El Kickstarter de Darkspace Corp va por las 101,449 £, con 975 participantes y más de tres semanas por delante.

En estas actualizaciones tenemos una entrada sobre el movimiento donde esta un extracto de las reglas, bastante extenso y otro del disparo más amplio aun. Y para finalizar un avance de la escultura de los Drones que ya se esta viendo que están quedando bastante bien.

Recordad mientras dure el Kickstarter podréis participar de forma gratuita en el desarrollo y diseño del juego desde los foros de Dark Space Corp, una vez que finalice el Kickstarter solo podrán acceder a los mismos los que hayan participado en el Kickstarter.

UPDATE 45

Happy sunday everyone

Hope you've all had an exciting weekend. We've been busy dreaming up ways of getting the word out more so hopefully we'll see some more uptake once those roll out

Today is all about movements on the table top, only 'shooting' is needed after that to finish the full outline rules, so lets get into this one:

GETTING A MOVE ON! THE BASICS OF MOVEMENT

When it comes to moving troops about the battlefield we will ultimately have to consider vehicles of all kinds, anti-grav troopers, and various kinds of machines and suspensors – but to start with we are only concerned with ordinary troopers – humanoid fighters and WarDrones. Of course, many of the same rules apply to all – so this is a good place to start.

Move distances

Although we will no doubt wish to include some variation of movement rates, to start with all humanoid troopers and WarDrones move at the same pace – namely a standard move of 6”. Because a manoeuvre action is a double move this means troops can often move up to 12” at a time.

Measuring a move

I’m not going to worry too much about defining how to measure moves– just measure from a point along the base edge and make sure no part of the base moves further than the maximum distance permitted.

Moving round other models on the same side

When a model makes a move, its base cannot move over the base area of any other models belonging to different units on the same side. Models that begin their move in the same formation can move through each other as they move.

Moving round enemy models

When a model makes a move its base cannot come within 1" of the bases of any enemy models at any point, unless the two units are engaging in an assault – i.e. hand-to-hand fighting.

Turning

Troopers of the kind we are talking about can pivot freely about their midpoint as required as any time – they can pivot as they move and they can pivot to shoot either during an action or reaction. Pivoting in this way does not count a movement and models that pivot and do not otherwise move are counted as not moving (e.g. for purposes of aiming and shooting team-based and static weapons).

Area Terrain

The playing surface can potentially represent different kinds of environments such as crowded urban areas, dense jungles, glutinous swamps, volatile ash-wastes, and much more besides. These kinds of terrain are defined by a delineated areas – for example an area of strewn boulders, an area of scrubland, an area of woodland or jungle, and so on. Players can agree to delineate these kinds of area terrain in anyway they wish.

Different kinds of terrain have different move penalties associated with them, but to start with just treat movement within area terrain as half pace. All movement either wholly or partially made through terrain is doubled – i.e. 1” counts as 2” and so on. This applies to models that are either wholly or partially within the terrain and for so long as they remain so.

Agility check

The kinds of troops we are talking about can make a check to try and avoid the movement penalty for terrain - the test is made as soon as the unit enters the terrain, and then subsequently if the unit begins its move in the terrain. Make the check for the whole unit against its Agility rating. If successful the penalty is waived for that move – if fail the penalty is applied as described. This means troops can often avoid penalties for terrain, but cannot be certain of doing so.

Moving over obstacles

We often include barriers or obstacles such as a wall, wire fence, brushwood stockade, or barricades built of barrels, boxes, or whatever junk is lying around. Such obstacles make excellent defensible positions. In general, a construction of this kind should be no wider that a model’s base, although we have to make concessions to whatever model scenery is at hand and allow up to double a model’s base width so long at these are pointed out before the game so that players are aware.

Obstacles divide into two types for height – those that are low enough to form a defensive barrier or cover – generally lower than the height of a human sized trooper and therefore low enough to see over – and those that are too high to see over but which are not so tall as to be impassable. Once again, it is necessary for such obstacles to be clearly indicated before the game begins.

Low obstacles form no hindrance to movement. The kinds of troopers we dealing with can move over them with penalty and can draw LOS over them.

High obstructions – these are generally up to about double the height of a man – in these cases a unit can cross so long as –1 the unit is making a manoeuvre action, 2 the unit takes and passes an Agility check when it reaches the barrier, and 3 the unit gives up half of its total move that action (i.e. normally 6”). If the agility test is failed the unit does not cross and remaining movement is lost.

Obstructions taller than this are generally impassable to troopers on foot.

Splitting or Amalgamating a Squad

A unit can amalgamate with another unit by being within 6” of the unit and making a manoeuvre action – the unit can them move 6” so that its troopers form together with the merged unit – the remaining 6” of movement is lost.

A unit can split with a manoeuvre action in the same way – the two parts separating so they are more than 1” apart and moving up to 6”.

Merging units of the same combat status retain that status. If units are different status test courage for the lower status unit (it will be ready as exhausted and broken units cannot manoeuvre) and if it passes the whole unit is now the higher status, if fail the whole unit is the lower status.

On the whole the maximum size a unit can be is 10 models and there is no minimum size. These are placeholder values for now – larger units might need some governing rules to make them less easy to control, but for now it is easiest to set the limit at 10.

REACTION MOVES

The following are moves that can be made as a reaction: dash for cover, go to ground, and withdraw. See Reactions.

Dash for Cover

A dash for cover is a reaction move made in response to an enemy unit shooting from more than 12" away.

A dash to cover is a move at double the unit’s move rate with the objective of reaching cover. As many of the unit’s models as possible must attempt to place themselves in or behind cover or out of LOS. Models already in cover will not move out of it unless they can reach alternative cover when they move. The move cannot be used to initiate an assault, and the unit must remain further than 1" from enemy units at all times as is the usual rule.

Go to Ground

Infantry units can go to ground either during a standard manoeuvre action or as a reaction to being shot at a described in the rules for Reactions. Troops that go to ground drop to the floor and find what shelter they can: folds in the ground, street furniture, discarded or broken equipment, shell holes, and such other features as we care to imagine. This reduces the chances of taking hits from enemy fire, but it also makes it harder to move again – as troopers have to get up first!

A unit making a manoeuvre action can go to ground by surrendering half of its total move distance. So, a unit with a Move rate of 6" can normally make a double speed move of 12" and can move up to 6" and go to ground. Once a unit has gone to grounda marker is placed next to it to show this. This marker remains with the unit so long as it remains gone to ground.

A unit that has gone to ground cannot move except by making a manoeuvre action and surrendering half of its total move distance. The unit ceases to have gone to ground status as soon as it moves. The unit cannot otherwise move whilst it remains gone to ground, and cannot make any reactions that allow it to move other than assault (see below).

Once a unit has gone to ground various modifiers apply when shooting at it as described in the Shooting section. In summary:

Target Gone To Ground = -1 to accuracy
Target Gone to Cover = +1 to resist
Hits from Blast Weapons = Total hits halved rounding down.

An infantry unit can go to ground whilst behind cover if you wish – basically ducking back out of sight or keeping a low profile. A unit in this position would benefit from the shooting modifiers that apply to targets behind cover as well as those applying because it has gone to ground.

If a unit is assaulted whilst gone to ground it loses its gone to ground status and takes part in the assault as normal.

Withdraw

A withdraw move is a unit reaction made when a unit approaches to with two of your own unit’s standard moves (i.e. 12” as standard). Note that a unit cannot make a withdraw reaction if the enemy’s action triggers a firefight or an assault – as these are combat reactions and override all unit reactions. This means that withdraw reactions are only likely in situations where one or other side does not shoot.

A withdraw move is up to two standard moves (12”) and cannot bring the unit closer to the enemy unit it is reacting to at any point – i.e. it has to be away from the triggering unit. The withdrawing unit must end its move at least one standard move further from the trigger unit where possible. Where this is not possible the withdrawing unit must move to as far from the enemy unit as it can.

Ok, now you know how to move around, head over to the forums to discuss

UPDATE 46

whatcha!

Ok, so today's update is the final section of the rules that we need in order to play an outline game of Beyond the Gates of Antares. We're just getting this put into PDF format so you can have it all in one place, in the meantime, here's the full breakdown of how it works:

RICK NOTES AND COMMENTS

The rules for shooting do look quite complicated and so I would suggest working through the ranged shooting and ignoring reactions for a run through. In general, the shooting rules are quite specific in terms of which models are shooting at what – which means it becomes necessary for individual shots to be assessed for range and LOS – and to allocate hits as described. This is not as fast as a more abstract system – but it allows for more a more detailed style of game – abstract systems have to be tailored to a specific size and type of game to work properly. We have found that in practice shooting can be worked out quite rapidly once you get the hang of it – but it does help to start out by allocating individual hits as you go along – you can easily short cut the process once you know how it works. Stats – we have used the base line stats for fighters – and the feeling so far is that you can go +1/-1 on these for variants of pan/sim but that is about it - +2/-2 is a big difference! With weapons and armour the same is broadly true – with +2/-2 representing quite a swing in capabilities. See the WIP I did on weapons – Mag guns and a basic +1 armour are the base line. I am trying to set the game up so that the numbers ‘do the work’ rather than having endless conditional rules affecting armour and strike values – but this needs stress testing.

SUMMARY OF SHOOTING

This is a summary of the shooting rules. It covers basic combatants and is very much work in progress –but it’s enough to play out some simle engagements and get a feel for the way the game plays.

WHO SHOOTS?

Units that make an engage action can shoot – if they move they move and then shoot. Units can also shoot as a reaction: opportunity fire, return fire, firefight or assault. We’ll cover assaults in the rules for hand-to-hand fighting – ignore this for now.

SHOOTING PROCEDURE

Shooting is worked out using the following procedure.

Declare target
Check line-of-fire and range
Target declares any reaction it is allowed to make.
Roll to hit
Roll to damage
Target takes casualties
Target makes combat status check

An alert target is allowed to declare a unit reaction to an enemy unit shooting at it with an engage action.

Where units shoot as a reaction no further reactions are permitted or caused. Units never react to reactions.

DECLARE TARGET

A unit can direct all of its fire against a single target (generally an enemy unit) OR a unit can divide its fire amongst different targets, with different unit members shooting at different targets.

A unit shoots most effectively when it shoots at a single target. When a unit divides its fire, its shooting will be less effective; the greater the number of targets the less effectively it will shoot.

For purposes of explanation we will assume the target is a single enemy unit.

CHECK LINE-OF-SIGHT AND RANGE

Only models that can draw a clear line of sight to their target and whose weapons are within range of the target unit shoot.

LOS (summary) draw LOS from the centre of the model’s base to any model in the target unit – a clear LOS does not cross the base of any other model friend or foe.

Note – there are exceptions where LOS is not required – we’ll cover these later.

Range – individual shooters might be at different range bands – in each case measure shooter to the closest part of the target where the shooter has LOS. The shooter is shooting at the ‘unit’.

WORK OUT SHOTS

Each weapon has a number of shots. This is the number of D10 dice rolled for the model or team firing the weapon. In most cases what we call a shot is actually a burst of fire rather than a single shot.

Check the range from each shooter to the target to make sure the shooter is within range. Roll a D10 for each shot.

To score a hit the shooter must make a successful test against his accuracy stat (Acc), modified by the following shooting modifiers. For example, if the shooter’s Acc is 6 the shot will hit if the dice roll is 1-6.

Where the shooters are using the same weapons and require the same role for success, it is convenient to make all the dice rolls at the same time.

If a unit is armed with different kinds of weapons then it will usually be necessary to resolve the shooting from each type of weapon separately. This is most conveniently done using different coloured dice, and this also makes it much easier when allocating hits, as described below.

If some shooters are at different ranges or where different modifiers apply to their checks, it will be also necessary to roll dice in separate batches. The shooting player can decide which order to shoot weapons in where he has different weapons in a unit. Any hits scored they are allocated against models in the target unit as you go along.

MODIFIERS TO SHOOTING

In different circumstances it will be easier or more difficult to score a hit upon a target, and to reflect this we apply modifiers to the shooter’s Acc depending upon the shooter’s combat status, the weapon range, the type of fire, and the target size. Because we have four different kinds of shooting - from controlled ranged fire to frenzied firefights, spontaneous return fire and sudden opportunity fire - different modifiers apply to each shooting mode. This is summarised on the table below. Don’t worry if this looks a little complex to start with: most of the common modifiers are fairly intuitive, whilst many apply only to specific types of shooting and soon become habitual.

Rick Note. I’ve put this on a chart for now as it makes it easier to reference – but as you will see most of the modifiers could be handled as bonuses to the basic ranged shot; unit reactions are just –1 over all ranges for example. Don’t worry about the presentation too much at the moment. I will probably change this once we get the definitive modifiers worked out and make it friendlier.

SHOOTER COMBAT STATUS (Commentary)

For ranged shooting units with a combat status of ready (amber) lose 1 from their Acc value and therefore shoot less accurately than alert (green) units. As exhausted and broken units cannot make an engage action they cannot shoot ranged fire, so there is no modifier and this is shown on the chart as NA (not applicable).

For firefights a further –1 is applied to alert and ready units to reflect the frenzied nature of an intense exchange of shots at close ranges. As exhausted and broken units can also participate in firefights they also have modifiers, and the penalties in these cases are greater again.

Return fire and opportunity fire are unit reactions and so only apply to alert units. In this case the return fire is treated as a controlled shot with no modifier, and opportunity fire is treated as a fleeting shot and hence a penalty is applied.

RANGE(Commentary)

Weapons have different range bands depending upon the weapon’s size and configuration. Only small arms have a point blank range at which distance (generally 6”) they get a bonus of +1 for ranged fire; however, this doesn’t come into play often as fire at such close range usually triggers a firefight or unit reaction.

Otherwise the range modifiers are simple steps, with an extra –1 applied for unit reactions. Note that opportunity fire is effectively an extra –1 because of the standard penalty applied to alert units firing in this mode.

TYPE OF FIRE(Commentary)

These modifiers allow for more unusual situations and are explained separately. They don’t come into every game and I suggest players accustom themselves with the game play before considering these options.

TARGET SIZE(Commentary)

We also allow for target size – but note that this does not affect normal play where targets are more-or-less man sized throughout. These modifiers simply allow for the possibility that the target is a very large vehicle, a building, spacecraft or similarly large construction at one end, and perhaps a control panel, valve mechanism, or small drone at the other. We’ll cover this in more detail later.

OUTSIDE CHANCE

If the D10 roll required to score a hit after modifiers have been applied is less than 1 then there is still an outside chance of scoring a hit. Roll a D10 anyway – if you score a 1 then roll another D10 – if this second D10 is also a 1 then you have hit!

CRITICAL SUCCESS

If the D10 roll required for success is 2 or greater then any roll of a 1 indicates a critical success. In the case of a weapon shot this means the shooting player gets to allocate which of the models in the target unit is hit, rather than the player whose unit has been shot at, as is normally the case. See Allocation of hits below.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF FIRE

As shown on the table, there are four special types of fire: aimed, targeted, repeater, and divided. The most commonly occurring of these is aimed fire. These work as follows.

AIMED FIRE

If a model carries a mobile weapon then it automatically counts aimed fire if the unit makes an engage action and shoots but does not move. The entire unit must remain stationary to count as not moving, and only those models armed with mobile weapons receive the bonus.

TARGETED FIRE

Targeter drones and targeting weapons and devices can mark targets; we call all of these things targeters. This will be covered separately; in summary, instead of a unit making a shot at the target, a targeting reticle marker is placed next to one model in the unit. Any shots made against the target by any unit with a guided weapon add +1 to the Acc for each reticule. Guided weapons are covered in the section on weapons, but note that some weapons can have built in guidance systems whilst others can benefit from a guidance device carried by a member of the unit or by another unit they can ‘patch’ to.

A target retains all of its reticle markers whilst it remains stationary. If the target moves so that it is more than 6” from the reticle markers all the markers are removed and the target is no longer targeted. If the target moves but not enough to remove all the markers then the number of markers is halved rounding up, and the marker stack is moved and placed next to one of the unit’s models by the targeting player.

Targeting reticles can also be dispersed by some devices or certain types of model.

Targeted fire can be combined with aimed fire – the bonus from each is added together.

REPEATER FIRE

Some weapons have two, three or more shots – these have –1 penalty on all shots. Repeater fire cannot be combined with aimed fire or targeted fire.

DIVIDED FIRE

A unit can choose to divide ranged fire onto different enemy targets if the player wishes, some models shooting at one target and some at another. This is called divided fire. A unit cannot divide its fire if this would result in a firefight. If a firefight is triggered then all of a unit’s models take part in the firefight.

To successfully divide its fire a unit must make an initiative check. If this is failed there is no penalty, but the unit cannot divide its fire and must select a single target in the usual way. If the check is passed the unit can divide its fire by shooting at two or more targets – the player must state which models are firing at which targets before working out shooting. Once you have done that work out the shooting against each target one at a time, in the order chosen by the firing player. As each shot can potentially trigger a reaction, work these out as you go along.

ALLOCATION OF HITS

As hits are scored on a target it is, in most cases, necessary to allocate each hit to a model in the target unit. To do this, take the dice that scored the hit and place it next to one of the models in the target unit. Hits are allocated by the player whose unit has been shot at, unless a critical success roll is made when rolling to score the hit, in which case that hit can be allocated by the shooter. Regardless of which player is allocating a hit, hits must be spread out as evenly as possible, i.e. make sure every model in the target unit has one hit before allocating a second hit to any models.

If the target comprises models that are armed and armoured in exactly the same way it make no difference where the hits are allocated, in which case it is easier to simply place the dice that scored hits against the unit. In most cases, however, there is likely to be a mix of armaments within a unit, so it is important to know which hits are allocated where. This is especially true where different weapons are shooting. This is why it is a good idea to use different coloured dice for shooting with different weapons, as it just helps to keep things clear.

Note that it does not matter whether individual models are hit by a weapon that is within range, ranges are always calculated to the unit by measuring to the nearest model. So long as the unit is within range all models in the unit can potentially be hit by that weapon, regardless of whether they are within range or not.

If the target unit includes some models that are out of the line of sight of all the models in the shooting unit, then these models cannot be hit by weapons that require line of sight to their target. In these cases hits are allocated only against those models that are within line of sight of the shooters. Hits scored must still be allocated as evenly as possible amongst models within line of sight. Note that some weapons do not require line of sight to shoot at their target, and in these cases hits are allocated between all models in the unit regardless.

RESIST CHECKS

For each hit scored against a model the player whose model it is picks the dice from next to it and makes a resist check. For example, if a model’s resist stat is 5 any D10 roll of a 5 or less is a pass, whilst rolls of 6 or more are a fail. If the resist check is passed the model is unharmed. If the check is failed the model takes damage. In the case of most human-sized models this is sufficient for the model to immediately fall casualty. In the case of some larger models, vehicles, buildings and so on then we instead go on to resolve the damage result (still to be done). However, for now we need only concern ourselves with our regular fighting troopers, so we may assume that any model taking damage falls casualty and is removed from the game.

A model’s resist stat will be modified depending on the weapon that has scored the hit, the target’s combat status, whether the unit is in cover or not, and what armour the unit has. These modifiers reduce or boost the model’s resist stat. See below for how these modifiers work.

Note that the resist check represents the individual model’s chances of avoiding a hit on the unit as a whole. Many ‘hits’ will fall within the area occupied by the unit but not strike any individual trooper, or perhaps will strike only a glancing shot, or in some cases be repelled or absorbed by a trooper’s armour. For this reason most trooper models have a resist roll that is set fairly high – representing their chances of keeping to cover, avoiding exposing themselves to danger, and using their experience as fighters to minimise their personal risk. Better and more experienced fighters will therefore have a better resist roll than poor or untrained fighters, whilst civilians and non-combatants may have a substantially lower resist stat than a typical fighter of their species.

CRITICAL RESIST

If the score needed to make a successful check is less than 1 once modifiers have been taken into account, then any dice roll of a 1 followed by another D10 roll of 1 will always pass the check and the model will survive. In this case the individual has flung himself aside or managed to put something between himself and his attacker that has deflected the shot.

AUTOMATIC FAIL

A dice roll of a 10 always fails a resist check regardless of any modifiers that apply to the resist stat. 10s always fail.

RESIST MODIFIERS

Modifiers affect a target model’s resist stat, these include the strike value of the weapon, the target unit’s combat status, cover and armour.

STRIKE VALUE

All weapons have a strike value (SV), in some cases this is constant and in others it varies over range or has a random element. This SV is deducted from the resist value of the target model. So, if a model has a resist stat of 5 and it is struck by a Mag gun with SV 1 it’s resist value is reduced to 4.

TARGET COMBAT STATUS

The target’s combat status reduces its ability to react to shooting, seek localised protection or avoid being hit, and we represent this by applying the following penalty to the resist stat of all the unit’s members.

Alert 0
Ready -1
Exhausted -2
Broken -3

COVER

We recognise three levels of cover in the game: light, dense and emplaced. A model is within cover if it is within terrain that offers cover – such as dense undergrowth (light cover) – or if it has been placed directly behind something that offers cover – such as a wall. Don’t worry too much about this at present..

Cover light +1
Cover dense +2
Cover emplaced +3

Troops that have gone to ground increase their cover bonus by a further 1 and those who have no cover count +1.

ARMOUR

Most troops are protected by some kind of armour – usually in the form of an armour field defence. Some armours offer a fixed value bonus and others vary depending upon circumstance.

REMOVE CASUALTIES

Remove casualties as they occur. If models have yet to shoot back, for example during a firefight or with return fire, it is preferable to either lay the model down or turn it around to show it has fallen casualty until you have worked out all shooting.

TARGET CHECKS STATUS

Once all shooting resulting from an action has been worked out and any casualties removed, it is necessary for every unit that has suffered at least one hit to test its combat status. A unit that hasn’t been hit does not have to test. Note that it doesn’t matter whether hits cause casualties – units have to test even if they successfully resist all hits scored.

COURAGE CHECK

The unit make a standard check against its Courage value, taking into account any bonuses to Courage that apply. These bonuses accrue from special rules that apply to individual leaders or to equipment, so we shall ignore them for now.

Deduct 1 from the unit’s Courage value for each casualty it has suffered as a result of the action that has been completed. For example, if a unit has Courage of 7 and suffers 2 casualties it tests against a value of 5.

If the test is passed there is no change to the unit’s status. There is no extra benefit to a critical success roll of a 1 in this case.

If the test is failed the unit drops one combat status level, for example from alert (green) to ready (amber). If the unit is already broken it is destroyed if the test is failed: in this case remove the entire unit and all of its models count as falling casualty.

INDIRECT FIRE

Some weapons do not necessarily need line of sight to a target in order to shoot. Either the weapon fires a missile that is self-guiding, or it relies upon another observer to guide it to the target, or the shooter simply lobs a bomb high into the air and the shooter trusts to luck that it will land on an enemy. In all cases we refer to any shot where the shooter cannot see the target as indirect fire. Only those weapons indicated as able to use indirect fire can do so.

We won’t worry about indirect fire weaponry for now – as this would just add an extra level of complexity and we need to make sure the core direct shooting is solid to start with.

Head over to the forums to discuss!

UPDATE 47

hello everyone, hope you are all having a fantastic week so far

Today's update is part 2 of the WarDrones. Kev's been busy refining his work, and at this stage its essential to get the basics right, if you don't you have to redo them until they are right before you can move onto the next phase of adding in some detail.

Head over to the forums to discuss

Help us spread the word - If this email is interesting why not forward it to your friends?

We need to make sure everybody knows about us, so we’ve made some helpful artwork to help spread the word. GoA is all about involving you guys right at the start and our first job is to get us funded! So get creative on it, anything you can think of to spread the word from wandering around your home town with a robot WarDrone suit on (ok, so we haven’t actually made any but a simple cardboard box with the words “I’m a WarDrone – Pledge NOW or my IMTel nano-drones will infect you” will probably work!) to downloading this PDF (http://www.darkspacecorp.com/ks-flyer/), emailing it to your friends and relatives, printing it out and handing it out to literally everyone you come across, you can even get some blu-tack and stick it on the foreheads of shop owners if you like! (apologies if you are actually a shop owner… stick it to a customer’s forehead perhaps? )

Anyway, the point is: If you tell as many people as possible there’s a much better chance of us first: hitting our funding target, and second: hitting some of our stretch goals and ultimately giving you even more cool stuff to play with.

Here’s the arty stuff: we’ve got banners, forum avatars and even Faction Icons