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This is a list of rule variants I compiled in the course of playing Star Cruiser. Some of them are years old, others I drafted very recently after the discovery of web sites dedicated to 2300AD reawakened my interest. I suppose it is only fair to warn you that some of these rules have not been extensively playtested, so there may be some quirks I am not aware of yet. While the complexity of these variants may appear formidable, they can be quickly learned and they offer a better tactical "feel" of the game, with far more intricacies and possible tactics. I welcome any and all comments, but before making any please familiarize yourself with all of these rules and their interactions.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
3. CREW QUALITY AND RADIATED SIGNATURE
4. KAFER CREW QUALITY ADVANCEMENT
7. FIRING AT OBJECTS FURTHER THAN ONE HEX
FINAL COMMENTS AND TACTICAL ANALYSIS
NOTE: These variants use modifiers and multipliers that result in fractions. After all multipliers have been applied, round all fractions to the nearest integer.
Crew quality governs every aspect of a ship's combat efficiency, including movement. Each ship is subject to the following limitations on movement, depending on its Crew Quality. This introduces an element of complexity into the game, since you now have to keep track of speed of most vessels.
Definitions: Printed Movement Allowance (MA) is the value printed on the Ship Status Ship. Max Speed is the MA modified by CQ and represents the highest speed the ship can reach.
-3: This is a Kafer crew in its normal state, or a human crew trying to run the ship by reading the manual as they go along. The ship may increase or decrease its speed by 1 in each turn. Max Speed is 1/2 of Printed Movement Allowance, rounding fractions off to the nearest whole. The ship may change its facing by one hexside during its movement phase. Cost for facing change: 1/2 of Max Speed value. If at all stop, may turn freely.
Example: A Kafer Alpha-class BB, with printed MA of 4, has a Max Speed of 2. If last turn its speed was 1 it may accelerate to 2 during this turn, or decelerate to 0. It may only make one hexside facing change, paying 1 movement point (1/2 of 2) to accomplish that.
-2: This is a ship with a crew that never worked this ship before, although it may have some theoretical background. Max Speed is 3/4 of MA. May make only one change of facing per turn. Cost: 1/4 of Max Speed value. Each turn may accelerate or decelerate by 1/3 of its Max Speed value.
Example: A Kafer Alpha-class BB with a printed MA of 4 and CQ of -2 has a Max Speed of 3. Each turn it may accelerate or decelerate by 1 and make one turn, using 1 movement point .
-1: This is an inexperienced human crew. Max Speed = Printed MA. Acceleration or Deceleration per turn: 1/2 of Max Speed value. May make several facing changes per turn. Cost: 2 movement points/hex side.
Example: An Alpha-class BB with CQ of -1 has Max Speed of 4. May accelerate or decelerate by 2 each turn and pays 2 movement points per hexside change.
0: An average experienced human crew. Max Speed=MA. Acceleration/Deceleration per turn: 1/2 of Max Speed value. May make several facing changes per turn, paying 1 movement point per hexside.
Example: An Alpha-class BB with CQ of 0 has Max speed of 4, may accelerate or decelerate by 2 each turn, and pays only one movement point per facing change.
+1: A well-trained human crew. Max Speed=MA. Acceleration/Deceleration per turn: may freely make speed changes from turn to turn between 0 and Max Speed. Pays one movement point per facing change.
Example: An Alpha BB with CQ of +1 does not need to keep track of speed. It may change speed at will from one turn to the next.
+2: A battle-experienced human crew. Max Speed=1 1/4 MA. Acceleration/Deceleration: may freely change speed between Max speed and 0. Cost per facing change:1 movement point
+3: We are talking Starship Enterprise here. Max Speed= 1 1/3 of MA. Acceleration/Deceleration: May freely make speed changes from turn to turn between 0 and Max speed. Cost per facing change: 0 movement points.
Example: An Alpha BB with CQ of +3 has Max Speed of 5, may freely change speed from turn to turn, and may change facing without spending any movement points.
Designer's Notes: These rules make some of the "real" outcomes of Star Cruiser scenarios plausible. Otherwise how can you lose 2 Suffrens against 2 (or even 4) Betas if you are faster than the enemy ships and their missiles? Under the new rules, a Beta with a +3 has a Max Speed of 8 and does not pay movement points for turning, which makes her a real threat to a Suffren. As you will see below, missiles' movement is also affected by Crew Quality of controlling ship.
This one is very simple. Ships with CQ of +2 and +3 increase their sensor ranges by 25% and 33%, respectively, while ships with CQ of -2 and -3 reduce them by 25% and 33% with fractions rounded off to nearest whole number.
This rule is very simple as well.Ships with CQ of +2 and +3 decrease their radiated signature by 25% and 33% respectively, while ships with CQ of -2 and -3 increase theirs by 25% and 33%, with fractions rounded off to nearest whole number.
Also, due to each ship having its exhaust ports in the stern, radiated signature of every ship in any of the 3 stern quarters is 50% higher than listed. If two figures are listed, use the parenthesized. For example, the Kennedy class CG has a radiated signature of 11 in its rear quadrant.
4. KAFER CREW QUALITY ADVANCEMENT
Definition: Ships are considered In Contact if they are separated by a number of hexes equal to or less than the highest sensor value on either ship. Example: A Piedrabuena class FF (active sensors: 7, passive sensors: 3) and a Wombat-class Aux. CA (active:2, passive:0) are considered to be in contact if they are separated by 7 hexes or less. This represents the level of communicator technology on ships and enables data exchanges between the ships. If, in a large group of ships, each ship is In Contact with at least one other ship (creating, in effect, a network of data exchange), all ships in this formation are considered In Contact with each other. If the highest sensor value on either ship is less than 5, use 5 instead. Active sensors do not need to be turned on to have their value used as control radius.
Instead of the rule listed in Star Cruiser, use the following: A Kafer ship may not attempt to raise Crew Quality until it or a ship it is considered to be In Contact with is fired upon, or a hostile ship has been detected by any ship of the group. If fired upon, it advances to the next CQ on a roll of 1-5; if In Contact with a ship that's fired upon, it needs to roll 1-3 . If hostile ships have been positively identified, roll 1-2 for CQ advance (this rule has not been extensively playtested so the figures may need to be adjusted for play balance). This process is repeated every turn separately for every ship until every Kafer ship reaches a +3 CQ.
a) For movement and attack purposes, missile use CQ values of the controlling ship as long as they are In Contact. If they are not in contact, their CQ is reduced by 1. However, each ship may use drones or fighters for realying missile data. Each drone or fighter relaying data may relay data for only one remote station. Missile control may not be maintained farther than twice the control radius.
For example, the Kennedy-class CG may control its SIM-14 missiles out to a radius of 15 hexes with no penalty (the highest sensor value of any sensor on either the ship or missile) and out to max radius of 30 hexes. However, the Kennedy may use its HD-5 drone to relay the missile control data as long as the drone is within 15 hexes of the Kennedy and the missile within 13 hexes of the drone (13 being the highest sensor value of either the missile or the drone). This, incidentally, gives the Kennedy an exceptionally long missile reach of 28 hexes, more than nearly any other ship. Note that while this "daisy chain" for remote object control may use only one relay (which must be a drone or a fighter craft), for purposes of being In Contact the chain may be composed of any number of ships of any class. Another words, you man not relay missile control through more than 1 relay craft. If relay is used, the relay drone and missile(s) are controlled by separate remote stations. One drone/fighter may simultaneously relay for more than one missile, but may receive the signals from only one ship (in drone's case, the controlling ship only). Also be sure to use sensor values modified by CQ in cases of ships with very low or very high CQs (see #2) for both remote object control and to determine whether ships are In Contact.
Notes: I drafted this rule to represent the difficulty of maintaining a reliable link across several 600,000 km hexes. I always wondered how a ship can maintain a link with and control a missile outside its sensor range, i.e.,without even knowing where it was, without at least some deterioration in performance. It's kind of like driving a remote-control car in a dark room.
Definition: a ship is considered to be Illuminated if it is within sensor range value of a ship with activated active sensor. Illuminated ship's reflected signature may be used for passive detection if higher than radiated signature. When activating its active sensors, the illuminating ship must select the quadrants to be illuminated (at least two adjacent quadrants must be selected). Illuminating vessels are autospotted only if the detecting ship is in a quadrant being illuminated.
b) In certain cases a remote station may control more than one missile. All missiles must be of the same type and in the same hex and move together. Ships with CQ of +1 may control 2 missiles/remote, CQ of +2 3 missiles/remote, CQ of +3 up to 4 missiles per remote. Due to difficulties of coordinating such a tight formation of missiles, the Max Speed of the missile flight is reduced by 1 for each missile in excess of 1. (Note: I am considering dropping the minimum required CQ for 2 missiles to 0, letting CQ+1 control 3 missiles, etc)
Sensor activation phase
Detection phase
Intruder movement/fire phase (Native ships and detonation missiles may fire at targets of opportunity in the course of movement. Native ship lasers may fire at intruder's missiles before they detonate while native missiles may attack enemy ships moving within effective range)
Intruder damage control phase
Sensor activation phase
Detection phase
Native movement/fire phase (Intruder ships/detonation missiles may conduct opportunity fire, as for Intruder movement/fire phase)
Native damage control phase
7. FIRING AT OBJECTS FURTHER THAN 1 HEX
All weapons (including detonation lasers) may fire at targets if their damage value is greater than 1. Damage values are reduced by one for every hex of range in excess of 1 and with a to-hit modifier of -1 for each hex in excess of 1 (Beta's 4x lasers could fire at a target 4 hexes away with a damage value of 1 and a -3 to hit modifier). Firing at an object 1 hex away does not incur a negative modifier.
Minor hull breach reduces Max Speed by 25%, while a Major breach by 50%. These modifiers are cumulative with CQ modifiers.
These rules are intended to introduce squadron and fleet commanders into Star Cruiser.
All commanders are rated for their tactical proficiency and have a rating of 1, 2, or 3, with 3 being the best. Each squadron/division (2-4 ships, depending on scenario, although each Human battleship and battlecruiser can be considered a squadron in its own right) has a number of activation chits equal to the tactical rating of its commander. All of the chits for both sides are placed in one cup. At the beginning of turn randomly (i.e., without looking) draw one chit from the cup--the squadron it represents may now execute its actions for this turn, acting as the Intruder. After all its actions are completed, draw another chit and move/fire the ships of that squadron, including all fighters and missiles belonging to these ships. Ships of one squadron/division must be In Contact throughout the turn. Turn is completed when all squadrons were activated at least once, not when all activation chits are used up. Once the chit is drawn, it may not be put back into a cup until the beginning of next turn.
In practical terms it means that squadrons with better commanders will be able to occasionally activate more than once during a turn, although not always and not consistently so. Those extra activations, however, will often mean the difference between winning and losing.
For really big scenarios (more than 3 divisions on each side) use the following Fleet Commander rule. Each Fleet Commander, in addition to commanding own ship/division may, instead of drawing a chit, activate any one of his divisions/squadrons after the previous formation ended its activation. A formation may be thus activated even if it has no activation chits remaining in the cup. The formation counts as having been activated (for purposes of tracking when to end the turn) but does not need to have any of its activation chits removed from the cup. The formation must be In Contact with Fleet Commander's ship to be activated in this manner, either directly or through other ships. Each Fleet Commander may perform this action number of times equal to his tactical rating each turn.
Rating commanders: This is truly subjective, but I think anyone described as a "genius" gets a rating of 3 (Borodin and Rochemont, for example), while everyone else who appears to have good leadership skills (Lutke, Parker, etc) gets a 2. Commanders with average or worse proficiency (DuBoise, Bertrand) get only a 1. Kafer commanders apparently do not improve under fire and are rated in similar manner. The only Kafer commander to date to warrant a 3 is Triumphant Destiny.
FINAL COMMENTS AND TACTICAL ANALYSIS
I feel that the new rules do a much better job of modeling Kafer behavior. One thing that pleasantly surprised me most is that these new rule variants did not distort the game or ships capabilities. On the contrary, each ship now seems to have found a niche, especially on the Kafer side. This is what I consider to be the optimum Kafer Task Force battle formation: An outer ring of fighters, In Contact with an inner ring of Epsilons, In Contact with yet another ring of tightly clustered battleships (alphas and deltas), inside of which there is a tight cluster of betas, the counterattack force. In combat this works as follows: the whole Kafer force is moving (lumbering?) forward with very low CQs throughout. As soon as the fighters detect Human ships, all other ships may start to roll for CQ improvement. The human attacker then approaches the ring of Epsilons, which are still slumbering. Now he has a choice, engage the Epsilons or press on to engage the battleships. If he engages the epsilons, he can be sure to bring down a horde of Betas with CQ+3 with Max Speed of 8 on his head if he takes too long to eliminate the Epsilons. If he presses on, he may slip past the Epsilons and put several battleships out of commission (this is where the multi-missile control comes in handy), but then he is stuck in a circle of Epsilons with CQ of+3 and large missile loads, having to run gauntlet of Xrays. So, the question is, how do you attack a deeply-echeloned Kafer force knowing that if you concentrate on any one element of it for too long the rest will crush you?
An echeloned defense calls for deep attack. Use slow frigates, cruisers (Hamburgs are ideal), and destroyers to take on the Epsilons to form a breach in their ring after faster ships have slipped past. Use battleships and battlecruisers to land heavy missile salvos on Kafer battleships, and send Kennedys and other fast missile ships to at least damage the Betas sufficiently to cause some hull breaches to slow them down. If you don't, they are bad news. Once the Betas are hurt, withdraw in reverse order, fast ships, then battleships. The slow ships should maintain the breach in Epsilon ring long enough for other ships to disengage and should form a defensive line of missiles for other ships to retreat behind and regroup in case a few Betas and others have survived unscathed.
This kind of battle has an entirely different ebb-and-flow than a battle fought with standard Star Cruiser rules. Now the human player must be aware that time is working against him and be on the lookout for signs of aroused Kafer activity whereas before it was not as much of a concern since Kafer behavior did not change as dramatically from one turn to another. While the Kafer ships were firing with -2 or -3 modifiers in the unaroused state, they could guide missiles, maneuver and detect every bit as well as when in excited state. All that is changed. The Kafer player, on the other hand, should be aware that time is on his side and that he should do everything possible to stay engaged for as long as possible. If the human commander fails to hurt Kafers before they awake, he is in for a long and bloody fight. If he manages to hit them hard before they come to, he will be victorious. In some ways fighting Kafers resembles an elephant hunt: if you don't drop him with the first shot, you will only tick him off and live to regret it.
All of these tweaks really enliven the battle. Instead of lobbing missiles at each other 2 or 3 at a time, you now can pile them on and achieve first-salvo knockout blows (which reminds me, gotta get to work on a rapid-fire damage chart), which is how combat in space should be. Who wants to spend 120 turns ticking off hull hit points one by one? Put 20 SIM-14s into a Delta instead and see what's left. Some work needs to be done regarding play balance: do new missile rules balance the CQ advantages Kafers get? Do Kafer battleships die too fast? Or too slow? Do they get smart before the Humans had a chance to land some good hits? I am not decided on turn sequence, either.
You may have noticed the heavy emphasis I put on crew quality. All wargames pay a lot of lip service to the importance of human element, but very few actually adopt rules to reflect that assertion. Original Star Cruiser is no exception. My modifications put back what was missing in that respect. Each ship now has a very distinctive set of capabilities conditioned by its crew's level of training, not to mentioned a unique personality, adding an element of roleplaying to the game. If you want to see what I mean, pit a CQ+3 Aconit vs a CQ-3 Alpha, first time using the original rules and second time using my rules, and you will see what I mean.
Finally, a word about complexity. I know that all of those rules do complicate the game and slow it down. My next step is to design a quick-resolution damage system that can resolve even the largest missile volley with only a couple of die rolls, while maintaining the range of results in the original rules. I was always somewhat irritated that a game that treated movement, crew quality, detection, and a whole slew of other game mechanics in such a simplified manner would have the players tick off dozens of damage boxes and roll 2-3 times to determine the effects of every hit. I hope my damage rules will accomplish two things: restore the speed of play reduced by my new rules and give the players more time to concentrate on tactics instead of damage resolution.