From: Tom McCarthy <tmcarth@f...>
Date: Tue, 8 Dec 1998 18:33:32 -0500
Subject: Sa'vasku variants
Below are some variant Sa'vasku rules. These are inspired by Lew Stoneking's rules. Lew ran a game at GenCon '98 pitting Sa'vasku against Kra'vak. He subsequently sent me a copy of his rules, and here's where I'm at with them. Currently, I consider them to be worth a touch more 10 pts per MASS or 20 pts per damage box. Generating fighters is not their most efficient tactic, but if the range is great enough, they will pump out many. I've considered making them unable to attack ships or making them suffer penalties when they attack or reducing their combat endurance below standard. Another possibility is that the launching ship takes a point of damage upon launch. The graviton pulse does not translate well to vector movement; I'm considering that each point of damage from this weapon instead gives a 1 in 6 chance of preventing the target from using any thrust next turn. It means a second roll, but it would set up the target for a Buzzcutter shot. I'd like your opinions on these rules and the alternatives. Note that Lew kept one of the key Sa'vasku traits (freely allocate energy) but not the other (random energy per turn), making room for another alien race. The same could be applied to the current discussions on aliens; too many good ideas are entirely discarded because they don't fit Sa'vasku or Kra'vak. They still might be great rules for space mugwumps, the tyrannical Wombles of Wimbledon Nebula, or the very alien M'k'Sm'ts and Jae'Peef's'ts. ++++++++ Sa'vasku ships are each unique creatures, but they all share common features. The ship can devote its attention and energies to different tasks each turn, but as they are injured, their capabilities are reduced. Each turn, the Sa'vasku ship has a pool of energy and a number of sensors or fire controls. The energy is divided between thrust (for acceleration, deceleration, and turns), defensive screens, anti-fighter defences (ADAF), spawning drones (fighters), and attacks (particle beams, graviton pulses, or buzzcutter beams). The cost of thrust or screens is proportional to the ship's size, while ADAF, drones, and attacks are based upon flat costs. Each turn, consider the available energy points. Divide them between engines, ADAF, weapons, arming and launching fighters, and screens. As damage is taken each turn, your available energy will drop and points will disappear from the pools. Normally, points will disappear from ADAF, then shooting, then screens. If ADAF and shooting points have already been expended, then the next pool will lose points. Each ship control sheet has five pools to allocate the points to each turn. Thrust is a pentagon. Attacks is a circle with three posts. ADAF is a diagonally-quartered square. Screens is a dot with two arcs above. Drones is a cluster of 4 circles. Ship's MASS The ship's are broken into power factor (PF) categories by increments of 10 MASS. Ship's of MASS 1-10, for example, are PF1. MASSes 21-30 are PF2. Damage Boxes, Fire Control, Damage Control and Repairs Each ship gets one damage box for every 2 MASS, and starts with a number of fire controls and damage control parties equal to the PF number. For every 5 damage boxes lost, one fire control and one damage control party are automatically lost. At the end of each turn, some power may be restored. Roll a D6 for each damage control party. On a 4 or 5, one damage box is restored. On a 6, two are restored. This will also restore some power, and may reactivate a fire control or disabled damage control party. Thrust The energy required to generate a point of thrust is based upon the size of your ship. For every 10 MASS, it takes 1 point of energy to generate one thrust (i.e. PF3 ships pay 3 points for 1 thrust). Because engines are vectored in every direction, all points of thrust may be applied to turning (a la Kra'vak). You may generate any amount of thrust, provided you vave sufficient energy (theoretically, the limit is 11 thrust). Screens The energy required to screen your ship is based upon the size of your ship. For every 10 MASS, it takes 1 point of energy to generate level-1 screens, or 2 points of energy to generate level-2 screens, or 4 points of energy to generate level-3 screens (i.e. an PF5 ship pays 5 points for 1 screen, 10 points for 2 screens, or 20 points for 3 screens). Arming and Launching Drones A large Sa'vasku ship has the available bio-mass to spawn huge numbers of drones, but rarely do. To arm and launch a drone, allocate 20 points of energy that turn. The drone appears immediately, as a standard fighter group with 6 turns of combat endurance (as explained in the Fleet Book). ADAF The potent anti-fighter defenses of a Sa'vasku can devastate a target. ADAF fire requires 1 fire control per target, and every 2 points of energy will generate a single die of standard ADAF fire, with a range of 12 units. Weapons Sa'vasku have three different weapons systems, each having advantages and disadvantages. Particle Beams Particle beams are similar to the standard armaments of human ships. The Sa'vasku can generate massive particle beam pulses in any direction. By paying the appropriate cost in energy and concentration, they can launch powerful attacks at any range. Range Cost Fire control 0-12 1 energy per die 1 Fire control per target 12-24 2 energy per die 2 Fire control per target 24-36 4 energy per die 3 Fire control per target 36-48 8 energy per die 4 Fire control per target Buzz Cutter Beams Buzz Cutter Beams are sustained pulses of plasma which must remain focused and track the target for relatively long periods. They ignore screens. They also require extreme concentration, and fire only in the front arc. They require 3 Fire controls per target and 4 energy points per shot. Each shot that hits does D6 damage with no re-rolls. The odds of hitting drops with range. Range To Hit 0-6 2+ on a D6 6-12 3+ 12-18 4+ 18-24 5+ 24-30 6 on a D6 Graviton Pulses These energy beams don't do as much damage as Particle beams, but they can throw an enemy ship off course or an enemy formation into disarray. Roll the dice and calculate damage as for particle beams, but for each point of damage, the target will change its course by one facing. Roll a D6. On an odd result, change the target's course clockwise. For even results, turn it counter-clockwise. Range Cost Fire control 0-12 2 energy per die 2 Fire control per target 12-24 4 energy per die 3 Fire control per target 24-36 8 energy per die 4 Fire control per target