Tales from CSCR 2
Posted: Fri May 01, 2009 6:06 am
We are trying to put the finishing touches on the first CSCR 2 release draft. I would love to call it a Release Candidate, but a lot of the text is still too rough for that. But I would like to get these rules out for public consumption within the week, so I have been working to iron out the larger bugs or holdovers as I find them.
In order to aid in that progress, I have started digging through my old campaign diaries looking for sample battles and unit stats that I had documented so that I could refight the battles in the new CSCR. The following is a whimsical overview of one such encounter.
The following encounter comes from my Twilight's Shadow campaign where the Cardassian Union (of STAR TREK fame) was attempting to put down a rebellion in one of its spinward territories.
Before I get into the nitty gritty of the encounter, I would like to preface it by saying that my own experiences as a solo campaigner have a major influence on how I approach VBAM 2E design work, and the CSCR is no exception. In some places I am sure I have added needless complications which will likely not survive the editing and playtesting process, but all in all this new system seems to offer a much more "story driven" experience where you can use the mechanics to piece together a functioning, exciting narrative.
Now that the aside is over, on to the battle!
Picture it: the Soukar System, November 18, 2203; not a single blue haired lady in sight (she was at Shady Pines). The Cardassian Union forces, under the command of Gul Elgan, have moved into the system to reestablish Union authority. The pirate Glincet Jumar is leading a rebellion in this system, and his mercenary fleet is known to be operating in the region.
The Union fleet is comprised of 2 CAs and 2 Gur'net CLs, while Jumar's own fleet contains 1 Dutar CA and 3 Rasilak DDs.
Galor Cruiser
SIZ 3, Defense 7, Anti-Ship 4, Anti-Fighter 4, Command 7, Engine 3
Dutar Cruiser
SIZ 3, Defense 4, Anti-Ship 4, Anti-Fighter 5, Command 5, Engine 3
Gur'net Light Cruiser
SIZ 2, Defense 4, Anti-Ship 4, Anti-Fighter 3, Command 5, Engine 4
Rasilak Destroyer
SIZ 1, Defense 2, Anti-Ship 2, Anti-Fighter 2, Command 3, Engine 3
Campaign Turn 1
On the first turn that the Cardassian Union's forces enter Soukar, Detection Checks made for both fleets suffer Major Failures. The Union had a 44% chance of detecting Jumar, while Jumar had a 60% chance of detecting the Union forces. These are effective values only; the actual values are a bit different and are relative to the degrees of success/failure present in the system. Because neither force detected the other, no Encounters can be generated on this turn.
Detection plays a fairly important role in 2E combat. Fleets with superior Stealth can get the drop on the enemy or ignore them altogether, while Fleets with superior Sensors can prevent this from happening.
Campaign Turn 2
Another month of playing cat and mouse in the Soukar system. Still, neither Fleet can detect the other as they continue to roll Major Failures on their respective Detection Checks.
Campaign Turn 3
Fate changes for both Fleets this turn when they (finally) detect each other's forces! The Detection Check results are Minor Failures, but that is enough to at least let them see each other. These detection results give the Cardassian Union a -1 Surprise modifier and the rebels a +0 Surprise modifier (the better your Detection roll, the greater your potential Surprise modifier).
An Encounter is generated in the Soukar system between these two forces with a total Scenario Intensity of 6. Scenario Intensity is a new variable in VBAM combat, and it is used by all parties in an Encounter to generate scenarios. The amount of Intensity available is based on a combination of diplomatic relations and Detection results.
Because the rebels have the highest Surprise modifier, they start with Combat Initiative. This allows them to make the first Initiative Action, after which play passes to the player with the next-highest Surprise (which would be the Union, in this case).
Glincet Jumar is a wiley bugger, and he knows that in a straight-up fight against Gul Elgan's forces he would surely lose. For this reason, he wants to do everything in his power to keep the Gul from generating a major scenario that would draw all of his forces in. You see, scenarios now come in three different Commitment Levels, Minor, Normal, and Major, and each has its own Command Limit, which is the percentage of forces (by Unit Size, or SIZ) that are to be included in the scenario. However, each scenario type has an asending cost in Scenario Intensity based on its Commitment Level.
For the above reason, Jumar takes an Engage Fleet action to target the Union forces with a Normal Deep Space Scenario. This scenario has a Command Limit of 75%, which means each force will field 75% of its forces. This slightly benefits Jumar, as it will force the Union to omit one of its cruisers. Jumar himself will have to exclude a ship, too, but there is enough difference in capabilities to even things up a bit.
Now we generate the scenario. Based on the scenario Command Limits, the Union is forced to bring in both Galors and a single Gur'net as it is the closest it can get to the Command Limit without going over (their Command Limit is 8; 1 Galor and 2 Gur'nets would have a Task Force Size of 7, while 2 Galor and 1 Gur'net is 8 on the dot). Jumar's Command Limit is 5, which means he can bring in everything but 1 Rasilak.
This leaves each Task Force is fielding a single Squadron and no Strikegroups. Each Task Force rolls on the Readiness Table, adding their Surprise modifier. The Union ends up with a Bad result at -2 Readiness, and Soukarian rebels make a miraculous roll and end up with Superb at +4 Readiness!
The base scenario length of a Normal Deep Space Scenario is 1D6+4 Combat Rounds, which results in 5 Rounds on my particular roll. The length of the scenario can be increased or decreased by Engine Rating, and both sides take advantage of this. The Cardassian Union attempts to shorten the scenario by their maximum of 3 (slowest ship in their Task Force, a Galor has an Engine Rating of 3), while the rebels do the opposite by increasing the length by 3. These modifiers cancel each other out, so the final Scenario Length is 5 Rounds.
The scenario is now all setup, so it is time to resolve it.
The Combat Round starts with the Command Phase, where players issue their orders to be carried out later in the Round. We are currently testing out a new concept called Command Actions that players use to issue orders to Squadrons and Strikegroups. A Task Force Flagship can perform a total number of Command Actions each Round equal to its Command Rating. Command Actions include Attack, Defense, Ramming, and Retreat Actions. The goal here is to make actual dedicated command ships more viable, and also provide a more organic fleet organization than was possible before. It also eliminates the Reinforcements Pool and prevents a player from keeping ships off the board even when they are supposed to be in the scenario.
Anyway, since we only have a Squadron on each side, there are more than enough Command Actions to go around. Each Squadron gives itself an Attack Action (so that it can conduct Weapons Fire) and a Defense Action (giving the Squadron a +1 Formation Level bonus). As the size of a battle increases, a player will have to be much stingier with its Command Actions than this, but luckily that isn't a problem in this particular battle.
Skipping to the Weapons Fire Phase, because the Cardassian Union has a -2 Readiness penalty, the Union has opted to hold its fire until the Short Range Fire Sub-Phase in order to maximize its firepower. The rebels, meanwhile, fire during the Medium Range Fire Sub-Phase (aka, normal weapons fire as we know it from 1E). Weapons fire is resolved simultaneously in each sub-phase, so any damage scored at Medium Range will affect ships firing at Short Range, but not vice versa. Additionally, each Squadron is conducting Dedicated Anti-Ship Fire, as there are no Flights present to shoot at, which gives them a +25% AS bonus.
On Round 1, the rebels will fire first. They have a total of 8 AS, which is increased to 10 by the dedicated mission. We take this AS total and multiply it times 1D6 + READINESS, then divide by 10 and round up. In 2E, the maximum and minimum values on this roll are 1 and 6, respectively, so they can never get better than a 6 or less than a 1; this change, though a bit "gamey", limits the extreme luck from 1E battles that could cause entire fleets to blow up without getting to fire back. That is probably more "realistic", but it was never fun for the players.
Anyway, back to the damage. The rebels ended up with 10 x 6 / 10 = 6 Hits scored against the Union vessels. In 2E, your weapons fire rolls result in Hits instead of pure Damage. The number of Hits it takes to score a point of Damage against a unit is equal to that unit's Formation Level. Our Squadrons in this example are at Formation Level 2, receiving Formation Level 1 from their Engines (total Engine Rating, divide by 10, round up) and a +1 bonus from their Defense Action. Additionally, the Command Unit in each Squadron receives a further +1 bonus, which means that while the general Squadrons are at Formation Level 2, the Command Units (Galor #1 & Dutar) are actually in Formation Level 3. So 6 Hits could score 3 Damage to a ship at Formation Level 2, or 2 Damage to a ship in Formation Level 3. Any leftover Hits must score at least 1 Damage against the opponent. The Union player opts to take 3 Damage to Galor #2.
The Cardassian Union forces then get to fire at Short Range. Firing at Short Range increases their total AS by 50% (Long Range reduces it by 50%], giving them 12 x 1.25 x 1.5 = 22.5 = 23 AS to fire. Of course, with their Readiness penalty, they end up with 23 x 1 / 10 = 3 Hits against the rebel force. The rebel player can either score these hits as 1 Damage to the Dutar (FL 3) or as 2 Damage to Rasilaks (2 Hits = 1 Damage, and remaining Hit has to be scored as 1 Damage somewhere). In this case, the player is actually better off damaging his Flagship.
Play continues from there. The Union shifted to Medium Range fire on the second Combat Round, as the penalty was low enough that I wanted to make sure to get shots in just in case a ship was Crippled at Medium Range and would lose firepower at Short Range. I won't bore you with the details (because it takes awhile to write up and I need to get to bed), but here is the final disposition of the forces at the end of the scenario:
Galor #1: 3 Damage
Galor #2: 3 Damage
Gur'net: 3 Damage
Dutar: 3 Damage
Rasilak #1: 3 Damage (Crippled + 1)
Rasilak #2: 4 Damage (Destroyed!)
There is still 3 Scenario Intensity left in this Encounter, and the Union player now has Initiative. He can decide what Initiative Action to take, which will likely be to engage the rebels in another scenario. However, a Major Deep Space Scenario (Command Limit 100%) has an Intensity Cost of 4, so it is off the table for this Campaign Turn. Another Normal Deep Space Scenario is the most likely chose for Gul Elgan to make -- though he could also elect to burn most of the remaining Intensity on a Major Interception Scenario. That scenario has a Cost of 2 and Command Limit of 30%. That would set the Union's Task Force Size to 4, while the rebels (which only have 5 SIZ of Starships remaining) could only field a SIZ 2 Task Force. The only way for Jumar's Fleet to meet this criteria would be to deploy its two remaining Rasilak destroyers. The Union itself, however, would have to commit both of its Gur'net CLs, one of which is very nearly Crippled. It is a tough decision.
Of course, the Union player could just as easily choose to Pass Initiative, and throw the ball back in his opponent's court to see what he wants to do. If both players Pass Initiative consecutively, then the Encounter is over for the turn.
I hope any of this makes sense, or is somewhat appealing. It is likely to drive some of you completely mad, but we are in need of feedback at this point, so any surface responses you might have will ultimately be beneficial to us.
My dog is whining at me to go to bed, so I had better oblige her.
-Tyrel
In order to aid in that progress, I have started digging through my old campaign diaries looking for sample battles and unit stats that I had documented so that I could refight the battles in the new CSCR. The following is a whimsical overview of one such encounter.
The following encounter comes from my Twilight's Shadow campaign where the Cardassian Union (of STAR TREK fame) was attempting to put down a rebellion in one of its spinward territories.
Before I get into the nitty gritty of the encounter, I would like to preface it by saying that my own experiences as a solo campaigner have a major influence on how I approach VBAM 2E design work, and the CSCR is no exception. In some places I am sure I have added needless complications which will likely not survive the editing and playtesting process, but all in all this new system seems to offer a much more "story driven" experience where you can use the mechanics to piece together a functioning, exciting narrative.
Now that the aside is over, on to the battle!
Picture it: the Soukar System, November 18, 2203; not a single blue haired lady in sight (she was at Shady Pines). The Cardassian Union forces, under the command of Gul Elgan, have moved into the system to reestablish Union authority. The pirate Glincet Jumar is leading a rebellion in this system, and his mercenary fleet is known to be operating in the region.
The Union fleet is comprised of 2 CAs and 2 Gur'net CLs, while Jumar's own fleet contains 1 Dutar CA and 3 Rasilak DDs.
Galor Cruiser
SIZ 3, Defense 7, Anti-Ship 4, Anti-Fighter 4, Command 7, Engine 3
Dutar Cruiser
SIZ 3, Defense 4, Anti-Ship 4, Anti-Fighter 5, Command 5, Engine 3
Gur'net Light Cruiser
SIZ 2, Defense 4, Anti-Ship 4, Anti-Fighter 3, Command 5, Engine 4
Rasilak Destroyer
SIZ 1, Defense 2, Anti-Ship 2, Anti-Fighter 2, Command 3, Engine 3
Campaign Turn 1
On the first turn that the Cardassian Union's forces enter Soukar, Detection Checks made for both fleets suffer Major Failures. The Union had a 44% chance of detecting Jumar, while Jumar had a 60% chance of detecting the Union forces. These are effective values only; the actual values are a bit different and are relative to the degrees of success/failure present in the system. Because neither force detected the other, no Encounters can be generated on this turn.
Detection plays a fairly important role in 2E combat. Fleets with superior Stealth can get the drop on the enemy or ignore them altogether, while Fleets with superior Sensors can prevent this from happening.
Campaign Turn 2
Another month of playing cat and mouse in the Soukar system. Still, neither Fleet can detect the other as they continue to roll Major Failures on their respective Detection Checks.
Campaign Turn 3
Fate changes for both Fleets this turn when they (finally) detect each other's forces! The Detection Check results are Minor Failures, but that is enough to at least let them see each other. These detection results give the Cardassian Union a -1 Surprise modifier and the rebels a +0 Surprise modifier (the better your Detection roll, the greater your potential Surprise modifier).
An Encounter is generated in the Soukar system between these two forces with a total Scenario Intensity of 6. Scenario Intensity is a new variable in VBAM combat, and it is used by all parties in an Encounter to generate scenarios. The amount of Intensity available is based on a combination of diplomatic relations and Detection results.
Because the rebels have the highest Surprise modifier, they start with Combat Initiative. This allows them to make the first Initiative Action, after which play passes to the player with the next-highest Surprise (which would be the Union, in this case).
Glincet Jumar is a wiley bugger, and he knows that in a straight-up fight against Gul Elgan's forces he would surely lose. For this reason, he wants to do everything in his power to keep the Gul from generating a major scenario that would draw all of his forces in. You see, scenarios now come in three different Commitment Levels, Minor, Normal, and Major, and each has its own Command Limit, which is the percentage of forces (by Unit Size, or SIZ) that are to be included in the scenario. However, each scenario type has an asending cost in Scenario Intensity based on its Commitment Level.
For the above reason, Jumar takes an Engage Fleet action to target the Union forces with a Normal Deep Space Scenario. This scenario has a Command Limit of 75%, which means each force will field 75% of its forces. This slightly benefits Jumar, as it will force the Union to omit one of its cruisers. Jumar himself will have to exclude a ship, too, but there is enough difference in capabilities to even things up a bit.
Now we generate the scenario. Based on the scenario Command Limits, the Union is forced to bring in both Galors and a single Gur'net as it is the closest it can get to the Command Limit without going over (their Command Limit is 8; 1 Galor and 2 Gur'nets would have a Task Force Size of 7, while 2 Galor and 1 Gur'net is 8 on the dot). Jumar's Command Limit is 5, which means he can bring in everything but 1 Rasilak.
This leaves each Task Force is fielding a single Squadron and no Strikegroups. Each Task Force rolls on the Readiness Table, adding their Surprise modifier. The Union ends up with a Bad result at -2 Readiness, and Soukarian rebels make a miraculous roll and end up with Superb at +4 Readiness!
The base scenario length of a Normal Deep Space Scenario is 1D6+4 Combat Rounds, which results in 5 Rounds on my particular roll. The length of the scenario can be increased or decreased by Engine Rating, and both sides take advantage of this. The Cardassian Union attempts to shorten the scenario by their maximum of 3 (slowest ship in their Task Force, a Galor has an Engine Rating of 3), while the rebels do the opposite by increasing the length by 3. These modifiers cancel each other out, so the final Scenario Length is 5 Rounds.
The scenario is now all setup, so it is time to resolve it.
The Combat Round starts with the Command Phase, where players issue their orders to be carried out later in the Round. We are currently testing out a new concept called Command Actions that players use to issue orders to Squadrons and Strikegroups. A Task Force Flagship can perform a total number of Command Actions each Round equal to its Command Rating. Command Actions include Attack, Defense, Ramming, and Retreat Actions. The goal here is to make actual dedicated command ships more viable, and also provide a more organic fleet organization than was possible before. It also eliminates the Reinforcements Pool and prevents a player from keeping ships off the board even when they are supposed to be in the scenario.
Anyway, since we only have a Squadron on each side, there are more than enough Command Actions to go around. Each Squadron gives itself an Attack Action (so that it can conduct Weapons Fire) and a Defense Action (giving the Squadron a +1 Formation Level bonus). As the size of a battle increases, a player will have to be much stingier with its Command Actions than this, but luckily that isn't a problem in this particular battle.
Skipping to the Weapons Fire Phase, because the Cardassian Union has a -2 Readiness penalty, the Union has opted to hold its fire until the Short Range Fire Sub-Phase in order to maximize its firepower. The rebels, meanwhile, fire during the Medium Range Fire Sub-Phase (aka, normal weapons fire as we know it from 1E). Weapons fire is resolved simultaneously in each sub-phase, so any damage scored at Medium Range will affect ships firing at Short Range, but not vice versa. Additionally, each Squadron is conducting Dedicated Anti-Ship Fire, as there are no Flights present to shoot at, which gives them a +25% AS bonus.
On Round 1, the rebels will fire first. They have a total of 8 AS, which is increased to 10 by the dedicated mission. We take this AS total and multiply it times 1D6 + READINESS, then divide by 10 and round up. In 2E, the maximum and minimum values on this roll are 1 and 6, respectively, so they can never get better than a 6 or less than a 1; this change, though a bit "gamey", limits the extreme luck from 1E battles that could cause entire fleets to blow up without getting to fire back. That is probably more "realistic", but it was never fun for the players.
Anyway, back to the damage. The rebels ended up with 10 x 6 / 10 = 6 Hits scored against the Union vessels. In 2E, your weapons fire rolls result in Hits instead of pure Damage. The number of Hits it takes to score a point of Damage against a unit is equal to that unit's Formation Level. Our Squadrons in this example are at Formation Level 2, receiving Formation Level 1 from their Engines (total Engine Rating, divide by 10, round up) and a +1 bonus from their Defense Action. Additionally, the Command Unit in each Squadron receives a further +1 bonus, which means that while the general Squadrons are at Formation Level 2, the Command Units (Galor #1 & Dutar) are actually in Formation Level 3. So 6 Hits could score 3 Damage to a ship at Formation Level 2, or 2 Damage to a ship in Formation Level 3. Any leftover Hits must score at least 1 Damage against the opponent. The Union player opts to take 3 Damage to Galor #2.
The Cardassian Union forces then get to fire at Short Range. Firing at Short Range increases their total AS by 50% (Long Range reduces it by 50%], giving them 12 x 1.25 x 1.5 = 22.5 = 23 AS to fire. Of course, with their Readiness penalty, they end up with 23 x 1 / 10 = 3 Hits against the rebel force. The rebel player can either score these hits as 1 Damage to the Dutar (FL 3) or as 2 Damage to Rasilaks (2 Hits = 1 Damage, and remaining Hit has to be scored as 1 Damage somewhere). In this case, the player is actually better off damaging his Flagship.
Play continues from there. The Union shifted to Medium Range fire on the second Combat Round, as the penalty was low enough that I wanted to make sure to get shots in just in case a ship was Crippled at Medium Range and would lose firepower at Short Range. I won't bore you with the details (because it takes awhile to write up and I need to get to bed), but here is the final disposition of the forces at the end of the scenario:
Galor #1: 3 Damage
Galor #2: 3 Damage
Gur'net: 3 Damage
Dutar: 3 Damage
Rasilak #1: 3 Damage (Crippled + 1)
Rasilak #2: 4 Damage (Destroyed!)
There is still 3 Scenario Intensity left in this Encounter, and the Union player now has Initiative. He can decide what Initiative Action to take, which will likely be to engage the rebels in another scenario. However, a Major Deep Space Scenario (Command Limit 100%) has an Intensity Cost of 4, so it is off the table for this Campaign Turn. Another Normal Deep Space Scenario is the most likely chose for Gul Elgan to make -- though he could also elect to burn most of the remaining Intensity on a Major Interception Scenario. That scenario has a Cost of 2 and Command Limit of 30%. That would set the Union's Task Force Size to 4, while the rebels (which only have 5 SIZ of Starships remaining) could only field a SIZ 2 Task Force. The only way for Jumar's Fleet to meet this criteria would be to deploy its two remaining Rasilak destroyers. The Union itself, however, would have to commit both of its Gur'net CLs, one of which is very nearly Crippled. It is a tough decision.
Of course, the Union player could just as easily choose to Pass Initiative, and throw the ball back in his opponent's court to see what he wants to do. If both players Pass Initiative consecutively, then the Encounter is over for the turn.
I hope any of this makes sense, or is somewhat appealing. It is likely to drive some of you completely mad, but we are in need of feedback at this point, so any surface responses you might have will ultimately be beneficial to us.
My dog is whining at me to go to bed, so I had better oblige her.
-Tyrel