Space warfare with a focus on the effects of FTL on tactics

[Flamekebab]

I don't see any other topics in this section (other than the announcement), just subforums, but hopefully this is the right place.

I'm currently trying to figure out a way to create a tabletop game that uses asymmetric information.
Essentially it's going to be a space warfare game that tries to take into account light lag, FTL micro jumps, and so forth.

At the moment I'm thinking that each ship model will have its own (small) deck of command cards. A card must be placed for each ship every turn even if it's only a blank one (of course the other player won't know it's blank).

I'm considering having some sort of beacon on the playfield that pings the whole battlefield every X number of turns but I'm still thinking about the concept itself.

Ideally I also want to allow for smaller skirmishes between tiny attack craft but I'm not sure yet whether that'll fit in.

[Jubal]

This is most certainly the right place! (This is the first topic because the whole forum/area is new)

So will each person have one main ship? Or 2-3 of the little command decks?

And at what point will the command cards be revealed, as presumably they must be for the command to be enacted?

[Flamekebab]

As it stands I'm not sure how many ships each player would control. Ideally I'd like it to allow for medium-sized engagements where area denial is a major factor. The important thing being that it would have that Battleships aspect of not knowing exactly where the opponent's ships are.

Things like FTL micro jumps would mean that beam weapons could, at least in theory, be jumped ahead of. Careful not to shoot yourself!

The when aspect for command card reveals is what I'm currently thinking about. The idea of having beacons that ping the ships would mean that cards would be revealed in unison. I'm not sure how that'll interact with some other things just yet though. Some sort of queue might be important too - meaning a ship might move into scan range but the player spotting them might not know until next turn that before that happened they dropped some mines or something.

[Jubal]

Revealing in unison makes a lot of sense - there's not enough of that in games and even in games that don't include FTL stuff it makes sense to simulate the command -> reaction gap in battles...

[Flamekebab]

I've not forgotten about this project, I've just been busy (mentally speaking). I'm trying to setup a casting operation and it's been stressing me out which rather stunts my creativity!

On the plus side the ships for the game are coming along and I've arranged to have them printed next week so there's a plus

[Flamekebab]

It's taking a little longer but at last progress is being made:

[Cuddly Khan]

Oooo, they look good.

[Jubal]

Ooooo, that is very nice indeed.

How are you doing the casting - are those resin? And what sort of input costs did you have for it?

[Flamekebab]

Those are 3D prints and I'll be making moulds from them soon. I'll then be casting them in resin using a pressure/vacuum chamber.

Exciting stuff!

[Jubal]

I've always wanted to have a go at resin casting, never got round to getting the kit for it.

[Flamekebab]

Well I'm in Cambridge if you want to see it in action

[Tom]

They look really sweet, must be quite expensive to start up though.

[Flamekebab]

Depends on what one considers expensive. My company basically hasn't restocked in ages because reinvesting the money in equipment seems a better next step.

Now to figure out what to do about flying bases!