From: Mike.Elliott@b...
Date: Wed, 18 Feb 1998 14:56:24 +0000
Subject: FT Campaign /4000AD
Dear all, Here's a suggestion for a simple way to run an FT campaign: 4000AD This game was published by Waddingtons but is now (sadly) long out of print. Playing Area The playing area is three dimensional and divided into cubes known as sectors. In the original game, the board was 4 * 3 * 2 sectors. Each sector is identified uniquely. Each sector contains two star systems. In addition, there is also a hyper-space track for each player, seven spaces long. Star Resources Star systems on the map have human population, material resources, both or neither. In each pair of sectors there is one star with both population and materials, one with only population, one with only materials and one with no resources. Set Up Each player (2 to 4) has a home star (which has both population and materials) and a fleet of 15 ships at that star. Turn Sequence If this is a Production turn, all players place new ships at their home star. In his turn a player may do the following: Move fleets already in hyper-space. Make one departure of a fleet into hyper-space. Resolve any battles Production Production takes place on alternate turns, starting with turn 3. This can be kept track of by means of a coin. At the start of the game, place a coin on the board heads up. At the start of each turn flip the coin over. When the coin shows heads it is a Production turn. In a Production turn, each player counts up the resources available at each star system he occupies (i.e. the player has one or more ships at the star system). For each pair of population and materials resources the player takes one new ship. The resources do not have to be located on the same star or in the same sector. The new ships are placed at the players home star. Moving Fleets in Hyper-space The hyper-space track only indicates how long a fleet has been in hyper-space. It does NOT indicate direction of travel or destination. The concept here is that a fleet in hyper-space is potentially at ANY sector that is at the distance indicated by its position on the hyper-space track. For example a fleet that is in space 3 could come out of hyper-space at any sector that is 3 turns away from its departure sector. The player moves each fleet that is in hyper-space. Any or all of these fleets may drop out of hyper-space into a sector that is the appropriate distance from the fleet's departure sector. Fleets dropping out of hyper-space are placed at one of the stars in that sector. Battles If an opposing fleet is at the star when a fleet arrives then a battle occurs. In the original game, the larger fleet completely destroyed the smaller. Fleet Departure In the original game each player could only have a maximum of two fleets in hyper-space at any time. (This was because the ships were moved in little trays called "warps" and there were only two per player!!) A player may only make one fleet departure per turn. All the ships in a fleet must depart from the same star. If the ships are NOT moving to a star in the same sector, place the ships in the first space on the hyper-space track. The sector from which the fleet departed is recorded. If the ships are moving to a star in the same sector, then they arrive in the same turn. Place them at the destination star. Loss of Home Star If a player's home star is captured, if he cannot regain it on his NEXT turn, then he is eliminated from the game. If the player does not recapture his home star, then any fleets he has on the board will surrender to the first ship of any other player that they encounter. Any fleets he has in hyper-space may continue to move normally until they re-enter normal space. Ships that surrender immediately join the forces of the capturing fleet. Winning the Game The winner is the last player remaining in the game after all the others have been eliminated. The game can also be ended by mutual agreement by all the remaining players. The winner in this case is the player who occupies the greatest number of stars. If two or more players occupy the same number of stars, then the winner is the player with the largest fleet. Modifications for use with Full Thrust The obvious appeal is that 4000AD could provide a simple campaign background for Full Thrust. The following modifications are suggested: Each ship in 4000AD represents a specified number of FT points. I would suggest 1 ship is equivalent to 100 pts, but you can set it at any suitable value. If you want bigger fleets, make it larger, for smaller fleets it should be less. Thus each fleet in 4000AD is so many FT points worth of ships. When ships are built during Production, the player must state what FT ships have been built from the points available. Points may be stockpiled at the home star. Battles are fought using Full Thrust. The losing force must retreat to the other star in the same sector (if it is not occupied by enemy forces). If it cannot do so then it must travel via hyper-space to the nearest friendly or unoccupied star of the owner's choice.