2020-2021 Season: Homebrew Rules

I came here to deliver a box labeled "Acme: House Rules" to the dusty barracks of the Interstellar Flying Circus and chew bubblegum, but I have difficulty remembering movie quotes, so if someone could please sign for this package...


Before continuing, please, take a moment to consider how you can take part to help your fellow-human in this time of crisis. Today, more than ever before, inhabitants of this planet are shedding off their mortal coils without ever having played a tabletop space-miniatures game. As sad as it is, it only gets worse when you consider that it's an avoidable outcome for millions if only we focus on simple, prevention awareness measures. Do your part to help spread awareness of this unfortunate reality: Wear a space helmet.


No one else has to go to the final space station without having known the joys of an opponent rolling boxcars on their critical chart.

HOUSE RULES

     These house rules started with a reconceptualization of two areas I'd been itching to tinker with: the initiative procedure, and how engine damage on the damage track translates to mobility.

     The initiative changes fostered further tinkering with the point-buy system for crews, which in turn required an additional tweak to missile lock-on. So, by the end of the brainstorming session, I had a total of 4 new rules to test. All had to be ship display neutral -so I don't have to change anything on the sheets.

     My purpose: a mixed bag of tweaks for personal preferences. The rules are about as simple as what we have now with a few exceptions, mainly different, so in the thoroughness of the explanation process in striving to write clear rules for presentation, they take a small bit of space to satisfactorily describe. Please poke holes in points I may have missed. Note: I haven't covered every House-specific corner case (like ASP Datalinks for example) that these changes may interact with.

I.    Crew quality- Ace, Veteran, Experienced, Rookie skill ranks sans values.
                  
       A.  Pilots 
              
            1. Pilot Points Cost: Rookie- 0; Experienced- 0; Veteran- 10; Ace- 20
                  Legendary Ace- NFS (but worth 200 TPV in morale damage if killed)

             2. Pilot ADB & Advanced Maneuvers -effects not cumulative (except Ace):
             
               ⦁  Rookie-             1d4 ADB;       Tight turn die as one craft class heavier*
               ⦁  Experienced-    1d6 ADB;      Tight turns as per craft tonnage chart
               ⦁  Veteran-            1d8 ADB;      Tight turn die as one craft class lighter
               ⦁  Ace-                  1d10 ADB;      Tight turn as Veteran + Tight turn die x2,
                                                                                                           drop highest
              
                  a. If the Randomized Activation initiative (below) isn't used, use
                     the best pilot's ADB as the sides iniative die (which is in line with the                                  Alternative Initiative Determination method in 7226 MTV).
                  b. *Optional: Rookie Pilots assigned to ultra-light attack craft may make
                        Set Cost Turns per Optional Rules in 7201 SD: TNM pp.69.             
                        This replaces their Advanced Maneuvers rule listed above for these
                        nimble spacecraft.
       
             3. Tonnage based tight turn chart:
               ⦁    >150               d4       +3        Ultra-light attack craft
               ⦁    150-500          d6       +3        Most light fighters
               ⦁    501-999          d8       +3        Most medium & heavy fighters
               ⦁    1000+             d10     +4        Extra-heavy fighters, Gunboats

        B. Gunners
             
             1. Gunner Points Cost: Rookie- 0; Experienced- 0; Veteran- 4; Ace- 10

             2. Gunner ADB:
               ⦁  Rookie-              1d4 ADB
               ⦁  Experienced-     1d6 ADB
               ⦁  Veteran-             1d8 ADB
               ⦁  Ace-                    1d10 ADB
                 
             3. Optional: Buy (BPV) Veterans & Aces Experience (to purchase skills)

                a. Veterans 3d12 drop lowest ( 15.98 / 4.44 ) mean/deviation
                b. Aces- 5d12 drop lowest ( 29.96 / 6.76 ) mean/deviation
                c. Makes skilled crew stand out at the cost of more BPV investment


     Notes: This rule adaptation does away with a stratified pecking order and quantizes crew into practical competency ranks. It's a shortcut to picking out a force list for a scenario. It also overhauls the focal point of tight turns onto the tonnage of the craft being piloted rather than just straight-up pilot skill. ⬣ A ship's BPV is assumed outfitted with an Experienced crew as the baseline. No need to buy a crewman unless you are upgrading a crew -just pick out ships and play.⬣ The main tradeoff is a loss of differentiation of a pilot's gunnery & piloting skill. I'm okay with that. I don't even mix up differing crew skill levels on the same ship anymore. Simplicity = speed. ⬣ Rookie/Green crew don't offer any discount even though they are below the baseline- that's what makes them a liability. Use them if the flavor of a scenario calls for it or in order to balance it. ⬣ Legendary Aces should probably be something you level up within MTV and is not purchasable or detailed here, but set whatever price you see fit. ⬣ This rule isn't intended for Campaign Roster building and additional tweaking may be necessary. ⬣ Specific scores can be tracked in the background for campaigns where you are using experience to improve in rank. The method to do so is self-explanatory. ⬣ Recap: In one-shot game instances, individual score purchases can be done away with. This streamlines force building since we are only after which ADB die their skill level grants because when they shoot is now more up to chance as detailed in the next rule...

II.    Randomized activation- Using playing cards, marked chits, or
        a box of bingo tokens if you have that. Assign to ship ID.

             A. When a ship's card/token comes up, it activates and moves.

             B. Ships that declare a tail (Bulldog) move after it's mark as if it was a torp.
     
     Notes: This replaces the initiative roll/phase. The goal is to mix up the standard "I-go/U-go" initiative rules. This method adds unpredictability and imbalance to the mix by creating uneven & imperfect movement sequences.  Watch my Serenity music mashup to get a feel for what I'm going for here: combat is chaotic. A pilot will have to pull out all the stops because combat isn't a synchronized chess match -it's a mosh pit. ⬣ Statistically dominating movement order shouldn't be as trivial as having a better pilot that costs a mere 5 more points over the opposing sides pilot in a 500 point match. ⬣ Shuffling the wounded duck out first in a bid to hold your best units for last is a staple of play that I'd like to replace with something less predictable. ⬣ Movement order where one side has twice as many starcrafts as the other should work itself out with the numerically over-represented side's odds of moving being baked into the draw mechanics. It will not be evenly dispersed within a match though. I expect clumpy draws that favor one side over the other from turn to turn, and that may be where this rule falls down: It will feel bad. ⬣ Still undecided whether the cannon fire phase will follow this order or default to crew quality tiers with all same tier shooting and damage being simultaneous. Leaning latter.

III.    ADB Missile Lock-on- 2d6 + ADB: The target number for a lock is 10.
    
             A. The statistical breakdown of this method:
               ⦁ Green/Rookie-   50%
               ⦁ Experienced-      62.5%
               ⦁ Veteran-              71.53%
               ⦁ Ace-                      77.22% 

     Notes: This one is 100% the result of the crew quality rule -I needed a target number for missile lock-on now that precise Gnr numbers were tossed. ⬣ This system tightens the lock-on odds between novice and highly competent gunnery ability by topping out slightly sooner than the flat skill method did. Rookies got pushed the most -they are pretty poor missile operators in the current iteration.

IV.    Overthrusting drives into the RED- Ships engines don't give out on a fixed schedule, but pushing a damaged drive has risks.

       A. The drive rating printed below the ship being the absolute maximum thrust               potential, and the last unmarked drive box on the display is its current                          safe operational threshold. The drive maximum only lowers under these                 conditions:

             1. A critical that either damage the engines (not maneuver thrusters),
               causes them to sputter, or similar will lower the maximum by 1/3 of its
               max value (round down) after the negative effects of the engine critical
               are resolved (usually reduced drive for a turn & lowered DV).
             
                 a. If a crit destroys the engines follow that result obviously

            2.  Specific damage from over thrusting. (explained below)

       B. Engine Overthrust procedure:

             1. Before the movement of a ship, nominate the number of drive points you
               wish to push the engine "into the red" by (up to the current maximum
               drive of the ship) that is over and above the safe operational threshold
               drive box showing on the damage track.

             2. Roll your Pilot's Crew Quality Die x2. If the total roll is:

                a. Over the amount of overthrust = no ill effects.
                  ⦁ Move as declared.
              
                b. Equal the amount overthrust by = lower maximum drive by 1.
                  ⦁ Move as declared -1.
               
                c. Under the amount overthrust by =  take damage equal to the difference
                   ignoring DR. If the damage taken is at least double the safe operational
                   threshold now showing: take an additional critical  -ignoring any crew
                   killed results. Lower drive maximum by 1.
                     ⦁ If your ship is still on the map it may now move the 
                       safe operational threshold listed on the damage track.

     Notes: The predictable manner in which drives break down and slow ships to a crawl like an off-brand battery-powered toy in Energizer Bunny commercials fostered this house rule.  While pilots are wise to heed instrumentation levels, sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures. ⬣ This house rule is to movement what easing target speed restrictions are to shooting- keeping player options on the table to push their waning reactors & their luck. ⬣ Was tricky to decide a balance for how punishing failure would be for the risk. Blow drives out too soon and you've just pulled forward the dead ship in space outcome. ⬣ As the most complex of the rules, it was also the most important to me. I kept it as simple as I could while still resolving the core issue that I wanted to experiment with: engines that feel more like crumbling masts in an age of sail game.

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Future rules exploration areas: Hexless movement & range sticks, Torpedos.

Ideas for improving on these rules welcome. These will be used in our matches this month for trial. Updated as needed.