Full Thrust FMA (long)

As I was driving down I-35 south of Dallas in the rain I came up with
these ideas for am FMA combat system for Full Thrust. Below I've included only
the
core ship-to-ship combat rules, but I've got this basic system extended
to cover fighters, missiles, and most other combat related portions of Full
Thrust. This system incorporates crew quality, creates opposed die rolls for
combat and utilizes multiple die sizes and die shifts familiar to players of
GZG's FMA games. I've rolled out a few combat exchanges in testing some of the
ideas and I think that the system will play almost as fast as standard Full
Thrust combat if plenty of dice are available in a couple of colors. By
rolling one color of die for the crew quality and another for all of the
weapons dice, everything can be thrown at once and the results quicly scanned.
The description of the system is somewhat cumbersome, but it seems very
intuitive once you try it. I'd really like any feedback on this and will
gladly mail the full rules to anyone who is interested (as soon as I get them
typed up that is). I only ask that credit for this accompany it.

I can see these rules introducing a number of tactical changes, but not
neccesarily altering the feel much. Combat results so far seem to have more of
a jackpot effect. A good defense roll will annul lots of attacks, while a good
crew quality roll combined with a poor defensive roll will result in massive
damage. Many people (myself included) feel that escort ships, even in packs
cannot currently stand against capital ships. The hull size based defense
rolls should help that. I foresee the appearance of extra firecon on many
capital ships to help insure those major strikes... Other observations will
have to await playtesting.... Also for those of you converting to other
universes (B5ers etc.), the use of multiple die types and opposed rolls offers
a greater range over which to customize the races. For B5, Minbari ships with
ECM and whose beam weapons roll d10's ought to match up properly against EA
ships whose beam wepons are only allowed to roll d6 as weapon dice., etc.

Anyway, let me know what you think and e-mail BJCantwell@AOL.com if
you'd like a full copy when I'm done.

Full Thrust FMA

A Full Metal Anorak combat system for Full Thrust.

This system applies principles of the FMA combat system found in other GZG
products to Full Thrust. Opposed rolls are based on the attacker's crew
quality and weapons fired and the defender's hull size. I assume that
acquiring a firm targeting solution on the target in the vastness of space is
one of the critical steps in hitting them with your weapons. Thus smaller
ships with less emmissions are harder to hit than larger ships. I assume the
amount of EM noise a ship emits is a design function and not something the
crew can do much about while still maintaining combat readiness.

Crew quality may be green, regular, or veteran and should be noted on the ship
diagram. The base crew quality die for green troops is a d6, for regular crews
a d8, and for veteran crews a d10.

Dice may sometimes be shifted up or down a die size due to various factors. A
plus shift uses the next highest die size (e.g. d8 shifts up one to d10) and
visa versa for downward shifts. The largest allowable die size is d12 and the
smallest is d4. Shifts beyond these are ignored.

Basic Attack Procedure:

To resolve an attack, the attcker rolls one die of the appropriate type for
his crew quality. He also rolls a number of weapons dice. The result of each
weapon die is paired with the shared crew quality score and compared to the
defender's score to determine if a hit has been scored. If neither of the
attacker's dice are higher than the defender's, that weapons die misses. If
one of the attacker's pair is greater, a minor hit results from that weapons
die. And if both dice in the pair are higher than the defender's, a major hit
is scored. Thus each weapons die rolled by the attacker has the potential to
score a hit. The effects of a minor and major hit are described with each
weapon. All weapons fired under the control of a single fire control are
refered to as a salvo and use the same crew quality die result. For each extra
fire control committed to a salvo, the attacker's quality die is shifted up
one die size.

The defender's die is based on the hull size. Escort class ships roll d10,
Cruisers roll d8, Capital ships roll d6, and Superships roll d4. The
defender's die can be shifted by two conditions. A ship which used no thrust
to turn or change speeds has its defense die shifted up one. A ship which is
being attacked from the rear arc suffers a minus one die shift. Some systems
(notably ECM) may give the defender a secondary defense die. In this case, the
defender uses the higher of the two scores for his defense score.

Firing Example.

A battleship with a regular crew is attacked by a veteran heavy cruiser.
 The
havy cruiser is 14" away and fires first. The captain decides to concentrate
his fire into one well aimed salvo to try and overcome the battleships greater
screens. The cruiser has two fire controls and committing both of
them to one salvo will produce a +1 die shift, taking his d10 (veteran
crew) to a d12. He also rolls weapons dice for one ‘A' Battery and 3 ‘B'
Batteries, a total of 5d8. The d12 produces a 7 and the d8's are
4,4,5,6,8.
 Paired with the crew die, thes are (7/4), (7/4), (7/5), (7/6), and
(7/8).
The capital ship maneuvered this turn, but the cruiser is not behind her, so
the captain rolls a d6 for defense and adds 2 for the level 2 screens. The
result is a 4+2=6.  It appears that the cruiser's gamble has paid off,
since the high crew qulaity score results in at least some damage from every
weapon die. In only one case was both of the dice greater than the defender's
score. The final result is 4 minor hits and one major hit. Abeam weapon minor
hit scores 1 damage point and a major hit scores 2 points of damage. The
battleship is rocked for 6 points of damage. Had she been unscreened, the
result would have been 3 major and 2 minor hits for 8 points of damage. After
escaping the threshold checks with all offensive systems intact, the
battleship turns all guns on the hapless cruiser in front of her. The captain
of the battleship decides to hedge his bets against a bad crew quality die
roll by firing in two salvos. The first is supported by an extra fire control
and consists of two A's and a B Battery. The d8 for the regular crew is
shifted up by one for the extra fire con resulting in a d10. The weapons dice
produce 5d8. The d10 scores an 8 and the 5d8 score 1, 3,
4, 8,
8. The cruiser's captain rolls a d8 for his ship's defense, resulting in a
6, +1 f or his level 1 screens.  The battleship's excellent crew roll
means that the good defensive roll is largely wasted as the cruiser takes 2
major and 3 minor hits for 7 points of damage. The second salvo has less
computing power available, so rolls the normal crew die of d8 plus 4d8 for
weapons dice. The crusier defends with another d8. The battleship scores a 4
for
the crew die and 2,3,4,5 for the weapons dice.  The crusier rolls a 7 +1
for screens. This time the cruiser's defenses are up to the task and the
battle ship scores no mor hits. The cruiser takes a total of seven damage
points.

 System Stats
Beam Batteries          0-12"   12-24"  24-36"          minor
major A Batteries 3d8 2d8 d8 1 dam. 2 dam. B Batteries 2d8 d8 " " C Batteries
d8 " "

                                    0-6"        6-12"   12-18"  18-24"
minor major Pulse Torpedo d12 d10 d8 d6 d4 d8

Screens add to defender's die total for affected weapons. +1 per level
of screens (3 max.)