Hello,
Some great questions! In addition to the ones posted here, I got some other good questions from one of our internal reviews. I have answered all the questions here. Apologies, this is a wall of text but that's because of all the awesome questions.
Thanks again for everything. It is clear you are all digging right in.
Question 1
When a unit returns from recon turn, where does it go?
Does it teleport into any hex it wishes?
- Answer: It must return to a hex with a friendly Formation. Rules will be updated.
Question 2
All clan unit lists in Scenario examples list Clusters, where the ACS rules prefer Trinaries.
ComStar Divisions are broken down into Level III, but Clusters are not.
One cluster could theoretically meet with grouping penalties. Two clusters in the same hex always will if Trinaries are the maximum sized Combat Element.
This is a flaw of the Scenario rules. Just divide all of them by 5 to get their Trinary stats. However a Formation can be up to 3 Clusters (see Formation Setup, p.5)
Question 3
Combat element has horrible description, confusing Unit with Battleforce Unit.
Needs a clear hierarchy to explain. Or diagram
Answer:
We have cleaned up this terminology in ISW and will update ACS. We are experimenting with precise names, in an attempt to keep continuity with BattleForce and AlphaStrike while adding support for the ISW Scale.
1- Force- Ranging in size from a single Unit to a Regimental Combat Team—or more—depending upon the scenario, a Force is comprised of all the Units on one side of the engagement. Force is the same definition as used in BattleForce and Strategic BattleForce
2- Formation- A formation is collection of Combat Commands which operate as a single unit (counter or miniature) on the Planetary Combat Map of the Abstract Combat System (see p. XX).
3- Combat Command- This is a broad term to describe a collection of Elements or Units that make up a BattleTech fighting force. These are the fighting units of the game. Typically a Combat Command maps to an in universe Regiment/ Division/ Cluster. Full lists of these commands can be found in Field Manual and Field Updates series. Examples of such commands are the Second Sword of Light Regiment, ComStar 91st Division or the Jade Falcon Guards. Combat Commands are the game level used for tracking supplies, unit experience, morale, repair, etc.
4- Combat Unit- The smallest unit that can be fielded in ISW or ACS Game play. An ISW Unit maps to a Battalion/ Level III/ Trinary of Elements.
5- Combat Team- The building block of Combat Units and Commands. Combat units are equal to one Company / Level II/ Star. Combat Teams map directly to SBF Unit (see Strategic BattleForce p. XX) and can be used directly as an SBF playing piece. Combat Teams are not legal units for ACS game play(see Abstract Combat System p. XX).Combat Teams are the unit used when constructing Combat Commands for ISW game play (see Building Combat Equipment, p. XX).
In Universe Command Size Mapping
Company/ Level II/ Star
Battalion/ Level III/ Trinary
Regiment/ Division/ Cluster
Question 4
Formation is not really explained or defined clearly enough, and leads to difficulty setting up the game.
This is further complicated when reading the example on pp 5
We struggle to identify what an individual chit on the board represents? A combat element, a combat formation or a combat command?
A Combat Formation is intended to be a collection of Combat Commands. Because Combat Commands are not a fixed size use smaller building blocks to define the maximum size. See above the work to clean up hierarchy of components.
Here are updated guidelines:
“A Formation cannot be larger than 15 Combat Units (Battalions/ Level III / Trinary). A Formation may not be smaller than a single Combat Unit. “ Question 5
How do you build the above and this is complicated further by reinforcement and transferring of units with leadership. Does the LRP degrade as the game progresses as high leadership units are destroyed?
We are investigating. Suggestions are welcome.
Question 5
Aero dropped at zenith, can it move inwards?
Yes.
Question 6
Do we maintain merged chits (ie AS in Dropships and Warships, and Dropships on Warships) until inner system or immediately upon arrival at Jump point (because Warships cannot thurst with DS attached)...
No- For game simplicity we will probably fix this as part of deployment. As soon as a force arrives, it should be broken into Assault DropShip Units, WarShip Units,ASF Units, Non-Combat Transport Units (DropShips), an Non-Mobile JumpShip Units.
Question 7
1- When do fighter formations separate from their transport/carrier formations?
2- Can fighters exist in the Peripehral zone or outer ring?
3- If a Fighter has move of 6+ can it reach the middle ring from the peripheral ring? Or are fighters MV halved to return to their carriers?
1- Option 1- When you arrive in the Middle Ring. Option 2- In any Sector where combat is occurring.
2- Yes, they just can’t move out of the sector they are deployed in. If their transport leaves or is destroyed, they are removed from play.
3- No, we will update the PAM movement rules. Peripheral and Outer Zone take days or more to cross.
Comment 1
There seems to be a lot of repetition between tables. Surely some of that stuff (specifically the experience modifiers and aerospace superiority modifiers) can be pulled out into their own tables, and the base TNs adjusted to make some modifiers (specifically the Fatigue entries) simpler.
Great feedback. We’ll look at that. Saving page count would be great.
Comment 2
The Scouting Modifiers table seems to say that a Panther is a better scout than a Cicada, or a Charger, and that a Ferret is worse than a Locust. That can't be right. There also does not seem to be any provision for advanced sensors (Irian EAR is Tech Level D and likely better than typical Clan Omni sensors), jamming (might aid evasion as well, but probably not concealment), or a sympathetic populace (would probably also modify morale).
ACS rules are by their nature, Abstract. When working at the scale where a single game piece on the map represents hundreds of BattleMechs, Tanks or thousands of infantry you have to surrender some detail. Yes, a regiment of
Panthers would not be as effective as a regiment of
Chargers (there’s an image). At the ACS level thought the default is to use Generic Combat Units as the building blocks, a Tech C Light Regiment has a move of 7 and a Tech C Assault has a move of 4.
Likewise sensors end up being abstracted out at this level. A single game hex can be 2000 kilometers or more. A sensor pod with a range of 300 meters tends to be abstracted out at this level.
Good comment on sympathetic populace, I’m going to add that for consideration in our modifiers table.
Comment 3
Scouting points are currently assigned, then multiplied by 3 before being spent. Instead: assign them in multiples of 3 to start with. Then the player won't have to multiply them.
Valid, however we would then need to triple all the modifiers as well and that starts to get cumbersome just to make figuring out a target number easier. Am I missing something?
Comment 4
Scout Hunting damage currently has nothing to do with the hunters' actual firepower. I don't want Hi-Scout Drone Carriers to be effective scout hunters. The damage calculation should be brought more in line with standard combat damage.
We’re dealing at the abstraction level again. The points you invest in Scout Hunting come from your total scout pool which can be Hi-Scouts,
Spiders, Pegasus hovertanks. The abstraction also covers such things as said Hi-Scout finding an enemy scout force and temporarily tasking a company from one of the Combat Formations to wipe it out.
Question 8
Is evasion supposed to be unaffected by scouting? Should scouts have a "pursuit" option?
There are currently no “Evasion” rules in ACS. Can you elaborate on what you mean?
Question 9
When in the turn does a player assign recon points to scouting, scout hunting and scout shielding? Is it the same time formations are assigned to combat and scouting (in which case, these are effectively formation types)? I assume that formations assigned to scouting still have a location on the ground map, even though they're exempt from normal combat.
You assign Formations (Units, Commands) to Scouting at the beginning of each Combat Turn (An ISW Sub-Turn). See Question 1 above.
Comment 5
It would be awfully helpful if the chapter followed the turn outline given under the "Combat" heading.
Yes- Once the rules are done and we stop moving things around, they will.
Question 10
The "Aerospace Force" ratio on the first three combat tables seems to be the ratio of your aerospace assets to the enemy's aerospace force, but that's not specified anywhere, and it's not at all obvious how it's being calculated. Blips? Pilot headcount? Firepower? Target hex only or do adjacent spaces count?
Point Value, this has been updated.
Comment 6
The "Scattered beyond recovery" entry on the Combat Drops table seems like it should be equivalent to the "Disintegrated" entry on the Morale table, but there's no note to that effect.
Nice catch. That will probably work well.
Comment 7
Each player appears to be making separate combat rolls, such that one formation can be fighting at short range while the opposing formation fights at long range. That's weird. Not necessarily bad, just... weird.
Abstract combat. The Combat turn is seven days long. Let us know how this plays out though. It’s really a challenge to figure out “movement” and range at this abstraction scale.
Comment 8
I'm assuming that the loyalty ratings apply to how closely the Formation follows its immediate Leaders' orders, rather than having anything at all to do with the Field Manual loyalty ratings. Otherwise it wouldn't make sense to put it on the Combat Factors table.
Yes, something for us to look at.
Comment 9
All elements in a formation fight at the same range, with the same tactic and with the same combat roll. So why not sum their damage together *before* applying the damage output modifier.
Thanks, we’ll look at that.
Comment 10
The damage inflicted modifier % is assigned in multiples of 10%, then divided by 4 during calculations. Again: assign in multiples of 2.5% (or multiply hit points by 4) to start with. Then the player won't have to divide later.
Thanks, we’ll look at that.
Question 11
I tripped on the paragraph describing flanking and rear attacks: I didn't realize they gave different bonuses at first (separating it into two paragraphs would help); and (since the TN modifiers aren't mentioned in the text) it's not clear that TN modifiers are supposed to exist. Does flanking preclude a rear attack, or vice versa? Does picking one of these two preclude using "offensive" and "defensive" tactics? Can a player assign all Elements in that hex to a "flank" or "rear" attack, with none in "front?" (The TN penalty might be high enough to allow that. If not, then what proportion can be?) Why can't a fast, but numerically inferior force assign some Elements to a flank or rear attack? Hexes are huge relative to Formation size--why would it be so risky (the stacking/crowding penalty plus the flank/backstab penalty) to envelop an enemy you severely outnumber? Wouldn't outnumbering the enemy make envelopments easier?
We definitely need to clean this up.
Flanking and Rear are mutually exclusive.
Flanking and read can only be conducted using Offensive.
All Combat is by Formation (see Question 3 for clarifications). If two formations are in the same hex, one can Formation can conduct a Flank and the other a Rear.
Fast Units Flanking/Rear- Good thoughts, we’ll look into this.
Question 12
Combat:Combat Resolution seems to imply that you can't combine offensive and defensive tactics. But what about things like blowing a dam, or setting a forest on fire to catch the enemy as they stumble out crippled and half-blind? That's both offensive and defensive (and less likely to work as your enemy's Tech Level rises, and risks permanent damage to the region).
I think there may be confusion on what “Offensive” and “Defensive”. It’s about how aggressive or defensive you are. An offensive player has a chance to do more damage but at the potential cost of more damage to them. A defensive player has a chance to reduce the damage they take, but at the potential cost of reducing their return fire.
Question 13
Hiding in forests and badlands is a staple of BT fiction. I assume that's meant to be abstracted within the evasion & concealment rolls, but not all terrain is equal, and usually one part of a planet is reported as the most difficult to search. Exceptionally protective forests, badlands, (windstorms) etc could probably be accounted as "natural" fortifications.
At the abstraction level ACS is at, this would be difficult to track. The ACS Ground Map doesn’t even track water. It’s globe shaped only for visual symmetry.
Remember though that players can optionally use Turning Point Maps for more detailed game play. At that point players can agree on hexes having specific modifiers. We may explore future optional rules for this type of play, but not in IO.
Question 14
Combat:Ground Combat:Formation Setup and Combat:Ground Combat:Map Setup:Attack of Opportunity mention "combat orders," but "combat orders" aren't described within these rules. (Also, Resolution:Fatigue mentions "resting," and it's not clear what distinguishes "resting" from "not moving and not attacking.")
These are all part of ISW rules. They are not required for ACS game play.
Question 15
The Setup:Leadership Rating Pool:Experience Modifier Table lists a number of formations per experience level, and the Combat:Ground Combat:Hidden Formations says each Regiment costs .5 points to hide. It's not clear what portion of a "formation" this "regiment" is meant to be. Hidden Formations is also the only place to mention that troop movements are limited by the Leadership Pool.
We are cleaning up Formation sizing. See question 4. A regiment would be 5 Combat Units (Battalions/Level III/ Trinary). All Combat Units in a Formation must pay the hiding cost for the Formation to be Hidden.
Question 16
Combat:Ground Combat:Adjusting Formations notes that Formation Adjustment costs double during Planetary Approach, but it never says a cost of *what*.
That is also driven by the Leadership Pool
Question 16
I don't understand how to move on the Planetary Approach Map. [This is slightly different from Atlas3060's comment, though it probably has the same answer.] Movement out to, in from, and within: the outer ring costs 3MP? the middle ring costs 2MP? the inner ring costs 1.5MP? What about the peripheral ring? Shouldn't the Combat:Planetary Approach Map:Long/Short Jump Point Transit option only affect the outer and peripheral rings? (This should really be back in Combat:Planetary Approach, and the Capital Radar examples really shouldn't be spread out alongside the Ground Combat stuff.)[
PAM Movement is broken. It was designed for a three zone Radar Map, not the four zone Capital Radar Map.
Question 16
The terms "Combat Command" and "Formation" appear to function equivalently within the rules. It looks like the editor was in the process of converting from one term to the other?
Yes- See question 4. Combat Commands are normally Regiment in size. Formations can be multiple regiments in size.
Comment 11
All discussion of force scale (Setup:Determine Scale, Setup:Increasing the Base Command Scale, Combat:Ground Combat:Increased Base Command Scale, and Combat:Ground Combat:Formation Setup) should be rolled into Terminology:Combat Element. All other rules should refer only to "Combat Elements" (or to "Formations" of 1 to 18 Elements), without mention of scale or factional organization.
Good comments, we’re working on this.
Comment 12
Combat:Ground Combat:Formation Setup should probably be rolled into Setup:Determine Forces.
Thanks, we’ll look at that.
Question 17
For the Leadership table, the more skilled a command is, the lower their leadership rating is. However, a nation with superior military doctrine increases the rating, while inferior military doctrine reduces the rating. Shouldn't it be the other way around?
I’ll be honest. I’m not sure what we were thinking (and I wrote that). Let me look into this. For now flip the modifiers.
Question 18
Edit: Also, there is the Leadership Rating Pool (LRP) and Leadership Rating (LR) are these different? I just noticed that in the Leadership Rating Pool section it says "Leadership Rating (LRP)" but after that I primarily see LR used with only one instance of the abbreviation of LRP. (Sorry, I do too much tech writing)
We’re in mid process of changing the term. LRP and LR are the same thing.
Whew…. Next?