Gamesmaster
The Gamesmaster is Fleet Admiral Priyum, (spellfire@btinternet.com),
the TIE Corps Commander. He is responsible for processing strategic and tactical
orders from the Task Force Admirals and halting the game when a combat engagement
occurs. The Gamesmaster's decision on Rules Issues is FINAL. The
Game will not be delayed by arguments over Rules. Think of the
Gamesmaster as a Referee if it helps :)
Deployment
The three Teams will begin the Wargame with the forces that they've
purchased using the points system from X-Wing: Alliance. The Forces will begin
spread out over the regions picked out by the repsective TFAs, however some
ships must be orbit around their starting Planet in order to hold the planet
(see Controlling).Platforms and Stations can only be deployed around controlled
planets. The exact compositions of these Fleets will be unknown initially,
and only be revealed through the use of Probe Droids (see below), capturing
planets or hostile encounters.
Starfighter Wings & Squadrons may not be seperated from their motherships. Squadrons must stay assigned to their parent Wings. It is not allowed to reinforce a badly depleted Wing with undamaged Squadrons from another Wing. Task Force Admirals should take careful note of how much damage has been inflicted on enemy Starfighter Wings, as this information wil prove invaluable in planning offensive operations if you know where to find that Wings' mothership.
There are two exeptions to this rule.
1. Any Task Force Admiral may order an attack composed purely of starfighters. In this case, the Starfighter Squadrons concerned must launch from their motherships, attack their target and if they survive, return immediately to their motherships. Starfighters have limited life support and navigational capabilities and cannot operate independently. It is not necessary for the Mothership to remain in the same place from which the Starfighter was launched. An ISD can launch an attack, move to another system, and it's fighters may rendezvous with it there once the attack has been resolved.
2. If a Wing's mothership has been destroyed in battle, the TFA may assign the survivors to the spare ISD or other Ship capable of carrying fighters on each sides' Order of Battle. If any of these ships have already been destroyed, then the Wing will be assumed to be based at a friendly planet (nearest planet). It treats the planet as its "mothership" in exactly the same way as it would an ISD (or any other ship), but it's range and operations will be limited in that a planet may not move as a capital ship can. Should that planet be captured by enemy forces, any survivors of the Wing must relocate to another friendly planet. If no friendly worlds are available, the Wings' starfighters are considered to have run out of fuel and are lost.
Carrying
Capacity: (1 Wing = 6 Squadrons)
SSD: 2 Wings
ISD: 1 Wing
Platform or Station: 1 Wing
VSD: 2 Squadrons
FRG (all types): 2 Squadrons
Orders
and Events.
Events take precedence over Orders; if one fleet arrives at a location
in the same turn as another fleet is departing, the arrival - an event - is
considered to happen before the departure - an order.
Turns.
One turn is equal to TWO DAYS. TFAs are expected to provide the
GM with orders
for their Fleets at the end of every other day. No matter at what time the
order is received, they will all be processed by AD Priyum at 9pm GMT on the
appropriate day. If no orders are received, then it is assumed that the TFAs
do not wish to move their ships that turn. Events, if any, will be announced
at the end of every day.
For example:
The orders for Turn 1 must be provided the day before the start of the exercise.
Orders for Turn 2 must then be sent on Day 1 or 2.
Travel.
Ships travel using the Battle Map (here).
It uses a Co-ordinate system, whereby the TFA indicates the region/square
to which he wishes to move particular ships using the XY axis values. Movement
across one region (horizontally, vertically or diagonally) takes one
day.Therefore, in one turn, a ship may move one square in one direction.
Destinations must be in a straight line from the ship's current location.
If not, then multiple jumps must be made, and these require multiple orders
to be issued (these can be issued on the same day).
Squadrons, for the purposes of independant travel, have enough fuel onboard
for FOUR days worth of travel. This translates as a Squadron being able to
travel 2 regions away from their mothership, and then 2 regions back. If the
mothership is more than 2 regions away (or destroyed) on the Squadron's return
journey then one of the may occur:
If none of the above are
possible, the Squadrons are lost and declared MIA.
Interdictor
Cruisers may be ordered to stay in one particular region with their gravity
wells powered up. If a fleet's path crosses such a region, then it is immediately
pulled into realspace, and the TFAs notified of the interruption.
Warhead
Use.
Since the combat element of the game is played online, lag will be
a serious issue. In order to lessen lag, and also to give capital ships
a fighting chance against the masses of starfighters arrayed against them,
warhead use will be strictly limited.
One Fighter Squadron from each Wing has been designated as a Bomber Squadron. These Squadrons are clearly displayed on the Order Battle. These Squadrons are all assumed to be armed with full loads of Heavy Rockets. NO other missile weapons may be used by any other ships in the game.
Craft
Assignment
All Squadrons on a ship are comprised of the same fighter type -
no mixing & matching.
Each Squadron is also assumed to begin the Wargame at full strength with all 12 Flight Slots fully manned. X-Wing Alliance only allows 6 ships to be assigned to any one Flight Group however, but we can allow each Flight Group to have multiple waves. Therefore in order to simulate a full squadron, we simply assign two waves of six fighters, or three waves of four fighters to a Squadron's Flight Group. This is also useful in that it reduces the numbers of ships onscreen at any time and also helps to reduce lag.
Scouting
Gathering Intelligence on enemy dispositions will be an important
part of the game. Any Probe droids that a team has may be ordered by a TFA
to scout out a region of the map. If there are no enemy forces at the
destination, the Probe may either be recalled or left in place to monitor
the location.
If a Probe Droid encounters enemy forces, it signals the exact disposition of the enemy Fleet and then self-destructs to avoid capture. The enemy fleet will know that it has been probed, and may remain, reinforce, or withdraw. A probe droid travels through one region per day as normal.
Controlling
and Holding Territtory
Planets are considered to be controlled by the side
who last had Capital Ships in orbit over that world for at least
one turn, not including the turn in which it arrived or left.
Planets are considered to be held by any side which controls
that world, and has any forces in orbit, Capital Ships or not.
At the start of the game, each side is considered to be in control
of all of its own territory. They hold their Capital
Worlds.
Starfighter forces may eliminate defending starship forces, but they may not take control of a world or hold a world. Turbolaser-capable ships are required to do this, as starfighters do not have the firepower to exert control over a worlds' population.
In order to take control of a world, all that's necessary is for one side to move a single Capital ship to that system and remain for at least one turn. All enemy forces present must either be eliminated or forced to withdraw. You now hold that system. Once your ships leave, you simply control the system. You immediately lose control when an enemy Capital Ship arrives and stays unnopposed for one complete turn.
You may break an enemy's hold on a system by destroying or driving off all of his forces, but unless you arrive with Capital Ships, the enemy will still be considered to be in control of that system.
For example: In Turn 3, ships from Team A arrive at the world of Storinal (currently under the control of Team B) and find no hostile ships in the region. The Team A ships remain there for the following turn, so at the end of Turn 4, they now control & hold the world of Storinal. At the start of Turn 5, these ships then depart. Team A now only controls the world of Storinal. To recieve the benefits of a planet (as described below), a team needs to only control a planet, and not hold it.
Reinforcements
Controlling
planets gives a team two benefits. First, a team gains Victory points each
turn for each planet they control. The amount of points is dependant on the
type of the planet. Points from a planet start accumulating from the first
turn AFTER the turn in which the the team took control. So in the above example,
Team A would start getting points for controlling planets from Turn 5.
Secondly, a planet gives it's controlling team a certain amount of Resource points, again depending on its type. A team recieves these points following the same criteria as above. These Resource points can be used by a TFA to "purchase" reinforcements (using the value system from XWA). This is done in the following way:
So, continuing on from
the above examples, at the end of Turn 4, the TFAs of Team A are informed
that they Storinal has given them 500 Resource points. Included in their next
set of
Orders for Turn 5, a request is made to use part of those 500 points to purchase
a shiny new Lancer Frigate, and have it arrive at Storinal to stolidify their
hold on the world. This Frigate will then arrive at the end of Turn 6, and
be ready to recieve orders for the next turn.
Battle
Conduct
When the battle is declared, all able-bodied Tactical Officers's
are to submit tactics as soon as possible to their TFAs and the GM.
These can be in the form of a .SKM skirmish file, or in a DETAILED text description
of what is to happen in the skirmish. Tactics can only be submitted by all
Tactical Officers, which will have been previously picked for each team by
the TFA.
- The tactics to be used will then be decided upon by the TFA and the GM will be informed of the decision.
- If no tactics were submitted, or if the tactics contained incorrect or insufficient
information, the GM will do what he can to fill in the gaps himself. The GM
will not be held responsible for problems resulting from this necessity.
When the wargame is paused for one of its battles to take place, it will be
announced to all ASF pilots. The time and date of the Battle will then be
announced by FA Priyum, and
all TIE Corps pilots should try to attend. All battles will take place on
IRC in the channel #Tiecorps (which will be moderated to some extent).
Winning
and Losing
The wargame will last for a total of 30 turns (which does NOT equal
30 days since stoppage time has to be taken into account). At the end of this
time, total Victory points will be calculated, and the winner declared. As
well as recieving points for controlling planets, teams can also gain points
in the following way:
Rules For Task Force Admirals
Task Force Admirals are responsible for the initial deployement of their forces and the subsequent movement and attack orders. Every day, they must submit orders to the Gamesmaster for the Forces under their command. The Gamesmaster will action these orders and return situation reports to the Admirals. This process will continue until the Gamesmaster determines that contact between enemy forces has occurred. Gameplay will be halted immediately, and the Gamemaster will signal all members of the TIE Corps of the status of the battle: where it is taking place, and a list of the forces available for battle at that location.
Either side may order a withdrawal at this point, or if enemy Interdictor Cruisers prevent this, they may order a hit and fade attack to destroy the Interdictor, then escape.
In a hopeless situation, an Admiral may save his fleet from certain destruction by scuttling his ships to prevent them from falling into enemy hands and abandoning ship. His crews will serve the rest of the Wargame as Prisoners of War, but they'll at least be alive.
Withdrawals
Escaping from overwhelming enemy forces isn't as easy as just
turning around and running. Hyperdrives take a while to power up, and
you're vulnerable to attack while they're doing so. In order to save
the majority of your forces, you're going to have to sacrifice some ships
to keep the enemy occupied while the rest of your ships escape.
What this means in game terms, is that in order to successfully withdraw from combat, you must detach at least enough ships to match 25% of the total points value of the ships present on the enemy side. If your force is worth less than 25% of the total value of the enemy force at the battle, you simply have no hope of escaping. Your forces are completely overwhelmed. Only two options are left to you: to enter combat and fight to the bitter end; or to offer conditional surrender. Such a surrender is a declaration that you will allow your fleet to be destroyed without resistance, on the condition that their crews (pilots) be allowed to escape unharmed first. The enemy may prefer to take out your ships instantly without taking damage themselves, and may agree.
Clause 1: a withdrawing fleet might find itself in a situation where its self-sacrificing rearguard (which must be 25% of the enemy fleet's size) is short if its necessary size by less than 20 points and a capital ship is the only thing they have left to sacrifice. In such a scenario, rather than losing the entire ship for such a small point value, the ship would be considered to be "damaged"; it would be immobile for 3 game-days, and if it appeared in battle during that time then it would have No Orders to reflect its damaged status.
Interdictors
NO retreat is possible while an enemy Interdictor Cruiser
(INT) is present. It does not need to be in the first attack wave for its
effect to be felt, but in order for retreat to be possible, it must be destroyed,
usually in a Hit and Fade Attack, below. If the enemy INT is destroyed in
battle, all ships which are in the main wave (see Tactics, below) will be
lost, and those remaining can escape freely.
Hit and Fade Attacks
A Hit and Fade attack is the most effective
means by which an enemy Interdictor's presence can be eliminated. When a Hit
and Fade is declared on any Interdictor, the opposing Tactical
Officer must include his Interdictors in the first combat
wave (present in the skirmish; see Tactics, below) or seek permission from
the TFA to allow the enemy to withdraw. If combat goes ahead,
it is halted the instant the Interdictors are destroyed. The entire forward
wave which engaged in the hit-and-fade to destroy the enemy INT will be considered
lost. However, a hit-and-fade is the one situation in which the forward wave
does not have to have all 8 skirmish slots filled up, so only a few bombers
might be actually committed (and sacrificed). Hit and Fade
attacks may not be declared in any circumstances where retreat
is impossible due to the 25% points rule, and may not be declared to
target any ship aside from an enemy Interdictor Cruiser.
Rules For Tactical Officers
Tactical
Officers are defined as:
"Those Officers nominated by the TFA."
When the battle is declared, all able-bodied Tactical Officers's are to submit tactics as soon as possible to the GM. These can be in the form of a .SKM skirmish file, or in a DETAILED text description of what is to happen in the skirmish.
All Skirmishes will be set to begin with a distance of 4km between the two sides. This is to give defending fighters a fair chance to prevent incoming raids.
Multiple
Attack and Defence Waves
Any ships which cannot be fitted into the first 'wave' of the battle
will be considered to be hanging back away from the front lines of the battle.
If there are ships remaining after the first skirmish is flown, then a second
'wave' of the battle must be flown; the same procedure will be followed, using
the remaining ships. Repeat as necessary.
Skirmish
Tactics
The X-Wing Alliance Skirmish Editor is not a fully fledged Mission
Editor, but it does enable a battle to be put together in a matter of minutes.
This is what enables Imperial Storm to proceed at such a fast pace.
Despite its limitations, there are some tactics which can be used in putting
together your skirmish file to ensure that your forces have the best chance
for success.
All Capital
Ships MUST be designated as Primary Flight Groups.
Starfighters are NEVER Primary Flight Groups. Bearing
this simple rule in mind, you may now assign various flight orders to the
forces at your disposal:
Escort - The Flight Group will attack anyone who threatens
their Primary Flight Groups
Strike - The Flight Group will attack Primary Flight Groups, then
enemy Starfighters
Superiority - The Flight Group will attack enemy Starfighters,
then Primary Flight Groups.
No Duty - The Flight Group will hold position and not defend
itself.
In addition,
the following orders may be assigned to Starfighters only:
Recon - ID Primary Flight Groups
Disable - Disable Primary Flight Groups
Capture - This order serves no function in Imperial Storm
as the rules for Capturing are not being used.
The only exception to the rule concerning which ships are designated Primary Flight Groups, is that during a Hit and Fade attack, ONLY the Flight Group (Interdictor) designated as the target is the Primary Flight Group.
Artificial
Intelligence Levels
AI for all craft must be set to Veteran.
The only exception is the Flight Group to which the Fleet Pilot
is assigned, which may be set to Ace.
Deployment
The order in which the Flight Groups are placed in their flight
slots determines how close to the front of the battle line they appear in
the Skirmish. Flight Groups placed first appear closest to the enemy
forces. If you want a screen of starfighters in front of your capital
ships, then create the starfighters in the first Flight Group.
Rules
for Fleet Pilots
DESTROY EVERYTHING! KILL! KILL! KILL!
Okay, there's slightly more to it than that.
Each Tactical Officer should have a large pool of volunteer pilots available to fly the skirmishes. Two pilots will normally fly for each side of the battle. When battle is declared, the Gamesmaster will announce the time that Combat will be flown in the IRC Channel #tiecorps. The Tactical Officers responsible for compiling the Skirmish files must attend, any pilots who can make it are encouraged to turn up to the battle. In choosing from the available pilots, preference will be based on the following factors:
If all else fails, Flag Officers (but not TFA's) may fly as pilots. If no one is available from a team to fly for this battle, it will normally be interpreted as a withdrawal order... and withdrawals are always costly. Rescheduling of battles will happen on rare occasions, and is completely the prerogative of the Gamemaster.
These rules were orignally written by ex. TCCOM, FA Kessler for Exercise Imperial Storm, and have been modified and added to slightly for Imperial Storm II.