Topic: Starmada in the Honorverse
Hi,
Here are some rules modifications for playing in the Honorverse.
For those who don't know, Honorverse is inspired by the Davis Weber's book of the Honor Harrington Series.
All stuff and background describe here belong to David Weber and all things like that…
I think I will make some addition. I think remove the step where pivoted ships are realigned. This will force us to record the bearing of a ship in addition of his facing …
So remove one of your eyes and let's go !
H1 Movement
H1.1
All movement rules are used in HV, 3D movement, sideslip, pivots...H1.2 Impellers
Ships are moved in HV thanks to Impellers, two gravitational bands on top and bottom of the ship. A ship can roll on his X axis to face his Impeller band to his enemies. These bands are unbreakable by any weapon, so a ship can be invulnerable through a facing it can't fire.
Roll to present impeller is plotted as “I” plus hexside the top impeller will face.ie : 3P I202 the ship will move 3 hex ahead, turn one hexside to port and roll to face is top impeller to hex 202. With an initial speed of 4, this will require 5 thrust. The bottom impeller will face the opposite hexside.
A shot coming along an hexside is not hinder by Impellers.
A shot coming in a facing covered by an Impeller has no effect.NB: Seekers bypass Impellers but have a -1 to hit if a ship is using is Impellers for defense.
H2 Combat
H2.1 Shields
Shields in HV are named Sidewalls and cover only the flank of the ships.
They work as the same than in original rules except shield reinforcement which is not usable.H2.2 Impellers
If a ship shut off his Impellers (see stealth), Sidewalls are deactivated also and the ship gets a shied rating of 0. The Sidewalls reactivate at the same time as the impellers.H2.3 Hole
To allow movement change, ships in HV don't have shields afterward and rear.
A shot that come through this facing encounter no shields, so a ship facing his front or rear to the enemy is quite more vulnerable. The tactic of fire through these weak spot is calling “Crossing the T”.A shot coming from front or rear hexside pass automatically the shields (shield rating of 0).
The gap at the front arc is wider than the rear one, so a shot coming along an hexside in the rear will encounter the shields, but a shot coming along a front hexside will bypass the shield (see diagram).
H2.4 Weapons
All weapons accuracy must be 2+, a “miss” doesn't mean that the beam has missed the target but that a firing window as not been found and fire does not happen.
Weapon placed in front arc (G, A or B) cost 1.5 times more.H2.41 Lasers
Lasers are short range weapons; they are powerful and never miss their target.Use the main rules to define laser weapons, but with following limitations.
Range cannot exceed 3.
R.O.F run from 1 to 5 and represents the number of guns in the battery.
IMP cannot exceed 3.
DMG must be between 2 and 4.Traits that MUST be chosen:
Continuous damage
Range based IMP
Range based DMGH2.24 Grasers
Grasers are heavy short range laser, even more powerful than lasers, but really heavier.
Use the main rules to define graser weapons, but with following limitations.
Range cannot exceed 3.
R.O.F cannot exceed 2.
IMP cannot exceed 4.
DMG must be between 3 and 6.Traits that MUST be chosen:
Continuous damage
Range based IMP
Range based DMGH2.25 Gravitic Lance
Gravitic lance isn't very common in HV, it don't do damage but kill instantly sidewalls and is used in conjunction with energy torpedoes for short range kills.
Use the main rules to define gravitic lance, but with following limitations.
Range cannot exceed 3.
R.O.F cannot exceed 1.
IMP and DMG are 1 for cost calculation, but do not inflict any damage.
This weapon is slow firing (can only fire one turn on two).
If a ship is hit by a gravitic lance, his shield rating goes to 0 until the end of the game, this effect apply immediately, so others weapons firing this turn will benefit from this effects.H2.26 Energy torpedoes
Energy torpedoes are short range weapons, the most deadly ones, with high rate of fire and damage ratings, but it is useless against even the weaker shield, so it must be used with a gravitic lance to drop the target's sidewalls.
Use the main rules to define energy torpedoes, but with following limitations.
Range cannot exceed 3.
R.O.F must be within 3 and 5.
IMP is always equal to 1 but the weapon cannot do damage against a target which has any shield left.
Damage must be within 3 and 5.H2.27 Missiles
Primary weapons in HV are missiles.
They are moved by impellers like ships, and can have three types of warhead.
Every missiles type, except anti-missile missiles, is launch like steekers. They are load in Missile bays which are treated like Carrier capability in every aspect.
Missiles runs are treated like seekers all the wayH2.271 Anti-missile missiles
These missiles are used like normal battery weapons, but can only fire against missiles runs.
Use the main rules to define energy torpedoes, but with following limitations.Range: 9 max
ACC: 4+ always
ROF: between 1 and 5
DMG and IMP: 0 but count 1 each for cost calculation.They can only be fired at missiles run.
H2.272 Nuclear Warhead
This old missile type is used primary against ship with poor anti missile defense.Nuclear warhead:
Speed: 6
Hit on 5-6
Weight for 4: 9
Weight for 6: 12
Weight for 8: 15H2.273 Laser warhead
These missiles detonate thousand kilometers before their target, shooting at it with a bunch of laser beams. Because of their long activation range, they are less vulnerable to close range system defenses.Laser warhead:
Speed: 6
Hit on 4+
Weight for 4: 12
Weight for 6: 17
Weight for 8: 21H3 Running stealth
Each ship in HV can run stealth with shut downing his Impellers.
This cause his sidewalls to get down and thrust rating go to 1, but a ship can start a scenario in this state, recording his starting position and speed.
Although a stealthy ship don't have any shield and is limited to a 1 thrust, it can fire his weapon at will.
Otherwise, a stealth ship uses the normal rules for cloaking.