RULES

 

Gamesmaster
The Gamesmaster is Admiral Priyum, (spellfire@btinternet.com), the Commander of the Aggressor Strike Force. He is responsible for processing strategic and tactical orders from the Task Force Admirals and halting the game when a combat engagement occurs.  The Gamesmaster's decision on Rules Issues is FINAL.  The Game will not be delayed by arguments over Rules.   Think of the Gamesmaster as a Referee if it helps :)

Deployment
The two Teams will begin the Operation with the forces listed in on the Forces page.  The Forces will begin spread out over the regions picked out by the repsective TFAs.

Starfighter Wings may not be seperated from their motherships.  It is not allowed to move, for example, Wing XIII from the ISD Grey Wolf to the ISD Vanguard, and vice versa with Wing XV.  Squadrons must stay assigned to their parent Wings.  It is not allowed to reinforce a badly depleted Wing with undamaged Squadrons from another Wing.  Task Force Admirals should take careful note of how much damage has been inflicted on enemy Starfighter Wings, as this information wil prove invaluable in planning offensive operations if you know where to find that Wings' mothership.

There are three exeptions to this rule.

1.  Any Task Force Admiral may order an attack composed purely of starfighters.  In this case, the Starfighter Squadrons concerned must launch from their motherships, attack their target and if they survive, return immediately to their motherships.  Starfighters have limited life support and navigational capabilities and cannot operate independently.  It is not necessary for the Mothership to remain in the same place from which the Starfighter was launched.  An ISD can launch an attack, move to another system, and it's fighters may rendezvous with it there.

2.  Elite Squadrons may operate independently.   They are not considered to be assigned to any one capital ship, and are assumed to have the neccessary support infrastructure to enable long term independent operations.

3.  If a Wing's mothership has been destroyed in battle, the TFA may assign the survivors to the spare ISD or one of the spare VSDs on each sides' Order of Battle.   An ISD may hold up to six Squadrons (one Wing), and a VSD may hold up to two.  If any of these ships have already been destroyed, then the Wing will be assumed to be based at a friendly planet.  It treats the planet as its "mothership" in exactly the same way as it would an ISD, but it's range and operations will be limited in that a planet may not move as a capital ship can.  Should that planet be captured by enemy forces, any survivors of the Wing must relocate to another friendly planet.   If no friendly worlds are available, the Wings' starfighters are considered to have run out of fuel and are lost.

Orders and Events.
Events take precedence over Orders; if one fleet arrives at a location in the same turn as another fleet is departing, the arrival - an event - is considered to happen before the departure - an order.

Turns.
One turn is equal to three days. TFAs are expected to provide the GM with orders for their Fleets every third day. No matter at what time the order is received, they will all be processed by AD Priyum at 9pm GMT on the appropriate day. If no orders are received, then it is assumed that the TFAs do not wish to move their ships that turn.

Travel.
Ships travel using the Battle Map (here). It uses a Co-ordinate system, whereby the TFA indicates the region (or square) to which he wishes to move particular ships using the XY axis values. Movement across one region (horizontally, vertically or diagonally) takes one day.Therefore, in one turn, a ship may move up to 3 squares in one direction. Destinations must be in a straight line from the ships current location. If not, then multiple jumps must be made, and these require multiple orders to be issued. Squadrons with hyperspace capabilities may travel up to 3 regions away from their motherships during a single turn.

Asteroids - Regions with ateroids can be hypered through, but take double the number of days (2 days per square) with no risk to the travelling ships. A Fleet may remain in an asteroid region, but with there being a risk of smaller warships (FRGs, CRVs etc) suffering damage or being destroyed. The advantage gained by doing this is that Prode Droids do not work in asteroid regions.

Interdictor Cruisers may be ordered to stay in one particular region with their gravity wells powered up. If a fleet's path crosses such a region, then it is immediately pulled into realspace, and the TFAs notified of the interruption.

Warhead Use.
Since the combat element of the game is played online, lag will be a serious issue.  In order to lessen lag, and also to give capital ships a fighting chance against the masses of starfighters arrayed against them, warhead use will be strictly limited.

One Fighter Squadron from each Wing has been designated as a Bomber Squadron.  These Squadrons are clearly displayed on the Order Battle.  These Squadrons are all assumed to be armed with full loads of Heavy Rockets.  NO other missile weapons may be used by any other ships in the game.

Craft Assignment
TIE Corps Starfighter Squadrons do not all contain the same type of craft, however, the X-Wing Alliance Skirmish Editor which is used to design the battles only allows one type of craft to be assigned to each Flight Group.  Therefore compromises have been made to the Order of Battle.  All starfighters in each of the listed Squadrons are assumed to be flying the same craft.

Each Squadron is also assumed to begin the Exercise at full strength with all 12 Flight Slots fully manned.  X-Wing Alliance only allows 6 ships to be assigned to any one Flight Group however, but we can allow each Flight Group to have multiple waves.  Therefore in order to simulate a full squadron, we simply assign two waves of six fighters, or three waves of four fighters to a Squadron's Flight Group.  This is also useful in that it reduces the numbers of ships onscreen at any time and also helps to reduce lag.

Scouting
Gathering Intelligence on enemy dispositions will be an important part of the game. Any Probe droids that a team has may be ordered by a TFA to scout out a region of the map.  If there are no enemy forces at the destination, the Probe may either be recalled or left in place to monitor the location.

If a Probe Droid encounters enemy forces, it signals the exact disposition of the enemy Fleet and then self-destructs to avoid capture.   The enemy fleet will know that it has been probed, and may remain, reinforce, or withdraw.

Controlling and Holding Territtory
Worlds are considered to be controlled by the side who last had Capital Ships in orbit over that world for at least one turn, not including the turn in which it arrived or left.
Worlds are considered to be held by any side which controls that world, and has any forces in orbit, Capital Ships or not.
At the start of the game, each side is considered to be in control of all of its own territory.  They hold their Capital Worlds.

Starfighter forces may eliminate defending starship forces, but they may not take control of a world.   Turbolaser-capable ships are required to do this, as starfighters do not have the firepower to exert control over a worlds' population.

In order to take control of a world, all that's necessary is for one side to move a single Capital ship to that system and remain for at least one turn.  All enemy forces present must either be eliminated or forced to withdraw.   You now hold that system.  Once your ships leave, you simply control the system.  You immediately lose control when an enemy Capital Ship arrives unnopposed for one complete turn.

You may break an enemy's hold on a system by destroying or driving off all of his forces, but unless you arrive with Capital Ships, the enemy will still be considered to be in control of that system.

Battle Conduct
When the battle is declared, all able-bodied Tactical Officers's are to submit tactics as soon as possible to the GM. These can be in the form of a .SKM skirmish file, or in a DETAILED text description of what is to happen in the skirmish. Tactics can only be submitted by all Tactical Officers, which will have been previously picked for each team by the TFA.

- The GM will choose which of the submitted tactics will be recognized and used. The preference for this decision is based on which Tactical Officers would realistically be 'on the battlefield' during the conflict (with further preference being given based on standard seniority or any other authority already established by the TFA) as well as mere time limitations.


-Once the GM has chosen a set of tactics from each side, he will inform the TFAs and Tacticians of his decision, and build the skirmish to be used. If no tactics were submitted, or if the tactics contained incorrect or insufficient information, the GM will do what he can to fill in the gaps himself. The GM will not be held responsible for problems resulting from this necessity.

When the wargame is paused for one of its battles to take place, it will be announced to all ASF pilots. The time and date of the Battle will then be announced by VA Priyum, and all ASF pilots should try to attend. All battles will take place on IRC in the channel #EH_ASF.

Winning and Losing


-While controlling an enemy Normal system, a team gets 3 points per turn.
-For destroying the enemy Flag Ship, a team gets 10 points.
-For destroying
the enemy Base of Operations, the team gets 7 points
-For destroying an ISD, a team gets 4 points.

-For destroying any other capital ship, a team gets 2 points.

A capital ship must remain in a system for one full day (NOT including the days it arrives and departs) to take hold of a world and establish control over it

In addtion to the points, each team has a set number of goals to accomplish, as detailed on the Goals page. The accomplishment of all a team's goals take priority over Victory Points, e.g: If the ASF has 10 VPs and the Goliath 15VP, and the ASF Fleet completes all it's goals, then that team is considered to be the victors, even though the Goliath's have more points

 

Rules For Task Force Admirals

Task Force Admirals are responsible for the initial deployement of their forces and the subsequent movement and attack orders.  Every day, they must submit orders to the Gamesmaster for the Forces under their command.  The Gamesmaster will action these orders and return situation reports to the Admirals.  This process will continue until the Gamesmaster determines that contact between enemy forces has occurred.  Gameplay will be halted immediately, and the Gamemaster will signal all members of the Operation of the status of the battle: where it is taking place, and a list of the forces available for battle at that location.

Either side may order a withdrawal at this point, or if enemy Interdictor Cruisers prevent this, they may order a hit and fade attack to destroy the Interdictor, then escape.

In a hopeless situation, an Admiral may save his fleet from certain destruction by scuttling his ships to prevent them from falling into enemy hands and abandoning ship.  His crews will serve the rest of the Operation as Prisoners of War, but they'll at least be alive.

Withdrawals
Escaping from overwhelming enemy forces isn't as easy as just turning around and running.  Hyperdrives take a while to power up, and you're vulnerable to attack while they're doing so.  In order to save the majority of your forces, you're going to have to sacrifice some ships to keep the enemy occupied while the rest of your ships escape.

What this means in game terms, is that in order to successfully withdraw from combat, you must detach at least enough ships to match 25% of the total points value of the ships present on the enemy side.  If your force is worth less than 25% of the total value of the enemy force at the battle, you simply have no hope of escaping.  Your forces are completely overwhelmed.  Only two options are left to you: to enter combat and fight to the bitter end; or to offer conditional surrender. Such a surrender is a declaration that you will allow your fleet to be destroyed without resistance, on the condition that their crews (pilots) be allowed to escape unharmed first. The enemy may prefer to take out your ships instantly without taking damage themselves, and may agree.

Clause 1: a withdrawing fleet might find itself in a situation where its self-sacrificing rearguard (which must be 25% of the enemy fleet's size) is short if its necessary size by less than 20 points and a capital ship is the only thing they have left to sacrifice. In such a scenario, rather than losing the entire ship for such a small point value, the ship would be considered to be "damaged"; it would be immobile for 3 game-days, and if it appeared in battle during that time then it would have No Orders to reflect its damaged status.

Interdictors
NO retreat is possible while an enemy Interdictor Cruiser (INT) is present. It does not need to be in the first attack wave for its effect to be felt, but in order for retreat to be possible, it must be destroyed, usually in a Hit and Fade Attack, below. If the enemy INT is destroyed in battle, all ships which are in the main wave (see Tactics, below) will be lost, and those remaining can escape freely.

Hit and Fade Attacks
A Hit and Fade attack is the most effective means by which an enemy Interdictor's presence can be eliminated. When a Hit and Fade is declared on any Interdictor, the opposing Tactical Officer must include his Interdictors in the first combat wave (present in the skirmish; see Tactics, below) or seek permission from the TFA to allow the enemy to withdraw. If combat goes ahead, it is halted the instant the Interdictors are destroyed. The entire forward wave which engaged in the hit-and-fade to destroy the enemy INT will be considered lost. However, a hit-and-fade is the one situation in which the forward wave does not have to have all 8 skirmish slots filled up, so only a few bombers might be actually committed (and sacrificed). Hit and Fade attacks may not be declared in any circumstances where retreat is impossible due to the 25% points rule, and may not be declared to target any ship aside from an enemy Interdictor Cruiser.

 

Rules For Tactical Officers

Tactical Officers are defined as:
"Those Officers nominated by the TFA."

When the battle is declared, all able-bodied Tactical Officers's are to submit tactics as soon as possible to the GM. These can be in the form of a .SKM skirmish file, or in a DETAILED text description of what is to happen in the skirmish.

All Skirmishes will be set to begin with a distance of 4km between the two sides.  This is to give defending fighters a fair chance to prevent incoming raids.

Multiple Attack and Defence Waves
Any ships which cannot be fitted into the first 'wave' of the battle will be considered to be hanging back away from the front lines of the battle. If there are ships remaining after the first skirmish is flown, then a second 'wave' of the battle must be flown; the same procedure will be followed, using the remaining ships. Repeat as necessary.

Skirmish Tactics
The X-Wing Alliance Skirmish Editor is not a fully fledged Mission Editor, but it does enable a battle to be put together in a matter of minutes.  This is what enables Imperial Storm to proceed at such a fast pace.  Despite its limitations, there are some tactics which can be used in putting together your skirmish file to ensure that your forces have the best chance for success.

All Capital Ships MUST be designated as Primary Flight Groups.  Starfighters are NEVER Primary Flight Groups.  Bearing this simple rule in mind, you may now assign various flight orders to the forces at your disposal:
Escort - The Flight Group will attack anyone who threatens their Primary Flight Groups
Strike
- The Flight Group will attack Primary Flight Groups, then enemy Starfighters
Superiority - The Flight Group will attack enemy Starfighters, then Primary Flight Groups.
No Duty - The Flight Group will hold position and not defend itself.

In addition, the following orders may be assigned to Starfighters only:
Recon - ID Primary Flight Groups
Disable - Disable Primary Flight Groups
Capture - This order serves no function in Dark Hammer, since no Transport craft capable of conducting boarding operations are in incuded in the Order of Battle.

The only exception to the rule concerning which ships are designated Primary Flight Groups, is that during a Hit and Fade attack, ONLY the Flight Group designated as the target is the Primary Flight Group.

Artificial Intelligence Levels
AI for all craft must be set to Veteran.  The only exceptions are Elite Squadrons, which should be set to Ace; and the Flight Group to which the Fleet Pilot is assigned, which may also be set to Ace.

Deployment
The order in which the Flight Groups are placed in their flight slots determines how close to the front of the battle line they appear in the Skirmish.   Flight Groups placed first appear closest to the enemy forces.  If you want a screen of starfighters in front of your capital ships, then create the starfighters in the first Flight Group.

 

Rules for Fleet Pilots

DESTROY EVERYTHING!  KILL! KILL! KILL!

Okay, there's slightly more to it than that. 

Each Tactical Officer should have a large pool of volunteer pilots available to fly the skirmishes. Two pilots will normally fly for each side of the battle. When battle is declared, the Gamesmaster will announce the time that Combat will be flown in the IRC Channel #EH_ASF. The Tactical Officers responsible for compiling the Skirmish files must attend, any pilots who can make it are encouraged to turn up to the battle. In choosing from the available pilots, preference will be based on the following factors:

If all else fails, Flag Officers (but not TFA's) may fly as pilots. If no one is available from a team to fly for this battle, it will normally be interpreted as a withdrawal order... and withdrawals are always costly. Rescheduling of battles will happen on rare occasions, and is completely the prerogative of the Gamemaster.

 

 

These rules were orignally written by ex. TCCOM, COL Kessler for Exercise Imperial Storm, and have been modified and added to slightly for Op:DH