Planetary Assault

[AdrianH]

I've never played a planetary assault scenario before (or its sibling, Planetfall), but I may give it a try soon. So I'd like to check some of the rules.

For one thing, presumably the relevant parts of the planetary assault rules apply to the Planetfall scenario? The bits about satellites and emplacements don't, but I imagine that the bits about landing troops and atmospheric ships (and fighters) do.

What can a ship in atmosphere do and have done to it? The rules say "To engage targets planetside, the ship must be placed on the planet itself" - presumably in its movement phase. Then "When a ship is to be moved, you may choose to attack enemy troops, land, or leave the atmosphere and move normally through space" - presumably in the next movement phase? While sitting on the planet, can the ship attack anything which comes within range and arc? Can it stay on the planet without attacking enemy troops or landing its own, e.g. if it's already dropped its own and is waiting for the enemy to drop some?

Can a ship which is in atmosphere be attacked by a ship outside atmosphere or by another ship in atmosphere? (Fighters in atmosphere can certainly attack other fighters in atmosphere using normal dogfight rules.)

Planet troop battles seem to be similar to boarding actions (roll 1D for each troop, a 5 or 6 kills an enemy troop) and different (a boarding battle is resolved in one end phase, a planet battle continues with one shot per troop per side per end phase).

 

[Greg Smith]

It goes something like this:

Turn 1: move ship onto planet, declare it is entering atmosphere.
Turn 2: may land, attack troops, or leave.
and if landing:
Turn 3: unload troops. Troops start to fight in end phase.
Turn 4: take of into atmosphre
Turn 5: leave

There is nothing in the rules to say what effect being in the atmosphere has on a ship for attacking/ being attacked by ships in space.

A landed ship can't be attacked from space.

 

[AdrianH]

Thanks!

Planetfall could be quite an interesting multi-player scenario, though the rules for troops fighting might need a bit of tweaking when there are three or more sets of troops on the ground... Probably keep note of who landed before whom, then players roll their troop attacks in reverse landing order. (In a normal two-player game, the first one down is the defender and it is the attacker who gets to shoot first.) Maybe allow troops to split their fire, e.g. if Earth, Narn and Drazi are all on the same planet, and Earth has 4 troops, he can say that 2 fire at Narn and 2 fire at Drazi.

(And if the Brakiri swarmed the place with Ikortas, everyone else gangs up on them. :twisted

 

[Da Boss]

I was actually toying with making a ground war supplement for ACTA:B5 - building on the Dilgar War pack - hence the inclusion of atmospheric only caft within that document. Did not get too far as yet

 

[Greg Smith]

Probably keep note of who landed before whom, then players roll their troop attacks in reverse landing order. (In a normal two-player game, the first one down is the defender and it is the attacker who gets to shoot first.)

It is odd that it is disadvantageous to land first. Pesonally I think the defender should get the first shot, or it should be simultaneous.

 

[AdrianH]

It goes something like this:

Turn 1: move ship onto planet, declare it is entering atmosphere.
Turn 2: may land, attack troops, or leave.
and if landing:
Turn 3: unload troops. Troops start to fight in end phase.
Turn 4: take of into atmosphre
Turn 5: leave

There is nothing in the rules to say what effect being in the atmosphere has on a ship for attacking/ being attacked by ships in space.

A landed ship can't be attacked from space.

Auto-win for Centauri:
Turn 1: squadron of Vorchans moves onto the planet and enters atmosphere. Up to four 2" bases should prevent anything else from moving onto any but the largest planets due to the "no overlapping" rule.
Turn 2: Vorchans land, making themselves invulnerable.
Turn 3 and beyond: if any troops land by shuttle, one Vorchan takes off, risk being pounded, and kills them.
At some point near the end of the game, the Vorchans unload some troops.

Auto-win for Brakiri:
Turn 1: squadron of Ikortas head toward the planet.
Turn 2: Ikortas move onto planet and enters atmosphere.
Turn 3: Ikortas land. Presumably they're still allowed to use their ship traits (otherwise they aren't atmospheric any more ) and any fighter trying to enter atmosphere will probably be within 2" of at least one of them.
If ships in atmosphere must either unload troops, attack troops or leave, then the Ikortas each unload one troop each turn for the rest of the game. Otherwise they wait until about turn 11 and unload the lot.

If a ship in atmosphere chooses to attack troops on the ground, which arc(s) does it use? The Vorchans don't have much choice but the Ikortas might decide to give some fire support to their troops...

 

[locarno24]

Frankly if a group of Ikortas land in a planetary assault game it's an auto-win without any attempt to abuse the rules.... :lol:

I'd be tempted to say any arc - it's a planet, after all, it's quite easy to hit.

 

[AdrianH]

Frankly if a group of Ikortas land in a planetary assault game it's an auto-win without any attempt to abuse the rules.... :lol:

Those examples show why, if there is a rule that landed ships can't be attacked (which I can't find, but I may have overlooked it), it's a bad idea. If landed ships can be attacked from space then the Ikortas do not auto-win. If they sit on the ground, they get shot, which is the normal fate for any craft which sits on the ground in the middle of a battle zone. If they dump all their troops and leave, the other side can use those troops for target practice for their own atmospheric ships and fighters, before dropping their own troops. And if the Ikortas stay in space, they can be attacked before they drop their troops. It also means the Centauri auto-win doesn't work - a Vorchan's place is in space killing enemy ships, not on the ground getting killed.

I'd be tempted to say any arc - it's a planet, after all, it's quite easy to hit.

If you want to shoot at the planet, be my guest and use whatever arcs you like. I want to know what arc(s) you're allowed to use to attack my troops. :lol:

 

[BraveSirRobin]

"Yes, your ships are very impressive in the air or space, but at this moment they are on the ground."

Centauri should know better. :roll:

 

[Greg Smith]

if there is a rule that landed ships can't be attacked (which I can't find, but I may have overlooked it),

There is a line in the rules about entering the atmosphere:

To engage targets planetside, the ship must be placed on the planet itself.

I have a feeling the rule was clarified in a post on this forum, but I can't find it.