Overview: The Basic Turn Sequence
Space combat in the Eight Worlds takes place using a vector movement
system, with rules for the effects of direct-fire weapons such as lasers and
short-range hyper-velocity missiles, the effects of explosions, and damage
control. The original rules work well in two dimensions on a classroom-
sized blackboard or whiteboard. By reducing the scale, it's possible to
manage them on a smaller surface. The system could in principle be extended
to three dimensions using a large monitor and the appropriate display
software, but to the best of my knowledge, no one has tried this yet.
Turn Sequence
The basic turn sequence is described below.
- Move. Zoom
- Fire. Blam!
- Damage Control: that exciting "Fix the hull!" phase
The detailed turn sequence is somewhat more complicated, since it must
include special rules for high-acceleration vehicles such as torpedoes,
gunboats, missile boats, and fighters. I will write this up as time
permits.
Individual phases are described in the following sections
Movement
As noted above, the Eight Worklds uses a vector movement system
similar to that used in the original Traveller rules and many other
science fiction games. During each combat turn, a ship moves in the
distance and direction determined by its velocity vector. A ship
may use its drives to change it's velocity vector.
Units of Measurement
During one Combat Turn, a ship that accelerates from rest at 1 g
will reach a velocity of two Velocity Units and travel one
Distance Unit. (Remember from basic physics that
d=(1/2)*a*t2. That (1/2) is important!)
One Distance Unit is 1000 km. If one applies Newton's Laws and
performs the calculations, one discovers that one Combat Turn must
last 447.2136 s (7.45356 minutes) while one Velocity Unit must be
0.4472136 km/s. In practice, no one can remember these seemingly arbitrary
numbers or would even want to, so we pretend that the actual values are.
- 1 Distance Unit - 1000 km
- 1 Velocity Unit - 0.5 km/s
- 1 Combat Turn - 6 min (10 space combat turns/hr)
The differences between these and the correct numbers are small, if it
bothers you, you can always pretend that the Eight Worlds uses slightly
different definitions for seconds and kilometers.
Combat Tables
This is a work in progress. It will be edited, corrected, added to, and
explained in the future. In the table below, ranges are in Distance
Units(1000 km), numbers are the modified gunnery roll on 2d6 needed to
hit (see below), and numbers in parantheses, when present, are points of
damage for weapons that deliver more than one point. In general, ships can
take 4pts/tonne before they are disabled, so a hit at 8,000 km from the
tri-mount 'Long 6' of a Cruiser will deliver 30 points of damage, which will
disable but not destroy a 600 tonne Destroyer (24 pts).
The Modied Gunnery Roll
The modified gunnery roll on 2d6 is as follows
Modified roll = Actual roll + Targeting + Silhouette - Evasion - Shields
Targeting is accomplished using Gunnery skill or computer control.
To use Gunner skill, the turrent must be equipped with working sights and
manual controls. Standard computer control is +3. This can be improved
using Ranging Gear. Gunnery skill and computer control are seperate forms
of targeting and cannot be combined. In practice, this means most ships
are +3 to hit.
Evasion is accomplished using Pilot skill or... you guessed it...
computer control. The maximum possible evasion bonus is limited by the
ship's acceleration as follows
| Accel |
1g |
2g |
3g |
4g |
6g |
8g |
10g |
14g(1) |
18g |
22g |
... |
| Evasion |
-1 |
-2 |
-3 |
-4 |
-5 |
-6 |
-7 |
-8 |
-9 |
-10 |
... |
(1) At Eight Worlds tech levels, even the most powerful torpedoes can't pull much more
than 14 g's, so the higher values are included only for entertainment purposes.
In practice, the vast majority of starships pull 4 g's, have a silhouette
modifier of 0, and are too small to carry shields, so most combats occur
with a modifier of Gunnery+Evasion = -1 (e.g. ships are -1 to be hit).
Direct Fire Weapons -- Not yet reviewed and corrected
| Weapons of the Eight Worlds |
Hypothetical Superweapons |
Alien Weapons? |
| 0-5 |
6 |
4 |
6 |
6 (10) |
6 (20) |
6 (40) |
6 (100) |
170-210 |
8 (200) |
8 (1000) |
5 |
6 (4) |
6 (5) |
| 5-10 |
10 |
8 |
6 |
6 (10) |
6 (20) |
6 (40) |
6 (100) |
210-290 |
10 (120) |
8 (600) |
7 |
6 (4) |
6 (5) |
| 10-20 |
12 |
10 |
6 |
6 (10) |
6 (20) |
6 (40) |
6 (100) |
290-370 |
10 (60) |
8 (300) |
8 |
5 (3) |
5 (4) |
| 20-30 |
14 |
12 |
8 |
6 (10) |
6 (20) |
5 (40) |
4 (100) |
370-500 |
12 (30) |
8 (150) |
10 |
7 (2) |
7 (3) |
| 30-50 |
- |
12 |
8 |
8 (8) |
8 (20) |
7 (40) |
6 (100) |
500-700 |
14 (15) |
8 (75) |
12 |
9 (1) |
9 (2) |
| 50-70 |
- |
- |
12 |
8 (6) |
8 (16) |
8 (40) |
8 (100) |
700-900 |
- |
10 (50) |
14 |
10 (1) |
11 (2) |
| 70-90 |
- |
- |
14 |
10 (4) |
8 (12) |
8 (30) |
8 (80) |
900-1300 |
- |
10 (50) |
- |
13 (1) |
12 (1) |
| 90-130 |
- |
- |
- |
12 (2) |
10 (8) |
8 (20) |
8 (80) |
1300-1700 |
- |
10 (50) |
- |
- |
14 (1) |
| 130-170 |
- |
- |
- |
14 (1) |
12 (4) |
10 (12) |
10 (40) |
1700-2100 |
- |
10 (50) |
- |
- |
- |
| 170-210 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
14 (2) |
12 (6) |
10 (20) |
2100-2900 |
- |
12 (50) |
- |
13 (1) |
12 (1) |
| 210-290 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
14 (3) |
12 (10) |
2900-3700 |
- |
14 (50) |
- |
- |
14 (1) |
| 290-370 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
15 (5) |
3700-5000 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
14 (1) |
|
Critical Hits
Every hit has a chance of causing critcal damage. The chance and number
of critical damages that occur depends on the power on target and the
precentage damage after this hit has been accopunted for. Tables for
chance and number of criticals are given below.
Critical Hit Chances and Multipliers
| 0-20 |
6+ |
x1 |
| 20-40 |
5+ |
x1 |
| 40-60 |
4+ |
x2 |
| 60-80 |
2+ |
x3 |
| 80-100 |
1+ |
x4 |
| |
Power vs #Criticals
| 0-20 |
1 |
| 20-40 |
2 |
| 50-100 |
3 |
| 100-200 |
4 |
| 200-300 |
5 |
|
The tupe of critical is determined by rollong two dice: one for hull region
and another for type. The following tables list types of critical damage
and the skills needed to repair them.
1 Avionics
| LRS |
Elec-2 |
| Sensors |
Elec |
| Avionics |
Elec |
| Commo |
Elec-2 |
| Comp |
Comp |
| Bridge |
Mech |
|
|
2 Weapon
| Sights |
M, G |
| 1 tube |
M, G |
| 2 tube |
M, G |
| 3 tube |
M, G |
| Manual |
M, G |
| Gunner |
ouch |
|
|
3 Fwd Hull
| Cooling |
N, M-2 |
| Traverse |
Elec |
| 1 Crew |
ouch |
| 2 Crew |
ouch |
| 3 Crew |
ouch |
| Fire cntrl |
E-2 |
|
|
4 Midships
| Shields |
E |
| Fwd bay |
$$$ |
| Fwd bay |
$$$ |
| Airplant |
M |
| Gn pwr |
E+2 |
| J core |
N |
|
|
5 Aft Hull
| L Jack |
M-2 |
| Aft bay |
$$$ |
| Aft bay |
$$$ |
| Fuel |
Fuel |
| Controls |
E |
| x2 & reroll |
- |
|
|
6 Engineering
| Jumper |
N |
| Drive |
N |
| Drive |
N |
| Fusor |
N |
| Conv |
N |
| E Room |
Mech |
|
These criticals and their effects are described below
| LRS |
One randomly chosen Long Range Sensor system (there may be only one) is disabled. These detect and track hyperspace jumps. |
| Sensors |
One randomly-chosen sensor box is disabled. Consult the ship's avionics list to determine the effects |
| Avionics |
One randomly-chosen avionics or sensor box is disabled. Consult the ship's avionics list to determine the effects |
| Comp |
One randomly-chosen computer box is disabled. Consult the ship's avionics list to determine the effects |
| Bridge |
The Bridge is hit! Wham! Incandescent shrapnel sprays across the bridge,
causing another Avionics critical (which cannot be another Bridge hit) and exposing every member of
the flight crew to a 3d6 fragmentation and a 3d6 concussion attack. Aren't you
glad you're wearing armored vacc suits? And aren't you glad you have an armored bridge? Um, you
do have an armored bridge, don't you? |
| Sights |
Gunsights in one randomly-chosen turret are disabled. Multiple points are required to disable a 'Long' turrent. |
| 1 tube |
One tube in one randomly-chosen turret is disabled. Multiple points are required to disable a 'Long' turrent. |
| 2 tube |
Two tube in one randomly-chosen turret is disabled. Multiple points are required to disable a 'Long' turrent. |
| 3 tube |
Three tubes in one randomly-chosen turret is disabled. Multiple points are required to disable a 'Long' turrent. |
| Manual |
Manual controls in one randomly-chosen turret are disabled. Multiple points are required to disable a 'Long' turrent. |
| Gunner |
The gunner in one randomly-chosen turrent is hit! Wham! Incandescent
shrapnel sprays across the tiny compartment, exposing gunner to 5d6 fragmentation and a
5d6 concussion attack, one of which is certain to penetrate even an armored vacc
suit. But gunners are born to die. |
| Cooling |
Cooling system in one randomly-chosen turret is disabled, tubes become Pulse (-1) rather then continuous wave. |
| Traverse |
Traversing gear in one randomly-chosen turret is disabled, turret become Forward Firing (-1). |
| 1 Crew |
The Crew Section is hit! Wham! Incandescent shrapnel sprays across two
adjacent staterooms and the adjoining companionways, exposing everyone inside to a 4d6
fragmentation and a 4d6 concussion attack and causing a faint set of carbon
lines to show up in the emissions spectrum of the hit.
|
| 2 Crew |
The Crew Section is badly hit! Wham! Incandescent shrapnel sprays across
four adjacent staterooms and the adjoining companionways, exposing everyone inside to a 4d6
fragmentation and a 4d6 concussion attack and causing a nice set of carbon
lines to show up in the emissions spectrum of the hit.
|
| 3 Crew |
The Crew Section tets hammered! Wham! Incandescent shrapnel sprays
across six adjacent staterooms and the adjoining companionways, exposing everyone inside to a
4d6 fragmentation and a 4d6 concussion attack and causing a brilliant set of
carbon lines, water vapor, and perhaps a bit of hemoglobin to show up in the emissions spectrum
of the hit.
|
| Fire cntr |
Remote fire control for one randomly-chosen turret is disabled. Turrent
must be aimed by hand using Gunnery. |
| Shields |
Shield generator is partially disabled (-1). If you don't have one, you get off scott-free. |
| Fw bay |
Forward cargo bay is hit and 10 tonnes of randomly-chosed cargo, spare parts, or empty space are destroyed. |
| Airplant |
Air recylcing system is disabled. We'll worry about that after the battle. |
| G pwr |
Power to one randomely-chosen gun turret is knocked out. Alas. |
| J core |
Hyperdrive core is disabled. That's no hyperspace jumps for you! |
| L jack |
Landing jacks, lifters, and/or hear shield are damaged. Which one? We'll find out during re-entry and landing. |
| Af bay |
Aft cargo bay is hit and 10 tonnes of randomly-chosed cargo, spare parts, or empty space are destroyed. |
| Fuel |
A fuel cell is hit and 10 tonnes of randomly-chosed fuel or empty space are lost. Hope you have extra! |
| Controls |
Flight controls are damaged and ship can no longer perform evasive action or use its evasion bonus. |
| x2 |
Double-damage and roll for another critical! Fortunately this can only happen once. Which is more than enough. |
| Jumper |
Hyperdrive is disabled. But you didn't want to jump away, did you? |
| Drive |
One drive unit is disabled. If you had more than one, you can stil use the others. |
| Fusor |
One fusor is disabled. If you had more than one, you can stil use the others. |
| Conv |
Convertor for one fusor is disabled. Fusor works fine, but can't produce power. |
| E room |
The Engine room is hit! Wham! Incandescent shrapnel sprays across... but
you read that part already. Roll another Engineering critical (which cannot be another Engine
room hit) and members of the engineering crew are exposed to a trifling 3d6 fragmentation
and 3d6 concussion attack. Yes, it's a cushy job down in the engineering section.
Unless one of the fusors or drive units blows up. |
Damage Control
After a ship has been hit, the crew can attempt to repair the damage.
In general, if a ship is pulling N g's, it takes a modified roll
(2d6+skill) of 9 of 8+N, whichever's larger to fix a point of damage.
Details will follow when I have time to transcribe them.
Examples
Eventually there will be some examples of combats here. This will take time.
Last modified: 20 January 2010