Weapon/Defence Archive: Miscellaneous: Manoeuvres

[Corkscrew] - [Dead Rotate] - [Eclipsing] -  [Emergency Thrust] - [Emergency Deceleration] - [Extreme Manoeuvres] - [Flip]- [FTL Rules Revision] - [Grav Backfire] -[Hard About] - [Post-Movement Maneuvers] - [Redlined Engines] - [Reverse Thrust] - [Short-Range Jump] -[Sideslip] - [Skid] - 

CORKSCREW

The Corkscrew manoeuvre is a more extreme version of the Roll manoeuvre (see Fleet Book 1, page 5), however, instead of simply rolling through 180°, the ship spins through a whole 360° allowing both Port and Starboard facing weapons to bear upon any target in either of the Port or Starboard fire arcs (FP, AP, FS, AS). This can increase the total number of weapons that can be brought to bear upon a particular target, however, at a cost that this radical manoeuvre does cause targeting problems for all weapons fire from the Corkscrewing ship in that turn.

To perform a Corkscrew, the player simply notes CO in his movement orders for that turn; the Corkscrew expends 3 thrust factors, which come off the "turning" allowance – i.e. a thrust–6 ship could perform a Corkscrew, but could not perform any other turn. A ship performing a Corkscrew may also accelerate or decelerate without penalty, but if it performs a turn as well as a Corkscrew, it suffers damage equal to 1 'beam die' (including re–rolls) for every 20 MASS, multiplied by the number of points of turn due to hull stress.

A Corkscrewing ship suffers a -1 penalty to all weapons fire it makes (-1 per dice for beam–type weapons, -1 to the 'to hit' dice for pulse torpedo Launchers and k–guns). If it fires salvo missiles on the turn that it corkscrewed, then the die roll to see how many missiles are locked suffers a -1 penalty. At the end of the turn, roll 1D6, if the result is odd, then the ship is inverted, as if it had performed a Roll manoeuvre, while if the result is even, the ship is "upright".

DEAD ROTATE or DRIVELESS ROTATE

ECLIPSING / SHIPS SCREENING SHIPS

Requirements:
    Eclipsing and Eclipsed ships must be within 3 MU.
    Eclipsing ship must be closer (even marginally) to attacking ship than the Eclipsed ship.
    Eclipsing and/or Eclipsed ship allocates 1 or more thrust at order writing to Eclipsing (e.g.  1p1+Ec2). Eclipsed ship may not conduct Extreme Maneuvers or other such.

Effects:
    Eclipsing ship blocks all or some incoming fire directed at the Eclipsed ship, and all outgoing fire from Eclipsed ship in that arc and the two adjacent arcs. Eclipsing ship has the arcs facing the Eclipsed ship blocked.
    Fighters may ignore Eclipsing, but Eclispsing ship may use PDS vs. fighters attacking Eclipsed ship as if it were the fighter target.
    Weapons targeting Eclipsed ship divide (total) damage between the Eclipsing and Eclipsed ships:
            Base Damage Intercepted = [Hull+Armor (Eclipser)/Hull+Armor (Eclipser+Eclipsed)] (round down) taken by Eclipsing ship and applied normally.
            Mods = +10 for each point of thrust dedicated to Eclipsing
                            -20 per clock-facing of heading difference (i.e. -120 for head on)
                           -50 for Plasma Bolts or other area effect weapons. The Eclipsing ship takes full damage from the blast, the % reflects only the damage reduction to the Eclipsed ship due to "shadowing".
    If Eclipsing ship is destroyed, any overkill (of intercepted damage) is aplied to Eclipsed ship.
    Missiles apply BDI percentage + mods when determining number of missiles locking on. Salvo targeting roll (# of missiles that lock on) is at +1 per Eclipsing ship.                                 

Other: 

EMERGENCY DECELERATION

EMERGENCY THRUST

These rules allow ships to use up to 150% of their Main Drive's current rating, and/or use more Thrust Points for turning than would normally be allowed. However, these bonuses come with the risk of damaging the Main Drive. These Emergency Thrust rules can be used for either Cinematic or Vector movement systems.

Emergency Thrust (ET) may be used for any of the following:

1. Gaining additional Thrust Points equal to 50% of the drive's current rating, rounded down. Thus, a ship with a Main Drive of 4 could use up to 6, or a ship with a Main Drive of 3 use up to 4.
2. Using Thrust Points over half the drive's current rating for turning. Thus, a ship with a Main Drive of 6, which would normally be allowed only 3 Thrust Points for turning, could then use 6.

To use Emergency Thrust, the player writes ET for his orders that turn, followed by the movement orders that use that thrust. Immediately after Phase 1) - WRITE ORDERS FOR ALL SHIPS, dice are rolled for any ship using ET to determine if it was successful and/or the ship's Main Drive was damaged. Roll the number of dice as indicated below:

• Thrust Points over rating - Plus 1 die.
• Thrust Points to turn over ½ rating - Plus 1 die.
• Each prior use of ET during the current scenario - Plus 1 die.

These dice are scored as Beam dice (i.e. 1–3 results in 0, 4–5 results in 1, and 6 results in 2 but with NO re–roll). Compare the results with the following chart:

A ship that fails in its attempt to use ET must immediately re–plot its movement using standard thrust limitations. Damage to the Main Drive from ET may be repaired normally by Damage Control Teams.

EXAMPLE: an undamaged Heavy Cruiser with a Main Drive of 4, using Cinematic Movement, plots "P3+3," using 6 Thrust Points. The ship has used more Thrust Points than its rating (+1 die), and has applied more than ½ of its rating to turn (+1 die). Thus, the ship rolls 2 dice.

• If the rolls resulted in 2 (giving 0) and 3 (giving 0), the ship would move as plotted with no damage.
• If the rolls resulted in 1 (giving 0) and 5 (giving 1), the ship would move as plotted, but would also halve its Main Drive rating as if it had failed a threshold.
• If the rolls are a 4 (giving 1) and 5 (giving 1), then the ship must re–plot its movement, adhering to normal thrust limitations, and it takes threshold damage as shown above.
• If the roll is 6 (giving 2) and 6, (giving another 2, 4 total), then the ship must re–plot,and it takes damage as if it had failed TWO thresholds (essentially destroying the Main Drive).

Thanks to Schoon for re-writing my long-winded rules in a shorter and easier to read format.

[Charles]This appears to be a more detailed (and more complicated) version of the Redlined Engines rule, I think replacing the two-stage method of determining damage to the main drive with a single threshold, with a threshold number of (7 minus 1 per extra thrust factor used).

EXTREME MANEUVERS (AKA EVASIVE MANOEUVRES)

By making radical manoeuvres, and 'jinking' a ship may attempt to throw off targeting locks by an enemy. This does, however, tend to penalise the aim of the evading ship as well. The disadvantage is that such radical manoeuvres tend to overstress the ship's main drive.

To perform Extreme Manoeuvres, the player includes the order EM, followed by the number of thrust factors to be spent on Extreme Manoeuvres, in his written orders for that turn. Thrust factors spent on Extreme Manoeuvres have no effect on the overall movement of the ship.

Option 1: Main Drive threshold is rolled at the end of the turn. Threshold roll is at the current level, with +1 addedto the die roll for each thrust factor used for EM after the first. Threshold is rolled after damage control, so a failed engine cannot be reparied before next movement phase.

Option 2: During Phase 5) MOVE SHIPS, before the evading ship moves, it must make a threshold check (as in option 1) for its main drive. If this threshold check is failed, the main drive is immediately reduced to half power (reducing the normal manoeuvres proportionally), and there is a 50% chance (1, 2, or 3 on 1D6) that the Extreme Manoeuvres will have no effect. If the main drive was already damaged when it failed this check, it is no longer operational, and the ship will perform no further manoeuvres until the drive has been repaired.

Each thrust factor used for Extreme Manoeuvres adds 6 mu to the effective range from an enemy ship to the evading ship for the purpose of resolving weapons fire, both AT the evading ship, and FROM the evading ship. Missiles attacking the evading ship do not have their primary ranges affected, but have their 'lock-on' ranged reduced by 1 mu per thrust factor used for Extreme Manoeuvres.

OPTIONAL RULE: Extreme Manoeuvres can be ordered after Phase 5) movement (see also Post-Movement Maneuvers), and can even be made in response to fire (Reaction to Fire Evasive Maneuver), if enough un- allocated thrust factors are available. The Threshold roll gets an additional +1, and is applied immediately. If successful, ET effects take place from that point on in the turn. Failed rolls may not be repaired by damage control this turn.
Alternatively, the use of thrust factors allocated to Extreme Manoeuvres can be discretionary (i.e. the player allocates some thrust factors to Extreme Manoeuvres, but only uses this if he deems it necessary. The effects of the Extreme Manoeuvres, and the threshold check, only occur at the point where the Extreme Manoeuvres were made).

[Charles] A question, do thrust factors allocated to Extreme Manoeuvres have to come from those available to manoeuvres (i. e. up to half the total thrust factor for standard drives), or can any thrust factors be used?

FLIP

FTL RULES REVISED

The rules for entering or leaving battle under FTL in Full Thrust, page 23–24 were written for the Full Thrust 2 rules, where all warships had 50% of their MASS in hull integrity. Under the Fleet Book design system, ships no longer need have this hull to MASS ratio, so I propose the following amendments and clarifications to the FTL drive rules.

If a ship attempts to leave battle under FTL, it follows the procedure described on page 23 of the Full Thrust rules. The 'danger radius' is still 6 mu, however, if the D6 roll to determine the results of entering FTL while in close proximetry to another body rolled a 5 or 6, the ship attempting the FTL jump is destroyed (as written), and all other ships or other bodies within 6 mu immediately suffer Damage Points equal to one–quarter of the Total MASS Factor (TMF) of the exploding ship (round to nearest whole number). This damage ignores screens, and is applied half to armour (round up), and half to hull (round down). Fighters and missiles caught in the area of this explosion are destroyed, but a fighter group may expend a Combat Endurance to make a secondary move out of the area to avoid the effect (as they have a turn warning, one wonders what they were doing IN the area of effect).

The rule for entering battle under FTL, on page 24 of Full Thrust, is unchanged, but the option of re–rolling the DISTANCE D6 if it rolled 6, and multiplying the result by 6 to determine the distance error is recommended. Again, fighters and missiles within 6 mu of the arriving ship are destroyed, but as an option, a fighter group may expend a Combat Endurance to make a secondary move out of the area to avoid the effect.

GRAV BACKFIRE

In a somewhat desperate action, a ship may use its main drive as a makeshift weapon, overloading them to create a 'Grav Backfire', a sort of 'gravitational shockwave' that can damage ships that are astern. A Grav Backfire is quite damaging, both to ships that happen to be in its path, and to the ship that created the effect!

To generate a Gave Backfire, the player simply notes 'backfire' as his written orders for that ship. During Phase 4) LAUNCH ORDNANCE determine the area of effect of the Grav Backfire, this is the entire aft arc of the backfiring ship, before ships are moved, out to a distance of 1 mu per 5 MASS of the backfiring ship's Main Drive, rounded down, for the 'high damage' zone (or 1% of the ship's TMF multiplied by its Maximum Thrust rating). There is a 'medium damage' zone that extends twice as far (2 mu per 5 MASS of Main Drive), and a 'low damage' zone that extents three times as far (3 mu per 5 MASS of Main Drive).

The Grav Backfire automatically damaged the Main Drive, as if it had failed a threshold check, and the entire ship (including the Main Drive) must make another threshold check at the current level. This is rolled at the beginning of Phase 5) MOVE SHIPS.

Any ship that are in the forementioned area of effect during Phase 4) takes 2D6 of damage for every 5 MASS of the backfiring ship's Main Drive (or 1D6 per Main Drive thrust rating per 100 MASS of ship) if they are in the 'high damage' zone. If they are in the 'medium damage' zone, they take half damage (1D6 per 5 MASS of Main Drive), while if they are in the 'low damage' zone they only suffer one–quarter of the full damage (1D6 per 10 MASS of Main Drive), rounded down.

This damage is applied immediately, and is reduced by screens; subtract the level of the screens from each dice of damage, count vapour shrouds as level–2 screens (alternatively, have the screens reduce the damage in the same way that they defend against Plasma Bolts). The damage is non–penetrating (i.e. it is applied to armour first).

During Phase 5) MOVE SHIPS, move the backfiring ship first, and note its movement path (it is worth marking it with a paper strip or length of string), any ship that passes over the backfiring ship's 'grav wake' (considered to be a 1 mu wide strip with a length equal to the backfiring ship's current velocity) suffer damage equal to that suffered by those that were in the 'low damage' zone (1D6 per 10 MASS of backfiring ship's Main Drive), reduced by screens as above.

Fighters that are caught in the backfire area of effect must spend a Combat Endurance Factor to avoid it or they will be destroyed. Fighters crossing the backfire wake during their movement must spend a secondary move CEF or be destroyed. Missiles, SMs, and Plasma Bolts crossing the wake are treated as if they were attacked by a number of Point Defence Systems equal to the the number of dice of damage a ship would have taken crossing that wake.

Ships with damaged drives may also generate a Grav Backfire, but with only half the normal effect (i.e. treat the ships Main Drive as being half its actual size for all the calculations above). This will automatically render the backfiring ship's Main Drive non–functional (as if it had failed two threshold checks), and if the Main Drive fails the secondary ship wide threshold check as well, then the ship is destroyed by a critical engine overload.

"Advanced" Main Drives (such as those used by the Kra'Vak and the Sa'Vasku) have additional safeguards and buffers that prevent backfiring, and thus cannot generate a Grav Backfire.

[Charles] Hmm.. considering that Full Thrust is a 2D 'simplification' of 3D space, perhaps the 'Grav Wake' effect could be discarded, and just the initial Grav Backfire used.
Also, I have to ask, is their any reason why a ship couldn't be fitted with a forward facing 'secondary drive' that could be 'backfired' to create a 'super SMP'? (apart from the fact that the ship design rules only allow one Main Drive ).

HARD ABOUT

A ship with a standard Main Drive may attempt to make a tighter turn than it would normally be able to, by diverting acceleration/ deceleration thrust into manoeuvre thrust. This is not very efficient, however, and can over–stress the Main Drive.

To perform a Hard About, the player notes HA followed by the 'extra' turn to be made in his movement orders for that turn; the Hard About turn expends 2 thrust factors for each point of turn.

Option 1: Engine Threshold is rolled at the end of the turn - after damage control. Threshold roll is at current level with +1 to the roll for each point of HA above the first. A failed engine cannot be reparied before next movement phase.

Option 2: Roll Engine threshold (as in option 1) during Phase 5) MOVE SHIPS, before the ship making the Hard About moves. Failure prevents HA and may affect other plotted movement.

EXAMPLE: A ship with a Main Drive rating of 4 needs to make a 3–point turn, normally, the maximum turn possible (unless the ship had advanced drives) would be 2, but using the Hard About manoeuvre the player writes the movement order as "2P + HA1P", that is "turn two points to port, then apply a Hard About an additional point to port". This uses 2 thrust factors for the 2 point turn, and an additional TWO thrust factors for the 1 point Hard About. After or before moving (depending on the option), the ship must make 1 threshold check for its Main Drive at its current threshold level. With Option 1, the HA will happen even if the engine fails. with Option 2, the HA will not happen, and tthe 2 thrust remaining is applied as written.

OPTIONAL RULE: A Hard About can be ordered after ship movement, when the ship is activated during Phase 9) SHIPS FIRE, if there is enough un–allocated thrust factors available. This doesn't work well - see Skid.

[Charles] This looks like an alternative to using Emergency Thrust to gain extra points of turn.

POST-MOVEMENT MANEUVERS

REDLINED ENGINES

Under certain circumstances, the captain of a ship may need to push its engines beyond their normal safe design tolerances, in order to get a extra burst of thrust in an emergency. This is possible, but it has a chance to damage the Main Drive by over–stressing the engines.

To redline the Main Drive, the player simply writes RL or RED in his movement orders for that turn; for that turn, the Main Drive produces up to 50% (one–half) more thrust factors than it normally could do. This increased thrust factors can be used for manoeuvres as normal, but unless the Main Drive is an Advanced drive, then only half of the thrust factors (rounded down) may be used for turns or rolls. If using Thrust/Maneuver divisions for drives (MaiD/ManD, etc.) the Maneuver rating may not be exceeded using Redlined Engines unless also using Hard About.

Option 1: Engine threshold is rolled at the end of the turn - after damage control, so a failed engine cannot be reparied before next movement phase.

Option 2: During Phase 5) MOVE SHIPS, before the ship Redlining its engines moves, it must roll a threshold check, at the current level, for its Main Drive.

The increased thrust factors produced by Redlined Main Drives of common ratings are listed below:

[Charles]This is a simpler (and less effective) version of the Emergency Thrust rule.

REVERSE THRUST

SHORT–RANGE JUMP (AKA TACTICAL JUMP)

Under this rule, it is possible to use a ship's FTL Drive to perform a short–range jump while in combat, usually in an attempt to improve the ship's positioning. This manoeuvre tends to be imprecise, and suffers from a certain amount of risk, not unlike entering battle under FTL drive (see Full Thrust, page 24).

To perform a Short–Range Jump, the ship must first spend a turn engaging its FTL drive, (as described on page 23 of Full Thrust), however, unlike for a full–scale FTL jump, the ship CAN perform a turn during this turn. The next turn the Short–Range Jump takes place at the beginning of Phase 5) MOVE SHIPS, before any ships have moved. The ship can jump up to 10 mu per Main Drive rating along its current movement path, and maintains its current course and speed (its movement during the turn it jumped is assumed to be part of the jump distance, so it performs no further movement that turn). If the ship is within 6 mu of another ship or other body when it performs this manoeuvre, it suffers problems as described on page 24 of Full Thrust, or in FTL Rules Revised.

The point of emergence of the ship is not precisely determined however, like that for ships entering battle under FTL drive, roll either a D12, or a pair of D6s (as described on Full Thrust page 3) to determine a random direction, then roll 1D6 for every 20 mu of distance jumped to determine the distance from the target point (in mu) that the ship actually appears at. If the ship possesses enhanced sensors, subtract 2 from this distance, while if it possesses superior sensors, subtract 4, to a minimum distance of zero. If the ship performing the Short–Range Jump arrives within 6 mu of any ship or other body, then both it and the other body(s) will take damage as described in Full Thrust, page 24, or FTL Rules Revised.

A ship cannot fire any of its weapons (excluding defensive 'weapons' such as point defence systems) on the same turn that it performed a Short–Range Jump. After performing a Short–Range Jump, the ship must roll a threshold check for both its FTL drive AND its Main Drive at its current threshold level. The ship can not use its Main Drive to accelerate or decelerate on the turn AFTER it performed the Short–Range Jump, but it can apply thrust to turn. The ship's FTL Drive will be off–line for the remainder of the scenario (i.e. six hours) after performing a Short–Range Jump, so the ship will not be able to disengage using FTL drive.

SIDE–SLIP

Although it is not explicitly mentioned under the Full Thrust cinematic movement rules, a common 'house rule' is to allow a ship to perform a 'Side–Slip' manoeuvre, i.e. a turn in one direction, followed by a turn in another, leading to an elongated 's' shaped trajectory.

To perform a Side–Slip manoeuvre, the player simply notes both the turns, in the order they are to take place, in his movement orders for that turn; each of the turns in the Side–Slip expend 1 thrust factor per point of turn, all of which come off the "turning" allowance. The direction of the Side–Slip is the direction of the first turn in the order. For example, a ship with thrust–4 is given the movement order "P+S+2" which means "perform a side–slip to port while accelerating by 2 thrust factors", to perform this manoeuvre, the ship first turns 1 point to port, then it is moved forward by half of its current velocity, then it is turned 1 point to starboard, finally it is moved forward by the other half of its velocity. This results in the ship being slightly to port of its original course, but still travelling in the same direction.

It is allowable to combine a Side–Slip with a turn, if the ship has sufficient (i.e. 3 or more) thrust factors in its "turning" allowance. This is most simply written by adding the turn component to the turn part of the Side–Slip that is in the same direction. For example, a ship with thrust–6 is given the movement order "S+2P" which means "perform a side–slip to starboard while turning to port", to perform this manoeuvre, the ship first turns 1 point to starboard, then it is moved forward by half of its current velocity, then it is turned 2 points to port, finally it is moved forward by the other half of its velocity. This results in the ship turning 1 point to port, but not moving as far to port as it would if it had made a simple 1–point turn.

SKID

Last Update April 24, 2003, NRI