Battle Rider for T5 BCS

[robject]

That's not a good description of mayday - mayday is cumulative damage, just like Book 2.

Bottom of page 8, top 'o page 9 describes the results of hits:

Weaponry - ALL weaponry is disabled.
Computer - the computer has been rendered non-functional.
M-drive - the maneuver drive is disabled.
J-drive - disabled.

And, any ship which receives 4 or more hits in a single turn is destroyed.

It more resembles the crit table in Book 2 and HG than the incremental damage from typical Book 2 hits.

 

[mike wightman]

Rob's right - Mayday is a critical damage based resolution system not a degrade over time system.

Note that the 'no effect' hit doesn't cause critical system damage - i.e. the hit has no affect on the combat performance of the ship - but it does count for the 'take four hits in a turn and you are destroyed' rule.

 

[aramis]

I stand corrected - noting that the one thing it didn't keep from Bk 2 is the incremental damage. <Sigh>

 

[mike wightman]

Hmm - aside and probably soon to be its own thread...
I wonder if there is a way to adapt this damage resolution system to HG2.

What if batteries bearing for secondaries gave a DM on the hit and penetration tables instead of requiring a bucket of dice or a statistical resolution system?

What if big ships require a number of extra hits equal to their size DM no knock out a system?
Hull size L-P a jump drive hit reduces jump rating, second hit renders jump drive inoperative.
Hull size R+ reduce - reduce - inoperative.

8 hits in a single turn mission kills an L-P, 12 hits in a single turn mission kills an R+

If I can get this to work for HG then it may be possible to adapt it to T5.

 

[robject]

Hmm - aside and probably soon to be its own thread...
I wonder if there is a way to adapt this damage resolution system to HG2.

What if batteries bearing for secondaries gave a DM on the hit and penetration tables instead of requiring a bucket of dice or a statistical resolution system?

[etc]

T5 certainly encourages mass fire, in which all weapons of the same type may elect to be fired in one task roll with summed DMs.

 

[flykiller]

anything ever come of this attempt?

 

[robject]

anything ever come of this attempt?

As a matter of fact, there is movement here in two fronts:

First, High Guard 1 and 2 (and some of Clay Bush's notes) were consulted and plagiarized to create a design text framework. Then, T5 and HG1/2 were raided for design notes and ideas. HG1 and 2 have some useful representational and tactical considerations. Also, Marc's notes were stolen for some preliminary spinal gun rules.

So design rules are coming together.

That's the design front.

The other front is the combat system, and Marc has come up with a scheme that just - might - work. It uses off-board ship cards, about the size of a poker card, or a 3x5 index card, with maybe eight pieces of information. I think Marc wants miniatures on the board - or silhouette counters for cheap people like me. To attack, you line the cards up, and the attacker's mode of attack lines up with one of the target's defenses. Att minus def is your target. Roll dice based on range. Hits are crits.

At least, that's the draft idea. I don't think there is a damage rule settled on yet.

 

[flykiller]

It uses off-board ship cards, about the size of a poker card, or a 3x5 index card, with maybe eight pieces of information.

yeah, when I tried to put mine together I came up with the same idea. the cards though included boxes to mark changing component stats as damage acrued - say, original m6, with a box to mark 5, 4, etc. you can put them on paper (easy/cheap to print) or laminated printstock (easy to handle but the writing can rub off) or just plain old 3x5 cards (need to make new ones with each game, no big deal). for a big ship 3x5 is too small, 8x11 is better.

good luck.

 

[robject]

That's a good idea for (for example) recording battle damage.

 

[flykiller]

not just battle damage, also specialty crew presence, munitions expenditures, fuel status, anything. can make it as detailed as you want and implement the rules in sections as gamer proficiency develops.

 

[Ulsyus]

To attack, you line the cards up, and the attacker's mode of attack lines up with one of the target's defenses. Att minus def is your target. Roll dice based on range. Hits are crits.

That reminds me strongly of combat in Imperium...

Using the Traditional game phases:

A. Intruder's Turn
1. Intruder moves
2. Intruder beams attack
3. Native beams return fire
4. Intruder consolidation and dispersal, launch and recovery
5. Intruder Admiral's/Commander's Orders

B. Native's Turn (same essential phases as Intruder)

C. Interphase
1. Asteroids move
2. Planets move
3. Derelicts move

Had you given any consideration to a simultaneous movement system? I took that component from Canvas Eagles and added it to the BCS games I was playing with Starmada. I used ship or squadron/TF sheets with a movement tracker taken from the CE aircraft sheets, listed the direction and rate of thrust along with a current vector (both listed as a digit then a letter A-F for the six sides of the hexes on the mat) and that gave us the final vector for that turn. The same effect as with BR and BL, but without all the little counters on the table, just miniatures for ships and missiles and any other little accoutrements you fancy.

I reckon that simultaneous movement really is a better way of playing out a game like this. The only thing we were trying to add for further detail when we were right into it and had plenty of time was the idea of firing at the closest point of approach. That was a bit time consuming, so for simplicity's sake we left it out.