Subject: "This is why I keep you aboard, Chief."
Author:
Posted on: 2017-05-03 15:18:00 UTC
"Do as he says. Also, follow up question: How many Red Shirts can we feasibly eject as Human Shields?"
The bridge looks at him in confusion.
"That was a joke."
The seductive warp of hyperspace vanished from the viewscreen, leaving the more natural but no less beautiful image of a sun burning dead ahead. The Executive Officer leans back in her chair with a satisfied smile.
"Nicely done, as always, Helm," she says, nodding at the ensign manning that station. "Make sure the hyper generator is locked down, then take us-"
"XO!" The raw terror in the young Tactical Officer's voice snaps the XO's head round like a whip. "I've got hostile traces - multiple hostile ships surrounding our emergance point!"
The XO will never remember how she got from her chair to the tactical console. The two red icons of enemy ships pulse in the view, and a moment later one of them spouts a ruddy vector: she is already underway, heading obliquely towards the ship.
"Bring the wedge to full power," she says, amazed at the calm in her voice. "Bring the crew to battle stations." As the siren began to sound across the bridge, she leans closer to the Tactical Officer. "Can we hyper out in time to warn the convoy?" she asks in a low voice.
The TO's fingers dance over the controls, but the XO already knows the answer. The young officer's headshake just confirms it.
"Very well," she says, "then we'll have to keep them busy here. Comms - make sure the skipper's been notified. We've got a fight ahead of us.
Welcome, collective captain, to the burden of command! You've just entered the system with your single (gold) ship, and have discovered that it is in enemy (red) hands. Your number two priority is to make it back across the hyper limit (blue line) and jump to hyperspace, getting the word out.
Unfortunately, your number one priority is the unarmed and unarmoured convoy coming in behind you. They will arrive at your current location in five turns, which also happens to be the time it will take you to make it back over the limit and hyper out. You can't send a message to them while they're in hyperspace, so their only hope is if you can draw the enemy ships off and give them time to escape - another five turns after they cross the limit.
The hex grid is your tactical plot. It shows your ship (in gold), and your current vector - ie, where you will end up if you don't make any changes to your heading this turn. It also displays any other ships or missiles you can currently see - in this case, two enemy vessels. Your Tactical Officer has helpfully displayed the enemy's current vector, and the volume of space they could end their next turn in if they maneuver. The grid extends indefinitely in all directions, but nothing has been detected beyond the volume of space shown.
Your ship has several critical systems you should familiarise yourself with:
a) Your gravitic wedge is both your drive and your shielding. While it is raised, your ship has an acceleration of two. That means that in each turn, you can change the endpoint of your gold vector by up to two hexes. This shift can be forwards (accelerating), backwards (decelerating), or to the side (turning); your Tactical Officer has helpfully displayed the area you can reach on your plot. Your ship will follow the arrow as it exists after you maneuver, and that will be its new vector next turn. The enemy ships, and the convoy, have the same two-unit acceleration; the ring around your ship's icon indicates a raised wedge.
At the end of each turn, you may choose to lower the wedge, or raise it if it is already down. This takes effect immediately.
c) Your sensors detect gravitic wedges. A raised wedge can be detected at any distance, in real-time. A lowered wedge is invisible at long range - you can only detect it three hexes away. The enemy, and the convoy, have weaker sensors than you - they can only spot a lowered wedge at two hexes. So lowering your wedge lets you enter 'stealth mode' - but means you can't use it to maneuver, and you lose its protection against attacks.
c) Your thrusters are used for maneuvering when the wedge is lowered. They are very weak - they grant you an acceleration of one, but you can only use this on alternate turns. They are non-gravitic, so cannot be seen on sensors; that means that you (or the enemy) can never know precisely where a ship is once its wedge is down. The enemy, and the convoy, have the same thrusters as you.
d) Your weapons come in two kinds. Lasers are the simplest: they're instantaneous weapons which can hit any hex directly adjacent to your ship. You can fire one laser per turn. Your missiles are essentially tiny starships: they have an onboard acceleration capacity of ten, which they can split up however they like: they can spend it all in a single massive burst, spread it out to maneuver over twelve turns, or anything in between. You can fire one missile per turn.
Enemy lasers are identical to your own. Their missiles only have an acceleration capacity of eight. The convoy is unarmed. Needless to say, firing missiles with their drives online reveals your exact location even with your wedge lowered, though not your vector.
If a missile or laser shot enters a hex containing a ship, it has a chance to do damage. We'll cover that if/when it comes up.
All rules apply to all ships on the field - the enemy are flying under the same conditions as you. Their communications are also slow enough that they have to maneuver before they know what their colleagues are doing - they can't rely on someone else catching you. Turns are simultaneous (meaning in practice that I've already plotted the enemy's first move).
The order of actions on your turn are:
1. Launch missiles and/or fire lasers. These will move simultaneously with you, at the end of the turn.
1b. Adjust the acceleration of your previously-fired missiles.
2. Use your wedge or thrusters to accelerate, or choose to repair a system instead. If you start your turn outside the hyper limit (blue line), you may hyper out.
3. Decide whether to raise or lower the wedge.
4. Commit. All ships will fire weapons, and laser hits will be resolved. All ships and weapons will move. All missile hits will be resolved. Then wedge raise/lower commands will be resolved.
Anyone can take the captain's role for each turn; please don't hog it, but let other people have a turn if they want it! Feel free to write a snippet of narrative to go with your orders; I've deliberately left the bridge crew (and ship) unnamed and undefined to let you fill in the details. Probably the easiest way to describe your actions is to draw arrows on the tactical plot - you can upload to Imgur without an account, as an example, and I'm sure there's others.
And remember: priority 1 is giving the convoy ten turns to get in and escape again. Priority 2 is getting out alive.
hS
(The setting is adapted from David Weber's Honor Harrington books. The game design is modified from Triplanetary. Ask if I haven't made sense.)
'This' being both, y'know, this, and a couple of other game threads I've made ("Congratulations, you're falling into [canon]", Gallifreyan Scrabble, and... something else? I forget).
1/ PPCers like games like this, weird one-of-a-kind threads.
2/ The more complicated things are, the fewer people will get involved. There were far more responses to the canon game than this one, with its hex grid and all.
3/ Multiple-choice is good. Multiple choice with 'or anything you like' is better.
4/ Anything which runs longer than ten turns/a week is liable to go unfinished. It's deep enough that new people don't feel like they can jump in, the people who've already taken part feel like they've explored the options enough, and I start to get tired, introducing more lag.
Which is all fine! It's good information to carry through to the next game, whenever I get an inspiration. It does mean it's unlikely we'll ever play PPC Cluedo on the Board, or PPC Munchkin, but given that it's been years since I had the idea to run a Cluedo game and I've never tried, that was inevitable anyway.
I'm still happy to play this one out if people are interested; don't read this as me closing the game. :) Just thinking about the next one...
hS
The rendezvous between the convoy and HMS Thornbird has been brutal. All four ships are damaged: most critically, Convoys Centre and South have lost their sidewalls and are flying unshielded, and a shot from Tango 3 has just taken down Convoy South's wedge entirely. They'll need to take a turn without maneuvering to repair it; whether they break formation to do so is up to you.
Convoy North has mostly escaped damage, but a freak hit has taken out her hyper generator. Until it is repaired, she can't jump out - and neither can Thornbird, which has also lost her thrusters (ie, she can't maneuver without her wedge up).
The enemy have taken hits of their own. Tango 2 (north) has just lost all power; this will take two turns to repair, so if you can hit her before the end of next turn, she'll be destroyed. Tango 1 (east) is flying without weapons, though she's sure to fix one or the other soon. Tango 3 (west) is still running smoothly.
At this point you're free to offer your own plan of whatever complexity you like. However, if you'd prefer a simpler game, you can select from one of these options:
HMS Thornbird
A) Fire missile at Tango 2 to destroy her. Vector ENE (ie, move 1E) and fire lasers on Tango 1 if she comes into range.
B) Fire missile at Tango 3's East point. Hold position (ie, vector one hex NE) and fire lasers on Tango 1 if she comes into range. Ignore Tango 2 entirely, as she is heading out of the combat area fast.
C) Ignore Tangos 2 and 3. Fire missile at Tango 1's current endpoint and hold position (as above) to fire lasers.
Convoy
1) All ships adjust vector 1E and shut down wedges. Next turn will be spent on repairs.
2) All ships refrain from maneuvering. Convoy S spend the turn repairing the wedge. Convoy N repair hyper, Convoy C repair shields.
3) Convoy N and C accelerate along this vector (ie, adjust endpoint 2NE). Convoy S vector SE on thrusters and make for the hyper limit independently.
Since all four ships are close together, one captain can command the entire convoy if you want. Just pick a letter and a number. :)
hS
"Convoys, maneuver out of here and go dark, prioritize repairs on your shields and hypers. Thornbird! I want us to prioritize taking out Tango 2. Hold position and fire missiles on Tango 2 and open laser fire on Any Tango that so much as passes us."
Tango 2 has been destroyed, Tango 1 has fixed its lasers but lost its shields. Tango 3 has three missiles on the field - one streaking pointlessly off to the north, one able to hit Convoy-N if the convoy doesn't maneuver, and one able to strike any of the convoy ships if it can guess their location right.
Thornbird is currently stationary, having fired its lasers at Tango 1. The convoy maneuvered slightly and then all ships lowered their wedges; the enemy currently knows their location, but will lose them off sensors fairly soon. Note that Convoy-S can't maneuver again this turn, while the other two can.
hS
"Thornbird! Adjust Missile Launch Vector! Line Laser Arrays! TARGET TANGO 1"
Tactics hits several buttons, with targeting reticles quickly appearing and lining up with the ship. "All clear sir!" He says.
"FIRE!"
Before the dust clears, the Captain barks out some more orders: "Get that Decoy back up. Convoy! Prioritize your repairs on your shields, send yourselves NE on thruster power!"
You have one launched missile, which you can use to hit anywhere in the enemy's destination hex. If you don't start moving, you're going to be essentially out of the battle, though.
Convoy-C has been hit, and lost its wedge (which was already lowered). Convoy-S has also been hit, and lost its hyperdrive. Convoy-N evaded attack. (There is an error in the diagram: Convoy-S should have its shields back.)
But.
The only convoy ship visible on enemy sensors right now is Convoy-S. They also saw the missile strike on Convoy-C, but crucially, have no way of telling which ship it was. Because Convoys C and N accelerated, breaking formation with Convoy S, Convoy-C is now where the enemy expected Convoy-N to be.
In other words: the bad guys have just lost tracking on two of the three convoy ships. If Convoy-S can get out of sensor range (remember, it has 1 hex of maneuvering this turn; the other two have none), the enemy will be completely unable to find them.
hS
"And launch a second one to where Convoy-N is! Send us due north and tell Convoy-S to accelerate to the SE!"
"I would like to recommend the following course of action. Convoy-S should break toward the Hyper Limit, and get to work repairing. They can coast the rest of the way, bring up their wedge when the time is right, and get out. The other Convoy ships should stay on course and begin repairs; shields and wedge are priority for all ships.
As for us, get another missile in the air heading 4 by 35 by 9 (ending at Convoy-C starting position). Bring our other bird around to due East (ending one hex West of Convoy-C starting position).
Also, bring us about hard and burn Northeast. I've already dispatched a repair crew to get those thrusters back online.
It's all gotten terribly linear, hasn't it? ^_^
Convoy-S is in sensor range of Tango 3. It can't use its thrusters next turn, but can repair either the wedge or the hyper generator.
Convoys N and C avoided attack. They can maneuver next turn. Be aware that the enemy are aware that the convoy isn't where they thought it was, though they don't know where it is. Their bridge plots are covered in probability cones. :)
Thornbird is coming up behind the enemy, and has two missiles in the air; either of them can reach Tango 1's destination hexes, though neither can reach Tango 3's.
hS
"This is our moment, men. Hopefully the first of many," He says through tented hands. "Adjust missile vectors, laser batteries. Do we still have Tuesday's lunch? Put that in one of the airlocks. Point 'em all at Tango 2. TARGET!"
Targeting reticles flash to life on the viewing screen, quickly aligning themselves over the enemy ship.
"Ready to fire on your command, sir!" Says the TO.
"Is the Missile Vector aligned to Tango 2?!"
"Sir yes sir!"
"Is Tuesday's lunch in the airlock?!"
The XO baps her personal console a few times. "Sir yes sir!" she says.
The Captain stands and points to the screen, "FIRE!"
There's a brief pause, before the the TO gives a thumbs up. "All weapons- and airlocks- have finished firing, weapons only soon."
"I for one do not want to sit here and watch as all our work be for naught. Center wedge over us and engage thrusters eastward! Send Missiles 1 through 3 in the general direction of Tangos 1 and 3!"
"Anything precise sir?" Asks the TO
"Surprise me."
Captain Elcalion reviewed the tactical plot in front of him. A well-built man of medium height with brown hair and eyes and a pale complexion.
"Exec, give me an update", he said in a measured tenor voice.
"Our lead ship, the HMS Thornbird, is engaging an enemy ship, sir! There are two other enemy cruisers in between us and the Thornbird. They appear to be trying to draw the enemy away from the convoy." replied the executive officer.
"Those poor, brave bastards," said the Captain, his voice taking on a husky edge from emotion. "We cannot let their sacrifice be in vain. Signal all units, change heading 45 degrees to port." ((i.e. move to the southwest)).
"Guns, fire all our missiles at a heading 15 degrees to the north of the nearest enemy ship. Let's see if we can't take one of them off the Thornbird's back".
"Signal the convoy. Prepare to re-enter hyper as soon as we cross back over the hyper limit".
Elcalion, assuming any resemblance to the Battle of Adler is entirely coincidental. Also yay! Honorverse. I'm re-reading Echoes of Honor at the moment.
HMS Thornbird shuddered from stem to stern, throwing Captain Comet nearly out of his seat. "We're hit!" the Engineering officer called out. "Sidewall generators are down - skipper, we've got no shields!"
"But we got them, too," the Chief of Security reported, an ugly edge to his voice. "Hit them right in the primary gravitic array - they're flying blind, captain. Until they take time to repair, Tango 2 is out of the engagement."
Elsewhere...
The XO looked warily at Captain Elcalion. "Um, sir," he said, "this is a freighter. We... we don't HAVE missiles..."
Tango 2 can now only see two spaces away from it. Enemy missiles are controlled by the ship nearest them, so the 7-point missile between you and T2 is also running blind. Your missile has 8 points left on its maneuvers.
Oh, and lasers ignore the coin-flip. At that range, they're going to go through your shields.
Elcalion - welcome aboard, Captain! But you're unarmed, I'm afraid. ;) (I can neither confirm nor deny extensive cribbing from Third Adler. But it looks like Captain Comet might have better luck than Alastair, despite facing longer odds!)
hS
((Any distinction in the angle of attack of a missile? i.e. difference between fire arriving from the side or "up the kilt"/"down the throat" shots?))
-Gravitic sensors have infinite range, and no interference from intervening wedges. Active sensors aren't disableable by weapons, and have a range of 2 hexes (increased to 3 for the Manticoran warship Thornbird).
-Your impeller drive can adjust your vector by two hexes. Your reaction thrusters have an effective acceleration of 1/2 hex, which is modelled as only being used on alternate turns.
-All missiles are being modelled as Apollos, meaning they're controlled in real-time to the point that they always strike at an effective angle. There's a coinflip to see if they get caught by the sidewalls - I actually didn't bother with this on the one missile hit we've had so far, because the missile came in so fast I figured Tango 1 wouldn't have time to maneuver against it. (Also I wanted to see something blow up. ^_^) But it'll be in place for every other strike.
Got a bit of a busy day today, so Turn 7 might not be up until tonight. Sorry, all!
hS
((I assumed I was playing the role of GNS Alvarez. Should have double checked))
"You mean we don't have any weapons on board, exec?" asked Captain Elcalion, incredulously. "What sort of convoy only has one escort???"
"Adjust our vector to head south. We'll try and escape Tango 3 and break back across the hyper limit."
((What's the relative detection range of gravitics and active sensors? i.e. if a ship kills its wedge, at what distance can it be detected))
((Also also: what about maneuvering on reaction thrusters with the wedge down?))
"Send it directly to Tango 2's wedge, send 1 and 3 directly east as well, we are gonna bomb the NWW, W, and SWW edge of their wedge."
The captain exams the damage readout.
"I'm not comfortable with dead shields, get them back up. We're gonna go dark in the mean time, bring down the wedge. When we light back up get the Convoy on the line!"
... for the missile right in the middle of the firefight? It's the one with an orange 8 next to it, 1 NW of, uh... which one's Tango 2 again?
hS
Everything is quiet on the Thornbird's bridge. "Sidewall generators should be good to go as soon as we raise the wedge again," the engineering officer reports. "Assuming we don't get hit again."
"We've been lucky so far," the Tactical Officer chimes in. "One of Tango 2's missiles came close, but our decoy picked it off. We'll need to wait a turn if we want to deploy another one, though."
"Thrusters are online," Helm reports. "If we keep the wedge down and don't launch any more missiles, we should be able to keep out of any enemy sensor range."
"It looks like the convoy's lead ship has taken a hit," Comms says. "I think it's only their sensor array, though; the other ships should be able to cover for them. But Tango 3 is closing on them..."
Tango 2 know they've hit you - their missile telemetry went dead - so they currently know your location. But they have no way of knowing you've lowered your wedge; they think you could be anywhere in the larger hex, rather than knowing you're in the tiny one.
The fact that they know where you are means they know you paused to repair, though. That means they might guess you'll do the same again.
Remember that the number by your missiles indicates the number of hexes it can shift the end of its vector by. The central bird in your barrage eastwards is currently flying ballistic, with no remaining fuel.
Damage to the convoy is calculated slightly differently to everywhere else. They still get the coinflip, but they have no decoys or weapons. A roll of 2 or 3 will hit propulsion, while 4 or 5 hits sensors.
hS
"Throw Missile 4 into the center of T2's wedge! Point 2 and 3 at T3's general direction! If we can get the Decoy up after all of that do it!"
"A hit!" Chief of Security Phobos grins at his console. "Looks like you were right about Tango 2 stopping to fix those sensors - we've taken out their sidewall generators, they have no shields."
"But we can't fire without blowing our cover," the Tactical Officer reminds you. "We can fix the decoys this turn - our thrusters are in their recharge phase anyway - but other than that, any overt move will give both Tango 2 and Tango 1 our position and vector."
"But we might have to," Comms chimes in. "Tango 3 got in another strike on the convoy; it was a near-miss, but they're just going to keep getting more accurate, and Tango 1's salvos are homing in on them. If we don't make a move - or Captain Elcalion doesn't do something clever - they might lose a ship, and that would be a disaster."
Every missile so far has hit through the shields; that one on the convoy rolled a 1, meaning a clean miss.
A reminder that anyone is allowed to jump in here; if you don't think directing missiles is something you're up for, you can take control of one of the convoy ships.
hS
The Captain, examining the grid, nodded. "Alright, I want those two Missiles Northeast of us shot down with our Lasers. Make it look like they hit us. I also that decoy back up ASAP. We'll bring up our wedge and start heading south then."
(( I realize I was not very clear about that until the end of my post. Not that the Thornbird can't use the same tactic if it wants to, but I'm in no way presuming I know how to handle a warship in active combat. For that matter, I'm not sure why a freighter has a counselor with an officer's rank, either. {X D
~Neshomeh ))
... thinks he's running a warship. He's clearly not entirely in the same universe as the rest of us.
The best part is that the Ship's Counsellor apparently outranks the XO. Iiii get the feeling this is one of those ships... you know, the ones enlisted spacers whisper horror stories to each other about...
hS
I hear People's Commissioner :-P
Elcalion, out of this world
((The going plan is for the Thornbird to meet up with the convoy to assist it against the baddies))
Counselor Neshomeh steps up to the command position. She is wearing a non-regulation form-fitting jumpsuit that probably helps her patients relate to her or something, and is totally not just for eyecandy.
"Since Captain Elcalion got a little overexcited back there, I've sent him to Medical to calm down," she says, then looks around nervously. "Apparently that makes me the senior officer on the bridge at the moment. So, I think we should try to throw off those enemy ships. They seem to think we'll turn straight around and make a beeline for the hyper limit. Let's not do that. Instead, we'll jog southwest this turn, try to confuse them a little. Then, with their vectors off, we'll stand a better chance of escaping."
I hope.
(( I have barely any idea what I'm doing, but I liked the idea of being Deanna Troi. ^_^ So, basically, the convoy goes as far as it can to the southwest. Unless a more suitable officer thinks I'm about to get us killed and steps in, of course. {= D
~Neshomeh, participating! ))
The Helm officer gives the Ship's Counsellor a distinctly dubious look. A murmur goes around the bridge: "Senior officer indeed..." But as no-one else is willing to step up and overrule her, the ships of the convoy swing ponderously to south-west.
"A miss." The bewildered executive officer points at the navigational plot. "Their missile went right where you said it would, ma'am. That's... we're not out of this yet, though."
"Thornbird has brought its wedge back online," the Comms officer reports. "Looks like they might have taken a couple of hits, though."
"Not if I know Captain Comet," the Chief Engineer puts in, a twinkle in his eye. "That looks like a laser strike on the missiles to me. They're good to go."
"But a long way from us," the XO cautions, "and Tango 3 is between us and the hyper limit. I hope you've got another trick up your sleeve, ma'am..."
I hope Thornbird gets down south quickly, otherwise this tactical plot is going to get ridiculously tall. (I confess to being very amused by the, uh, precocious Counsellor.) Crew of the Thornbird, be aware that you have a missile coming straight at you from Tango 2.
hS
"Comms! I need you to open up communications with the Convoy. Tactics! I need a missile on T2's Southeastern-most point, send the live one towards the end point of the Convoy's vector. I want us going south with all we got! Put our vector on the southern central Hex with thrusters on full force! We need to make it to our Convoy as soon as possible!"
Your options are: a) keep going in the same direction, b) swing back towards the hyper limit, or c) try to loop away from Tango 3, back towards the Thornbird, and hope the bad guys overshoot.
Or anything else, of course, but it seems like people might be overwhelmed by the number of choices.
hS
But option C
Out at a friend's bday party so don't have time to post properly
Elcalion, evasory
"Direct hit!" the Tactical Officer crowed across the bridge of HMS Thornbird, but then frowned at the screen. "Ah, direct hit to their decoys, rather. Sorry, captain."
"It's still a valuable hit," the XO reassures the young officer. "It gives us that much more chance next time. And with our vector bending away from theirs, I doubt they'll want to stop and make repairs."
"Um." The note of uncertainty was injected by the Comms officer. "Captain? It's the convoy... they've turned away from the hyper limit and are vectoring in-system..."
I may need to come up with another way to display the plot, it's getting ridiculous... Tango 2 is down its shields and decoys, which means you've got a good chance of doing critical damage if you can hit it again.
hS
"Furthermore, adjust vectors to the Southwestern corner. Comms! Do we have open channels with the convoy yet?!"
"We have light-speed communications with the convoy only," the Comms officer reports. "We can send them a message, but they won't receive it for a few turns."
"Hit on the convoy's north ship!" the TO calls out. "Looks like... looks like they caught it on the sidewalls. No damage."
"Rather like our situation here," the XO mutters. "No hits, no damage..."
The current situation, since I had to zoom out a lot:
-The central convoy ship has no sensors. The north one just took a miss.
-Tango 2 has no shields or decoys; every other enemy ship is intact.
-You have no missiles worth controlling (the one you just fired is barrelling off towards the inner system to accidentally violate the Eridani Edict). There's a 4-point one coming in towards you from Tango 2, and a slow-moving 1-pointer wandering in from the east. There's also one 4-pointer headed up the convoy's tail.
I don't know how people are feeling about this game; responses have definitely slowed down. If you want me to speed things along, I can play out the next few turns on autopilot. What I'd need to know is:
-Is the convoy dedicated to swinging north at this point?
-Does HMS Thornbird want to match vectors with (ie, fly alongside) the convoy, match vectors with Tango 1+3, or zoom past them both in a headlong flight to the south?
Or I'm happy to keep playing turn-by-turn; I think it's fun. ^_^
hS
But ability to do detailed responses will be limited, crazy couple of weeks at work.
As far as the convoy goes, I was planning on trying to swing north to hook up with the Thornbird, possibly with some 'silent running' with the wedge down to try to avoid any potential Peep ships lying doggo in the convoys path.
Elcalion
Captain Elcalion returned from sick-bay, a sheepish look on his face.
"I'm sorry, Number 2, don't know what came over me. I'm back on deck now."
He reviewed the tac plot. "Hmmm, our best bet will be to divert in-system to link up with the Thornbird. Bring our vector two squares to system north."
I'd say the ship should begin make it's way towards the the upper ship, and fire a missile off but have it hold it's immediate attack.
I'm not sure what you're saying for the missile - are you firing it at the top ship, or what?
(Oh, I should've mentioned: missiles start on your ship. That means their vector starts off identical to yours, so any acceleration has to take that into account.)
hS
Also with the missles: I'm aiming to keep it within close proximity to our main ship, if only to build up a good, healthy Macross Missile Massacre.
"Captain on the bridge!"
You walk over to your chair and settle in, leaning forwards to scrutinise the tactical plot. Your XO is at your elbow, waiting for your orders.
"Launch one missile," you say, "but keep it in close. I want us to close with the upper enemy... let's see if we can take them out before their friends get here."
"Aye aye, skipper." You watch the plot change as Helm makes the changes, then draw in a sharp breath as the enemy moves to counter.
"They're heading right past us," the Tactical Officer reports. "We've got enough fuel in the missile to hit any one of their possible locations, but there's no indication of where they'll go. And, captain," the TO swallows, "we're going to be sailing directly into their own missile envelope. If they guess where we're going to jump..."
The new plot. Your single deployed missile has 8 units of accel left, meaning it can reach anywhere 8 hexes from the tip of its arrow - but of course, you don't know where the enemy is going.
4 turns until the convoy arrives; I'll place a marker on the board for next turn.
hS
That in addition to firing off a second missile similarly to the previous one, we should lower our field. Keeping the field close to us should restrict the enemy's ability to launch missiles against us.
Do I have any objections?
The Security Chief is a large, bearded man in a red uniform. He stands at his own tactical display near the rear of the bridge.
"If we can get around behind the upper enemy ship, we can avoid being flanked. I suggest that we alter course, by turning and accelerating, to take a position in the middle of the upper limit of our range ((2 hexes North of where our arrow stops))."
"I further suggest taking the fight to the closer foe, who will likely try to get behind us. I propose moving our missile to the point of their range closest to us ((their extreme West))."
He stops to study the readout again. "And as much as I hate to say this, I believe dropping the wedge is our best course of action. They'll have to find us before they can hit us."
(( 1. Fire no weapons
1b. Move our missile to the point 3E and 1 NE of the end of our plotted vector
2. Change our vector to move to a point 2N of our plotted vector
3. Lower the wedge
4. Pray))
-Phobos
"Do as he says. Also, follow up question: How many Red Shirts can we feasibly eject as Human Shields?"
The bridge looks at him in confusion.
"That was a joke."
i) If the ship has a raised wedge, a coinflip determines whether the attack is stopped by its shielding.
ii) If the attack gets through, a d6 is rolled to determine where it hits. A hit to a fully disabled system counts as a miss.
1 - clean miss.
2 - hits decoys, disabling them. Subsequent rolls of 2 trigger a reroll.
3 - hits weapons. The first hit disables the laser. The third hit disables your missiles.
4 - hits propulsion. The first hit disables the shielding function of your wedge (removing the coinflip). Any subsequent hits roll a d3 to select whether they disable the wedge, the thrusters, or the hyperdrive. (If the hyperdrive is disabled, you won't be able to escape until you repair it.)
5 - disables sensors, leaving you blind.
6 - disables ship power, shutting down all systems, but only if you have already lost two critical systems (missiles, sensors, anything in propulsion). Otherwise, counts as a miss. A second roll of 6 when power is out will destroy the ship.
On any turn, instead of maneuvering, you can repair one disabled system. Missiles only take one turn to repair, though it is possible to repair the damage from a 'second hit' before they're actually disabled.
So you can take a hit, even a damaging one, and recover from it. With a bit of luck, you can take several.
As per usual, the same rules apply to the enemy.
(Also, when your wedge is up, there's no downside to launching a missile. It would have exactly the same potential targets as your ride-along Macross buddy, so letting you cover twice the potential targets.)
hS
And send that one to a location 1 hex SE of the first missile.
You grip the arms of your seat as the ship swings round under you. You barely hear the descending whine as the wedge powers down - all your attention is focussed on the tactical board, and the ships and missiles weaving their intricate dance there.
"A hit!" The Chief of Security almost jumps out of his seat. "Direct hit to Target One's laser batteries. They're going to have a hard time patching that back together."
"Let's not get too excited," the XO says at your elbow. "We may have escaped their missiles for now, but the convoy's still on its way - and Target One is headed right for its emergence point."
Or: "Captain! The bad guys are behind us!"
hS
"Put our wedge back up and begin moving it towards us, we need to get into laser range. Fire another missile. Chief Phobos, you're in charge of positioning it and the live one."
((Put wedge up, move it SE towards the ship, use thrusters to move the ship in the same direction. Launch another Missile, put Chief Phobos in charge of positioning them.))
The gravitic wedge is your engine, so I don't think you meant to ask to move it towards you (what with it being... y'know, built into your hull). You want to move to the SE point in your destination area and then raise the wedge again, right?
hS
Missile one, target closest hex to the Emergence Point ((middle of the SE edge)). Should take all it has left to get there.
Missile 2, aim for the center of their range. We'll see what they do.
Missile 1 is currently headed for the hex NW of Target 1. The smaller black _/ is the limit of its guided range (though of course it will still exist and keep moving next turn).
Similarly, the larger black _/ is the furthest you can chuck a missile from your ship now. Its vector next turn will be a line from where your ship is now to where the missile ends turn, so anything forward of your position will keep moving away from the enemy.
hS
Missile 1, aim for the center of the range, which should take all she's got.
Missile 2, Macross maneuver.
"They're coming about, skipper." The Tactical Officer looks over at your chair. "Target 1 looks to be trying to loop round and cut us off to the north. Target 2 is making a beeline for us. Assuming there's nothing else out there, the convoy should be safe."
"Which doesn't mean we are," the XO puts in. "We've got three missiles coming our way. One's flying ballistic, but the others have enough power left in them to give us trouble."
Shooting things in space is hard. I've had the TO update the plot to include projected missile vectors, which should help some. :)
hS
"We may take a hit, but I want to give the good 'ol Lasers a go. Set our missile vector to Southeast if possible and send another big boy to the Southeastern vector closest to us. You boys handle the rest
((The captain decides to not move, adjust a Missile Vector, and fire the missile.))
((Follow question: can 2 missiles occupy the same space?))
You're hurtling towards the inner system. :) But you can refrain from maneuvering, and end up in the centre of your arrival area.
Two missiles can occupy the same space. Missiles are small, and starships are big. (Though if you have control of a missile, you could order it to attack an opposing one.)
You can't communicate with the convoy while it's in hyper, but I think it'll drop out a turn before your missile hits, so will be safe. And hey, if they miss seeing the battle on sensors, the missile will be a big hint that something's up!
(By sheer coincidence, firing ultra-long range missiles to let someone know you're there has been used at least once in the Honorverse books...)
hS
"Also, move our vector to the Southeastern-most point possible."
The Tactical Officer actually flinches back from the display. "Four... no, five missiles inbound, captain. And Target 2 is closing... rapidly."
"Perhaps too rapidly," the Executive Officer notes. "If we can turn on her inside, we might be able to loop behind them and make the hyper limit before either enemy ship can catch us."
"And we've got two missiles of our own holding a Macross Maneuver to our southeast," the Chief of Security puts in. "If we can position them right, we can give the enemy a good kicking on the way out."
You are able to enter the same space as your own missiles without issue. The convoy will be arriving next turn. And there's still plenty of room on the bridge - don't let Captain Comet have all the fun!
hS
"Furthermore, send us 2 spaces east and launch another missile directly East 2 spaces more once we reach that space, at the end of Tango 2's projected vector. Set all missiles to hit Tango 2 should they cross that space. Prime our laser batteries, we're going to go hot."
The board is alive with missile traces, crisscrossing local space, but despite all the fury not a single explosion speckles the sky. You ignore it, focussing on the navigational console, where-
"Skipper!" The officer at the console half-turns to face you. "I have the convoy on gravitics! Three contacts, strong and- wait."
He turns back, and when he looks up again there is horror in his eyes. "FOUR contacts!" he calls out. "A third bogey just lit its wedge, and it's between us and the convoy!"
You whirl to the tactical console, whether to demand explanations or to plan your next move, but the TO gets there first. "Tango 2 is closing! They're coming into laser range! All hands, prepare to fire!"
Yes, the third ship was there all along, poking along on its thrusters. Since I'm being kind, it made its maneuvers before the convoy appeared, but lit its wedge as soon as they showed up.
You're in laser range of Tango 2, and will fire before moving next turn unless for some reason you choose not to. Damage rolls will be calculated simultaneously for both ships (light-speed delay and all that). And yes, you can also launch missiles.
If anyone wants to take control of the convoy ships, feel free. Otherwise, they're just going to turn around as fast as possible and run for it.
... end of Episode 1! Episode 2 can start at the top of the thread with planning for Turn 6. (And I'm going to bed, so it'll all be tomorrow.)
hS
"They appear to be in the line of fire of our ballistic."
((I'm at work right now and may not be able to do much more here. Others should feel free to take command.
-Phobos))