But then 5150SA was released, and I bought it and played it, and I realised that its campaign system was so good and robust, that I could easily adapt it for anything.
Well, I have adapted it for Wing Commander and here is the first official test:
All pics clickable.
THE BRIEFING:
Moral of the Confederation is 3. The Killrathi is 3 as well.
The Confed is contesting a Killrathi sector. Confed Investment level is 2 and Killrathi is 4.
There are no solar flares or radiation bursts (weather) but even so, the pre mission intel went bad.
The mission is a patrol with two Navigation points to recon.
For the mission I counted with a wing of two Arrow light fighters. I rolled for their Reps and got 4 and 5. The Arrow has a maximum speed of 6, an acceleration of 3 and a turn rate of 3. It is armed with 2 laser cannons and 2 ion cannons, plus 2 Pilum Friend or Foe and 2 Dart Dumb Fire missiles.
Then I rolled to generate the terrain and placed the 2 PEFs (Possible Enemy Forces) per Nav point. At the bottom right you can see the Arrows, with the two PEFs in the middle, and Nav point 1 (the white dot) and a jump buoy at the top. There are also several gas clouds spread on the table.
On turn 1 one PEF moved directly towards the Arrows while they headed for the first objective.
On turn 2 I resolved the first PEF which resulted to be a false alarm. Also there weren't any surprises with the bad intel and it was a normal mission in the end. The other PEF didn't move.
On turn 3 and 4 the Arrows kept advancing towards Nav point 1 and the enemy PEF didn't move (it had Rep 3).
On turn 4 the PEF split into two.
On turn 7 the Arrows were very close to their objective when I rolled doubles on the activation. A random event happened and it was a Rep 6 Killrathi ace pilot hunting in the sector, who suddenly dashed out from the dust clouds, hitting afterburners and blazing its laser cannons against the two surprised Arrows.
The Dralthi's laser cannons failed to penetrate the Arrow's light shields, but in the next turn the Killrathi ace turned around and locked on a Stalker Heat Seeker missile on one of the arrows. Fortunately he could react on time, and hitting his afterburners he left the board and the missile behind him. The other Arrow did the same in his activation and was out from the board as well, heading to the next Nav point.
For Nav point 2 I rolled again in the terrain generation table. Then I deployed my Arrows and placed the new PEFs. Nav point 2 was in the far upper right corner of the board (the white dot) and I put my Arrows in front of it, thus leaving the two asteroid fields to port.
On turn three one PEF got near enough to be resolved and it turned into a Killrathi military transport Dorkati class with an escort wing of two Jalkethi heavy fighters, all of them Rep 4. I quickly turned starboard to avoid the dangerous Dorkati's defense Flak cannons and tried to barrel roll, but only one did it.
On turn 4 I rolled doubles again, and again it was a Rep 6 Killrathi ace piloting a Dralthi light fighter (this is because I haven't thought of any more random events in space! I'd appreciate any ideas from imaginative readers). This time it appeared in front of the Arrows and immediately hit afterburners and opened fire on them. He made many hits but none penetrated the Arrow's shield. Then the Arrow returned fire and collapsed Dralthi's shields, seriously damaging its hull as well.
The Dorkathi's Flak cannons fired at the other Arrow, damaging its engine and leaving the pilot unconscious for one turn.
On the next turn the Confed activated first and the unharmed arrow turned around and fired the unshielded Dralthi in the back, shredding it into pieces.
Chalk up another one!
The Arrows' armament was too weak to damage the Dorkathi Phase shields, therefore they were trying to surround it and its escort, to safely reach Nav point 2 and complete the mission.
One of the Arrows reached Nav point 2 whereas the other was with its shields down and moved backwards to avoid the lethal Dorkathi's Flak cannons, thus dangerously approaching to the border of the board.
The Arrow near Nav point 2 took the opportunity to try to destroy one of the escorts by locking on it a Pilum Friend of Foe missile. The Jalkethi released a Chaff pod but the decoy was launched too late, with the missile detonating nearby and producing half damage. The impact overloaded the Killrathi heavy fighter and forced it to flee forward using its afterburners.
On the next turn the Arrow near the border tried to hard brake but it failed, damaging the ion drive and exiting the game. The other Arrow was so heavily hit by the Flak cannons that his pilot went unconscious, flying straight ahead for five turns and suffering such a punishment by the Dorkathi during all its flight that it was finally destroyed.
Well, the mission was completed so it was a success although one of the fighters was destroyed and its pilot killed as he couldn't eject because he was knocked down.
The test was a success as well as everything went smooth and I only had to make a few tweaks here and there. I'm having a lot of fun with this home ruleset so I will keep working on it for a while.
I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did :)
One of the Arrows reached Nav point 2 whereas the other was with its shields down and moved backwards to avoid the lethal Dorkathi's Flak cannons, thus dangerously approaching to the border of the board.
The Arrow near Nav point 2 took the opportunity to try to destroy one of the escorts by locking on it a Pilum Friend of Foe missile. The Jalkethi released a Chaff pod but the decoy was launched too late, with the missile detonating nearby and producing half damage. The impact overloaded the Killrathi heavy fighter and forced it to flee forward using its afterburners.
On the next turn the Arrow near the border tried to hard brake but it failed, damaging the ion drive and exiting the game. The other Arrow was so heavily hit by the Flak cannons that his pilot went unconscious, flying straight ahead for five turns and suffering such a punishment by the Dorkathi during all its flight that it was finally destroyed.
Well, the mission was completed so it was a success although one of the fighters was destroyed and its pilot killed as he couldn't eject because he was knocked down.
The test was a success as well as everything went smooth and I only had to make a few tweaks here and there. I'm having a lot of fun with this home ruleset so I will keep working on it for a while.
I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did :)
