Interceptor: Playing the Game

INTRO		PILOTS

THE GAME OF INTERCEPTOR

The basic objective in INTERCEPTOR is to destroy the enemy's ships without losing one's own. The challenge of the game is for one player to outwit his opponent and to make better use of his ships. Though it requires skill to win consistently, even the greenest pilot can sometimes make that lucky shot that cripples the experienced ace.

SEQUENCE OF PLAY

The sequence of play regulates the players' actions and gives structure to the game. Its list of events and procedures is repeated until the conflict is resolved. Each turn is divided as follows:

INITIATIVE Phase:	Both sides roll 1D10 to determine which must move first in this turn
DECISION Phase:	Each ship determines its power allocation (if necessary) and whether it will carry out any special tasks
MOVEMENT Phase:	Each side now moves its ships in an order determined by size and initiative
COMBAT Phase:	At any point during the Movement Phase, both sides may fire weapons at targets of opportunity, with damage being determined as it occurs

INITIATIVE

Within each tonnage category (see MOVEMENT PHASE below), each side rolls a single die. The side with the highest initiative die roll must move one unit first; the other side then moves a unit. Movement alternates until all units of a given size have been moved; then, the same process is repeated in descending size order until all units have been moved. If, prior to any pair of movements, one side's units of the size in question outnumbers those of the other, that side moves a proportionate number of units rather than one (i.e., if one side had three fighters against the other's one, it would move them all). In any case, however, the side that won the initiative moves at least one unit last. For initiative purposes, any surviving unit may "move", even if disabled or unable to change position.

The only exception to this procedure is when a potential target ship is within a potential attacker's front 60 degree arc, the attacker is in the target's rear 60 degree arc, the attacker is within effective weapon range (i.e., a range at which one or more of its currently-operating weapons can do damage), and the attacking ship is both under control and has a conscious pilot. If these conditions are met, the attacker may choose to make the target move first and himself move immediately thereafter, regardless of any other initiative rolls or requirements.

POWER ALLOCATION

With very few exceptions, fighters are built with powerplants that can provide enough energy to operate all of their systems at the same time. This is not always the case for patrol class ships and orbital installations, for a variety of reasons. The challenge for such a ship's commander is to balance the power demands of weaponry, shielding, maneuverability and auxiliary equipment against the requirements of the tactical situation in order to defeat the enemy.

A ship's powerplant is rated in terms of the total number of Energy Points (EPs) that it can produce each turn. EPs are lost if not used in the turn they are allocated. Unused EPs may not be accumulated from turn to turn. Power allocation is shown on the Ship Record Sheet by checking each system that will receive EPs in a given turn. The effects of such allocations are as follows:

THRUST: If a ship wishes to use any or all of its slower-than-light engines to produce thrust points, it must allocate a number of EPs equal to the power rating of the engine(s), as shown on its record sheet. These thrust points can then be used to accelerate, decelerate and maneuver -- see MOVEMENT. A ship's normal thrust rating assumes that all of its engines are operating; if one or more are disabled or are not being powered, the maximum number of thrust points that can be generated are reduced proportionately.

WEAPONS: Most weapons require EPs to fire in the Combat Phase; the cost for each is individually listed. All weapons in a TOT array must be powered if any are (see below). The player must specify which weapons are being energized before movement commences (i.e., if a player powers all left-side weapons and his intended victim never comes into their arc of fire, they must either find another target or the EPs will be wasted.)

SHIELDS: If a ship's shields are powered at all, each must receive at least enough EPs to produce a flicker rate of 10 on all six sides of the ship. The cost of each additional 10 points of flicker rate per side is listed; again, the player must determine which shields (if any) will be reinforced before movement commences, up to the maximum flicker rate possible for the ship's powerplant.

ANTI-GRAVS: Any non-streamlined ship equipped with anti-grav lifters must provide EPs for them before moving into an atmosphere hex and must continue to do so while moving through atmosphere; otherwise, it will immediately lose altitude and possibly crash (see below). The EP cost of anti-gravs is not variable.

FTL DRIVE: Once a ship has completed T-Space entry calculations, it spends a single turn on the board while it makes the transition to FTL velocity. During that turn, it must provide EPs to the FTL drive; if it cannot do so, it cannot leave the battle until such time as it is able to provide enough EPs, and in any case must stay on its straight-line course unless it aborts the calculations. The EP cost of FTL drive is not variable.

SPECIAL TASKS

During the Decision Phase, a ship's commander may carry out any or all of the following tasks, depending on circumstances and damage, unless specifically stated otherwise.

DECLARE T-SPACE TRANSITION: If sufficient EPs have been allocated to the ship's FTL Drive and the T-Space calculations have been made, the ship's commander may declare transition. It spends this turn on the board, functioning normally in all respects except that it must maintain its straight-line course, and is removed from play at the end of the turn. See TRAVELING FASTER THAN THE SPEED OF LIGHT, below.

LAUNCH / RECOVER SMALL CRAFT: If a PCS or OI carries any small craft, one may be launched or recovered from each bay per turn at this point. A launched ship takes on the facing, heading and velocity of its carrier at the moment of launch; to recover, it must enter the carrier's hex and match the carrier's heading, facing and velocity. If the carrier is an OI, a launched ship may have any velocity up to SOT, and it may take on any heading, but its heading and facing must be the same; to recover, the ship must enter the OI's hex at a velocity of 1, and its heading and facing must be the same. See MOVEMENT and CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM for further details.

ABANDON SHIP: Any ship or OI that is being abandoned may use its crew's ejection seats or other evacuation methods to allow its surviving crew to escape. Place a ejected crew counter or other mutually-agreeable single-hex, single-sided counter on the appropriate hex to indicate their release. Further details are in the ABANDONING SHIP section.

DROP HARDPOINT LOADS: Any ship with missiles or pods on its hardpoints (not in an Autoloader -- see below) that wishes to can drop them without combat effect. This can be done to relieve a crewman's task overload (see PILOTS AND CREW) or lighten the ship (see VARIABLE MASS AND THRUST CALCULATION).

REALLOCATE CREW ROLES: If desired or necessary, crewmen can abandon control of weapons, take control of other weapons, or take flight control of a ship. See PILOTS AND CREW for details.

INTRO PILOTS