As a veteran & playtester of several space combat rules (Full Thrust, B5 Wars, B5 Fleet Action, Starmada) capital ships usually have more than one weapon arc. This represented weapons batteries that covered most of the ship.

I understand that the goal for this first release was to have an easy entry level for most everyone. However, I'm curious if this concept will be added in a WH supplement as a main or optional rule? The easy modification would be to add the arcs to the base graphic, but one fire order would allow all weapon batteries to fire.

Anyway, I was just wondering and doing some mod planning...

All ships in Wormhole DO have the ability to fire in all directions, represented by the autofire ability. This is limited to a short distance (an inch or two, I don't remember) mainly for gameplay. We wanted wormhole to be fast and vicious, with ships closing on each other and more in your face action than would be allowed if ships could fire their main batteries in all (or more) directions. That being said, we have considered multiple firing arcs and may include them in a future release.

Go ahead and modify the rules to your liking... I"d love to see what you come up with!

Sacretis

I should have clarified. I meant multiple arcs for main batteries.

Adding additional batteries/arcs is easy. Figuring out the changed point cost for game balance is the hard part.

Funny you should mention that, as I'm currently poking at the (lousy) graphics for a new playtest model that I'm about to inflict on the betatester group.

Hmm...looks like it has multiple arcs on it.

No...nevermind. I didn't say anything. You didn't see me here...and you're especially not going to hold me to something mentioned offhand in the first week of a new set's development!

Excellent!

Don't worry, I won't be hassling anyone, but the info is appreciated.

So who do I have to kill to become a playtester.

Multiple weapon arcs as a purchaseable Fleet modification ... hmmmmmm.

You know, when I suggested the pilot, commander, engineer, etc. mods, that had slipped my mind. I guess that's a pretty good modification to be added to future rule releases.

Ditto! I am in for killing to get on...

This game reminds me of the Earth Alliance ships in Babylon Five universe. Limited firing arcs, and no shield just heavy armor with some point defense weapons against fighters and incoming missiles.

In all honesty, it is probably the most realistic version of space combat based on present Earth trends and technology. Energy shields don't seem likely, most weapons would have a fixed arc (as turning large scale weapons for a lock would take time that might be lost to another incoming salvo), and if there are fighter craft that can survive radiation in space, you need point defenses.

Great minds think alike, I guess.

I am absolutely all for modified fire arcs and other data on the vessel bases. I'm actually really excited to see the kinds of creative modifications the community can come up with to add to the basic system. There's a lot of room for expansion here.

Luverly playtesters yeh got there guv...Wouldn't want anyfin to...You know...'appen to em' now...Would we?

Yeah that would help because the Hammerhead is a duck in water when 2 Skirmish fighters get within 3 inches of the rear, left or right side of it. If nothing else then increase the Auto Fire.

Sacretis mentioned that they wanted it to be a fast and vicious well limiting the arc of fire and only giving one arc (always in the front) slows the game up in my opinion.

If it was not for the auto fire I would be screaming about the lack of broadside attacks.

We were intentionally trying to avoid broadside attacks that allow ships to sit still on one side of the board and fire constantly from a large arc to the side. That's what the problem was when I first tried to take the front arc and apply two wider arcs to each side of the ship. My opponent just sat there, all his ships turned with one side facing me, and fired every round I keep moving towards him. Until we both sat there, sides facing, pounding away at each other. Little to no movement.

And then I realized in space, turreted combat would probably be more realistic than broadside fire, since you have three vectors to line up to hit another ship. They'd be great when you fly between two ships and pound each ship on both sides, as long as your ships keep moving. But you'd have to twist the ship as well as move left and right, back and forward. Which is a nightmare to play from my old Full Thrust days (I seriously hate trying to emulate 3-D combat in miniatures gaming, especially in WWII fighter combat with long poles and wheeled stands in another game I used to play whose name I forgot).

However, if I point my ship weapons all in one direction (in the front), it becomes more of a tactical manuever to keep the enemy in front of me. Missiles are becoming more of a purchase for my Fleets in most cases, letting Autofire pick off ships that close from other directions.

I've suggested there be a fighter limitation based on whether you have a carrier or not in your Fleet. I've always felt that just making a Fleet entirely of fighters was a "cheat." It's either that or make large ship Autofire ranges wider than the fighters' range.

The thing is you should only be able to keep moving in space. Breaks don't work that fast. you should be able to slide by a ship and fire a broadside and keep going.

Heck I purposely bring my ships into Auto-fire range all the time.

As for only having the arc in the front thats great for the smaller Capitol ships like the Corvette and Particlebow. I'm all for that as they can manoeuvre better. But the Hammerhead should be allowed broadside as well as the front arc.

Sure going head on gives you a small target but honestly would you not try to out manoeuvre your foe so you can hit their broadside? Therefore you should have some kind of defencive weaponry on the side to limit that for the large Capitol ships. If nothing else with all those turrets running down the side of the Hammerhead you should be able to rotate and pivot them.

I agree. As long as the side firing arcs aren't stand off weapons that slows the game's movement factor down, I'd be for a eratta rule or a Hammerhead 2.0 that has different firing arcs.

I'm sure we can hash something out. Perhaps even get new ship bases or something.

My initial idea was to have the capital ships (cruiser, carrier) have multiple arcs since their maneuverability was not so good. The frigate, corvette and fighters would maintain their one, front arc since they can maneuver better.

I'm building and playing the scenarios as is, before I start tweaking anything. I wanted to make sure I really understood the nuances of the game before I started any re-designing project.

Oh and as soon as one of my players starts the cheese tactic of speed zero broadside shots, all attackers will start getting a +1 or +2 hit bonus for a stationary target...

I've found this happens already to a limited extent with the Particlebows. 8 dice at 24" range means that (once charged) they just want to sit there until something moves into range, vaporise it in one shot, then sit and recharge before the next ship arrives in range. Two Particlebows can cover a large chunk of table.

Steve

Yeah but I'd say that would be a logical tactic for the Particlebow. The only way to stop that would be using momentum rules but then you start getting into the Hard Sci-Fi game rules and not a fast action pack game.

Or another way to solve the problem is to increase the table size -- maybe to a 3x5 or 4x6, since those are standard table sizes. Then the Particlebow cannot just sit and wait. I'm thinking that the bigger table probably makes more sense for 150+ point battles.

That's a good point.

We play on a black felt table top that is the entire length of a fold-out picnic table. Uh, I think 4 by 6.

The particle bows in my Fleet aways have to move up, which means taking a turn to unlock and roll, and another turn to lock and load.

(FLUFF)
There is a logical reason the Particle Bow locks down before firing - stability is an issue for the matter/energy weapon they use, so if they were moving while firing, they'd either miss tremendously or damage their own mounted weapon system.
(/FLUFF)

I think I have been playing them wrong then. I thought you only had to sit still whilst charging, but that you could move normally if you were already charged up or were actually firing it in the Special Orders phase.

Steve

Umm, I also thought after one turn of charging & no movement, the ship could issue the "hold charge" (I forget the real name) special order and move.

If the PB has to remain immobile the whole time before it fires the super-charged weapon, then this ship would be a major bummer -- like space artillery.

Hadn't thought of this either ...

Yep ... I also thought that it could move after charging (presumably the next shot has to be at the charged power?) ... can't find anything in the rules to say that it can't move after charging the weapons (did I miss it?).

It fires in the Special Orders phase? I thought only the HH could do that ...

Oh. I didnt find anything in the rules that stated that. That should probably be made clear on the stat card, then...

Also: yay, fluff! More, more, I say!

AFAIK, you can't move your particlebow with it charged, although I seem to remember you being able to turn it during the free turn... This is really deserving of a rules clarification, because I can't seem to find it anywhere.

Sacretis

Clarification posted.

edit: never mind.... *sigh*

I'm sorry, I worded that incorrectly.

You have to stop to charge. Then you can move and hold the charge, but can't fire. Then when you want to FIRE!!, you can't fire any other weapons or do anything else BUT move during the movement phase.

You can hold the charge. Maybe I didn't make that clear. The point is that the particle bow can't move while gearing up the charge and it takes a SPECIAL ORDER to fire the main weapon.

This simulates the particle bow using its primary reactor to charge the main weapon - thus meaning it can't move - and then steadying itself to fire (on the Special Order phase) that negates it doing anything else.

You can't issue the long-range attack on the normal attack phase. It's a special order is what I'm saying.

This comes directly from an article written by the Rear Admiral in charge of the initial Operation Arrow project that resulted in the Particle Bow frigate:

"Initial firing phases of the weapon proved to be highly stressful on the weapon itself. Engineers suggested that the weapon should go into a lock down mode which stabilized the firing axis and gave the weapon more power. It also added to the stability of a targetting solution, which was a problem when tracking moving spacecraft. The frigate powers down the engines and the reactor pushes all the energy to the main weapon. During this Charging stage, the proper adjustments are made for long range firing and targetting."

I think the whole lack of a Broadside adds to the playability in the system. As someone mentioned earlier, with such a limited attack the Cruiser is suceptable to Fighter attacks. This is good, because it forces a player to protect the big ships with smaller ships ( fighters ).

This is how modern naval forces work now. A Battleship without air cover is a sitting duck. A Cruiser without Fighter cover is likewise a sitting duck. This definitely works.

By encouraging the use of Fighters in this way the system encourages a good mixture of ship types, and that make for a much more interesting game.

If you need fighters, it encourages the use of Carriers, thereby bringing in another ship type.