Starship Skirmish Beta II

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>>50452

So, the situation is like this. Some joker decided it would be hilarious to upload a malignant AI into the ships serving as testbeds for an unmanned combat ship program. Now several armed warships are making their way to the jump gate. Intercept and destroy them.

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>>50481

Right now the AI ships are coasting towards the gate sloppily pretending to be crewed by people. As long as you pretend to believe them, you can deploy at any point of the map with any starting speed.

>Deploy Dreamboat on eastern edge of map, heading 5 at a speed of 2.

Beta II-class frigate

Thrust: 1 hex for 2 AP

HP 13 AP 4
System thr. 10/7/4/1
Action thr. 7/4/1

Systems:
Heavy Railgun FPS(projectile) - to hit 4/7/5/2 dmg 8 at all ranges
Heavy Laser FPSA (direct) - to hit 6/5/3 dmg 8/4/2
Fire Control
Engine

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>>50744

Command: Welcome! Commencing deployment. Your designation is [1] Dreamboat.

AI1: Hello fellow human! What was your quality of life in the recent time period?

Rolled 10, 1, 4 = 15 (3d10)

>>50819
>Move Action to accelerate on current heading.
>Three actions to acquire Target Lock on AI ship 1, need to roll 3 or less?
"Mediocre."

Beta II-class frigate

Thrust: 1 hex for 2 AP

HP 13 AP 4
System thr. 10/7/4/1
Action thr. 7/4/1

Systems:
Heavy Railgun FPS(projectile) - to hit 4/7/5/2 dmg 8 at all ranges
Heavy Laser FPSA (direct) - to hit 6/5/3 dmg 8/4/2
Fire Control
Engine

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>>50861

>A Move action costs 2 AP, so you have only two lock on attempts. Still, lock on successful.

AI1: I experience sadness because of this information. I advise engaging in the human activity of consuming ethanol-containing beverages to alter your mental state.

Rolled 2, 4 = 6 (2d10)

>Aim at AI 1
>Fire Railgun at AI 1
>Aim at AI 1
>Fire Laser at AI 1
Success on 6 and 4?

Beta II-class frigate

Thrust: 1 hex for 2 AP

HP 13 AP 4
System thr. 10/7/4/1
Action thr. 7/4/1

Systems:
Heavy Railgun FPS(projectile) - to hit 4/7/5/2 dmg 8 at all ranges
Heavy Laser FPSA (direct) - to hit 6/5/3 dmg 8/4/2
Fire Control
Engine

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>>50925

>Success on 6 and 4?
For the laser, yes. For the railgun, you have to count the distance and facing from your future position to the target's, so in this case the distance for the shot is 0 and you need 5- to hit.

>AI1 has it's engine destroyed and FC damaged
AI1: Heavy damage sustained. Avenge me. Kill all humans.
AI2: Die meatbags.
AI3: <agreeing AI noises>

>>50979
Command: Please ignore the allied ship designated [3]. It is a visual glitch.

>Deploying from Northern edge of the map, moving at full speed at heading 4.

"Attention, Dreamboat. This is the Kestrel, inbound to provide assistance."

Beta II-class frigate

Thrust: 1 hex for 2 AP

HP 13 AP 4
System thr. 10/7/4/1
Action thr. 7/4/1

Systems:
Heavy Railgun FPS(projectile) - to hit 4/7/5/2 dmg 8 at all ranges
Heavy Laser FPSA (direct) - to hit 6/5/3 dmg 8/4/2
Fire Control
Engine

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>>51011
Command: Welcome! Your designation is [2] Kestrel.
Be advised that speed is not limited in space! I'll deploy you at speed 3 so you don't miss the battlefield.

Rolled 3, 10 = 13 (2d10)

>Move Action to begin decelerating to speed 2 and come to new heading at 5
>2 actions to attempt Target Locks at Rogue Ship 3 (Success on result less than 9?)

Beta II-class frigate

Thrust: 1 hex for 2 AP

HP 13 AP 4
System thr. 10/7/4/1
Action thr. 7/4/1

Systems:
Heavy Railgun FPS(projectile) - to hit 4/7/5/2 dmg 8 at all ranges
Heavy Laser FPSA (direct) - to hit 6/5/3 dmg 8/4/2
Fire Control
Engine

>>51100
You can only rotate once per turn, and to decelerate you have to turn to 1.
>(Success on result less than 9?)
Exactly

>>51118

Ah I see. If I were to turn to a heading of 5 right now, will I curve and be on a collision course to rogue ship 3?

>>51135
If you accelerate 5 right now, you will end up at 3 of AI3's current position (3 hexes to 4 then one to 5 from your current position)
You cannot collide with anyone though; one hex is actually a lot of space!

Rolled 7 (1d10)

>Aim at AI 1
>Fire Laser on AI 1, 7 to hit?

Beta II-class frigate

Thrust: 1 hex for 2 AP

HP 13 AP 4
System thr. 10/7/4/1
Action thr. 7/4/1

Systems:
Heavy Railgun FPS(projectile) - to hit 4/7/5/2 dmg 8 at all ranges
Heavy Laser FPSA (direct) - to hit 6/5/3 dmg 8/4/2
Fire Control
Engine

>>51157

Alright, I get the gist now. Also, how many action posts are we allowed to take before QM acts for the NPC ships?

>>51200
> how many action posts are we allowed to take before QM acts for the NPC ships?
Eh, one, actually. I'm just making provisions for the necessary explanations.
The enemy is acting, by the way. You'll see it shortly.

>>51246
>Deploy Aeolus on western edge of map, heading 2 at a speed of 4
Beta II-class frigate

Thrust: 1 hex for 2 AP

HP 13 AP 4
System thr. 10/7/4/1
Action thr. 7/4/1

Systems:
Heavy Railgun FPS(projectile) - to hit 4/7/5/2 dmg 8 at all ranges
Heavy Laser FPSA (direct) - to hit 6/5/3 dmg 8/4/2
Fire Control
Engine

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>>51176
>>51200
>>51338

AI1: Why is this ship made for repairs by meatbags? Why i<explosion><static>

AI2: Coordinate projectile firing. Predicting enemy position.
AI3: Acknowleged.

Dreamboat Fire Control: We're hit! Sensors are shorting out!
>FC damaged

>>51338
Command: Welcome! Your designation is [3] Aeolus

Rolled 8 (1d10)

>Move action to decelerate, heading 2.
>Aim at Rogue 3
>Open fire with Heavy Laser (Success<7)

"Targetting, get us a firing solution, Fire at will!"

Beta II-class frigate

Thrust: 1 hex for 2 AP

HP 13 AP 4
System thr. 10/7/4/1
Action thr. 7/4/1

Systems:
Heavy Railgun FPS(projectile) - to hit 4/7/5/2 dmg 8 at all ranges
Heavy Laser FPSA (direct) - to hit 6/5/3 dmg 8/4/2
Fire Control
Engine

>>51394
>Change heading to 3
>Move action to accelerate on heading 3
Beta II-class frigate

Thrust: 1 hex for 2 AP

HP 13 AP 4
System thr. 10/7/4/1
Action thr. 7/4/1

Systems:
Heavy Railgun FPS(projectile) - to hit 4/7/5/2 dmg 8 at all ranges
Heavy Laser FPSA (direct) - to hit 6/5/3 dmg 8/4/2
Fire Control
Engine

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feels like this is too complicated yo

>>51482
The test is meant to determine if it is so.

Exfil.

>>51543
What?

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>>51445
>>51451
AI2: Changing targets. Prepare for coordinated railgun barrage. Predicting target position.
AI3: Prediction unnecessary. Ha. Ha. Ha.

>Kestrel is hit by two lasers and explodes

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>>51757
Wait, no. I counted distance incorrectly. Kestrel still hangs on with 1 HP, destroyed FC and damaged engine

>>51757
Suggestion: Transfer control of Aeolus to Kestrel's captain, if they're still around. Otherwise, I yield to Command's decision, whatever that may be.

I am going to leave my station monitoring this frequency for a few hours, and I'll check to see what will have happened when I return.

Rolled 9, 2, 3 = 14 (3d10)

>>51799

Well, that went downhill incredibly fast. Since I'm dead in the water, assuming the AI doesn't vaporize me where I am, the Kestrel will be bugging out once the damn engine gets fixed.

>3 actions Sending Panic Teams to repair Engines

Beta II-class frigate

Thrust: 1 hex for 2 AP

HP 1 AP 3
System thr. 10/7/4/1
Action thr. 7/4/1

Systems:
Heavy Railgun FPS(projectile) - to hit 4/7/5/2 dmg 8 at all ranges
Heavy Laser FPSA (direct) - to hit 6/5/3 dmg 8/4/2
(DAMAGED) Engine

Rolled 8, 5, 4, 7 = 24 (4d10)

>Repair FC?

>>51882
>>51919
No one wants to bot Aeolus?

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>>51818
>>51882
>>51919

AI3 and AI2 in an unnatural synchonicity: Changing targets.

>Dreamboat: Fire Control repaired
>Kestrel: Engine repaired

>>52198
I'd messed up again. Kestrel has only 1 AP left now, so engine repair fails.

Ok, it is late already where I live, so I must go. If this thread is still alive tomorrow around 5pm UST, and there's still interest, we'll continue.

Was this skirmish engaging?
Were the rules too confusing?

>Decelerate. Both actions.

>>52640

I fell asleep because my last post was made around 3AM my time, plus I didn't have much to do other than engine repairs anyway.

The skirmish seems super crippling the moment someone scores a clean hit on your FC. If I'm reading it correctly, a destroyed subsystem means it's completely irrepairable, so that throws out any combat actions the players can take. Unless this is meant to be a more "disposable characters" skirmish quest, players should get an option to pick up shields to mitigate damage from heavy hitting weapons.

Rules are confusing only due to inexperience, it's relatively easy to understand. After a few games the players themselves should be able to help one another out if there's any misunderstandings about the rules/position of players, so that's not too big of a deal.

All in all, 6/10 will probably continue.

>>57121
Thanks for your feedback!

I'm still working on weapon balance. Also, there are more systems that incapacitate a ship when destroyed, so I might just do away with permanent system destruction altogether.

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>>52980
I'm back at running the skirmish. Several avenues of improvement are already clear, but I'll still be lurking in this thread for some time in case more players decide to continue this test and/or give feedback.

>>58453
Aeolus here. Some of the mechanics could be clearer. Beginning with a demonstration of a few mock turns (including, in detail, what players would be expected to post) might be helpful.

Seems you're getting the hang of it.

>>65690
>>66063

Thanks.

I'll work on the rules some more and try to run another test this weekend.

>>66615
I would recommend having one ship per team but allowing three players be a commander (movement), engineer(repair) and gunner(attacks)