"High Resolution" FT (Long)

The following is a ruleset I've been working for a while on to bridge
the
gap between large fleet actions and single ship duels using the FT
rules.
It's on my FT website (http://members.nbci.com/noam_izenberg/NIFT.html)
as
well, along with some other updates:

High Resolution Full Thrust -or- Fine Grain Full Thrust -or- Gritty Full
Thrust

An adaptation of the Full Thrust rules to make single ship duels and
small
escort group battles practical.

>From the outset, one might argue that if one wanted a higher resolution
full
thrust, simply make bigger ships. Slug it out with 100 mass destroyers
and
200 mass cruisers. I found this unsatisfying for a couple reasons:

     I didn't want a frigate's armament to be as heavy as that a of a
"normal scale" cruiser (i.e. C3's, P-torps)
     I wanted something with a little finer granularity than the 4 rows
of
hull boxes.
     I wanted the turn sequence to be more flexible without adding too
much
complexity.
   
So, here's what I came up with. I hope to playtest it sometime soon.
Perhaps
as a PBeM free-for all like the old Estrell Cruiser duels.

All FT2.5 rules apply with the following changes:

Ship Creation

     - All systems cost the same as in normal FT2.5
	 -- SML magazines and racks have twice the number of missiles
	 -- Subpacks, scatterguns, etc... have two shots (can't fire
both at
once)
	 -- MT missiles come in pairs (must be fired one at a time)

     - Generate ships in normal fashion, but:
	 -- Double all Hull and Armor boxes
	 -- Distribute Hull in 8 rows instead of 4
	 -- Armor stays a single row of double length (except for Phalon
Armor, where each row is doubled).
	 -- One crew unit is marked for every frational 10 mass of ship
(i.e
a ship of 81 mass has 9 crew units). Distribute normally in hull boxes.
Crew
units are the same in other respects as in normal FT (i.e. damage
control,
etc)

Damage

     -Damage is determined normally, but Threshold rolls are done on a
d12
instead of a d6. At threshold 1, systems are damaged by roll of 12. 11
at
Thresh 2, 10 at 3, and so on until a 6 is needed at threshold row 7.
     -Core systems are rolled for as a unit only on thresholds for even
damage rows.
     -Damage control is rolled at the end of each turn. Systems damaged
in
the end-turn fire phase may be repaired.

Core Systems rules

     - Core Systems are used as per FB1 and 2 with the following
exceptions
and additions:
	 -- A player may instantly try to repair any core system hit. As
soon as the damaged system is determined, a player may commit 1-3 crew
units
for an attempt at immediate repair. No other damage control may take
place
during that turn, and one or more crew units may be lost in the attempt.
Roll a beam die (with rerolls) to determine number of crew units lost in
the
repair (up to the total crew units committed to the repair). In the
event
that the last crew units are killed off in this repair attempt, the ship
is
considered Out of Control (as in Command Bridge hit). Each turn the
ships
owner may roll a beam die (with rerolls) to get injured crew sufficently
capable to re-man the ship. Once the total of "revival" rolls reaches 5,
then one crew unit (really the cobined efforts of several injured crew
units) is sufficiently functional to control the ship.
	 --The original core system block gets one roll (at +3 - i.e. no
check is made before row 4 is marked off) on a threshold check. If a
core
system is hit, then make an additional roll to determine which system it
is.
	 -- Alternate Core Systems (Daryl Poe) are also in use. These
are
grouped in another core box, untargetable by needles, and checked with
one
roll (no modification) at each threshold. Here are the systems:

	      Computer [symbol: icon of computer terminal & keyboard
inside
a circle] -- you must plot your movement one turn in advance (e.g. if I
take
the computer hit in turn 5, when writing turn 6 orders I also write for
turn
7. In turn 7 I'll write for turn 8...). Should your computer get fixed
you
can erase what you had previously written down for the turn and write
new
orders. Should you take engine hits or repair engine damage, you still
need
to follow the orders you had written but may change the thrust levels
involved (e.g. MD4 becomes MD2 or S2+2 becomes S1+1; but you cannot
changeturns from  S to P -- the "letters" must stay intact and thrusts
cannot be reduced to zero). You do not have to plot missile firing or
fighter launching in advance -- only ship movement.

	       Communications [symbol: icon of a typical phone handset
inside a circle] -- ships with communications damage fire after all
ships
with intact communications have finished.

	       Sensors [symbol: icon of sensor dish inside a circle] --
when
firing, for weapons with multiple range categories, the target is
treated as
if it were one range category further away. For weapons with only one
range
category, the target is treated as if it were twice as far away (i.e. a
Class-1 battery has an effective range of 6).

Movement
Movement is plotted and executed normally with the following exceptions:

     -The second half of movement may be changed at mid-turn, if there
is
sufficient thrust uncommitted to allow for acceleration or turning. This
is
critical, since there is now a mid-turn combat phase (see below). If a
mid-turn change is made, roll a threshold check at current level on the
engines. If the check fails, the change cannot be made, and the engines
are
damaged at the start of the next turn (subject to damage control).

Weapons

     - All weapons fire as normal with the same ranges and damage, but
each
bearing weapon may fire once at the mid-point of a turn as well as at
the
end of movement.
     -Weapon fire is considered to be simultaneous at each half turn.
Exception is a ship with a Communications System hit.
     -Seeking weapons (e.g. SML's) may fire once at the start of the
turn,
detonating at mid-turn, and once at mid-turn, detonating at end of turn.
SM
placement is done before movement at each half turn.
     -Weapons that normally require charge time of one turn may fire
once/turn, either at start or mid turn, but a if fired at midturn cannot
fire again before the next mid-turn.

Fighters
(NOTE: Fighters may be	more powerful here due to the use of full
movement
rates each half turn. They will probably have to be a couple points more
expensive per fighter)

     -Fighters have double CEF from normal FT
     -Fighters move before ships at each half-turn at up to their full
movement rate.
     -Once attacking a target, fighters can expend an additional CEF
each
half turn to "maintain attack - basically an offensive screening effect
where the fighter automatically moves with the target.
     -Dogfights/furballs continue every half turn.
     -Fighter morale rules must be used.

Point defense

     -PDS etc., can fire every half turn.
     -Vs. fighters, Point defense is 1/2 as effective: Total PDS damage
done
vs. fighters, divide by two and round up.
     -Vs. Missiles, Point defesne is normal.

Turn Sequence
    While the sequence may seem more complex, it should acutally be
easier,
since there's no order writing phase at mid-turn, unless you're trying
to
change the course of a ship mid-turn.

     1) Write orders
     2) Initiative - Since fire is simultaneous, initiative is primarily
for
fighter etc. movement.
     3) Move fighter groups
     4) Launch slavo missiles
     5) Move ships 1/2 movement
     6) Allocate missile/fighter attacks
     7) Point defence
     8) Missile/fighter attack
     9) Ships fire, determine damage
     10) Ships change or leave move orders for 2nd half of turn
     11-18) Repeat 2-9 for second half-turn
     19) Damage Control
     20) Scanning (If using something like Simple Simon Sensors)
     21) End turn