next up previous contents
Next: War Up: Military Actions Previous: Planetary Defense Fleets   Contents

Mixed-Race Fleets

There are two ways for races to combine their fleets. The standard way is open to any combination of races that are not currently engaged in hostilities. The other, more flexible way is open only to combinations in which all involved races are directly allied to each other.

The standard way is simply to use multiple fleets. Each has its own command rating, and neither takes direct orders from another. The fleets may only communicate during Energy Allocation, and in front of all players. EW may not be lent between fleets, and secret information (seeking weapon targets, real vs. pseudo plasma torpedoes, etc.) may not be revealed.10 Boarding parties transported to a ship from another fleet will be considered hostile by the ship's crew, and will be fought. Crew may be transported off a doomed vessel by a ship of another fleet.

Elements of these fleets must remain at least 9 sectors from each other. This represents inherent mistrust on the part of the ships' crews. The players may trust each other fully, but the captains do not. If one race's ship moves within 5 sectors of another race's ship, the second ship will fire phaser-3s (and stronger phasers downloaded to Ph-3s) at the first in an attempt to ward it off. Exactly which ship was the violator need not be obvious, as both ships will likely be shooting.

The range and EW limitations may be waived if the fleets involved include no more than two ships of each race (no carriers, PFTs, or Size Class 2 units except bases), and no more than five ships total. They may also be waived if one fleet is protecting antother. The protected fleet must have fire control deactivated, or the protecting ships will imediately try to move away (they won't automatically fire until they have spent at least three impulses out of Range 5).

The other way is to integrate fleets. One flagship is chosen, and the rest of the fleet is organized according to its Command Rating. This will result in a smaller total force than the standard method, but without range or communication limitations. It can also result in some fairly impressive weapon combinations. This method is available only to formally allied races.

Trusting of hired vessels is at the decision of the hiring player. The hired player is being paid to trust. The method used is noted at the beginning of the scenario before setup, and is known to all directly involved parties (not opponents). This point is moot if the hired ships are tactically operated by the hiring player.

In a rescue scenario involving non-allied races (hostile or not), everything is up to the players. Some limitations may be imposed by the GM depending on the political situation.


next up previous contents
Next: War Up: Military Actions Previous: Planetary Defense Fleets   Contents
Charles E Leiserson Jr 2004-09-10