System Assault Rules (long)

I've layed this out as a comprehensive set of rules- pick the parts you
like, trash the rest. (Just like everything else on the list.) These rules can
be a handy way to spice up one off battles as well as system assaults in
campaigns.

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CAMPAIGN PLANETARY INVASIONS: This system is designed to fill in a gap in the
campaign rules. The campaign rules work well for long distances and time
scales, and FT deals
well with battles- but the approach battle, the deployment of forces as
the ships exit hyperspace, the ambushes and risks in the first minutes are
glossed over. These rules are an attempt to patch the gap, allowing for small
scale strategy (or large scale tactics).

SYSTEM MANEUVERS: When a fleet moves to a system, the commanders must choose
between two major stratagems. The first is to jump beyond the system edge and
slowly gather forces, the alternative is to jump between planets and
obstacles, close to the target. Jumping beyond the system edge is the more
conservative approach. Because you are so far from the inhabited planet, it is
unlikely that you will be struck before you can gather your forces. [Unless,
of course, they are using
a hyperspace-realspace locator, and they jump out to get you.]  Your
ships
come in further apart, so you will not have to risk jump-field
interactions that could damage or destroy your ships. And, as you are
relatively distant from large masses, there should be plenty of Omegagon
particles for a safe transfer back to 'realspace'. The only significant
problem is that reinforcements may arrive before you can gather your ships and
strike. If
you choose to jump to the system edge, you may roll (2d6-2)x10%.  This
is the percentage of your fleet that can be gathered to strike this turn
(based on points value). The following campaign turn, the entire fleet is
gathered and may be used as desired. Jumping directly into a system has many
hazards. Planets will destroy
vessels that jump too close, bunched ships invite destructive jump-field
interactions, and enemy patrol ships may strike the individual ships before
they can group together. The advantage is that all ships that survive the jump
may be used the turn they jump in. The rules for jumping into a system apply
no matter who owns the ships.
 A
defender reinforcing a garrison with a hop 'inside' is as likely to loose
ships as an aggressor leaping in for a stealthy strike. Or if he plays it too
cautious, he might be able to assemble only a portion of his fleet to
help reinforce the defenders- too small a percentage to stop the
attacking jaggernaut.

SYSTEM SET-UP:
 I use 4 hex-boards that are hexagonal, 9 hexes across, placed so that
the corners meet. Other options are two battletech maps (flipped over to the
white side), or anything else you can think up. You'll also want some ship
counters (decoys will work well, especially if they're already made up) and
some planet counters (spare change can work).
 The defender begins by setting up a the system- the star (or stars),
its planets, an asteroid belt or two, etc. Set the inhabited planet at the
center of the map, followed by the star. The star should be about double the
R=2 distance (see the table under heavenly bodies, below) from the inhabited
planet.  Follow this with some planets- they don't all have to be on
map. Most of the hexes should remain empty. Details of the different heavenly
bodies are in the next section. Now that the system has been placed, the
defender places counters or decoys
for his ships in 'standard patrol'- wherever they are at the start of
the scenario. Now that the defender has set up, the attacker sets up (at map
edge, usually). Jumping ships are not placed yet.

SCALE: Each hex represents a Full Thrust scale hexagon 60" across (or so).
They can be larger or smaller if both players agree before the game begins.
Each system sequence takes about the same amount of time as 3 turns of a FT
battle.

HEAVENLY BODIES: The table below describes some basic 'heavenly bodies'. The
examples are based on memory; use common sense instead of whatever I've got
down. The categories are as follows: Type: The class of heavenly body in my
memory of the universe. If you're running around with dyson spheres or
battling around neutron stars, you'll have to add new types. Example: Pluto is
a small solid planet, our Sun is a yellow star, and so on. R=0, etc.: These
are the jump destruction rolls at a distance from the
heavenly body.  A indicates automatic destruction, - is safe, and a
number is the save roll required to survive. R=0 means that you are jumping
into the hex of the body, R=1 is a jump into a hex that borders the body, and
so on. It is very bad to jump close to large bodies... you're running a risk
near bodies as small as asteroids.

Type: Example: R=0 R=1 R=2 R=3 (Planets)
Small Solid Pluto  4 1 - -
Med. Solid Mars  6 1 - -
Large Solid Earth  A 2 - -
Huge Solid ?  A 2 - -
Small Gas Neptune? A 3 1 -
Med. Gas ?  A 4 1 -
Large Gas Saturn  A 4 1 -
Huge Gas Jupiter A 5 1 -
(Asteroids)
Sparse  -  3 - - -
Light  -  4 - - -
Moderate Asteroid Belt 5 - - -
Dense  -  A 1 - -
(Stars)
Dwarf  -  A 6 1 -
Yellow  Sun  A A 2 -
Red  -  A A 3 1
Blue/Green -  A A 4 1

SYSTEM ASSAULT SEQUENCE: 1. Defending ships move 2. Scan 3. Place combat
markers where ships from opposing sides share a space. 4. Fight 3 rounds from
the current battle (in FT, on a separate table). If no current battle, begin
the battle with the earliest combat marker. 5. Attacker's ships move 6. Scan
7. Place combat markers. 8. New ships jump in. 9. Turn end... return to 1

The phases of the assault sequence are detailed below.

1&5: MOVEMENT.
 Ships with a thrust of 1-5 may move one hex per turn, while ships with
a
thrust of 6+ can move 2 hexes each turn.  Direction of movement is
unlimited, but movement halts as soon as a hex with opposing ships is entered.
Cloaked ships are a little odd. Cloaked ships are moved on the board, but they
are not allowed to scan and they can't be scanned. Cloaked ships may also move
through an occupied hex without stopping. Neither side can choose combat while
all ships on one side are cloaked. Ships must choose to
cloak/uncloak at the beginning of movement.  This status lasts until
that player's next turn. Stations must choose one type of orbit and stick to
it. The choices are big orbit and stationary. Big orbit stations move 1 system
hex per round, 1 hex from the planet, in a circle. Big orbit stations move 15"
per FT turn at the map edge between the planet and the hex it moves through.
(For the first turn, start it 10"from the off board hex edge.) Big orbit
stations can
participate in combat on both sides- the planet hex and the 1 hex radius
it passes through. Stationary stations are actually in the hex that contains
the planet. However, stationary stations are easier to evade... attacking
forces can choose to come in from far side of the planet, etc. Stationary
stations
enter combat only if the attacker moves "offmap" toward the planet- or
if the attacker chooses to attack the station.

2&6 SCAN: I don't like to take up a lot of time with rolling, so I extended
the scanner ranges and gave them definite effect. (You can use the old rules
if
you like- their max range was 54", which makes drones & weasel boats
more effective against improved sensors). During the scan phase, any ship may
scan. The specific ship need not be identified, but the scanning hex must be.
A ship with personal ECM is immune to all scans, except in a battle (where MT
rules are used). A ship with area ECM immunizes all ships in the same hex, BUT
no ship in that hex may scan. (Again, this can change at battlefield ranges...
use MT). Remember, cloaked ships may not scan, and can not be scanned. If a
ship scans, reveal information as based on the table below. A range of 0 hexes
means that this information is passed on when you place a combat marker on the
board.

Range: Superior (2 hexes), Enhanced (1 hex), Basic (0 hexes) Information: Ship
classes (weasel still effective), drones are IDed as 'escorts'

Range: Superior (1 hex), Enhanced (0 hexes), Basic (40") Information: Accurate
ship classes (ignore weasel systems), remove drones

Range: Superior (0 hexes), Enhanced (40"), Basic (20")
Information: Ship mass, armor/screens present <not level>,
military/cargo
ships

3&7: PLACE COMBAT MARKERS For simplicity, only one FT fight is fought at a
time. Other combats wait patiently, off to the side. Ships in these 'queued'
fights are removed from the board. On a sheet of paper, each player writes
down the ships involved in the fight queue and the turn the ship shows up to
the fight. (Hex side of entry is also very useful to record.)

4: FULL THRUST BATTLE (Fight 3 rounds)
 The battle is fought as a standard FT battle.  Ships enter at speed 4-8
if
they move 1 hex, speed 8-16 for ships moving 2 hexes.  The set-up
location is the center 20" of the hex face. (Each side of the hex is about 35"
wide).
 The ship's initial direction is also set by the hex-face of entry.
Ships
can go up to 10" beyond the hex without leaving the battle- any further
and they may choose to 'run away' <in which case, they are placed on the
system map in the proper hex>, or they may choose to return to the fight.
 (Returning to the fight requires [6 turns / current thrust of the
ship], it reenters at the same speed but opposite direction from the edge it
left). All normal FT and MT rules apply (modified as your group chooses, of
course). Each system turn is 3 FT turns for calculating the timing of
reserves, etc. If you are starting a new combat, fight the "back rounds" to
catch the fight up to the current turn.

8. JUMP PHASE
 The jump phase has several sub-phases, summarized as follows:
a. Set jump points b. Evasion move c. Massive body check d. Jump points open
e. Place remaining ships

a. Set jump points Each jumping FTL ship counter is placed on the board... at
this point, these
are jump targets- the ship hasn't arrived yet.  All ships are placed
simultaneously- if both sides are jumping, alternate placement.  FTL
ships may NOT target a hex currently designated as a battlefield (currently
possessing a combat marker). Each ship that jumped more than 3 campaign hexes
into combat must make a deviation roll. The deviation roll depends on the
distance jumped to combat.
 (Jump 4, deviation= d6-4; jump 5, deviation= d6-3; jump 6, deviation=
d6-2).
Roll a d6 to determine the direction of ship deviation. Place the ship counter
on the hex indicated after deviation.

b. Evasion move Any ships in a square that is targeted for jump may make an
immediate evasion move. They may only evade 1 hex, and they must do so now.
Ships not targeted by a jump point can not evade.

c. Massive body check Measure the ship's distance to all nearby massive
bodies. Check the distance against the Heavenly Bodies chart. If the chart
result is A,
destroy the ship.  If the chart result is -, there is no need to
check... the massive body has no effect on the ship. If a number is in the
table, then
luck will have a part to play.  Roll a d6- if the number rolled is lower
than the chart value, the ship is destroyed. If the number is equal to the
chart, then the ship's FTL engines are destroyed (and will take a week's work
to
fix- DC crews can't jury rig it any quicker!).  If the number rolled
exceeds the chart value, then the ship has evaded the gravitational effects of
the body.

d. Jump points open All remaining jumping ships now enter normal space. Large
bodies have been accounted for, but small bodies (ships, etc.) are still a
terrible threat. In each hex, total the number of FTL ships jumping in, and
add that to the number of ships in the hex before the jump. Roll a d6. If the
d6 roll is
less than the FTL+existing ships in the hex, bad news!  Otherwise (the
roll is equal to or greater than the total), the ships enter unscathed. If the
d6 roll indicates bad news, roll 2d6 and look for the effect on the chart
below.

2d6 Roll: Effect: 2 All ships in the hex before the jumping ships attempt to
enter are destroyed. Jumping ships take 2d6 damage to each ship entering the
hex. 3,4 Field creates an EMP burst. All ships in the hex and jumping in roll
as if hit by an EMP missile.
5-8  Energy wave causes 1d6 to all ships (both jumping and already in
the hex) 9,10 Energy wave causes 3d6 to all ships (both jumping and already in
the hex) 11 Random jumping ship destroyed. All ships (both jumping and already
in
the hex) take damage equal to 1/4 of the destroyed ship's mass.
12  Jumping ship fields intersect- all jumping ships destroyed, ships
previously in hex take 1d6 damage and are moved 1 hex in a random direction.

e. Place remaining ships All of the jumping ship counters that survived are
now in normal space, subject to attack, following normal movement rules, etc.
(Congratulations, you made it!)

9. End Turn So far, not much goes on here. Add one to the current turn number
(it is useful to keep a running turn number to keep the combats straight).
After that, return to the top (System Assault Phase 1).