General Gameplay

Gameplay occurs between two modes. Travel, and combat. With players and their captain partaking in skirmishes against the Bydo, and other threats. A party consists of several pilot players, a captain, and of course the game master(GM). While the bulk of many sessions may be combat. Travel forms an optimal time for players to have pilots and other crew members interact. With their ships the hanger of their captain's capital ship.

Before combat begins. The players will be shown the current known terrain of the skirmish ahead of them. The fog of war is entirely controlled by the GM, and the GM may reveal as much, or as little as they wish. Allowing for flexibility in both story and mechanics of an encounter. Such as radar jambing, or strange visibility conditions. From this map, the captain will place their capital ship, choosing it's location and heading. Players will be allowed to place their own ships within two tiles of the capital ship's hull.

As combat begins, all ships, seen and unseen, will roll initiative. This initiative roll will persist through all of combat, and decides turn order. However, due to how various attacks work, going first will not always have an advantage. As each phase of combat uses this initiative roll to decide order. After initiative has been rolled, the game will proceed through the 5 phases of gameplay. Each player will be able to act as the phase allows. As will enemy crafts and fired weaponry.

GM and the Captain's Seat

The GM's roll is to be both the story's director, and act as the primary puppetier of enemies during combat. While gameplay is often focused on space combat. The meat of a campaigns story follows more along the lines of player's and the captain's interactions with the various plots, be they political, social, or espionage.

Thus it is the GM's roll to ensure during character creation just what the players and captain should already be aware of, and if necessary, what they should not be, if a player experienced with the universe is playing. After all the SpaceCorp has many of its own secrets, intrigue is not exclusive to the alien Bydo and their exotic physiology and abilities.

While players are at the direct mercy of the GM's actions. The captain's roll falls between GM and players.



Setup

This phase serves as a way to reload, recover, and reset the various states in each ship. As well as making sure players keep tabs on important stats, such as desynced players and their fuel. As well as reloading weapons.

-Desynced ships spend 1 fuel while not in real space.
-Ships with no fuel in Desynced space are lost forever.
-RCS tokens are reset for each ship. Based on ship stats, and other modifiers. Such as damage.
-Reloading counters for each weapon go down by 1, unless modified.
-Ship special abilities, such as regeneration of Bydo craft, trigger here. Unless otherwise stated.

Movement Resolving

This phase exists to give movement it's own feel, as if you are influencing a seperate object, traveling through space. Ships will continue to travel in the direction, and with the speed given, until a player manually slows them down. Players who are not paying attention to this, will quickly find themselves colliding with other ships, or walls. This phase also acts as a way for guided, or simply physical weaponry to move, without complicating player choices.

If the current tile has an effect on the movement vector, apply it, and then move.

If a ship has the "Overwhelming" characteristic, any times it enters will force other ships out. Applying its own vector to them. This new vector is applied instantly, and the affected ships will also use this to move immediately. Even if they have already been moved. The overwhelming ship in the collision will not take damage, or change their vector

If there is no space between an overwelming ship, a wall or other overwelming ship, and the affected ship. The affected ship will be crushed and instantly destroyed. Other ships see overwhelming ships as walls for collisions, and overwhelming ships that collide with other overwhelming ships behave like two normal ships colliding together.

When two ships collide. Damage will be applied as 1D4 for every unit of magnitude in the highest speed vector in the collision. After damage is applied. The ship with the highest magnitude vector will have its magnitude halved, and the slower ship in the collision will inheret this vector as well.

When a ship, regardless of if they are overwhelming or not, collides with a wall. The ship will have it's vector canceled. All magnitude will be set to 0, and a number of D4s equal to the magnitudes previous value will be rolled for damage to the ship.

Use the vector calculator here to help you solve any problems you encounter quickly and easily.

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-Terrain effects are applied to ships(Slowing or speeding up their vectors, Damage, etc.)
-Ships and weapons are moved around the battlefield based on their vectors (Impacts with walls are resolved here)

Attack Resolving

Physical weapons, act like small remote ships. Moving on a vector, and even tracking targets if the weapon supports doing so. If any of these weapons share the same tile as a ship, the weapon will impact, and cause damage, or any other effects that weapon causes.

-Physical Weapon impacts are resolved here. (missiles for example)
-Weapon impact effects are applied here.

NOTICE: Players may choose to do the next two actions in either order, unless a ships effect specifies otherwise.

Aiming and firing weapons

During this phase, each player may spend an RCS tokens, to start turning, and for every 45' angle above their initial angle. -Ships may turn by spending RCS tokens to face a new heading.
-ships fire their weapons.
-if a weapon is "instant". Its damage and effects are resolved here.


Adjusting headings, and thrusting

-Ships may turn by using their remaining RCS tokens, to start turning, and for every 45' angle above their initial angle.
-Ships may use 1 fuel to thrust in their current heading (updates their vector)


MOVEMENT AND ATTACKING

Heading

-A ship's heading is the direction the ship currently faces.
-A ship may only thrust from the direction it's engines are facing (Usually behind the ship, and half power retrograde thrusters for braking.)
-Weapons fired from a ship, will often use the heading of the ship initially.
-Various equipment maintain's it's location based on a ship's heading.

Vectors

Every moment resolving phase, every ship is moved around the board by their current vector. Vectors do not have a limit to the possible speed you can travel in. This is extremely dangerous if a player cannot slow their vector as it heads towards a collision.

-A ship's Vector is the movement and direction it will travel at the Beginning of every turn.
-A Vector contains an direction and a magnitude
-A Vector has no speed limits

Thrusting

During the movement phase, Players may apply a new push to their ship by thrusting in various directions. The most common configuration is a primary rear thruster, and a half power retrograde thruster. Every thrust a player does, is decided by the ship's engines, with what dice is used. Players may use less then the amount rolled on their dice. For example: A ship using a D8, rolls a 4, The player may use any value from 1 to 4.

It is extremely important to understand; Thrusting in a direction does not change the ship's vector to the new vector desired, but rather changes it by how much you thrusted in the new direction. This can be calculated using the calculator

Players may instead of thrusting, Emergency brake. Using their thrust roll to bring as many parts of their current vector's magnitude towards 0.

Fuel is always required to thrust. However, if you have 0 fuel, you may always emergency brake to remove at least 1 unit of magnitude, until you reach a full stop. To prevent yourself drifting out of the battlefield.

-Roll a dice decided by your ship's engines -you may use any number under that dice's roll. -half power retrograde thrusters, round upwards when dividing a roll by 2. a roll of 1, is 1. -emergency break to try and remove excessive speed, or stop on the spot.

DeSync Space

-Every round inside DeSynced Space uses 1 fuel. Regardless if thrusters are used.
-All thrusts are doubled. You may still use less then the total thrust rolled.
-Units without fuel in DeSynced Space are lost to the void. Including all occupants.
-Units cannot ReSync to real space, if a unit or wall is in the same location.
-Desynced ships are not capable of attacking, as the weapon would be lost in desynced space.
-DeSynced ships may pass through each other, and all other units without interacting or seeing each other

Attacking

This applies to attacts of the "Instant" variety. Attacks that have a moving object that requires an actual impact, will do straight damage to their target on impact.

Instant attacks have a chance to miss their target. To roll for an instant attack. First, roll the target's thrust dice, and add the remaining RCS tokens to this number. The attacker will then roll the aim dice specified by the attack. If the attacker's roll beats the target's combined number, the attack hits. If not the attack will miss.

For example: A player's ship attacks an enemy target. The target's thrust roll uses 1d6, and rolls a 5. It also has 3 RCS tokens tokens. Meaning the combined "evasion" number to beat is 8. The attacker roll's their attack's aim dice, it is 1d10, they roll a 9 enough to count as a hit.

If the aim roll matches the combined "evasion" value. The attack is a glancing hit, and does half damage, rounding down.



Ship, Weapon and player Statistics

Features

-Health: X

Maximum health of ship. When ship has 0 health it is considered innoperable, or dead.

-Omnidirectional

Omnidirectional weapons may be fired from a ship, with any starting direction in their vector that a player desires. Initial speed is decided by a roll of the weapon's engine thrust dice.

-Impact damage: X

Weapons that collide with other ships cause damage on impact.

-Instant Damage: X
-Aim: XdX
-Range: X

Weapons with instant damage require a roll of aiming dice, may only be used within a certain range, and are explained here.

-Reload Turns: X

Number of turns that need to end, before the weapon is reloaded. Weapons with a single turn may be fired next turn.


Hardware

-Engine thrust

Dice used when rolling thrust.

-RCS

RCS tokens given at the start of the turn by default. RCS tokens are used to turn at 45' angles during the movement and attack phase.

-Fuel

Total fuel a ship can hold. When this is empty you may no longer thrust. RCS turning is always possible if you have RCS tokens.

-Wave Cannon

Specialized high damage weapon mounted in nearly every SpaceCorp fighter craft. Due to the sheer scale of this weapon within the ship's frame. It is often impossible to exchange the radically different cannons between ships. Nearly all wave cannons are bound to the ship they were designed for as a result. Due to the weapon's power and scale, it is mounted in a fixed location, almost always facing directly forwards.

Wave Cannons lack a reload time, and instead have a charge time. All fighters begin at 0 charge. When your ship docks, is successfully attacked, or fires the weapon, your charge will be reset to 0.


Equipment

-Force Remote
-Bit Remote
-Missiles

Sanity

-Bydo Presence
-Terror
-hypoxia
-DeSync Space


Ships

Rwf-9A Arrowhead

Mass produced in the war against the Bydo. Was the fighter of choice for the first pilots of the SpaceCorp. The R-9A's development concentrated on bringing front line battleship fire power to a fighter, with the Wave Cannon, and the first successful skirmish with the original Force Control Device.

FEATURES:
Health: 20
HARDWARE:
Engine thrust: 1D4
RCS: 3
Fuel: 30
Standard Wave Cannon
EQUIPMENT:
Vulcan
Tracer Missiles x5
Contact Missiles x5

Rwf-9B Strider

Made to travel big distances, it has the cumbersome handling of a big ship. A long operational range is an important matter especially when fighting the Bydo. Under the right circumstances, this series’ defining characteristic can be used to your advantage. Equiped with high explosive nuclear weapons.

FEATURES:
Health: 16
HARDWARE:
Engine thrust: 1D10
RCS: 2
Fuel: 40
EQUIPMENT:
Vulcan
Tracer Missiles x3
Contact Missiles x3
Balmung x1

Rwf-9D Shooting Star

The R-9D was the first step for the R-Series when it came to developing long-range weaponry. This important modification paved the way for future developments in long-range weapons technology. The Wave Cannon equipped was re-designed from the ground up, initially called the Compression Cannon, increasing the focus and precision in exchange for blast radius and power. Future advances in Wave Cannon technology eventually made up for this loss. The R-9D was one of the larger R-craft built and initial tests of its Wave Cannon proved so hazardous that it wasn't allowed to be used until the cooling system was improved. Not that engagements with the Bydo stopped that particular mandate or anything.

FEATURES:
Health: 10
HARDWARE:
Engine thrust: 1D6
RCS: 5
Fuel: 20
Photon-Belt Wave Cannon
EQUIPMENT:
Vulcan
Contact Missiles x3



Weaponry

Vulcan

A short-range, rapid-fire cannon. Has low firepower, but can be used to intercept enemy attacks.

FEATURES:
Omnidirectional
Instant Damage: 2
Range: 10
Reload Turns: 1
Aim: 1d10

Tracer Missile

A smart explosive payload, that will attempt to seek to the nearest or most convenient enemy target within 5 tiles. If no enemy is within 5 tiles the missile will continue on it's current vector until it detects a new target. As will all missiles; Ally ships that wander into its path will impact the missile and cause it to hit them. Will travel at the maximum thrust rolled that turn.

FEATURES:
Health: 1
Omnidirectional
Impact damage: 4
Reload Turns: 2
Aim: -
HARDWARE:
Engine thrust: 1D4
RCS: 1
Fuel: -

Contact Missile

A dumb, but highly explosive payload. Fires directly in a line. As with all missiles, it makes no distinction between friend or foe. Will travel at the maximum thrust rolled that turn.

FEATURES:
Health: 3
Omnidirectional
Impact damage: 6
Reload Turns: 2
Aim: -
HARDWARE:
Engine thrust: 1D6
RCS: -
Fuel: -

Balmung

Nuclear tipped missile with minimal guidance. May not be reloaded during combat. Missile will use 1 fuel per movement phase, and will stop turning when fuel runs out. Traveling in the last vector it had until it leaves the battlefield. On impact, all tiles around impact tile, will also recieve full damage. If if somehow hits the same ship twice, it does not do more damage.

FEATURES:
Health: 10
Omnidirectional
Impact damage: 25
Reload Turns: -
Aim: -
HARDWARE:
Engine thrust: 1D10
RCS: 1
Fuel: 3

Standard Wave Cannon

Developed to produce as much firepower as possible. The weapon's power is located and accumulated at the front of the craft. All of its energy is vectored to a single point, and is released instantly on firing.

FEATURES:
Fixed direction, Bow mounted, Straight line
Instant Damage: 15
Range: 10
Charge Turns: 6
Aim: 1d100

Photon-Belt Wave Cannon

This wave cannon was developed to fire both precisely and powerfully from great distances. It is equipped with a long-range beam that is completely different in concept from the ordinary Wave Cannon. The furthest distance ever fired was around 380,000 km (about the same distance between the Earth and the Moon). However, firing the cannon at maximum power has been banned due to problems with the cooling system.

FEATURES:
Fixed direction, Bow mounted, Straight line
Instant Damage: 20
Range: 30
Charge Turns: 10
Aim: 1d100


Ships

B-Rv Rebo -Interceptor-

Irresilient aerial Bydo with meager weaponry.

FEATURES:
Health: 5
HARDWARE:
Engine thrust: 1D6
RCS: 8
Fuel: -
EQUIPMENT:
Organic Gun

Bgh-Brd Baldur -Bio Fortress-

Plant-like bio fortress that acts as a habitat for smaller Bydo Lifeforms. Incapable of moving, and rooted deeply into the walls.

FEATURES:
Health: 30
Overwhelming
HARDWARE:
Engine thrust: -
RCS: -
Fuel: -
EQUIPMENT:
Organic Gun
Oculoids x20



Weaponry

Organic Gun

Fires high speed organic needles, Bydo tissues, and globs of potent digestive acids at a target. Has low firepower, but can be used to intercept enemy attacks.

FEATURES:
Omnidirectional
Instant Damage: 3
Range: 10
Reload Turns: 1
Aim: 1d10

Oculoids

Eyeball-shaped explosive Bydo. High destructive power, with slow speed, and homing capabilities. Acts similar to tracer missiles. Will attempt to avoid impact with allied units.

FEATURES:
Health: 3
Omnidirectional
Impact damage: 6
Reload Turns: 2
Aim: -
HARDWARE:
Engine thrust: 1D6
RCS: 1
Fuel: -


Open Space

Has no change to a ship's vector. No air is present, and nothing causes enough friction to slow ships down.


Open Air

Ships vectors will be slowed by 1. Meaning the vector will slowly return to 0 each turn. If the ship does not thrust to keep their speed.


Water

Ships vectors will be slowed by 2. Visibility is reduced.


Micro Meteors

If the magnitude of a ship's vector is over 4 while moving through this terrain, 1 damage will be taken for every tile passed.


Wall

Solid impassable walls of ordinary material, possibly requiring heavy firepower to destroy.


Digestive mist

Digestive juices sprayed from Bydo walls when threatened. Modifies the tile it is placed in with 1 damage to any unit that passes through or remains in it.


Bydo Tissues

Ships vectors will be slowed by 2. Tissue will tear and become open space. May provoke nearby Bydo walls or alert Bydo lifeforms.


Bydo Wall

Solid impassable walls of Bydo flesh and other materials, possibly requiring heavy firepower to destroy. Weapons fire impacting this wall will cause it to spray digestive mist in defense.