Quick Start Campaign!

[thesmith4]

Redone scenarios can be found on page 3, or follow this link: http://www.starfiredesign.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1885&p=25269#p25269

I'll be posting a Quick Start Campaign both here (the different scenarios) and in the fiction section (the background stories). This is in honor of the discovery of a planet in the Alpha Centauri system, so Rigil Kentaurus (an alternate name, meaning hoof of the centaur) will figure prominently.

The basic premise of the campaign is to show the events in the late 21st century that lead the disparate nations of the Earth to unify to fight off an alien attack at the fledgling colonies established at terrestrial worlds around Alpha Centauri A and B, leading to the unification of the Earth's space forces and the eventual unification of the Earth itself to face the threat.

So... Later tonight, scenario one: an American Survey force against a '!Xibrat! wormhole monitor force, the first contact between humanity and a non-human species.

(Oh, and as an aside, the Earth governments refer to most ships as Space Explorers (Corvettes) and Space Cruisers (Destroyers), until they actually develop light cruisers and beyond.)

[AlexeiTimoshenko]

I'm using some different terms in my Early Years of the Terran Federation fiction. Cutters are class 1 shuttles, shuttles are class 2 shuttles. Wp's are wormholes (same as you're using). You're welcome to use those terms in your fiction as needed.

[thesmith4]

Quick Start Campaign, Scenario One: Contact at a Red Dwarf

Side A goal: Explore this new-found system, discovering as much scientific or intelligence data possible.

Side A forces:
2 x Washington Class Space Cruiser DD-[3]-SSSAAAH(I)MgQ(I)RRYQLD(I)(I)(I)-[5] (Lincoln, Wilson)
1 x Armstrong Class Space Explorer CT-[2]-SSAAH(I)MgRYQY(I)(I)-[6] (Peary)

Notes:
-Each ship contains one hold, which contains extra life support commodities, repair parts, and other items. It represents the deep space exploration nature of the human forces, allowing them to operate far from its base at Earth. This system is destroyed as a normal system on the ship, and has no effect on the tactical battle in this scenario.
-The second "Y" (between the "Q" and "(I)") on the Armstrong Class ship represents additional instruments that it can use to survey. As long as that system is undestroyed, when the ship passes within one hex of one of the "Objective" counters, the side A player can remove that counter from the board and place it next to him, face up. Only the Armstrong Class ship can perform this function, though once the counters are removed, they are simply placed in the Side A player's area, representing the ability of the Side A Ships to communicate the data on the objectives to each other. The Armstrong Class ship does not actually have to withdraw for the Side A player to get the benefits of finding the Objectives.

Side B goal: Defend the system, preventing the intruders from learning about your kind and your system.

Side B forces:
2 x '!Xibrat! Protection Vessel DD-[3]-S(6xA)(I)Q(I)R(I)RYQFD(I)(I)-[5] (!Kunga', 'Uvrot!)

Special Rules: Make 4 small pieces of cardboard, about the same size as a ship counter. These represent "objectives" of scientific and intelligence interest in the system. On one side, label them with a point value, as follows, one counter with "1", two counters with "2", and one counter with "4". When the map board is ready, but before placing ships, place these counters on the map, face down. Side B places first, and picks one of the face down objective counters at random, putting it anywhere on the map, but in such a way that it is more than 5 hexes from any side of the map, and more than 5 hexes from any other objective counter. Side A then places a randomly picked counter with the same limitations as the first placement. Side B then places the third counter in a similar fashion, followed by Side A placing the final objective counter.

Side B then sets up his ships. They must be within at least 5 hexes of one of the objective counters, though they may be split up, as long as each is within 5 hexes of any of the objectives.

Side A then sets up his ships. They must be in the last row of hexes on either of the narrower sides of the map board, with all ships within five hexes of each other.

Play the game normally. Side A ships may withdraw from the same side of the map they entered from, and Side B can withdraw from the opposite side. Once a ship withdraws, it cannot re-enter the board. It is obvious to Side B that the smaller Side A ship is a specialty scouting ship, based on visual sensors and other detection methods, even with the ship's shields up.

At the end of the scenario, assess victory points as follows:
Side A gets the value of the Objective counters it has removed. Additionally, it gets one point for each ship that withdraws with at least one "Q" system remaining undestroyed. (It is not necessary to withdraw any ships--the scientific and intelligence data can be carried by message drones that any of the ships may release at any time.)
Side B gets double the value of the objective counters remaining on the map.
The player with the larger amount of victory points is the winner. Keep track of both players' ship conditions and victory points for use in the next scenario--surviving ships will be participating!

(Thanks, Alexei, but since I'm using the quick start rules, there are no small craft. In the fiction, I'll probably just call the auxiliaries the larger ships carry "ship's boats".)

Hope you like this! I'll be developing at least two more scenarios, one a battle as the Earth forces fall back from the larger '!Xibrat! fleet, and the second a battle to defend the colonies at Alpha Centauri.

[TerryTigre]

Two quick questions:

1) How big is the map? One Standard hex sheet from the quick start rules, or multiple?

2) The alien destroyers are 29 HS is this intentional?

Here an early Screenshot, but note that the starting range depends on the answer above, and that I replaced
the second Y of the Peary with an X, as that seems to be the function of the system...

[thesmith4]

Fiction here: http://www.starfiredesign.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=68&t=1886

[thesmith4]

Thanks for picking that up, TT. I'll go back and add an "A" to the alien ships. {Done]

And yes, it's the normal size map, the one that comes with the quickstart rules.

I did mean for it to be an "X", but that system isn't in the QS rules, so I just made a special rule for it.

How do you handle what I call "Objectives" in your program? (or waypoints, or whatever you want to call them...)

[TerryTigre]

Thanks for picking that up, TT. I'll go back and add an "A" to the alien ships. {Done]

And yes, it's the normal size map, the one that comes with the quickstart rules.

I did mean for it to be an "X", but that system isn't in the QS rules, so I just made a special rule for it.

How do you handle what I call "Objectives" in your program? (or waypoints, or whatever you want to call them...)

Well its a special rule, so it requires special coding

What I do is adding an objectives array, with the locations of the objective, and the point value. When the Peary gets close (with an intact X) the objective gets explored.

Now that I know the size of the map, I can place them, I will do a screenshot of the tactical map later tonight.

Also, this scenario requires VP rules, and a limited size map.

[thesmith4]

Also, this scenario requires VP rules, and a limited size map.

Yep. I wanted to make something that would carry over to the next few scenarios, under the concept that you could lose the first combat, or even the second, but leave yourself in a position to win the campaign, if you do well enough in the third.

By the way, thanks for your interest in this. I really do like the way your program runs through the combat. How tweakable is it during combat? ("Hey, that ship is doing something strange. Let's all focus on him this round!" Can you do something like that?)

[TerryTigre]

Also, this scenario requires VP rules, and a limited size map.

Yep. I wanted to make something that would carry over to the next few scenarios, under the concept that you could lose the first combat, or even the second, but leave yourself in a position to win the campaign, if you do well enough in the third.

By the way, thanks for your interest in this. I really do like the way your program runs through the combat. How tweakable is it during combat? ("Hey, that ship is doing something strange. Let's all focus on him this round!" Can you do something like that?)

Well currently it is very tweakable, if you want to add say a 1% chance for everyone to fire on a specific ship, then that change could be done in a minute or so.

Farther reaching changes would take longer, for example firing on your own ships. Under the current program you cant fire on your own ships (well at least i hope so ).

And thanks for providing these scenarios too, it is a good test for the program as well...

[TerryTigre]

So here is a screenshot with the objectives:



the ships in the screenshot look like this:



Note that the ships are colored slighly differently, but close to the general color for that side.

This is intended to make it easier to find the particular ship.

Also, I put the class name a little bit more below the ship so you can see the ships better.

The sides have VP as well, the defender starts out with all the VP, and the attacker has none at start.