CONTACT:
RED
Greetings,
Commander.
Long
range sensors have detected an enemy flotilla in-bound. Burn to intercept. They
must not threaten the home world!
Contact:
Red is a multiplayer 3D space combat simulation. Custom design your ships, deal
with real(ish) physics, locate and destroy the enemy.
A team of
players will command a ship and its associated drones and torpedoes. Ideally
several teams would fight against an opposing force.
Sensors
Ships and some
drones have sensor suites used to detect objects in space. Space is big, and
the vessels are quite small, so spotting things will be difficult. Sensors
operate in two modes: active and passive. Active sensors are effectively radar,
pumping out waves of energy and waiting to see if they bounce off things and reflected.
Active sensors require a good deal of energy, increase the range of the
sensors, but also make the vessel that is “Actively scanning” a bright flashing
object in an otherwise dark world.
Passive
sensors are more like telescopes, searching the night sky for some trace of a
ship or drone. Vessels that are producing or using a great deal of energy will
be easier to spot, as will vessels and torpedoes that are “burning” their engines
to accelerate rapidly. Passive Sensors use a lot less energy than active
scanners.
Contacts
Each turn the team
will be told where their ship is in relation to other objects, their vectors,
etc.
For
example:
Contact
Alpha: range 110k, 58o, +37o. Vector 12k 113o,
-45o.
Range is
something in the order of tens of kilometers. Bearings are given in two sets of
degrees – 0 to 360 on the horizontal plane (where 0 will always be pointing towards
the Sun, 90 degrees is “East” (or the same direction as the planets orbit), 180
degrees “South” (or directly away from the Sun), and 270 degrees “West”
(counter-orbit). The second set of degrees ranges from +90 (directly above) to
-90 (directly below). If a contact is at +0, then it is on the same horizontal
plane.
So, contact
Alpha, above, is reported at 110k 58o +37o – that is, 110
range units away (“k”s), East-North-East, and up a bit (in general terms),
relative to the observer. Its Vector is 12k 113o, -45o,
meaning it is travelling at 12k per turn, a bit south of east, and descending at
an angle of 45o.
A contact
at 15k 360o -90o is 15k directly below the observer.
Navigation
Vector
Ships have a vector
– speed and direction. Given the frictionless nature of space, a vessel will
continue travelling on its vector unless force is applied. A vector will appear
like: V 2.8k 95o -15o. So, this vessel is travelling 2.8k
each turn, East-ish, and down a bit.
Heading
Ships have a heading
– the direction they are pointing. When the engines are fired, the vessel will
accelerate in the direction it is heading. When acceleration on a heading is
combined with the ship's initial vector, a new vector is created. So, the ship
above has a vector of: V 2.8k 95o -15o. If the ship had a
Heading of: H 95o -15o (so the same as its vector) and
accelerated at 1.1k this turn, the ship's vector next turn would be 3.8k 95o
-15o.
A ship
heading north at 10k per turn would need to accelerate south to bring its
vector to 0 (perhaps over several turns). A ship heading East at speed 5 that
accelerated North at speed 5 would end up heading North-East at speed 7.1k.
Acceleration
The speed at which a vessel can accelerate will depend on its total mass,
number of engines, and the amount of energy supplied to the engines. Vessels
can always accelerate at a lower value than possible if so ordered.
Changing
Heading
Vessels can alter
their heading by firing thrusters. Thrusters are small engines placed at the
ends of the vessel. To turn “right” the vessel fires the left facing thruster
at the front, and the right facing thruster at the rear to rotate the vessel
around its center. Once the desired heading is achieved, the opposite thrusters
are fired to end rotation.
For the purposes of this game, each ship will be given a value (depending on number
of thrusters and mass of the vessel) that indicates how many degrees it may
change facing each turn.
For
example, a ship may have a thruster value of 45. It can change its heading from
0o (north) to either 45o (north east) or 315o
(north west), or some number in between, in a single turn. A vessel can also use its thruster value to
change its vertical heading to a value of up to +90 and -90. Every degree up or
down changed is one that cannot be used to turn left or right. So, a vessel
with T45 can use 15o to point down, and 30o to
turn left, or some other combination, to a maximum of 45.
The only exception
to this is when a vessel goes “over the top” – so, imagine a vessel with a
heading of 00 +60o. It is heading North and steeply up.
If this vessel were to use its thruster value to take it up to +90 and then “over
the top” by another 15o, it would now have a heading of 1800 +75o.
It has effectively turned past vertical and is now “upside down” and pointing
in the opposite direction. But its heading has not changed by more than 45o.
Fun, isn’t it? The same thing would be possible as a ship turned past more than
-900.
{For the
purposes of these rules there is no possibility of spinning a vessel around its
central axis. That might prove useful in the future but is beyond the scope of
this document.}
Energy
Each turn a ship will generate a certain amount of energy from its reactor(s)
to be spent on various functions. The amount of energy generated and used will increase
the odds of it being spotted by enemy sensors. Each turn the ship will need to
report the amount of energy used by each ship to the control team. This is the
amount of energy output from the reactor combined with any energy spent from
battery storage in a turn, plus an extra point for every energy spent on Active
Scanning.
Reactor
value: Basic reactors will output 1 to 3 energy per turn. More expensive reactors
can output up to 5 energy.
Battery
Storage: Excess energy must be stored in the ship’s batteries for future usage.
Life
support (Comms and Passive Sensors): It takes one energy to keep the crew alive
and passive sensors and communication systems operational each turn.
Active Scanning:
It takes 1 to 3 energy to operate the active scanners. Each additional unit of
energy increases the scanner range by 50k. Each energy used in Active Scanning
counts as DOUBLE when reporting the energy output of a vessel.
Lasers: Lasers
can take 1 to 10 units of energy. Each unit of energy increases range by 10k.
Lasers can be counted on to destroy non-ship objects (torpedoes, drones) effectively,
and can cause serious damage to ships. Each laser may only be fired at one
target per turn.
Thrusters:
It takes one energy to change a ship’s heading by up to its thruster value.
Engines: Engines
can use 1 to 3 energy each to provide acceleration for the vessel.
Weapons
Lasers are primarily
defensive weapons to destroy approaching torpedoes and drones. They can be used
to damage and destroy enemy ships. During an in-person game, a ship may fire a
laser when its weapons officer stands up, raises one fist, and declares loudly:
“FIRE LASER!” Control will then ask some questions and resolve the attack
before any other ship may fire.
Torpedoes
are effectively ICBMs
that are strapped to the side of ships until released and fired. They
accelerate very quickly and when detonated do extraordinary damage to all objects
in range. Being within 25k of a torpedo will mean instant destruction, 50k could
damage armored systems, and 75k could destroy non-armored systems. During an in-person
game, a ship may detonate a torpedo when its weapons officer stands up, raises
two fists, and declares loudly “DETONATE!” Control will then ask some questions
and resolve any damage. Torpedoes are indiscriminate weapons – they will damage
and destroy friend and foe alike.
Torpedoes will
have the same vector and heading as the ship that released them until they make
their own heading and acceleration change. Torpedoes are powered by batteries
(fuel cells) and do not have reactors on board. They rely on orders from their
ships to change heading, accelerate, and detonate.
Drones are unmanned vessels that can be
equipped with lasers or scanners. They can operate either with reactors,
solar collectors, or on battery power alone. A ship may have any number of drones
that they control. Separate orders must be submitted for each drone.
During the
design phase, certain systems on a ship may be Armored to increase
durability during attack. This will add to the vessel’s mass, slowing
acceleration and reducing thruster value.
Ship Design
Each team
will be allocated a certain amount of points / cash to spend on their vessel. A
spreadsheet will be provided to calculate the necessary values. Each ship must
have at least a Command Module (comprising the bridge, crew quarters, life support, sensors, communications, thrusters), Engines, and a Reactor.
Team /
Roles
A ship can have any
number of players assigned to work together, and they may divide up the various
roles as desired. One must be designated the Weapons Officer, whose task it is
to loudly declare “FIRE LASERS!” or “DETONATE!” as required. One player may
serve as Sensor Officer, another as Navigator, while another takes
responsibility for Energy Allocation. In larger games there might need to be a
Comms Officer who will be responsible for communicating with other ships in the
fleet.
Ships may
also find it helpful to have a Captain, if only to have someone to blame when
things do not go well.
During
online / forum play, these roles can all be filled by the one person. Players
should still announce “FIRE LASERS!” and “DETONATE!” in the appropriate thread.
The first to post gets to shoot or detonate first.
During
In-Person play there will be a laminated card for each ship/drone/torpedo.
Players will use a marker to put the necessary information in the boxes
provided and return to the Control players, who will update the spreadsheet,
fill in new data, and return information as quickly as possible. Sensor data of
contacts will be provided via google docs or a printout.
Players
will be provided with a large sheet of paper or white board, some markers, and
a protractor and ruler to help visualize contacts.
During
online / forum play players will be expected to provide their own protractor.
