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Old 04-03-2020, 12:32 PM   #1
Michael Thayne
 
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Join Date: May 2010
Default [Spaceships] Rationalizing facing and arcs of fire in tactical combat

The handling of facing and arcs of fire in spaceships has some odd features, especially in tactical combat. So I've decided to try to draft a somewhat improved set of rules. Feedback welcome.

The basic approach here is to think of ships in terms of o'clock directions, e.g. 12 o'clock is straight forward, 6 o'clock is straight backwards, etc. The even numbers will always correspond to faces of the tactical hex grid, while the odd numbers will always correspond to corners of the tactical hex grid. Hull sections are as follows: "front" is from 10 o'clock to 2 o'clock; "central" is from 2 o'clock to 4 o'clock and 8 o'clock to 10 o'clock, and "rear" is from 4 o'clock to 8 o'clock.

All weapons need to be located at an o'clock position. Fixed mounts have a 60° arc of fire (e.g. from 11 o'clock to 1 o'clock) while turrets have a 180° arc of fire (e.g. from 6 o'clock to 12 o'clock). These ranges are always inclusive on both ends (e.g. a fixed mount pointing towards 3 o'clock with range 1 will be able to fire at targets in either of two hexes).

Which hull section an attacker can target depends on which o'clock position it is coming from:
  • 11 o'clock to 1 o'clock (exclusive): front only
  • 1 o'clock to 3 o'clock or 9 o'clock to 11 o'clock (inclusive): front or central hull
  • 3 o'clock to 5 o'clock or 7 o'clock to 9 o'clock (inclusive): central or rear hull
  • 5 o'clock to 7 o'clock (exclusive: rear hull only
Note that I've defined these ranges such that an attacker exactly located at a ship's 3 o'clock or 9 o'clock will be able to target any hull section, but having a choice of two hull sections to attack will be much more common.
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