Sci-fi themed A&A like games?

I’m going to be tinkering around with this over the next few weeks to work out some kinks. After that I’ll dig out some of my old space ship minis to give my initial draft a playtest. If it works out okay, I’ll post the results for you guys to read over and comment on.

@superbattleshipyamato I spent a little time working on this today. At the moment I’m working up ideas for the various Factions. I’d like to have 3-5 “Major” Factions, a few minor, and several Neutrals. Two of the Major Factions will be the Terrain Federation and the Vax Imperium (I’m got to work up some background fluff for all these guys to give them a bit of flavor).

I’m also working up a table listing out all the units I’d like to have, their attack, defense, movement and cost, as well as any special abilities they’d have. I’m also tinkering around with rules for conducting Orbital Assaults. The way I’m figuring this would go is that units attempting to make an assault would have to take out planetary defenses first (Starships in orbit, any other off-world defenses, such as fighters or defense satellites), then deal with the planet’s innate planetary defenses, then the assault would take place (Marines get a +1 Attack during Orbital Assaults, while Jump Infantry get a +2, but have chance to be “Dispersed” during their drop). FSVs and the various types of Cruisers would get one round of Planetary Bombardment to “soften” up defenses (a First Strike attack to destroy ground units).

On the starship side of the house, I’m playing around with a couple of ideas. The first one being multi-turn construction for larger ships, Space Docks, Space Stations, Starbases, and few others. I’m also toying with the idea of Task Forces. Basically if you have a “Task Force” consisting of a Carrier, a Destroyer, a Frigate, and some type of Cruiser, you’d get a +1 Defense bonus.

And if it’s not to much to ask, if this stuff sounds interesting to you guys, let me know, as the feedback is much appreciated.

@slip-capone At the moment, I’m going with a set number of turns (I’m thinking 12-15 tops), with each turn being roughly equal to 6 months of real time. I may tinker around with Victory Points, where each space sector and certain planets would be worth points. I’ll play around with it a bit. I’ve got to did out some of my old starship minis from storage and I also need to work up a map to play all of this out on.

@imperious-leader Each turn being 6 Months is just there as time frame players would be familiar with, as I’m trying not to make things to complicated. Empty space will be empty space. Combat will be resolved with a D12. I’m also playing around with giving units and Electronic Warfare rating. You’d have to detect units to engage them in combat, but if I can’t work it out, I’ll drop the idea. Unit cost is still being worked out, but larger ships and units (Battlecruisers, Space Carriers, Orbital Assault Ships, Star Bases, etc.) are going to cost more and take several turns to build. Space Carriers are going to be able to carry up to (3) Starcraft and a drone unit. Escort carriers can carry (1) Starcraft and a Drone, and Drone Carriers can carry up to (3) Drones (all of this is still in a VERY rough form and may change over time).

@slip-capone As I’ve said, all of this up in the air, as nothing is set in stone yet.

I did a bit more tinkering on this over the past weekend. I’m in the process of working up the various factions as well as reading back through some of the comments you guys have made. I think I’m going with the idea of there being no specific time frame for game turns and a set number of turns per game (I’m thinking 12-15 turns per game, but I’d have to see how everything actually works out). On the faction side of the house, I’m thinking 3-5 major factions, and if another player jumps in, 3-5 minor factions and some neutrals. The minor factions could align themselves with one of the majors. One other idea I’m been giving some thought to is “Tech Levels”. More advanced cultures would get an attack or defense bonus vs. ones with less advanced tech, but I might drop the idea if it complicates things to much.

@slip-capone I’d like it not to last more than 3-4 hours, but we’ll see how it rolls once I actually start playing things out.

I’ve got some free time this week, so I’ll be fleshing out a few more details for this, and starting to work on a unit table listing out the cost of each unit, attack, defense, movement, special abilities, and I’m going to tinker around with adding an electronics rating to units. The way I see it working is you couldn’t attack a unit unless you’re able to detect it. Higher electronic ratings allow you to detect enemy units or keep you from being detected. I’ll post more on it as I get this stuff worked out.