Modified SFB Rules

by ESD Game Company (Phil Hatfield and Jim Miller) <Grimace997@aol.com>

The following rules will briefly describe changes made to the 32-impulse game system in Star Fleet Battles. After making note of the changes to the game, an example of play will be given in order to more clearly understand how the system works. In all, it is much faster and relatively more simple.

Movement and Impulses
Electronic Warfare
Move Costs and Turn Modes
Seeking Weapons
Impulse Delays and the ``Waterfall Effect''
Semi-Ambiguous Situations
Sequence of Play
Other Notes
Damage Allocation
Brief Replay

MOVEMENT AND IMPULSES

Movement for each ship or item is broken up into 2 segments, or ``Phases.'' They are called First Phase and Second Phase. It is during these two phases that most everything moves. In this system, the maximum speed allowed for ships is 15 spaces in 1 turn, and for plasma torpedoes or fast drones, it is 16 spaces in 1 turn. To calculate speed for ships and weapons, simply divide their speed in the normal game by 2. Therefore a speed 32 drone moves only 16, and a ship that would normally move 20 spaces, only moves 10 spaces. Fighters have a set speed, the usual being 15 spaces without Warp Booster Packs. In this system, a fighter moves 7 if it could normally move 15, and can only achieve speed 15 by using Warp Booster Packs.

After determining the speed that an item or ship will move in a turn, begin First Phase by moving a number of spaces equal to half of the total speed for the turn. Move that full movement, one space at a time, until you have completed one half of the entire movement. An example would be a ship that has a maximum speed of 15, moving on the First Phase, would move either 7 or 8 spaces. On the Second Phase of the turn, all remaining movement points are used. Therefore, the ship that moves a total of 15 in a turn, and moved 7 in the First Phase, would move the remaining 8 in the Second Phase.

Movement during the turn is done in order of the fastest to the slowest. This gives the initiative to the fastest player and allows him the opportunity to fire first. In the case where two or more ships are moving at the same speed, a die roll is made to determine initiative. The highest gets to choose whether to move first or last in the initiative segment for that speed. An example of this would be two ships both moving at speed 12. The two players roll 1D6 each for initiative. Player 1 rolls a 5, while Player 2 rolls a 1. Player 1 decides that he will move first, and proceeds to move 6 spaces during First Phase. After Player 1 moves his 6 spaces, then Player 2 has the opportunity to move his ship the 6 spaces that he may move in the First Phase. When Second Phase comes around no initiative roll is needed, as Player 1 already has initiative for this turn, and would now move the remaining 6 spaces of movement, followed by Player 2.

During the course of moving a ship, each space moved is called an ``impulse.'' There is not a definite amount of impulses in each turn, as it varies depending on the speeds of the ships in the battle. If the fastest ship moves 2 in the turn, and the opponent does not move, then there will be a total of 2 impulses per phase, or 4 impulses in the turn. First Phase would have an impulse for the movement of the Speed 2 ship, and an impulse at Speed 0. Second Phase would have the same thing. Therefore, impulse delays for ships is resolved based on the number of spaces moved by ships during each phase or turn. All impulse delays are also divided in half, as the speed of ships is divided. An 8 impulse delay only lasts 4 impulses, and a 5 impulse delay lasts 3 impulses.This subject will be addressed later on.

As each ship moves, the moving player has the opportunity to announce firing at any target of his choosing. If the moving player gives up the opportunity to fire, during each space of movement, anyone has the opportunity to fire at the moving player ``in response to his movement.'' Any player who is not the ``moving player'' may only fire at the ship that is moving. The moving player may fire at any ship. Any vessel that did not move the entire turn may only fire at moving targets until the last impulse of each phase, or ``impulse zero.'' At that point, any ship that did not move during the turn, may fire at any ship of his choice. After ships that did not move have had the opportunity to fire at anyone on impulse zero, then any other ship that moved during the turn or phase, may fire on any target of their choice. Fire is resolved from highest initiative to lowest, based on the speed of their ship during the turn.

Seeking weapons launched during the turn are handled in a Drone and Plasma Movement, that takes place at the very end of each phase. So if, during the course of moving a ship, drones or plasmas are launched, they remain in their spot until after impulse zero of each phase. Then, during the Drone and Plasma Movement, they are moved one half of their total movement. Therefore, a plasma launched by a ship moving 8 during First Phase, would wait in it's spot of launching until all other ships had moved in First Phase. After all resolution of fire on impulse zero, the plasma would then moved half of its total distance during the Drone and Plasma Movement of First Phase, which would be 8 spaces. Then Second Phase would occur, and the plasma would hold in its new location until the end of Second Phase, where it would move it's remaining 8 spaces towards its target. The reasoning behind the movement of drones and plasmas after all other ships was to speed up the time taken to move ships, yet still allow seeking weapons to be used in massed quantities. An effort was made to put this segment at the beginning of each phase, however this proved to be inadequate as drones launched at ships during the turn lost the initiative to ships, and were easily outrun. They were never placed directly into the main movement of each phase, as it created confusion as to which units had initiative as more seeking weapons were launched. More rules on seeking weapons will be given later on.

After the movement of ships, and then Drones and Plasmas, in First Phase and Second Phase, the turn is ended and normal end of turn material is handled. This includes mutiny rolls, docking, and various other functions. This information is listed in the Sequence of Play. After that, the turn is over, and new Energy Allocation is filled out.

ELECTRONIC WARFARE

A new and simpler system was devised for EW. Using the basic EW table, we cut down the factors so that only 2 points of energy were necessary to create 1 point of ECM or ECCM. The maximum that a ship could generate on its own was 2 ECM or ECCM, for a total of 4 points of energy. This holds relatively true to the aspect that ships could only generate a maximum +2 shift on their own. The reasoning behind picking 2 rather than 3 is that the breakdown of additional ECM or ECCM provided by other sources was more easily divided by 2. Therefore, any item that generates 1 or 2 ECM/ECCM now generates 1 point, and items that generate 3 or 4 ECM/ECCM generate 2 points, and so on. This allows ships to use EW with fairly simplistic math, and keeps the ships at "realistic" power expenditure and EW levels. Some of the following examples are the levels of EW generated by items, and the expenditure in energy necessary to attain those levels:

    X-ships       1 ECCM
    Fighters      1 ECCM
    PFs              1 ECCM  1 Swing point
    Ships            2 ECCM or 2 ECM  (cost 4 energy points)
    Special Sensors  3 ECCM (lending to others)  (cost 6 energy points)
    Special Sensors  3 ECM (others)  (cost 6 energy points)
                     2 ECM (self protection)  (cost 4 energy points)
    Wild Weasel      3 ECM
    MRS              1 ECM    1 Swing point
    Nebula           4 ECM
    Carriers         2 ECM (lending to fighter squadron)  (cost 4 energy points)

The maximum amount of EW that any ship may receive from external sources is 6 points. The maximum that a fighter may receive from external sources is 3 points. Any EW generated by unlisted items is figured at half of the listed number.

MOVEMENT COSTS AND TURN MODES

In order to keep the power expenditure of the ships accurate to the original, we kept the same cost of movement, we just cut the spaces moved in half. This means, in order for a ship to move its maximum speed, it must use the same amount of energy that it would take to move in the full 32 impulse game. If you are unable to copy the following charts, the best way to figure this out is decide on your speed in this game, double it, and reference the cost of energy that the desired speed would require. An example of this would be, if a ship with 1/2 movement cost decided to go 8 spaces, he would double that number to 16, and then figure out that it would require 8 energy to move. Remember that even though you have doubled the speed for this equation, you still only move only 8 spaces in this version of the game. Below is a list of the movement costs for ships using this system:

Speed 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

1/6 Move Cost: HET Cost=1 , EM Cost=1 , Nimble EM Cost=1

Energy 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 5

1/5 Move Cost: HET Cost=1 , EM Cost=2 , Nimble EM Cost=1

Energy 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 6 6 6

1/3 Move Cost: HET Cost=2 , EM Cost=2 , Nimble EM Cost=1

Energy 1 2 2 3 4 4 5 6 6 7 8 8 9 10 10

1/2 Move Cost: HET Cost=3 , EM Cost=3 , Nimble EM Cost=2

Energy 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

2/3 Move Cost: HET Cost=4 , EM Cost=4 , Nimble EM Cost=2

Energy 2 3 4 6 7 8 10 11 12 14 15 16 18 19 20

3/4 Move Cost: HET Cost=4 , EM Cost=5 , Nimble EM Cost=3

Energy 2 3 5 6 8 9 11 12 14 15 17 18 20 21 23

1 Move Cost: HET Cost=5 , EM Cost=6 , Nimble EM Cost=3

Energy 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30

1+1/3 Move Cost: HET Cost=7 , EM Cost=8

Energy 3 6 8 11 14 16 19 22 24 27 30 32 35 38 40

1+1/2 Move Cost: HET Cost=8 , EM Cost=9

Energy 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 27 30 33 36 39 42 45

2 Move Cost: HET Cost=10 , EM Cost=12

Energy 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 44 48 52 56 60

In order to convert Turn Modes, you simply need to cut the speeds that are listed in half, but keep the number of spaces required to turn the same. An example is Turn Mode A, which normally allows a ship moving at speed 10 to turn after moving 2 spaces. In this version, you simply cut the speed (10) in half, to equal 5. That means that a ship travelling at speed 5 requires 2 spaces of movement before it can turn. Once again, charts are given with the appropriate modifications:

Speed	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
1/6 Move Cost: HET Cost=1 , EM Cost=1 , Nimble EM Cost=1
Energy	1	1	1	2	2	2	3	3	3	4	4	4	5	5	5
1/5 Move Cost: HET Cost=1 , EM Cost=2 , Nimble EM Cost=1
Energy	1	1	2	2	2	3	3	4	4	4	5	5	6	6	6
1/3 Move Cost: HET Cost=2 , EM Cost=2 , Nimble EM Cost=1
Energy	1	2	2	3	4	4	5	6	6	7	8	8	9	10	10
1/2 Move Cost: HET Cost=3 , EM Cost=3 , Nimble EM Cost=2
Energy	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
2/3 Move Cost: HET Cost=4 , EM Cost=4 , Nimble EM Cost=2
Energy	2	3	4	6	7	8	10	11	12	14	15	16	18	19	20
3/4 Move Cost: HET Cost=4 , EM Cost=5 , Nimble EM Cost=3
Energy	2	3	5	6	8	9	11	12	14	15	17	18	20	21	23
1 Move Cost: HET Cost=5 , EM Cost=6 , Nimble EM Cost=3
Energy	2	4	6	8	10	12	14	16	18	20	22	24	26	28	30
1+1/3 Move Cost: HET Cost=7 , EM Cost=8
Energy	3	6	8	11	14	16	19	22	24	27	30	32	35	38	40
1+1/2 Move Cost: HET Cost=8 , EM Cost=9
Energy	3	6	9	12	15	18	21	24	27	30	33	36	39	42	45
2 Move Cost: HET Cost=10 , EM Cost=12
Energy	4	8	12	16	20	24	28	32	36	40	44	48	52	56	60

Turn Mode AA Turn Mode A

1 1-4 1 1-3

2 5-8 2 4-6

3 9-12 3 7-9

4 13+ 4 10-13

5 14+

Turn Mode B Turn Mode C

1 1-2 1 1-2

2 3-5 2 3-4

3 6-7 3 5-7

4 8-10 4 8-10

5 11-14 5 11-13

6 15 6 14+

Turn Mode E Turn Mode E

1 1-2 1 1

2 3-4 2 2-3

3 5-6 3 4-5

4 7-8 4 6-7

5 9-12 5 8-10

6 13+ 6 11-14

7 15

Turn Mode F Fighters/Shuttles

1 1 1 1-5

2 2 2 6-11

3 3-4 3 12+

4 5-6

5 7-8

6 9-11

7 12-14

8 15+

Turn Mode AA	Turn Mode A
1	1-4	1	1-3
2	5-8	2	4-6
3	9-12	3	7-9
4	13+	4	10-13
		5	14+

Turn Mode B	Turn Mode C
1	1-2	1	1-2
2	3-5	2	3-4
3	6-7	3	5-7
4	8-10	4	8-10
5	11-14	5	11-13
6	15	6	14+

Turn Mode E	Turn Mode E
1	1-2	1	1
2	3-4	2	2-3
3	5-6	3	4-5
4	7-8	4	6-7
5	9-12	5	8-10
6	13+	6	11-14
7	15

Turn Mode F	Fighters/Shuttles
1	1	1	1-5
2	2	2	6-11
3	3-4	3	12+
4	5-6
5	7-8
6	9-11
7	12-14
8	15+

SEEKING WEAPONS

There are a number of different seeking weapons in the game, and they are handled in different ways depending upon what they are. There are drones, plasmas, suicide shuttles, scatter packs, deathrider PFs, and others. As was mentioned in the Movement section of these rules, Drones and Plasmas have their own movement section during each phase. This was put in so that large quantities of drones could still be handled and would not slow the game down by moving during the rest of the ships' movement. A couple of clarifications must be made on the launching of drones and plasmas in this version of the game. Drones and Plasmas may be fired only on two occasions in the course of a turn. They may either be fired when the ship that they are launched from is ``moving,'' or in response to someone else's movement or attack. They may not be fired at any other time. In addition to this, there are movement restrictions on drones or plasmas that are launched at particular times. During the course of a ship's movement, they may fire drones or plasmas at other ships. These weapons will remain in the spot that they were launched until the Drone and Plasma movement, and then they will move half of their total speed for the turn. However, if a ship waits to fire drones or plasmas until the last space that the ship is located in for the phase, then the drones will move ONE HALF of their normal movement for that phase. And example is a plasma that was launched during movement, but not a the last space the ship is in, would move 8 spaces during the Drone and Plasma movement. If that same plasma was launched, during the moving ship's option to fire, in the same space the ship is currently in, then it would only move 4 spaces in the Drone and Plasma movement. This rule is an extrapolation of the slower movement that affects drones launched at the last few impulses in the normal 32 impulse game. After the first phase of the drones or plasmas movement at the reduced speed, all other phases of movement are handled normally, where half of the total movement is moved during each phase.

When drones or plasmas are launched in response to someone else's movement or fire, then it does not matter where the drone was launched (ie. in the same space as the ship is currently in) as it will travel the nomal movement that it is supposed to. This should be kept in mind for ships that are travelling at a slow speed and have a large amount of drones (ie. Kzinti) on their ships. Simply launching them at the enemy during the enemy's movement enables the weapons to travel at their normal speed rather than at the reduced rate.

Drones or plasmas that are fired at a target that is in the same space as the firing ship are resolved immediately after the enemy has an opportunity to fire direct fire weapons at the drones or plasmas. In this circumstance, you do not wait until the Drone and Plasma movement to resolve the impact, and you also do not have to worry about the weapons moving at the reduced rate. Take note that according to the sequence of play, the ship that has the initiative,that fires drones at an enemy, cannot have drones fired at his drones as long as the firing ship and the target ship are in the same space.

Other seeking weapons, such as shuttles armed as seeking weapons, or Deathrider PFs are NOT moved during the Drone and Plasma movement. This is done to help mask the fact that the shuttles or PFs are, in fact, seeking weapons. Simply move any vessels that are seeking weapons during their normal Speed # just as you would if they were normal shuttles or PFs. Also, in the case of shuttles or PFs acting as seeking weapons, they do not suffer from the reduced movement for being launched in the same space as the ship is currently in. A ship that launches a suicide shuttle will still watch the shuttle move 3 spaces per phase, even though the shuttle might have been launched in the same space that the ship was in. However, normal restrictions apply to shuttles and PFs when they are launched whether they are seeking weapons or not. If the launching ship is moving slower than the speed of the shuttle being launched, for example, the shuttle may not move during the phase that it was launched, as it's movement speed has already passed. The shuttle would not be able to move until the next phase. The same applies to PFs. If the launching ship is travelling faster than the shuttle, the shuttle would move normally when it's Speed # came up.

An example of play will come after the rules, showing how all of this is handled in case there is a question.

IMPULSE DELAYS AND `WATERFALL EFFECT'

Throughout the game, there are various weapons and actions that require a delay of impulses before they happen. Some examples of this are: time taken from announcement and activation of cloaking before the ship is fully cloaked, time taken from announcement and activation before an ESG is raised, length of time that a free standing web from a web caster will last, delay between launching and when a fighter may fire seeking or direct fire weapons, etc. All of these delays are cut in half in this system. This is relevant to the speed that the game progresses at. Therefore, an 8 impulse delay is cut down to a 4 impulse delay. Remember that each space moved by a ship is classified as an impulse. If you have one ship moving at speed 8 and another moving at speed 6, then you will have a total of 8 impulses in the First Phase, (4 from the first ship, 3 from the second ship, and impulse zero) and 8 impulses in the Second Phase. Since the amount of impulses is directly related to the speed of the ships, we have also come up with a method known as the "Waterfall Effect" to facilitate the excess impulses that may have been lost in each phase.

The "Waterfall Effect" is simply the automatic and complete expenditure of all remaining impulses needed to activate or effect an item. Therefore, if a ship must wait 4 impulses, but is only moving a total of 2 spaces (or 1 space per phase), after the first impulse of movement and impulse zero of the First Phase, the waterfall takes effect and the remaining time needed (2 impulses) for the delay is used up. At the beginning of Second Phase, whatever it was that required the delay is now able to operate. This "Waterfall Effect" speeds up the bookkeeping process for keeping track of delays, as at the end of each phase, all delay requirements are fulfilled. This same effect, however, also works on things that only last for a certain time. An ESG that is brought up during Second Phase will only last until the very end of Second Phase (after Drone and Plasma movement). The only exception to this rule is the time of effect for a free standing web cast from a Web Caster. As the web requires a delay to activate, and only lasts for a limited time, this web may carry over from one turn to the next, in order to be on the map for 2 phases. Also note that the impulse delay between firing phasers from one turn to the next is affected by the "Waterfall Effect" so that ships may fire phasers on impulse zero of the Second Phase, and then fire them again after energy allocation on the First Phase of the next turn. Remember, however, that all fire is resolved based on initiative, which is based on speed. Therefore the ship that moves the fastest may choose to fire first, and inflict damage upon the enemy, before the enemy has a chance to return fire.

If, during the course of your conversions, you find a delay that last for 16 impulses (half a turn), then simply convert this to read that the delay lasts for 1 phase. This delay is similar to the delay that fighters have after being launched before they may fire seeking weapons. This simply means that they must wait until the next phase before they may fire seeking weapons. Another delay amount that you must watch for is one dealing with an odd number of impulses. Cloaking is an example of this. Under the 32 impulse system, a ship entering cloak requires a 5 impulse fade-in/out period, and on the sixth impulse, they are fully in or out of cloak. In this system, there is a 3 impulse fade-in/out period, and on the fourth impulse, they are fully in or out of cloak. The first impulse the range is modified by 1, on the second impulse it is modified by 2 more (totalling 3), and on the third impulse, it is modified by 2 more (totalling 5). Finally, on the fourth impulse, the ship is fully in cloak.

SEMI-AMBIGUOUS SITUATIONS

During the course of play, there are a couple of situations that will arise that require specific rules in order to utilize the items correctly. As a ship is moving, and it decides to launch shuttles or fighters, it may do so under the correct sequence of play. However, if a ship is moving SLOWER than the speed of the shuttle or fighter being launched, then the launched vessel may not move during that phase. An example of this is a carrier moving at speed 3, launching 2 fighters (speed 7) after moving 1 of 2 spaces in the First Phase. Since the carrier is moving slower than the fighters speed, the fighters may not move during First Phase. The player launching the fighters may elect to put the speed of the fighters at 3 or less in order to move them during the First Phase, however the fighters would be stuck at that speed for the entire turn. In this example, the player opts to keep the fightes speed at 7, so they do not move First Phase. During Second Phase, when Speed 7 comes around, the fighters may move half of their speed (either 3 or 4). The fighter's movement will occur before the carrier's movement, as the carrier moves during Speed 3.

At times, there will be a situation where someone will be moving at the same speed as another person (or ship) and the actions of the first person may cause something to affect others. A perfect example of this is two stacks of drones moving in on a ship. Assuming the drones all are moving at the same speed, if one stack causes the trigger of a mine or T-bomb, and the second stack would have been in the blast zone if it had been moving simultaneously, then both stacks are affected by the explosion. This also applies to drones setting off a mine, as a stack moving the same speed as the first stack, is leaving the explosion zone of the mine. The second stack would be unaffected, and the first stack would take the damage. Fighters all moving at the same speed are also under the same restriction, so that a person does not move a single fighter forward as a "minesweeper" and then move all the other fighters through (even though they were all travelling the same speed and may have been in the blast zone). In situations like these, where there are a lot of drones or fighters all moving the same speed, make a point to move all the pieces with the same speed before moving any others.

Ships, on the other hand, do not suffer from this same effect, as two opposing ships may have the same speed but have different initiatives. The highest would take all of his actions for the phase first, then the second player would take all of his actions. If both ships were facing the same direction, but Player A had the initiative and moved first, only to hit a mine, Player B would not have to hit the mine when it was his turn to move. That is the advantages and disadvantages of having initiative.

Targets of weapons fire are restricted depending on whether you are the moving player or the non-moving player at the time. As stated in the movement section, only the ship that is moving may fire at any target of it's choice. All non-moving ships may only fire at the moving ship, until it is their turn to move. This trims down the extra firing during the moving player's turn, and gives a bigger advantage to the ship with the initiative. This same restriction is placed on other actions as well. Transporters cannot be used against anyone but the moving person if they are originating from a currently non-moving ship. In simple terms, this means that a person cannot lay T-bombs in someone else's way while yet a different person is moving. If the situation arises that the T-bomb might affect both the moving and (conveniently) a non-moving ship, then that is allowable. This should be carefully judged, however, to make sure a person doesn't use the old "I thought he was going to go there" excuse. Normally, this situation will only arise when more than one ship is very close to the ship operating the transporters. In the Sequence of Play, it will give better detail on what actions can be done at any time and what actions can only be done when you are the moving player.

In the normal rules, no HETs or Impulse TACscan be made during the first impulse of the turn. This has carried over into these rules to be that no HETs or Impulse TACs can occur during the first space of movement during the First Phase. It does not matter what speed any ship is going, no HETs or Impulse TACs can be made in the first "impulse". As an example, even though the fastest ship is only moving 5 spaces in the entire turn, that ship, nor any others, may make an HET or Impulse TAC until that ship has moved at least one spot. After that time, HETs and Impulse TACs can take place anytime during ship movement. HETs and Impulse TACs may also not be done at any time during Drone and Plasma movement. Keep in mind that the drones and plasmas are really moving "during the turn" so the only thing that may be done during Drone and Plasma movement is firing weapons at the drones or plasmas.

In the Drone and Plasma movement section of each phase, ships may only fire weapons in response to the drones or plasmas. No ship may move via normal means, nor may they drop shields and utilize transporters during this time. Ships may activate tractor beams during this time to grab drones that they do not, or cannot, shoot. An exception to this rule is the Andromedans, who may utilize transporters to lay PA mines in the path of plasmas. This was done to facilitate the rule that PA mines go inert almost immediately after being deployed. No other ships may do this.

Ships may only fire weapons at the drones or plasmas, not at other ships during the Drone and Plasma movement. Normal firing at ships is handled during ship movement. Only one "weapon" may be used on a ship during the Drone and Plasma movement. This weapon is the Displacement Device. It may be used, by a ship, on itself in an attempt to get out of the situation that it is in. Failure at self-displacement means that the ship remains in it's original spot and suffers from Disrupted Fire Control.

SEQUENCE OF PLAY

Roll for activation of ships
Roll for computer failure
Roll for Ion storms
Pinwheels formed/dissolved
Allocate energy
Allocate repair points
Ships drop warp engine/ PFs drop warp packs
Plot self destruction
Orions announce if they are doubling engines
Announce if shields are unpowered
Announce speeds
Announce self destructions
Announce intent to dock
Announce intent to seperate sections of ship
Resolve self destruction
Attempt to reacquire lock-on to cloaked ships
Release Death Riders to self guidance
Tractor rotation
Assign boarding parties as guards
Transfer shuttles to balcony and vice versa
Computer controlled ships now do all of the above steps

Each "Impulse" or space of movement

    Ships moved by black holes or nebulas
    Gravity waves advance and damage is applied immediately
    Fastest speed moves 1 space of 1/2 total movement for the turn
    Resolve damage from ESGs
    Resolve damage from asteroids
    Resolve damage from collisions with planets
    Resolve damage from mines
    Resolve damage from exploding units
    Resolve breakdowns
    Announce emergency deceleration		(anyone)
    Announce start/stop of erractic maneuvers	(anyone)
    Turn fire control on or off			(anyone)
    Activate/deactivate cloaking device		(anyone)
    Roll for lock on against cloaked ships	(anyone)
    Detect individual mines			(moving player)
    Reinforce web				(anyone)
    Lay web					(moving player)
    Operate tractor beam			(moving player or in response)
    Utilize lab				(moving player or in response)
    Drop EW pods from fighters		(moving player)
    Launch plasma torpedos			(moving player or in response)
    Launch drones				(moving player or in response)
    Launch probes				(moving player or in response)
    Drop chaff				(anyone)
    Activate/deactivate ESG			(anyone)
    Roll for shock
    Roll for mutiny
    Raise/lower shields			(anyone)
    Operate transporters			(moving player or in response)
    Resolve Hit and Run raids
    Reactive guard assignments
    Crew and cargo transfers
    Fighters may drop booster packs		(moving player)
    Land shuttles on ship			(moving player)
    Launch shuttles				(moving player)
    Recover satellite ships by transporter	(moving player)
    Launch satellite ships by transporter	(moving player)
    Transfer energy to E-module		(anyone)
    Drop pods from tugs			(anyone)
    Lay mines				(moving player)
    Roll for new facing of tumbling ships
    Initiative player fires first:			(moving player)
            PPD fire
            First Hellbore fire option
            All other direct fire weapons may fire
            Aegis fire may continue
            Second Hellbore fire option
            Previous free standing webs solidify
            Web Casters fire
            Allocate damage
        Non-initiative players may fire in response to movement or fire         (response)
            PPD fire
            First Hellbore fire option
            All other direct fire weapons may fire
            Aegis fire may continue
            Second Hellbore fire option
            Web Casters fire
            Allocate Damage
        Resolve explosion of ships
        Use Displacement Devices            (moving player or response)
        Roll for UIM breakdown
    	Start/stop erratic maneuvering		(anyone)

Roll for mutiny
Ships dock at bases
Ships drop warp engines
Disengage by evasion
Resolve repair of shields by damage control
Transfer power from PA panels to batteries
PA panels dissipate power to space
Orions record loss of engines from double output

In the Sequence of Play, each player will continue to go through step 4 until half of his total movement as been completed. Then play is passed on the to next fasted person, who will go through step 4 until he has completed half of his movement. Basically, Step 4 is completed over and over again for each ship until all ships have completed their movement for the phase. Then Drone and Plasma movement is completed, and then Second Phase picks up at Step 4 on the Sequence of Play until everyone has completed their full movement. After both First and Second Phase have been completed, and Drone and Plasma movement have been completed, then you will progress on to Step 5 on the Sequence of Play.

The notes in parenthesis indicate who may take action during this particular time. If the action does not have a note, then anyone who is affected by it must take the action. If the word "anyone" is listed, then any ship in the game may participate in the action, assuming it can. If the words "moving player" is listed, then this means that only the "moving player", or person who is currently taking his actions and has the initiative, has the ability to act on this action. This can be a ship moving at speed 0 if play has progressed all the way down to that speed. The ship need not be moving to take an action when it says "moving player", the ship needs only have the initiative at the time. If the note lists "moving player or in response", that means that the moving player has the opportunity to take the action first, then anyone else may take the action in response to the moving players' movement or firing. Therefore, a ship may fire at the moving ship (or ship with the initiative) if the ship moves or fires at the responding ship. An example is Ship A is moving Speed 10 and has the initiative. Ship B is moving Speed 4. Ship A begins to move towards Ship B. As Ship A closes in on Ship B, Ship A may choose to fire at Ship B, and after taking any action, Ship B may then return fire on Ship A either in response to Ship A's movement or in response to Ship A's fire on Ship B.

OTHER NOTES

This system is pretty much a direct mirror of the 32 impulse system, simply cut in half. However, some of you will probably point out that none of the weapons ranges are cut in half, as they would be if everything was simply halved. We realized this and chose not to alter the weapons ranges, as it would have been a lot more for the players to remember. In all, this system is MUCH faster than the 32 impulse system. I'm not just saying that to promote our system, it really is. We have played games that had as many as 8 ships on a side. Remind you, each side was operated by a SINGLE person. We have the ability to decided upon a scenario, begin play, and finish playing, all within 3-5 hours. This might not seem like a huge benefit, but the scenarios we play usually consist of 4 to 8 people, all running at least one ship, each able to use fighters and drones and EW.

In all, we believe this system is a huge improvement and can easily be learned by people familiar with the game, or even beginners to the game. Feel free to add it aspects to the game that are not mentioned here. Play them through and try them out. If you have questions as to other aspects of this systems, send e-mail messages to Phil Hatfield at Grimace997@aol.com.

DAMAGE ALLOCATION

	1	2	3	4	5	6
A.	Warp	Sensor/Scanner	Hull	Warp	Weapon	Other
B.	Damage Con	Hull	Weapon	Other	Power	Weapon
C.	Power	Control	Scanner	Sensor	Warp	Hull
D.	Shuttle	Shuttle	Other	Hull	Hull	Warp
E.	Control	Weapon	Control	Scanner	Dam Con	DamCon
F.	Other	Other	Power	Power	Sensor	Control
G.	Exs Dam	Exs Dam	Exs Dam	Exs Dam	Exs Dam	Exs Dam

Bold and Underlined Definition of Hits:

Sensor/Scanner: The first hit in this category must be taken on either a sensor or a scanner. (owning player's choice) After taking at least one hit here, other hits may either be taken on the same system or default to row B
Weapon: The first hit in this category must be taken against a heavy weapon that is capable of firing into the arc that the damage entered
Damage Con: A single hit must be taken against this system, and extra hits may either be taken to the same system or default to the next lowest row
Other: The first hit in this category must be taken against a Control system. All other hits can be taken against any other system that is classified as an Other
Scanner: A single hit must be taken against this system, and extra hits may either be taken to the same system or default to the next lowest row
Sensor: A single hit must be taken against this system, and extra hits may either be taken to the same system or default to the next lowest row

Explanation of Categories:

Weapon:: Normal Weapons - Phaser 1,2,3,4,G; Heavy Weapons - Photons, Plasma R/S/G/F/D, Disruptors, Fusions, Drones, ADDs, Tractor Repulsor beams, Hellbores, Power systems hooked to Maulers, PPDs, Web casters, ESGs, Stasis Generators, Rail guns, Particle Cannons, Power Absorber panels, Web breakers, Special Sensors
Other:: Tractor beams, Transporters, Labs, Probe, Shuttles, Mine racks, Battery, Fabrication, Fighter bays, Hangars
Hull:: Hull (center, forward, aft), Cargo, Works, Barracks, Repair
Power:: APR, AWR, Impulse
Control:: Flag Bridge, Bridge, Aux Con, Emer Bridge, Displacement Device, Web Generators, AFT, Web snares, Security
Shuttle:: Shuttles, Fighter bays
Excess:: Excess Damage

Damage is resolved by rolling 1D6 for each point of damage suffered by the ship. If dice are lacking, you may count each die as two or more hits, at the target player's option. That is, the person suffering the damage gets to call whether the damage is grouped in 2 hits per D6 rolled, or if each D6 is a single hit and you have to roll more D6. The only damage that is allocated based on direction of penetration is damage to weapons, however you may experiment with allocating all damage based on direction and just move down the rows as the systems are eliminated. On the chart, unless it is noted otherwise, all damage in a particular number column must be allocated to the required system before moving to the next row. For example, if hull is hit, all hull must be eliminated before any hits can be taken on weapons, assuming all of the hit locations were column 3.

BRIEF REPLAY

Adversaries: Romulan Regalhawk-K Heavy Cruiser vs.
Lyran Tiger Heavy Cruiser with 2 PFs
Starting range: 20
Speeds: Romulan 6 (costing him 12 energy), Lyran 8 (costing him 16 energy)

Turn 1:

First Phase
Due to the speed of the Lyran, the Tiger moves first. His speed for the turn is 8, so for First Phase, he moves 4 spaces. He now begins his move.

moves one space. As moving player, has opportunity to decide to fire first at Romulan. Declines fire.
Romulan Regalhawk now has opportunity to fire in response to Lyran's movement. He declines.
Lyran moves 2nd space. Same sequence as above.
Lyran moves 3rd space. Range is now 17. Lyran declines fire, Romulan does the same.
Lyran moves 4th and final space for this phase. Still holds fire. Now the Romulan player moves
Regalhawk moves one space. Range is now 15. Romulan now has the initiative, and decides whether to fire or not. He declines fire. The Lyran now has the opportunity to fire. He takes it. The Tiger checks the target's EW. The Romulan has 1 ECCM up (costing him 2 Power). The Lyran fires 4 Disruptors. Three shots find their mark. The Romulan takes 9 damage to the #1 shield.
Regalhawk moves 2nd space. Range is 14. Regalhawk announces fire of Plasma R (pseudo). Lyran cringes at the thought. Lyran holds fire.
Regalhawk moves 3rd and final space. Plasma stays in space launched. Romulan declines to fire any more. Lyran holds fire.

End of Ship Movement. Beginning of Drone and Plasma movement

Because the plasma was not launched in the space that the Regalhawk is currently in, it will move 8 spaces during this Drone and Plasma movement.

plasma begins it's move towards the Lyran. As it moves each space, the Lyran has the opportunity to fire on it. The beginning range was 14. After 8 spaces of movement, the Plasma R is 6 spaces away from the Lyran
the Lyran did not fire during that Drone and Plasma movement Speed Zero
both players now have the option to fire, launch shuttles, or take other actions. Both decline.

Second Phase. The Lyran, being the fastest, starts moving the remaining spaces of his movement

Lyran moves one space (his 5th move). Range to Regalhawk is 12. Range to Plasma is 5. He declines fire, and the Romulan declines to fire in response to his move.
Lyran moves 2nd space (6th move). Regalhawk is 11 hexes away, the Plasma R is 4 hexes. He thinks hard about his options. He declines fire. The Romulan decides to fire in response to his move. He checks the Lyrans EW. It is 2 ECM (costing the Lyran 4 power). The Romulan suffers a +1 shift. He announces 4 Ph-1 to fire. He rolls poorly, his best being a 2 which is increased to 3, causing only 1 damage at that range.
Lyran moves 3rd space, side slipping to his right (the Regalhawks left). He announces the dropping of his two PFs, both moving speed 5. Because they are moving slower than the Tiger's overall movement (8), they may move this phase when speed 5 comes around. Lyran player is now 10 hexes from the Regalhawk, and 3 from the plasma. He announces fire at the Plasma R. He lets loose 4 Ph-1s and 3 Ph-3s. He rolls average, scoring 19 hits on the plasma. The Romulan records the damage and smirks. In response to the Lyran's movement and fire, the Romulan announces the fire of 2 Plasma Fs and a Plasma R. The Lyran's jaw drops.
Lyran moves last space (his 8th) and begins to pray. Because he side slipped into his last space of movement, he could not turn away from the Romulan. The range to the ship is 9, and 2 to the pseudo plasma. He declines fire. The Romulan holds fire. The Lyran PFs do not move from their spot, as it is not their movement yet.
Now the Romulan player, moving at speed 6 moves
Romulan moves forward one space. His plasmas stay behind in the spot that they were launched. Range to the Lyran ship is 8, and range to the PFs is 9. He declines fire. The Lyran declines fire.
Romulan turns to the left and moves 2nd space (his 5th). He checks the EW of the PFs and finds they only have their built in EW operating. He announces fire at the top PF. He rolls very well, causing 12 damage from 3 Ph-1s! The front shield of the top PF caves in! The Lyran declines to fire.
Regalhawk moves his last space, and announces 2 Ph-3s on the top PF, hoping for some internals. He rolls good, causing 2 damage. The damage is rolled (2D6 on the damage chart. Once hull and one Major Weapon) The PF looses a Disruptor. The Lyran player decides to fire back from that PF in response to the Romulan's fire. He announces his 1 Disruptor and 2 Ph-1s on the Regalhawk. He misses with Disruptor and only does 2 damage with his Phasers.
Now the Lyran PFs get to move at Speed 5
both PFs move one space. Range to the Regalhawk is now 7 spaces. They hold fire, so does the Romulan
both PFs move again. (Their 2nd of half their total). Range is now 6. They still hold fire.
both PFs move one last time (3rd space, which is half of 5). They announce their fire on the Regalhawk. Only one may fire, though, as the other has already fired. He announces 2 Disruptors and 2 Ph-1. He rolls hits on all of them, causing 14 damage to the Regalhawk's shield #2. The Regalhawk holds his fire.
Speed Zero
at speed zero, the Romulan decides to launch a shuttle, just to have some added phaser support for next turn. The Lyran holds his fire, even though he could opt to fire at the shuttle in response to its launch.
Drone and Plasma movement
the plasmas move towards their targets, one space at a time. The Pseudo R reaches the ship first, and the Lyran lets it impact, suspecting it to be a fake. It is. The other 3 plasmas (2Fs and an R) started at range 7 to the PFs and range 9 to the Tiger. Because they only move 8 spaces per Drone and Plasma movement, the two Plasma Fs (targeted each on a PF) will impact, while the Plasma R (targetted on the Tiger) will be one space shy. One PF (the undamaged one) gets his front shield smashed and takes 3 internals. The other PF, with the #1 shield already destroyed, takes 15 internals. (The Plasma Fs moved 7 spaces, putting them in the 6-10 range bracket) When the damage is done, one PF is crippled, and the other slightly damaged, and the Tiger has a Plasma-R one space away from it. Both players begin new energy allocations.

*The whole enactment of this battle only took about half as long as it probably took you to read the replay.