WOLCON 97 - Update #1

Hey Hey Hey Groovers and Lurkers!

The post below contains an update of the WOLCON 97 Full Thrust competition
details. There are one or two minor changes and several clarifications made
necessary by player queries.

We also now have a sponsor, EUREKA MINIATURES, a splendid mail order company
based in Melbourne, who can supply all your miniature needs..:)

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FULL THRUST COMPETITION

WOLCON 97

WHEN Easter Saturday and Sunday WHERE The Beaton Park Tennis Club, Wollongong
SPONSORED BY Eureka Miniatures

Full Thrust Wolcon 97

Introduction The competition will be held on Saturday and Sunday, and on
Monday we will be running demo games. Tables and terrain will be available if
people wish to play friendly games on Monday. For further information contact
Geoffrey Stewart: Telephone (042) 299 367 (before 10 pm)
E-mail  Geoffrey_Stewart@uow.edu.au

Fleets Only STANDARD SHIP designs will be used in the competition. Players are
to provide the following: o The Attack Fleet A fleet of 1800 points, chosen
from List 1, with no more than 50% of points to be spent on any one class of
ship. Any upgrades of fighters count as expenditure against capital ships,
therefore the cost of any capital ships AND their fighters can be no more than
50% of points.

o The Defence Fleet
        A fleet of 1020 points, chosen from List 1 and/or 2, with no
more than 50% of points to be spent on any one class of ship. Orbital forts
are a separate class of ships, and only one may be chosen. Any upgrades of
fighters count as expenditure against Orbital Forts, therefore the cost of any
Orbital Forts AND their fighters can be no more than 50% of points.

o The Patrol Fleet A fleet of 800 points, chosen from List 1, with no ship to
cost more than 100 points.

All fleets are to have the bases clearly marked or otherwise distinctive, so
opponents know if a ship is of Escort, Cruiser or Capital class.

Battles There will be four battles per day. There will be two planetary
invasion games, with players swapping, so each attacks and defends, two games
using the Patrol Fleet, and four battles using the Attack Fleets under various
conditions.

Setup Ship setup and starting velocities will be supplied for each battle.
Terrain, such as asteroid belts, gas clouds and planets, will be preset.
Special conditions, such as solar flares, will also be specified.

Time Each battle will run for two hours, plus or minus ten minutes, except the
last battle of the first day, and the first battle of the second day, which
will run for one hour, plus or minus five minutes. When time is called, the
current turn shall be completed.

Notes on Rules For WOLCON The following rule changes and options will be in
force during the Full Thrust Competition at Wolcon 97.

Items from Book 1 NOT USED: o Sensors and Target Identification. (Class of
ship and all ship damage will be visible to the opponent)

Items from Book 2 IN USE: o C batteries as anti fighter defence o Terrain
effects (by scenario) o Damage control as per p21 o Fighter Endurance o
Advanced and Specialised Fighter types (fighter types cannot be combined, ie a
base of fighters can be Fast or Interceptors but not Fast Interceptors) o Aces
and Turkeys (optional, the player chooses) o Planets (by scenario) o Entering
the table after battle has begun (ships that jump off table are lost, and
count as having left the table)

Additional Notes o Ships leaving the table cannot return (including those who
misjump off table) o Threshold tests shall be made openly so that both players
know what system is being tested for and what damage was done o Damage control
rolls shall be made openly so that both players know what system is being
tested for o Fighters that spend a full turn on board a ship are assumed to be
fully refuelled and rearmed, and can be relaunched. o The FT turn sequence
will be used ei fighters move after other ships. o When using PDAF's against
fighter groups, each PDAF must be allocated to a specific fighter group. If
the PDAF's destroy more fighters than are in the group, the other hits are
wasted, and may not be transfered to another fighter group.

Changed Rules

Ramming Ramming can only be attempted if the ship has been reduced to it's
last row of hull boxes. Fighters may not ram.

New Rules

Gravity Sling Any ship that has been in orbit around a planet may break orbit
as a gravity sling. To do this it adds the orbit speed to it's starting speed
and any acceleration.. Example 1 A planet has an orbit speed of 12". A light
cruiser in orbit around
it could gravity sling, and achieve a speed of (12 starting speed  + 12
orbit
number + 6 drive) = 30!

Formations o Up to five(5) ship equvilants can be in a formation, each ship
must be within 4" of at least two(2) other ships. o For the purposes of the
calculation of ship equvilants, an escort counts as one ship, a cruiser as two
ships, and a capital as three ships. EG1 Five escorts could be a formation, as
each is one ship equivilant. A battleship(three equivilents) and two escorts
(one equivilant each) could also be in formation. A battleship (three
equivilents) and a cruiser (two equivilents) could also formate. o Ships can
either start the game in formation, or formate during the game. o To formate,
the ships must all be going the same velocity(ei speed and direction), and be
within 4" of each other. o They move as a single ship, with all measurements
from the common centre, therefore they must travel at the speed of the slowest
ship. o A formation that goes into orbit forms up into line astern, with the
ships touching tail to nose, if they break orbit, they do so line astern,
following the lead ship o A formation fires as a single ship, ei at the same
time and at the same target. o Each ship counts as an individual ship for
initiative. o A ship in formation can "loan" an unused firecon to another ship
in the formation that has lost theirs. o All ships in the formation pool their
PDAF, so that any ship that is attacked may use up to all the pooled PDAF's,
if desired. o In a formation only, an ADAF counts as three PDAF's. o Ships can
break formation at any time, or ships can leave or be added to the formation
at any time, provided the formating rules are obeyed. This is specified at
order writing time, and announced at the start of movement.

Example 1 Two(2) corvettes and a battle cruiser are in formation. They would
have available five(5) PDAF's, which could be allocated any way desired if one
or more of the ships were attacked by fighters.

Example 2 After some battle damage, the corvettes have lost their firecons,
the battle cruiser could loan two(2) of it's firecons so the corvettes could
shoot.

Close Escort o A fighter group may close escort a ship or formation, to do so
it is placed in contact with the ship (or one of the ships), and announced
that close escort is occurring. o The ship, or formation, may not exceed the
speed of the fighters (12" or
18").
o The ship, or formation, may not be attacked unless all the escorting fighter
groups are engaged in dogfight. o Escorting fighters may not be shoot at a
distance by other fighters, they must be engaged in dogfight. o Close
escorting fighters may break escort at any time.

New Ship Types

Orbital Fort Class A Same as System Defence Cruiser without drives. All
batteries have 4 arcs.

Orbital Fort Class B Same as Superdreadnaught without drives, all batteries
have 4 arcs.

Orbital Fort Class C Same as Fleet Carrier without drives, all batteries have
4 arcs.

Victory Point Determination The VP's for each ship are listed in the
attachments. Each time a full row is destroyed you receive the listed VP's,
these are non cumulative. Partially damaged rows are worth no VP's.

Example 1:
An escort cruiser is worth the following number of victory points -
15/30/45.
If it has taken one full row of damage it would be worth 15VP's If it takes
two full rows of damage it is worth 30VP's If it is fully destroyed (all three
rows) it is worth 45VP's.

Any ship that leaves the table is worth the points for the current amount of
damage inflicted or half total points, whichever is greater. Example 2:
A heavy cruiser is worth the following number of victory points -
20/40/63.
If it has taken no damage and leaves the table it would be worth 32VP's, as
all fractions are to be rounded up, half of 63 is 32. If the same ship leaves
the table after taking 2 full rows of damage it would be worth 40VP's, as this
is greater than half points.

If a player concedes, it is assumed for VP calculation that all of their
remaining ships have left the table and are worth the current damage level or
half points, whichever is greater. Destroyed fighters are also worth VP's. A
fighter that fails to return to it's parent ship is assumed to be destroyed.

Type 1 Ships

Ship Type Points Cost Victory Points

Courier 15 3

Strikeboat Bk2  26      0/4

Scout Ship      28      0/5

Lancer Bk2      39      0/6

Corvette        43      0/8

Frigate 65      5/14

Torpedo Destroyer Bk2   86      5/19

Destroyer       92      10/21

Super Destroyer Bk2     105     10/28

Needle Cruiser Bk2      187     10/25/41

Light Cruiser   190     10/25/39

Escort Cruiser  195     15/30/45

Strike Cruiser Bk2      198     15/30/50

Heavy Cruiser   238     20/40/63

Super Heavy Cruiser     267     25/50/75

Escort/Patrol Carrier Bk2       286     15/30/45/63

Battlecruiser   381     25/50/75/101

Battleship      447     30/60/90/123

Battledreadnought       431     35/70/110/147

Light Carrier   499     35/70/105/142

Superdreadnought        580     55/115/170/230

Fleet Carrier   687     50/100/150/202

Normal fighters 20 1 per fighter

Fast fighters 32 1.5 per fighter

Heavy fighters 32 1.5 per fighter

Interceptor fighters 32 1.5 per fighter

Attack fighters 26 1.5 per fighter

Long Range fighters 32 1.5 per fighter

Torpedo fighters 44 2 per fighter

Type 2 Ships Ship Type Points Cost Victory Points

System Defence Ship     255     30/60/94

Orbital Fort Class A    203     30/60/94

Orbital Fort Class B    355     55/115/170/230

Orbital Fort Class C    397     50/100/150/202