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Blackwell Hird

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Actually... I'm preparing a print and play demo for the forums. People can download and print out 2 ships with a complete set of cards and weapons and have a 1v1 battle to learn the rules. The rule book won't include such awesome things a commanders, orders, events or other things but it will have enough to get you going.
 

Blackwell Hird

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IM BACK! As you can probably guess, the new web site kind swallowed both my hands for the past month or so. But I'm back and I'll try to keep up the pace. And, per the excellent feedback above I have answers and a walkthrough on how to navigate your warship:

First: The measurements. All Assembled, a full command station measures roughly 8.5 inches wide, and about 5 inches tall. (Fig1) All cards are standard card sizes, 2.5 x 3.5 inches or standard mini card sizes 1.625 x 2.5 inches
 

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Blackwell Hird

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Aug 16, 2013
Messages
61
Points
28
Age
39
Location
Pueblo West, Colorado
Website
www.bhird.com
Secondly, and just as cool, lets do an illustrated blow by blow on plotting a course. This won't include clever orders from your commander, or fighter squads, just a commander attempting to pilot a ship that weighs slightly more than Blenheim Palace through a tricky stretch of space.


The Infinity Carrier ELDRIS is on the near side of System SERA5. It mission is to maneuver through the system to the far said and recover a Fleet Com asset. (Fig 2)


As Carriers are not the most maneuverable of ships, lets take this slow. The commander plots a course that will hopefully take the ship forward and between the two contacts on the board: The asteroid field and the Planet. The ELDRIS only has 6 Movement points so the commander puts down only 2 cards. (Fig 3)


Flipping them over 1 at a time and moving according tot he card, we see that the commander has ordered half speed ahead. This moves the ship ahead (3 Hexes). This might be a mistake however because of the next maneuver, a turn to Starboard. Because this is an Infinity Carrier the ship slews to starboard but its inertia carries it along its original course before any movement can be applied to correct it. Any faster, and you risk either blacking out the crew, or shearing the ship apart (Fig 4 - 5).


Now, we have a problem. Because of inertia, the last card played in a course becomes the first card in the next course if able. Right now, the turn to starboard is going to carry the ship through another 60 degrees to starboard before the navigator can counteract the spin. Not so bad, if it didn't also carry ship into orbit of Planet SERA5, whose orbit is full of dangerous debris. Acting fast, the commander orders emergency stop, firing all thrusters and bringing the ship to a dead stop near planet SERA5. However, remember what I said about damaging the ship? Welp, in this case the commander would roll a command die (not covered yet, we'll get there). If he succeeds, the green penalty happens. If he fails, the Red penalty happens. These only lasts for the turn the order was given on, unless it’s structure damage: That’s permanent! (Fig 6 - 7)


It may have damaged the ship, but now the ELDRIS is in perfect position to punch it directly between the two objects in its way. Seeing this, the commander needs only to plot a one-card course: Flank Speed. This takes the ELDRIS between the objects and clear of the system on course to his mission objective. (Fig 8)


I hope this gives you an idea of what to expect when plotting your courses. Some ships have more advanced maneuver cards, some ships have much more movement speed, while others (looking at you dreadnought) have a LOT less, pirouetting across the engagement zone like hippos strapped to off balance unicycles (this may have been the entirety of my last game, bluh).


Now though, imagine the ELDRIS had 3 fast attack frigate bearing down on her when her EMERGENCY STOP (fig 6-7) caused her to lose power to her ECM suite, each looping around the planet and using their defensive guns to clear out debris... It only gets harder from here commander. Its going to be a wild ride.
 

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Blackwell Hird

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www.bhird.com
You should see what happens when the ELDRIS has to compensate for the "forced" 6 forward movement assigned to her after that last course... the navigator may have overcooked it ;) If your not careful, a game of falling stars can devolve into a pinball match as you try to regain control of your craft.
 

Blackwell Hird

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Right, New year, New post.

Here's an advanced rule for all you would be space commander yearning to bring some personality to your ship command. remember on the commander cards how there are Discipline Symbols? And a Section for orders? Well Falling Stars will ship with a full suite of Command Cards, 1 set per Discipline, that let you alter how your ship behaves. Its all contingent on whether your commander is savvy enough to explain (command roll) but if he/she pulls it off, the results are dramatic. I've included 6 examples on this post, 1 each from 1 of the 6 disciplines.

Right to left they are: Events, Command, Combat, Navigation, Defense and Engineering.

Before the game starts, both players assemble separate decks of 10 cards for each discipline (Carthan and Vandis). hey then set them face down on a sidebar next to the decks matching symbol. The idea here is that since all the card backs are the same, neither player knows what the other is holding.

You draw 2 command cards of any type, then 1 more for each discipline represented on your Commanders. If you have a lot of Combat Commanders, you'll have a lot of Combat Orders. At the start of your turn you draw back up to your max using the same rules.

You'll notice how some are grey boardered and some are Red (02 and 05)? As the game progresses and we add more material, we'll release new command card, some relating directly to the expansion they come with some for general use. When assembling your command decks you can only have 1 of any red card in the deck, and only 3 of any grey card.

Additionally, some orders ONGOING (06) and stay with you until you give another order, and some are PERMANENT (02), meaning they will stay with you for the rest of the game!

If you want the full beans of having a real commander in the hot seat of you ship making up their own luck, this is how you do it
 

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Blackwell Hird

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Age
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Website
www.bhird.com
Also, in the starter set, each side has their orders color coded on the back for ease of separation. But each side has the same orders to form decks from. However, as we expand, you will see orders specific to their factions strengths, like additional range on the Carthan lasers, or extra punch on the Vandis Rail Guns. And don't get me started on the ones that deal with the expansion ship ;)
 
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