A proposal for a U-type campaign for Star Fleet Battles. Discussion is appreciated as always.

Campaign Concept: A Peacetime series of incidents involving a small planet within the neutral zone (Or contested borders for the Omega Races). As such, the players involved should be forced to choose neighboring races, preferably historical enemies for the time period chosen. The campaign is hopefully designed as such to be workable with any Year period, however choosing one where Fighters or PFs are available could be preferable for the Neutral Planet player.
This Neutral Zone area is backwater location but still vital on the strategic level that Empires would be willing enough to allow commanders to push the envelope of peace. By no means should it be so critical, such as an actual F&E planet hex that it is worth going to real war over.
As such there should be a minimum of three players involved in this campaign; one to play the Neutral Forces, and two bordering empires. It is possible that you could use a corner zone between empires to get up to 4 in the Alpha Sector players besides the planet (If using historical maps), and if still needing another, can involve the local pirate cartel.
The Campaign is not waged on a clear war, or results of combat, but is instead about political pressure, bribery, and denial of enemy actions. For all parties involved a full battle over the planet is not desired. The inhabitants don’t want disruptors blowing up their factories and farms, nor do the Empires at large want a devastated, useless rock, or one just primed for all sorts of rebellious resistance fighter sabotage. Even pirates would rather have an area intact enough to conduct trade/pawning of loot.
For each player, Victory is measured by how well he serves his Empire’s Interests. The levels of victory are as follows.
Neutrals: (Points left blank as I'm still experimenting with totals for proper balance)
Amazing Victory: Achieve all three: Increase BPV of Local Defense Forces by ________. Achieve____ Trade Victory points. Retain Neutrality.
Decisive Victory: Achieve two of the following: Increases BPV of Local Defense Forces by _______. Achieve _____ Trade Victory points. Retain Neutrality.
Marginal Victory: Achieve one of the following: Increases BPV of Local Defense Forces by ______. Achieve ______ Trade Victory points. Retain Neutrality.
Draw: Fail to achieve any of the above conditions.
Marginal Loss: Over 50% of Local Defense Forces ships are crippled. (Lacks the repair yards to recover quickly from such losses and easy prey for raiders, monsters, etc, and suffers horrible hardships because of it)
Decisive Loss: All Local Defense Forces ships and/or bases are crippled, destroyed or captured.
Devastating Loss: Planet has suffered more than ____ points of damage during the campaign.
Other Player Victory Conditions:
If the Neutral Planet suffers a Decisive Loss or worse, all Empire Players/Pirate Players lose.
Astounding Victory: Achieve a Trade Points victory and attain the allegiance of the planet.
Tactical Victory: Gain the allegiance of the planet.
Marginal Victory: Achieve a Trade Points victory.

Rules/Campaign Rules involved:
The campaign revolves around three maps. One is the System Map, with a one hex sized M-Class planet in the center. It has one Agricultural/Mining Base on one hex side. Hex side for this first base is chosen by the neutral player at the start of the campaign and cannot be altered.
The other two maps are Transit maps, representing the space traveled between both Empire Borders and the Planet (May be more than two, there will be one for each player). These maps are empty, or may be filled with a randomly chosen terrain if the controlling player wishes, if so chosen, it must always have terrain. If a static feature is rolled on the first turn the Transit Map is used (Planet, nebula, black hole, dust clouds, asteroids and other relatively stationary terrains) that terrain type must remain there for the entire campaign, on the second or any subsequent turns, ignore all static terrain results. Random effects (Solar flares, ion storms, etc) will be on the map for only the duration of the mission. These maps are only used during Interdiction missions. Otherwise all missions are conducted on the System Map.
Campaign is split up into one month long turns. Each turn can consist of zero, one, or more battles and scenarios as the missions call for. Each turn the Empire Players select their missions from the following lists, which may or may not result in battles. After their Missions are selected, the Neutral Player stats his actions for the next turn (Note, he needs to pick his Action for the first turn before Empire Players do so).

Missions for the Neutral Planet Player:
Replace lost shuttles/ammunition: Reduces production of Trade Goods by half and replaces/rearms/repairs all Drones/Plasma-Ds/Shuttles/T-Bombs/NSMs. No Additional units can be stockpiled, it can only load/arm/replace up to the standard allotment for the ships/bases they have (Or up to the maximum one can get from Commander Options for items such as T-Bombs).
Trade Delegation: Arrange for a meeting between any and all interested parties to arrive in the system to offer goods/ships/items in return for yours, what items you desire must be stated when the mission is chosen in broad terms that any empire can agree to (i.e. you could state “For Fighters” but not “For F-15-Cs” as only a Federation Player would have that fighter available).
Colonial Development Program: Expand your Mining/Agricultural operations to another hex side and location, at the end of the next turn you receive the base, and afterwards, additional Trade Goods.
No Action: You take no particular actions, but can stockpile Trade Goods in your treasury.
Missions for Imperial/Pirate Players:
Convoy: Delivery of ships or items to the Neutral Planet (Can only be done on turns the neutral player has chosen Trade Delegation), and returning with Trade Goods. You may need to play Transit Map missions for Inbound and Outbound directions.
Interdiction: Mission against another player’s Convoy mission, may be done before, after, or before and after delivery of Goods to the Planet. If done before and after the Interdicting player must create two separate Battle Forces which cannot share ships/fighters/PFs.
Treaty/Border Enforcement: Send a single ship to the Neutral Planet to patrol the Neutral Zone and make sure the Neutral Zone accords are followed. Enforcement ships may fire upon, board, or place mines in front of enemy warships that enter the map, but not on merchant ships on a Convoy Mission unless fired upon.
Commando Raid: Imperial Player sends a single ship to the Neutral Planet to conduct a marine raid. A successful raid cancels out the Neutral Player’s next Mission (Kills the trade delegates and negotiators, sabotages the new construction, etc), and can steal Trade Goods in the Neutral Player’s treasury.
Reserve Force: May consist of no more than 3 ships (a PF Flotilla or a Fighter Squadron counts as one ship), kept on call to respond to any distress call by the neutral planet.

Neutral Zone Border Enforcement Fleets:
The Imperial players will not have access to unlimited ships of any type they desire. It is peacetime after all, and certain ships, like Dreadnoughts, are not economically feasible for a peacetime incident. As well other ships are needed in other sectors. Convoy escorts, police and tariff duties, rebel reduction, monster hunting, etc. As such here are the following guidelines for Empires and their forces available. All figures are approximated. Some classes might not be available to a player, and the nearest equivalent should be used (F5L/F6 for Klingon Destroyers for example, Civilian Express Boat for Omega races instead of the Armed Priority Transport).
Cargo Ships: Armed Priority Transport, 3 Small Freighters, 1 Large Freighter, 1 Q-ship (small), 1 Armed Freighter (Small).
Military Ships: 2 Police Ships temporarily available for Military Duties (Cannot be used on consecutive turns), 5 Frigates, 2 Destroyers, and 1 Light Cruiser. And, if the year allows it, one squadron of fighters (Deployed from a base outside the scope of the Neutral Zone), one standard flotilla of PFs, and one each of every support variant (Cargo, Minesweeper, Recovery, Commando, etc).
In all cases logic and the relevant rules should be followed. No Escort variants unless assigned to a carrier, all Cargo ships are fitted with Cargo Pods or inactive bases as necessary (Inactive Ground Bases or Com-Plats for Example), and no Battle Tugs, Aux CVs/PFTs, or other Auxiliaries should not be allowed.
Variants are allowed for use, for example, one of your FFs could be an FFV, and one other being an FFE to escort it, and a third being an FFG.

Replacing Losses: In the event an Imperial Player loses a ship, it will be replaced, however, it will take time as follows:
APT, Q-ship, Armed Freighter: Replaced after 4 turns.
Small and Large Freighter: Replaced after 3 turns.
Police Ships: Never replaced, Police forces won’t allow a reckless commander to commandeer their ships.
Frigate: 2 months to replace a lost frigate with a base hull. For a variant hull it takes 4 months. For a variant that is a PFT/CV, 6 months.
Destroyer: 4 months to replace a lost destroyer with a base hull. For a variant hull it takes 6 months. For a variant that is a PFT/CV, 8 months.
Light Cruiser: 6 turns to replace a lost Light Cruiser with a base hull. For a variant hull it takes 9 turns. PFTs/CV variants of Light Cruisers will not be replaced. Nor would limited deployment ship types (Such as stasis cruiser)
Fighter Squadron/PF Flotilla: Fighters and PFs are considered fully armed, repaired, and replaced at the start of every turn. Fighters and Flotillas must operate as a single unit (Fighters are in a squadron of 12, most common type for the year selected, all 12 must be on the same map, same mission. Same applies for a PF flotilla, same map, and the same mission).
Repairs: Between each turn, ships are presumed to have repaired their shields fully, and repaired up to double their highest Damage Control in boxes, and have all crew unit casualties replaced (But not additional BPs and Marines bought as Commander’s Option points). Damage Control itself is fully replaced between scenarios. Any rearming (Drones, Plasma-Ds) is presumed to happen automatically between turns. Commander’s Option item must be bought anew between turns and are not automatically reloaded. Drone Upgrades are only paid for the first time the ship is deployed, it is presumed they get free reloads of the exact same numbers and types they had previously. If you wish for a different drone load out you must pay for it.

Neutral Planet Civil Defense Administration:
The Neutral player starts the campaign with one ship, a small LASH freighter, a small freighter with the cargo pod replaced by four LASH skids. The LASH freighter starts the campaign with a full Commander Option’s purchased and loaded already. There is no bonus for not using Commander’s Option points.
The Neutral Player is limited to CDR/EDR limitations at the start of the campaign. His planet has no shipyard or repair facilities available for any sort of rapid repair of ships (It took the Planet years of cobbling together parts just to get this one ship), nor can they build any additional ships themselves (Other than shuttle replacements). If at any time the Empire Players selling the Neutral Player a ship or base with repair facilities, then they may use those facilities and ignore this limitation.
At any time during a scenario the neutral player may send out a distress call. 1-3 turns after the call is sent out (roll a six-sided dice, divide the result by two rounding fractions up) their attacker’s enemies may have their reserve force appear on the map edge closest to their empire, or within 20 hexes of the enemy, whichever is closer.

Economy:
Neutral Planet: The Neutral Player produces the equivalent of 20 BPV of Trade Goods, per mining/agricultural base per turn. (Example: Has 5 Mining bases, receives 100 BPV Trade goods per turn normally) These Trade Goods can be stockpiled at a Ground Combat location of the Neutral Player’s choice. Unused Trade Goods will carry over from turn to turn, they are not lost if unused.
For an enemy player to detect where Trade Goods are stockpiled he needs to acquire 10 Lab Information on the planet. The Neutral Player must reveal where the Trade Goods are to players on a Trade Delegation Mission at any time they are asked (He is not allowed to lie about the location; they are supposed to known for pickup after all). The Neutral Player cannot purchase additional boarding parties to guard this location, and is one of the Control Stations at a ground combat location. The Neutral Player has only one infantry unit for each Control Station at the start of any month.
Trade Goods are presumed to take up 5 Cargo Space for every BPV (Unrefined metals and raw goods that need processing, thus the low value), and can be transported by any of the normal means. Trade Goods captured on a Commando Raid can be captured via normal transfer rules if the Imperial Player gains control of the Ground Combat Location the trade goods at are, or they can steal 2 BPV of trade goods on a successful hit and run raid (Marines land, shoot stuff, and slap transporter beacons on the goods). Goods stolen on hit and run raids are stored in hull boxes serving as 10 space Cargo boxes (crew quarters commandeered for storage). If a cargo/hull box holding Trade Goods is destroyed, all Trade Goods in the box are lost.
The Neutral Player may, on Trade Delegation missions, sell his Trade Goods to an empire for ships/bases and other equipment. The Neutral Player does not have to pay the normal economic cost of the item in question, but can instead pay whatever the Empire Player and the Neutral Player agree upon. Any discounts the Neutral Player gets below normal Economic cost count as Trade Victory points. Any gouged prices they pay over the normal Economic cost reduce their Trade Victory points by that amount.
Any ship that is destroyed on the Neutral Player’s map, and if they have an uncrippled ship, gives them half their economic cost in Trade Victory points from salvage of valuable materials and wreckage, rescued escape pods and POIS capsules.

Empire Players:
Each of the Empire players has discretionary funds equal to 30 BPV per turn. These funds are used to requisition ships/bases/items for the Neutral Player, and determine Economic Victory points, as well as purchase Commander’s Option items up to their limits. Large purchases can be stretched out over multiple turns (you want to give the Neutral Planet a Mobile Base worth 80 BPV, for two turns you spend your full allotment of 30 BPV on that mobile base, and the second takes up 20 BPV, giving you 10 remaining and one MB ready to be sent to the Neutral Planet). Under no circumstances can this discretionary fund be used to purchase extra ships, fighters, or bases for the Empire’s forces. Nor can items be stockpiled for later use. Once it arrives you need to ship it out or lose it.
Each BPV of profit you make from trading (Or commando raids) with the Neutral planet is added to your discretionary funds and can be used as such, only profits (charging more than the unit’s economic costs) is added to your discretionary funds, you do need to pay the Empire back after all. Losses, selling at a discount, are taken from your discretionary funds in subsequent turns (or from any surplus you’ve earned so far) to make up the total economic costs.
Trade Victory points are determined by how many BPVs the Empire player has at the end of the campaign, even if you never trade or commando raid as you’ve saved funds to be used elsewhere, maybe even enough to buy the Emperor a new cruiser.

Political Will Points:
Leaders can’t lead without the support of at least some lesser people in power, and even for under developed Neutral Zone planets, this remains true. “Hearts and Minds” was the popular phrase in Earth’s history, and it still holds.
One of the grand goals, of all players is to influence the Planet and what side it will join (Or retain its independence in the case of the Neutral Player). To determine the whims of the people and the guys in high places, are the Political Will Points. At the end of the Campaign, the player with the highest Political Will score will win the planet’s allegiance. If the highest score is an Imperial Player, but it is not more than 20% higher than any other player, the planet remains Neutral (They rather be independent then choose the better of two closely matched foreign powers).
Political Will Points: At the start of the campaign the Local Government has 20 Political Will points. All Imperial players have zero.
Gaining/Losing Political Will Points:
An Imperial Player gains/loses Political Will points for the following actions.
-2 Every commando raid successfully carried out on the neutral planet.
-3 Every commando raid attempted on the neutral planet.
-5 every turn that Imperial ships damaged local defense force ships.
-10 every time Imperial Ships destroy local defense force units (Only ships or bases).
-5 every 10 points of damage inflicted upon the planet by bombardment or seeking weapons (Points apply to both the firing race and the one that “ducked behind the planet” for seeking weapon lock-ons)
+2 For every delivery of 6 fighters/full flotilla of PFs, Ground Bases, Defense Satellites.
+6 For deliveries of larger items
+1 for every 20% discount on items traded to them
+1 for intercepting an enemy raid (Successful or not)
+4 for preventing the success of an enemy raid (Meaning no damage to the Goods/Mission, no bonus for this even if they do succeed on the Raid, but fail to escape).

Designers Notes: Technically this campaign could go on as long or as short as the players wish. However I’ve started testing it out at only a year long campaign. I’ve still yet to finish the first run though, there’s a lot of SFB there, though it looks like, depending on the players involved, that a year long campaign might be possible in 4 weekend gaming sessions. I really wanted it to be open ended enough that there was plenty of different ways for the campaign to unfold. For imperial players just to go and mug a planet, try to win them over with gifts or doing the old Kirk thing, fighting off the Klinks from taking control. I’ve been trying to find ways to make sure the Neutral Player has a real chance (even if it is somewhat lean), that they can be victorious over the Empire’s. I used Terrain on the Transit maps because… well, it was more fun for me. I started testing it out with a neutral planet between Federation and Kzinti space, Y170. The Federation map ended up with a Radiation Zone transit map and the Kzintis have yet to get anything interesting. Suffice to say Interdiction missions against the Feds have been, interesting, and they’ve managed to pull a few derelict freighters back home for repair through the skin of the teeth, though they had to scrap the trade mission. Next time I’ll probably see about adding moons to the Neutral planet, could give some interesting results for Ground Base sales/deployment. Maybe up the year to Y180 and play it between the Gorns and Feds. No reason for the races to be chosen as such other than they are the ones I’m familiar with.

By Jonathan Jordan (Arcturusv) on Monday, January 05, 2009 - 04:37 am: Edit

Final results of this scenario/campaign. I test played it through and found that int he end, it all came down to one month turn. The Feds gathered up their forces for a massive convoy through the Radiation Zone, to deliver several ground bases and defense satellites to the Neutral Planet (I started calling it Bob in my notes). It was only logical that was going to be the plan and the Kzinti player had nearly every ship available massed to intercept the convoy (And a frigate raiding the planet, the previous raid failed due to a Federation Frigate's efforts, allowing the Trade Deligation to convene). The battle was furious, and in the end both sides were devestated, with only the Kzinti Light Cruiser and a Kzinti Frigate making it out of the battle alive, the rest became Radioactive Derelicts, and the Federation faring little better, keeping their Light Cruiser, a Destroyer, and 3 Freighters alive to deliver Phaser-1 ground bases. Bob stacked the bases all one one hex side, and that brought an end to Kzinti raids between the Phasers and a Federation Light Cruiser.

The Feds almost won, but didn't have enough points to overcome the Neutral Player for alligence. The would have won, but for twice when they ducked behind Planet Bob in the face of scatterpack swarms. Had they managed to get away without doing so, it would have been a Federation Victory. But I presumed logicall that in that situation, with the harsh terrain they had to cross, that the Feds were slightly more interested in maintaining their Fleet than taking one of the Neutral Planet. It made sense at the time.

Kzinti Player ended up with the Victory in Economic points. It just picked that planet clean until the bases arrived, and at that point it had such a commanding lead that no one was going to overcome them.

I decided to make Bob's totals for Defense Force and Trade victories 100 and 200 respectively. They didn't manage to reach those numbers, but retaining their independance gave them the Marginal Victory.

All in all, fairly fun, going to do the test run with the later tech like I mentioned, and going to unveil it to my group afterwards.