FULL THRUST SCENARIO #7:
              "In the Wrong Place at the Wrong Time"

The Narn-Centauri was really winding down. The Narn were losing, badly. Very few Narn warships had managed to escape the Centauri juggernauts, much less achieve victory over Centauri forces. The Narn lost 4 out of every 5 battles, and soon they wouldn't be winning any.

One battle in which a Centauri combat squadron stomped the snot out of a significantly smaller Narn patrol, the Narn medium cruiser D'Ra managed to escape into Earth-controlled space. Damaged and alone, it's jump drives malfunctioning and inoperative after their last jump, the Narn ship tucked itself away in an clump of asteroids, and sent out a distress call, hoping against hope that an Earth Alliance military ship would find them before any pursuing Centuari did. After all, they were in Earth controlled space...would that mean anything to the Centauri?

As it happens a heavy EA patrol *did* come across the distressed Narn ship. But only minutes before a Centauri detachment arrived to finish the Narn off. With tensions running high, the EA commander attempted to negotiate with the Centauri commander, informing him that the Narn had been given asylum in order to make repairs. Unfortunately for the EA captain, the Centauri commander chose not to recognize the EA's position or authority in this matter and moved in to attack...

This scenario takes place in the Babylon 5 Universe, during the Narn-Centauri war, about a month before the events in 'The Fall Of Night'. You DON'T need to be familiar with Babylon 5 to play! This is just for background.

Number of players/teams:
2-3 - The Narn player/Earth Alliance player(s) and the Centauri player(s)

Set-up/Forces:

Ships/Names - Location:

Centauri:

Centauri Heavy Cruiser Sarius                   23.0,23.0
Centauri Light Cruiser Gragano                  23.0,25.0
Centauri Light Cruiser Kettukal                 25.0,25.0
Centauri Light Cruiser Forpahn                  25.0,23.0

Narn Medium Cruiser D'Ra                        65.0,50.0

EA Heavy Cruiser/BC (refit) Silverberg          63.0,48.0
EA Superdestroyer Madrid                        85.0,35.0
EA Superdestroyer Melbourne                     45.0,60.0

Well, well, there be asteroids here. Asteroid positions:

26,64   44,48   58,53   69,44   79,61   90,23
28,58   45,40   58,34   69,66   80,67   91,30
31,44   47,34   60,40   72,34   81,33   91,63
32,63   48,45   60,66   72,44   81,42   92,49
33,56   52,62   61,31   73,53   82,53   93,38
34,52   53,32   62,29   74,64   85,57   93,42
36,47   53,38   63,62   75,48   86,26   95,35
37,43   53,41   65,25   77,27   86,31   96,24
40,39   53,55   67,42   77,50   87,68   96,54
41,34   56,59   68,29   77,57   88,45   96,67
42,65   57,46   68,57   78,38   88,53   98,28

Due to the nature of the scenario, there is an 'artificial map boundary'. The Narn ship is low on fuel, supplies, and has limited maneuverability. If it leaves the map, it is considered destroyed (and a Centauri victory). Outside of these artificial boundaries is open space - no asteroids to even hope to hide behind.

The 'boundary' corners are the following x-y coordinates:
0,0, 100,0, 0,70, 100,70

Yes, it could get a little cramped here.

Travelling outside of this 'boundary' means your ship has essentially left the field of combat (and will be considered to have run off, tail between legs; your crew (or government) will deal with you later, don't worry...). You may not return (a lurker to this scenario might be granted leave to take over the ship, but won't be able to enter the fray for 1d4 turns).

Positions and ranges on the map will be given in 'inches', with each unit in either the x-direction or y-direction equating '1 inch'. If you want scale, call an inch 100 miles. ;-) Positional locations and ranges between units will have a 'resolution' of 0.25 'inches'. Ie, you will know where a given target is to a quarter of an inch; ranges ditto.

Length of Scenario:
The scenario continues until one side destroys or drives off the other.

Special Rules:

Side-slipping. A maneuver not covered in Full Thrust/More Thrust is the ability to side-slip. Those of you familiar with StarFleet Battles know what this is. Those of you who don't, it's a way of being able to 'slip' your ship to one side or another, and maintain your current facing. To use this manuever, your course change for the current turn must be an even number, and evenly divisible by 2 (ie, turns of '2', '4', '6', and '8' are valid course change values; '1', 3', '5', etc, are not). As per normal turning rules, 1/2 of your applied thrust to turning takes place at the start of movement, either to the Port or Starboard. Halfway through your movement (as per normal Full Thrust rules) you apply the other half of your thrust dedicated to changing your course - but in the opposite direction of your original turn! Thus if you had a course change of 4, and you wanted to slip to the left, you would apply 2 points of course change to turn to the Port. Halfway through your move you would apply the other 2 points of course change to turn to the Starboard, and continue movement as normal. Your facing ultimately does not change (though it will during the middle of movement). I wonder if I should post this to the FT mailling list...

Unless a ship is specifically withdrawing/disengaging, any ship that leaves the map/playing field is considered 'destroyed' for victory purposes and may not return (it really isn't destroyed, but it is considered that the captain of said vessel got 'cold feet' and ran; his co-warriors will deal with him later). Alternatively, a lurker may be given leave to take over command of the ship, but the vessel may not return to play for 1d4 turns.

Jumpgates - the local jumpgate is too far off the map to worry about.

Heavy Beam Weapons - covered in 'new rules' message

Fighters - Centauri Fighters are Fast Fighters. Earth Alliance Starfuries are considered Normal Fighters. Each side may chose the configuration of their fighter groups: either standard, interceptor, attack, or heavy. Once chosen, they remain in this configuration for the duration of the scenario. The Centauri fighter wings may not chose the 'Heavy' option. The owning player makes a choice with his Turn 1 orders. If no choice is made, the fighters are assumed to be 'standard', in addition to whatever they may already be.

EA fighter special - I don't think this'll matter much, but EA fighters, due to their omni-directional thrusters, can fire in any direction, irregardless of facing. The Centauri fighters fire in the direction they are heading.

Asteroids:

Yep, they're out there! Navigational hazards surpreme. Asteroids will act in all ways like the FT rules describe. But in a PBeM game the locations of the asteroids is only *approximate*, as things tend to move about in space (these suckers aren't tethered down, ya know!). But as the movement of these bodies throughout the course of the game is negligible, the positions given above will remain. However, passing within 1 inch/centimeter/unit/etc of an asteroid position will cause for a collision roll. Watch your navigating! Also, 'line-of-sight' will be considered 'blocked' if it passes within 1 inch (centimeter, unit, whatever) of an asteroid position (see locations above).

Full Thrust/More Thrust Rules that will be used:
FT: Core Rules
    Advanced Rules - Fighters
    Advanced Rules - Asteroids
MT: Missiles
    Reflex Field
    C-Batteries as anti-fighter/anti-missile weapons
    Damage Control
    Advanced Fighter Rules: 'Scrambling' Fighter Groups
    Advanced Fighter Rules: Specialized Fighter Types

C-Batteries may be used in anti-fighter/anti-missile mode. If done so, they act in most all respects as a PDAF system - but only for anti-fighter/anti-missile situations. A C-Battery so dedicated to this role for the turn may not be used in anti-ship action. Against missiles the C-Battery will function exactly like a PDAF, but against fighters a C-Battery will only do 1 pt of damage to a fighter group on a roll of 5-6; on a 4 or less it misses. C-Batteries used in anti-fighter/anti-missile mode require the use of a dedicated Fire Control system. This FC may control any number of C-Batteries in anti-fighter/anti- missile mode, and any number of missiles or fighter groups may be engaged.

Victory Conditions:

Very simple: for the Narn, to survive. For the Earth Alliance, to drive off the Centauri. For the Centauri, to destroy the Narn; the EA ships are just a nuisance and if they get in the way, too bad for them. If the EA ships end up destroying the Centauri, Earth officials back home will be put out, but...hey, what can you do? Shit happens...

Historical Outcome (if any):

[none yet]