Another Campaign System

Initial Setup

Choose which map method and FTL tech you wish to follow.

“Exploration” games start with a blank map and each sector is explored from scratch. It may or may not have useful stars.

“Re-discovery” games start with a known star-chart with random locations of interest. Only star sectors have resources, the rest is empty space.

“Standard” FTL travel allows limitless travel, but limited to the speed of the FTL technology (or campaign decision).

“Wormhole” FTL allows limited travel, but at instantaneous speeds between fixed points.

“Mixed” FTL allows both methods and can make for interested strategic decisions once valuable wormholes are found.

Each game turn is approximately 13 weeks of game time (as it includes space exploration and ground operations against hostile targets).

Players start with an initial budget of 3000 NPV with which to purchase technology and starting ships.

The player with the most territory at the end of the campaign "wins" and must take a 10% penalty on all starting resource production and starting fleet points in the next campaign.

All sectors outside the home sector are left blank initially & rolled for when explored for the first time (this can be kept secret if you have a GM to moderate the game). The result indicates the resources available to the sector (see economics). Once initially rolled, this doesn't change except through economic upgrading.

Sector/System Rating

The first scout ship to enter an unexplored sector rolls to see what they find.

1:          Useless (roll again: 1-2 = ship destroyed; 6 = wormhole).
2:          20 NPV/turn
3:          30 NPV/turn
4:          40 NPV/turn
5:          50 NPV/turn
6:          60 NPV/turn

If a wormhole is discovered, roll 1 beam die for the number of links. Each wormhole travels 3d6 sectors in a random direction (2d6 for a smaller map). If the roll has two or more die the same, it comes out in a black hole or other anomaly and is not really useful (although exploring the *other* end may give a one-way wormhole.) If it exits off the map, treat as nothing found.

If using “wormhole” travel only; roll 2 beam die for each new system explored. The damage rolled equals the number of other wormholes exiting the system.

For a sector to start producing, it needs to be “colonised” or otherwise exploited.

Movement

Pre-written orders for each fleet for the next turn. Fleet movement is simultaneous. Wormholes can only be used if you started in the same system as one (ie: counts as your jump-drive activation).

If optional rules for admiral quality is used, fleet orders may need to be pre-written 2 or even 3 turns ahead. If you have an Elite admiral, the fleet doesn’t need to write orders! (But initiative may be required if there are two elite admirals within movement range of each other).

Economics

The home sector produces 300 NPV per turn of military budget and each additional sector produces a random amount from 0-60 NPV per turn. Money can only be expended as outlined below:

    * New ship construction at any fleet base (each homeworld has one and it is possible to build more).
    * Technology research.
    * Replacement crew / expendable munitions
    * Fleet maintenance.
    * “Colonise” a new system.

These expenditures are covered in more detail in their own area.

Colonisation

In order to exploit a new system, players must “colonise” it by dropping off colony/mining modules. Each module is 10 Mass/50 NPV and generates 10 NPV per turn once emplaced. The maximum number of modules is based on the rating of a system (so a 40 NPV system will require 4 colony modules to fully exploit).

These modules also act as a Sa’vasku ship of the total mass (without a MD/FTL) and must be destroyed for another player to claim the system. Maximum power per spicule is 8 and Fighter Wombs cannot be added until you have researched fighters. Designs are fixed once emplaced in a system (but you can remove modules and emplace new ones to “re-design” the defences).

Colonies do not produce any income/supplies until the turn after they are built (so ships in the system do not count as “in supply”).

Economic Warfare

Any sector/system that contains an enemy warship (of any sort) is considered to be under blockade/pirate attack and contributes no funds towards the war effort. This makes small squadrons and single cruisers useful as patrol ships or raiders (and gives smaller economies the chance to slow down the leading economies until they can catch up). The downside is that such ships need constant re-supply via tenders/freighters or require cargo to maintain themselves. Colonies may not launch fighters against pirates unless actually attacked (a system is a big place to hunt down a pirate).
New Construction

Ships are constructed at the home sector. The full cost in NPV is paid when the keel is laid, and at the end of each turn (including the turn the cost is paid), 40 mass (or optionally 1d6 x 10 mass) of the ship is built. Treat cargo space as already built (thus freighters are built faster). This should give an average of 1 turn for escorts, 2 turns for cruisers & 3 or more turns for capital ships.

Each player starts with 5 starship designs they can build. Any new design costs double for the first ship of the class.
Refitting a ship cost the NPV of all systems removed plus the NPV of all systems added & modification time is treated as the changed mass in construction time (d6x10 mass/turn). For minor changes, this can be cost-effective, but major overhauls could be better served with a new ship class. Note that designing ships with empty cargo holds is a legitimate build philosophy, but remember that the extra turns to refit the ship with weapons may leave you without warships when needed.

If the sector falls, then all current construction is lost (optionally, all construction is completed for the new owner).

Fixed defences can be constructed, but note they require an appropriate FTL tug or tender to move to their new location.

Forward Repair Bases / Repair Tenders may also be constructed. While repairing ships, the base/tender cannot move (so is vulnerable to missile/fighter attack). Remember that if “out of supply” you will also need cargo to store the NPV for repairs.

New Fleet Bases may be constructed, but only in a 60 NPV system and they required the emplacement of a further 10 colony bases (which do not add to the colony mass for planetary defences.)

Repairs / Captured ships:

All ships are fully repaired in one turn (not on the turn they were damaged or arrived at the base) at a repair base/repair tender, at a cost of 20% (or part thereof) per threshold of the hull damage. [ie: it costs 1-79% of the new price to fully repair].
Ships destroyed in combat, but not reduced to debris can be recovered and repaired at normal cost or scrapped for 10% of their new value at any fleet base.

Ships not destroyed in combat can be scrapped for 20% of their new value at any fleet base. This includes any captured enemy ships.

Field Repair System
Mass: 10
Cost: 50 NPV
Each Field Repair System can repair a ship up to 20 mass in one campaign turn (each system is cumulative). The cost of repairs are borne by your normal economy (if "in supply") or from carried cargo (at the normal 10 NPV per cargo space).

In Supply

Fleets which are in friendly territory at the end of the campaign turn are considered to be "in supply" and can replace expendables at the end of turn at normal costs. Friendly territory is defined as within 1 jump of an established colony.

Ships operating outside this area require cargo space to pay for maintenance/re-supply. Each cargo space holds 10 NPV worth of supplies (abstracted). This can be drawn upon by a fleet as needed and can be used to pay both the 1% maintenance and re-supply any consumables/crew lost in action.

Ships operating without support (or with insufficient cargo to be self-supporting) must make a threshold check immediately prior to combat of 6+ for each turn they are out of supply, adding +1 to the roll each campaign turn (ie: Turn 1 = 6+ threshold, Turn 2 = 5+ threshold etc). If engaged in combat after a long period away from a base, this could be very bad. Un-repaired ships suffer similar effects.

Fleets

Borrowing from a useful idea by Simon White http://fullthrust.2-72.co.uk

There are three types of fleets:

Independent/Scout Fleet: Maximum value of fleet is 750 points.

Combat Fleet: Maximum value of fleet is 1500 points.

Task Force: Maximum value of fleet is 2250 points.

Only one fleet can engage in combat in the same sector per campaign turn. This is to give a reasonable chance of each side to win a combat without simply running away. It also prevents an inappropriate “I fly every ship I have and nuke your homeworld” that is not in the spirit of strategic campaign systems.

Combat

Combat is resolved as a normal FT game. If there are fixed defences in the sector, they must start on the table unless both players agree to fight 2 separate battles for the sector. If three or more players contest the same sector, they all fight at once if you have a large enough play area. If one side does not want to engage, an opposed roll is made based on the slowest ship on each side attempting to engage or escape (ignore Thrust-0 bases). Roll 1d6 per thrust point, highest roll can choose to engage or escape. Note the limitation on fleet sizes above as a play balance issue.

In the case of ships with existing damage, roll a threshold check based on the current damage before combat starts to represent system failures as they have not had a chance for proper repairs to be made at a shipyard.

Striking the Colours should be used with the following modifications:
At the end of the turn a ship suffers any number of threshold checks, roll a die according to the crew quality (Untrained = d4, Elite = d12 etc, see Crew Training).   This roll must exceed the number of thresholds suffered, or the ship will cease firing/moving and surrender to the enemy. Either side can board a surrendered ship to take control, as the crew will not fight back or scuttle the ship (the price of being taken off alive). If boarded by friendly forces, the command crew is replaced and the ship will retreat (if possible) back to friendly lines. Only core systems and the MD can be used by captured ships.

It is recommended that you use the Overkill rules from MT, as ships that are not scuttled or debris can be boarded & captured for later use.

Ships can activate their self-destruct by detonating the Core system: Powercore, using DCP rules (if you've already dumped it, you can't self-destruct). Once it has been set to scuttle, normal rules for a damaged powercore apply (ie: 5+ on turn 1, 4+ on turn 2, etc). This gives your opponent the chance to board and abort the self-destruct.   Each Boarding Party which survives (presumably all, as the crew has abandoned ship) counts as a DCP for repairing the powercore only (maximum 3 DCP as normal).

Boarding Shuttles can be used. Each shuttle is equivalent to one fighter and follows all appropriate fighter movement rules (including hanger bay; shuttles cost 10 NPV each). Instead of dealing damage, each shuttle that survives PDS drops it's complement of Boarding Parties (one per shuttle) onto the ship.   Each ship carries enough crew for ONE offensive boarding action per game or extra marines supplied with accommodations (at 1 mass / 5 pts per marine party). In a defensive situation, any crew killed are crossed off and as a convenience, collateral damage causes 1 hull point of damage.

Boarding actions are resolved in one turn, using the fighter dogfight rules, until one side or the other is eliminated. Don’t forget the DRM for crew quality.

Crew Quality (optional)

Building new ships isn't enough if you don’t have the personnel to crew them. Each CF required to man a ship costs 5 NPV to train up to Green standards. Note that when using Striking the Colours, it is in your own interest to have crew quality as high as possible.

Damage Control CF cannot be reduced below 0 through crew quality. If this occurs, the ship must make a threshold check for all systems (at current level) before the start of any battle due to poor maintenance.
Part of the rationale is that most combat related activities are heavily computer controlled so crew quality will have little effect on activities not requiring hands on activity or problem solving situations. This affects boarding parties as well.

Crew/Officer Quality	Striking the Colours	Admiral pre-written orders	Damage Control / Boarding Parties	Advancement
Untrained	d4	n/a	-2 DRM	5 NPV
Green	d6	3 turns	-1 DRM / Turkey Fighters	Survive 1 enemy action
Regular	d8	2 turns	Standard Fighters	Survive 3 more enemy actions
Veteran	d10	1 turn	+1 DRM / Ace Fighters	Survive 5 more enemy actions
Elite	d12	no pre-written orders	+2 DRM

Ships and squadrons replacing casualties must roll greater than the number of replacements (in % terms) to avoid being downgraded a step towards the replacements.
All navy replacements are drawn from Green crews (unless you decommission another ship with surviving CF aboard). Sending Untrained crewmen aboard is asking for trouble (although you could probably put them aboard merchant ships).
eg1: a Regular cruiser of 5 CF replaces 2 CF with Green crew after repairs, there is 40% chance that the crew experience will be reduced to Green due to key personnel losses.
eg2: a Veteran fighter squadron takes 6 casualties and is replaced with Green pilots, there is a 60% chance it will be reduced to Regular (thus losing ace status).

Marine Boarding Parties can be added to ships & require additional crew quarters (1 mass / 5 pts per Marine). They have the same quality as the ship they serve on, and can be used as auxiliary DCP when not used in action.

Fighter Pilots cost 1 NPV each (per PILOT, thus 10 NPV for a full squadron roster) with the same advancement as their starship counterparts.

Each fighter bay can support 10 pilots. When a fighter is lost, roll d6 for each at the end of combat:
1 = pilot lost & fighter recovered, but unavailable for 1 campaign turn due to repairs.
2-3 = pilot and fighter lost (KIA/MIA)
4-5 = fighter lost & pilot recovered, but is unavailable for 1 turn (medical and psychological treatment)
6 = fighter & pilot recovered.

Ship CF lost in action can also be rolled for in a similar way. Roll d6 for each CF lost:
1-3 = KIA
4-5 = WIA, unavailable for 1 campaign turn due to medical treatment
6 = Escaped, available for immediate re-deployment.

However, you need to win the battle to actually recover any crew (or board friendly intact vessels), otherwise they become POWs for the duration.

Campaign Research (optional)

The following tech trees are based around a campaign where the starting revenue is between 300-500 NPV per turn and revenue tops out at around 800-1000 NPV per turn. If your economics are more than this, don’t include these research rules, as everything will be fully researched in only a few turns.

Although it is possible to research everything, players should come to agreement about what branches of research are allowed to be mixed. For example, Kra’vak did not develop screens as their kinetic based weaponry makes them useless. Likewise they didn’t develop advanced missiles as their Advanced Manoeuvring Drive rendered the technology unreliable (where-as fighters have the ability to engage their ships). Custom racial paths should be agreed upon before play commences.

As an optional rule, if you scrap ships with non-researchable tech, you may apply the cost of those systems directly to that technology tree (at 20% of value for intact ship systems & 10% of value for destroyed) instead of your economy.
Items marked with a "*" are researched as part of progress to the next tech item. Items marked as "*+" are a separate branch of research that you need to independantly pursue.

Basic Construction
|

|-------------------|---------------|

Hull Type     FTL Drive       Main Drive

|                                            |

Hull Armour             Advanced Main Drive

Electronics

|

|-----------------|-----------|-----------|-----------------|

Beams         K-Guns    Missiles      Fighters      Pulsars

|                                                                        |

|-------------------|                                     |------------------|

Adv Energy     Screens                       Plasmabolts    Vapour Shroud



***

Basic Construction:

(as per FTFB1 pg 12 classification)

0     Cargo/Passenger Space
100   Scout
160   Corvette
260   Frigate
360   Destroyer
500   Super Destroyer
600   Light Cruiser
700   Escort Cruiser
900   Heavy Cruiser
1100 Battlecruiser
1400 Battleship
1600 BattleDreadnought
1800 Dreadnought
2000 Supership (any mass)

Hull Type:

0 6-row Hull
150 5-row Hull
450 4-row Hull + access to Hull Armour
900 3-row Hull

Hull Armour:

20 1st Layer "Standard" Armour
60 2nd Layer "Shell" Armour
120 3rd Layer "Shell" Armour
200 4th Layer "Shell" Armour

Normal Main Drive:

40 MD-1
120 MD-2
240 MD-3
400 MD-4
600 MD-5
840 MD-6
*1000 Access to Advanced Main Drive + Fast fighter access
1020 MD-7
1340 MD-8

Advanced Main Drive:

60 MD-1
180 MD-2
360 MD-3
600 MD-4
900 MD-5
1260 MD-6
1680 MD-7
2160 MD-8

FTL Drive:

(partly based on old VV discussions)

10 Sublight FTL (Jump-1 equiv)
100 "standard" FTL (Jump-2 equiv)
*150 Wormhole travel (natural) (approx Jump-10 depending on PSB/location)
300 "double rate" FTL (Jump-3 equiv)
600 "triple rate" FTL (Jump-4 equiv)
1000 "quadruple rate" FTL (Jump-5 equiv)
1500 Artificial Wormhole/Jumpgates (Jump-10 when built)

NB: Any ship can fit multiple FTL drives for an even greater strategic speed. This will need adjusting, depending on campaign needs/balance. This can be handy when mixing wormhole/FTL travel as you don’t have to start in a wormhole system.

Possible campaign rule: Misjump on all "1's", #d6 = jump rating (so Jump-3 rolls 3d6) when in proximity to asteroid/debris/ships.

Electronics:

40   Fire Control
120 ADFC
+x   Advanced Sensors
+x   Superior Sensors
+x   ECM
*+x Weasel Decoy
*+x Area ECM

Screens:

150 Level-1 Screen + Heavy fighter access
300 Level-2 Screen (redundant screens can be purchased)
500 Cloaking Field
1100 Reflex Field

Vapour Shroud:

150 Phalon Vapour Shroud

Beams:

30 PDS
60 Class-1 (6-arc) + beam fighter weapon
120 Class-2 (3-arc)
*+30 Class-2 (6-arc)
240 Class-3 (1-arc)
*+30 Class-3 (multi-arc)
300 Access to Advanced Energy Weapons and Screens
480 Class-4 (1-arc)
*540 Class-4 (multi-arc)
960 Class-5 (1-arc)

Advanced Energy Weapons:

60   Needle Beam
180 Pulse Torpedo (1-arc) + Torpedo fighter weapon
*210 Pulse Torpedo (multi-arc)
260   Graser-1 (1-arc)
*300 Graser-1 (3-arc)
*340 Graser-1 (6-arc)
620   Graser-2 (1-arc)
*780 Graser-2 (multi-arc)
1580 Graser-3 (1-arc)
2180   Nova Cannon
2540   Wave Gun

Missile Tech:

30 Submunitions Pack
90 Std MT Missiles + Attack fighter weapon
210 SMR (std)
*+30 SMR (ER)
300 SML + magazine
*+30 *various Weapon Archive alternate missiles (cost is each type)
390 Ortillery
470 Antimatter Missiles

Fighter Tech:

30 Hanger Bays
*100 Interface/Boarding shuttles
300 Fighter Bays
480 Standard Fighters (NB: damage type is based on primary weapon tech)
*+180 Interceptor Fighters
*+240 Fast Fighters (requires MD-6)
*+240 Attack Fighters
*+240 Long Range Fighters
*+300 Heavy Fighters
*+360 Torpedo Fighters (requires Pulse Torpedoes)
750 Double ability fighters (Choose which ability to use when re-arming)
1000 Triple ability fighters (Choose which ability to use when re-arming)

Multiple ability fighters are costed as follows (highest to lowest cost): (1st ability)+(2nd ability)/2+(3rd ability)/3. Therefore a squadron with the ability to be armed as Fast, Attack or Interceptor costs (30)+(24)/2+(18/3) = 48 pts/squadron.

K-Guns:

50     Scattergun
*90   MKP
130   K-1 (6-arc) + K-Gun fighter weapon
250   K-2 (1-arc)
*290 K-2 (2-arc)
450   K-3 (1-arc)
690   K-4 (1-arc)
1130 K-5 (1-arc)
1650 K-6 (1-arc)

Pulsar Batteries:

100 1-arc Pulsar + Pulsar fighter weapon
250 3-arc Pulsar
350 6-arc Pulsar
500 Access to Plasmabolt Launchers and Vapour Shroud

Plasmabolt Launchers:

180 PB-1 (Houserule: 6 mass)
510 PB-2 (Houserule: 11 mass)
960 PB-3 (Houserule: 15 mass)
1560 PB-4
2310 PB-5
3210 PB-6

Colony Base Defences (Sa’Vasku):

0      Biomass
40    Cortex Node
60    Carapace
160 Power Generators
190 Spicules
250 Stinger Nodes
340 Pod Launchers
490 Screen Nodes
580 Drone Womb

Bookkeeping

Maintenance costs of 1% NPV are payable on all active ships, before new construction becomes available. If ships are “in supply” this comes from the cash pool. Ships “out of supply” must pay for it out of their fleet train/internal cargo (remember 1 mass cargo = 10 NPV). New ships completed this turn are now available for use.

Other Optional Rules

Flag Bridges can be included on the fleet command ships as a Core System. They are 2 mass / 20 NPV and give the fleet a fighter/firing initiative modifier equal to the Admiral's experience level.
Admirals start as Green (and cost 20 NPV each) and advance in experience in the same way as CF. If a threshold hits the ship's flag bridge, roll a die for the Admiral's fate.
1-3 = Admiral killed in action,
4-5 = Admiral wounded and unavailable for the rest of the combat.
6 = Admiral survived and can continue action once Flag Bridge has been repaired.

Fleets in combat without an Admiral count as Untrained (-3) for initiative purposes. It can be useful to have at least two command ships in a fleet to avoid a sudden drop to the untrained penalty.

Minefields:

Minefields are generally laid around shipyards or a home planet as a last-ditch defence against invasion. The following rules will apply to laying minefields.

    * Each minefield consists of 100 mass of mines in a 6MU radius around a marker and cannot overlap.
    * Any ship moving/stopping within the radius of the marker is attacked by a set number of mines (mark them off), this means that approximately 10 ships being attacked will completely deplete a minefield. Note that the more deadly fields (SMR/Plasmabolts) do not fratricide the field and less mines attack due to the lower density of the field (and play balance).
    * All mines in a pattern must be of the same type. Access to the normal weapon type gives access to the mine type.
    * Minelaying: No thrust can be applied while laying mines. Each minelaying system can lay 1 mine per turn, at any point of movement. It is unusual for mines to be laid during combat as the density of the field is what makes them dangerous.
    * Minesweeping: Each minesweeping system gives a chance of disabling a mine before it attacks. Multiple systems can be used simultaneously. Roll 1d6 for each mine that would attack; 1: mine attacks as normal, 2-3: mine not cleared, but doesn't detonate, 4-6: mine cleared. Remember that up to 10 mines attack each turn, so this is really a very effective PDS for clearing fields, but can take a while.

Mine types:

Beam Mine (Mass: 1 / 3 pts): 10 attack as a one-shot class-2 beam.
Subpac Mine (Mass: 1 / 3 pts): 10 attack as one-shot submunition pack.
MKP Mine (Mass: 1 / 4 pts): 5 attack as a one-shot MKP.
Pulsetorp Mine (Mass: 2 / 6 pts): 5 attack as a one-shot Fighter Torpedo (1-3 = miss, 4-6 = damage result).
Capship Mine Mass: 2 / 6 pts): 5 attack as a MT missile (nuclear, needle or emp), PDS applies.
SMR Mine (Mass: 4 / 12 pts): 3 attack as an SMR (1d6 missiles), PDS applies.
Plasma Mine (Mass: 10 / 30 pts): 1 attack as a Plasmabolt-4, PDS applies.