Modified Turn Sequence:
                      1. Write Orders.
                      2. Damage Control
                      3. PDS Fire.
                      4. Fighter Fire.
                      5. Missile Fire (not launches).
                      6. Ship to Ship Attacks.
                      7. Fighter/Missile Launches.
                      8. Movement of Units (Ships, Fighters, Missiles, etc.)
                      9. Scanning.
 

Sensors operate on both Tactical and Strategic scales.

Tactical:
All sensors have three tactical sensing range bands (SRBs). Information is additive as range decreases.

• SRB 1: 0-12 MU - Ships in this range must show current SSDs to each other whenever asked.
• SRB 2: 12-36 MU
• True mass and Threshold level of all ships in range is known on demand.
• A ship may scan one opposing ship for each Firecon it has - can see the scanned target's current SSD.
• SRB 3 36-72 MU:
• Ships at this range reveal apparent mass/silhouette (rounded to nearest 10 Mass).
• Crippled (last damage row and/or critical hit) status of all ships in range is known.
• A ship may scan one opposing ship for each 2 Firecons it has. Odd Firecon can scan every other turn (pick odd or even turns at start of game). Use logic for change in working Firecons during combat.

Special:

• Long range weapons - Ships carrying direct fire weapons with range 36+X MU increase SRB 2 and 3 by X MU.
• Enhanced/Special Sensors - Enhanced Sensors increase all standard SRBs by 50%. Special Sensors double all SRBs.
• ECM/Stealth hulls - ECM/Stealth reduces all standard SRBs by 1/3 to 1/2. Area effect ECM covers multiple ships.
• Fighters - Fighters rely mainly on allied ship sensors, but their own scanners have SRB 1 to 6", SRB 2 to 12", and no SRB 3.

• Scout Squadron - Non-combat fighters. Standard cost. Dogfight as Torpedo Fighters, anti-ship as Interceptors. Full group senses as std. starship with 6 Firecons (expending one CEF/turn for scanning SRB 3 and long range scan). Effective Firecons decrease as fighters are lost
• Silent running - Ships that emit no energy (sensors/weapons/drives) have the equivalent of ECM.
• Blip Enhancer/Masker - Ship system. 1 mass/2 pts increases or decreases apparent mass of carrying ship by up to 20 mass until successfully scanned. SRB 3 of unscanned ship may show misleading silhouette.

When a fighter is hit by anti-fighter fire, roll 1 die.
1-2: Pilot survives OK
3-4: Pilot injured but alive
5-6: Pilot killed
Odd: Fighter repairable (maybe even able to limp to bay under power after scenario)
Even: Fighter destroyed/unsalvageable

For greater detail, think of increasing severity of injury with higher die numbers:
1: Pilot, Just a scratch or two
2: Pilot knocked around/ shaken up, but easily treatable. No down time.
3: Concussions, broken bones. Recovery in days/weeks.
4: Critical injuries but recoverable over time (weeks+)
5: Dead
6: No body recoverable.

Pilot and fighter survival is moot if no one stays around to recover/rescue, or if an enemy victor systematically wipes out cripples and escape pods.

Other details:
Heavy fighters, Interceptors, Agile fighters get -1 to die roll for pilot outcome only
Kravak anti-fighter weapons add + 1 to die roll, 7 counts as "Even" for fighter survival
Plasma bolts add + 1 to die roll, 7 counts as "Even" for fighter survival

The Karma Wheel - Each side in a conflict may modify a single die roll of theirs by +1, or a single die roll of the opponents by -1. Sixes produced by Karma count as "Natural" for reroll purposes. Natural sixes reduced to fives count as fives. Karma is determined at the start of a scenario, and can be defined in many possible ways. Some examples:

• Each side gets one Karma "point" each turn. Points accumulate if unspent.
• Total Karma points equals number of crew units in the fleet. No more than one point per ship can be spent any turn.
• Karma points cost 10 NPV each and are bought like ships. Usable any time.
• Karma points cost 3 NPV each and are bought for each ship. A ship can only use its points on its rolls and rolls directly affecting it. (Write a K onthe SSD for each point, crossing it off when spent). Karma points are not systems and can't be damaged or destroyed, but are lost if the ship is destroyed.
• Use of Karma must be declared before die is rolled OR can be declared after die is rolled.
• A player may only spend one Karma point on any single roll OR any number of points can be spent on one roll.
• If one player modifies a die roll with Karma, the opponent may OR may not cancel it with her own Karma. OR cancelling costs two Karma.
• Players may only spend Karma on rolls directly affecting their ships (i.e. they can't sabotage an opponent's damage control roll)
• Players may not spend karma Points on weapon fire OR may only spend them on weapon fire.

"Solving" SML/Fighter speed problems
 

This sounds a bit complex at first, but I think should execute pretty simply in 3 steps. I hate added complexity, but think this may really be workable.

1) Launch salvo missiles in vector form. That is, apply the launching ship's velocity to the salvo before moving the salvo's 24 MU (or 36 for ER) in the allowed arc directions.

2) Move target, keeping track of end speed and heading (heading and facing may not be the same in vector), then close Salvo to target in range as per normal rules.

3) Determine Attack Velocity (AV). AV has two components - the Salvo vector and the target vector.

• Salvo vector is the line between the launch point and the target (coordinate or center post)
• Target vector is dependent on the heading of the target after movement.
•  If the salvo vector is between 10 and 2 o'clock of the target heading, this is "head-on" and the  target's velocity is added to the salvo's
•  If the salvo is 2-4 or 8-10 o'clock, this is "orthogonal", and the target velocity is not considered.
•  If the salvo is 4-8 o'clock, this is "chase", and the target  velicity is subtracted from the salvo's
• Another way of thinking about this is that if the salvo vector and target vector are within 2 clock facings of each other, add target velocity . If betwen 2 and 4, add nothing. if between 4 and 6, subtract target veolcity.
• Add Salvo Vector and Target Vector together to get AV

So:
 

Missile Lock Roll	AV (Norm)	AV (ER)
1d6 (1-6 missiles)	0-30 MU	0-42 MU
d6-1 (1-5)	30-36 MU	42-48 MU
d6-2 (1-4)	36-42 MU	48-54 MU
d6-3 (1-3)	42-48 MU	54-60 MU
d6-4 (1-2)	48-54 MU	60-66 MU
d6-5 (1 max)	54-60 MU	66-72 MU
d6-6 (0)	60+ MU	72+ MU

Probably some numbers would need to be run, but I think SML overall effect
and therefore cost, should not be too affected by these alterations. High
vs. low veolcity games (and high differential velocity) will balance
somewhat differently, natch.

Quick and dirty examples:
Head-on attack: FSE is moving 16", NSL is 12" head on. Salvo is launched,
placed 16" ahead of the FSE ship, and moved an additional 10" forward to
come within 3" of the NSL ship.
AV is 16+10+12+3 = 41" or a -3 on the missile lock roll.

Orthogonal: FSE and NSL are at the same speeds but NSL pulls a 2 point turn
and is hit at 3 o'clock.
AV is 16+10+3 =29": No missile lock modification.

Chase: Raider tries to take out a convoy escort:
Raider at speed 30" direction 1 Convoy is 6" direction 1.
Raider launches salvo, which is placed 30" ahead. Slavo moves additional 24"
to reach 6" radius convoy escort.
AV is 30+24-6+6 or 54: Missile lock roll is at -4 or -5 depending on the
fractions.

Fighters next:

For fighters, I lean towards "fixing" them by giving them vector movement at
all times.

AV is determined similar to Missiles:
1) Move fighter with vector, then move target ship with whatever movement,
then apply fighter reaction move as desired. Determine total start-endpoint
distance traveled for the fighters.
***Target of a reaction move must be announced. A fighter group ma ynot attack
non-targeted ship with a reaction move even if it is base to base, though it
may egage other fighters.

2) Add, ignore, or subtract target speed as with SMLs
3) Close fighters to base-to-base contact. Actual fighter distance moved is from startpoint to ship being attacked.
4) Total up Attack Velocity with 2+3

To engage any target - including other fighter groups, the attacking fighter
AV has to be less than 42 (+12 for fast fighters) (OPTIONAL: +12 for
interceptors vs other fighters, +12 for torpedo fighters vs. ships). this is taken from the Normal 24" move of fighters +6" attack range +12" range for reaction move.

At the start of each turn (before movement orders are written) a fighter
group that attacked a ship last turn can declare that they are "pressing the
attack". That means that the fighter groups move with their target (as in
screening). This gives the advantage that once attacking a ship, they can
stick with it, but the disadvantage that the target ship can peel out of
formation and drag the fighters with them away from the action. The fighters
can choose to break their attack _after_ movement by spending a CEF to move
12" in any direction (adding it to the target's ships _ending_ velocity for
the purpose of next turn). Fighters breaking off a pressed attack can't
attack another ship this turn, but can engage in dogfights. 

Passing attack:  If the AV is higher than the max required for engagement. Reduce the
number of dice in the attack by 1 for each 6" or part thereof above the max AV. So two fighter groups closing head-on
at 24" each (AV 48) could each make passing attack at 2 dice less. No furball ensues.

Breaking to Engage: If a fighter group reaches a target with its normal move, but the AV is still too high, it could apply it's
reaction move to "break to engage" This would result in the fighter group not moving on the board, but reducing the AV
(and the group's speed) by up to 12. In the head-on fighter example above if Group A spends a CEF to break to speed 12, the AV for both groups is now 36, and they can both engage full attacks. Next turn the furball drifts 12" in B's direction of travel (Direction determined by A+B's vector, speed determined by the slowest of A or B.).

(Extra Detail) Fighter furballs drift. Add the incoming velocity vectors of
all fighter groups in the furball to determine the direction of drift. Speed
of drift is the speed component of the slowest fighter group that that
joined the furball.
 

Other thoughts from the list:

>So I take it you're not going to see any dogfights first turn after launch
>unless the ships are less than about class 2 range apart, either that or
>your fighters spend ages chugging into battle - I guess people who play at
>higher speed could up the dogfight AFV though.

Yes.This is one of those things that would need to be tweaked by playtest. Fighters would also likely have a harder time
engaging in cinematic than in vector - maybe adding CEF would balance that.
 

Last Update: December 21, 2002, NRI