FTA3 Military and Combat
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Logistics & Support
All military equipment has a logistical weight listing in their unit entries, representing the amount of supply that they burn in the course of normal operations. This cost is paid whenever a ship fights in combat (above and beyond things like routine anti piracy patrol), or in a star system that lacks a forward operating post or supply base. See the notes in the next section for information on how to calculate supply use. Supply can be generated in a few different ways; purchasing on the open market, production from a Supply Generator landmark, or through salvage. The market rate for supply fluctuates from year to year, depending on events on the Grid.
Supply Burn
Supply use is determined by ship weight, times the number of systems away from a point of supply. This means it’s relatively uncomplicated to patrol systems directly connected to your home system, but staging large battlegroups away from centers of supply is genuinely difficult. Supply lines, if unprotected, can also be vulnerable to enemy raiding.
There are two types of bases one can construct away from your territories to provide relief to supply costs. Establishing one of them is a required prerequisite to claiming a territory.
Forward Operating Base
A Forward Operating Base costs $2000 and one military token, taking a year to complete. A FOB allows 100 logistical weight of units - the Open Palm standard size squadron - to operate in a system without additional cost for being outside a Supply Point, and halves the distance for calculating the supply burn for those units operating away from it as counted from the nearest Supply Point. Units beyond the weight limit will pay their full cost for supply. A Forward Operating Base does not count as a Supply Point for determining supply cost.
Supply Base
A supply base counts as your territory for the purposes of counting supply burn. Its cost is $4000 and two military tokens, taking a year to complete. A region must have a supply base established before it can become a new territory .A Forward Operating Base may be upgraded into a Supply Base by paying the requisite difference in cost and spending a military token. The upgrade is completed in a year.
Supply Limitations
It’s impossible to get negative supply. Any combination of Supply Bases/FOBs/Long Legs traits/whatever else can only cumulatively make it so ships cost no additional supply to operate in a system.
Your supply cost is based on the furthest a ship has been from supply in a calendar year, and normal supply burn happens once a year. Additional combat burns are above and beyond this.
Bill has a weight 50 cruiser group operating four jumps from his home system. This means the base supply burn value for this cruiser group doing its business is its total weight of supply, in this case 50, times four, for a total of 200.
Bill establishes a Forward Operating Base in the system he’s got these cruisers in. That means after the base is established, the cruisers can operate in that system and that system alone for their normal upkeep cost. Deploying them further away from his home system, however, still burns higher supply. Say Bill is deploying them two more jumps away from his home system, for a total of six jumps. The FOB doesn’t prevent higher supply burn, but it halves the distance modifier, so instead of costing its 50 weight of supply times six, it only costs 50 times 3, for a total of 150. The next year, Bill upgrades the FOB to a Supply Base, after which the system counts as a territory for the purposes of supply, both for operating in the system where it is located and for systems within a one jump radius of it. It also allows for the operation of unlimited weight of ships to be supplied, unlike a FOB. It also generally means that resupply missions don’t have nearly as much to fear from raiders or pirates.
Space Combat
There are two types of combat resolution, the more involved set designed for small unit engagements, single ship duels, etc. The system designed for mass combat resolution uses the same core stats but instead of having players decide every single tactical decision you give the resolution program broad directives.
Pre Battle
Enumerate Fleets
Each side simply lists the number and type of ships potentially involved in the fight
Determine (potential) Battle Type
There are two types of possible battles:
Mobile
Where both fleets are fully able to use their speed to maneuver for advantage. Note that actions to protect mobile things, like troop transports and merchant vessels are still mobile battles. Where otherwise unlisted, assume that such vessels have a speed of 1. Also note that a fleet defending a fixed objective may attempt to meet the attacking fleet in deep space, and fight a mobile battle, though this may create some risk of the fleet attempting the interception being out maneuvered, and the attacking fleet getting some amount of time to attack the objective without intervention from any defending units attempting an interception.
Fixed Objective
Where there is some fixed objective to be fought over, such as a planet, space station, or other objective that is relatively immobile. Assuming the defending fleet is not attempting any deep space interceptions, both sides declare their lowest speed.
Declare Speed
In a Mobile Battle, Each fleet will then declare the speed it is using. Any fleet elements unable to keep up with that declared speed become temporarily detached into a new fleet. If both sides wish, they may split their fleets into multiple elements with different declared speeds, and attempt to fight different engagements. Though this usually invites defeat in detail.
A cowardly fleet decides to break formation and flee before battle is even joined, devil take the hindmost. The fleet splits into three elements, of speed 1, speed 2, and speed 3, all fleeing the region as fast as their engines will carry them. The opposing fleet, confident of victory over such spineless cowards, breaks their own fleet into a speed 2 section, which will intercept the speed 1 enemy, and a speed 3 section which will run down the speed 2 enemy. The fleeing speed 3 enemy is simply let go.
Avoid/Bring to action (Mobile battles only)
In a mobile battle, it's possible that one fleet will decide it doesn't want to fight, after all. If the fleet opposing them has a higher speed, they can be automatically brought to action. If the fleets have equal speed, then each fleet controller rolls a d20; if the fleet trying to avoid action rolls higher, they have successfully avoided a battle, for now. This is why speed 1 battleships make poor pirate vessels; normal slow merchant vessels have slightly lower than 50% chance of successfully running away from them.
Out-maneuvering a fleet attempting a deep space interception
or why it's generally smarter to defend 'close':
As mentioned above, it's sometimes possible for a fleet trying to attack a fixed target to outmaneuver a defending fleet trying to intercept them in deep space.
Each fleet rolls a d20.
If the attacking fleet is 1 speed higher than the defender, the die rolls are unmodified, with ties going to the defender. If the defending fleet loses the roll off, the difference between the rolls is how many rounds the attacking fleet will have available to attack the fixed objective (and any ships in 'close defense' until the fleet that was attempting the interception arrives.
If the attack fleet and intercepting fleet have equal speeds, the intercepting fleet gets a +5 to the roll.
Attacking fleets with lower speeds are automatically intercepted.
A successful interception means a Mobile Battle.
If the entirety of the defending fleet simply decides to defend 'close' to the objective, it's a Fixed Objective battle instead.
In a Fixed Objective Battle, each side simply declares the speed of their slowest ship. (Note that Starbases and other fixed defenses are speed 0, so defenders with fixed defenses in Fixed Objective battles will always have initiative.)
Prepare for action
List ships taking place in battle
Now that any pre-battle maneuvering is done, each player enumerates the ships actually taking part in the battle.
Determine Initiative
In a Mobile Battle, if one fleet has a higher declared speed, that fleet gets a +1 to position rolls for the whole battle.
In a Fixed Objective Battle, if one fleet has a lower declared speed than the other, that fleet gets a +1 to position rolls for the whole battle.
If both fleets have the same declared speed, then fleet position rolls are unmodified.
Battle
Launch Fighters (start of battle only)
Both players launch can fighters at this time. Note that cloaked ships without deep cloak must decloak to launch fighters. Ships with deep cloak may launch fighters and remain cloaked.
Fighter Interception Phase (every round)
If there is a large tech discrepancy between the fighters on each side, take the average TL of each side's fighters. If one side has an average TL advantage of 0.5 or higher, their fighters can intercept up to two times as many fighters, at the owning players discretion.
Assuming no TL advantage, the side with the lesser number of fighters has all their fighters intercepted. An equal number of fighters from the larger side must allocate an equal number of fighters to the lesser side to intercept them.
One side has 10 TL5 fighters, the other has ten TL3 fighters. The TL5 fighters have an obvious TL advantage, so the TL5 side may allocate between 5 and 10 fighters to interception. If the allocate five, which is enough to intercept all ten of the TL3 fighters, they can send five fighters on to attack the opposing fleet, or they may allocate up to five more of their fighters to the interception (i.e. a maximum of 10, as if they did not have a tech advantage).
Un-intercepted fighters may then go on to make as many anti-shipping attacks as they are able (e.g. first strikes from a Magnum Catapult or the Fighter doctrine, then the regular turn order anti-shipping attacks). There is only one 'dogfight' phase per turn, so fighters who are otherwise able to make multiple anti-shipping attacks get no extra dogfight rolls.
Fighter Dogfight Phase (every round)
Each player rolls a d20 for each fighter they have involved in the dogfight. The TN for killing an opposing fighter is 20, but they add their fighter TL to this number. For example, TL3 fighters need to roll a 17 or greater to kill an opposing fighter, while a TL5 fighter would kill on a 15 or higher. Certain doctrine choices or abilities may allow fighters to make more than one dogfight roll, or add additional bonuses to this roll.
Each player allocates kills to their fighters as they choose. (i.e. lower TL fighters get killed first)
Fighter First Strike (start of battle only)
For every different attack a fighter is able to make (i.e. multiple first strikes, regular anti-shipping attacks) the player controlling the fighters is able to redirect the fighters to attack different valid targets. There is no need to waste later attack runs (e.g. second first strikes) on targets that have already been killed.
A maximum number of fighters equal to the ship's weight can attack it at any one time.
The TL of the fighter making the attack has no influence on anti-shipping strikes.
For each fighter attacking a ship, roll a d20
- 1-10 Ship takes 10 damage
- 11-15 Nothing happens
- 16-20 attacking fighter is (mission) killed
If the ship the fighter is attacking has the flak trait, the fighter adds two to the roll. Certain other traits or doctrines may also modify the ship strike roll.
Note that the 'reconstitution' of mission killed fighters by Fighter Direction Centers does not happen until the end of the round, so fighters able to make multiple attacks may be killed before they can make them all.
Fighter Cloak Detection
Instead of making normal first strike anti-shipping attacks, fighters on attack runs can instead be used to detect cloaked ships. It takes five fighters per speed rating of the cloaked ship to detect it. Fighters able to make multiple first attacks can use their following first strike attacks to detect more cloaked ships, or to attack any revealed ships as normal.
Stand Off attack resolution (start of battle only)
Each player lists out the total number of stand-off attacks they have available.
Any ship under regular cloak must de-cloak at this time to make stand-off attacks. Afterwards, they count as a ship operating normally. Ships with Deep Cloak can simply re-cloak after making stand-off attacks, and continue to operate under Deep Cloak as normal.
In any event, stand-off attacks don't benefit from the attack advantages of being fired from a cloaked platform, they are simply fired from far enough away for the defender to properly react to them.
Stand-off attacks automatically hit, and only roll to pierce. Standoff attacks do not benefit from piercing bonuses, such as those granted by torpedo and secondary battery modules, or by doctrine.
Each player receiving stand-off attacks then calculates the relative percentages of weight for each of their ships being shot at.
The player receiving the stand-off attacks then allocated them under the following rules:
Each ship in the fleet must receive at least one attack, if available. If there are less stand-off attacks than receiving ships, the heaviest ships must be targeted first. With a large number of stand-off attacks, the attacks must be (roughly) split by the percentage weights calculated above. The player receiving the attacks may resolve any 'fractional' splits as they wish. If the stand-off attacks do different amounts of damage, the defender may also allocate them as he wishes.
In this action, Player Bob has two Battleships (each weight 33) two heavy cruisers (each weight 16) and 3 frigates (each weight 8), for a total weight of 122. So each of the battleships would have a 33/122 = 27% share of any incoming stand-off attacks. The fleet listed is receiving 40 standoff attacks, 32 doing 6 damage, and 8 doing 4 damage. The defender allocated them as follows:
- BB1: 10x 6 attacks
- BB2: 10x 6 attacks
- CA1: 6x 6 attacks
- CA2: 5x 6 attacks
- FF1: 1x 6 attack and 2x 4 attacks
- FF2: 3x 4 attacks
- FF3: 3x 4 attacks
After the attacks are allocated, roll to pierce any attacked ships, and inflict damage as normal.
Determine Fleet position (every round)
Fleet position is re-rolled each round of battle. In subsequent rounds, the player that won the position roll last round gets a -2 to their roll. If they have won the position roll several rounds in a row, they get a cumulative -2 for every round they have one. This resets to 0 once they lose a position roll.
Each player rolls a d20; The fleet with initiative gets a +1 on the roll. Re-roll ties.
The player that won the position roll determines what distance each pair-off of ships engages at (see below)
Pair Off (every round)
The player that won the position roll picks one of their ships and 'pairs' it off with one of the other players unpaired ships of their choice. The other player then does the same with one of their unpaired ships. Note that certain ship traits may affect pair assignments. If the number of ships is excessive, so that the alternating choices would take forever, [s]bribe[/s] grab a GM or uninvolved player and get them to do it. Once ships are paired up, they fight until one is destroyed or disengaged, and the survivor/victor is made available to either pair up with a new opponent or Flank into an existing combat. If a ship on the other side is available, they must pair off.
Flanking
If either player has ships 'left over' after all ships have been paired, these ships can be assigned to any 'pair' that the player chooses. These excess ships are referred to as ‘flanking’, they are able to declare their range to their target ship as they desire, even if the controlling side lost the position roll.
Attempt to disengage
A ship may disengage if its side wins the positioning roll-that is, attempt to withdraw from combat. The ships it is engaged with may attempt to pursue, requiring a 15 on a D20 to force the withdrawing ship to stay in battle. For each point of speed advantage the pursuer has over the pursued, reduce this TN by 2. If this roll is failed, the disengaging ships are removed from combat and don't participate in an engagement any further.
Subhunting
Cloaks are a special mechanic that curve-balls the normal combat mechanics. Standard cloaks are the archetypal Romulan cloaking device. Installing them has an added cost but they have fairly limited impact on other ship systems. A ship operating under 'regular' cloak must drop it in order to fire, perform sensor sweeps, etc. Once a ship has decloaked it operates essentially like any other ship.
Deep cloaks are 'submarines in space' in that they operate under cloak at all times. This has a significant impact on many aspects of ship design and consequently deep cloaks are only found on specialized hulls (currently Prowlers and Hunter-Killers).
Space is big and ships are small, so it is essentially impossible to simply fire randomly into space and hope to hit a cloaked ship that you know is in the general area. You have to detect them with your ship's sensors before you are able to get a target lock on a cloaked ship and fire on it.
As many systems which provide protection for a ship against incoming fire are active and directed (e.g. shields, pin-point barriers, etc) rather than simply passive (e.g. armor) an attack from an unexpected direction can severely reduce the effectiveness of 'protection' type defenses. In addition, many of the same types of active protections can not be running while under cloak. So ships under normal cloaks need a few moments to bring these defenses online after decloaking, while ship with deep cloak devices simply do not mount such systems at all.
Sensor check by defenders against cloaked ships (each round)
For each ship engaged with a cloaked target (either paired or flanking) rolls a d20 in an attempt to detect it, ships with the subhunter trait may roll two dice and choose which result they prefer. On a 16 or more, the cloaked ship is detected before it can fire. As such subhunting rolls take place 'at the same time', there is not time to transmit the location of the cloaked ship to others before the opportunity to fire is gone. In the unlikely case that two cloaked ships are in combat against each other, at least one ship has to detect the other for any shooting to occur. If both detect the other, they both get the decloak piercing bonus against the other (if ships with regular cloak), or are simply able to fire at the other ship (deep cloaked ships).
Decloaking and firing
A cloaked ship that is not detected before it fires gets a +5 bonus to piercing against its victim. If the cloaked ship is detected, it may shoot as normal, but its victim has the time to properly direct its defenses, so there is no bonus.
Shooting back vs cloaked ships
If a ship under 'regular' cloak is detected before it has a chance to decloak and fire, the detecting ship is able to attack it with a +5 piercing bonus; if it was not detected beforehand, the retaliating ship fire at the decloaked ship as normal.
For deep cloaked ships, the detecting ship has to detect it to get an opportunity to fire on it at all. Fire on deep cloaked ships is resolved as normal. Unlike ships under 'regular' cloak, there is no normal bonus to shooting at ships you detect under deep cloak.
Note that the STAG module gives a +2 bonus to shoot at any type of ship it detects under cloak, regardless of cloak type.
After a ship with 'regular' cloak decloaks and fires, it operates as a normal ship for the rest of the battle. A ship with a deep cloak will require subhunting rolls every round.
Protect actions
Ships with the protect trait can now declare which ships they are protecting. They are able to direct the attacks of one flanking ship of their choice on to themselves. The flanking ship will roll against the protecting ship’s defenses (avoidance, protection), not the defenses of the protected ship.
Regular shooting (every round)
All shooting is simultaneous, so, for example, any flanking ships may not choose to attack a different ship this phase, even if their target has ‘already’ been killed.
Each ship will have a certain number of attacks. Where attacks are written in the condensed XxY (e.g. 11x6), the first is the number of attacks, and the second is the amount of damage each attack potentially does.
When rolling to hit or pierce, a 20 on the die before modifiers is a critical success and always succeeds and a 1 on the die before modifiers is a critical miss and always fails.
To Hit
Attacks against the Avoidance defensive stat are referred to as ‘to hit’.
Range Bonuses
Each type (Spinal, Direct, Seeking) has a favored range. And gets bonuses to hit at that favored range.
| Close | Far | |
|---|---|---|
| Spinal Mount | +1 | -1 |
| Direct | +2 | 0 |
| Seeking | +2 | +4 |
Other Bonuses
Certain doctrines and certain ship modules may give a bonus ‘to hit’. Remember to total all appropriate bonuses when rolling.
Roll to Hit
Roll a d20 for each of your ships attacks and add your total to hit bonus to each roll, The target number is the target ships avoidance value. Results that match or exceed the target number are ‘hits’.
To Pierce
Attacks against the Protection defensive stat are referred to as ‘to pierce’.
Weapon Bonuses
Spinal mounts have an inherent +3 to pierce.
Direct weapons have an inherent +2 to pierce.
Seeking weapons have no bonus to pierce.
Other Bonuses
Certain doctrines and certain ship modules may give a bonus ‘to pierce’. Remember to total all appropriate bonuses when rolling.
Roll to Pierce
Roll a d20 for each of your ships attacks that hit add your total to piercing bonus to each roll, The target number is the target ships Protection value. Results that match or exceed the target number are ‘pierces’.
Inflict Damage
The target ship takes (number of pierces) time (the damage of the attacking ships weapons). Remember that all shooting is simultaneous, so even dead ships get to ‘shoot back’.
Regular Fighter Anti-Ship Attacks (every round)
See directions in the ‘Fighter First Strike” phase, above, for directions on how to conduct fighter anti-ship attacks.
Fighter Reconstitution (every round)
At the end of the round, FDC may attempt to reconstitute any killed squadrons (i.e. roll a d6 for every killed fighter, as reconstitute them on a 4+). If there is any difference in the squadrons killed, the player who owns the killed fighters decides which ones are reconstituted from among the slain.
Total up the total number (and TL) of any fighters still alive at the end of each round.
Determine Casualties (every round)
Any ship reduced to zero or less HP is considered mission killed. Its actual status will be determined in the Post Battle Phase.
Also determine how many fighters (and of what TL) died this round, and record how many fighters (and of what TL) will be active on the next round.
Ending the Battle
A battle ends once at least one side's ships have all fled or been destroyed. Any fighters or boarders still active at this point are assumed to surrender, barring exceptional circumstances, such as the defense of your home world. In such cases, these remaining forces can fight to the bitter end.
Post Battle
Record Damage level of surviving ships (see Damage levels, below)
Land Fighters
Count the number of surviving fighters, and the number of hangars on surviving ships able to receive them. Any fighters in excess of available hangars are lost, unless you are in friendly territory. Then, the excess fighters can land on that territory.
Resolve Fate of killed ships
Overkill or Critical Damage
Any ship that took a critical piercing roll from any attack in the turn it died or was overkilled by 60% or more of its max HP value is hulked and the ultimate fate of the drifting hulk and associated narrative is determined by the polity whose forces control the battlespace at the end of combat. It may be possible to retrieve technical data (i.e. doctrine research) or small amounts of resources from hulked ships.
For each hulked ship, roll a d10:
- 1-5 The ship is too heavily damaged to be of any further use.
- 6-9 The ship may be salvaged for 20% of its base hull $ cost immediately. Any advanced equipment, such as fold drives, may also be immediately salvaged on a 5+ roll of a d6. Roll separately for each piece of advanced equipment. If you are willing to leave units behind to control the battlefield, you may also salvage 20% of the ships base hull cost in single use DI after one quarter’s worth of work. If a battlefield is never not under control by someone's military units, anything of remaining value is quickly stripped by opportunists.
- 10 The ship is remarkably intact, considering the circumstances. It may be immediately pressed into service with heavy damage.
Also, see ‘Value of different TL of salvage’ (below)
Running Down ‘Killed’ ships
Sometimes you just want a guy dead. Ships mission-killed in combat may still escape to warn allies, transfer critical supplies, or even become a thorn in your side for the rest of the campaign. But that's only if they get away.
You may assign ships to Run Down mission killed assets and either destroy them or attempt to capture them. To run down a ship, you must send one or more ships with a total mass that is equal or greater, and all pursuing ships must match or exceed the speed of the running ship. All pursuing ships are removed from the current mission and not available for subsequent actions.
You need to roll a flat 1d20. On a roll of 11 or higher, you catch the ship. For every ship caught, you may either automatically destroy them, or, if the pursuing ship(s) have a boarding module and appropriate troops, automatically capture the target.
When you choose to destroy the target, your pursuing ship becomes available again in a number of weeks equal to the transit time to the next node, and automatically rejoins its fleet after that time. Pursuing ships that choose to destroy their targets are not vulnerable to interception by the enemy during this time, barring the most egregious of defensive espionage failures. Ships destroyed in this manner do not yield resources or research opportunities.
If you choose to capture the target, the pursuing ship must take the time to escort the captured ship back to friendly territory. If you capture several ships, all the (formerly) pursuing ships may travel in convoy together, and you may choose to assign additional ships from the victorious fleet to escort your prizes back to friendly territory. This ‘prize fleet’ may be vulnerable to interception by the enemy, depending on the distance back to friendly territory and the normal course of fleet operations. Any prize ships ‘recaptured’ roll on the successful flight table (below) to resolve their fate, any recaptured ships that get the ‘write off’ result are scuttled and destroyed. Prize ships typically yield resources and research opportunities, not ships that you can repair and press into service. Roll a d10 for each prize ship. On a 1-4 the ship is too heavily damaged to provide any further value. 5-9, they provide 40% of their base cost in $ and single use DI. Any advanced equipment, such as fold drives, may be removed on a 4+ on a d6. Roll separately for each piece of advanced equipment. On a 10, the prize ship is fully recoverable, and is brought into your service with Heavy Damage. Also, see ‘Value of different TL of salvage’ (below)
Successful Flight
For killed ships that were not run down, roll a D10, which may be modified by having a damage control module (+1) or other bonuses. A ship may choose to spend a character shield automatically score a 10 on Damcon and may not be run down.
- On a 1-4, the ship is destroyed. D-E-D dead. Escape pods launch but the ship is irrecoverable.
- On a roll of 5-6, the ship is mission killed and sufficiently damaged to be a write-off. It escapes on a vector to the nearest supply point (unless run down, see pursuit rules) but must be evacuated and becomes derelict upon arrival. It may be salvaged, producing a value of 40% of $ cost and single-use DI, which must be transported back to safe territory, or sold off to local salvagers/pirates/etc for a flat 60% value in $$ cost only based on the hull type assuming a standard of TL5 equipment. Advanced OPF equipment, such as fold drives, may be salvaged on a D6 roll of 4+ (roll for each advanced gizmo the ship might have)
- Also, see ‘Value of different TL of salvage’ (below)
- On a roll of 7-9, the vessel escapes on a vector to the nearest supply point and may choose to rendezvous with another allied fleet. The ship is heavily damaged (see below) unless it has the regeneration trait, if so, it only has medium damage. .
- On a roll of 10+, the ship is largely intact. It retreats to the nearest supply point, or it may choose to rendezvous with an allied fleet. It burns its weight in supplies (in addition to its normal burn) , has light damage (see below), or is in fine condition if it has regeneration, and becomes available to fight after the resolution of the battle it escapes from is over.
Value of different TL of salvage
The given values for salvage assume TL5 ships. TL4 pays -10% for each value, and TL3 pays -20% for each value. TL6 pays for 150% of each value.
Ship damage
Damage Levels
Maybe your ship got damaged in battle. Maybe it landed a little hard and it has a booboo. Ship damage is tracked as one of four levels (Fine, Light Damage, Medium Damage, Heavy Damage). After whatever the situation (battle, crash, squid encounter, etc) is resolved, check what percentage of the ship’s current HP is of its total possible HP. Fine is 100-75.1% total health, Light Damage is 75-50.1% health, Medium Damage is 50-25.1% health, and Heavy Damage is 25 - .1% health. To determine the HP thresholds for damage, multiply by ¾, ½, and ¼ and round as normal.
| Fine | 161 - 122 HP | |
| Light Damage | 121 - 82 HP | 161*¾ = 120.75, rounded to 121 is the light damage threshold |
| Medium Damage | 81 - 41 HP | 161/2 = 80.5, rounded to 81 is the medium damage threshold |
| Heavy Damage | Less than or Equal to 40 HP | 161/4 = 40.25, rounded to 40 is the heavy damage threshold |
Fighting While Damaged
Damaged ships enter battle with starting HP equal to the damage threshold number. For example, the CA from above, entering battle with medium damage, would start at 81 HP.
Repair
Cost
The cost to repair a level of damage is $ 1/6th of the ship’s $ construction price, rounded normally. For example, for a heavy cruiser that cost $175 to build costs $29 per damage level to repair (175/6 = 29.17, rounded to 29).
Time
Repair time per threshold is 1 quarter for every year the ship took to construct. For example, repairing a Cruiser (2 years construction time) from Medium to Light Damage would take 2 quarters.
Repair Location
You may repair light damage at a Forward Operating Base. Repair of medium damage requires a supply point, or the territory of a formal ally. Heavy damage can only be repaired within your own territory.
Strategic Operations - Mass Combat Resolution
When combats get to a certain size, it becomes impractical to resolve them player versus player in anything resembling a timely fashion. In this case, we resolve these combats in the autoroller, with players making some top-level tactical decisions and some basic rules adjustments so the autoroller can handle everything. This section breaks down those changes.
Rule Simplifications:
In mass combat, the following simplifications take place:
- Fighter Dogfights: Instead of the previously laid out rules, Fighters are first allocated to mutual interception, and the side with excess fighters may then go on the attack. Higher technology fighters do still get their extra interception ability.
- Disengagement is automatically successful (but may still be “Run Down” post-battle, per above). When ships reach your threshold to withdraw, assuming they aren’t completely killed off in that phase, ships automatically disengage. Ships that disengage under 10% health may be subject to a modified roll on the casualty table post-battle. Disengaged ships count as destroyed for the purpose of determining when a force automatically disengages, so this is a balance point for aggressiveness, keep that in mind.
Tactical Decisions:
In mass combat, a commander (the player) designates a few conditionals to guide the combat roller in its resolution. These conditionals are as follows:
- Preferred targeting for each type of ship (capital, cruiser, escort, meaning which type of ship do they try to engage with in pairing)
- Preferred target for excess fighter squadrons if they exist (particular hull type first, followed by ships with X% of damage, etc)
- Preferred disengagement orders for both individual ship type (HP%) and your force as a whole (% of combat weight lost, disengaged ships count as a loss)
Ground Combat
Ground Operations
Ground Combat is, again, relatively simple. Each side totals up their battle value, as determined by their own stats, Traits, and any enemy modifiers that may come into play, and then engage in an opposed roll. They then determine damage and that concludes ground combat for the quarter.
The Battle Value of a force is based on the unit’s Quality, Mobility, Firepower, Relative Size, Specialization, Morale/Fatigue, and Leadership.
Quality
The Quality of a Ground Unit depends on its type, as well as any modifiers from if the unit is Elite or not. In effect, this ranges from 0 to 4. For mass engagements, add the Quality of all units together and divide by 4, rounding up to the nearest whole number. The default quality of all Regular line units is 2, but some Q3 and 4 units exist.
Mobility
Mobility also depends on the type of the Ground Unit. Mobility ranges from 0 to 4. For mass engagements, Average out the mobility, rounding up to the nearest whole number.
Firepower
Some ground units have more firepower than others. This ranges from 0 to 4. For mass engagements, Average out the Firepower, rounding up to the nearest whole number.
Relative Size
The Relative Size of units in combat is, again, based on the unit’s size. Battalions are the smallest possible unit, Brigades are larger than Battalions but smaller than Brigades, and Brigades are the largest. Three battalions make a brigade and three brigades make a division. Give the smaller force a 1 and the larger a 2. IF the larger force outnumbers it two to one, give the larger force a 4. If by three to one, a six; four to one, an eight.
Specializations
If a unit is doing something related to its Specialization as part of the battle plan, it adds a 1 to the total Battle Value. Some environmental factors can impact battle value as well.
Morale and Fatigue
Morale and Fatigue is, again, rated on a scale from 0 to 4, and ties in to the supply of a ground force, how long they’ve been deployed, what they’ve been doing (Good luck finding high morale during COIN operations), and numerous other factors. The default morale is 2 and moderators will make judgment calls adjusting morale as appropriate to circumstance (also some game effects can raise or lower morale, it’ll be clearly stated.)
- 0 - The crews don’t want to be there, and the fleet is low on supply or is far from home.
- 1 - Morale is low, be it due to a recent defeat, long deployment, unpopular officers, a grueling insurgency, or low Stability.
- 2 - Average morale, the resting baseline
- 3 - Eager. The US Marine Corps on an off day
- 4 - Fearless. Iranian Basij during the Iran-Iraq war.
Leadership and Strategy
Both sides roll opposed d6 rolls, with each side getting a bonus to the roll depending on the plan of the force going into the battle and how it interacts with the other side’s plan. The winner of the roll adds the Lead (up to a maximum of +4) to their force’s Battle Value.
Air Superiority
If one side of an engagement has clear air superiority from Aerospace Fighters (that is, more squadron weight than the other), then that side gains an additional +2 to their Battle Value. Be aware that air defense upgrades can negate enemy aerospace fighters. This is calculated after the Interceptor phase.
Once the Battle Value of both sides is added together, both sides roll off with D20s. The winner of an engagement is the force with the higher combined Battle Value+roll. The Lead, or the Difference between the two Battle Values, is the severity of the engagement.
All engaged units, regardless of who won or lost, have to roll a d20. This is called the Damage Save. Any result over 15 has a unit destroyed, and any result over 10 is Exhausted (PROVISIONAL VALUES) -this unit has taken enough casualties that they are effectively unusable for a quarter until they’ve been refreshed with replacements. The Loser of an engagement adds the Lead to this roll. The unit with the higher average mobility has a modifier here to avoid damage (gotta figure it out) whereas the side with the higher average firepower lowers the thresholds for Exhausted and Destroyed by 1.
Ortillery & Intercepting a Landing
Ships in orbit or supporting a ground attack with the Ortillery Capability are capable of engaging and neutralizing ground targets. A Ship with Ortillery can force a number of ground units depending on the ship’s size to immediately make a Damage Save, with a bonus to the roll equal to the size of the Ship providing Ortillery fire.
| Ship Size | Ortillery Targets | Damage Roll Bonuses |
|---|---|---|
| Escort | 1 Battalion Equivalent | 1 |
| Cruiser | 1 Brigade Equivalent | 2 |
| Capital | 1 Division Equivalent | 3 |
Defending fighter squadrons can force a similar Damage Save on Ground Units landing from orbiting spacecraft.
When a squadron makes an attack run on a landing Ground Unit, the Ground Unit must make a Damage save, with a bonus of +4 added to the roll. An Interceptor Squadron can only attack a single unit this way.
Interception attacks can be countered by escorting aerospace fighters. Each escorting squadron can force a dogfight (see space combat fighter rules) with one intercepting squadron, with “excess” interceptors getting free attacks on dropping troops.
Ortillery & Interception is resolved before Battle Value is determined and the two sides roll off. Units damaged or destroyed in this phase aren’t calculated in a force’s BV.
A combat phase in ground combat represents a full quarter (one RL week), as all this abstraction really is simplification of protracted ground campaigns spanning hundreds of kilometers, with terrain and numerous other factors in play. This could be waived in some circumstances, like a couple of brigades being dropped on a battalion or whatever, at moderator’s discretion.
With the basic battle results resolved, moderators will then make a judgment if one side or the other withdraws or surrenders, based primarily on four factors: Quality, Morale, Balance of Force, and Number of Exhausted and Destroyed sub-units.
Fighting Different Technology Levels in Ground Combat
Most Grid Polities have their specialized ground forces equipped to the OPF Standard level. Local militia (that is, the abstracted forces tied to CI) are not going to be able to stop them unless they tremendously outnumber the other side or someone’s real stupid. Generally speaking, if you throw a marine brigade at a territory that’s only protected by CI militia, it’s not a question of “if” but “when” is that brigade going to capture the territory. This is the same logic as to why a sondrak privateer isn’t going to seriously threaten your cruisers on patrol.
Boarding
Boarding is very hard to do, normally requiring specialized troops known as Espatiers. Under combat conditions it’s normally done very rarely, and most Espatier work is done post-combat as part of pursuit. Moderators will determine when Boarding operations can occur and handle resolution as shit’s complicated and not intended to be a mainline combat tactic.
Outdated Boarding Rules
These rules were originally written when it was thought boarding was to be a mainline combat tactic and are here for reference purposes only.
As a note, using a unit without the Boarding trait increases difficulty by 50%. Notably, lower tech-level units do not suffer a notable penalty for fighting in boarding actions-at close range, there’s only so many ways to skin a cat and the tech disparity isn’t as important as grit and big booms.
First, the boarding unit has to actually successfully dock with the target. Coming from a ship with a Boarding Pod module helps, while the enemy possessing the Flak trait makes things more difficult. It’s also generally more difficult if the ship has undamaged engines or is faster than the ship carrying the Espatiers.
Boarders can attempt to seize control of the ship- or do damage to it from the inside. Whichever is chosen by the controlling player when the boarding action starts.
Actually damaging a ship is the easier of the two. Every turn that an Espatier unit is on board a warship, it will do damage to the ship’s HP equal to the sum of its Quality and Firepower rating times two. Damage from all on board. If a ship is destroyed this way, then the Espatiers disembark.
Capturing a ship is the hard part. In order to capture a ship, an Espatier Unit has to make a capture check: this is, roughly, 1d8 + Quality + Mobility+ Firepower versus 10 + half the target’s logistics weight. Defending Espatier units force the attacker to instead overcome the full logistics weight of the target. Multiple attacking units may add together their numbers, with each battalion of Espatiers adding together their values (but the D8 is only added once).
A captured ship is effectively disabled, and can be seized by the victorious side after battle- or scuttled.
Every turn that an Espatier unit is onboard a ship, be it attempting to destroy it or attempting to capture it, that unit will have to make a Damage Save, adding the Size of the ship and the Firepower of any hostile Espatier units to the roll. A result of 12 or more has the boarding Espatiers forced to retreat. A result of 15 or more sees the Espatiers destroyed. A result of 9, 10, or 11 sees the Espatiers take casualties but continue the mission; if they succeed, then they will have to spend a quarter recovering from the losses.