Tell me what you guys think about this:
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Beyond Visual Range Combat[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] Beyond Visual Range (BVR) Combat covers combat over long distances such as missile attacks and artillery from Air to Air, Surface to Surface Naval Combat, Submarine Combat, and Space Combat. BVR combat occurs when there is a significant time between launching or firing a weapon and time on target so that active countermeasures can be employed and not just passive defenses and reactions. Several rounds to several hours are possible to contact depending on the weapon system. An Asteroid with an orbit that has been directed towards a planet may have a hang time of months but the target still may have little they can do about it. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] The point of detection of a threat is a major factor in BVR combat. A culture without FTL sensors may not even know of an impending attack until they are right on top of them. Detection may be measured in light minutes or light hours with real time sensor platforms. Gravitic sensors could detect the hyper foot print of an incoming fleet at FTL but not be able to communicate or confirm identity until they are much closer. They may have to launch an attack blind just on the off chance that it is an enemy. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] Stealth technologies can alter this situation even farther. Submarines maybe be fairly close to each other and not know it until a chance sound signals them. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Movement[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] The assumption is that sensor technologies will progress along with speed as a necessity. The fastest that ships can pass each other is one increment per action. However they can reduce this speed all they want by slowing down or even maintaining a distance. So the top speed is not the issue – it's how much they want it to take. So movement should follow certain general rules and not absolute measurements. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] You can hold at extreme range indefinitely. Fleets have to choose to engage. However it may be in the interests of one to engage and prevent a hold off. If the fleets are a extreme range then they can turn around and avoid action at any time. They can choose when to go into Long range. Once they are in long range then they can avoid action only if the other fleet allows it or they are significantly faster (1 ½ times as fast). If they want to avoid action once they have reached long range then they have to spend 2 rounds in long range before they can go to extreme range. This only applies if the other fleet lets them. If one is faster (1 ½ times as fast) then the other then they choose whether to close or flee. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] Once they are at medium range they would be in combat, if not already. They can stay at medium range by changing course to hold the range open. This may or may not be tactically wise but the option exists. Once they get to short range they are in heavy combat and one will probably destroy the other. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Sensors [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] Sensors are listed as Active/Passive bonuses. Passive sensors are limited to Medium range and closer. Active sensors are the definition of extreme range in the first place. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] Ships have a stealth rating that makes it hard to see them. The Stealth rating is the DC to detect the target at close range. The DC goes up by 5 each increment above short. The Stealth rating is in two parts. One is the running Stealth rating for that ship. This means that the Ship is under active movement. A Stealth aircraft has a high running stealth rating. A Submarine has a lower one. The second part is a silent Stealth rating. This could require that they not use their main engines, no active sensors, no active EM, etc. This is the Silent Running Mode on a Submarine. On a ship with a cloaking device the Silent Stealth rating would be when it is cloaked. The Stealth rating is listed as Running/Silent. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] If two ships are running Silent and they both fail their sensor DC checks then they can pass each other and never know it. This has happened with Submarines several times. If either ship makes a botch on ANY roll during Silent Running then they give away their presence. A weapon launch gives away the presence of the attacker automatically. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] If you know there is a ship there then you can figure out details about that ship by scanning it. You have to beat their Stealth rating to find out anything about them. If you do then you can find out things like power levels, combat readiness, general damage, type, etc. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Surprise[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] Surprise is a great advantage during combat especially if the other side doesn't know that they are even IN combat. If you can get them to come in to a closer range then their defenses could be down. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] Ships have a passive notice just like people do. However people are limited in imaginations sometimes. The captain of the ship must make a tactics check to look for a hidden ship not in their path. Then they have to make a sensor check to detect it. They can only make a sensor check if they are long range or closer and they can only make another one once they reduce their range increment to the hidden ship. They can't choose to keep the range open to hidden ships. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Electronic Warfare[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] There are several things that you can do to confuse your enemy during combat. That ability depends on Electronic Warfare. Drones can be used to trick another ship into thinking that the drone is an additional ship. The Drone will have a Stealth rating just like a regular ship. If that Stealth rating is beaten in a Scan then the opposing fleet will detect the trick. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] Electronic Warfare can be used to trick and confuse incoming missiles into loosing their lock. The missiles will have their own sensor ratings which will be their own attack bonus. A ship can use EW at medium range and closer to reduce an attack. The sensor operator rolls against the Sensor rating of the incoming missile type. Take the margin of success from that roll and reduce the attack roll by that much. If they use EW at medium range then they also get a roll at short range. Each roll will collectively reduce that attack roll. This means that surprise can deny a target the ability to defend itself fully. Also keep in mind that each of these rolls is an action spent on the part of the ship's crew. They can only do so many things at once. If too many attacks come in from two many different angles then they will have to pick their targets carefully. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Attacking[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] Attack rolls are made on the action that they are launched. Missiles would have to travel much faster then ships for them to be of any use. While they would take a certain amount of time to cross the distances involved it would require going back into the extreme detail that I am trying to avoid in the first place. So a minor hand wave is needed to compensate. Defense rolls are resolved with their attacks. They may in reality occur separately and things could happen in between however for the purposes of moving the story and game along they are resolved together. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] The Attack roll is based on the Operations skill and adds the Sensor bonus of the ship. If the ship is operating on passive sensors then you can only add the passive sensor bonus to figure the targeting solution. The DC is the Stealth rating of the ship type in the target fleet. If the lock fails you can try again. The weapons are usually not launched until you have a targeting solution anyway. You can try again and again. Once you have a solution you can fire. Add the number of missiles being launched to the attack roll. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] A fleet will usually fire together as will a flight of fighters. Only one roll is made but use the best sensor rating available and add on the missiles from all of the ships together. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Countermeasures[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] Once you have the attack the defender can use their countermeasures. Countermeasures have a range just like weapons do. For each range increment they have to work with to reduce the incoming attack the countermeasure gets +5. Ships will have Electronic Countermeasures as well as Interceptors and maybe other kinds of defenses. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] Electronic Countermeasures is rolled against the Sensor rating + 15 of the missiles in the attack. The Margin of Success from that roll is taken off the incoming attack total. That many missiles lost their lock. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] Interceptors fire either other missiles, railguns, and beam weapons at the incoming missiles. Even though there maybe several different systems being used, a flat damage value is given. For the purposes of this roll just add base damage to AP if using a multirole weapon. If that value is higher then the DR of the missile then they can shoot down the incoming attack. Roll an Interceptors attack versus the Defense rating of the missiles. The margin of success reduces the attack total as well. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] If the final attack roll is lower then the defense rating of the target ships then no missiles get through. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Damage to Multiple Targets[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] When your opponent attacks he has to target a certain number of ships. He can declare a general attack on the fleet or focus on certain class of vessel. He can focus on a few specific vessels. Now take that number and divide the margin by that. Now apply that margin based burst from the missile attacks to all the targets. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] If some ships are weaker or are already damaged they will end up with different defense values. Use the general defense of the fleet to start with but use the individual defense ratings to figure out if one takes more damage then the others. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] If a ship takes heavy damage it is out of combat. Captial Ships can take more damage before they stop functioning. They can take -15 but at that point they start breaking up. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Beyond Visual Range Combat[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] Beyond Visual Range (BVR) Combat covers combat over long distances such as missile attacks and artillery from Air to Air, Surface to Surface Naval Combat, Submarine Combat, and Space Combat. BVR combat occurs when there is a significant time between launching or firing a weapon and time on target so that active countermeasures can be employed and not just passive defenses and reactions. Several rounds to several hours are possible to contact depending on the weapon system. An Asteroid with an orbit that has been directed towards a planet may have a hang time of months but the target still may have little they can do about it. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] The point of detection of a threat is a major factor in BVR combat. A culture without FTL sensors may not even know of an impending attack until they are right on top of them. Detection may be measured in light minutes or light hours with real time sensor platforms. Gravitic sensors could detect the hyper foot print of an incoming fleet at FTL but not be able to communicate or confirm identity until they are much closer. They may have to launch an attack blind just on the off chance that it is an enemy. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] Stealth technologies can alter this situation even farther. Submarines maybe be fairly close to each other and not know it until a chance sound signals them. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Movement[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] The assumption is that sensor technologies will progress along with speed as a necessity. The fastest that ships can pass each other is one increment per action. However they can reduce this speed all they want by slowing down or even maintaining a distance. So the top speed is not the issue – it's how much they want it to take. So movement should follow certain general rules and not absolute measurements. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] You can hold at extreme range indefinitely. Fleets have to choose to engage. However it may be in the interests of one to engage and prevent a hold off. If the fleets are a extreme range then they can turn around and avoid action at any time. They can choose when to go into Long range. Once they are in long range then they can avoid action only if the other fleet allows it or they are significantly faster (1 ½ times as fast). If they want to avoid action once they have reached long range then they have to spend 2 rounds in long range before they can go to extreme range. This only applies if the other fleet lets them. If one is faster (1 ½ times as fast) then the other then they choose whether to close or flee. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] Once they are at medium range they would be in combat, if not already. They can stay at medium range by changing course to hold the range open. This may or may not be tactically wise but the option exists. Once they get to short range they are in heavy combat and one will probably destroy the other. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Sensors [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] Sensors are listed as Active/Passive bonuses. Passive sensors are limited to Medium range and closer. Active sensors are the definition of extreme range in the first place. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] Ships have a stealth rating that makes it hard to see them. The Stealth rating is the DC to detect the target at close range. The DC goes up by 5 each increment above short. The Stealth rating is in two parts. One is the running Stealth rating for that ship. This means that the Ship is under active movement. A Stealth aircraft has a high running stealth rating. A Submarine has a lower one. The second part is a silent Stealth rating. This could require that they not use their main engines, no active sensors, no active EM, etc. This is the Silent Running Mode on a Submarine. On a ship with a cloaking device the Silent Stealth rating would be when it is cloaked. The Stealth rating is listed as Running/Silent. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] If two ships are running Silent and they both fail their sensor DC checks then they can pass each other and never know it. This has happened with Submarines several times. If either ship makes a botch on ANY roll during Silent Running then they give away their presence. A weapon launch gives away the presence of the attacker automatically. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] If you know there is a ship there then you can figure out details about that ship by scanning it. You have to beat their Stealth rating to find out anything about them. If you do then you can find out things like power levels, combat readiness, general damage, type, etc. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Surprise[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] Surprise is a great advantage during combat especially if the other side doesn't know that they are even IN combat. If you can get them to come in to a closer range then their defenses could be down. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] Ships have a passive notice just like people do. However people are limited in imaginations sometimes. The captain of the ship must make a tactics check to look for a hidden ship not in their path. Then they have to make a sensor check to detect it. They can only make a sensor check if they are long range or closer and they can only make another one once they reduce their range increment to the hidden ship. They can't choose to keep the range open to hidden ships. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Electronic Warfare[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] There are several things that you can do to confuse your enemy during combat. That ability depends on Electronic Warfare. Drones can be used to trick another ship into thinking that the drone is an additional ship. The Drone will have a Stealth rating just like a regular ship. If that Stealth rating is beaten in a Scan then the opposing fleet will detect the trick. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] Electronic Warfare can be used to trick and confuse incoming missiles into loosing their lock. The missiles will have their own sensor ratings which will be their own attack bonus. A ship can use EW at medium range and closer to reduce an attack. The sensor operator rolls against the Sensor rating of the incoming missile type. Take the margin of success from that roll and reduce the attack roll by that much. If they use EW at medium range then they also get a roll at short range. Each roll will collectively reduce that attack roll. This means that surprise can deny a target the ability to defend itself fully. Also keep in mind that each of these rolls is an action spent on the part of the ship's crew. They can only do so many things at once. If too many attacks come in from two many different angles then they will have to pick their targets carefully. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Attacking[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] Attack rolls are made on the action that they are launched. Missiles would have to travel much faster then ships for them to be of any use. While they would take a certain amount of time to cross the distances involved it would require going back into the extreme detail that I am trying to avoid in the first place. So a minor hand wave is needed to compensate. Defense rolls are resolved with their attacks. They may in reality occur separately and things could happen in between however for the purposes of moving the story and game along they are resolved together. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] The Attack roll is based on the Operations skill and adds the Sensor bonus of the ship. If the ship is operating on passive sensors then you can only add the passive sensor bonus to figure the targeting solution. The DC is the Stealth rating of the ship type in the target fleet. If the lock fails you can try again. The weapons are usually not launched until you have a targeting solution anyway. You can try again and again. Once you have a solution you can fire. Add the number of missiles being launched to the attack roll. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] A fleet will usually fire together as will a flight of fighters. Only one roll is made but use the best sensor rating available and add on the missiles from all of the ships together. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Countermeasures[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] Once you have the attack the defender can use their countermeasures. Countermeasures have a range just like weapons do. For each range increment they have to work with to reduce the incoming attack the countermeasure gets +5. Ships will have Electronic Countermeasures as well as Interceptors and maybe other kinds of defenses. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] Electronic Countermeasures is rolled against the Sensor rating + 15 of the missiles in the attack. The Margin of Success from that roll is taken off the incoming attack total. That many missiles lost their lock. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] Interceptors fire either other missiles, railguns, and beam weapons at the incoming missiles. Even though there maybe several different systems being used, a flat damage value is given. For the purposes of this roll just add base damage to AP if using a multirole weapon. If that value is higher then the DR of the missile then they can shoot down the incoming attack. Roll an Interceptors attack versus the Defense rating of the missiles. The margin of success reduces the attack total as well. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] If the final attack roll is lower then the defense rating of the target ships then no missiles get through. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Damage to Multiple Targets[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] When your opponent attacks he has to target a certain number of ships. He can declare a general attack on the fleet or focus on certain class of vessel. He can focus on a few specific vessels. Now take that number and divide the margin by that. Now apply that margin based burst from the missile attacks to all the targets. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] If some ships are weaker or are already damaged they will end up with different defense values. Use the general defense of the fleet to start with but use the individual defense ratings to figure out if one takes more damage then the others. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] If a ship takes heavy damage it is out of combat. Captial Ships can take more damage before they stop functioning. They can take -15 but at that point they start breaking up. [/FONT]
