Had some fun learning or re-learning Aerospace rules. We ran a Shilone vs a Lucifer on the new space mat using advanced movement (Newtonian rules). It went well, though we had to back-track several times to make sure we had the basics down.
One thing I had trouble finding was whether facing changes in advanced rules has a thrust cost. I didn't think so, but couldn't find a reference in the rulebook either way.
In the end I got my ship nearly cored out. It was either a hull loss or I zipped off the edge of the board after failing a PSR:
Lessons learned:
- Always spare thrust points for evasive maneuvering when possible. There's not much opportunity for terrain or relative speed to prevent a hit.
- The single aerospace mat is a really tight fit for adequate gameplay, especially if you're looking to run a bunch of fighters and a dropship or similar.
- We need to doublecheck whether facing changes using advanced rules has a thrust cost as in normal movement (we played without any cost this time).
- Drifting movement adds up fast. It can be difficult to slow down and keep your ship on the play area if you build up too much movement in one direction.
- Always use relative aspect to your advantage if possible. Movement toward the enemy or across the enemy gets you +1 and +2 to-hit, respectively.
- There is always line of sight.
- Armor is everything. Structural integrity halves normal damage, but you can see how fast SI drops to nothing. Goodbye spaceship. Know to withdraw earlier.
