Okay, this time I tried some heavy combat ships. Our old friend the 800 ton Mercenary Cruiser, a.k.a. the Happy Fun Ball--the MSS Cutlass, which had a pair of 50-ton cutters as well. I put it against a 400 ton Close Escort, which although it was half the size, it had 2 particle accelerators and Heavy Hull armor. I wanted to see just how my armor rules worked, having had to adapt the High Guard armor to the Book 2 rules set. The NSS Zebra also had a 30-ton gig.
DETECTION: the Close Escort, with a slightly better computer, gets surprise and begins the battle 10 hexes to the rear of the Cutlass, both moving at vector 4. If I had thought it out better, he would have been 2 hexes closer, for a first turn short range attack.
TURN 1
Zebra lets loose with 2 particle accelerators and 6 beam lasers at long range, and they all miss. Cutlass returns fire with a laser battery and 6 individual lasers, which also all miss. The Zebra launches its gig.
Cutlass moves forward, fires all its laser again, and they all miss, Zebra returns fire and all miss again.
The Cutlass launches 6 missiles and its 2 cutters. The missiles should impact at the end of turn 3.
TURN 2
Now the Zebra gets to short range and fires its 2 accelerators and 6 lasers. Both PA's hit, doing 6 damage rolls: hull, jump, turret, fuel, turret, hold. One laser hits and damages the computer.
The Cutlass returns fire and the laser battey makes one hit, for some hull damage.
The Cutlass holds course and lays down more laser fire, all misses again (the damaged computer hurts).
In its return fire, the Zebra turns the laser turrets against the wave of incoming missiles, shooting down 2 of them, while continuing to use the particle accelerators against the Cutlass (missing again).
The Cutlass launches 6 more missiles at the Zebra (inpact turn 4), and the cutters each launch a missile of their own at the Zebra (also turn 4). The Cutlass engineer tries to repair the computer and fails.
TURN 3
Still at short range, the Zebra uses the Particle Accelerators against the Cutlass, while keeping the laser turrets for use against the missiles. One PA hits, damaging a missile turret, and doing some fuel and hull damage. The lasers shoot down 3 more incoming missiles. The gig fires at a cutter, hitting the cabin, depressurizing it. The cutter returns fire at the gig and misses. The Cutlass returns fire on the Zebra, with the laser battery hitting for more hull damage.
The Cutlass continues to pour laser fire at the Zebra, to no effect. The cutters both fire on the gig, and miss. The Zebra returns fire, managing to intercept 3 more incoming missiles.
With One missile turret damaged, the Cutlass can only launch 3 more missiles this turn, but the cutters support it with one more each. The cutters missiles will hit turn 4, but the cutlass's on turn 5. The engineer attempts to repair the missile turret and fails.
TURN 4
The Zebra fires its particle accelerator at the Cutlass, getting a critical hit that causes the mercenary cruiser to completely explode all over the place, destroying it utterly. The laser turrets intercept 3 more missiles.
The cutters and gig exchange missile fire, while the Zebra uses all its guns to fend off the incoming swarm of missiles. It shoots down 3 more, but 2 missiles strike home. The hull, computer, and jump drive are all damaged, but the power plant receives a critical hit and is destroyed. The Zebra is now crippled, unable to change vector, jump or fire its weapons until rescued and rebuilt.
TURN 5
4 more missiles impact the Zebra for minor damage. The two cutters fly off to find a friendly refuge, and the gig begins rescue operations for the Zebra's crew.
LESSONS LEARNED:
Long range is for missiles, you just don't get many gun hits unless you have a big advantage in skill or computer power. Small craft suck at gunfire since their computers are so weak, but might do some good work with missiles. I was worried about PA's, Laser Batteries and Heavy Armor. All three are nice to have, but don't break things completely. The CE was half the size of the Happy Fun Ball, but without the lucky crit, I think that the 1 better computer rating was a more important factor than the armor and PA's. Man +1 is worth a lot. Once PC's start getting in the mix, it's going to get interesting. A gunnery or pilot of level 3-4 would be worth a lot.
I used the giant graph paper sheets for this battle, and that does work better than a tape measure. A hex map would be better, but the hexes need to be an inch wide. I'm using 2 inch counters for the Ships and 1 inch counters for the small craft. You just have to keep the counter centered on its space.
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