
1x Habitat Section
2x Computer Module
1x Scanners
3x Ion Cannons (Refined)
1x Titanium Armor (Refined)
5x Carbon Armor

Cost: 96e (43e) / 36m / 32v / 0a / 0t / 39s
Size: 80 / Mass: 52 / HP: 69 / Power: 2 / Heat: -10
IS: 1 / IP: 3 / Range: 2
Init: 3 / Dodge: -17 / Avoid: 0 / Armor: 15 / Shield: 0
Refine: 141e / 35s
Particle Cannon Damage: 24

Note: You can pack on up to 23 armor if you're willing to trade down from IP 3 to IP 2, while staying under CON 4. But if you're going to trade down a speed, you might as well go all the way to quad-coupled ion cannons. Potential Mk IX coming when I optimize the quad design.

 

[Thlayli]

I lied about quad-coupling, actually.

CSS Outrider Mk IX

18x Burst Drive
7x Deuterium Drive
1x Habitat Section
2x Computer Module
1x Scanners
5x Ion Cannons (Refined) [PENTACOUPLED]
1x Titanium Armor (Refined)
5x Carbon Armor

Cost: 113e (51e) / 39m / 38v / 0a / 0t / 44s
Size: 89 / Mass: 57 / HP: 76 / Power: 1 / Heat: -10
IS: 1 / IP: 2 / Range: 2
Init: 3 / Dodge: -20 / Avoid: 0 / Armor: 14 / Shield: 0
Refine: 165e / 41s
Particle Cannon Damage: 40

This will shred missile fleets, if it can close with them. The int debuff of Ion Cannons in general means that you probably won't need any Jammers and can just focus on int buffing for your command ship.

You could also mess around with trading an Ion Cannon for 1x Kinetic Lances in case an enemy ship tries to take advantage of your relatively pokey 2 IP and stay at long range ad infinitum.

 

[Kal'thzar]

You need more speed on that last design, refine deut drives or similar. Currently, missile ships will out int you and closing will be 20% more than enough time to shoot you down...

 

[Thlayli]

Edit: How about this Kal? It's still IP 2 but it gets more anti-missile stuff. Probably not much better.

17x Burst Drive
5x Deuterium Drive
1x Habitat Section
2x Computer Module
1x Scanners
1x Kinetic Lances
1x Interceptors
3x Ion Cannons (Refined)
1x Titanium Armor (Refined)
9x Carbon Armor

I'm foreseeing a massive bum rush to get to CON 4 and refine Deuterium Drives when this NES (finally) goes live.

Being more excited for the launch of SysNES II than for any other videogame: Yeah.

 

[Symphony D.]

HELLJAMMER II

Dedicated planetary defense garrison. T3, Advancer, Poor Safety:

---

Hellbore III class Corvette

2 Metal Capacitors (Refined)
5 Pulse Drive
1 Linear Catapult (Refined)
1 Barrel Casings

Cost: 66e (30e) / 20m / 15v / 0a / 0t / 29s
Size: 43 / Mass: 16 / HP: 30 / Power: 0 / Heat: -7
IS: 0 / IP: 7 / Range: 0
Init: 2 / Dodge: 6 / Avoid: 0 / Armor: 3 / Shield: 0
Refine: 94e / 24s

Extra Particle Ammo: 1
Catapult Total Damage: 34

EW Attacks: NO
EW Score: 7
EW Vulnerability: 8
Ship-to-Ship: -5

---

Songbird class Corvette

5 Metal Capacitors (Refined)
7 Pulse Drive
1 Command Deck
1 Computer Module
1 Scanners
9 Jammers (Refined)
1 EW Broadcasters
1 Gas Vents
1 Heavy Cladding
6 Carbon Armor

Cost: 104e (47e) / 27m / 65v / 0a / 2t / 44s
Size: 50 / Mass: 34 / HP: 44 / Power: 3 / Heat: 1
IS: 0 / IP: 5 / Range: 0
Init: 4 / Dodge: -5 / Avoid: 0 / Armor: 1 / Shield: 1
Refine: 165e / 41s

Init Bonus to Fleet: 2
EW Attacks: YES
EW Score: 20
EW Vulnerability: 13
Jammer Init Debuff: 17C / 8L
Ship-to-Ship: 5

---

[b][u]REFINEMENT COSTS[/b][/u]

[b][u]NAME			IND	SCI[/b][/u]
Metal Capacitors	300e	100s
Linear Catapult		700e	200s
Jammers			400e	200s
[I]Hellbore[/I]		 93e	24s
	
[b]TOTAL:			1493e	524s[/b]

[b][u]Fleet HELLJAMMER II[/b][/u]

[b][u]NAME		NUM	IND		SCI	MET		VOL[/b][/u]
[i]Songbird[/i]	1x	104e		44s	27m		65v
[i]Hellbore[/i]	20x	600e (30e)	29s	400m (20m)	300v (15v)	

[b]TOTAL:			704e		73s	427m		365v[/b]

[b][u]TOTAL RESOURCE INVESTMENT[/b][/u]

s: 597
e: 2197
m: 427
v: 365

Agg. Prod./Res.: 2989

t: 2
a: 0

Stay away. Snipe all day.

 

[Thlayli]

Why have a command deck if your hyper-jammers are going to drop the Int of everything in the battlespace (friendlies and enemies) to 0?

 

[Kal'thzar]

Adds to jamming abilities. Check out the CC page and the maths on the Jammers.

 

[Symphony D.]

And Jammers themselves decrease Dodge. You want as few of them as possible on a mobile ship, and you either build a big, heavy, and resistant Jammer ship or you build a fast one that can consistently get away from likely threats. Opted for the cheaper solution (latter) to field lots of big and mean guns. -8 Init is plenty for T3.

Research CON4 and damage goes up by 41.17% (48). CON5, and another 37.5% (66). Hellbores stay relevant as reliable damage for a good while.

 

[Thlayli]

This one was a pain to make work, but I think I've finally achieved the best design without refining anything more. Hope the extra Ion Cannon is worth it.

CSS Outrider Mk X

18x Burst Drive
7x Deuterium Drive
2x Pulse Drive
1x Habitat Section
2x Computer Module
4x Ion Cannon (refined)
5x Carbon Armor

Cost: 109e (49e) / 39m / 39v / 0a / 0t / 43s
Size: 90 / Mass: 57 / HP: 76 / Power: 1 / Heat: -10
IS: 1 / IP: 3 / Range: 2
Init: 2 / Dodge: -19 / Avoid: 0 / Armor: 10 / Shield: 0
Refine: 160e / 40s
Particle Cannon Damage: 32

 

[TerrisH]

hmm.. writing up a faction.. and am curious..

could I use Gravity of "high gravity" as an option for the neagative trait

-2 - Vulnerable to one of (Hot, Cold, Radiation, Toxins, Thin Atmosphere, Thick Atmosphere), can only take once.

Toxins of thick atmosphere would also work. the gravity bit just works better flavor wise.
more of a background thing then

 

[Disenfrancised]

No, its not nearly the problem the others are.

 

[Thlayli]

If you're going to be accepting new factions to replace the dropouts, I support qoou's candidacy first.

 

[Disenfrancised]

If you're going to be accepting new factions to replace the dropouts

When did I ever indicate that I was going to do that?

 

[Disenfrancised]

Near 5000 words explaining how ship combat works.

Ship Combat

1.	Starting Combat
1.1	Arrival
1.2	Surprise
2.	Instances
2.1	Long Range Instances
2.2	Close Range Instances
2.3	Orbital Instances
2.4	Planetary Instances
2.5	Boarding Instances
3.	Phase Structure
3.1	Start
3.2	Abilities
3.2.a Electronic Warfare
3.2.b Ship Boarding
3.2.c Bombing
3.2.d Dropping Troops
3.2.e Carriers
3.2.f Pushing Sails
3.2.g Fleet Init
3.2.h Jamming 
3.3	Long Range Weapons
3.4	Engagement
3.5	Close Range Weapons
3.6	End
4.	Resolution
4.1	Flight
4.2	Seizure
4.3	Abilities

1 Starting Combat

When your order structure indicates that you want to send some of your ships to a place where an other group&#8217;s ships are/might be, and you or they have orders to fire on opponent&#8217;s ships, then combat will occur.

1.1 Arrival

Ships all depart worlds at the same time in the larger update structure, and are not interceptable in the vastness of IP or IS space. Ships can only fight within instances defined by worlds or constructed orbital structures. These battle spaces will be referred to as (Combat) volumes

Ships which are already at the volume in question and not moving will arrive first. Ships already at the world have IP 10 for the purposes of evaluating ability resolution.
Ships arrive at the volume in the order determined by the result of [IP Speed] * K &#8211; (10-[IS Speed]) + [Initiative] + [Randomiser], where K is 3. If transit is IP only then the IS term is omitted, if transit is between a planet and its moon, or between the moons of a single moon system, then K is 5. Consult the battle calc stats page for the probability spread on the arrival.

If a ship &#8216;arrives&#8217; more than 10 units before the competition, it is able to deploy its abilities (Such as dropping troops, using Electronic Warfare (EW), bombing, piracy and so on) as outlined in section 4.4. However it must still remain and face combat with incoming ships (though it can then flee).

Unless specified otherwise it is assumed an allied fleet will wait for the slowest ship to arrive before entering a volume.

If 10 or more units separate the arrival times of multiple fleets, combat will be resolved separately. For example if ship A has an arrival time of 40, B 30 and C, 20, A will fight B before C arrives, and one will be destroyed or flee, then the winner will have to fight C.

1.2 Surprise

Surprise is an important concept in warfare, and SYSNES ship combat is no exception. What is gained from surprise is very straight-forward; a single combat round in which your ships perform actions and the opposing ships do not. Due to the mechanics of weapons damage and the importance of abilities this is certainly an important tactical advantage.

Obtaining surprise is more complex, and possible the most RP and moderator involved part of the combat system. The two different types of surprise are tactical surprise and strategic surprise.

Tactical surprise is a mechanical property determined in the battle calc tactical surprise section, with probabilities displayed in the stats section. On the aggressor side, a high arrival time differential, init, scanners and jamming score act to increase the chances of obtaining tactical surprise, whilst the defenders init and scanners act to reduce the chance of obtaining surprise (the latter having a greater effect on defence than offence). If both sides are trying to achieve tactical surprise, then rolls are made simultaneous (and if both are successful they cancel out). Stationary installations cannot try to gain tactical surprise. Lacking scanners will leave one very open to tactical surprise.

Strategic surprise is rather murkier, and granted by several situations. The first is the false friendship. If the enemy does not expect you to attack, and you do, you will obtain strategic surprise. Due to how the weapons work, and the impossibility of remaining in battle mode all the time, the defender cannot order &#8216;remain at battle stations vs everyone&#8217;. The defender succeeding at the passive EW action &#8216;Listen In&#8217; will mean an attack launched by the fleet being listened to will not obtain surprise. Obviously false friendship will need to be resolved from the intersection of your orders by the moderator.

A second category of strategic surprise is emerging from hiding. Though there is no stealth in space, it is possible to obscure ones signature against an appropriate background. A ship with shields can hide close by a noisy gas giant, ships capable of landing on planets can mask their signature against the bulk of a world, planetary installations the enemy doesn&#8217;t know about are hidden until they fire, orbital installations that the foe hasn&#8217;t encountered before can be camouflaged against civilian habitats, and enemy does not know what is in your internal hangers till it comes out. Driving hard rules for all these interactions, and any more hiding against the background scenarios players might come up with is hard, especially as a trick will work less well the more times its used. It will therefore be decided by mod fiat.

Finally there are some edge cases where I might assign strategic surprise, if for example a ship is captured or corrupted and sent against a third party &#8211; that third party would find it very surprising!

2. Instances

For the purposes of evaluating combat, a volume will be divided up into several instances, some transitory and some not. Instances do not have hard and fast size definitions or discrete existences, but are abstractions to aid the simulation of combat.

2.1 Long Range Instances

When battle is joined, a long range instance is generated that encompasses the entire battle volume. All combat takes place within this instance or sub instances within it, and leaving the long range instance is leaving the battle. A long range instance is best thought of as spherical volume a light second in radius around a world being contested.

Unless specified by a sub-instance, all ships in the same long range instance can a) shoot each other with long range weapons, b) engage in EW with each other unless long range jamming is occurring, c) provide long range jamming to all ships, and d) provide fleet int to their allied fleets. More is detailed on b, c, and d in section 3.2.

From the long range instance, ships can attempt to make contested engagement rolls to enter into a close range instance with another ship, enter planetary and orbital instances if uncontested, or flee to outside the long range instance if uncontested. Engaging with ships is described further in 3.4

2.2 Close Range Instance

A close range instance is a smaller space within the long range volume, defined in relation to ships. Technically ships are always in a close range instance of at least themselves, and other ships can attempt to join them within their instance. When there are multiple ships in the same close range instance, the instance is defined by the slowest ship. The platonic close range instance is a spherical space one hundred thousand kilometres in radius.

At the start of the battle, unless surprised or ordered not to be, the ships of the player that is already in the volume/arrived first are in a single close range instance. If the ship already there has been surprised some of their ships might randomly be outside their main close range instance. The ships of the other player that are arriving are all in separate close range instances, except for ships that have just been released from a carrier.

Ships make an engagement roll against the slowest ship in the instance in order to join the close range instance using the engagement calculator. If they are friendly the slowest ships int is treated as 0 for the engagement calculator, otherwise the full int is used in opposition.

Within a close range instance, all the ships are able to shoot each other with long and short range weapons, provide short range jamming, provide shield array shielding, and make EW attacks even if being jammed. If they are being close ranged jammed by other ships, even friendly ships, ships cannot fire long range weapons out of a close range instance due to sensor swamping.

2.3 Orbital Instances

Orbital instances are simply close range instances around orbital infrastructure, and exist at the start of the battle. Each orbital habitat is in its own orbital instance, as are any defence stations so large that they have to be constructed only in a Shipyard. Since the defining object of these close range instances has 0 IP speed, engagement automatically succeeds, and thus the defender must try to engage with the engaging ship with another ship if they do not wish to have ships come to close range with their orbitals (that or destroy the engaging ship with long range fire).

2.4 Planetary Instances

Planetary instances are close range instances that exist at the beginning of the battle; each one encompasses a slot on the planet&#8217;s surface and the space immediately above. The planetary installations and ships that have been surprised in groundside spaceports will start off inside these planetary instances. They are rather smaller in height than the standard close range instance, a few hundred kilometres high. Only ships rated for the planets properties can enter the planetary instance from outside.

In order to use close range weapons on planetary installations or parked ships, drop bombs or drop troops during combat rounds, use EW during combat against planetary computers, a ship needs to get into the appropriate planetary instance. Outside of combat those things can be done from long range if you have control of space, but to do so during battle requires close interaction.

If the planet has an atmosphere, it is treated as a shield and armour buff against all weapons fired into, within, and out of the planetary instance. The strength of this buff is dependent on the thickness of the atmosphere. A marginal atmosphere offers 5, thin 30, standard 60, and thick 120.

2.5 Boarding Instances

Boarding instances are the exceedingly short range spaces that two ships engaged in ship to ship boarding exist in. A ship under assault from multiple boarders treats each boarding ship as a separate boarding instance. Ships at close range can make contested engagement rolls using the battle calculator to move to boarding range with another ship in the same close range instance. Boarding range instances count as sub-instances of a parent close range instance.

Once at boarding range, most long range weaponry is too unwieldy to use within the boarding instance &#8211; Jets, Catapults, Beamers and Buster Missiles cannot be used by ships at boarding range against each other. Ships at boarding range can shoot out of boarding range instances. Ships shooting into the boarding instance at long range, or using close range weapons from the close range parent instance, have a chance of hitting either ship in the boarding instance (since both will be jigging to provide dodge and positions will be unpredictable and to disrupt/enable boarding).

Whilst at boarding distance, ships can make ship to ship boarding rolls, EW attacks, and use close range weapons against each other. These are detailed further in 3.2.

3. Phase Structure

Each &#8216;Round&#8217; of combat is split up into various phases that determine the order actions occur in. Unless specified otherwise it is assumed phases occur simultaneously for all ships. A round is a deliberately undefined abstract unit of time to keep the whole thing workable and game-able.

3.1 Start Phase

During the start phase the number of ships still in the combat volume are toted up and organised, if a fleet has surprise or not is determined. Damage, Init and EW are regenerated by ships that have a regeneration value.

3.2 Abilities Phase

During the abilities phase ships can use various types of special abilities beyond moving and shooting things. Bonuses and debuffs to speed and int are applied at this stage.

3.2.a Electronic Warfare

Ships with Commlinks or EW broadcasters can make electronic warfare attacks equal to the number of devices they have. For each attack, a target opposing ship or army or inhabit planetary slot is chosen, and an EW action that the target has sufficient vulnerability to is picked. Success/failure is then checked by a roll on the EW battle calc.

The same target can be chosen multiple times. Targets and actions for all devices are chosen at the same time, and EW actions are executed at the same time. Actions and targets cannot be changed on the results of other attacks. The various EW and Int debuffing attacks all stack in effect, but the debuff is evaluated at the end of the EW section and so provides no benefit to other EW attacks made this combat round.

EW attacks happen before any of the other abilities are evaluated, and so successful EW actions can disrupt their operation.

3.2.b Ship to Ship Boarding

If a ship is in a boarding instance, and has an intrusion unit, it can make a Ship to ship boarding roll on the battle calc. When making the roll, you can choose to attempt to destroy the ship you&#8217;re boarding or attempt to avoid destroying it. If successful the effects of the battle calculator result are applied.

If the &#8216;seized&#8217; result is obtained the ship has had all its controls and crews neutralised. The boarding ship can leave the seized ship during the engagement phase. A seized ship counts as an orbital installation with the relevant dodge debuff applied, and can be shot by anyone. At the end of the battle whoever controls the volume will obtain control of the seized ship.

If the seized result is not achieved the boarding ship counts as &#8216;boarded&#8217;, and is physically connected to the other ship. It is impossible to fire on boarding ship without hitting the boarded ship as well (though since the boarding ship will typically be rather more fragile than the boarded this is a possible strategy). Next round the ship to ship boarding roll to seize the ship can be applied again until the ship is successfully destroyed or seized.

The debuffs from ship to ship boarding are applied after electronic warfare but before anything else.

3.2.c Bombing

If a ship is in a planetary or orbital instance during the ability phase it can release its bombs/use its long range weapon as a bomber and make a bombing roll on the battle calc against the infrastructure and population there.

The population and infrastructure lost is applied at the end of the battle, and the EW debuff only applies from the end of the battle onwards.

Although it&#8217;s arbitrary a ship can only use its bombs once per battle and only vs one target. This is different from noncombat bombing, which is done at long range and a ship applies its bombing score once against each possible target.

Bombing can be very dangerous is the wrong hands, if a pirate turns up in a fast ship with virus bombs it can be better to pay a ransom rather than risk losing dozens of population points (millions of individuals). If the planet is not adequately defended, planetary governors may make the choice to pay a ransom demand independently depending on the culture.

3.2.d Dropping Troops

Much like bombing, if a ship is in a planetary or orbital instance during the ability phase it can release any armies it carries that are equipped with drop pods or drop ships. Standard deployment of armies requires control of the long range instance. These Dropped Troops are remembered for the ground combat part of the main update year.

Supplies of material (emvf) can also be dropped to the planet&#8217;s surface with these troops, or on their own.

3.2.e Carriers

During the ability phase, a carrier may release any number of carried ships into the close range instance around itself. If the carrier has catapults, these released ships will have an IP speed bonus depending on their mass.

Disrupting or locking down a carrier during the EW part of the ability phase will prevent the release of the carried ships, as will a successful ship to ship boarding roll during that part of this phase.

A ship may load onto the carrier in this phase as well, but it cannot then be released till the next ability phase.

3.2.f Pushing Sails

During the ability phase a ship with a long range particle or EM weapon can make the choice to push ships during the following engagement phase.

Due to changing the payload in the case of particle, and shifting gears in the powerplant in the case of EM, a ship that has decided to push cannot fire the long range weapons of the appropriate class during either of the firing phases.

A pushing ship provides an IP boost to all ships with the appropriate sail based on their mass. Being pushed by multiple pushers does not stack, instead the highest IP bonus is applied.

Ships that have been disrupted during the EW phase or successfully engaged in ship to ship combat cannot push other ships.

3.2.g Fleet Init

During the ability phase a ship with a fleet int bonus can choose to provide it to allied ships or not. Any successful EW attack&#8217;s modifiers are applied to this fleet int, and a ship that has been successfully engaged in ship to ship boarding cannot provide fleet int.

A ship will always provide its fleet int bonus to itself.

Choosing not to provide fleet int is overridden by the &#8216;pervert comms&#8217; EW action.

3.2.h Jamming

During the ability phase a ship with jammers can choose to switch them on or off. If they are on, they provide a close range int debuff to all ships in close range (including allied ships), and a long range int debuff to all ships (including allied ships).

Long range jamming only hits against fleet int, and cannot reduce the other ships below their base int. Long range jamming doesn&#8217;t hit the jamming ships provision of fleet int to itself, however it hits the fleet int bonus other ships provide to themselves.
Close range jamming replaces rather than stacking with long range jamming. Close range jamming cannot reduce a ships int to less than 0, unless that ship has a base int lower than 0 (in which case it reduces it to that base int). Close range jamming does not affect the jamming ships provision of int to itself; however it affects the fleet int of allied ships.

A ship that has successfully be engaged in ship to ship boarding will still provide jamming, however a seized ship will not.

3.3 Long Range Weapons

Once all abilities have been resolved and buffs and debuffs to stats have been assigned, the movement and damage dealing parts of combat can begin. Each ship chooses a target for each of their long range weapons systems, then resolves the &#8216;to hit&#8217; and damage in the appropriate battle calculator sections. Multiple weapon systems can be aimed at the same target. All to hit and damage are resolved simultaneously.
Any long range weapons not fired in the long range phase can be used in the close range phase.

Certain weapons, the primary example being EMPs, are large volume of effect weapons. Rather than targeted at a ship, they are targeted at a particular close range instance. The too hit and damage resolves separately against each ship (enemy or ally) in that instance and its child boarding instances. Volume weapons ignore missile avoidance, but tend to be much weaker against shields and armour than other missiles.

Interceptors are assigned at the same time as other long range weapons. They can be aimed at other ships as offensive weapons or used to &#8216;cover&#8217; against missiles. Each covering interceptor on launch is assigned to a particular allied ship (this includes the ship its launched from), and will intercept missiles coming at that ship in order of the possible damage they could deal (or in a player specified order). Interceptors covering one ship cannot cover another, if the player guesses wrong about where the enemy is sending their missiles then interceptors will be wasted. Interceptors assigned to stop volume of effect weapons are assigned to an entire close range instance, but will not intercept normal missiles.

Interceptors assigned during the long range phase are spent and cannot be used in the close range phase of the same combat round.

At the end of the long range phase any damage and debuffs caused by the weapons fire is applied. Ships during the engagement phase are aware of any ship destructions.

3.4 Engagement Phase

During the engagement phase ships attempt to move around, in and out of close range instances. All engagements are resolved through the engagement section of the battle calc.

There are four types of engagement actions that can be chosen; standard engagement, counter engagement, flight, and boarding engagement.

Standard engagements are one ship wanted to join the close range instance another ship is in. If the opposing ship also wants to engage, then engagement happens automatically. If the second ship doesn&#8217;t want to engage then an opposed engagement roll is made. When the close range instance has multiple ships within it, the opposed engagement roll is made against the slowest and stupidest ship in the close range instance &#8211; the anchor ship. If there are both allied and opposed ships within the close range instance, you cannot engage automatically, instead needing to make a roll against the anchor ship (with int if its opposed, without if its friendly).

Standard engagements of planetary and orbital instances happen automatically, but engaging a planetary instance requires the ship to be rated for that planetary environment.

Counter-engagement is a simple IF->THEN statement issued to ships. IF ship A attempts to engage close range instance B THEN ship C will try to counter engage it first. If ship C successfully engages ship A, then they will form a new close range instance separate from B, and ship A will not be able to use close range weapons fire on B this combat round.

A ship assigned to counter engage cannot standard engage in the same combat round.
Ships attempting to standard engage or counter engage must do so from the long range instance, a ship cannot go from close range instance to close range instance in a single engagement phase.

Flight is the inverse of standard or counter engagements, here a ship attempts to leave a close range instance or the long range instance. Fleeing a close range instance, the fleeing ship makes an engagement roll against the anchor ship (or if it is the anchor ship, the second slowest and stupidest ship). If successful, the close range instance splits into two close range instances, all other ships apart from the fleeing and anchor ship choose which of the two they wish to stay with, and make contested engagement rolls against that ship (with int if opposed, without it if friendly). If successful they move to the close range instance they target, and if they fail they are booted to the long range instance. Flight is evaluated in int order, so after the highest int ship that wants to flee has try to split the close range instance, the next highest int ship get to try to split off from whichever of the two they ended up with.

Flight happens before standard engagement, but engagement decisions are issued simultaneously, so a ship that has fled will not face engagement actions from the close range instance its broken away from this combat round.

If during the fight splitting of close range instances, both the fleeing ship and the anchor ship wish to flee, then flight happens automatically.

Flight from the long range instance is more difficult. A ship at long range much succeed in an engagement roll against every ship that&#8217;s trying to standard engage it, and every ship issued with counter engagement orders targeting fleeing ships, for three consecutive combat rounds. If it succeeds in all of them, then it leaves the long range instance and the battle.

Boarding engagements and flight from them happens within the engagement and flight from close range instances. A ship can attempt to move to boarding range with any ship in the same close range instance via a contested engagement roll. A ship attempts to flee a boarding instance via a contested engagement roll. A ship that successfully flees a boarding instance can attempt to flee the close range instance in the same engagement round, but a ship cannot engage to close range and then engage to boarding range in the same engagement phase. Boarding engagements occur before flight from close range engagements, but do not halt them &#8211; if a ship successfully comes to boarding range against a ship that successfully flees the current close range instance, the boarding ship will follow the other along to the new close range instance.

3.5 Close Range Weapons

Once all the engagements have been evaluated and a new system of close range instance has been established, ships are now able to fire their close range weapons and any long range weapons that weren&#8217;t fired in the long range phase. These can only be used at close range - long range weapons cannot make long range shots during the close range phase.

Volume weapons used at close range will also make a &#8216;to hit&#8217; and damage roll against the ship launching them.

Interceptors not deployed in the long range weapons phase can be deployed here, but can only be assigned to cover other ships in the same close range instance during this phase.

Hits and damage are assigned using the battle calc &#8211; remember to set the range to &#8216;C&#8217;!
At the end of the long range phase any damage and debuffs caused by the weapons fire is applied.

3.6 End Phase

During the end phase any lingering damage is applied, and fleet commanders make plans for the next combat round.

4 Resolution

A battle is resolved and concludes when any of an number of states occurs a) All the ships of one side have fled/been destroyed/been incapacitated, b) The battle has reached a state where neither side is capable of damaging the other, or c) its calculated that a further hundred combat rounds would pass without A or B occurring (for when each side is capable of only minimal damage). To the victory goes the spoils, and the possible bracing for the arrival of a third fleet with a slower arrival time.

If B or C occur, then next year the battle will resume with the ships in roughly the same position if they choose to stay in the volume during the years movement section. All the ships involved will count as in orbit/landed and neither side will have control of the orbital volume. Ships without supplies, and at the end of their range limit will be destroyed if separated from their supply ships during the battle.

Int debuffs vanish, and damage is abstracted to light or heavy (will start the next battle at 33% and 66% HP respectively) based on its current value during battle resolution. Light damage takes 1 repair action, repairing heavy to light takes another. Ships with regeneration abilities are always only lightly damaged after resolution.

4.1 Flight

Ships that have successfully fled the long range instance will be in interplanetary space at the end of the year, rather than in orbit of a nearby planet as in SysNES1. From there they can move where they want during the following year. Ships without supplies, and at the end of their range limit will be destroyed if separated from their supply ships during flight.

4.2 Seizure

At the end of the battle there may be ships that have been immobilised and de-crewed via ship to ship boarding or EW, as well as ships that have been merely immobilised. The former will be seized by whoever won the battle, and destroyed if it ended in a draw (as neither side would be able to retrieve them).

The latter will make a choice between sacrifice and surrender based on the cultures (even proud warrior race guys tend to be wary about pressing the self-destruct button), the terms offered, and the perceived trustworthiness of those making the offer. If they choose surrender, the enemy will seize the ship and gain one of the special &#8216;Prisoner of War&#8217; ground unit, of either talented or standard flavours depending on the ship.

Ships that have been seized can now be used by the victor, however if they do not possess the design for them they are ten times harder to repair and twice as expensive to run, and their int and fleet int are halved. If their construction used talents, some more must be provide to make them functional.

4.4 Abilities

If there is no more battles set to occur, or 10 arrival units before the next assault, the faction in control of space can use their ships abilities; EW, bombing, off-loading or picking up troops, and their repair actions for the turn.

 

[Disenfrancised]

There is stuff it is talking about which is coming out in V11

 

[Kal'thzar]

Makes sense.

 

[TerrisH]

meant Gravity or "high gravity" not of. though like I said it was mostly for flavor.
meh.. more creating something just to create something, since it looks like fun. consider any faction I post to be non-game if you want.

 

[Thlayli]

When did I ever indicate that I was going to do that?

Uh, here, actually:

Sure lets see what Kentharu has thought of then.

Kentharu has since indicated that he's unlikely to be able to play due to his impending military service, so I thought that qoou would make an acceptable replacement replacement, especially since he has been active on here doing designs, and is reportedly working on a background.

I like the rules, though it needs some conceptual diagrams of an example battle.