Basic questions

[bubbacleese]

1. When does a player decide speed changes for the coming game turn. a) All players pre plan each ships speed before each turns starts or b) On the fly when it is their turn to move each ship and as the ship is moved they record the speed used which would be last turns velocity plus or minus any thrust.

2. How open are the ship sheets? Does everyone get to see what your ships make up is before the game starts, do they know if a shield is up or down or how many points it has left at any point during the turn? Or does Fog of War apply where nobody knows what the other players ships are.

3. Do you have to declare all of a specific ships weapons fire before rolling or can you declare one hard point, roll the for that hard point and then make a decision about the remaining hard points?

Thanks in advance.

[TheDreadnought]

1. You decide any changes in speed at the time you move your ship. In CBF, you don't pre-plan maneuvers. Players alternate according to initiative as described in the rules. (Assuming I'm not confusing my systems here).

2. As open as you want to be. You guys can play it with secret sheets, or open ones assuming the sensors or active enough to detect damage to enemy ships. Just decide beforehand.

3. No, you decide how weapons will be distributed before you roll attacks for any hard point.

[warchariot]

Dread has the right system.

[warchariot]

Hey, I had a little more time so I thought I'd walk through each of these questions. Dread has the right answers, but some detail might help.

1. When does a player decide speed changes for the coming game turn. a) All players pre plan each ships speed before each turns starts or b) On the fly when it is their turn to move each ship and as the ship is moved they record the speed used which would be last turns velocity plus or minus any thrust.

Each ship adjusts it's speed when it moves. This gives the small/quicker ships an advantage of position and can help them stay alive or put them into a blocking hex to soak up missilesormake them turn away to wait a better target!

2. How open are the ship sheets? Does everyone get to see what your ships make up is before the game starts, do they know if a shield is up or down or how many points it has left at any point during the turn? Or does Fog of War apply where nobody knows what the other players ships are.

We tell each other about damage to a ship if asked. We normally say untouched, some damage, hit hard, almost gone or some such. We figure if you are playing with fighters that they can report back on visible damage. For crits we generally put out a marker for things we need to remember, otherwise we forget.

3. Do you have to declare all of a specific ships weapons fire before rolling or can you declare one hard point, roll the for that hard point and then make a decision about the remaining hard points?

This is a little different than more games as you do not declare all your firing before you start. We had some trouble with this idea until we started using missiles which fire in their own phase. It made more sense to us because missile damage is done before gun firing so you get an idea about the damage (see question #1) before you declare gun fire. Also one ship can see what the last one did so you have some control there also. It works well with all of it together and both sides get the advantage.

Hope that helps.