BattleBlog - Strategic Operations: Part 4 6.12.2008

[DeJaVu]

Ah, the clash of mighty titans in the cold depth's of space...let's talk aerospace combat. [If you're wondering why it's not on Monday, I've got meetings pretty much all that day and I don't want to miss an installment.]

Obviously we provide the "plug and play" rules needed for firing arcs and damage locations for JumpShips, WarShips and Space Stations. We then immediately dive into a series of rules that expand on the standard rules, such as ramming attacks (now you can ram just about everything under the sun, both in space and on the ground), anti-aircraft, heat and point defense weapons. The last in particular has been the subject of many a thorny debate and I hope we kicked it hard enough this time to finally close off any last holes.

Several brand new, never-before-seen rules then start rolling out. Some of these are based upon fan input, while others came up during playtesting, from our usual workhorses and our elite aerospace cabal we put together. Some were specifically designed to try and re-balance WarShips back against aerospace fighters and aerospace squadrons, including Anti-aerospace Capital Laser Targeting Mode (just what it sounds), Bracketing Fire Mode (allows a bay of several of the same type of capital weapon to trade damage for a better chance at striking the target), Emergency Combat Heading Operations (a fancy name that basically allows DropShips and WarShips a "torso twist" during weapons fire), Over-penetration Weapons Fire (BattleTech Large Craft encompass huge amount of "empty" space, so the chance a shot might do little damage is addressed) and Targeting Capital Missiles (again, name says it al). Similar to many of the advanced ground combat options for pre-existing weapons in Tactical Operations, I see these rules providing some exciting new tactic potential for many craft that may have gotten a bad rap in the game previously.

Capital Missile Bearings-Only Launch is another set of rules that have been in the game but were woefully under-explained. We've fleshed them out, while providing some additional options, such as using these rules with High Speed Closing Engagments, as well as using them in a "Not Directly on the Playing Area" situation, just like artillery.

Orbit-to-Surface Fire and the respond in Surface-to-Orbit Fire. The rules as written in the previous rules edition had already had many, many holes poked in them by the community over the years. Then the introduction of sub-capital weapons (which basically use the same rules as capital weapons, but can be mounted on a DropShip) started to open up a giant can of worms. After all, if you can fire to the surface and back from orbit, why can't you fire airborne to orbit? Or airborne to surface? Or surface-to-surface for that matter when you start talking capital missiles? Not to mention some of the fun new tactics that all these options open up; you've got a Large Naval Vessel (Submarine) Support Vehicle and you want to toss a capital missile into orbit...well now you can...and you can also figure what happens when the guy in orbit wants to try and slap you back. All of that 'exploded' these rules and required a complete re-organization and a whole "opening" segement that absolutely specifies which rules set to use in which situation, which timing mechanism to use and so on. Check out the first page in this section as a preview.

One of the single biggest complaints we've seen over the years concerning space battles is that it's just not very tactical in nature. You've got your movement, target movement, and distance. Done. But you're completely missing the terrain element of ground battles that provide such a critical tactical element. And then we introduced a pile of electronic warfare rules to up the ante on ground tactics in Tactical Operations. I felt (as did almost everyone involved in play testing these rules, not to mention it was suggested several times in the fan input thread) that it was high time we provided some serious electronic warfare rules for space battles. Obviously some of the gear and weapons in Tactical Operations was already tipping our hand that this was coming. Now there is some disconnect, since the size of hexes on the ground game and space game are hugely different and so how does the range of one apply to the other? Despite all our best efforts, there are times when game balance and fun have to trump such discontinuity, however; check out the preview page from the Electronic Warfare section and you'll quickly realize what I'm talking about. Regardless, I'm excited to see what fun and interesting new tactics spring from all this (just as Total Warfare and Tactical Operations enhanced the combined-arms aspect of ground play, I believe these rules will enhance the combined-arms aspect of space play).

We've significantly modified and enhanced the advanced sensor rules. While most of these will likely be used outside of standard game play, they do provide a great plug-in rules set for High Speed Closing Engagements, allowing players to effectively generate "double blind" space scenarios.

We wrap up the section with Zero-G Ground Unit Combat that expands off of the Space Drops For Ground Units In Zero-G Operations from the General Rules section, giving players all the tools they need to fight ground units across the treacherous landscape of a WarShips' skin...if they're brave enough (or crazy enough).

Okay, another section down, another week closer to release...enjoy!

Randall