Space Combat initiative

[Jak Nazryth]

Last week during a big space battle (the first full, all-out multi-ship battle of my campaign) the players rolled a higher initiative than the NPC "bad guys".
They got the jump and got to fire first.
One of them asked the question if all firing happened simultaneously, so that even a damaged system still functioned perfectly during the same round. The reason being is that the players got a lucky shot and did 2 hits to the same turret in their initial attack. At that time, I told them that they in fact did disable the turret, and that it could not fire back at them in the first round of combat, since the players fired first. I likened it to normal person to person combat. If a player gets the drop on a bad guy, and blasts him into unconsciousness in one hit, the bad guy cannot fire back "on his turn" because he's already down.
Also, when one turret damaged a point of armor, the very next player using a different turret during the same round, but go the bonus of having one less point of opposing ship armor to penetrate.
So the fight continued with the apposing ship 1 weapon down durng its first turn at combat.
My players won the battle, but their ship was damaged pretty badly.
That night I thought it over, since space combat is 6 minutes per round in stead of 6 seconds, I had second thoughts.
Did I do the space combat correctly?
Are all attack rolls handled "simultaneously" and all the results don't technically take effect until the start of the very next round? This includes reducing armor, engines, etc...
thanx.

 

[Rick]

I'm not suggesting that your way of doing things was right or wrong, but what would be the point in having initiative if everything happened at the same time?

 

[Jeraa]

All actions are simultaneous, according to page 146 of the core book.

Combat Phase
a. In order of Initiative, ships can take actions.
b. Actions include: firing energy weapons, launching missiles, boarding actions.
c. Reactions include: dodging, point defense, firing sand.
d. Actions are resolved.

All ships (in order of initiative) declare their actions, then their reactions. Once all of that is done, then those actions are actually resolved. So while your players are shooting at and damaging the enemy ships, those ships are shooting at and damaging yours.

I'm not suggesting that your way of doing things was right or wrong, but what would be the point in having initiative if everything happened at the same time?

Because whoever has the initiative sets the tone for the battle. If you have initiative and choose to close with the enemy, the enemy has to decide to either let you, or move away. You've forced them to let you do whatever you want to do, or made them do something they might not of wanted to. You fire your missiles, the enemy now has to decide to either focus their lasers on you and let the missiles him them, or to take out the missiles leaving you untouched. Basically, when you have the initiative, you act and force the others to react to you.

Plus, it stops situations like this:

Player A: I fire my lasers at Player B.
Player B: I fire my missiles at Player A.
Player A: Then I don't fire at Player B, I fire at his missiles.
Player B: In that case, I don't fire my missiles.
Player A: Well then I...

By having an initiative order, you force the players to decide on what to do. They can't just go back and change their minds. You declare what you are going to do in initiative order, but working out what happens occurs simultaneously.

 

[Jak Nazryth]

That's what I was afraid of.
But I don't think my mistake would have dramatically altered the outcome.
I know that my player did hold some of their fire to take care of incoming torpedoes...
On that note... if a missile or torpedo has to travel more than ten spaces, does a missile/torp advance it's 10 spaces (or 6 depending on missile type) the next round during maneuver phase or during launch missile/sand phase? I was having the torps continue along their flight path on the maneuver phase if they didn't impact on their initial round.

 

[Jeraa]

I would say they move during the combat phase. Otherwise, you have situations when the torpedoes or missiles contact the enemy ship, then the enemy ship moves away before they explode.

Shooting at a missile or torpedo is a reaction (taken during the combat phase), that can only be done right before the missile or torpedo hits. So the missile or torpedo moves during step B of the combat phase (same as launching a missile) and makes contact with the target, the targets point defense fires in step C of the combat phase, and in step D of the combat phase, any remaining missiles/torpedoes in contact with their target explode dealing damage.

At least, thats how I would do it.

 

[Rick]

All very good points and I see your logic and reasoning. However - this would mean that the most advantageous position to be in would be last. Given that there is an initiative order - might I suggest you try with the lowest initiative player declaring his actions first, then the player who reacts quicker (higher initiative) has the advantage of knowing his opponents intentions and either reacting to them or doing something else that might put his opponent in a bad position?

 

[Jak Nazryth]

That might be a good idea. I'll test out that theory out next game. My players think to space combat is over, but it's only half time... :twisted:

 

[renski]

I personally used the following rough steps for combat.

Movement occurs in reverse initiative order
Do the firing in initiative order, and do have hits affect the next ship in sequence.
Each turn a new initiative rolled

This means there is an advantage to winning initiative, meaning those naval tactics rolls become very important.

It's also a lot easier to keep track of.

Renski

 

[Stainless]

Hmmm, I still have a lot of work to do in trying to make sense of the not very clearly expressed space combat rules.

My current alpha version flowchart for space combat might be of some use. Feedback is welcomed.