ouch. dual resolutions is a real pain in the butt, and concurrent resolutions is even worse, especially at the boundaries (both the hex and the resolution) and as vectors diverge. the computer game red storm rising allowed this very nicely with its zoom in/out feature, but you're using a tabletop method. I remember some d&d dungeon battlemat maps that were meant to be laid down like track as the adventure party progressed into the dungeon - would you have something similar, laying down battle space as it is occupied? or would you say that the battle is confined to a certain hex and anything outside of it is - I dunno, 'outer system'?
I would expect the 10,000 km hex one to be when things are getting close and hairy, and only a few of those occurring, or on final run into boarding.
It would be only 10 hexes across to handle one 100,000 km hex, no more. So a side bit on the main map out of the way of the rest of the ship counters, or if it happened enough maybe a minimap.
In most cases where both ships are still capable of firing, after a round or two of sub-100,000km shots, one of them won't be.
That's because I am upping the attack factor of the battery by 1 for every 10,000 km below 100,000 km.
So at 90,000km a battery 5 becomes 6, at 70,000 km it becomes an 8, at 50,000 km it becomes an A.
Yes, that's right, the itty bitty batteries that are annoying masses of fuel/weapons attrition become spinal in power at point blank range.
With full critical hit impacts to ACS-sized ships.
Ya. Maneuver matters. Along with a hair-raising 'how long do I hold fire' element.
what is the function of the 1000 second turns?
Bookkeeping for most ship maneuver/fire that is not of direct concern to the players, easier to do their move and firing like a classic HG turn- one move, set their defensive and sensor strategies, resolve fire and damage, without getting into the detail.
In an average player character encounter all ships would be being fought at the 100 second phasing, but that would be the 2-3 main ships plus small craft level. In big battle it would be the main combatants the players have targeted and who targeted them.
1000 seconds also good for 'no action yet' ship movement and detection setting up the encounter, or just maneuver.
1000 seconds is also the time baseline for weapons and jump charging, I am not saying every weapon has to be on that slow a charging cycle as command drama requires 'all power to lasers' moments, but overall the relationship of power plant to system is based on the classic 1 EP produced to 1 EP needed at all systems using EP to 1000 seconds.
ah, exactly my reasoning too. and it may be applied to lasers as well.
Reducing potential damage, so it's a tactical tradeoff based on range, target ship armor/agility/countermeasures/sand/lockon situation- sometimes you may have to not improve the to-hit in order to do effective damage.
Which is where I am at right now, considering different armor schemes, resolution of such, whether to tie bay weapons into battleship-type multiple gun turrets or otherwise coordinated fire, etc. etc. etc.
sounds like mission creep. "I want missiles ... 15g ... no, 20g ... 30g would work better ... otherwise the battle may be over before the missiles reach the enemy ...." (look up the wwii japanese torpedo "long lance").
The time to hit thing looms large once you are moving the mice around on the hexmap.
I'm sure the original designers sat down with SS3 rules and thought about what that meant with 1000 missiles in flight as mini movement, missiles in fact may be the ur-reason they went with abstract maneuver and hit resolution, along with scale and game subject focus.
I, being stubborn and a bit daft, am determined to make it work anyway.
Incidentally though, if one gifts missiles with a long range velocity multiplier punch, it makes it suicide for fleets to just hang in orbit around a planet. They HAVE to move out of such a small target box.
