FPF came into being because I could not find a system that allowed me to fight my Federation V Klingons the way I'd seen in films. Other systems were slow and tedious with the power allocation taking up too much time and importance in the game, in turn that reduced the number of ships on the table. FPF reflects the battle shown in DS9, at Wolf 359 versus the Borg cube, Khan versus Kirk and countless other engagements. The full system will eventually allow the space battles in Star Wars & Babylon 5 to be played out as well.
It achieves this by a reversal of a major game mechanism that is in every other system I've played. In FPF ships move further than they can shoot, does it sound like a small thing to you? Just think about it! It means that ships have to close with the enemy to allow 'lock on', shoot and move away if they can out manoeuvre the enemy not just bang away from one end of the table to the other end. This also means that there will be a lot more close action as shown in most of the films and ships will fly past each other making manoeuvring a larger part of the game. [I know that that is a limit of screen size, but if it captures the 'feel' more, is this such a bad thing?]
There are no charts to constantly refer to as all the info you need is recorded on the ship details sheet, therefore no time wasted and no excess clutter on the table. Because speed and simplicity are the key factors of this game, you can easily play with 15 to 18 ships per side in 3 hours, 4 if your noisy. Battle plans do work, with 'Grand Fleet Tactics' playing a major roll, but because of the speed and maneuverability of the ships it soon deteriorate if you're not careful.
Designer: Madan M Mitra
Rules[]
Rescued by: User:Freewargamesrules
DESIGN PHILOSOPHY[]
FPF came into being because I could not find a system that allowed me to fight my Federation V Klingons the way I'd seen in films. Other systems were slow and tedious with the power allocation taking up too much time and importance in the game, in turn that reduced the number of ships on the table. FPF reflects the battle shown in DS9, at Wolf 359 V the BORG cube, KAHN v KIRK and countless other engagements. The full system will eventually allow the space battles in STAR WARS & BABYLON 5 to be played out as well.
It achieves this by a reversal of a major game mechanism that is in every other system I've played. In FPF ships move further than they can shoot, does it sound like a small thing to you? Just think about it! It means that ships have to close with the enemy to allow 'lock on', shoot and move away if they can out manoeuvre the enemy not just bang away from one end of the table to the other end. This also means that there will be a lot more close action as shown in most of the films and ships will fly past each other making manoeuvring a larger part of the game. [I know that that is a limit of screen size, but if it captures the 'feel' more, is this such a bad thing?]
There are no charts to constantly refer to as all the info you need is recorded on the ship details sheet, therefore no time wasted and no excess clutter on the table. Because speed and simplicity are the key factors of this game, you can easily play with 15 to 18 ships per side in 3 hours, 4 if your noisy. Battle plans do work, with 'Grand Fleet Tactics' playing a major roll, but because of the speed and manoeuvrability of the ships it soon deteriorate if you're not careful.
TURN SEQUENCE[]
Each turn is 5 minutes long and is split into 3 phases as follows-
- Repairs, if any.
- Initiative [previous turns speed].
- Stations & Capitol ships.
MOVEMENT[]
All distances are measured in cm's. All movement is in Squadrons containing 3 ships, with the fastest moving ships having the initiative. Ships only move if they have been 'activated', this is done in a strict sequence as follows. The previous turns speed dictates the initiative sequence for the present turn, actual distance travelled equals SPEED. If two or more players have the same speed then roll a d10, the higher number may elect to go first. Then the opponent moves a squadron, this continues to alternate until all the 'same speed' squadrons have moved. Finally the slower squadrons move until all have moved. If a squadron wishes to slow down or speed up it makes that decision when it is activated. If a squadron does decides to change speed it must be noted down so in the next turn it can be placed in the correct sequence. If one player has all squadrons moving faster than the other player then all of the faster squadrons move first.
The 'initiative sequence' can be ignored in the following circumstances: if a ship is in the 'rear arc' facing the squadron to be pursued, then the squadron in front is moved first regardless of initiative. This is called 'forced activation', the winner of the initiative forces the enemy squadron to move first in order to continue the pursuit secure in the knowledge of observing which way the enemy is moving.
Movement is via the squadron leader, the wingmen will file in behind and follow it's path until final deployment at end of move. The wingmen can not exceed the squadron leaders move even in final deployment. The maximum speed that any ship may move is 40cm. The leader may make the 1st 60-degree turn [or 1 hex face] followed by 1/2 of the present turns move. The leader may now make the 2nd 60-degree turn [or 1 hex face] followed by the last 1/2 of the movement. If the final position is on top of another ship then it must stop short. [activate-turn-move-turn-move-stop]
Slowing down and speeding up is through the 'Power' factor for each ship. This will reduce if it takes damage, if it is reduced to 0 then the ships engines shut down and consequently the ship continues in a straight line until the engines come back on line via damage control (or not).
If a ship slows down to 0 it must use at least 5cm of movement to spin around to face any direction and then continue to move if it has any power left. e.g. a stationary ship has a power of 20 so it spins around 180d and then accelerates to 15cm a turn.
ALTERNATIVE[]
Move the ships one at a time. This will be slower but will give more accurate movement lines.
MASKING[]
METHOD 1 [involves masking][]
Assume that ships in squadron are in constant communication with each other, so when one wants to fire, the other will get out of the way. Therefore there is no masking when moving. The maximum number of ships in a squadron is 3. If ships are stationary when they fire then masking is involved. [Check masking from spigot to spigot, if any ships base is crossed then it is masking, this applies to either sides ships]
When ships are stationary they are considered to be masking or masked by any intervening ships. A non combatant ship [e.g. a carrier that has launched all fighters and will not fire any weapons] may be placed in a squadron for protection as long as 'line of sight' and 'arc of fire' are taken into account. This may exceed the maximum number of ships in a squadron rule. A Squadron may fly over another ship and target any other ship eligible.
METHOD 2 [no masking][]
This method is used by a lot of other games to simulate a 3d environment by saying that there is 'no masking' as there may be ships above or below that will get a line of site. It's OK, it works and is less of a headache and is definitely faster.
FIRING[]
If a ship is on the table the scanners will pick it up, which means that weapon systems may lock onto it. If there is no 'lock on' then the weapon stands no chance of hitting the target, as the speed and distance is too great. Weapons lock on at their optimum range once the operator has chosen the target, then all that need be done is to press the button and hope that the weapon penetrates.
Ships can only fire out of one arc with all weapons in that arc and only once during the turn at any time during movement or 'reaction fire'. All weapon systems on a ship fire together at the same target. The squadron must declare all targets before any shooting takes place. If a weapon is out of range it stays locked on to that ship and if it comes into range it may be fired apon. Phaser Beams will always hit and do damage first, followed by the Photon Torpedoes. Ships fire in a co-ordinated 'volley fire' sequence, damage is applied immediately. e.g. 3 ships fire at a target, beams from the first ship hit and do damage, then the next ships beams hit and do damage and finally the last ships beams hit and do damage. This sequence is repeated for any torpedoes that are also fired. If the first ship hits the shield and reduces them then the second ship will gain from this as the shields are now lower.
Ships may only fire when they are 'activated' i.e. moving or about to move. However they may 'reaction fire' in their forward arc if they have not already shot this turn. A ship must be moving in the forward arc to be targeted by 'reaction fire'. Ships must decide and declare if they going to shoot or hold fire before shooting. To keep the speed of the game up, a squadron fires all together or not at all, individuals may not fire at different times or hold fire.
If a squadron is approaching another in the forward arc and both want to shoot at each other then both ships will open fire with the longest ranged weapons hitting and doing damage followed by the next longest ranged weapon and so on until all weapons have shot.
[measure all ranges from spigot to spigot]
FIRING ARCS[]
All ships may fire out of only one arc, they are all 90 degrees, to front, to port [left], to starboard [right] and the rear. Most ships have their majority of weapons to their front so always try to make sure that that is the arc they bring to bear on opponent. This is more important when you realise that they may only fire once per turn so rather than a few Phaser Beams from the port side it would be better to manoeuvre the front arc into place and unload all forward weapons.
DAMAGE[]
At 10,000Km per minute targeting can be a trifle hard. To get over this small hurdle the gunners pick a target and lock the 'Auto Tracking System' onto it. When the optimum range is reached the ATS opens fire, because weapons may only fire when in range and 'locked on' the only concern is whether the weapon penetrates the shields or not. To do this simply take the strength of the weapon from the shield value which now gives the target number required on a d10. A roll of 1 always fails/misses and a roll of 10 always penetrates. e.g. weapon strength is 5 and shields are 12, this makes the target 7+. The weapon strength is 5 but shields are at 20 which requires 15+ on a d10, but the roll of 10 will penetrate and do damage.
The location of the damage is via a d10, the number rolled corresponds to the ship sheet which is marked in brackets.
Phaser Beams weapons do 1 point of damage per hit so a d10 is rolled for each beam that penetrates to give the hit locations [which are detailed on the ship sheet]. Photon Torpedoes do d6 of damage so it is best to roll a d10 for location and the d6 for the damage together. If a location is hit that does not contain equipment then apply damage to superstructure only.
A weapon may only be damaged if shot at from an arc in which it can shoot in, (i.e. if a ship with no aft weapons is hit in the aft and the damage location die indicates a weapon then damage is only applied to the superstructure.
When any damage is done on a ship that amount of damage is removed from the superstructure value as well as location hit. If the ship loses Power or Systems it will continue on last heading until damage control brings it under control or not as the case may be. When the ship is out of players control it cannot perform any action except damage control.
REPAIRS[]
For every 1 point of 'Damage Control' a ship has, it can bring 1 item back to life. e.g. Regardless of how many points trashed a photon launcher it will only take 1 point of 'damage control' to bring it back to life. Damage control is applied at the beginning of the turn and is effective immediately [a 'just in time' sort of thing, like in the films/series]. It used to be at the end, but players kept forgetting about it in the heat of the battle, would you believe!
Superstructure may not be repaired as some form of 'Dry Dock' or specialised equipment is required so if superstructure is reduced to 0 the ship goes BOOM! Battlefield repairs will bring all damaged items back on line, however the ship will be down on superstructure points. Damage is applied the moment the weapon hits so you may find that sometimes weapons may be put out of action before they get to return fire.
If the Systems are hit they must go into minus numbers and recover from that minus number. e.g. ship with Systems 2 gets hit for 4 points of damage so is at -2, therefore it will require 3 points of damage control to bring the ship back to life.
Systems damage track: +10 +9 +8 +7 +6 +5 +4 +3 +2 +1 .0. -1 -2 -3 -4 -5 -6 -7 -8 -9 -10
SLANG[]
Detoothed- No weapons left.
Ballistic- No power left or systems at zero (therefore travelling in a straight line).
Toast- Low on shields.
"warp factor lots mister Sulu!"- need I say it?
CONCLUSIONS[]
CRASH BANG WALLOP, three words that accurately describe this game, ZOOM four words that accurately describe this game. It's simplistic base set of rules makes it easy to adapt more complex rules i.e. ships do not go BOOM but end up dead in space allowing boarding actions. Allow ships in a squadron to hold fire. [fighters, boarding pods, special weapons, armour, high & low techs, slingshots], Micro Warp Jumps [you might like this so here it is: instead of 40cms squadron jumps 40" to 60" in a straight line only after the 1st 60-degree turn, but may only fire photons, if a ship is down to 50% of Super Structure and attempts a Micro Warp Jump it will take d6 points of damage direct to Super Structure ], close in defence systems C.I.D.S. for anti fighter weapons [pronounced sids], instead of 'ATS' a 'to hit' table, drop shields in a nebulae and use a 9 & 0 as hits, there's more but I can tell you're eyes are glazing over.
THE SHIPS[]
Klingon[]
D-25-b BIRD OF PREY[]
| Value 15 | Scout | Sqdrn.45 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ship name & number | IKV- | IKV- | IKV- |
| Superstructure | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| (1-4) Shields | 12 | 12 | 12 |
| (5-7) Engine Power
Take double damage in
|
20 | 20 | 20 |
| (8) Phasers F/P str 2/ 18cm |
1
1 |
1
1 |
1
1 |
| (9) Photons AFT str 7/ 14cm |
1 | 1 | 1 |
| (0) Computer | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Damage Control | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Speed 0-40cm | Last turn-
This turn- |
Last turn-
This turn- |
Last turn-
This turn- |
D-18-e STAR HAWK[]
| Value 30 | Escourt | Sqdrn.90 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ship name & number | IKV- | IKV- | IKV- |
| Superstructure | 12 | 12 | 12 |
| (1-4) Shields | 12 | 12 | 12 |
| (5-7) Engine Power | 12 | 12 | 12 |
| (8) Phasers FWD str 2/18cm |
2 2 |
2 2 |
2 2 |
| (9) Photons AFT str 5/ 14cm |
1 | 1 | 1 |
| (0) Computer | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Damage Control | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Speed 0-40cm | Last turn-
This turn- |
Last turn-
This turn- |
Last turn-
This turn- |
D-2-a STING[]
| Value 75 | MISSILE DESTROYER | Sqdrn.225 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ship name & number | IKV- | IKV- | IKV- |
| Superstructure | 13 | 13 | 13 |
| (1-4) Shields | 15 | 15 | 15 |
| (5-7) Engine Power | 15 | 15 | 15 |
| (8) Phasers F/P/S str 3/ 18cm |
2 2 |
2 2 |
2 2 |
| (9) Photons FWD str 5/ 12cm |
4 | 4 | 4 |
| (0) Computer | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Damage Control | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Speed 0-40cm | Last turn-
This turn- |
Last turn-
This turn- |
Last turn-
This turn- |
D-7-t K'T'ROIKA[]
| Value 80 | BATTLE CRUISER | Sqdrn.240 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ship name & number | IKV- | IKV- | IKV- |
| Superstructure | 22 | 22 | 22 |
| (1-4) Shields | 14 | 14 | 14 |
| (5-7) Engine Power | 16 | 16 | 16 |
| (8) Phasers FWD str 4/ 22cm |
4 2 |
4 2 |
4 2 |
| (9) Photons FWD str 9/ 14cm |
1 1 |
1 1 |
1 1 |
| (0) Computer | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Damage Control | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Speed 0-40cm | Last turn-
This turn- |
Last turn-
This turn- |
Last turn-
This turn- |
D-10-k DRAKONATH[]
| Value 100 | HEAVY CRUISER | Sqdrn.300 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ship name & number | IKV- | IKV- | IKV- |
| Superstructure | 34 | 34 | 34 |
| (1-4) Shields | 14 | 14 | 14 |
| (5-7) Engine Power | 18 | 18 | 18 |
| (8) Phasers FWD str 4/ 22cm |
4 2 |
4 2 |
4 2 |
| (9) Photons FWD str 9/ 14cm |
2 1 |
2 1 |
2 1 |
| (0) Computer | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Damage Control | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Speed 0-40cm | Last turn-
This turn- |
Last turn-
This turn- |
Last turn-
This turn- |
Federation[]
DEFENDER[]
| Value 45 | ESCOURT | Sqdrn.135 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ship name & number | NCC-_______-___ ______________ |
NCC-_______-___ ______________ |
NCC-_______-___ ______________ |
| Superstructure | 14 | 14 | 14 |
| (1-4) Shields | 14 | 14 | 14 |
| (5-7) Engine Power | 12 | 12 | 12 |
| [8] Phasers F/P str 3/ 20cm |
2 2 |
2 2 |
2 2 |
| [9] Photons F/P/S/A str 6/ 16cm |
1 | 1 | 1 |
| (0) Computer | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Damage Control | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Speed 0-40cm | Last turn-
This turn- |
Last turn-
This turn- |
Last turn-
This turn- |
CHARGER[]
| Value 70 | DESTROYER | Sqdrn.210 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ship name & number | NCC-_______-___ ______________ |
NCC-_______-___ ______________ |
NCC-_______-___ ______________ |
| Superstructure | 18 | 18 | 18 |
| (1-4) Shields | 14 | 14 | 14 |
| (5-7) Engine Power | 16 | 16 | 16 |
| [8] Phasers F/P/A str 4/ 24cm |
3 3 |
3 3 |
3 3 |
| [9] Photons F/P str 6/ 16cm |
1 1 |
1 1 |
1 1 |
| (0) Computer | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Damage Control | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Speed 0-40cm | Last turn-
This turn- |
Last turn-
This turn- |
Last turn-
This turn- |
RELIANT[]
| Value 90 | RESEARCH CRUISER | Sqdrn.270 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ship name & number | NCC-_______-___ ______________ |
NCC-_______-___ ______________ |
NCC-_______-___ ______________ |
| Superstructure | 22 | 22 | 22 |
| (1-4) Shields | 14 | 14 | 14 |
| (5-7) Engine Power | 16 | 16 | 16 |
| [8] Phasers F/P/A str 4/ 24cm |
3 3 |
3 3 |
3 3 |
| [9] Photons F/P str 7/ 16cm |
2 1 |
2 1 |
2 1 |
| (0) Computer | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Damage Control | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Speed 0-40cm | Last turn-
This turn- |
Last turn-
This turn- |
Last turn-
This turn- |
VENTURE[]
| Value 110 | CRUISER | Sqdrn.330 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ship name & number | NCC-_______-___ ______________ |
NCC-_______-___ ______________ |
NCC-_______-___ ______________ |
| Superstructure | 28 | 28 | 28 |
| (1-4) Shields | 16 | 16 | 16 |
| (5-7) Engine Power | 18 | 18 | 18 |
| [8] Phasers FWD str 5/ 24cm |
2 2 2 |
2 2 2 |
2 2 2 |
| [9] Photons FWD str 8/ 16cm |
2 2 |
2 2 |
2 2 |
| (0) Computer | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Damage Control | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Speed 0-40cm | Last turn-
This turn- |
Last turn-
This turn- |
Last turn-
This turn- |
ENTERPRISE[]
| Value 180 | HEAVY CRUISER | Sqdrn.540 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ship name & number | NCC-_______-___ ______________ |
NCC-_______-___ ______________ |
NCC-_______-___ ______________ |
| Superstructure | 32 | 32 | 32 |
| (1-4) Shields | 16 | 16 | 16 |
| (5-7) Engine Power | 20 | 20 | 20 |
| [8] Phasers FWD str 5/ 24cm |
4 2 2 2 |
4 2 2 2 |
4 2 2 2 |
| [9] Photons FWD str 10/ 16cm |
2 2 |
2 2 |
2 2 |
| (0) Computer | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Damage Control | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Speed 0-40cm | Last turn-
This turn- |
Last turn-
This turn- |
Last turn-
This turn- |