[FT] Repost Replacement Boarding Rules (fixed)

Boarding Actions for FT:FB

These rules are a joint effort by Jared Noble and Schoon, with ideas culled
from others on the list. They replace the boarding rules from More Thrust,
bringing them on line with FT:FB1.

Boarding Parties and Defense Teams

In More Thrust, ships were given a certain number of Boarding Parties for
free. This number was determined only on the MASS of the ship. One of the
elegant aspects of the Fleet Book construction system was the elimination, or
at least reduction, of "freebies" in the construction system, along with
better defined crew rules. Thus...

No ship carries Boarding Parties unless they are specifically purchased during
construction, although Defense Teams may be assembled from the general crew in
order to defend the ship from enemy invaders.

It was accurately pointed out on the FTML that it is contrary to current naval
practice for vessels to carry trained teams for boarding actions. It is not
unreasonable, in an age of increasingly long range warfare, that this trend
will continue. It was also observed that Full Thrust has a very low frequency
of actual boarding operations in most games. Thus eliminating the previously
free boarding parties has very little impact on play or ship design. However,
the ability to use regular crew as defenders preserves a defensive ability on
all but the smallest vessels.

Boarding Factors (BF) can consist of Defense Teams, Boarding Parties, or
Grunts.

Defense Teams (Naval Personnel): For every 2 surviving crew units aboard
(round down), a ship may muster 1 Boarding Factor of defenders for purposes of
resisting boarding actions. These teams are "free" in the sense that they are
drawn from the current crew, and so are available to all but the smallest
vessels. Because they are hastily assembled and not specifically equipped,
they may not be used in offensive boarding operations. For every casualty
taken, place checks by 2 crew units to indicate they may no longer be used as
Defense Teams.

Boarding Parties (Marines): Boarding Parties must be purchased and are
represented on the SSD as an anchor inside a circle. Each of these teams count
as 1 Boarding Factor in combat, and may be used in offensive operations. They
do not suffer casualties as crew units are eliminated, but are subject to
thresholds like any other system. Boarding Parties lost to threshold rolls may
by "repaired" by damage control, representing medical treatment, but those
lost in combat cannot be recovered.

Boarding Party - 1 MASS, POINT COST = 3

Though 1 MASS may seem high, Marines require a large amount of special
equipment, including recoilless weapons, power armor with thruster packs, and
other bulky items. They are specially trained and equipped for these actions.

Carried Troops (Grunts): Ground troops carried aboard troop ships may be
pressed into service to defend the vessel. Every 2 MASS of ground troops
carried yields 1 Boarding Factor, which may only be used for defensive
operations. Because most of the troops' weapons and equipment are stowed, and
that they lack the extensive training and specific equipment required for
boarding actions, they are not nearly as efficient as Marines.

Resolving Boarding Actions

These rules, while simple, provide a more flexible and "realistic" resolution
of boarding actions, while taking into account the new core systems rules from
the FT:FB.

Using the FT/MT system, any Boarding Factors (old Boarding Parties) that
were severely outnumbered could not possibly win, nor inflict any casualties.
Even a two vs. four situation was virtually hopeless for the defenders,
contrary to the example in MT.

Boarding actions take place after "Step 9: Ships Fire" in the sequence of
play. To be eligible for a boarding action, the ships in question must be
within 6" and have a difference in velocity no greater than one. If using the
Cinematic Movement System, the course may vary by no more than one clock face
than that of the target ship, or, if using the Vector Movement System, by no
more than 30 degrees off that of the target vessel.

Each BF is assigned to either offensive or defensive status. Offensive BFs,
which must consist solely of Boarding Parties, are those that will assault the
enemy ship, and defensive BFs, which may be a combination of any type of BF,
will defend their own.

Any ship assaulted by enemy BFs must resolve a boarding action for the turn.
Both offensive and defensive players roll one die for each BF, and score it in
the same manner as a beam weapon, including re-rolls on a 6. The result
is the number of casualties inflicted on the opposing force. For example, if
two defensive BFs were assaulted by four offensive BFs, they would roll two
and four dice respectively. If the rolls were 2 and 5 for the defenders, and
1, 4, 3, and
6 (re-roll of 4), the casualties would be 1 and 4 respectively. The
defenders have died gloriously, but at least they took a "bad guy" down with
them.

If, after casualties have been removed, there are still BFs on both sides,
another round of combat will ensue on the following turn. A ship could
potentially be in contest for some time, with both players making an effort to
reinforce their side in the intervening turn.

The defending player has the option of giving up a core system instead of a
casualty. The effects of giving up the system are exactly the same as if it
has failed a threshold check, with the exception of the power core. The power
core will not explode (unless that is the assault team's objective), but
simply acts
as if it had been dumped upon a roll of 5-6 (FB pg. 5). For example, a
defender with two BFs takes two casualties from offensive forces. Confident
that he can get reinforcements from friendly ships next turn, he removes one
BF and gives up life support. The other player rolls one die (as if life
support had failed) and gets a two. Whatever happens, the defender had better
hope that the action is resolved within the next two turns.

The contested ship remains in the hands of the defenders and continues to move
and fire normally (subject to the effects of surrendered core systems) until
the defenders are defeated in the Boarding Resolution phase.

Note that with this system, a ship can drop off an assault force and then
thrust away to do other things. Likewise, a defender, who has any capacity to
do so, can limp closer to friendly forces in hopes of help.

Optional rules:

Attacking Systems (Raids) -

On the initial turn of boarding a ship, a boarding force may declare a special
effort to damage one specific system. Core systems are not valid targets. The
attacker then assigns a number of his BFs to the task. The boarding action is
resolved as normal, except the attacker may not roll for the BFs involved in
the raid. If the BF assigned to the raid survives, the target system must take
a threshold roll vs. 6. Each additional surviving BF that was assigned to the
raid lowers the threshold roll by 1.

Boarding Cutters -

Boarding cutters are an alternate means of getting BFs to the target ship.
They are based loosely on the shuttle rules from the B5:EFSB.

The Cutter moves in the same phase and in the same manner as fighters, with a
speed of 18 MU. It takes 2 damage points to destroy. The first point of damage
to the shuttle yields no effect, but the second point destroys the shuttle and
all aboard. It attacks as a single fighter if intercepted by fighters. If the
cutter ends its movement within 6" of an enemy ship and survives PDS fire, the
boarding parties may attack. Cutters have an endurance of 2 and may carry 2
BFs (BPs only).

Boarding Cutter 2 MASS (requires 3 MASS hanger), POINT COST = 6

Prize Crews -

Once a ship is taken, a prize crew must be transferred if it is to be taken as
a spoil of war. Prize crews consists of a number of crew units equal to
1/5
(rounding up) of the original crew value for the ship. These crew maintain the
ability to act as Damage Control Parties for establishing control and
repairing the ship. Prize crews may come from any vessel of the victor's
fleet. No ship
may be reduced to less than 1/5 its original crew rating. This is the
minimum
crew required to maintain standard ship-board operations.

With a prize crew in place, the ship is now under limited control of its new
owners. Most ship systems will be offline and locked with security measures,
and control must be reestablished. To establish control, a successful damage
control roll must be made by one of the new crew acting as a DCP. This roll
does not actually repair damage, but simply restores control of the systems.
Each category listed below must be repaired individually.

Manuever: the ship may immediately maneuver at 1/2 current thrust
rating. Reactivation restores current maximum thrust.

FTL: FTL is offline. Reactivation allows normal use.

Defensive systems: initially offline, reactivation permits use of screens and
PDS, but not ADFC, which requires a refit to conform to another fleet's
control protocol.

Offensive weapons: Offensive systems are generally held under much tighter
security than other ship systems, and therefore cannot be reactivated during
the course of a game. This requires the more extensive resources available at
a shipyard or other major fleet center.

Life support systems require no reactivation roll.