SBF Aerospace combat phase puzzlement

[Mostro Joe]

In Interstellar Operations: Battleforce, pag. 177, we read "If an engagement occurs, both Squadrons will maneuver for advantage. If the defending Squadron in an air-to-air attack has not yet declared its own attack, it may decide whether it will return the attack, attempt to move through the zone, or save its action for an attack against a different target (such as an air-to-ground attack if the engagement occurs in the Central Zone). If the defender chooses not to return the attack when an engagement is initiated, it cannot choose to engage its attacker later in the same turn."

This paragraph is riddled with things that are not clear, at least for me. First of all, why we are talking about a "defending squadron"? In SBF battles there is not an attacker and a defender, there is just a fight where the two formations manouver to have the upper hand! And what it means "If has not yet declared its own attack, it may decide whether it will return the attack, attempt to move through the zone" ... attempt to move? But the combat phase happens AFTER the movement phase! How can a squadron decide to not attack AND move??

About instead the "save its action" I just suppose it means that if a squadron is fighting with more than one enemy engaged formations, it can choose not to attack during a fight instead keeping its to-hit roll for another target, and that choice cannot be rethought later. But that's the only thing that I find clear!

[Zematus737]

The wording in the parentheses is  (such as an air-to-ground attack if the engagement occurs in the Central Zone) is what clears this up, as any unit caught up in an Engagement anywhere else other than the CZ must stop its movement until the unit is free of engagements.  YET, if it is in the Central Zone, it can decide to continue movement to the ground map and continue with its intended air-to-ground action, OR it can decide to forgo return fire to save its attack for another hostile unit within the same zone it is now restricted to remain within.  The Central Zone seems to be the only exception I have found pertaining to movement restrictions by Engagements.

[Mostro Joe]

The wording in the parentheses is  (such as an air-to-ground attack if the engagement occurs in the Central Zone) is what clears this up, as any unit caught up in an Engagement anywhere else other than the CZ must stop its movement until the unit is free of engagements.  YET, if it is in the Central Zone, it can decide to continue movement to the ground map and continue with its intended air-to-ground action, OR it can decide to forgo return fire to save its attack for another hostile unit within the same zone it is now restricted to remain within.  The Central Zone seems to be the only exception I have found pertaining to movement restrictions by Engagements.

I disagree. The parentheses are a different case.
I think instead that the combat phase chapter ha some phrases that are a leftover for a precedent, non-edited version of the rules. For an exemple, the combat phase chapter opens with a phrase that should be in the movement phase chapter ("If a Squadron tries to move through or out of a region on the Atmospheric Radar Map that contains an enemy Squadron, they may engage in combat" etc etc).
The nonsense concept of a "defense squadron" is another clue.

I think SBF is a very good system but CGL has not given it the proper attention. And infact as we know, the whole strategic game will not be developed in the next years.

[Zematus737]

The wording alternate of defense squadron in place of the traditional use of "target" and "attacker" seems like a trifle, or making a mountain out of a mole hill. 

You can wait until the proposed ideas of higher scales (as all these schemes are really a smorgasbord of ideas one can freely pick and choose from) or you can figure how they can all play well together.  I shared some of my ideas on how to do that in the post on Player Aids.  You're most welcome to pick up the ideas there or use some of them to form your own system.

It's clear that Battletech is the Eve Online of table top board games.  There are so many players that love to TALK about the game, but most of them hardly understand or even hardly play it, the subscribers most of all.  Speaking for myself, I see enough information in these guides to formulate some coherent framework that can be fruitful in future battalion or regiment sized confrontations.