An adaptation of the Full Thrust rules to make single ship duels and small escort group battles practical.

All FT2.5 rules apply with the following changes:

High Resolution Full Thrust (HRFT)
NILL version 1.4  


Change Log

V1.4 
Transfer to WDA, Editing
Mods to VTIF, Fighter CEF
V1.3
“Mid-turn fire only”option in Cinematic
“VTIF” firing in Vector
V1.2
SCC: Clarification of Computer core system
SOM: Damage control scaling for smaller ships
DTS: Wording changes to simplify – use term “stripped” for fully damaged Hull Block.
V1.1:
SCC: Small Ships and Uneven Hull Blocks
SOM: Folded Damage control Mods into this section; Added optional weapon overload rule; PDS vs. ships clarification.
MTS: Ship to ship fire simulteneity

NOTE: In several places the wording is awkward and will need clarification/simplification.

NOTE: Terms in Italics are systems/rules modifications listed in the Weapon and Defense Archive (WDA)

Ship Construction/Conversion (SCC)

 Ship construction rules follow normal FT2.5 rules. To convert a ship to High-Res equivalent:

1. Multiply total hull by 3, then divide by 6. Whole number amounts are evenly distributed in six Hull Blocks around the ship corresponding to the standard 6 fire arcs. Any remainder (3 hull for odd starting hull numbers). Is distributed evenly in the FP/F/FA arcs. Armor is multiplied and distributed in the same way.
• Standard FT ships (4 hull rows) translate to Hull Blocks of 3 rows each.
• Hull Blocks for Variable Hull Rows translate to one fewer row for each Hull Block (i.e. 2, 4, and 5, respectively for 3, 5, and 6).
• EXCEPTIONS/VARIATIONS:
• Broadside arc (FP/FS/S/AS/AP/P) Hull Block distribution for alternate designs; Alternate distribution of remainder hull/armor (or restriction for only even #s of hull/armor).
• Converted small ships have the same total hull and armor (3xStandard FT) but fewer Hull Blocks. 4-Hull box standard ships are converted to 4 Hull Blocks (Possible configurations include: 4x90 degree facings: F/P/S/A; joined side arcs: F/FP+AP/A/AS+FS or joined fore/aft arcs (FP+FS/S/AS+AP/P; depending on hull shape) with 3 boxes each. 2-Hull box ships convert to 2 Hull Blocks (Either FH/AH or PH/SH) with 3 boxes each.  One Hull Box ships convert to a single 3 Hull Block with “360 coverage”.
• Departures from even distribution of Hull/Armor are possible, but may no longer scale with FB2.5 NPV or Mass adjusted CPV. 1:1 trade of hull boxes from one Block to another up to some maximum probably has low balance impact (and possible high tactical variation value) for Cinematic games, but high impact on Vector games. Correct balance will require extensive play testing and/or generation of better model-based rules.
2. Crew/Damage Control units are not mixed in the Hull Blocks. The total number of units is made into its own block, with the last unit inverted in color (white on black).
3. Systems are grouped by arc facings.
• Weapons or systems with defined arcs are straightforward
• Drives, Minelayers face A
• PDS face 360
• Special sensors are F, FH, or 360, depending on sensor rules.
• Systems without external “reach” are considered Central. These include: Fire Control, ADFC, Screens, ECM, Crew/Damage Control Units
• Core Systems used in HRFT are the alternate core systems designed by Daryl Poe:
•  COMPUTER: Ships with computer damage must plot movement one turn in advance Should the computer get fixed, advance turn orders can be rewritten. If engines are damaged while computer is still damaged, follow the written orders as closely as possible. If engines are repaired while computer is damaged, Thrust levels may be changed, but maneuver may not. Ordinance fire and fighter launch do not need advance plotting, but screen arc coverage does.
•  COMMUNICATIONS: Ships with communications damage fire after all ships with intact communications have finished.
•  SENSORS: Ships with sensor damage suffer the following penalty; when firing, for weapons with multiple range categories, the target is treated as if it were one range category further away. For weapons with only one range category, the target is treated as if it were twice as far away (i.e. a Class-1 battery has an effective range of 6 mu).
4. Example ships:

Modified Turn Sequence  (MTS)

1. Write Orders (+Screen settings, and Tracking and other optional rules), for all ships
2. Declare Screen settings, speed and other items for the turn
3. Roll for initiative
4. Move fighter groups 1/2 movement
5. Launch Ordinance (Salvo Missiles /Plasma Bolts, etc) and place at final target point
6. Move ships to halfway point of their movement
7. Allocate small unit attacks
   
• Allocate missile attacks (if launched at step 13 of last turn).
• Allocate fighter attacks (fighters may burn CEF for secondary move of 6MU)
8. Point Defense Fire (including Heavy weapons as Point Defense)
9. Missile and fighter attacks (Fighter attacks cost 2 CEF)
10. Ships fire weapons not used as PDS in step 8. Ship to ship weapon fire is considered simultaneous.
11. Roll initiative
12. Move fighter groups second 1/2 movement (even if they have fired on step 8)
13. Launch Ordinance. These will allocate and attack on steps 7-9 of next turn.
14. Complete ship movement.
15. Allocate small unit attacks  
• Allocate missile attacks (if launched at step 5 of this turn)
• Allocate fighter attacks if they have not attacked this turn (fighters may burn CEF for 6 MU secondary move) .
16. Point Defense Fire (Including heavy weapons as PDS if not used in step 8). PDS may fire at both steps 8 and 16.
17. Missile and fighter attacks
18. Ships Fire weapons that were not used in steps 8, 10, or 16. Ship to ship weapon fire is considered simultaneous.
19. Turn end

NOTE1: The “split turn” makes for additional tactical considerations of when to fire weapons – since you only get one shot on any given turn. Even though main wepons have 4 fire opportunities per turn, ships are limited in actual opportunities by number of firecons, which can only be used once per turn.
NOTE2: Firecons may  track one target per turn. This allows Port weapons to fire on the first half of the turn, and starboard weapons to fire at the same target if it crosses to that facing in the second half, but the same firecon may not switch targets during a turn.

VARIATION1: A step could be inserted between 10 and 11 for “Emergency Maneuver” where any unused thrust from step 1 may be plotted and declared to execute Hard About, Extreme Maneuver, or other special movement rules.
VARIATION2: Cinematic Only. Mid-turn ship fire.

• Only one ship fire phase per turn
• Ships fire at halfway point of movement, after roll takes effect, before turning of 2nd half of turn takes effect.
• Anti-ship PDS fire takes place at this time.
• Fighters/ordinance attacks take place at normal time (as does PDS).
• Primary weapons-as-PDS take place at normal time, only if weapons are not fired at mid-turn

VARIATION3: Vector Only. Vector Turn Integrated Fire (VTIF)

• At movement plotting, a ship may dedicate one or more maneuver thrust to "tracking". E.g. and MD4 ship could do MD2, RP3, T1 for Accelerate 2, rotated 3 Port, and Track 1. Only maneuver may be used for Tracking, so a thrust 4 ship can have max T2.
• Leave markers at the start points of  movement, and move all ships as plotted.
• If desired, eyeball the midpoint of movement as well and place markers there.
  
• When a ship is activated for firing, it picks its target(s). 
• Option1: Measure the start-start point range and the finish-finish point range (and if deisred, the mid-point-midpoint range) of the two ships, and average the two (or the two smallest) to determine weapon range. Fire arcs are determined at movement endpoint as normal. This option helps reduce the incidence of long range flyby jousts.
• Option2: Use standard endpoint range determination.
  
• For each weapon the attacker wishes to fire, targeting is determined by rolling a d6 and applying DRMs. If the roll is equal to or less than the number of arcs of the weapon, it may fire at the target. If the Targeting roll fails, that weapon may not fire at other targets this turn.
• DRM's:
• Target inside weapon arc -3
• Each point of thrust dedicated to Tracking: -1
• Each point of turn executed during maneuver step: +1 (so a ship facing 6 that rotates to face 12 gets a +6 DRM)
• Each point of "Evasive" or "Extreme" maneuver from the target ship (if that rule is being used): +1
• Target 2 arcs-out of arc=+3 (e.g. Target in A arc, weapon FS, or FP, but not AS or AP
• Target 3 arcs out of arc (opposite facing) = +6

System Operation Modifications in HRFT (SOM)

1. Screens provide 6 points of screening per level. Covering one arc at level 1 costs one screen point. Covering one arc at level 2 costs 2 points. Covering one arc at level 3 (if bringing level 3 screens in from FT) costs 6 points.
2. Firecons may only be used against one target per turn, for targeting enemy ships or small units.
3. Fire through Aft arc is permitted at all times. If the Main Drive is used for either linear thrust or maneuver targets through the Aft arc are treated as if they have Stealth Level 2 (I.e. weapon range bands are effectively 2/3 of the normal –> Beams = 8MU/band). For Aft arc fire vs. ships with Stealth, the effect is additive (i.e. Aft fire vs. Stealth II = 2/3 of 2/3 (rounded up) for 6 MU/Band.
4. PDS firing against ships at the half-turn may not fire again vs. ships or fighters for the rest of the turn. PDS firing vs. fighters at the half-turn may not fire at ships at the end of the turn.
5. Fighers have 12 CEF standard. Secondary moves cost 1 CEF, attacks cost 2 CEF.
   
6. Damage Control Modifications
• Damage control parties are thresholdable “systems” tracked in the “central” area of a ship.
• To reduce ship-size advantage problems, DCPs are determined using different scales according to ship mass:
•  Mass ≤ 40: One DCP per 10 Mass.
•  40 < Mass < 80: 4 DCP flat.
•  Mass ≥ 80: One DCP per 20 Mass
• DCPs may attempt to repair other DCPs (aka a “Medic” roll). One Medic roll per turn may have a DRM of +1 (Chief medical officer).
• DCP’s may attempt to repair Hull or Armor. Hull repairs may only be done to the current damage row (i.e. if a 3/3/3 hull block receives 4 pts of damage, hull may repaired only to the 0/3/3 level. Hull repairs on a stripped Hull Block may fix up to the full last damage row, If that damage row is fully repaired, it becomes thresholdable again.
• The last (“inverted”) damage control party may not be destroyed until the ship is destroyed.
7. OPTIONAL: Weapons that fire faster than their standard rate of fire (e.g. Beams that fire at the end of turn X (steps 16 or 18) and mid-Turn on Turn X+1 (steps 8 or 10) roll a threshold at their worst arc Hull Block level due to “overload”.

Damage to Ships  (DTS)

1. Incoming fire direction is determined for each attacking ship/unit. The “direct line” is the line from the attacking unit/detonation point/etc. to the target ship. The “facing arc” is the arc on the target ship facing the direct line. “Adjacent arcs” are the arcs to either side of the facing arc.
• Missile direction is determined during the Missile/Fighter attack steps from point of placement. For each missile roll 1d6. A 1 indicates the incoming arc is 1 clockwise from the direct line, a 6 indicates incoming arc is 1 counterclockwise.
• Fighter direction is determined during the Missile/Fighter attack steps. Fighter damage is distributed evenly between the facing arc and the adjacent arcs, with any remainder going first to the center arc, then the closest adjacent arc to the direct line. Fighter groups that have not spent a CEF for a secondary move may elect to do so at this stage to concentrate all fire in the facing arc.
• Area effect weapons (e.g. Plasma Bolt) do half damage to the facing arc, and divide the other half evenly between the adjacent arcs. Any remainder goes to the facing arc.
• Enveloping weapons (if/when they are developed) divide damage evenly as possible across all arcs. Any remainder damage goes to the facing arc, then adjacent arcs, then next furthest arcs.
2. Damage from a given arc direction is taken off the Hull Block facing that direction. Armor and Hull conventions from standard FT apply.
3. When a threshold is reached for a given Hull Block:
• All systems facing that arc (including all 360 systems) roll the threshold level of that Hull Block.
• All systems that are out-of arc from the arc of the incoming damage are lumped together. Roll one threshold check against the group. If the roll indicates a damaged system, randomly determine one of the group to be damaged.
• All “central” systems are grouped together and take a single threshold check as in 3b above.
• All Core systems are grouped together and take a single threshold check as in 3b above, but with a –1 DRM. I.e. they cannot be damaged by the first threshold of any Hull Block, and threshold at one level “better” than other systems.
4. If more than one Hull row is fully damaged from one attack (one ship, Fighter wave, missile barrage, etc.) then the Threshold level is one worse than the highest level completed.
5. When all boxes in a Hull Block are marked as damaged, (i.e. the Block is “stripped”) it thresholds as in 3 above. Any further damage is applied to both adjacent Hull Blocks. E.g. if the F arc Block is stripped and 2 more damage is taken through the F arc, both the FP and FS blocks take 2 damage each. This “cascade” damage bypasses any armor on adjacent Blocks.
• Thresholds from cascade damage count both the arc of incoming fire and the adjacent arc as “in arc.” E.g. if the FP arc Block is stripped and the F arc takes a threshold from cascade damage, an F-only facing P-Torp  (and any other F facing systems like Fighter launch bays and Spinal Mounts) takes a threshold roll just like all other weapons with FP arcs.
• Thresholds from cascade damage:
•  In-arc systems threshold at the level of the completed row of the Hull Block. If two Hull Blocks threshold from cascade damage, use the worse (if any) of the two threshold levels.
•  Out-of-arc,  “central”, and Core systems roll as single groups as in 3 above, but at the threshold level of the stripped Hull Block. E.g. on a standard FT ship, if the FS block is stripped, and a cascade threshold (level 1) is taken through F and/or AS arcs, then the out-of-arc group and central group are at level 3, and the Core systems threshold at level 2.
6. If one damage source strips one Hull Block and thresholds one or more adjacent Hull Blocks, the in-arc systems from the incoming fire threshold at the level of the destroyed Hull Block, the Core system block thresholds as one better, and the rest of the ship’s systems take a standard threshold at the level of the adjacent Hull Block’s damaged row.
7. If the Hull Block adjacent to incoming damage is also stripped, any cascade damage goes to the next Hull Block over.
8. If all the Hull from all Blocks is destroyed, the ship is destroyed.  Roll 1d6. If the roll is greater than the “overkill”, the ship remains intact and possibly salvageable. A roll of 1 always indicates destruction.

Additional  Maneuver rules for HRFT

Roll. In HRFT, the roll takes effect after mid-turn (step 14)

Corkscrew. As in WDA. In HRFT, the ship is considered “rolled” at mid-turn and “right-side-up” at the end of turn firing.  The d6 to determine end-turn roll state still takes place.

Redlined Engines as in WDA (+33% or +50% to effective thrust. Whichever  works best). In HRFT,  ships may be redlined at mid-turn, but only get 1/2 (round down) the additional thrust.

Hard About as in WDA. In HRFT, Hard About can be added to maneuver plot after mid-turn if enough un-allocated thrust is available.

Extreme Maneuvers as in WDA. IN HRFT, EM can be plotted/activated with un-allocated thrust after mid-turn.

Dead Rotate or Driveless Rotate as in WDA. In HRFT, the rotation happens during step 14 of the turn, after the mid-turn actions.

Last Update December 21, 2002, NRI