Topic: Integrating Auxiliary Systems

Ok, so I have been thinking about how to integrate Auxiliary Systems into the Campaign System we have developed, and this is what I have come up with so far. The last item is an attempt to make it more difficult for players to have a bunch of 0 CR auxiliaries consequence free.
Comments anyone?

Science: Guiding ships into uncharted space is not as simple as pointing at a star and telling the Helmsman to “take me there.” While space is undeniably vast, it is also full of dangers to any starships which traverse its expanses. To find their way through previously unexplored regions of space Empires equip their ships with specialized scientific equipment to locate, analyze, explain, and in short, find the safe way to get from one place to another. Campaign Effects: To move from a star system hex to an adjacent hex that has not been previously occupied by any unit from the controlling Empire a Task force must have at least 1000 SUs of Science equipment. This total is cumulative for the entire Task Force. If a Task Force does not have at least Science(1000), it may still move to an unexplored hex, but there is a risk that ships may be lost in transit. For each vessel which moves to the unexplored hex, roll 1D6. On a roll of 5 or 6 that ship is considered destroyed (or lost in hyperspace, whatever you like) and removed from the game.

Cargo: One of the most difficult things for any Empire to do is to keep its front-line forces supplied. It is not always practical or even possible for a Task Force to travel to an Outpost or Starbase for re-supply, and because of this an Empire may send Cargo along with a Task Force to help sustain it. Campaign Effects: During the Re-supply Phase a Task Force that is not in a system with a friendly Outpost or Starbase may use the Cargo carried along with it to re-supply its ships. First, total all of the Cargo(#) carried on all of the ships of the Task Force. The Empire may then supply up to that number in Combat Rating Points on any or all of the Task Force's ships. If the total number of Combat Rating Points exceeds the available Cargo, the Empire must choose which of its ships to supply. Ships cannot be partially supplied to lower the number of cargo they use, or to bring the total right up to the Cargo available without exceeding it. For example, Task Force 1 has a total available Cargo of 556. The Task Force is made up of three ships with Combat Ratings of 124, 345, and 466. The controlling empire may choose to re-supply the vessels with the ratings of 124 and 345 (468 total points) or the ship with the rating of 466, but no other combination is legal. Cargo expended to re-supply a Task Force is considered “used up” and should be noted on the ship display of the ship(s) which carried it. Cargo may only be replenished in a system containing a Friendly Outpost or Starbase.  All of the expendable munitions (including Probes) and small craft on those ships which are re-supplied are replaced in full. Marines and Ground Troops are not replaced.

Repair: Warships are always in harm's way, but an Empire may not be able to pull them back to a Friendly system to repair battle damage. To help keep their ships in the best possible fighting condition while keeping them “at the front” Empires make use of special Repair Equipment. Campaign Effects: During the Repair Phase a Task Force that is not in a system with a friendly Outpost or Starbase may use the Repair equipment carried by its ships to fix some of the damage they have taken. For each Repair(50) available to a Task Force a single point of Engine or Shield damage, or a single weapon system may be repaired (if using Critical Damage rules, 1 piece of Special Equipment may be repaired). Hull damage may not be repaired by these means, and can only be done at an Outpost or Starbase.

Hospital: While space battles are undeniably deadly affairs for the participants, a planetary assault can be an outright bloodbath. To help handle the casualties and prevent even more troops from dying due to insufficient care many Empires have vessels with specialized Hospital equipment on board. Campaign Effects: Following the conclusion of a Planetary Assault scenario (successful or not) an Empire totals up the number of Marines and Ground Troops which were destroyed in the fighting. For each Hospital(100) in the task Force from which the Assault was launched, reduce the number of marines or Ground Troops lost by 1. The controlling Empire then decides which of the Task Force's ships that the Marines or Ground Troops are placed on.

Transport: While the Transport Auxiliary system is most often used to bring in Ground Troops for an assault mission, it may also be used to replenish losses to other vessels. Campaign Effects: If Marines have been lost by a ship or ships within a Task Force, they may be replaced from troops being transported. In addition, casualties on board starships caused by “Crew-Killer” weapons may also be made up for by replacements being transported. Campaign Effects: During the Replenishment Phase a Task Force that is not in a system with a friendly Outpost or Starbase may transfer personnel being transported to ships to replace lost Marines or Crew. Each is replaced on a one-for-one basis. Each number removed from Transport should be reduced from the total Transport capacity, and can only be replenished by a trip to a friendly Outpost or Starbase, or a transfer from another vessel with “unused” Transport.

Auxiliary Escort: Often an Empire may choose to send a ship with limited combat capabilities along with a Task Force because of its Auxiliary Services capabilities. Obviously a Task Force Commander would not want to expose these vital ships to the dangers of combat, but they cannot be left defenseless either. Campaign Effects: When forces are chosen for a scenario a Commander can often choose to leave some ships out of the battle. If a ship (or ships) that is part of a Task Force is kept out of a battle and its total number of Auxiliary Services is greater than its combat rating it must be “Escorted” by another ship or ships. The escorting vessel(s) must have a Combat Rating of at least 75 for each vessel being escorted. This total can come from any number of vessels so long as it meets the criteria. For example, if three Auxiliary vessels are held out of a fight, the escort could consist of 3 ships each with a Combat rating of 75 or 1 vessel with a Combat Rating of 225. The consequence for not providing an escort could be great for an Empire. If Auxiliary vessels are left unescorted/under-escorted some or all of the ships could be lost (and not allowed to retreat). For each ship beyond the ability of the escorts or themselves to defend, roll 1D6 and on a result of a 5 or 6 1 ship is considered destroyed. The destroyed ship is chosen by the controlling Empire. For example, the 3 Auxiliary ships from above have only 3 escorts with a total of 150 Combat Points to protect them. With only enough “Escort Points” to protect two of the ships, 1D6 is rolled coming up a 5, resulting in the loss of one ship (chosen by the controlling player) to enemy forces (or SPACE PIRATES!) looking for easy pickings.

Re: Integrating Auxiliary Systems

Hmm. Nearly a week and no comments? Not even a "this sux!" I need critical input otherwise I will think that I have finally reached perfection and I am ready to ascend...or take over the world...although I don't know why anyone would do that...
erik

Re: Integrating Auxiliary Systems

This sounds like a good idea.  However requiring one thousand science for fleets with Tech Level zero is a bit much.  IMHO
Perhaps there should be 10 or even 20 science spaces for every hull point making the "jump"... :geek:

Re: Integrating Auxiliary Systems

I love the idea of making auxiliaries useful in campaign play. There's some things I'd do different if I were putting it together.

1) Science
I agree that it should be a # of science points per hull box - in the same way you are doing # of boxes per X for the other systems. Only ships that aren't covered by the scouting "umbrella" will risk loss. This way you can risk low-science jumps where you protect your flagship and a few other important vessels, but risk loosing the outlying escort vessels.

2) Cargo
What is the effect of being out of supply? Is an out of supply ship able to fight at all? At reduced capacity? I'd suggest cumulative effects of being out of supply. For example, on turn 1 all weapons have the non-piercing trait added. On turn 2 make all weapons slow loading, etc.

3) Repair
Love it. Though you may allow some hull repairs by creating a mobile drydock ship - defined as a ship that has at least X hull and Y cargo spaces. Perhaps even require the purchase of a "Drydock" special module that takes lots of space.

4) Hospital
Looks good. It can also be useful against weapons with the Crew-Killer trait.

Keep up the good work!

Re: Integrating Auxiliary Systems

1) Science
I agree that it should be a # of science points per hull box - in the same way you are doing # of boxes per X for the other systems. Only ships that aren't covered by the scouting "umbrella" will risk loss. This way you can risk low-science jumps where you protect your flagship and a few other important vessels, but risk loosing the outlying escort vessels.

Ok, I like this. It would mean a bit more "figuring out", but that's ok. I can also see this leading to some very small scouts with Science equipment making the initial jump, like pathfinders, so that when the fleet jumps, the "route" is now explored. I think for that reason I'll have to set the Hull:Science ratio on the higher side.

2) Cargo
What is the effect of being out of supply? Is an out of supply ship able to fight at all? At reduced capacity? I'd suggest cumulative effects of being out of supply. For example, on turn 1 all weapons have the non-piercing trait added. On turn 2 make all weapons slow loading, etc.

I didn't want to make the supply side of things too complicated, and more paper-work so essentially I only envisioned Cargo "replenishing" ammo. In the games and other campaign we played, fighters/strikers/seekers and Ammo dependent weapons were key to just about every game, so it seemed necessary to have a capability to "reload". hmmm, I think if I were to use a turn by turn "out of supply" I would roll one damage roll per ship, each turn out of supply, ignoring hull damage of course. I would also use the critical hit rules and roll to check for equipment breakdowns. This way, you could simulate failures that would have a direct effect on any tactical engagement without creating "new rules". It would also prevent record-keeping on how many turns you are out of supply and so forth.

3) Repair
Love it. Though you may allow some hull repairs by creating a mobile drydock ship - defined as a ship that has at least X hull and Y cargo spaces. Perhaps even require the purchase of a "Drydock" special module that takes lots of space.

I would stay away from creating "new rules" like a Drydock module, but how about if you design a ship that meets or exceeds the minimum requirements of of an Outpost, you can repair 1 Hull point of damage for each Repair(50). As Outpost have a minimum of Repair(500), you could fix a bunch of damage, but since it is mobile it isn't necessarily efficient enough to fix every ship in the fleet(?) Of course Hull damage would still have a price-tag to fix.

Thanks for the input!  big_smile  Keep it coming. Based on the things you said I'll be going through these rules  and should have version 2 soon.
Cheers,
Erik

Re: Integrating Auxiliary Systems

Ok, I threw a couple things around today and came up with a couple of things.

For Science how about this:
To move from a Star System hex to an adjacent hex not previously occupied by any unit from the controlling Empire a Task Force must have at least 100 SUs of Science Special Equipment for each vessel being moved. This includes the ship with the Science Equipment, so a ship with Science(200) may safely navigate itself and one other ship to an adjacent hex. If the number of ships is greater than the available Science Equipment, the controlling player must decide which ships will benefit from the Science Equipment and which will not. Each vessel that is not “covered” by the available Science Equipment rolls 1D6 when it makes its movement to the unexplored hex. On a die roll of 5 or 6, the ship is removed from the campaign and considered destroyed.

I played around with the idea of doing Science:Hull points, but to me this implied that the largest ships would be less capable of navigating a jump and this seemed a bit backwards to me. If using SFU ships, they can pretty much provide their own built in Science at this level!

For Supply this was my thought to add to the replenishment of munitions:
Ships that are considered “out of supply” will also suffer systems failures. Following the repair and replenishment phase each ship that could not be supplied rolls 1 Damage Die. Hull damage is ignored, but all other results are recorded on the ship card, and carried over to the next turn. If the optional Critical Damage rules are in use for the campaign, each piece of Special Equipment should roll to save as well. Damage done to systems this way cannot be repaired by Damage Control if that optional rule is in use for the campaign.

This is pretty much what I said in the last post rule-ified.

And finally, for Repair:
If a vessel meets the minimum requirements for an Outpost, it may also repair Hull damage, in a somewhat more limited fashion. During the Repair Phase a repair vessel may repair 1 point of Hull damage for every Repair(50) and 50 SUs of cargo carried. This Cargo is considered “used up” in the process of the repair and must be replenished by transfer from another vessel with cargo or a trip to a base. Hull repairs still require the expenditure of the proper number of Economic Points. A player can only allocate up to the ship's total number of Repair for the variety of tasks it may accomplish in a given turn.

I was trying to come up with a way to show that Hull repair required a great deal more "raw material" in addition to Repair Equipment. Is 50 SUs worth too steep? Obviously because I asked I am think it might be but I figured I would see what others think.

Cheers,
Erik