Firestorm: Armada Unofficial Campaign Rules. By Brian Schumacher a.k.a. DarkExcalibur42

Transcription

1 Firestorm: Armada Unofficial Campaign Rules By Brian Schumacher a.k.a. DarkExcalibur42

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3 3 Table of Contents How To Use This Manual.. pg. 5 Setting Up a Game. pg. 5 Points of Interest pg. 7 Terrain Features. pg. 7 Way Stations.. pg. 10 Strategic Facilities.. pg. 10 Constructing Strategic Facilities pg. 16 Modes of Production pg. 17 Production Points & Shipyards.. pg. 17 Repair Facilities & Repairing with Shipyards... pg. 17 Overtime Production & Consequences (Module). pg. 18 Applying Refits (Module). pg. 19 Diplomatic Favor & Embassies (Module)... pg. 20 Casualties & Diplomatic Debt... pg. 20 Purchasing Favor... pg. 21 Supply (Module)... pg. 21 Fleet Supplies pg. 22 Supply Convoys. pg. 23 Sample Convoys pg. 24 Fleet Construction. pg Point Leeway Rule. pg. 25 Minimum Fleet Compositions... pg. 25 Non-Standard Fleet Penalties. pg. 26 Support Ships. pg. 26 The Campaign Round pg. 29 Movement on the Campaign Map. pg. 30 On Patrol / Intercept Movements.. pg. 30 Transporting Ships & Installations without FSDs. pg. 30 Discount for Ships with No FSD or Slow FSD (Module) pg. 31 Corvettes pg. 31

4 4 Wing Logistics... pg. 32 Wing Reallocation. pg. 32 Resolving Battles... pg. 33 Battle Map Set-Up. pg. 33 Maximum Combat Duration.. pg. 33 Emergency Repairs pg. 33 Crew Recovery.. pg. 34 Wing Recovery.. pg. 34 Strategic Attacks pg. 34 Blockade pg. 35 Orbital Bombardment pg. 35 Planetary Invasion. pg. 35 Planetary Occupation. pg. 36 Strategic Bombing (Module) pg. 36 Battle Stars / Experience System (Module).. pg. 37 Escape Pods, Battle Stars, & CP/AP Recovery. pg. 38 Modified Escape Pod Rolls (Module)... pg. 38 Naval Intelligence (Module). pg. 38 Listening Posts... pg. 39 Capturing Enemy Vessels.. pg. 39 Strategic Advantage Points / SAPs pg. 40 Ultra Intelligence... pg. 40 Installation Statistics.. pg. 42 Planet/Ship Trackers.. pg. 46 Sample Campaign Map.. pg. 49 Glossary. pg. 50

5 5 How to Use This Manual When I started making these rules, I knew that there would be a lot of division between players upon exactly how complicated and how detailed they wanted rules to be for a campaign-type scenario. With that in mind, I ve designed these rules very modularly. What I mean by that is a lot of the more detail-oriented rules are selfcontained enough that they can be removed or ignored completely without unbalancing game-play. These subsets of rules will be denoted with (Module) after their names. Players who dislike one or more Module can simply leave those rules out of their games while still having a balanced system. Disabling Modules doesn t take anything away from the core strategic game play of a campaign, however for those players who are willing to adopt the mechanics it can be very rewarding! My advice is to start out with just a select few modules for your first campaign and work up from there. I put a lot of work into this, so I hope all you on the forums enjoy it! Setting Up a Game In order to set up a game, you first need to have a campaign map. This is probably going to be something you and the other players design, a map you get off the forums, or something you ve been able to convert (the Storm Zone map on pages 6 and 7 of the core rule book isn t too far off). For the purposes of this manual, I will be using a sparsely populated 8.5in x 12in map (included with the Sample Campaign) and discuss the minimum necessary components to play a reasonably sized game. However you decide to set things up, players are restricted to having one Homeworld as losing your Home World is generally considered game over. In larger games, you could play until one side has lost its Home World and all Colony Worlds. At minimum, each player should have 3 battle groups (ranging from 350-points to 1000-points), 2x Supply Depots/Colony Worlds, and 1x Homeworld. The sample campaign described in this book will make use of 1x Homeworld, 2x Colony Worlds, & 2x Supply Depots. Homeworlds in the sample campaign each start with one of each shipyard and 60 Strategic Resource Points to spend across all Settlements as desired.

6 6 At the start of a Campaign all Supply Depots, Colonies, & Homeworlds receive their full FW in Wings at no charge. Supply Depots receive 100pts worth of Installations, Colonies receive 200pts, and Homeworlds receive 300pts. The following are recommendations for game sizes and starting resources, however all variables (Battle Group sizes, # of Battle Groups, # of Supply Depots/Colonies/Homeworlds, # of starting SRP) are completely at the discretion of the players. For three player games, it is recommended that 2 players be allied and the third player be given double the number of Battle Groups, Supply Depots, Colonies, Homeworlds, SRP, and a second set of Shipyards. Small Game A small game consists of 3x 350pt Battle Groups, 1x 500pt Battle Group, 2x Supply Depots, 2x Colonies, & 1x Homeworld per player. Players have 60 Strategic Resource Points to purchase Strategic Facilities and receive 1x of each Shipyard for free. Medium Game A medium game consists of 3x 500pt Battle Groups, 1x 750pt Battle Group, 2x Supply Depots, 2x Colonies, & 1x Homeworld per player. Players have 60 Strategic Resource Points to purchase Strategic Facilities and receive 1x of each Shipyard for free. Large Game A large game consists of 3x 500pt Battle Groups, 1x 750pt Battle Group, 1x 1,000pt Battle Group, 3x Supply Depots, 2x Colonies, & 1x Homeworld per player. Players have 75 Strategic Resource Points to purchase Strategic Facilities and receive 1x of each Shipyard for free. Low-Point Large Game A low-point large game consists of 6x 350pt Battle Groups, 1x 500pt Battle Group, 1x 750pt Battle Group, 6x Supply Depots, 2x Colonies, & 1x Homeworld per player. Players have 120 Strategic Resource Points to purchase Strategic Facilities and receive 1x of each Shipyard for free.

7 7 Massive Game A massive game consists of 4x 500pt Battle Groups, 2x 1,000pt Battle Groups, 4x Supply Depots, 3x Colonies, & 1x Homeworld per player. Players have 120 Strategic Resource Points to purchase Strategic Facilities and receive 1x of each Shipyard for free. Epic Game An epic game consists of 4x 500pt Battle Groups, 3x 750pt Battle Groups, 1x 1,000pt Battle Group, 1x 1,500pt Battle Group, 6x Supply Depots, 4x Colonies, & 1x Homeworld per player. Players have 150 Strategic Resource Points to purchase Strategic Facilities and receive 1x of each Shipyard for free. Points of Interest A Point of Interest is any place on the campaign map (such as a planet, an asteroid, or another Terrain Feature) that can support Strategic Facilities or an Outpost or otherwise affect the game. The term Outpost refers to all tactical installations (Gun Drones, Gun Platforms, Satellites, Space Stations, etc.) present at a specific Point of Interest. Strategic Facilities refers to any of a number of items that affect the campaign map which must be placed on a Point of Interest, but don t impact combat (such as a Shipyard). Points of Interest do not have to have to have Strategic Facilities. Outposts do not have to be placed at the location of a Strategic Facility; facilities can instead be left undefended if desired. Terrain Features The following are a list of things featured on a campaign map that can impact game play. You can use these features to construct your own maps as well. In addition, I included any symbols that were used on the maps included in the core rules with suggested interpretations of how to represent them with these campaign rules.

8 8 Black Hole: Any battles resolved here use the Event Horizon described in the core rules. Corporate Facility: Same as Inhabited system. Gas Giant: A gas giant cannot support either a Colony or Homeworld, only a Supply Depot. Any Mining Operation built here produces an additional +2 Strategic Resources. Battles resolved at this location use the Gravity Well described in the core rules. Inhabited System: This is a Point of Interest that can support a Supply Depot, Colony, or Homeworld. When adapting portions of the Storm Zone or Campaign map from the core rules, it is recommended these be most commonly represented with Colony Worlds and occasionally with Homeworlds. o Inhabited System, Capital: When adapting portions of the Storm Zone or Campaign map from the core rules, this should always be represented with a Homeworld. Military Base: This is a Point of Interest that can support a Supply Depot, Colony, or Homeworld. When adapting portions of the Storm Zone or Campaign map from the core rules, it is recommended these be most commonly represented with Colony Worlds and a substantial point value of Installations (400pts) which should include an asteroid installation. Military Outpost: This is a Point of Interest that can support a Supply Depot (but not a Colony or Homeworld). These are usually small installations on asteroids or small moons. When adapting portions of the Storm Zone or Campaign map from the core rules,

9 9 it is recommended these be represented with a Supply Depot defended by 200pts of Installations. Navy Docks: This is a Point of Interest that can support a Supply Depot, Colony, or Homeworld. When adapting portions of the Storm Zone or Campaign map from the core rules, it is recommended these be represented with Homeworlds that possess a Medium and Heavy Shipyard. Alternatively, it could be represented with a Colony World possessing a Light and Medium Shipyard. Phenomenon: Whenever a fleet attempts a shunt that passes through a phenomenon, roll 1d6. On a result of 1 or 2, the shunt is interrupted and the fleet is placed in the center of the phenomena. When attempting to shunt away from a phenomenon roll 1d6. The attempt fails on a result of 1 and the fleet does not move. For any battles taking place within the area of a phenomenon roll, 2d3 and place that many Distortion Fields in addition to other terrain. Raider Sector: For any battles taking place within Raider Sectors, use the Pirate Raiders scenario rule described in the Space Marauder/Pirate Rules PDF available for download from Spartan Games website. Science Facility: This is a Point of Interest that can support a Supply Depot, Colony, or Homeworld. When adapting portions of the Storm Zone or Campaign map from the core rules, it is recommended these be most commonly represented with Colony Worlds with an R&D Strategic Facility.

10 10 Way Station: Way Stations are small artificial outposts in the middle of empty space, often along trade routes or other similarly traveled paths. These should be represented with one large Space Station and as many as two additional squadrons of small installations. Once a Way Station possesses a massive installation, it can support a Supply Depot (but not before). If the massive installation is destroyed, then so is the Supply Depot. Way Stations extend the range of Supply Convoys by one shunt from their location. Wreckage Field: For any battles taking place within the area of a wreckage field, roll 2d3 and place that many Asteroid Fields in addition to other terrain. Way Stations Mentioned previously in the Terrain Features section, Way Stations are subjects which require special consideration. A Way Station is not a Strategic Facility, and oftentimes is not even located on a PoI or other important point. However, Way Stations provide a major strategic benefit and are something that players can create in-game. To create a Way Station, you simply need to deploy a Large Installation to a location you would like to have a Way Station. Once deployed, all Supply Convoys that can travel to the Way Station can increase their effective range to one additional shunt centered on the location of the Way Station. Multiple Way Stations can be arranged in sequence to create Supply Routes which will each provide the same benefit as the previous one, in essence creating a highway for your Supply Convoys to travel across. Strategic Facilities Strategic Facilities are placed on Strategic Locations on the campaign map either at the start of the game or constructed on one during play. A location may support a single Facility. Settlements (Supply Depot, Colony World, Homeworld) are a specific type of Strategic Facility that can be placed to increase. Each PoI may only have one settlement. Construction will be detailed later in this section.

11 11 Homeworld: Your Homeworld is the center of your production capacity and allows for the creation of Colony Worlds if you defend it. This is your highest producer of Supply (see pg. 21). Can support a shipyard of any size. o Regenerates 3 supply levels/turn, supports up to 3 supply convoys. o Generates 3 Strategic Resources per campaign round. o Can build up to 3x Wings per Campaign Round if available FW. o Can support up to 3 additional Strategic Facilities. o The following stats are provided for use with various modules DR: 07 CR: 14 HP: 30 CP: 40 PD: 09 FW: 10 MAR: Strengthened Hull o Cannot be purchased. (Optional, costs 80 SRP) Colony World: Your colonies are home away from home, whole civilizations providing resources towards the war effort. Can support a Medium or Light shipyard. o Regenerates 2 supply levels/turn, supports up to 2 supply convoys. o Generates 2 Strategic Resource per campaign round. o Can support up to 2 additional Strategic Facilities. o Can build up to 2x Wings per Campaign Round if available FW. o The following stats are provided for use with various modules DR: 06 CR: 13 HP: 20 CP: 30 PD: 07 FW: 08 MAR: Strengthened Hull o Costs 40 Strategic Resources. Placing a Colony on a Supply Depot removes the Depot but gives the Colony 15 Strategic Resources.

12 12 Supply Depot: A minor production facility. Affordable way to get resources to the front lines. Can support a Light shipyard. o Regenerates 1 supply level per turn, can support a supply convoy. o Generates 1 Strategic Resource per campaign round o Can build 1 Wing per Campaign Round if available FW. o Can support an additional Strategic Facilities. o The following stats are provided for use with various modules DR: 06 CR: 12 HP: 15 CP: 20 PD: 05 FW: 06 MAR: Strengthened Hull o Costs 20 Strategic Resources. Shipyards: Any amount of a shipyard s Production Points can be redistributed to the production of wings, assuming there are bays available to support them. o Heavy Shipyards can build or repair any Large, Medium, or Small ship. When building light ships, Heavy Shipyards must build two at the same time and both must be completed before launching. Build Rates: 40 PP/round (60PP/round overtime) Repair Rates: 5pts total from any ships (7pts overtime) Costs 30 Strategic Resources. o Medium Shipyards can build or repair any Small or Medium ships. Gunships can only be built at Heavy Shipyards. R&D Cruisers can only be built at R&D Labs. Build Rates: 30 PP/round (50PP/round overtime) Repair Rates: 3pts from Small/Medium ships (5pts overtime) Costs 15 Strategic Resources.

13 13 o Small Shipyards can only build or repair Small Ships. Build Rates: 20 PP/round (40PP/round overtime) Repair Rates: 2pts Small ships (4pts overtime). Costs 10 Strategic Resources. Repair Facility: Repair facilities are stripped-down shipyards. While not having the same production capacities, they are perfectly capable of patching up even the most badly damaged vessels. o Repair Rates: 4pts from any local ships (7pts overtime) o Costs 10 Strategic Resources. Research & Development Laboratory R&D Labs are a pre-requisite facility to building certain types of ships and potentially other items as well (some described in later modules). R&D Labs allow a faction to produce its R&D Cruisers at any of its shipyards. These cannot be constructed without an R&D Lab. R&D Labs are also central to the Strategic Weapons module and a prerequisite to allow Heavy Shipyards to construct Dreadnoughts. o Acts as a Medium Shipyard, but can only construct R&D cruisers. o Costs 15 Strategic Resources. Embassy (Module): This facility houses your Diplomatic Corps and coordinates with any allies your faction may have (Alliance of Kurak / Zenian League). Over time, it accumulates Diplomatic Favor with your Alliance which can be exchanged for reinforcements or other benefits. If you have a single Embassy, it accumulates 15 Diplomatic Favor per round. Two Embassies accumulate 35 DF/round (+20DF/round), and three Embassies accumulate 60 DF/round (+25DF/round). The value of each Embassy increases by 5

14 14 DF/round, so a 4 th would grant an additional +30DF/round. Allied fleets summoned this way follow the shortest route of shunting from off the map and to your Homeworld (or whichever Colony world is closest to the edge of the map if you ve lost your Homeworld) and cannot be commanded until they arrive. o With one embassy, you can exchange DF for a Supply Convoy sent to any one of your worlds. Cost is 20DF plus an additional 5DF for each shunt required to reach its destination. A Supply Convoy takes the shortest route from off the map to its destination without passing through enemy territory. Allied Convoys are defended by one full squadron of corvettes/frigates and one minimum squadron of cruisers of the faction they represent. If the convoy is destroyed either en route or during its return trip, you lose 300DF with the faction you purchased it from (which can put you into negatives). o With two embassies, you can exchange DF equal to the point value of one Small squadron and one Medium squadron of ships from a single allied faction. o With three embassies, you can exchange DF to purchase complete alliance/support fleets or fleets from a core faction. Standard fleetbuilding rules apply. If you later decide to integrate these ships with your own fleets, you must follow the rules for Alliance fleet building or suffer the penalties for non-standard fleets (pg. 26). o Costs 15 Strategic Resources.

15 15 Listening Post (Module): These are espionage centers which eavesdrop on enemy communications within two shunts of their placement. Battles that occur at the location of a Listening Post you control grant you the Espionage MAR. o Listening Posts have an effective range of 3 Shunts. For each Supply Depot within range of one of your Listening Posts, you gain +1d6 to your Naval Intelligence roll. Each Colony World adds +2d6, and each Homeworld adds +3d6. A world only provides bonus dice once no matter how many Listening Posts it is within range of. Each round during the resources step, you make a single Naval Intelligence roll to earn Strategic Advantage Points. This functions identically to Intelligence Recovery rolls for captured ships (detailed on pg. 39). The roll is made at 4+, and each successful roll offers a "Strategic Advantage Point and rolling 6 grants 2 Strategic Advantage Points (SAPs) plus a re-roll. If you would earn 5 SAP from your Intelligence roll, you may instead choose to trade those SAPs for a single Ultra (see pg. 40). o Costs 5 Strategic Resources. Mining Operation (Module): A facility gathering resources vital to the war effort. o Produces +2 Strategic Resource/round (+4/round in overtime). o Costs 10 Strategic Resources Trade Center (Module): A major hub for commerce, this grants +2 to the maximum number of supply convoys that can be supported by this location. Maximum one per location. Does not expend a Strategic Facility slot. o Costs 5 Strategic Resources.

16 16 Constructing Strategic Facilities Strategic Facilities are purchased with Strategic Resource Points, which your Homeworld generates at a rate of 3 points per campaign round, Colony Worlds produce at a rate of 2 point per campaign round, & Supply Depots produce 1 point per campaign round. Strategic Resources are NOT a global currency (except for the SRP s granted at the start of a campaign); they are produced and stored on their world of origin. This means that when Colony Alpha generates its 1 Strategic Resource for the round, it sits on Colony Alpha and it does not go into a pool with the 3 Strategic Resources generated by its Homeworld. Strategic Resources can be transported between worlds by Supply Convoys, which are detailed on pg. 23. In the above-listed descriptions for Strategic Facilities is an included cost in Strategic Resources to build. This cost must be paid from a single world, and the Facility is produced there or a construction/colonization convoy is deployed from that world to the destination world (this counts towards the world s Supply Convoy limit). If the convoy is destroyed in transit, all Strategic Resources spent on it are lost. In addition, the destination for this new Facility must have the room to support it. Unpopulated worlds can only support a single Facility. Settlements do count towards this limit, but grant additional slots. Placing a Supply Depot (+1), Colony (+2), or Homeworld (+3) on a Point of Interest grants additional slots for the placement of Strategic Facilities. A Settlement may be placed on a world with no available slots so long as the number of Facilities does not exceed total available slots afterwards. This makes expansion and colonization of additional worlds vital to maintaining your fleet and diversifying the types of production facilities you have. For example, you could put three shipyards on your Homeworld, but then it would be too costly to run all three of them in overtime at once and you wouldn t be able to have anything else on that planet. Alternatively, you could place an Embassy, Heavy Shipyard, & Repair Facility on that same Homeworld. A Point of Interest may only contain one Supply Depot, Colony, or Homeworld. You may replace a Supply Depot by placing or building a Colony there and receive a 15 SRP refund, but you may not build a Supply Depot on any PoI already occupied by a Colony or Homeworld. Likewise, you cannot build a Colony on a PoI occupied by a Homeworld. Optionally, you may upgrade a Colony to a Homeworld for 50 SRP.

17 17 Modes of Production There are two means of gaining new units in a campaign: Production & Diplomacy. The primary means of gaining new ships will be building your own via shipyards. In addition, Shipyards can also be used to enact repairs on damaged ships or grant Refit bonuses. An alternative means of receiving new squadrons is that of diplomatically requesting them from an allied faction. Both types of production will be detailed in this section. Production Points & Shipyards Light, Medium, & Heavy shipyards have a Production Point/round rating attached to them: 20PP/round for Light, 30PP/round for Medium, & 40PP/round for Heavy. This is how much progress they can make on whatever they are constructing each turn. Production Points CANNOT be saved from one round to the next; however a shipyard that completes a ship may begin construction of a new ship in the same round if it has production capacity still available. It does not cost anything for a shipyard to operate at this level of production, however if the location s supply level is reduced to Rationed or Depleted they suffer penalties. A shipyard operating under Rationed Supply can only work at a maximum of 15PP/round. A shipyard operating under Depleted supplies can still only make 15PP/round of progress, but must also roll 1d6. On a result of 1 or 2, no production progress is made this round due to lack of resources. Repair Facilities & Repairing with Shipyards In addition to constructing new vessels, shipyards have the secondary feature of being able to repair damaged vessels. Repairing a ship is significantly easier than building a new one, no matter how seriously damaged it is. Where it would take 5 to 6 turns to build a new Battleship using a heavy shipyard, it would only take a maximum of 2 turns to repair one fully. A shipyard may either work on producing a new ship or repair a damaged ship, but may not do both in the same turn. Repair Facilities are specialized stations designed exclusively with the intent of rapidly replacing battle-damaged sections of a ship and are staffed by expert personnel.

18 18 While unable to construct new ships, they can repair damaged vessels much more quickly than can a shipyard. Overtime Production & Consequences (Module) Placing a facility into overtime production can dramatically improve its production output, but at the cost of the safety of the facility. Shipyards, Repair Facilities, and Mining Operations all have this feature and all suffer slightly different penalties in the event of failure. When a Mining Operation operates in overtime, it does not reduce supply level as most other facilities do. However, you must roll a d6 each turn the mine runs on overtime. On a 1 or 2, the mine is destroyed. Shipyards have a second rating, and this is the overtime production rating (40PP/round for Light, 50PP/round for Medium, & 60PP/round for Heavy). This is how quickly your shipyards can build if rushed, however this affects the safety of working conditions in your facilities and drains resources at an accelerated rate. To operate a shipyard in overtime, you must first reduce the Supply of the location by one level to represent the increased economic drain caused by such a high level of operation. Second, roll 2d6 for the shipyard. If either result is a 1, no production progress is made this round due to manufacturing errors. If both dice roll 1, a serious accident damages the shipyard and results in 30PP of repairs for a light shipyard, 40PP for a medium, and 50PP for a heavy shipyard. These damages must be repaired before work may continue. If a damaged shipyard is operating under overtime and rolls any 1 s, the entire shipyard is destroyed and any ship under construction is lost. Another way that Shipyards can be damaged is during Orbital Bombardment (see pg. 35). Repair Facilities can also operate in overtime by reducing the local Supply by one level. Repair Facilities operating in overtime roll 2d6. If either result is a 1, no repairs are made this turn. If both dice roll 1, the facility is dealt 6pts of damage. No other facility may repair this damage; the Repair Facility must repair this before it can continue normal operations. If the Repair Facility attempts to repair itself in overtime and rolls any 1 s the facility is destroyed. Shipyards repairing in overtime suffer the same penalties for failure as described above for production.

19 19 Applying Refits (Module) The ability to apply refits is a feature exclusively available to Heavy Shipyards. Refits are small statistical bonuses that can be added to large & massive capital class ships that have attained appropriate veterancy status. This module operates jointly with the Battle Stars / Experience system detailed on pg. 37, and is not recommended to be used without it. A Large or Massive Capital-class ship can receive a refit worth a total of 5pts for every 4 Battle Stars that ship possesses. Refits are statistical increases, and as such they MAY NOT increase any of a ship s statistics beyond the maximum rating given for a ship of the class being refitted. The costs listed are in Production Points, as a Shipyard is required to apply them. Only Terrans, Aquans, & Sorylians can purchase SH refits. Only Dindrenzi, Directorate, & Relthozans can purchase SH* refits. However, Dindrenzi & Directorate ships can only receive cloak upgrades from a Research & Development Laboratory as they are experimental. In place of these bonuses, players may choose to purchase a MAR off the Refit MARs list below for 5pts. A ship s refit may never include more than two MARs. Refit bonuses may be replaced by applying new refits in their place. Refit MAR Options: Bigger Batteries Counter Measures Deck Crews (pre-requisite FW>0) Double Mines Drone Mines (Aquan Only) Energy Transfer (Aquan Only) FSD Boarders (Directorate Only) Launch Tubes Lots of Guns (Sorylian Only) Maneuverable Mine Launchers Point Defense Barrage (Relthoza Only) Protected Systems Reinforced Fore Reinforced Port/Star Scatter Cannon (Fore) (Sorylian Only) Refits for Large Ships Upgrade Cost Total of +3 to DR, 5pts CR, MV, and/or HP +2 PD, +1 SH, or SH* 5pts Refits for Massive Ships Upgrade Cost Total of +2 to DR, 5pts CR, MV, and/or HP +2 PD, +1 SH, or SH* 5pts Sector Shielding (Terran Only) Special Forces Strengthened Hull Superior Design (Dindrenzi Only) Torpedo Spook (Terran Only) Upgraded Torpedoes

20 20 Diplomatic Favor & Embassies (Module) Embassies are a second route by which to acquire additional forces, and this is how allied fleets and alliance mechanics are brought into the campaign game. Rather than each Embassy individually producing ships or benefits like shipyards, they work collectively: the more Embassies you have the more Diplomatic Favor they produce. One Embassy produces 15DF/round; two produce more than double that at 35DF/round (an additional 20DF/round); three produce 60DF/round (+25DF/round). Each additional Embassy produces 5 more Diplomatic Favor than the last one produced. Diplomatic Favor is a global resource, and not stored at any individual world. However, when Diplomatic Favor is earned it must immediately be assigned towards a specific faction and cannot be assigned to the same faction the player is representing. For example, a Terran player earns 60DF this round. This player MUST select an allied faction to declare these points towards, and the three choices are Aquan, Sorylian, or the Alliance of Kurak. Because this player is already fielding a Terran force he/she cannot earn Diplomatic Favor with the Terrans. In this way, should you suddenly find yourself in DF debt with one ally you can begin negotiations with another one rather than pay off the debt. Rather than constructing your own ships, Diplomatic Favor allows you to request aid from an allied faction outside the game map and they respond by sending 2 or more squadrons of ships to your Homeworld (or Colony World of your choice should you not possess a Homeworld). Any fleets requested must fully comply with the standard fleet composition rules given in the core rules for Firestorm: Armada, but may use the minimum fleet composition rules given on pg.25 as well as the 5pt Leeway Rule. Casualties & Diplomatic Debts Allies are like investors: they don t want to commit resources to a failing business. If it appears you are holding a losing position, they will be unlikely to provide additional resources for your battle. This is represented by the game-play mechanic of Diplomatic Debt. Simply put, it s just a negative value of Diplomatic Favor with a specific ally. This can be accomplished numerous ways, but the most common way is by losing allied ships. For each allied ship under your command that is destroyed, you

21 21 suffer a negative value of Diplomatic Favor with that ally equal to ½ the ship s cost rounded up to the nearest 5. For each allied ship under your command that is captured, you suffer a negative value of DF equal to that ship s cost. Purchasing Favor Everything s for sale if you can afford to pay the price! It is possible to increase DF with factions by way of your Supply Convoys. By sending a Supply Convoy to a Campaign Map edge connected to your faction s or an ally s territory you can exchange Supply for Diplomatic Favor at a rate of 10DF per point of Supply sent. Players may also purchase Supply by sending 15DF via Supply Convoy. Rules detailing the operation of a Supply Convoy are detailed on pg. 23. Supply (Module) Supply is a statistic applicable to any Point of Interest by either a facility or an outpost. It is a measure of the location s level of resources, and low supply can have dangerous consequences. While Supply is listed as a Module, it is a highly recommended Module! There are four levels of supply: Surplus, Supplied, Rationed, & Depleted. Surplus offers no statistical advantage, but it gives the location an additional level of supply to wear through before it begins to suffer penalties. Supplied is the default level of resources, and the level which all locations default to when initially constructed or at the start of the game. Supply can be reduced in several ways: it can degrade over time, reduced as the result of a combat, spent to power facilities (such as overtime abilities), transferred to a supply convoy, or reduced by Strategic Bombing. Any Point of Interest that does not include a Supply Depot, Colony World, or Homeworld degrades 1 level of supply every two rounds. Whenever a Point of Interest is the location of a battle, its level of supply is reduced by one step at the end of the campaign round. When a supply convoy is launched, if it is loaded with supplies it reduces the supply level locally by one step. When a location is reduced to Rationed, all installations and some facilities at that location suffer penalties. A shipyard operating under Rationed Supply can only work at

22 22 a maximum of 15PP/round. Repair Facilities & Shipyard repair rates are unaffected. An Embassy operating under Rationed supply status provides 10DF/round less than normal. Installations suffer a penalty to all of their Primary Weapons and Turrets (this does not affect wings). Small installations suffer a -1 penalty to AD, medium installations suffer a -2AD penalty, and large or massive installations suffer a -3AD penalty. This penalty may be ignored, but if a weapon ignoring the penalty rolls 1's or 2's on half or more of it's Attack Dice it is disabled for the remainder of the battle (out of ammo). Below Rationed is Depleted, the minimum level supply can be reduced to. Any location at this level of supply cannot use any ability that requires a reduction of supply level. A Shipyard operating under Depleted supplies can still only make 15PP/round of progress, but must also roll 1d6. On a result of 1 or 2, no production progress is made this round due to lack of resources. When an Outpost is reduced to Depleted, it is in dire straights. Roll 1d6 for each Wing in the outpost. On a 1 or 2 that Wing cannot be launched because it is out of fuel. Small installations suffer a -2 penalty to AD, medium installations suffer a -3AD penalty, and large or massive installations suffer a -4AD penalty. This penalty may be ignored, but if a weapon ignoring the penalty rolls 1's, 2's, or 3's on half or more of its Attack Dice it is disabled for the remainder of the battle (out of ammo). Fleet Supplies Optionally, you can track supply level for fleets as well. A fleet degrades one supply level for each battle that it engages in, and suffers the same penalties as described for installations in the above section. At the start of a campaign round, the supply level of any fleet is brought up to the level of supply of any Supply Depot, Colony World, or Homeworld it is located on. Fleets whose supply level is higher than this do not change. To re-supply a fleet in the field, you may deploy a Supply Convoy to its location. I recommend this variant rule to assist with games where the risk exists for sizable differences in the size of fleets deployed by either player (such as in games with high point value starting fleets).

23 23 Supply Convoys Supply Convoys are the means by which Supplies and Strategic Resources transported on the map. Supply Depots are allowed on Supply Convoy at a time, Colony Worlds are allowed two, and Homeworlds are allowed three. Once a Supply Convoy is deployed, it must follow the shortest route to its destination while still being permitted to go around terrain features. Supply Convoys cannot be deployed without a destination. A Supply Convoy can carry 1 level of Supply, 1 Strategic Resource, 1 Strategic Facility, 1 squadron of small installations, 1 large installation, or 15CP/AP. You may load any of these items onto a Supply Convoy by removing them from the location you are loading from. To load a Strategic Facility, it must be purchased and placed directly onto the Supply Convoy. When the Convoy reaches its target destination, the Strategic Facility is unloaded and placed so long as there is an available slot for it. Loading 15CP/AP is done by spending Supply. Only Supply from Supply Depots, Colony, or Homeworlds can be spent for CP/AP. Supply Convoys can move freely about the campaign map, but are still considered attached to their location of origin in regards to deployment limitations. Supply Convoys need not be fielded as literal point-valued civilian forces. Instead, players need only concern themselves with the Convoy s defenders. A single convoy possesses 60pts worth of small ships & Wings as defense. If multiple convoys are traveling together, you may pool their defenders for a collective defense. You may choose to assign up to one additional squadron of small ships and/or one additional squadron of medium ships to supplement the convoy s defenders. However, these ships can take no other actions this campaign round and cannot participate in any other combats. When intercepted by raiders or attempting to break a Blockade (see pg. 34), set up a battle as normal between your Convoy s defenders and the opponent s forces. If the Convoy s defenders leave the battle or are all destroyed, then the convoy and all its cargo is lost. If the attacker s forces flee the battle or are all destroyed, then the convoy makes it safely to its destination.

24 24 Sample Convoys Following are suggested descriptions for Supply Convoys using the ship statistics available at the time this manual was written if you d desire a more detailed representation of the Supply Convoys in your game. These are not necessary for standard game-play, or even games which include the Supply rules. They re included as a helpful extra for those who might be interested in using them. Single Convoy 200pts Double Convoy 400pts 1x Nostradamus (Medium) 45pts 1x Nostradamus, (Medium) 45pts 2x Mantis (Medium) 60pts 4x Mantis, (Medium) 120pts 2x Refitted Passenger Liners 40pts 4x Refitted Passenger Liners 80pts 3x Frigates 60pts 1x Repair Vessel 35pts 6x Frigates, 1x Wing* 125pts Triple Convoy 300pts Dindrenzi Defense Substitutions 1x Nostradamus (Medium) 45pts Single: 2x Frigates, 2x Wings* 1x Copernicus (Medium) 45pts Double: 5x Frigates 7x Mantis (Medium) 220pts Triple: 8x Frigates, 1x Wing* 6x Refitted Passenger Liners 120pts 9x Frigates 180pts *Wings treat civilian Ships as carriers Fleet Construction This section of the rules primarily applies to assembling fleets during a campaign and has no bearing on set-up. All standard rules pertaining to fleet construction apply to campaign game-play, however while these are easily followed at set-up it is very likely that the course of a campaign could result in numerous situations where a collection of ships is present at a location that does not meet the requirements to form a legal fleet per standard rules. To that end, this manual will present three concepts with which to address

25 25 these concerns: the 5pt Leeway Rule, Minimum Fleet Compositions and Non-Standard Fleet Penalties. 5 Point Leeway Rule The 5pt Leeway Rule is just this: any fleet of 400pts or fewer that is only over a ship class restriction or construction limit by 5pts is still a legal deployable force. That means that if starting fleets are set at 350pts, a 355pt fleet is legitimate. However, a fleet exceeding the construction limit may not contain any Wings. The 5pt Leeway Rule is the only rule in this section also applicable to set-up for new campaign games. Minimum Fleet Compositions Minimum fleet compositions are predetermined bare-bones deployment models that ignore the standard percentage rules for fleet construction to a degree. There are two minimum fleet compositions: the minimum deployable composition and the minimum to deploy a large capital class composition. For either of the minimum compositions, any ships that are added to one of these minimum fleets MUST bring the fleet closer to matching its appropriate percentage limitations as per standard fleet-building rules or risk suffering the penalties for being a Non-Standard Fleet as detailed below. The minimum legal deployable force is one squadron of 2 small ships (excluding escorts) and one squadron of 2 medium ships. Most commonly, this would be 2 frigates and 2 cruisers. No force smaller than this can be ordered to leave a controlled Point of Interest (such as a Homeworld, Colony World, or Supply Depot). Any force smaller than this that is already deployed must either return to the nearest shipyard or follow an existing legal fleet (this will be discussed further in Non-Standard Fleet Penalties). To deploy a large capital class ship, it must be accompanied by at least 4 small ships each (excluding escorts) and one squadron of 2 medium ships. Any large capital class ship that does not have at least this many support ships cannot be deployed. Any already deployed large capital class ship that does not have at least this much support must either return to the nearest shipyard or follow an existing legal fleet (this will be discussed further in Non-Standard Fleet Penalties).

26 26 Ships that cannot be deployed must remain at the shipyard they were constructed at until such time as they can be deployed. They may defend the facility without regard to Non-Standard Fleet Penalties. Non-Standard Fleet Penalties A non-standard fleet is any fleet on the campaign map that is being moved or deployed that does not meet its faction s restrictions for legal fleet construction. This could mean a 500pt fleet that has two extra battleships following it (as per rules described above for capital ships dispossessed of their support fleets following legal fleets), or it could mean 9 frigates travelling with 2 cruisers. If one of these fleets enters combat, it is divided up into as many legal or minimum deployable fleets as possible and each of these fleets will resolve the combat separately. Squadrons that cannot be included in a fleet must be deployed separately or in pairs. Prior to set-up, both players will make a Fleet Tactics roll. The winner of this roll decides which portion of the fleet will deploy first. If half of these ships rounded up are destroyed, then the player may choose to deploy his next force from the edge of the map he started on. This process can be repeated until all of the player s ships have been deployed. If the player chooses not to deploy any additional squadrons, then he need not commit any more of her/his units to the combat this round and the remainder of the fleet may be commanded as normal the next turn. Support Ships Some ships may travel with a fleet to provide support on the Campaign Map, but are not required to participate in combat. These are referred to as Support Ships, and are generally best kept out of battle. This is of course optional, and should players decide to bring their Support Squadrons into combat, they may. However, if it is destroyed in the battle the Support Ship is lost and no longer provides its bonus on the campaign map. All Support Ships are considered medium civilian ships, and all possess the Limited Resources MAR. Civilian ships CANNOT gain Battle Stars. For every 500pts of military ships in a fleet, it may possess a single squadron of up to 4x Support Ships. While Support Squadrons are not intended to engage in combat, if the fleet your Support Squadron is assigned to is destroyed the Support Squadron is lost. When you

27 27 begin a game, each fleet which possesses 0-499pts of ships receives one squadron of 3x Support Ships. Fleets of pts receive one squadron of 4x Support Ships of your choice (no more than 2x Troop Ships). Each fleet of pts receives a second such squadron, and so on. You may build additional Support Ships at your Medium & Heavy Shipyards as you would any other ship. If at any time during the game you fall below the number of Support Squadrons you had at the start of the Campaign, you regain one Support Squadron deployed on your Homeworld. Support Squadrons may not be deployed on the Campaign Map until they are assigned to a fleet. Many Support Ships have FW ratings. If you buy Wings for a Support Squadron, all Wings MUST be the same type and form a SINGLE Flight. This Flight must be paid for in addition to the Support Ships, but may be launched to fight with the Support Squadron s fleet or used as replacements for Wings lost in combat. Hospital Ship Cost: 30pts Stats: Statistically, this is identical to the Repair Vessel Trader ship except it has the Medical Shuttles MAR in place of the Deck Crews MAR. Alliance of Kurak players may choose to spend an additional 5pts to add SH1. Relthoza players may choose to spend an additional 5pts to add a Cloak. Abilities: This ship provides a +2 bonus to all Crew Recovery rolls for its fleet. Mine Layer Cost: 30pts Stats: This uses the statistics for the Repair Vessel Trader ship described in the Enhanced Civilian Ships PDF, but with three exceptions. First, the Deck Crews MAR is replaced with the Minefield MAR. Second, the Fixed Fore weapon was removed and replaced with MN5. Third, it also has the Uncommon Class MAR. Alliance of Kurak players may choose to spend an additional 5pts to add SH1. Relthoza players may choose to spend an additional 5pts to add a Cloak. Abilities: This Support Ship grants your fleet the Minefield MAR.

28 28 Repair Vessel Cost: 30pts Stats: This is the Repair Vessel Trader ship described in the Enhanced Civilian Ships PDF released by Spartan Games. Alliance of Kurak players may choose to spend an additional 5pts to add SH1. Relthoza players may choose to spend an additional 5pts to add a Cloak. Abilities: During the Production Step, each Repair Vessel may remove two points of damage from any single other ship in its fleet. In addition, a Repair Vessel may use its Deck Crews MAR to assist its assigned fleet even if it isn t on the Battle Map. Wings recovered this way still count towards number of wings lost with regard to Wing Recovery (pg. 34). Surveillance Ship Cost: 30pts Stats: This uses the statistics for the Repair Vessel Trader ship described in the Enhanced Civilian Ships PDF, but the Deck Crews MAR is replaced with the Espionage MAR and it also has the Uncommon Class MAR. Abilities: This Support Ship grants your fleet the Espionage MAR. Troop Ship Cost: 40-50pts depending upon model. 40pts if excluded from combat. Stats: In order to acquire stats for a generic Troop Ship (until such time as all core races have their own), use the Zenian League s Ba Kash Yanri-class Troop Ship and replace Pack Hunters with your race s standard Medium ship MAR. Add 5pts to the cost of the ship to grant it either a Cloak or SH1. Players may also choose to use the Xelocian Lanar-class Troop Ship s stats, while replacing Reinforced Fore with their race s standard Medium ship MAR. If this is done, all factions except Terran & Relthoza should remove the SH rating and reduce the cost by 10pts. Terran players should reduce it to SH1 and subtract 5pts, while Relthoza should replace SH2 with SH* and also subtract 5pts from its cost. Abilities: Once per campaign round, you may gain 2 CP/AP to assign to ships in

29 29 your fleet in any way you wish. This may not exceed the CP/AP values of ships they are assigned to. Troop Ships are also integral to the Planetary Invasion action detailed on pg. 35. The Campaign Round The campaign round is divided into five steps: 1. Follow-Up Step: Resolve any events from the previous turn. This is just a catchall phase to account for any of the random effects that could occur during game play (such as Strategic Bombing). 2. Deployment Step: Declare and resolve Fleet movements (shunts), including intercept movements and Supply Convoys, one at a time. Initiative for Fleet movements is determined by a Fleet Tactics roll, just as described in the core rules. Each player takes turns declaring movements for Fleets and Supply Convoys. A player may chose to move two Fleets, or a fleet and a supply convoy, simultaneously. Instead of moving a Fleet, a player may order a Fleet to go On Patrol. Fleets On Patrol may choose to intercept any enemy fleet that moves within range. The opposing fleet completes its movement, and then the fleet On Patrol moves to its location. 3. Combat Step: Resolve combats one at a time and update fleet trackers. The order in which battles are resolved is irrelevant, and completely at the discretion of the players. 4. Production Step: Players use any production abilities of Strategic Facilities (Embassy, Repair Facilities, and Shipyards) available to them. 5. Resources Step: Generate SAP, Supply, and Strategic Resources.

30 30 Movement on the Campaign Map Moving around on the campaign map is done by shunting. Each Fleet or Supply Convoy is allowed one shunt per campaign round. The distance set for shunting is arbitrary, and relative to your own campaign map and its scale. Just pick a distance that everyone agrees on. I recommend that it should take about 1.5 shunts on average to get from one Point of Interest to another. However, having two PoI s being within one shunt of each other is perfectly acceptable. Having more than two PoI s within one shunt s distance of a PoI might be crowded. It all depends on the style of play you d prefer. Included on pg. 49 is a sample campaign map with shunt distance marked on it. On Patrol/Intercept Movements During the Movement Step, a Fleet may declare that it is On Patrol. A fleet that is On Patrol may not make a Shunt movement this round, but it can then choose to immediately move to intercept any fleet that comes within Shunt range and engage them. For intercepting Supply Convoys, you may intercept them at the end-point of any of their shunt actions. Transporting Ships & Installations Ships or Installations that do not have Fold Space Drives cannot travel on the campaign map without Assistance. Any capital ship can carry one model without an FSD through a shunt with it, so long as the model is in base contact. In general, small ships cannot carry other ships through a shunt. Any ship can carry a single attached flight of Wings through a shunt if they are in base to base contact. Corvettes are granted a special ability in this regard, which is described below. Ships with slow FSD s declare their shunt during the Deployment Step of the current campaign round, but do not complete it until the Follow-Up Step of the following round. For the duration of that round, the model cannot use primary weapons or torpedoes. If a ship with a slow FSD has completed a shunt in the Follow-Up Step of a round it cannot perform a shunt until the following round.