Andy Chambers’ Notes¶
So you’ve made it all this way and you’re still hungry for more! Well at this point I get to talk about some of the general principles behind the rules. First thing is to say a big thank you to all the people who have offered ideas, suggestions or encouragement by writing in or speaking to me direct. Thank you!
Anyway on to business. The first thing is the most important rule you’ll ever need to know. If (when) you come across a situation that doesn’t seem to be covered by the rulebook, roll a D6 for it. Let fate decide the outcome and then get on with the game. It’s more important to keep the game going than get bogged down in a long argument about rules.
If you find the idea of rolling a dice to sort it out horrifying, feel free to sort out the problem in a more gentlemanly fashion. If you want to change bits of the game to suit yourself, you have my blessings as long as your opponent agrees.
Leadership¶
Random Leadership: Many players struggle with having randomly generated Leadership. I’ve had lots of suggestions about generating crews first and then assigning them to ships afterwards, or using unmodified values based on race. Either of these ideas is fine of course, I just find them dull. The idea that the biggest ships will always have the best crews is not born out by history (in fact smaller ships tend to see more action and so develop better crews). Likewise the practicality of transferring experienced crews from one ship to another is… questionable – quite apart from the issues of crew size (frigate crews can’t run battleships) a good deal of experience represents familiarity with a specific vessel. Commanders and the clever use of squadrons can overcome the worst effects of bad leadership, so I urge you to accept the vagarities of fate and the occasional untried crew as part of the challenge of the game. And if it still really bothers you, play a campaign!
The Turn¶
The alternating turn sequence is clunky but useful for keeping things nice and forward. Players with a hankering for more complexity can always start by experimenting with the turn sequence. Options include: players alternate moving and shooting with one ship/squadron at a time, introducing an Initiative system based on speed for making moves, counters drawn at random to see which ships move when or use a Player A moves/Player B shoots principle, etc. (yes, I really thought about using all these options!).
The Movement Phase¶
Accidental Collisions: The observant player will have noted that there’s no chance of accidental collisions in Gothic. This is deliberate – amidst the vast gulfs of space the chances of actually getting that close to another ship (unless deliberately trying to ram it) are tiny.
The Shooting Phase¶
On the Line: If a ship ends up where it has a target “on the line” between two of its fire arcs the player can decide which he has the target in, but may not count it as being in both.
Halted Ships: Sometimes a combination of critical damage and Blast markers will bring a ship to a halt, or a ship may be using a gravity well to remain stationary. In either of these cases use the Defences column on the Gunnery table if they are fired at – a halted ship is just a sitting target.
Blast Markers: These take effect as soon as they are placed, and will even affect subsequent shooting by the same ship in the same [Shooting Phase]((the-shooting-phase.md) (here’s a hint: always fire your weapons batteries before lances). A ship that moves away from Blast markers in contact with its base always suffers the 5 cm speed penalty, even if it moves directly away and not through the markers – the buffeting it receives still limits its speed. Being slowed down by Blast markers does not reduce the distance a capital ship must move before turning, or the half speed distance the ship must travel.
The Ordnance Phase¶
Moving Ordnance: It’s important to appreciate that ordnance always moves in both players’ turns. Although attack craft can opt not to move in an Ordnance Phase, torpedoes must move their full speed each Ordnance Phase.
Ordnance vs Varying Armour Values: Bombers attacking a ship with more than one armour value always roll against the lowest value. Torpedoes, however, attack the armour value of the ship on whichever facing they strike first.
The End Phase¶
Shields: These are knocked down or ‘regenerated’ by the presence of Blast markers. This is how it’s intended to work so don’t be surprised that there are no separate rolls for repairing shields in the End Phase. If you want your shields back up keep moving! They’ll recover automatically once you’re out of the salvoes the enemy is plastering you with.