FT Pinging

Here's a clearer and more detailed version of the submarine-style
"pinging" rules I posted for Full Thrust earlier. I've playtested it and found
it

works great for one-on-one ship "duels" (something Full Thrust doesn't
generally work well for) and also makes missiles a lot more interesting.

Once you get more than two ships on a side, however, ships are getting pinged
all the time anyway, and it's probably better just to use the normal full
thrust rules. Here goes:

ALTERNATIVE PING RULES FOR FULL THRUST:

Since the starship combat described in the Colonial Marine Technical Manuel is
more akin to submarine warfare, with vessels running silent and trying to
assassinate their opponents before revealing their own presence, the following
optional rules might be used to better simulate this type of combat:

1) Instead of each turn occuring simultaneously, as in FULL THRUST, each ship
acts seperately. Whichever side has the most ships acts first, activating a
single ship, and then the opponent activates a single ship, and so on, as in
Dirtside II. 2) Each ship has a MOVE action and a PING action. a) A MOVE
action is exactly as described in FULL THRUST with the following exception:
although orders are written for the ship, the ships model is not actually
moved until its position is revealed by a PING. b) A ship may PING with its
sensors either before or after its MOVE. A PING immediately reveals the
location of the PINGING ship, and has a chance of revealing the location of
enemy ships. 3) If a ship does not PING during its turn, it is considered to
be on overwatch. 4) During a PING, the PINGING ship may fire at any revealed
vessel, and any OVERWATCHING ship may immediately fire at any revealed vessel.
The current position of any firing ship is immediately REVEALED. All fire
conducted within a single PING is considered simultaneous.
5) Special movement/missile rules:  Missiles and Fighters move at the
beginning of the activation of the ship that launched them, but after the
optional first PING of that vessel. A vessel that has launched a missile,
therefore, may first PING, then move the missile, then write its own movement
orders. Missiles may only be launched during a PING, as a fire

action. a) Missiles and Fighters do not have strong enough sensors to conduct
their own PINGS. They must rely on information beamed to them from their
mother ship. b) Fighters within 6 of a vessel are considered to be within LINE
OF SIGHT of that vessel, and no longer need depend on sensors. As long as the
vessel continues to move at less then 12 velocity (or 18 velocity in the case
of FAST FIGHTERS), the Fighters may continue to attack the vessel regardless
of whether the vessel has been revealed by a PING. Furthermore, the Fighters
are able to communicate the vessels position to their mother ship. Therefore,
the position of any vessel under attack by Fighters is always revealed. 6)
Depending on the type of sensors the PINGING ship has, it has a chance of
illuminating enemy ships. If the enemy ship has ECM, it has a chance

of avoiding detection. a) For BASIC sensors, the PINGING ship rolls a D6, for
ENHANCED sensors the PINGING ship rolls 2D6. For SUPERIOR sensors the PINGING
ship rolls 3D6. b) If an enemy ship has ECM, it rolls 1D6. If an enemy ship
has
ECM and is within 12 of another ship with AREA-EFFECT ECM it rolls 2D6.
c) Take the highest single die roll of both ships. If the PINGING ships roll
is GREATER than the enemy ships roll then the enemy ships position is
revealed.

When using this system I suggest leaving at least one line blank between

each ship on the record sheet. That way you can write "PINGED" under the last
movement to actually have been plotted with the miniature on the table, so you
can keep track of "hidden movement" turns.