The year is 2231. The Earth Alliance had recently allied itself with the League of Non-Aligned Worlds and in order to cement the newly established position in space as a Interstellar Power (like the Narn, the Centauri, and the Minbari, the latter which the Earth Alliance hadn't heard of yet), they (the Earth Alliance) opted to leap to the aid of the League when the Dilgar were devastating the League's worlds. This would have the effect of giving the Earth Alliance a 'rep'. Shortly after the Earth Alliance got involved, they saw what was really going on, and got morally involved, much to the dismay of the Dilgar. The Dilgar really began to take a pasting after this.
However, not every battle or conflict that occurred during the Earth-Dilgar War was a resounding victory for Earth. In fact, in a few battles the Dilgar were able to mass enough ships to give the EA a run for their money - or beat them outright. But only in a few.
In this scenario a substantial EA task force just jumped into the Alhena system, 85 ly distant from Earth (for any keeping track of these things), weapons at the ready, responding to a call from help to relieve a backwater planet from a recent Dilgar invasion. Unbeknownst to them, this was a staged effort by the Dilgar to bushwack the EA forces. It worked better than the Dilgar had hoped. However, the Dilgar weren't expecting such a large EA force...
This was also the first time the new A-battery, developed by Earth Force R&D, saw combat.
This scenario takes place in the Babylon 5 universe. Ie, there are jumpgates
which ships can use to travel between the stars, and ships smaller than
dedicated carriers and dreadnoughts can carry fighter groups. Jumpgate
rules are covered seperately. Screens are not typically used by the B5 races,
so PDAF and ADAF can operate as pseudo-screens when operated in pairs (but see
seperate rules!). There are also seperate 'rules' for use of FTL drives, and
which ships can mount them, plus rules for early years tech weapons.
You don't need to be familiar with Babylon 5 to play! You can ignore that aspect of this scenario and things'll play just fine; all the Babylon 5 setting does is provide background flavoring.
"Rocky Road" takes place during the Earth-Dilgar War, and pits a force of Earth Alliance ships against a Dilgar war squadron. This was not Earth's finest hour during the Earth-Dilgar War.
There is no 'tactical intelligence' (ala Starfleet Battles), so all players will know the status of each ship in the game at all times. Future PBeM scenarios (if I have time for any!) may explore scanners, target status detectability, ECM/ECCM, etc. Or anything anyone wants to try.
This scenario has been run with decent results. Only a few changes have been made to the original, and I think it balances better. I hope it does, but... ..good luck.
The 'map' is a 200x200 grid. Locations of all ships will be in x-y coordinates, to the nearest quarter inch. Grid squares are in 'inches', so distances will be given in inches (and make things a little easier for fire resolution, movement, etc, as per Full Thrust rules). Facing of all ships will be numerical in accordance to the Course and Fire Gauge template from Full Thrust (ie, you have 12 headings, as on a standard clock).
Victory Conditions:
The Dilgar have Slow Fighters. Max speed is 8. The EA have Standard Fighters. Otherwise fighters are identical to Full Thrust fighters. Fighters in the Babylon 5 universe have unlimited endurance.
The map is 200x200 grid, centered on (0,0). Thus the far corners are (100,100), (100,-100), (-100,100) and (-100,-100). If anyone leaves the map you are presumed to be in the process of disengaging or running away terribly fast, so *watch* your map boundaries!!
All positions given in x-y coordinates, 'x' numbers increase to the right, 'y' numbers increase going 'up'. Bottom left corner of grid map is (-100,-100)
y ^
|
---> x
The Jumpgate is too far off the map in direction 2 to be noted for the range
table. If you really want to know its location, it's at (500,400).Non-FTL ships are kinda stuck, unless they head out using a jump point formed by a ship with the FTL engines (note: in B5 universe FTL engines are essentially jump engines that open up a jump point to/from hyperspace). Disengagement
If you are a non-FTL/jump-capable ship, you have two options, depending on your race. If you are Dilgar, Disengaging in the general direction of '7' or '8' allows you to return to the planet. If you are an Earther, disengaging in the direction of '1', '2', or '3' allows you to work your way back to the jumpgate mostly unmolested (note: the jumpgate is at (500,400)). Actually, you do have a third option: if you disengage with an FTL/jump-capable ship they can get you into hyperspace and you can depart.
If you are an FTL/jump-capable ship, and your jumpdrive is still intact, you are free to go home...but the reception you may receive at home might be less than what you'd expect.
If you are an FTL/jump-capable vessel with a damaged jumpdrive...odds are that you'll get the time to fix them enough to jump...but who knows? ;-)
And if you meet none of the requirements above, we'll wait 'til the end of the scenario and see who's controlling the battlefield. The 'loser' with disengaged ships that did not escape under the above mentioned restrictions will be hunted down...
Earth Alliance: EA heavy cruiser Cherryh - (35.0,62.0), heading 8, speed 7 EA missile cruiser Lord Fairfax - (34.0,61.0), heading 8, speed 7 EA super destroyer Baltimore - (21.0,57.0), heading 8, speed 7 EA super destroyer Calcutta - (33.0,63.0), heading 8, speed 7 EA super destroyer Munich - (36.0,60.0), heading 8, speed 7 EA super destroyer Cleveland - (30.0,48.0), heading 8, speed 7 EA destroyer Pershing - (30.0,57.0), heading 8, speed 7 EA frigate Delafield - (31.0,58.0), heading 8, speed 7 EA corvette M.Vejar - (30.0,58.0), heading 8, speed 7 EA corvette B.S.Green - (31.0,57.0), heading 8, speed 7 Dilgar War Squadron: Dilgar heavy cruiser Avanthar - (70.0,85.0), heading 8, speed 10 Dilgar heavy cruiser Timajak - (79.0,50.0), heading 9, speed 10 Dilgar light cruiser Hru'Nay - (65.0,85.0), heading 8, speed 10 Dilgar destroyer Nalljal - (76.0,49.0), heading 9, speed 10 Dilgar destroyer Huruqol - (75.0,50.0), heading 9, speed 10 Dilgar destroyer N'Gaza - (76.0,51.0), heading 9, speed 10 Dilgar frigate Jak'Galu - (63.0,85.0), heading 8, speed 10 Dilgar frigate Jak'Tima - (63.0,83.0), heading 8, speed 10 Dilgar frigate Jak'Alla - (65.0,83.0), heading 8, speed 10 Dilgar Snipe Lara - (67.0,83.0), heading 8, speed 12 Dilgar Snipe Galu - (67.0,81.0), heading 8, speed 12 Dilgar Snipe Yelu - (69.0,81.0), heading 8, speed 12Fighters may be deployed within 8" of the mother ship if desired. This must be decided before the Turn 0 detection report comes out.
Detection reports will be mailed out once per turn - This is how I would like to do this:
After turn 0, all location reports will be to the nearest quarter inch, (ie, a target that is 6.34" away will be listed as being 6.25" distant). Yes, I understand that this introduces some 'slop' to the positionings and ranges, but it should be minimal. If it proves differently...we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.
You will be given a few days to chart things up, consult with your teammates, and then get back to me with your orders for the next turn. Include both your movement and fire orders.
Within a couple days - HOPEFULLY within a day - I will have the detection reports for that turn sent out. Getting orders in to me early will help this process. Hell, if EVERYONE can get orders in earlier than the due date, that's all the better. ;-)
I live on the East Coast of the States. From your email addresses I note that you guys are still scattered all over the place, from Belgium to Australia, and points inbetween. So while I would ideally like to get orders in by 4pm EST of the due dates, I understand where this might be kind of a 'crunch' for those of you in other time zones. Let me know if you need some flexibility in this.
BTW, in case I hadn't mentioned it lately, I have NO problems accepting orders early!!! (hint, hint! ;-)
All movement is preplotted, all fire is preplotted. Naturally. Fighters, on the other hand, can use free movement.
Sample Ship Orders Template:
Ship:
Movement:
Thrust - (how much thrust you wish to apply to speed, and in which
direction, forward or reverse)
Turn - (how much thrust you wish to apply to turning)
Direc - (which direction you wish to turn: left or right)
Fire Orders:
Weapon/Target - (which weapon at which target)
Weapon/Target -
You don't need to use this exact form for orders, and if you can think
of a better form to use, please do so. Just make sure it is clear and I can
understand it. ;-) If I can't...I will either ask you for clarification,
or your crew will attempt to interpret your orders to the best of their
ability, and you may not end up doing what you intended on doing. You have
been forewarned!Upon your receipt of the detection report you'll note that the distances aren't all that far apart. However, many of your weapons won't be in range for a while, unless you manuever to get them there.
If you think you see an error in the detection reports, please don't hesitate to let me know (already know a couple of you will from past experience with these games ;). If there really is an error, I'll send out updates asap.
Any questions? Ask away!
Mk
kochte@stsci.edu
Heheheh. I'll tell you later... ;-)