Background chatter slowly dropped throughout the conference room as Commodore Jethro "Iron belly" Rodriguez, entered the room. There was sudden silence as he broke the podium with a single blow of his fist.
"Now, listen up, fung's. You may have passed advanced officer training, but what makes you think you're good enough to command a starship in battle? Well?"
A young officer in the middle of the room stood up. "I think..."
"SIT DOWN! That was what is known as a rhetorical question, star-slime. Those with civilian command experience... not you Jones... will go to room 427 for aggressor training while we put the rest of these... officers... through their command test."
4 officers out of 70 exited the room, as Jones looked extremely uncomfortable. His tactical scores were not the best & Iron Belly seemed to have it in for him.
"Now that we've got rid of those guys that would bugger the psych profile,
we're going to put you through the ringer.
"In the simulators, we currently have the current crop of officer cadets.
You job is to take them through the 3 missions that are programmed in.
Not only do you have to ride herd, you still need a good enough score to
pass the tactical test. The rules are simple, if your ship is intact, your
crew haven't mutinied & you manage to beat the clock, you pass.
"Fung's, to your assigned simulators & may all of you fail now,
before you screw up in the field."
Several exercises follow to test the candidate's skills using a real ship before confirming promotion to a captain of the list. All damage carries over, but optional repairs can be undertaken; roll 1 beam dice (open ended), this is the amount of damage repaired minus 1 for every system you repair. (No damage control between battles.)
[Maps created using FTMap,
a utility developed by Alun Thomas & Tim Jones.]
Training Ship 'Kobyashi Can-do'
Mass: 44
FTL: Std
Main Drive: 6
Damage Track: 13; [oooo/oo*/ooo/oo*]
Firecontrols: 3
Pulse torpedo (F)
Class-2 (AP/FP/F)
Class-2 (F/FS/AS)
Class-1 (6-arc)
2 x PDS
Challenge 1: Beacon Run (can be run as a solo game).
Setup: 8 beacons are deployed as a slalom run. Each beacon has 1 hit.
The captain starts speed 10, 10 MU from the centre of the 'gate' &
has 5 turns to destroy all 8 beacons. It is possible to simply burn down
the centre & rely on gunnery, but it only takes 1 miss to fail. The
more common tactic is to 'slalom' from one side of the course to the other,
maximising weapons.
There is a third tactic which allows you to potentially finish this
in 3 turns, if you work it out & implement it successfully, you immediately
get promoted to Captain (First Grade).
Challenge 2: Asteroid Attack (can be run solo)
Terrorists have sent an armed asteroid on a ballistic course towards
an inhabited planet. Your mission is to destroy it before it impacts on
turn 6 .
Setup: Your ship starts 40 MU away on the opposing vector (the planet is 8MU behind you) at speed 8.
Asteroid stats: Speed - 8.
Mass: 25, Strong hull, Hits: 10; [ooo/o*o/oo/o*]
Weapons: Firecon, Class-3 (6-arc), Class-2 (6-arc), Class-1 (6-arc),
PDS.
Challenge 3: Hammer & Anvil (2-4 players needed) You have been ambushed by 2 enemy frigates running silent. Destroy the enemy, while minimising losses.
Setup: 2 frigates (any frigate from FTFB1 or FTFB2) are deployed 25
MU on either
flank, crossing your 'T' (90 degrees to you own course) at speed 8.
You are at speed 8 also. There is no time limit to this scenario, but you
must survive it.
If you want to increase the difficulty, have a 3rd frigate decloak
at 20 MU directly astern.
Challenge 4: Scrambled Eggs.
This challenge is simple. Survive your own promotion party!
'Neath Southern Skies
*****
They seek him here, they seek him there;
Those Frenchies seek him everywhere.
Is he in heaven or is he in hell?
That damned elusive, Pimpernel.
- 'The Scarlet Pimpernel', Baroness Emma Orkzy