From <@qrc.com:merrick@qrc.com> Fri Mar 1 01:22:41 1996 Received: from qrc.com (quark.qrc.com [198.178.200.5]) by mail.missouri.edu (8.7.3/8.7.3) with SMTP id BAA82132 for ; Fri, 1 Mar 1996 01:22:40 -0600 Received: from mack.rt66.com by qrc.com with SMTP (5.65b/2.3-UTK) id AA18699; Fri, 1 Mar 96 01:52:46 -0500 Received: by Rt66.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA14994; Thu, 29 Feb 96 23:47:29 MST From: merrick@qrc.com (Merrick Burkhardt) Message-Id: <9603010647.AA14994@Rt66.com> Subject: BL Additions version 1.7 To: gdw-beta@quark.qrc.com (gdw) Date: Thu, 29 Feb 1996 23:47:29 -0700 (MST) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Status: RO Rules Fixes for Brilliant Lances V. 1.7 Mar '96 ================================================================== Contents: --------- Introduction Abbreviations Sensor Clarifications 1. Control of Active Sensors 2. Passive Sensors Recieving Active Signals 3. Target Painting by Active Sensors 4. AutoLock rules are in effect (see AutoLock ver.1.0) 5. AutoTask rules are in effect (see AutoTask ver.1.0) Bogey Detection New Sensor Task Procedure DiffMods for Bogey Detection Only Target is active Target uses gturns Target fires weapons Results of Bogey Detection Success Outstanding Success Lock-Ons Past Extreme Range Surprise Maximum Range for Fire Tasks Facing Tracking Procedure Effects of a successful Tracking task Effects of Facing on Sensors Effects of Facing on Combat ================================================================== Introduction The Brilliant Lances rules work pretty well, but we have found a number of problems, and these are some of our attempts to correct them. The two major flaws are built around the general capabilities of the sensors, and the arbitrary nature of having tasks happen throughout the turn, but ranges and facings being sampled only at the endpoint of a ship's movement. We now use simultaneous BR/Mayday-type movement all the time (this removes some of the action-reaction designed into BR, but improves the outcome). The major problem to be addressed will be what we call Bogey Detection (BD). T-YBL rules state that "the crew may well be aware that 'something is out there' based on ghost images, etc.." This is interesting, but it begs the question "When does my crew get the idea 'something is out there' in the first place?". For the purposes of playing BL (or using it in your roleplaying campaign) getting that first clue something is out there is a major point of tension. A ship's sensors are the players' window to their universe, so the sensor rules need to be complete, and consistent. One more digression before the substance of the post: if you haven't read the box copy on the back of BL, do so. If you have, read it again. The feel of that copy is what I am after in these rules additions. If you don't mind the "damn the passive sensors, light 'em up with the AEMS!" reality of the BL rules, trash this post... I really want the use of active sensors to be a sober choice, with both pros and cons (it's all pro now). The point of this was to get that submarine feel back into passive sensing. ================================================================== Abbreviations Term Abbreviation --------------- ------------ Active EMS AEMS Bogey Detection BD Brilliant Lance BL Battle Rider BR Difficulty Level DL Difficulty Modifier DM Meson Gun MG Particle Accel. Weapon PAW Passive EMS PEMS Rate of Fire ROF Short Range SR Tech Level TL ================================================================== Sensor Clarifications (All subsequent BL rules assume the following basic changes.): 1. Control of Active Sensors: Any active sensor may be used at a lower power to produce a lower SR. Thus, a 16 hex AEMS could operate at SR1 if it wished. Also, a ship may decide to limit sensor sweeps to 60 degree arcs (30 if you want to do the work) if it wishes (Add sensor chits to the heading chart, and put them in the arcs to be scanned if limited areas are to be searched. Chits can also be added for indicating SR). Ships that are not in the scanning arc cannot consider the sensor to be active. 2. Passive Sensors Recieving Active Signals: A passive sensor can detect the emissions of equipment that emit signals in its reception band. Thus, a passive EMS sensor can detect the emissions of AEMS sensors, and RADARs, as well as radio communicators and jammers. These signals can frequently be detected at ranges in excess of the maximum range of the EMITTERs themselves. Passive sensors may attempt to Lock the EMITTER in the normal way, or they may use the following method (or if they have more than one passive sensor, they may do both). When sensing an EMITTER, the passive sensor uses it's own range plus the range of the EMITTER to determine range breaks, and gets DiffMods for TL (as per jamming - making high-tech sensors harder for low-tech passives to Lock) and "terrain" (as per active sensors). No other DiffMods apply. For purposes of this sensor task, jammers are just another kind of emitter, and have no other effect. However, if the EMITTER shuts down, the lock-on or Bogey Detection is lost! Note that Lock-Ons of this type may be handed off to passive sensors that are attempting to Lock the target, not just the EMITTER; the hand-off DiffMod represents the ease of directing a passive sensor to the target due to the target's emissions (remember that the -Active Target DiffMod also applies when a passive sensor uses its own SR, not the additive on). Such a hand-off is good isurance against the target shutting down the active sensor (and therefore breaking the Lock-On). An EMITTER is the antenna that's transmitting signals from an AEMS or Radar, or from a Radio communicator, or from any type of jammer. An EMITTER may also be the antenna associated with a MFD that has been directing fire at the sensor's ship, or the transmitter associated with a LADAR that has a target lock on the ship. An EMITTER may also be the transmitter of a Laser communicator that is in communication with the sensing ship, or the transmitter of a Maser communicator if the sensing ship lies along a direct line from the transmitter to the reciever. A target ship which is operating an EMITTER is said to have "Gone Active". For example: a target goes active with its TL-12 SR-16 AEMS 34 hexes from a TL-14 missile with a SR-1 PEMS. The missile gets to attempt a Lock-On based on a SR of 17. 3. Target Painting by Active Sensors: Passive sensors may be used in conjunction with friendly active sensors (on the same or different ship). If a sensing ship is has a friendly active sensor (except LADAR) _scanning_ (not Locked) into the target hex through the same hexside that the passive sensor sees through, it may use the -1 DM for "active target" (and any other passive sensor task DiffMods that may apply). This rule does not apply to LADARs. If a friendly active sensor (on the same or a different ship) has an active _Lock_ on the target, through the target's same hexside as the passive sensor sees the target, then the passive sensor may compute its range breaks using the active sensor's SR. This is called "painting the target"; note that LADARs can be used to paint a target. Jamming may be used against a ship that is painting a target and against the sensor benefiting from the painting. In both cases, compute the range to the target ship based on either the range from the active sensor to the target or the passive sensor to the target, whichever is greater. Jamming will work against painting a target normally. 4. AutoLock rules are in effect (see AutoLock ver.1.0) 5. AutoTask rules are in effect (see AutoTask ver.1.0) ================================================================== Bogey Detection: ---------------- I will use the word Bogey in the same way that it is used in the BL rules. A Bogey is an indication of something odd, or even the presence of a ship, but there is not enough data for a firing solution. Before a Bogey is detected the space around the ship in question looks empty. These rules imply either some degree of blind play with a ref, or trusting players. These rules can also be used simply to create plausible scenarios that don't leave the players' questions of "How'd he get so close without us seeing him?", etc. unanswered. Sensor arrays are programmed to alert the operator when they find a region of space that looks suspicious (ie. it could possibly be a target) under a set of predetermined conditions (what these conditions are is left to the players, and is a good place for PC sensor skill levels to be introduced). The alert given *is* the Bogey Detection. The Bogey Detection procedure is basically an extension of the existing rules for Lock-Ons. When performing sensor tasks, each roll will have 2 Difficulty Levels (DLs), an easier Bogey Detection task, and a harder Lock-On task. If you make the Lock-On roll the Bogey Detection is moot (all Lock-Ons are also BDs... just very good ones) Ranges for Bogey Detection work the same way as for Lock-On: that is, double Short to get Medium, double Medium to get Long, etc.. The only difference is that there is _no maximum range for BD_. The medium range for Lock-On is the range of Automatic BD---within this range (providing there are no positive DiffMods!),if the sensors are working, and on, you will know something is in a hex(or, better put, that there is nothing unnatural in the surrounding hexes). This is due to the AutoTasks rules (originally added to make anti-missile fire possible). >From there, double the range like all other ranges, and the base DL goes up normally for each range change (Easy, Ave, Diff, Form, Imp). The major difference is that it is allowed to go above Impossible to Imp+1, Imp+2, etc.. All of the rules regarding Bogey Detection assume that the tasked sensor happens to be looking in the right direction. All the modifiers listed (going active, exhaust plumes, etc.) are for events that occur over a time period long enough that there is a reasonable chance that they will be seen in the 1800 second course of a turn. While a jump entry, for example, would be immediately recognized as such, the chances that the short pulse of energy betraying it would be seen by a ship'ssensors are very slim indeed. As an example, a sensor with a short range of 8 would look like this: RANGE Short Med. Long Extr. 2xExt 4xExt 8xExt Hexes 8 16 32 64 128 256 512 Lock-on: Ave Diff Form Imp Bogey: Auto Auto Auto Easy Ave Diff Form Imp Rng(Mkm) 0.24 0.48 0.96 1.92 3.84 7.68 15.36 The body of the table is the Base Difficulty Level for the given range for Lock-On and BD tasks. "Auto" refers to a task covered in the AutoTasks rules (Easy-1, EASY-2, ETC.). Note that this allows ships to maintain reasonable pickets so that they have a reason to go out and investigate/fight. Without this information, it is hard to rationalize any combat at all given the vastness of the areas to be patrolled relative to the maximum Lock-On radius(draw a circle of maximum possible Lock-On distance radius and compare it to the size of a star system :-) Some people have commented that the important areas to look at are near planets, so you don't need such good pickets---tell it to the RQS ;-). This is mostly true in TNE as printed, but that only means these rules won't be used as much. A CT/MT setting will require longer ranged pickets. New Sensor Task Procedure: -------------------------- First, active or passive sensor use is declared. In addition to this, each ship must record if its active sensors are being used a a lower output (lower shortrange), or if they are scanning limited arcs. During the Sensor phase of the turn, roll one d20 for each sensor used. The same roll will be used for both Bogey Detection and Lock-On. If the Lock-On is successful, Bogey Detection is assumed (and moot). If the Lock-On task fails, the roll may still be good enough for a successful BD. If Lock-On is not possible for the range in question, only Bogey Detection is possible (see active sensor exception below). Missiles are a special case, and are allowed to attempt Lock-On either before, or after movement. Controlled missiles would virtually always use the standard after movement option. FIMs will frequently accept the more difficult task pre-movement (due to the longer range) so that they may actually be able to home on their targets. Base Difficulty Level may be Automatic (actually, Easy -1, Easy -2, etc.) but DMs may push it above this level as usual (allowing, for example, terrain to protect a ship from Automatic BD). All DMs except Evasion apply to both bogey detection as well as Lock-On, Evasion has no effect on a Bogey Detection attempt (as it works by making the future position uncertain, not by hiding the target). Note that all DMs for Lock-On apply to Bogey Detection, but not the other way around. For example: a previous Lock-On gives a -1 DM to both BD, and Lock-On attempts, but a previous BD gives a -1 DM only to a BD task, not a Lock-On task. This is also true of hand-offs. BDs can be lost just like Locks... "Sir! I saw something, but it just disappeared!" You needn't have a BD first to achieve a Lock-On. DiffMods for Bogey Detection Only: ---------------------------------- Target is active: For BD, if the target goes active, a sensing ship using a passive sensor or DF in unblocked LOS gets a -4DM on BD if using its own SR, or it may use the combined SR of the passive and active sensors with a -2DM. This is effectively an automatic Bogey Detection to all ships with passive sensors within ~4xExtreme range for the active ship's sensor. Tech level differences between the sensors give DMs just as they do for Locks if using the combined ranges---use the DMs for TL vs. Jammers Target uses gturns: If the target uses it's maneuver drive, the exhaust plume will be clearly visible, even at long ranges. This plume is not concentrated enough to provide a fire control lock, but it does improve the Bogey Detection chances for PEMS and HRT sensors (only). Use the appropriate DiffMod from the table below: Target Size DiffMod ----------- ------- Very Small - -1 (for any number of G-Turns) Small-Medium -1 per G-Turn Large + -2 per G-Turn Target fires weapons: PAW or MG weapons fire at the sensing ship during the previous turn by the target is a -1 DM for BD by PEMS---even if it misses. PAWs will have a lot of stray energy radiating from the beam path. MGs will have decays all along the beam path and the radiation escapes in all directions, and has an easily-detected signature. Laser fire at the sensing ship during the previous turn by the target is a -1 DM for BD by PEMS or laser detectors, but only if it hits (lasers have much less off-axis energy to detect). Note that MFD's contain an active sensor; if the target fired at the sensing ship with an MFD, treat the target as active (for both Bogey Detection and Lock-On attempts) whether or not a hit was achieved. Results of Bogey Detection: --------------------------- Success: Success indicates the presence of something out of the ordinary in a given hex. A Bogey counter is placed in the hex. In some scenarios, false Bogeys may be allowed (a Lock-On will determine them to be natural material or some form of countermeasures). Outstanding Success: An Outstanding Success on a Bogey detection roll allows the sensing ship to answer questions about the target depending on the conditions of the BD. Use of target gturns must be announced (yes, no). If the target was active the Power output (SR) of the active sensor is known. Note that a Successful BD next turn will answer some of these questions by virtue of plotting a course for the Bogey. ================================================================== Lock-Ons Past Extreme Range --------------------------- It is odd that a ship might have a 95% chance of Locking a Battleship at 32 hexes, but at 33 hexes the chance is 0%. Optionally, players may adopt the following rule: Lock-On attempts may be made as long as the modified DiffLevel is possible (ie: the Task is Impossible or better) regardless of range*. *There is, however, an absolute maximum range that a given sensor may Lock a target. Since a Lock requires that there is enough data to predict a volume of space in which it is possible (ideally) to hit the target, Locks are limited to the absolute maximum range of fire. TL Maximum Lock Range ----- ------------------ 8 109 9 119 10-11 129 12-13 139 14 149 15-16 159 17-18 169 19+ 179 This table is for a Gigantic (size G) target. For each target size below G, subtract 10 hexes from the range on the table. ================================================================== Surprise: --------- Micro Evasion: When a target is Locked, and it has no idea that the enemy is around (or doesn't care), it may be fired on with a modified range table. The range DMs for firing in BL assume that the target is trying to avoid getting hit (Challenge71). It does this by expending a fractional amount of g-turns every turn it is in combat (combat being as soon as they get a BD). While these are small amounts of fuel, they would become significant over the course of a patrol (they're ~1/10 g-turn of fuel per turn). Some ships might choose to "waste" this fuel before they get a BD in which case they may not be victims of these surprise rules even if unaware of their hunters. If a target is not micro-evading, there is very little uncertainty in its future position. As a result, do not use the given range table. Instead add a DM of +1 for every 10 hexes. Any ship out of fuel, or with no maneuver drive functional may be fired on this way at any time (optionally, a ship might decide to conserve the 1/10 g-turn, and be a sitting duck). These micro-bursts from the drives are cold enough that there is no increase in signature. ================================================================== Maximum Range for Fire Tasks: ----------------------------- Fire may conducted as far as a Lock-On is possible, as long as the fire task is not above Impossible. This means that ships may be fired on past 44 hexes (indeed, they may be fired on out to 159+ hexes---the maximum possible Lock-On distance). You may have to calculate a DV/Pen for a weapon beyond its Extreme range. eg: The range band for Extreme+, SR10 is 81-160. Effectively, with a +1 per 10 hexes DM, the maximum direct fire range will be 90 hexes (no MFD since this would be "going active"). ================================================================== Facing: ------- The facing rules allow for some odd problems. For example, a ship with a spinal mount could be drifting on a parallel course to a target, free to choose its facing for the whole turn, and still not be able to point at the target! The rules must be modified to change this. The basic rules for determining facing are unchanged. Within these, however a new type of Facing activity needs to be defined, it is called Tracking. Tracking: --------- A ship may allocate g-turns to point at a target, this is called Tracking the target. It is useful for spinal mounts, or any other weapons with limited arcs of fire, as well as for pointing hot engines away from an enemy sensor array. Procedure: 1. Use the rules for determining base facing to arrive at the base facing. 2. Allocate g-turns to Tracking. Select firing arc that will Track the target (1, 2, 3, 4, 5). 3. Resolve Evasion tasks, if a random facing is the result, no tracking is possible and any g-turns expended on tracking are lost---if an Outstanding success is the result, or no Evasion was attempted, go on to step 4. 4. Roll for Tracking as a Formidable task before the Sensor Lock Phase of the turn (a Lock-On on the previous turn is required), -1 DiffMod for each g-turn expended on Tracking. +X DMs for target evasion (X = number depending on success level). Effects of a successful Tracking task: -------------------------------------- A ship which succeeds in Tracking a target may treat the target as if it were in the selected arc of fire for the entire turn as long as the target stays within the Tracking Arc for the entire turn. An Outstanding Success allows +1 Arc of fire to be added to the "Tracking Arc." The "Tracking Arc" of the weapon is its basic arc of fire, +1 Arc of fire for each g-turn spent on Tracking if the Tracking task succeeds. Weapons may engage targets within the Tracking Arc as if they were in the weapons unmodified arc of fire. For example: a ship has a facing of 6, and is Tracking with its Spinal Mount. This ship, having spent 2 g-turns on Tracking requires a Difficult Task roll to succeed. It does succeed, and may therefore track a target that remains in arcs 1 through 3 (the Tracking Arc) during the turn (instead of the arc of 1 required by the mount). The maximum number of _targets_ that spinal (non-trainable) weapons can engage is equal to the maximum g's the ship is capable of -1 for each gturn spent on maneuver or evasion or tracking. No single mount may engage more than one target. The maximum number of spinal _weapons_ that may engage targets on a given is equal to the maximum g's the ship is capable of -1 for each gturn spent on maneuver or evasion +1 for each gturn spent on tracking. This reflects the difficulty of pointing an entire spacecraft at multiple targets in sequence. Effects of Facing on Sensors: ----------------------------- The -3 DM for being in the stern arc of a target that is using g-turns still applies to Lock-Ons, but the sensing ship must only cross the stern arc at some point during the turn (the segmented movement system for missile interception may have to be used in this case). If the sensing ship is in the stern arc for the entire turn, it receives a -4 DM. Optional: Some ships may be listed as having a different size class when looked at from different angles---if so, the DiffMods will be listed in terms of the arc in question (usually bow-on, and stern-on). Eg: A Destroyer is a Needle AF, and is 1000Tons. It would be called size class M---but for this particular ship, it is treated as size S when viewed Bow or Stern On. It would be listed: Bow/Stern-On +1 DM . Effects of Facing on Combat: ---------------------------- Facing effects combat in much the same way it does sensors. A ship may fire at another with no penalty as long as the target remains within the arc of the weapon for the entire turn. If the target is only in the weapon's arc for a fraction of the turn, it may still fire, but at +1 DM. ================================================================== These rules were initially developed by myself, and Lane Mogford. Many improvements were made by Guy Garnett and the GDW-beta list (in html form, I'd like to link to the list of gdw-beta list memebers here). Copyright 1995-1996 Merrick Burkhardt