Colors and Lights


"Almost pretty, isn't it?"
"Yeah, I suppose it is."
"Sometimes it's easy to forget it's our guys fighting out there. All you see is the light, the color..."
-Mack and Bo, "A View From The Gallery", Babylon 5

Table Of Contents
Unknown action ""anchor""
Colors and Lights is a tabletop game that simulates "space opera" battles, with fleets of starships, fighters, and all the trimmings. The game is not associated with any particular fandom; while the game provides sample ships to populate players' space navies, it shouldn't be difficult to simulate various iconic science fiction ships.
 

The game is freely downloadable; click here to download all files necessary to play the game.

Unknown action ""anchor""
The game is played on a hexagonal grid of arbitrary size (for a small engagement, a 40x40 grid should be plenty). Here is a letter-sized hex grid suitable for printing; tape these sheets together to form a play surface of the desired size. After taping down the play surface, draw an arrow in one of the hexes that points to one of the faces; this will serve as the index for numbering the sides of the hex.

Once the play surface is set up, the players should assemble their fleets. Each ship in a player's fleet requires a Ship Record. Players should fill out their Ship Records based on the Unknown action ""anchor"" provided; experienced players should feel free to create their own ships and see how they play. When filling in their Ship Records, players may find it useful to draw the index arrow on the movement section of the Ship Record so that the orientation of their Ship Records on the table lines up with the orientation of the index arrow on the play surface. It may also be useful for each player to have a copy of the Reference Card.

Each ship will also need a unique playing piece of some sort (here is a sheet of counters, suitable for printing on card, that is appropriately sized for the above-linked hex grid); each playing piece must be easily identifiable and have some way of designating the "forward" direction.

Once all players have assembled their fleets, players should place their pieces on the play surface. As a general rule, opposing fleets should start out with at least ten hexes between the nearest hostile ships; however, experienced players should feel free to create special scenarios that require a different placement of fleets.

Unknown action ""anchor""
One round of play is divided into multiple phases. The players determine an order of play ("clockwise around the table" works as well as any; Colors and Lights is designed such that the order of play is not particularly favorable to any player), and then, proceeding phase by phase, each player performs each phase in order. (Some phases do not involve interaction with the other players; as such, players may choose to perform these phases simultaneously in order to save time.)

0. Interphase


(This phase is numbered "0" because players skip it at the very beginning of the game.)

If necessary, for each of a player's ships, the player must:
  1. move any ordnance counters on the Ordnance Ready Track one square towards the ready square
  2. move the ship's FTL counter one square towards the ready square, if the FTL drive is powered up
  3. sustain damage equal to the ship's current Fire count (if this damage is sufficient to trigger a roll on the Minor or Major Damage tables, resolve the effect immediately)
  4. make the Fire roll
  5. roll on the Boarder table a number of times equal to the ship's current Boarder count (resolve the effects of these rolls immediately)
  6. make the Damage Control roll (or rally the crew, as desired)
  7. calculate the fleet's total C&C value and immediately remove any fighters or bombers in excess of that value (player's choice)

1. Ordnance


The player must move existing ordnance in the following order (any ordnance that engages a target will resolve that engagement after all ordnance has moved, unless otherwise noted):
  1. torpedoes (according to their course)
  2. assault craft (up to their maximum movement value; any assault craft that cannot engage a target after moving once must be removed)
  3. bombers (up to their maximum movement value)
  4. fighters and fighter/bombers (up to their maximum movement value; fighters that engage targets while moving resolve their engagements immediately and must stop moving after the engagement, even if they survive)

Fighters and bombers that are escorting other ships may delay their movement in order to move simultaneously during the Movement phase. A fighter or bomber must be immediately adjacent to the escorted ship and must possess enough movement value to keep pace with the escorted ship. Fighters escorting a ship may, if the player desires, automatically intercept any ordnance that engages the escorted ship, regardless of location, provided they have not already intercepted ordnance during the same turn.

Fighters, fighter/bombers, bombers, and assault craft are not required to move if the player does not desire to move them. Assault craft must still be removed from play after one turn, even if they did not move; other craft may remain in play until removed from play by other means (intercept, point defense, C&C change etc.)

Once all ordnance in play has been moved, the player may ready new ordnance by placing ordnance counters on the Ordnance Ready Track. The player must place ordnance counters on the square of the Ordnance Ready Track marked by the appropriate ordnance type and the current Crew modifier value; for example, if the current Crew modifier is -1, the player must place fighter, bomber, or fighter/bomber counters on the square marked "F/B -1" and torpedo or assault craft counters on the square marked "T/A -1".

The total number of ordnance counters of each type on the Ordnance Ready Track (whether in the ready square or elsewhere on the Track) may not at any time exceed the ship's number of undamaged bays of the appropriate type. For example, if one of a stock Destroyer's torpedo bays has been destroyed, then there may not be more than three torpedo counters anywhere on that ship's Ordnance Ready Track at any time; they player may not place any additional torpedo counters on the Ordnance Ready Track until at least one torpedo counter has been removed from the ready square, either by being launched or by being unreadied.

Once the player has readied all desired ordnance, the player may unready any ordnance as desired (for example, a player may want to remove ready fighters from a Carrier's bays in order to ready and launch bombers) by removing the appropriate ordnance counters from the Ordnance Ready Track's ready square. Any number of ready ordnance counters may be unreadied instantly; however, a player may not unready ordnance and then place any new ordnance on the same ship's Ordnance Ready Track during the same turn.

Once the player has readied or unreadied ordnance as desired, the player may remove any friendly ordnance from play at will (craft are recalled to their motherships, torpedoes are remotely disabled). Ordnance removed from play in this fashion is not returned to the ready square on the Ordnance Ready Track, but must be readied again by the procedure described above. A player may not place any new ordnance on any ship's Ordnance Ready Track after removing ordnance from play.

2. Gunnery


For each weapon on one of a player's ships that will be firing this turn, the player must:
  1. declare the weapon's target
  2. make the to-hit roll

Each of these steps is performed in order for each ship a player controls.

Each player should keep track of all damage inflicted on his ships during this phase; this number will be needed later on during the Damage phase.

Once the player has fired all weapons that will be firing this turn, the player may fire any point defences as desired. Ordnance or craft hit by point defence fire is removed from the board immediately.

Once all a player's gunnery has been resolved, the player should launch any ready ordnance as desired. Torpedoes can only be launched from ready torpedo tubes; fighters, bombers, and assault craft can only be launched from ready bays of the appropriate type. Ready ordnance is represented on the Ship Record by ordnance counters stacked in the ready square of the Ordnance Ready Track; if a ship has no ordnance counters in the ready square, the ship may not launch ordnance, even if the ship has ordnance counters in other squares of the Ordnance Ready Track.

Launched ordnance is placed adjacent to the ship launching it; it does not move until the next ordnance phase.

3. Damage


For each of a player's ships, the player must:
  1. calculate any fire damage and add it to the existing damage total
  2. subtract damage total from superstructure (SS)
  3. if the ship is still intact, roll on any damage tables as necessary (Major first, then Minor)

4. Movement


For each of a player's ships, the player must:
  1. move the ship according to its course
    1. if this movement initiates a ram and either of the players involved wants a ram to occur, the ram is immediately resolved
    2. if one sequence of moving ships initiates a ram and another does not, the player must choose the sequence that initiates a ram (however, the ram will not occur unless both players desire that it occur)
  2. if desired, power up FTL drive (place a counter on the ship's FTL Track) or power down FTL drive (remove the counter from the ship's FTL Track)
  3. if desired, change the ship's course (unless FTL drive is powered up)

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Players will periodically be called upon to roll dice in order to resolve various actions in-game. Unless otherwise specified, a "roll" refers to a roll of one six-sided die (1d6). Rolls may be affected by modifiers; a modified roll is performed by rolling the die and then adding or subtracting the modifier as appropriate. Rolls have targets; if the result of a roll is greater than or equal to its target, the roll is successful.

Specific rolls:
Unknown action ""anchor""
The system of movement used in Colors and Lights provides a basic model of inertial movement (remember, Newton's laws and all that). In this system, each side of a hex on the play surface is associated with a number from 1 to 6 (the Unknown action ""anchor"" always points to side 1), and thus one could describe the movement of a piece on the board as "two hexes in direction 3 and one hex in direction 4", for example.

Ships possess an orientation as well as a direction of movement; thus, a ship that is facing direction 5 but moving in direction 2 is moving backwards.

Players must keep track of their ships' movement in all six directions and also of their ships' rotation (clockwise or counterclockwise). The movement section of the Ship Record will be helpful in this task.

Moving Ships According To Course

Each vessel's Ship Record has space to record a current course. The course consists of eight integers, six representing the number of hexes to be moved per turn in each of the six directions and two representing the number of hex sides per turn that the ship is to be rotated (either clockwise or counterclockwise). Fortunately, any desired course can be represented using only three integers (see reduction rules below).

During the first part of the Movement Phase, each vessel is moved according to the numbers on its Ship Record. If this movement causes any two vessels to cross paths (even if the two vessels are friendly), a ram occurs and must be resolved immediately. (If the order in which two vessels are moved affects whether or not a ram occurs, players must move the ships in the order that creates a ram.) When a ram occurs, each ship inflicts its current (not initial) SS value upon the other as damage, which is immediately resolved as per normal damage resolution rules. If more than two ships are involved in the ram, resolve the ram as a series of two-ship collisions. If hostile ships ram, any ship that survives receives +2 to Crew; this bonus may raise a ship's Crew value above its starting value.

Altering Course

After each vessel has been moved according to its course, the player may alter its course. Escorts receive three movement points per turn and capital ships receive two; these points may be spent to alter any of the following course integers: If a capital ship spends both of its movement points altering rotation, it immediately sustains one point of SS damage from the stress of the hard turn.

Once the movement points have been spent to alter the course, reduce the course numbers (for simplicity) according to the following rules, in order:
  1. If two opposite hex sides have value, subtract the smaller value from both hex sides.
  2. If two hex sides separated by one hex side have value, subtract the smaller value from both hex sides, then set the middle hex side to the remaining value and set the larger hex side to zero.
  3. If both directions of rotation have value, subtract the smaller value from both sides.

Faster-than-light (FTL) Jumps

Ships in Colors and Lights are equipped with faster-than-light drives that permit them to remove themselves from play (for example, a crippled ship may want to jump out in order to escape destruction).

To initiate a FTL jump, a player must declare that a particular ship is powering up its FTL drive; this is done during the movement phase, after the ship has moved according to its course but before the player has spent any movement points to alter its course. Once a ship powers up its FTL drive, the following effect occur immediately:
When a ship powers up its FTL drive, the player places an upside-down ordnance counter (the FTL counter) on the ship's FTL track at the square marked with the ship's current Crew modifier value; for example, if the ship's current Crew modifier is -1, the player places the FTL counter on the square on the FTL Track marked with -1. If the ship's Crew modifier is less than -2, the player places the FTL counter on the square marked with -2; if the ship's crew modifier is greater than +2, the player places the FTL counter on the square marked with +2.

Once a ship's FTL counter is in the ready square, the player may announce (during the Movement phase) that the ship is making a FTL jump; the ship is immediately removed from play. If desired, during the Movement phase the player may declare that the ship is powering down its FTL drive and remove the FTL counter from the FTL Track, regardless of its position; in that case, the above effects immediately cease. A ship which has powered down its FTL drive may not begin powering up its FTL drive during the same turn in which it powered down; however, during the Movement phase of any successive turn, the player may once again power up the ship's FTL drive and place a FTL counter on the FTL track square marked with the ship's current Crew modifier value.

A ship with a destroyed FTL drive may not power up its FTL drive.

Unknown action ""anchor""
Ships use their weapons and ordnance to deal damage to each other. Some ship designs emphasize weaponry, some ordnance, and some strike a balance.

Weapons


In Colors and Lights, weapons are classified as either Beam or Projectile. Beam weapons are equally accurate at any range, but the damage they deal decreases with range; projectile weapons, on the other hand, deal equal damage at any range, but their accuracy decreases with range.

A ship's weapons are described by two numbers, e.g. Projectile 4/8. The first number defines the strength of the weapon (how much damage it inflicts when it hits) and the second defines the maximum effective range (in hexes). When calculating range effects, "short range" is defined as less than or equal to half the maximum effective range, and "long range" is defined as more than half the effective range. A ship's weapons cannot fire at targets that are farther than their maximum effective range.

During the fire phase, ships may fire at targets within their weapons' effective ranges. Escorts may fire each of their weapons once per turn. Capital ships may fire each of their weapons twice per turn; each weapon may fire at two different targets or the same target as desired. A ship may hold fire even if targets are available. If a ship carries more than one type of weapon, a different target may be selected for each type of weapon, and a separate Targeting roll must be made for each type of weapon.

Once targets have been declared for all of the weapons on a player's ship, the player must make a Unknown action ""anchor"" for each weapon being fired. If the roll is successful, the firing ship deals the weapon's strength in damage to the target, subject to range effects as detailed below.

Weapons are affected by range as follows:
Here's an example of weapons fire; in this example, a stock Heavy Cruiser (capital ship, SS 60, Beam 8/8) is engaging a stock Corvette (escort, SS 20, Beam 4/6, Projectile 2/8):
  1. During the Gunnery phase of the first turn, the ships are 7 hexes apart.
    1. The Heavy Cruiser's commander declares that she will be firing her beam weapons twice at the Corvette (as a capital ship, her ship's weapons can fire twice per turn); modified Targeting rolls (with a target of 4, since the targeted ship is an escort) of 4 and 2 mean that one shot hits and the other misses. The Corvette's commander notes that his ship has sustained 4 points of superstructure damage (since the Heavy Cruiser's beam weapons are firing at long range).
    2. The Corvette's commander declares that he will be firing her projectile weapon at the Heavy Cruiser (as an escort, each of his ship's weapons can fire only once per turn); a modified Targeting roll (with a target of 4, since the targeted ship is a capital ship, but the Corvette's projectile weapon is firing at long range) of 3 means that the shot misses. The Heavy Cruiser is farther away than the effective range of the Corvette's beam weapon, so it cannot fire this turn.
  2. During the Gunnery phase of the second turn, the ships have closed to 4 hexes apart.
    1. The Heavy Cruiser's commander again fires her ship's beam weapons twice at the Corvette. Modified Targeting rolls (again with a target of 4) of 2 and 6 mean that one shot hits and the other misses; the Corvette's commander notes that his ship has sustained 8 points of superstructure damage (since the Heavy Cruiser's beam weapons are now firing at short range). Ouch!
    2. The Corvette's commander declares that he will be firing both his projectile weapon and his beam weapon at the Heavy Cruiser, since it is now within range of both weapons. For the projectile weapon, a modified targeting roll (with a target of 3, since the Corvette's projectile weapon is firing at short range) of 4 means that the shot hits, and for the beam weapon, a modified targeting roll (again with a target of 3) of 5 means that the shot also hits. The Heavy Cruiser's commander notes that her ship has sustained 4 points of superstructure damage (2 from the Corvette's projectile weapon, and 2 from the Corvette's beam weapon firing at long range).

Ordnance


In Colors and Lights, both torpedoes and small craft fall under the category of ordnance.

Ordnance that is already on the board moves during the Ordnance phase; however, new ordnance is placed on the board at the end of the Gunnery phase.

Torpedoes

Torpedoes are large, self-propelled projectiles that move quickly on a constant course. When a torpedo moves adjacent to a hostile ship, its limited guidance system takes over and homes in on the target; however, the torpedo has no other ability to alter its own course after being fired. As such, a torpedo's course has no rotation component.

When fired, torpedoes begin with the same course as the ship that fires them. At the time of firing, the firing player may spend up to three movement points to alter the torpedo's course; these points may be spent to increase the value of the torpedo's forward movement or value of the torpedo's movement in either of the hex directions adjacent to forward, with the restriction that half or more than half of the movement points must be spent to increase the forward movement value.

Torpedoes can be destroyed by fighters or by point defense fire; however, in the absence of either of these elements, a torpedo that moves adjacent to a hostile ship will always hit it (no Targeting roll is necessary). Torpedo damage is inflicted during the Gunnery phase, after point defense fire.

The "stock" torpedo in Colors and Lights does 10 points of damage.

Craft

Craft are small, maneuverable vessels that are launched from within larger ships. In Colors and Lights, all craft belong to one or more of the following categories:
Some craft combine the capabilities of multiple categories; for example, fighter/bomber craft are popular. However, specialized craft are generally more effective within their specialty than multirole craft.

Each type of craft must be launched from the appropriate bay aboard its parent ship (though, again, some larger vessels are equipped with multirole bays). As with other ordnance, craft are placed on the board at the end of the Gunnery phase but move during the Ordnance phase (with the exception of escort movement, described below.

During the Ordnance phase, a player may declare that any craft under that player's control which are adjacent to a ship are escorting that ship; in this case, the craft in question end their movement and may not move any further during the Ordnance phase; however, during the Movement phase, they move with the escorted ship, maintaining their adjacent position. Craft may not escort a ship that is moving faster than they can keep up with. Craft escorting a ship may, at the discretion of the player controlling the craft, intercept any ordnance that moves adjacent to the escorted ship, even if the ordnance in question is not adjacent to the escorting craft. Assault craft, due to their movement restrictions, can never escort ships.

All craft possess a Movement stat; this defines the number of hexes per turn the craft may move. Craft are not restricted by the inertial movement rules and may move arbitrarily, provided they do not exceed their movement allowance in any given turn; they are free to move less than their Movement stat, but they may not save up movement between turns.

Craft may move through hexes occupied by friendly ships and craft without restriction; any number of friendly craft may stack in a single hex, even if that hex is occupied by a ship. Craft may move through hexes occupied by hostile craft; however, if the hostile craft has the ability to intercept, the opposing player may (and in some circumstances must) do so.

Fighters have an ATA stat; this represents their effectiveness against other ordnance. During their movement, fighters may immediately intercept any hostile ordnance in their own hex or a single adjacent hex. To resolve an intercept, players compare the total ATA value of each side (found by summing the ATA values of all craft on each side); all ordnance belonging to the side with the lower total ATA value is removed, and the player or players on the side with the higher total ATA value must make an unmodified roll under the difference between the higher and the lower total ATA or remove their craft as well (it may be useful for players to turn fighter units upside down once they have intercepted other ordnance and remained on the board). Bombers, assault craft, and torpedoes have an ATA of 0 unless otherwise defined; this means that fighters or fighter-bombers automatically win any intercept against them, and the fighters' controlling player must roll under the fighters' ATA stats in order to keep them on the board. Each fighter unit may intercept only one hostile ordnance unit per turn; however, fighers may choose not to intercept hostile ordnance to which they become adjacent (with the exception of enemy fighters, which they must intercept whenever possible).

When a fighter intercepts other ordnance, the intercept is resolved according to one of the following two scenarios:
  1. If the other ordnance has 0 ATA (torpedoes, assault craft, or bombers), the other ordnance is removed from play and the fighter remains
  2. If the other ordnance has ATA greater than 0 (fighters or fighter-bombers), the unit with the lesser ATA is removed from play; the player controlling the surviving fighter must roll under the difference between the two ATA stats in order to keep the surviving fighter on the board; this means that two fighters with equal ATA stats always eliminate each other in an intercept.

The "stock" fighter in Colors and Lights has Movement 8/ATA 4.

Bombers have an ATG stat; this represents their effectiveness against ships. During their movement, bombers may initiate an attack on any adjacent ship (to represent this attack, the player should place the bomber unit onto the ship being attacked). Bomber attacks are resolved during the Gunnery phase, after point defenses have fired; any bomber units that survive point defense fire deal their ATG stat in damage to their target and are immediately removed. Bombers making an attack may be intercepted by any fighters adjacent to the target ship, provided those fighters have not already intercepted any other ordnance during that Ordnance phase.

The "stock" bomber in Colors and Lights has Movement 6/ATG 6.

Some of the Unknown action ""anchor"" in Colors and Lights possess fighter/bomber bays; this indicates that these ships possess ordnance bays that may be used to launch either fighters or bombers. However, the sample counter sheet also provides counters for multirole fighter/bomber craft; the "stock" fighter/bomber in Colors and Lights has Movement 8/ATA 3/ATG 3, and may be used by players by mutual agreement before the game begins.

Assault craft have no stat other than Movement; in addition, assault craft must be removed from play one turn after deployment. During their movement, assault craft may initiate an attack on any adjacent ship (to represent this attack, the player should place the assault craft unit onto the ship being attacked). Assault craft attacks are resolved during the Gunnery phase, after fighter intercepts have taken place and point defenses have fired; any assault craft units that survive point defense fire increase the target ship's boarder count by 1 and are removed. Assault craft making an attack may be intercepted by any fighters adjacent to the target ship, provided those fighters have not already intercepted any other ordnance during that Ordnance phase.

The "stock" assault craft in Colors and Lights has Movement 4.

Command & Control

The number of fighters and bombers that a player may bring into play is limited by the Command & Control (C&C) value of that player's fleet. Ships that have fighter or bomber bays contribute two points of C&C per bay; the total number of figher and bomber units controlled by a player may not exceed the total C&C value of the player's fleet. A ship's C&C value may be reduced by damage; if this reduction brings C&C total below the number of fighters and bombers in play, the player must immediately remove fighter or bomber units as necessary. Torpedoes and assault craft do not require C&C and are not included in any C&C calculations.

Point Defenses

Some ships carry point defense (PD) weaponry as protection against hostile ordnance. Point defenses usually consist of short-range, fast-firing or area-effect weapons that are ineffective against other ships but devastating to ordnance.

Point defenses in Colors & Lights have a range of two hexes; ships may fire their PD at any ordnance within that range, including ordnance that has moved into another ship's hex and is making an attack. A ship's Point Defense stat determines how many times the ship's PD may fire during a turn.

PD fire is resolved during the Gunnery phase, after weapons fire and before ordnance attacks are resolved. Each PD attack is resolved by selecting a target ordnance unit and making a Point Defence roll; if successful, the target is immediately removed. A ship may only target a given ordnance unit once per turn; however, if multiple hostile ordnance units are within range of a ship's PD, the ship may fire at as many of them as its PD stat will permit. Note that if an ordnance token represents multiple units of ordnance, each successful PD attack removes only one unit of ordnance, not the entire token; however, if an ordnance token represents multiple units of ordnance, it may be targeted more than once by point defence fire during a turn (but not more frequently than the number of units of ordnance it represented before PD fire began).

Unknown action ""anchor""
Each player must maintain a running total of the number of points of superstructure (SS) damage inflicted on each of the player's ships over the course of each round. The effects of damage are based on the change in superstructure points per round, and upon the following two rules:

Unless otherwise directed, a player should roll on only one table per ship per round (that is to say, a roll on the Major Damage table does not automatically imply a roll on the Minor Damage table). The results of the damage tables take effect immediately.

Once a ship's superstructure points are reduced to 0, they cannot be reduced any further; however, any further damage inflicted on this ship will trigger a roll on the Major Damage table.

There are no fractional superstructure points.

Here's a brief example of damage resolution, spread over several rounds; the target ship is a stock Destroyer, with 35 superstructure points.
  1. In the first round, the ship is attacked by a bomber; its point defence fails to intercept the incoming craft, and so it takes 6 points of damage. This is all the damage inflicted during the round, and so during the Unknown action ""anchor"", its superstructure is reduced from 35 to 29. This is not a reduction sufficient to trigger a roll on a damage table (9 points of damage would be necessary to inflict minor damage, and 18 to inflict major damage), so there is no further effect this round.
  2. In the next round, the ship is attacked by two Heavy Cruisers, each at long range; the cruisers' beam weapons inflict 4 points of damage apiece, bringing the ship's damage total to 8 for the round. Its superstructure is reduced from 29 to 21. This is a reduction just sufficient to inflict minor damage, so the player rolls on the Minor Damage Table; a roll of 6 ("Sparks and Smoke") means that effective immediately, the ship's Crew modifier is reduced by 1 (if there were no previous reductions, that means the modifier is currently -1).
  3. In the next round, the ship is struck by one torpedo, and the bomber hits it again. This is the only damage inflicted during the round, and so during the Damage phase, its superstructure is reduced from 21 to 5 (bad news!). That's easily sufficient to trigger a roll on the Major Damage Table (11 points were needed); a roll of 9 means that the ship's engines are offline, and it will drift according to its current course.
  4. In the next round, the ship is attacked by one of the aforementioned Heavy Cruisers, still firing at long range for 4 points of damage. During the Damage phase, its superstructure is reduced from 5 to 1; this is, again, damage sufficient to trigger a roll on the Major Damage Table (3 points would have been enough). An unlucky roll of 2 means that the ship's reactor is breached; the ship explodes! Since the ship is an escort, the explosion does not remove all ordnance in the ship's vicinity; however, the ship does immediately deal 3 points of damage (half of its previous superstructure value, rounded up) to any ships in its hex or in any adjacent hexes. The ship is immediately removed from the board.

Crew Penalties

The most significant influence on a ship's combat effectiveness is its Crew modifier, as the Crew value modifies most die rolls. The rules in this section apply only to the Crew modifier:

Unknown action ""anchor""
Boarder Table
1d6Effect
1,2Skirmish (-1 Crew modifier)
3,4Set Fire (+1 Fire)
5,6Demolition Charges (roll once on Minor Damage Table)

Minor Damage Table
2d6Effect
7Sparks and Smoke (-1 Crew)
6,8Fire! (+1 Fire)
5,9Point Defences Damaged (point defences cannot fire)
4,10Battery Damaged (see notes)
3,11Ordnance Bay Damaged (see notes)
2,12Chain Reaction (roll on Major Damage Table)

Notes:
Major Damage Table
2d6Effect
7Engines Damaged (+1 Fire, ship can only spend 1 movement point per turn)
6,8Sensors Offline (+1 Fire, range of all weapons is reduced to 1, C&C reduced to 0)
5,9Engines Offline (+1 Fire, ship cannot change course/heading)
4,10Weapons/Ordnance Offline (+1 Fire, ship cannot fire weapons/ordnance/PD at all)
3,11Life Support Failure (+1 Fire, permanent -2 Crew)
2,12Reactor Breach (ship is destroyed, see notes)

Notes:
Unknown action ""anchor""

Escorts


Escorts are smaller, more maneuverable vessels that perform a variety of functions in a space navy: While a single escort poses little threat to a capital ship, a coordinated group of escorts can command respect.

Corvette (K)
Type: Escort
SS: 20
Beam: 4/6
Projectile: 2/8
Point: 2
Assault Bay: 1
This fast ship is designed for independent duties such as convoy escort, customs interdiction, and antipiracy. Corvettes are rarely found in battlefleets.
 

Point Defense Frigate (FFAA)
Type: Escort
SS: 30
Beam: 2/6
Point: 4
This ship is placed ahead of high-value targets in a formation; its sensor suite can track multiple targets effectively, and its point defense weaponry acts as an effective shield against incoming torpedoes and bombers.
 

Assault Frigate (FFA)
Type: Escort
SS: 40
Point: 2
Assault Bay: 4
This ship is designed to get in close to an opposing capital ship as quickly as possible, launch boarding parties, and make its escape.
 

Destroyer (DD)
Type: Escort
SS: 35
Beam: 4/6
Point: 2
Torpedoes: 4
This ship's role is to hunt and destroy opposing capital ships. Rarely seen alone, destroyers are deployed against the flanks of opposing formations; their torpedoes can constrain an enemy fleet's movement and draw resources away from the main attack, for they have the ability to cripple much larger vessels.
 

Escort Carrier (CVE)
Type: Escort
SS: 25
Point: 2
Fighter/Bomber Bay: 2
These ships are significantly faster and cheaper to build than capital-class carriers, and as such, they are popular among poorer or less militarily inclined governments. While one or two escort carriers can swing the balance of power in a small engagement, these fragile vessels must be carefully protected.
 


Capital Ships


These warships are the backbone of a space navy; their firepower can blockade spaceports, bombard planets, and smash enemy fleets. These ships are the "high-value assets" of a battlefleet.

Light Cruiser (CL)
Type: Capital Ship
SS: 50
Beam: 4/8
Point: 1
While ships of this class may not be able to go "toe to toe" with larger capital ships, they can still interdict space to non-military vessels and threaten smaller naval forces. While relatively ineffective against other capital ships, these vessels find their niche with diplomatic and exploration corps, either to provide a "show of force" in peacetime or to probe unknown and potentially hostile sectors.
 

Heavy Cruiser (CA)
Type: Capital Ship
SS: 60
Beam: 8/8
Torpedoes: 2
Assault Bay: 1
This "ship of the line" is designed to fight in the front lines of a space navy. Common tactical doctrine is to position these ships ahead of battleships, so that the effective ranges of the cruisers' beams and the battleships' cannons converge.
 

Battleship (BB)
Type: Capital Ship
SS: 80
Projectile: 10/12
Fighter Bay: 2
These ships are the heavy hitters of any space navy. They spend most of their operational lifetimes in dock, emerging only for training exercises or in event of war, and they are never deployed alone. An enemy battleship or carrier will generally be the flagship of a battlefleet.
 

Dreadnought (BBD)
Type: Capital Ship
SS: 100
Beam: 6/8
Projectile: 8/12
Point: 4
Fighter/Bomber Bay: 2
Only the wealthiest governments can afford to construct and operate dreadnoughts. These behemoth vessels theoretically pack the power of a battlefleet onto a single platform; in practice, they tend to be jacks of all trades and masters of none (though nonetheless formidable opponents).
 

Carrier (CV)
Type: Capital Ship
SS: 80
Point: 4
Fighter/Bomber Bay: 6
These ships possess the greatest destructive potential in space; their fighters can protect a fleet from inbound ordnance while their bombers pulverize opposing capital ships. Like battleships, carriers never appear without escorts, and rarely without other capital ships as well.
 


Noncombatant Vessels

This category includes all vessels not covered by the previous two; examples of such include civilian freighters, military troop transports, science/exploration vessels, passenger liners, or mining ships. Noncombatant vessels can be escort or capital class, with attendant movement restrictions.

Passenger Liner (NEP)
Type: Escort
SS: 4
Ships like these ply regular routes between all major stars. This ship class can also be used as an appropriate representation of a light freighter or a science vessel.
 

Bulk Freighter (NCF)
Type: Capital Ship
SS: 6
These ships are little more than empty hulls with engines on one end and a tiny crew compartment (or an automatic pilot) on the other, but they're still the most cost-effective way to move stuff from place to place. This ship class can also be used as an appropriate representation of a fuel tanker, a troop transport, or a colony ship.
 


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