Space Combat Phase - 1st Draft of Movement and Combat

[Blackronin]

But for thousands of years people preferred to sleep when the sun went down because they didn't have electric light, but not anymore.

Tennis isn't simultaneous because it's unfeasible. But that's not really an argument, is it? Fencing is simultaneous, paint ball is simultaneous, king fu is simultaneous, multi-person shoot'em'up computer games are simultaneous, as are a lot of Miniature games, Wargames and Boardgames.

[JT Fox]

What are we taking about in phase one, deep space combat.

Star Trek style with big ships maneuvering around each other.

Or

Battlestar Galactica style with big ships launching little fighters and then using guns for defense.

My view is that big space ship will be like big oil tankers on the sea. Great if you want to go straight but a crap turning circle. Therefore BSG should be what we're looking to do. Opportunity fire would be for the defensive guns at the fighters as they attack the big ships.

Cheers JTF

[Blackronin]

Yes. I also view big ships with a lot of momentum and incapable of swift turns, but it's already "in game" the OF against fighters since the big ships fire first and damage is done to fighters and only then the fighters fire back.

[lehcyfer]

I see it like old sea battles:

Battleships/carriers surrounded by cruisers surrounded by destroyers, with hives of fighters/bombers flying from carriers to target and back.

In other words - layers of defence surrounding capital ships delivering long range hard hits. Destroyers are capable of delivering punch even to capital ships (rocket torpedoes) but are targetted by cruisers which are keeping them away from capital ships.

[Blackronin]

@lehcyfer:

I agree with that vision, not the way you pretend the rules to work.

@JT Fox:

Not much different, but with more possibilities.

Fighters
Gunboats
Destroyers
Frigates
Cruisers
Pocket battleships
Battleships

Some of these classes would have also special capacities: carriers, mine layers, Missile, Fast blockade runners, etc.

[lehcyfer]

I dont pretend any rules, because we are in proces of establishing rules - I simply opt for game system which is easy to learn and apply, doesn't need shifting through papers, where player himself decides which ships to move and how. The sequence of movement should be a matter of player's choice, not ships. The player's actions should bring immediate, visible results, the flow of the game should be as fluid as possible, and both players should be needed to do the actions - opponent doesn't yawn when the other player moves his pieces, but is alert to make use of AOO. In my version for example in attack phase it's the opposite player that rolls defence dices - whether or not the shields and armor deflected the hits and he's placing the damage markers.

[JT Fox]

Originally Posted by lehcyfer

I see it like old sea battles:

Battleships/carriers surrounded by cruisers surrounded by destroyers, with hives of fighters/bombers flying from carriers to target and back.

In other words - layers of defence surrounding capital ships delivering long range hard hits. Destroyers are capable of delivering punch even to capital ships (rocket torpedoes) but are targetted by cruisers which are keeping them away from capital ships.

I like the look of this. However, go back a few years before carriers and remove the hives of fighters/bombers.

We're left with 3 basic ship types. Battleships, cruisers and destroyers. The destroyers could be launched from the battleships.

The destroyers could also follow dropships into low orbit where they take on more conventional fighters.

Cheers JTF

[Blackronin]

I like the fighters and bombers against capital ships.
And I like gunboats being launched by capital ships, but not destroyers.
Destroyers are for all effects capital ships.
And yes, gunboats in the low orbit game is a thing I like.

[Lex]

The only reason today's carrier dominated the battlefield is because they have a far better range than conventional gun ships. If their range is made to be similar in the game, or that the short-range anti-bomber defence made much more powerful, a play-off between battleships and carriers can be made. And by that all the naval combat systems emerge naturally once more, with long-range cruise missiles, high calibre guns and fleet carriers existing all in coherence. --It's a game, we want it to be balanced and interesting, with great variations possible.

[Blackronin]

Couldn't agree more, Lex.