Comments, please.
SPACE STATIONS
(This option is incompatible with option B.16: Flotillas.)
For the purposes of these rules, “space stations” are any non- (or semi-) mobile man- (or alien-) made independent construct, regardless of its intended function. Thus, anything from an orbital defense platform, to a drydock, to a full-fledged sector headquarters can be simulated using this option.
What is not covered are planetside and asteroid bases. Such installations will be covered in a separate option.
Although space stations are often spherical or ring-shaped, without any definite “front”, the model representing a station on the game board must have a facing identified for it, so that firing arcs, shield facets (option B.15: Faceted Shielding) and related functions can be tracked.
The main difference between a space station and a starship is that, while stations have engines for maintaining orbit and rotation, they are not designed for tactical movement. Therefore, the following rules apply to stations:
1) Provided a space station performs no forward movement, it may be turned in place up to a number of hexsides equal to its current engine rating. For example, a station with an engine rating of 2 could rotate up to 120° in a single Movement Phase.
2) If a space station performs any forward movement, its engine rating is effectively cut in half, rounded up--e.g. an engine rating of 3 is reduced to 2, while a rating of 1 stays the same.
There is a benefit to this relative lack of mobility, however. Because a space station is a (relatively) stable weapons platform, provided it performs no movement at all, a station may re-roll (once) any to-hit dice that miss.
EXAMPLE: A space station fires a weapon (ROF 3; ACC 5+) at a target at medium range. Three dice are rolled, coming up 1, 4, and 5. The 5 scores a hit, while the two misses are re-rolled, coming up 2 and 6. A total of two hits has been scored on the target.
