COMBAT		CAMPAIGNS

SPECIAL CASES

ORBITAL INSTALLATIONS

For game purposes, an OI is essentially a ship without engines. They are used by both sides to provide basing and servicing facilities for ships, defend points in space, or carry out a variety of non-combatant tasks that are best performed off-planet. The rules covering installations are the same as those for ships, with the following exceptions.

BASIC DESCRIPTION

The hexside at the top of an OI counter is numbered 1, with the rest numbered in clockwise sequence. All references to weapons facing, armour and shielding use these side numbers, rather than the usual facings of a ship.

*****show illustration of a single-hex orbital installation*****

MOVEMENT

An OI does not move, change facing or change heading. The player controlling the OI must, however, follow the sequence of play just as if he were controlling a ship of the appropriate tonnage, and "moves" it for initiative purposes.

COMBAT

Weapons on OIs follow the same rules and restrictions as weapons mounted on ships. Their fields of fire are more limited by dead zones created by the OI's hull than comparable weapons on a ship, however, because of the OI's inability to move or reorient itself.

The weapons of an OI are emplaced on its curved surface; this is represented by noting which sides contain weapons and/or MDC-G systems (if any). Turreted weapons have a 180-degree field of fire into open space hexes on their side of the OI, and may also fire at range zero (i.e., into their own hex). Fixed weapons or MDC-Gs have a 60-degree field of fire into open space hexes on their side of the OI, but may NOT fire at range zero. A centrally-mounted Safeguard system has a 360-degree field of fire. Safeguard-1 pods may not be carried by OIs.

For missile lock-on purposes, any hex within the field of fire of a particular hardpoint or autoloader is covered by its sensors and scanners; however, different hardpoints or autoloaders may not help each other to satisfy lock-on prerequisites.

***** add new illustrations of turret and fixed weapon firing arcs *****

For example, all six sides of a TOG OI contain both turreted and fixed weapons. A Renegade fighter is 6 hexes away, and decides to close for an attack on the OI. In the next turn, the Renegade fighter moves adjacent to Side 1 and is fired on as it does so. As it is within the 60 degree arc of Side 1's fixed weapons, they may fire on it at a range of 1 (assuming that they hadn't fired on the fighter as it closed in). The turreted weapons on Sides 1, 2 and 6 may fire on the fighter, as the fighter lies within their 180 degree arcs; again, the range for these shots would be 1. None of the OI's other weapons can fire at this point. In the next turn, the Renegade fighter moves into the OI's hex and is fired on as it does so. All six turrets can fire at the fighter with a range of zero; they are not "firing backwards", for in reality the fighter is skimming closely over or under the OI. None of the fixed weapons may fire at the fighter until or unless it moves into their arc of fire; as they are fixed, they cannot rotate to cover its close skimming maneuver.

ABANDONING SHIP

In a campaign situation, the ability to save trained crewmen can be of great importance. Most fighters are equipped with ejectors for their crew, while larger ships and OIs often carry small craft to evacuate in an emergency.

SMALL SHIPS

Crewmen of ships with short-duration life support whose cockpits have ejection systems and who are conscious can eject at any time, except as otherwise noted (see DESTROYING A SHIP); they simply make the declaration and place an ejected crew counter on the board. The ejectors of all gunners and other crewmen are tied to that of their ship's pilot. These crewmen must eject when the pilot does, although the reverse is not always true. All crewmen that eject together are represented by the same ejected crew counter; note this information as needed.

An ejected crew counter may be placed at any facing anywhere within 2 hexes of the ship's position at the moment of ejection, and will drift at the last heading and velocity of the ship. The crews' emergency life support systems will keep them alive for 30 turns, minus any time in which they used emergency life support if the ship's main life support was disabled. If not picked up by the end of this time, the crewmen will die.

If a crewman's cockpit is not equipped with an ejection system and he wishes to abandon ship, he must follow the same procedure as the crewmen of large ships and OIs (see below). Unlike large ships, however, the ship's systems will not shut down unless the pilot is abandoning ship.

Ejected crews have a very limited thrust capability built into their spacesuits. They have a total of 3 thrust points available, but once used they are lost; they can all be used at once or in any other combination. They may be used to change velocity, heading and facing according to the normal movement rules.

If an ejected crew counter enters a hex containing an asteroid or wreckage, each crewman must roll less than or equal to 10 minus his velocity to survive. If he fails, he hits the obstruction and is killed; if he succeeds, he continues to drift.

Ships that are equipped with Rescue Compartments are capable of picking up drifting crewmen. RCs are small pockets within the ship's hull where a space suited crewman can strap in and hook into the ship's own life support system. The rescued crewman is protected by the ship's armour and shields if carried in an Internal RC, or by its shields alone if in an External RC, and will survive if the ship survives and the RC itself is not destroyed.

To pick up a drifting crewman, a ship must enter the same hex as the ejected crew counter, match heading and velocity and drop its shields. The ship's pilot must then make a successful Piloting Skill Roll at the end of all movement and combat. If the roll fails, he may try again during the next turn, but with a -1 cumulative die roll modifier, which ensures eventual success. When the roll succeeds, the drifting crewman has been picked up. The ship attempting pick-up may perform no other action (including making direct fire attacks, launching missiles or Decoys, or using a Safeguard system, although it may use its ECM pod, if any) while the attempt is proceeding.

All of the above presumes that the drifting crewman both wishes to be rescued and is conscious (or, if more than 1 drifting crewman is in a hex, that at least 1 is conscious; make consciousness recovery rolls as usual for those crewmen who were unconscious at the moment of ejecting). If both are not true, pick-up cannot take place -- a crewman must make some effort on his own to get into a Rescue Compartment.

Unfortunately, there are those who may wish to commit atrocities. If a ship enters a drifting crewman's hex with the intent to ram him, the ship's pilot makes a Piloting skill roll with a +3 die roll modifier, and kills the drifting crewman if he succeeds. Direct fire attacks may also be made on drifting crewmen. These are done with a +3 To-Hit die roll modifier; any hit kills the crewman. To date, only TOG pilots have carried out such acts, but the knowledge that they will face war crimes charges if captured -- or possibly be "overlooked" if forced to eject in hostile space -- tends to discourage this kind of activity.

LARGE SHIPS AND OIs

Crewmen on large ships and OIs do not generally use cockpits (see CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM), and thus do not have a quick means of abandoning ship. They must either exit the ship via its airlocks or get to an escape ship carried in a hangar bay -- both of which can take a fatally long time in combat.

A ship's commander must declare his intention to abandon ship during the Decision Phase. Once the abandonment order has been given, all of the ship's systems will cease to function except life support and hangar bays, and it will drift at its last heading and velocity.

If the crew must exit via the airlocks, it will take 1 turn per 1000 tons of ship tonnage (rounding down, with a minimum of 1 turn) before crew counters can be placed on the map. Unlike crewmen who used ejectors to abandon ship, these crew counters are placed in the same hex as their ship, and must use some or all of their 3 spacesuit thrust points to get away from the ship. All other rules pertaining to ejected crews are as usual.

If the crew must use an escape ship, it will take 1 turn per 1000 tons of the carrying ship's tonnage (rounding down, with a minimum of 1 turn) to reach the hangar bay. Once there, roll the die and divide the result by 2, rounding down, to determine how long the escape ship must wait for launch as it is powered up and the crew straps in. Once launched, the escape ship conducts all actions under the usual rules.

When a ship is being abandoned, it is traditional to cease firing on it; however, as with ejected crews, TOG pilots have sometimes been known to keep firing regardless. There are no additional modifiers to such attacks, and the target's pilot obviously cannot use his skills to counter those of the attacker.

COMBAT		CAMPAIGNS