Full Thrust FMA (long)

As I was driving down I-35 south of Dallas in the rain I came up with
these
ideas for am FMA combat system for Full Thrust.  Below I've included
only the
core ship-to-ship combat rules, but I've got this basic system extended
to
cover fighters, missiles, and most other combat related portions of Full
Thrust.  This system incorporates crew quality, creates opposed die
rolls for
combat and utilizes multiple die sizes and die shifts familiar to
players of
GZG's FMA games.  I've rolled out a few combat exchanges in testing some
of
the ideas and I think that the system will play almost as fast as
standard
Full Thrust combat if plenty of dice are available in a couple of
colors.  By
rolling one color of die for the crew quality and another for all of the
weapons dice, everything can be thrown at once and the results quicly
scanned.  The description of the system is somewhat cumbersome, but it
seems
very intuitive once you try it.  I'd really like any feedback on this
and
will gladly mail the full rules to anyone who is interested (as soon as
I get
them typed up that is).  I only ask that credit for this accompany it.

I can see these rules introducing a number of tactical changes, but not
neccesarily altering the feel much.  Combat results so far seem to have
more
of a jackpot effect.  A good defense roll will annul lots of attacks,
while a
good crew quality roll	combined with a poor defensive roll will result
in
massive damage.  Many people (myself included) feel that escort ships,
even
in packs cannot currently stand against capital ships.	The hull size
based
defense rolls should help that.  I foresee the appearance of extra
firecon on
many capital ships to help insure those major strikes...  Other
observations
will have to await playtesting....  Also for those of you converting to
other
universes (B5ers etc.), the use of multiple die types and opposed rolls
offers a greater range over which to customize the races.  For B5,
Minbari
ships with ECM and whose beam weapons roll d10's ought to match up
properly
against EA ships whose beam wepons are only allowed to roll d6 as weapon
dice., etc.

Anyway, let me know what you think and e-mail BJCantwell@AOL.com if
you'd
like a full copy when I'm done.

Full Thrust FMA

A Full Metal Anorak combat system for Full Thrust.

This system applies principles of the FMA combat system found in other
GZG
products to Full Thrust.  Opposed rolls are based on the attacker's crew
quality and weapons fired and the defender's hull size.  I assume that
acquiring a firm targeting solution on the target in the vastness of
space is
one of the critical steps in hitting them with your weapons.  Thus
smaller
ships with less emmissions are harder to hit than larger ships.  I
assume the
amount of EM noise a ship emits is a design function and not something
the
crew can do much about while still maintaining combat readiness.

Crew quality may be green, regular, or veteran and should be noted on
the
ship diagram.  The base crew quality die for green troops is a d6, for
regular crews a d8, and for veteran crews a d10.

Dice may sometimes be shifted up or down a die size due to various
factors.
 A plus shift uses the next highest die size (e.g. d8 shifts up one to
d10)
and visa versa for downward shifts.  The largest allowable die size is
d12
and the smallest is d4.  Shifts beyond these are ignored.

Basic Attack Procedure:

To resolve an attack, the attcker rolls one die of the appropriate type
for
his crew quality.  He also rolls a number of weapons dice.  The result
of
each weapon die is paired with the shared crew quality score and
compared to
the defender's score to determine if a hit has been scored.  If neither
of
the attacker's dice are higher than the defender's, that weapons die
misses.
 If one of the attacker's pair is greater, a minor hit results from that
weapons die.  And if both dice in the pair are higher than the
defender's, a
major hit is scored.  Thus each weapons die rolled by the attacker has
the
potential to score a hit.  The effects of a minor and major hit are
described
with each weapon.  All weapons fired under the control of a single fire
control are refered to as a salvo and use the same crew quality die
result.
 For each extra fire control committed to a salvo, the attacker's
quality die
is shifted up one die size.

The defender's die is based on the hull size.  Escort class ships roll
d10,
Cruisers roll d8, Capital ships roll d6, and Superships roll d4.  The
defender's die can be shifted by two conditions.  A ship which used no
thrust
to turn or change speeds has its defense die shifted up one.  A ship
which is
being attacked from the rear arc suffers a minus one die shift.  Some
systems
(notably ECM) may give the defender a secondary defense die.  In this
case,
the defender uses the higher of the two scores for his defense score.

Firing Example.

A battleship with a regular crew is attacked by a veteran heavy cruiser.
 The
havy cruiser is 14" away and fires first.  The captain decides to
concentrate
his fire into one well aimed salvo to try and overcome the battleships
greater screens.  The cruiser has two fire controls and committing both
of
them to one salvo will produce a +1 die shift, taking his d10 (veteran
crew)
to a d12.  He also rolls weapons dice for one ‘A' Battery and 3 ‘B'
Batteries, a total of 5d8.  The d12 produces a 7 and the d8's are
4,4,5,6,8.
 Paired with the crew die, thes are (7/4), (7/4), (7/5), (7/6), and
(7/8).
 The capital ship maneuvered this turn, but the cruiser is not behind
her, so
the captain rolls a d6 for defense and adds 2 for the level 2 screens. 
The
result is a 4+2=6.  It appears that the cruiser's gamble has paid off,
since
the high crew qulaity score results in at least some damage from every
weapon
die.  In only one case was both of the dice greater than the defender's
score.	The final result is 4 minor hits and one major hit.  Abeam
weapon
minor hit scores 1 damage point and a major hit scores 2 points of
damage.
 The battleship is rocked for 6 points of damage.  Had she been
unscreened,
the result would have been  3 major and 2 minor hits for 8 points of
damage.
 After escaping the threshold checks with all offensive systems intact,
the
battleship turns all guns on the hapless cruiser in front of her.  The
captain of the battleship decides to hedge his bets against a bad crew
quality die roll by firing in two salvos.  The first is supported by an
extra
fire control and consists of two A's and a B Battery.  The d8 for the
regular
crew is shifted up by one for the extra fire con resulting in a d10. 
The
weapons dice produce 5d8.  The d10 scores an 8 and the 5d8 score 1, 3,
4, 8,
8.  The cruiser's captain rolls a d8 for his ship's defense, resulting
in a
6, +1 f or his level 1 screens.  The battleship's excellent crew roll
means
that the good defensive roll is largely wasted as the cruiser takes 2
major
and 3 minor hits for 7 points of damage.  The second salvo has less
computing
power available, so rolls the normal crew die of d8 plus 4d8 for weapons
dice.  The crusier defends with another d8.  The battleship scores a 4
for
the crew die and 2,3,4,5 for the weapons dice.	The crusier rolls a 7 +1
for
screens.  This time the cruiser's defenses are up to the task and the
battle
ship scores no mor hits.  The cruiser takes a total of seven damage
points.

 System Stats
Beam Batteries		0-12"	12-24"	24-36"		minor	       
major
A Batteries			3d8	2d8	d8		1 dam.	
       2 dam.
B Batteries			2d8	d8			    "	
	   "
C Batteries			d8				    "	
	   "

				    0-6"	6-12"	12-18"	18-24"	
       minor	       major
Pulse Torpedo		d12	      d10	       d8		
d6	       d4		      d8

Screens add to defender's die total for affected weapons. +1 per level
of
screens (3 max.)