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How movement works?

 
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Tolwyn
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Joined: 15 Oct 2008
Posts: 13

PostPosted: Thu Nov 06, 2008 10:02 am    Post subject: How movement works? Reply with quote

Hello,

I just bought into Federation Commander and started reading the rules. There I stumbled over the movement rules as they work much different from the previous space combat games (B5 Wars and B5: ACTA) I play.

What I do not understand is the movement via the movement pulses and subpulses coupled with the starting speed. Can somebody please explain to me how this works and how acceleration and decceleration is handeled?

Thank you in advance.
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Mike
Fleet Captain


Joined: 07 May 2007
Posts: 1675
Location: South Carolina

PostPosted: Thu Nov 06, 2008 11:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Welcome, Tolwyn!

The way the movement works is like this. A "Turn" is the longest time period in the game. Weapons can fire only once per Turn and the ship systems (tractor beams, transporters, etc.) can only be operated for one use per Turn.

In order to come close to simultaneous movement, a Turn is divided into 8 Impulses. All actions such as firing weapons, launching drones, operating ship systems (again, transporters, tractor beams, etc.) happens toward the end of each Impulse.

Each Impulse is divided into 4 Sub-Pulses. Now we're getting to the meat of your question.

At the very beginning of a Turn, players select a baseline speed they want their ships to have for that game Turn. Each baseline speed costs each ship a certain number of energy points to maintain throughout that game Turn. It doesn't matter if the ship takes damage during the game Turn, it will go at that speed for the entire game Turn (unless other unusual things happen such as emergency deceleration or getting caught in a tractor beam from another ship).

Say, for instance, a Federation CA wishes to move 24 hexes during a game Turn. It must pay 24 energy points to do this.

Notice how all the baseline speeds are divisible by 8? This is so the total number of hexes for the game Turn can be divided up into the 8 Impulses.

Now, within each Impulse are those Sub-Pulses. There is a chart that shows which Sub-Pulses a ship can move in, depending on its baseline speed.

Say, for instance, a ship is going at a baseline speed of 16. It would move during Sub-Pulse #2 and #4 of every Impulse during that game Turn. Slower ships move during fewer Sub-Pulses of each Impulse, faster ships move during more Sub-Pulses.

As for acceleration, a ship can declare that it is accelerating during any particular Impulse. This is declared at the start of an Impulse before any ship actually moves. The ship pays for its acceleration and then follows the "+" notation as to which Sub-Pulses it moves in, but only for that particular Impulse. Paying for acceleration only applies to one particular Impulse.

As for deceleration, a ship can declare that it is decelerating at the start of any or every Sub-Pulse. Again, this is announced before any ship during that Sub-Pulse actually moves. The energy cost is paid and that ship does not move during that Sub-Pulse when it was supposed to move. One side note here: for Turn Mode considerations, even though a ship may have decelerated and not moved during a particular Sub-Pulse, it is treated as if it did to count toward fulfilling its Turn Mode obligations.

This was a long explanation, but I hope it helps.
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Davec_24
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Joined: 16 Jul 2008
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 06, 2008 1:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Mike pretty much nailed it there. One thing I would point out though is the following:

Mike wrote:
As for deceleration, a ship can declare that it is decelerating at the start of any or every Sub-Pulse. Again, this is announced before any ship during that Sub-Pulse actually moves.


Rather than being announced at the start of a sub-pulse before other movement, ships which are decelerating should announce this at the instant within a given sub-pulse when they would normally move. For example, a ship moving at baseline speed 24 and wanting to decelerate would announce its deceleration after a ship which is moving at speed 16 has had its chance to move, since the ship at speed 24 would move after the ship at speed 16 in normal movement (i.e. if it wasn't decelerating).
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Tolwyn
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Joined: 15 Oct 2008
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 06, 2008 4:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ok, I think I got it so far.

Quote:
As for acceleration, a ship can declare that it is accelerating during any particular Impulse. This is declared at the start of an Impulse before any ship actually moves. The ship pays for its acceleration and then follows the "+" notation as to which Sub-Pulses it moves in, but only for that particular Impulse. Paying for acceleration only applies to one particular Impulse.


Does the ship moves faster in its movement sub pulse or does it by this way get the possibility to move in additional sub pulses other then its regular 2 for instance?
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Davec_24
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 06, 2008 5:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A ship which has accelerated will move in one additional sub-pulse in the impulse for which it paid for acceleration, rather than moving two hexes in a single sub-pulse. For example, a ship moving at baseline speed 16 would normally move on sub-pulses 2 and 4. If this ship accelerated, it would also move where the turn procedure says ships moving at "16+1" (i.e. speed 16 and accelerating) move. So in this case, the ship would move during sub-pulses 2, 3 and 4 instead of just 2 and 4 (which would be the case if the ship had not accelerated) and so moves one extra hex during the course of that impulse.
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mjwest
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Joined: 08 Oct 2006
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 06, 2008 5:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It does two things.

First, you gain an extra move in that impulse. So, if you have a base speed 16 and buy an acceleration in an impulse, you will move in three of the sub-pulses, rather than just two of them. You gain a whole extra move that impulse.

Second, it increases your relative speed (used when determining (2A5) order of precedence). So, if you are speed 16 and bought an acceleration, then you are "faster" than a ship that is speed 16 with no acceleration. This means that during sub-pulse 2 and 4 when both you and your speed 16 opponent are scheduled to move, you will be "faster", and thus move after them.
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Davec_24
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 06, 2008 5:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

mjwest wrote:
Second, it increases your relative speed (used when determining (2A5) order of precedence). So, if you are speed 16 and bought an acceleration, then you are "faster" than a ship that is speed 16 with no acceleration. This means that during sub-pulse 2 and 4 when both you and your speed 16 opponent are scheduled to move, you will be "faster", and thus move after them.


And similarly in terms of relative movement, conducting a deceleration will make you relatively slower than other ships at the same baseline speed for the rest of the impulse. Note that because the deceleration is performed at the instant you would normally move, the declaration of the deceleration in sub-pulse 2 would in this case be simultaneous with the movement of other ships at speed 16 - in effect you are slower only for the following sub-pulses of the impulse.

So for example a speed 16 ship which decelerated on sub-pulse 2 would be slower than other ships at speed 16 which did not decelerate and would move before such ships when it next comes time for speed 16 ships to move in sub-pulse 4 of the impulse.
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mjwest
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 06, 2008 5:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

(Davec_24: I was only mentioning the acceleration, because he didn't ask about deceleration and I don't want to scare him off. Wink )
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Davec_24
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 06, 2008 5:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

mjwest wrote:
(Davec_24: I was only mentioning the acceleration, because he didn't ask about deceleration and I don't want to scare him off. Wink )


Fair enough... it does get a bit complicated in terms of figuring out who moves first when everyone is accelerating and decelerating all over the place... Shocked
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Tolwyn
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Joined: 15 Oct 2008
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 07, 2008 7:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Davec_24 wrote:
mjwest wrote:
(Davec_24: I was only mentioning the acceleration, because he didn't ask about deceleration and I don't want to scare him off. Wink )


Fair enough... it does get a bit complicated in terms of figuring out who moves first when everyone is accelerating and decelerating all over the place... Shocked


Errr. Ok. I'll have a closer look at the rule book this weekend and see if I comprehend the movement rules, otherwise I'll have more questions on Monday Wink
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Mike
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 07, 2008 11:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dave, thanks for the clarification on the deceleration issue. I had it wrong.
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Kang
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Joined: 23 Sep 2007
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 07, 2008 1:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Davec_24 wrote:
Rather than being announced at the start of a sub-pulse before other movement, ships which are decelerating should announce this at the instant within a given sub-pulse when they would normally move.

Plus if that would be a 'simultaneous, written' move, then the decel needs to be written too.

Tolwyn, if you haven't got as far as simultaneous written moves yet, please disregard this posting until it makes sense Smile
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Davec_24
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 07, 2008 1:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Mike wrote:
Dave, thanks for the clarification on the deceleration issue. I had it wrong.


No problems, it can be easy to forget exactly what gets declared and/or performed when sometimes. Wink
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