Space Combat Board Game

Hey GT. It's a deal. I'll order my copy this week. It'll probably take some time to reach me, then even more time for me to learn the system, but I'm all for some e-board-gaming in January. It looks like fun (hey I might even dust off Star Cruiser 2300, too).

On a completely unrelated note, I finally finished the revisions to the stories (all of them: Out in the Cold, The Meeting, and Uncertain Freight) reformatted them and compiled them into a nice single package with a pretty cover. It won't get to you in time for Christmas, but please receive it in that general spirit when you do receive it in a week or two.

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Hot4Darmat

Good to hear about the book! I am just old fashioned enough to enjoy reading real paper.

My copy of Attack Vector showed up last night. I only had time to do a quick read, and no chance to play the tutorials. (looking forward to the weekend).

A little info for those who have not picked up a copy (yet). The background info and rule system is very cool. Most of the main rules have a science explanation box that discusses the physics behind what they are trying to model. Things like reactor design, heat sink physics, laser power and range, effectiveness of seeking shells, physics of hull damage.

There are a bunch of cool ideas in the game, many similar to Iwar. The ships only have one main thruster, straight back. So to slow back down you must pivot the ship. If you want to dodge incoming missiles, you must pivot. If you want to point your front armor at someone shooting at you, you must pivot. If you want to bring your weapons into firing arc, you must pivot. All these constraints make decisions while flying the ship critical. Which is cool! (it makes me wish EoC had the same 6 degrees of freedom that Iwar did).

Another totally cool idea is that a ship needs big extended radiators to cool the reactors. These radiators are stowed while in combat. So a ships combat life span is determined by how long the heat sinks can absorb reactor heat, or how long the batteries last. Once out of heat sink capacity a ship has to break away to get some cooling time with the radiators extended.

The main weapons are lasers, rail gun fired seeking shells, and missile launched seeking shells, plus nukes. Ranges are between 100 and 1000km. Missiles reach a little farther. Weapons have limited firing arcs and take time to recharge.

The damage model is very exact. Entry and exits points are figured, and systems in between are checked for damage. A weapon can actually pass through a ship. Some systems are explosive and can cause chain reaction explosions.

Fuel is tracked, and greatly limits how often a ship can change course. The one described fight was a jousting pass between two frigates (pretty much the style of newtonian physics combat). I expect fleet actions would be quite different.

If this kind of game based on extended science is your interest, this is quite a cool game. Even just for the reading.

-Gtrout

It sounds fantastic, and definitely the kind of thing that will keep me up late flipping through pages and charts. I've just sent in the money for my copy, but am having it shipped to relatives in MO (dramatically changes the cost) whom I'll be visiting while at a conference in early Feb. I'll have to wait until then to get my mitts on it.

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Hot4Darmat