Successful playtest!

[The Oz]

At Travellercon this weekend I managed two successful playtests of my fleet-level board/miniature game: TRAVELLER:FLEET ACTION.

The Imperial player commanded 24 capital ships in five squadrons while the Zhodani had 43 capital ships in 6 squadrons. Both times the superior numbers of the Zhos outweighed the Imps better tech

Of greater importance all players quickly picked up the movement and command systems. We did have some trouble with the combat rules (they still need some streamlining and clearer explanation).

Combat seemed very deadly, perhaps too much so. In three turns of combat in one battle, the Zhodani lost 23 ships killed or crippled, yet they still won since they accomplished their mission. Plankwell-class battleships seem to attract meson gun fire: in the first action three were killed, with the fourth crippled but jumping to safety. In the second action all four were vaporized in one massive blast of meson fire from all three Zho Batrons.

Everyone seemed to have fun.

 

[mike wightman]

When can I buy it?

 

[Meteoric Assault]

is there a website to look at this or a description?

 

[Leitz]

Adding to the chorus of "I want it". Even a play test version as we have some folks here who would give it a go.

 

[The Oz]

Two successful playtests do not a finished game make. I need to incorporate what I learned this weekend and then retest.

What I can say is that this is a fleet-level game where the player is the Fleet Admiral and is making decisions at that level. So players are moving squadrons of capital ships around, with most shooting decisions (which ship shoots at what target) handled at the squadron commander/ship captain level (that is, by the game system).

 

[whartung]

Two successful playtests do not a finished game make. I need to incorporate what I learned this weekend and then retest.

What I can say is that this is a fleet-level game where the player is the Fleet Admiral and is making decisions at that level. So players are moving squadrons of capital ships around, with most shooting decisions (which ship shoots at what target) handled at the squadron commander/ship captain level (that is, by the game system).

Does this have something like the 5FW pre-order/order delay system?

 

[The Oz]

Does this have something like the 5FW pre-order/order delay system?

That will at the strategic level.

I (eventually) see this as a three-tiered game: the strategic game, where fleets move from star to star, possibly in a computer-moderated format (which would allow for hidden movement, communication delays, and other bennies), an operational level of movement within a star system, where fleets would be divided in task forces and the focus would be on scouting and screening, and the tactical level (what I just playtested) where squadrons of capital ships maneuver and fire on each other.

 

[whartung]

and the tactical level (what I just playtested) where squadrons of capital ships maneuver and fire on each other.

Oh, I thought this was higher level than that.

How does maneuver affect anything?

 

[The Oz]

Oh, I thought this was higher level than that.

How does maneuver affect anything?

Ships are grouped into squadrons, which are the maneuver units on the map. Maneuver is semi-Newtonian, based on Mayday/Battle Rider, with each squadron having a "future position marker" showing where the squadron will go if no change is made in the vector. Players change their units vectors by issuing orders to conduct a "Burn" which allows moving the future position marker by an amount based on the ship's G-rating.

Players can only give a limited number of orders every turn, and there are many uses for Orders so players must use them sparingly.

One of my major design goals is to put the players in the role of the Fleet Admiral, making only the decisions the Fleet Admiral would make. So players do not tell every ship where to move or what to shoot at: the player is the Fleet Admiral, not the captain of every battleship.

That's one reason I suspect this game (if ever finished) will appeal more to role-playing gamers (who are used to NPCs doing crazy things) rather than wargamers (who are used to micromanaging every ship and shuttle in an entire navy).

 

[whartung]

That's one reason I suspect this game (if ever finished) will appeal more to role-playing gamers (who are used to NPCs doing crazy things) rather than wargamers (who are used to micromanaging every ship and shuttle in an entire navy).

That's why I was curious why you bothered with maneuver.

 

[The Oz]

I think I may have been unclear, whartung.

What we playtested this weekend was a tactical combat game, with units maneuvering in formation on a tactical map, coming into and out of range of maneuvering enemy units. Think FULL THRUST or STAR FLEET BATTLES, except that the units on the map represented squadrons of three to nine capital ships.

 

[SanDragon]

Federation and Empire.

 

[The Oz]

Federation and Empire.

That's what the strategic module will be, and the operational module will be movement inside a single star system.

 

[Magnus von Thornwood]

Groovy.

Sounds like a game I was messing with a while back and fun which is why I was messing with it.

If you need more play testers let me know.

 

[Leitz]

I'm still of the opinion you need to let some of us pre-buy and send the rules so we can play with them.

 

[The Oz]

I'm still of the opinion you need to let some of us pre-buy and send the rules so we can play with them.

When I have incorporated the lessons learned from Travellercon and rewritten the rules into a draft that others can read and understand I probably will release them to the general public for a Beta test.

It will be nice if I have finished the 3D models for the miniatures and the stands for the squadrons so I can include them in any Beta test packet, but that probably opens a whole new can of legal worms.

 

[The Oz]

The first 3D models have been printed. These are, of course, very rough drafts, but I am now the proud owner of what I think are the first two Tigress-class battleship miniatures ever made.

I d*mn near cried when our school's robotics teacher brought them to me.

 

[The Oz]

There are now six Tigresses and four Plankwells. The ships look good enough for now, the next thing is to get their sizes correct relative to each other, and their absolute sizes so I can have squadrons of up to nine ships on one stand.

 

[JFGarber]

Post photos?

 

[The Oz]

Post photos?

How do I do that here?