"Combat in strategic game: apportioning fire/targets" Topic

As moderator/designer, I'm trying to work up a moderator-run simple combat resolution with small fleets of ships, and want to work out how to determine how ships target each other.

Mechanics in my kluge has smallest ships only targeting on ship, next 'step up' targeting two, etc.

Suggestions of how I match up 'dancing partners?' Note, I'm open to ideas of how to add Sky Marshal pre-battle instructions, but would prefer to just take pile of ships and work out who shoots whom.

Also, deferring for the moment things like squadrons, datalinking, etc.

As always, questions and 'that's just stupid' comments accepted.

Doug

However the admiral wishes.

What I've found in my games of a very popular space ship battle game is you try to gang up on one enemy ship until you think it's combat ineffective, then move on to the next. So, spit-balling some ideas here:

Depending on your game setting (how detailed each ship is, how many ships are on the table, whether you are keeping campaign stats for each ship, etc), you may just allocate all hits to the smallest ships and work your way up.

Depending on ship design, you may have your little destroyers armed with capital ship-killer missiles. That would change the above.

Another option would be to roll for all hits, then allocate a percentage to each class of targets (destroyers, cruisers, battleships, etc). Of course that may lead to a nova class super ship firing it's megacannon to take out a shuttle. So you may break it up by percentage of firing ship sizes.

ie. The attacker has: 30% small ships, 50% mid sized, and 20% capitals, roll 3 groups of firing and allocate the small hits to the the defenders small ships, etc.

After blathering on with the above, I realize I should have started here:
How many ships are we talking about here?
Do you want to handle firing by ship, or by strike force?

Blathering entirely apropos with limited intel I gave. ;->=

Viz admirals: they are the automated part, ergo Sky Marshall directions are an addition to be considered.

Numbers are unsure, but I'm assuming one-on-one, I can handle, to several, but doubt more than a dozen for now.

Ship details are pretty simple, attack factors and defense factors. Each shot is 'one ship's AF compared to one ship's DF', but the larger the ship, the more targets it can engage.

You've got the idea of apportioning by ship class, methinks.
How-to is the question, but I suppose I'd have to get more detailed, and that's a bit in flux.

'Nova' example not withstanding, not sure I want firing to be entirely 'optimal' assuming limited intelligence, which would be increased as firing goes on. Merde, I confuse myself.

Thanks!

Doug

So something like:
Strike force Alpha (3 destroyers, 2 cruisers, 1 battleship) fires at strike force Target (7 destroyers, 2 cruisers).

Roll for destroyers, 3x AF vs 7x DF. (however you work that out). 2 hits scored and applied to 2x destroyers.
Maybe you can double up every 3rd hit (ie. hits 1 and 2 go to 2 different ships, 3rd hit can go to a previously hit ship, 4 and 5 to go new ships if available, hit 6 can go to a previously hit ship). Allows for ganging up if enough hits are scored.

Now roll for cruisers, 4x AF (2 ships, 2 targets each) vs 2x DF. Allocate hits as above.

Then battleships: 3x AF (1 ship, 3 targets) vs 0 target battleships, so move it down to cruisers: 2x DF.

That may be part of your solution: if a class doesn't have the same class target, it may move up or down to the next class size.