Minimal Space Combat: The Strategic Game Game Design by Timothy Swenson Copyright 1996 This game is Freeware and my be distributed freely. 1.0 Introduction Minimal Space Combat: The Strategic Game (MSC:TSG) is the Campaign game for Minimal Space Combat (MSC). MSC:TSG allows players to fight wars on a strategic level and either use MSC or Strategic Combat to fight the tactical battles. MSC is needed for play and it is assumed that players are familiar with it. Like MSC, MSC:TSG is kept minimal. 2.0 Definitions Fleet: A fleet is composed of one or more ships. Occupied System: A system that has a fleet in it. Captured System: A system that had been occupied, but is no longer occupied. Owned System: A system that is either occupied or captured. Offensive BPs: Number of BPs spent on WEAPONS and TO-HIT for a ship. Defensive BPs: Number of BPs spent on SHIELDS for a ship. 3.0 Turn Sequence The game is played in the following phases: Production Initiative Roll Player 1 Movement Player 2 Movement Strategic Combat / MSC Combat Player 1 and Player 2 is determined by the initiative roll. Both players roll a die. The player with the highest die roll becomes Player 1. Ties are re-rolled. 4.0 Set Up Needed for Play: A number of 6 sided dice, Fleet Counters (one color per side), System Counters (three colors; two for each side and one for neutral), and a hex map (preferably one with the hexes numbered). Building a Fleet: Each player gets a set amount of BPs to create his entire fleet. The amount of BPs is dependent upon the size of the scenario being played. An average game would have 30-40 ships per player. With the average ship being 15 BPs, then a total of 525 BPs (15 BPs times 35 ships) would be a good start for a game. It's up to the players what the total of BPs is for their game. Setting Up the Map: The size of the map and the total number of systems is chosen by the players. Each system takes up one hex. Systems should be placed evenly around the map. Home System: Each player designates one system as his Home System. Home Systems are usually at opposite ends of the map. Starting Positions: All fleets start the game in the Home System and move out from there. Fleet Control Sheet: Fleet Control Sheets are used to keep track of the ships in the fleet. Fleet Control Sheets are filled out before the start of the game and kept current during the game. For each ship in a fleet the following information is needed: Ship name or number Offensive BPs Defensive BPs Engine: The ENGINE value of the ship. 5.0 Victory Conditions The objective of the game is to destroy the enemy. This can be done by destroying the entire enemy fleet or by occupying the enemy Home System. 6.0 Production The Production phase of a turn involves calculating the production from Owned Systems, building ships, and bringing these new ships into play. Each Owned System produces one BP per turn. Ship Building: Ship building is done in the Production phase. As BPs are built up from production, they may be spent on building new ships. Ships may be built of 10, 15, and 20 BPs. Follow the rules in MSC for building ships. Once a ship is built it may only enter the game from the players' Home World. New ships may either stay at the Home World and await more new ships, or they may move to join up with a fleet (they become a one ship fleet). Production Control Sheet: The Production Control Sheet is used to keep track of how many BPs are produced per turn and when they are spent. 7.0 Movement Fleet Movement: Each fleet may move a number of hexes up to the lowest ENGINE value of any ship in the fleet. Movement may be made in any direction. A Fleet may pass through the same hex as friendly or enemy fleets. Ship Transfer Between Fleets: Ships can be transferred from one fleet to another or fleets can be combined into one fleet. To transfer ships between fleets, both fleets must end movement in the same hex. Ships are transferred at the beginning of the next movement phase. Capturing Systems: Systems are captured by occupying them for at least one full turn. If an enemy fleet is occupying the system, then they must be moved or destroyed before the attacking player can occupy the system. Once a System is captured, it remains captured until it is occupied by an enemy fleet. A captured system does not produce until 1 full turn after being captured. A system captured in Turn 7 does not produce until Turn 9. Fleet Sensors: When a fleet ends movement within 3 hexes of an enemy fleet, the moving player may ask the other player how many ships are in the enemy fleet. 8.0 Strategic Combat When enemy fleets end their movement in the same hex, then combat takes place. Combat only takes place between these two fleets. Combat can be resolved two different ways: Using Minimal Space Combat or using Strategic Combat defined here. If the players use MSC for combat, then a game of MSC is setup with the two fleets. The Strategic Combat phase is composed of a number of subphases - Attacker Attacks, Attacker Defends. The difference between the two phases is who is attacking. In the Attacker Attacks subphase the Attacker is attacking, where as in the Attacker Defends subphase the Defender is attacking. After each player has had a chance to attack, combat either continues, or it is broken off by one of the players by moving (retreating) his fleet one hex toward his Home World. The Attacking Player is the one that moved his fleet into the hex of the enemy fleet, thereby instigating combat. The other player is the Defending Player. Strategic Combat is resolved in the following manner: - The Attacker totals up the Offensive BPs for his fleet. - The Defender totals up the Defense BPs for his fleet. - For each 7 Offensive BPs or 3 Defensive BPs each player gets 1 die. - Both players roll the dice. - Each 6 or 5 rolled by the Attacker is one enemy ship destroyed. - Each 6 or 5 rolled by the Defender is one ship saved. (If the Attacker rolls 3 6's and the Defender rolls 2 6's, then the Defender only loses 1 ship.) - The Defender gets to choose which ships are destroyed. Fleet Control Sheet Ship Name/Number Off. Def. Engine BP BP 1 ____________________ _____ _____ _____ 2 ____________________ _____ _____ _____ 3 ____________________ _____ _____ _____ 4 ____________________ _____ _____ _____ 5 ____________________ _____ _____ _____ 6 ____________________ _____ _____ _____ 7 ____________________ _____ _____ _____ 8 ____________________ _____ _____ _____ 9 ____________________ _____ _____ _____ 10 ____________________ _____ _____ _____ 11 ____________________ _____ _____ _____ 12 ____________________ _____ _____ _____ 13 ____________________ _____ _____ _____ 14 ____________________ _____ _____ _____ 15 ____________________ _____ _____ _____ Production Control Sheet Turn Production Spent Running Systems BPs BPs Total Captured 1 __________ __________ __________ __________ 2 __________ __________ __________ __________ 3 __________ __________ __________ __________ 4 __________ __________ __________ __________ 5 __________ __________ __________ __________ 6 __________ __________ __________ __________ 7 __________ __________ __________ __________ 8 __________ __________ __________ __________ 9 __________ __________ __________ __________ 10 __________ __________ __________ __________ 11 __________ __________ __________ __________ 12 __________ __________ __________ __________ 13 __________ __________ __________ __________ 14 __________ __________ __________ __________ 15 __________ __________ __________ __________ 16 __________ __________ __________ __________ 17 __________ __________ __________ __________ 18 __________ __________ __________ __________ 19 __________ __________ __________ __________ 20 __________ __________ __________ __________ Example System Map _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ / \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \ / \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/H\_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \ / \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/*\_/ \_/*\_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \ / \_/ \_/*\_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \ / \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/*\_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/*\_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \ / \_/*\_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/*\_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \ / \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/*\_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \ / \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/*\_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/*\_/ \_/ \_/ \_/*\_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \ / \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \ / \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/*\_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/*\_/ \_/ \_/ \ / \_/ \_/*\_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/*\_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \ / \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/*\_/ \_/*\_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \ / \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/*\_/ \_/ \ / \_/ \_/ \_/*\_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/*\_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \ / \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/*\_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/*\_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \ / \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/*\_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \ / \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/*\_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/*\_/ \ / \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/*\_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/*\_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \ / \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/*\_/ \_/ \ / \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/*\_/ \_/*\_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \ / \_/H\_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \ / \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/ \