Interstellar Operations Beta

[Korzon77]

So, since it's out, we no longer have to ask when :).

I have a few questions about it.

1.  HAve the writers delved into the madness that is FASAnomics and given us guidence on how to produce stuff on the strategic level? If so, any hints on how to integrate more realistic production rates?

2. How do the alternate eras look?

3.  When printed out, is it heavy enough to be used as a bludgeoning weapon?

[Atlas3060]

1. Production of stuff, at least in the ISiF sense, is more along the lines of "Oh hey you used ## RP and created a Combat unit."
The rules even state the unit can appear in any world you have aside from the Other Worlds.
Apparently they've classified systems and Other Worlds are simple systems that produce nothing in the industrial sense.
Now there are some rules to allow you the ability to upgrade infrastructure. So that Minor factory world could be bumped up to a Major, if you spend the appropriate amount of bank.

As for how many Griffins House Steiner churns out yearly? Pffft no and I'm glad they don't do that.

2. No clear idea on how they are within the ISiF set up. I'm guessing future publications? I mean this is a Beta currently, so they stuck with 3025.
Now in the other chapters, it seems they provide some decent overviews.
A write up briefly explaining the era, a list of factions available within the years, bullet points of what Tech to expect, and then there's that UNIVERSAL TECHNOLOGY ADVANCEMENT TABLE which I love. Then we've got the rules for certain era things like LAMs, Tripods, and the like.

3. Ecological protestors and the EPA stopped me from printing. They muttered some BS about "losing a whole rainforest" for one section. BAH!

[Welshman]

Atlas3060 pretty much nailed it on the head. ISW (Inner Sphere at War) deals in construction at a more generic level since the default combat system for ISW is ACS which has a single game piece being a Battalion in size. When constructing military equipment it is done a company at a time and just by the unit and size classification, so you just build a Light Mech Company or a Heavy Vehicle Company. There are some tweaks like faction specific Mech formations.

ISW by default is designed to work for Succession Wars campaigns. There is enough in the rule to allow you to play other eras with some work on your end. The rules would just be too massive to provide era specific stuff in IO. We plan to release future supplements to expand the ISW rules to other eras and detailed rules for specific areas.

Best,
Joel BC
ISW Developer

[Korzon77]

Just picked it up, looks nice but I have one minor nitpick.

It's security locked so ?I couldn't add bookmarks to the file for easier navigation.  Is there anyway to jigger the security settings so you can add bookmarks without opening up to general copying?

[Wrangler]

Will there be any pre-made units for the factions, so people have starter units they could print?

[Welshman]

Will there be any pre-made units for the factions, so people have starter units they could print?

We have pre-made Generic companies which we'll probably post online as we didn't have room in the book for them. From these players can make battalion and regimental formations.

[DarthRads]

Including non-standard formations like Capellan Augmented Lances or Strategic Command Stars?

[Archangel]

Including non-standard formations like Capellan Augmented Lances or Strategic Command Stars?

The Capellan Augmented Lances have become fairly standard in the CCAF so they could be included in CCAF companies.  The strategic command stars are not common (not to mention there are variants) so probably not.

[Finster]

Are there any sample ISW 30 light-year hex maps up yet?

[Atlas3060]

Officially not yet, fan creations? That's a good question and I have no answers for.

[ColBosch]

Officially not yet, fan creations? That's a good question and I have no answers for.

I'm working on a couple, but my Gimp-fu is weak. I likely won't bother with a full Inner Sphere, but instead smaller "front" maps for conflicts like the 4SW and War of 3039.

[SCC]

I'd like a small test map, realms about the size of the Tortuga Dominions to make quick playthroughs, learning games, demo games and the like possible

[mchapman1970]

building a unit is a painful task....decided to work on a spread sheet so that future force building is easier...but even that is a painful task

[Alexander Knight]

Early this week I will have generic company builds usable for ACS posted in this thread.

[mchapman1970]

I made some battalion strength formations but I think I am just to old and stupid I think my numbers did not come out right

[Kreedo]

For ISW map for the whole Inner Sphere I took this map

http://iscs.teamspam.net/pdf/iscs_borders_3025.pdf

Then converted it from pdf to jpg at 600 dpi using a free internet converter.

Next I used roll20.net to make a virtual tabletop map with these settings:
146 units x 94 units
1 unit = 5 hexes
Grid enabled at 1 units
Diagonals: your choice
Type:  Hex(h)
Check yes show labels
Color: dark grey
Opacity : Medium
Fog of war : not enabled
Gm opacity: middle


This is a zoomed in picture of the map.



Also to get the hex measured to 30LY I just adjusted the hex length to the distance legend.


Zoomed Out


What do you guys think?

[mchapman1970]

yup cannot wait to play this ...yes I am apart of this test....now if I could get my math to work when building formations  lol 

[cylentwolf]

kreedo that is awesome.

However do you have a link to the original png?  I tried clicking on the zoomed out and then saving that image and it is just bad pixels if you zoom in.

Or is the only way to get a legible copy to actually do the steps you did?

thanks

[Kreedo]

The 600 DPI converter is important to get a decent resolution map.

So yes, the given instructions are best. At least for me.

[mchapman1970]

Kreedo is the best RCOM in the sky rangers 


http://www.skye-rangers.net/



http://www.skye-rangers.net/forum/viewforum/3402054/m/3241960

[mchapman1970]

this is what I have for my first Battalion  I think some of my numbers are off  tell me

1st Davion Assault Guards  1st Battalion
                           size   move   move   jump      TMM    ARM     S     M     L      Skill     PV
                                              mode
Command Lance     3       2         6         3            5        7        4     5      3       2        59.6
1st Company           3       3         6         2           3        20       9     12    7       3        153.6
2nd Company          2       3        6          4            6       21       10    10   5       2         157.4
3rd Company          3        2        6          3           4        25       10    11   6       4        138.7

[Obvious]

Your movement is probably too low.  Likely you halved the TW movement for your units, instead of halving the AS movement.
It's kind of confusing because it converts from AS, not TW.
AS movement is 2 inches per 1 walking speed.

I think these are equivalent movement speeds:
TW: 4/6
AS: 8"
SBF: 4

See the example on p339.


Don't forget unit specials, if applicable.

[Alexander Knight]

Here are generic company-level units for 3039 / 3025 play.  The * units are companies with Comstar "gift" 'mechs.

Code: [Select]

Company  Size Move Mode TMM Armor S M L PV Special
CC Assault 4 4 l 2 17 5 5 2 143 FLK1/-
DC Assault 4 3 l 1 18 5 5 4 154
DC* Assault 4 4 l 2 18 4 5 4 147
FS Assault 4 3 l 1 19 5 5 4 152 FLK1/-
FWL Assault 4 3 l 1 19 5 5 4 153
LC Assault 4 3 l 2 18 5 5 4 149 FLK1/-
CC Heavy 3 4 l 2 16 4 4 3 135
DC Heavy 3 4 l 2 16 4 4 3 138
DC* Heavy 3 5 l 3 16 5 5 2 135
FS Heavy 3 4 l 2 17 4 4 2 138 FLK1/-
FWL Heavy 3 4 l 2 17 4 4 3 141
LC Heavy 3 4 l 2 16 4 4 3 135
CC Medium 2 5 l 4 14 3 3 2 117
DC Medium 2 5 l 3 14 3 3 2 120
DC* Medium 2 5 l 3 13 4 4 1 114
FS Medium 2 5 l 3 14 4 4 2 117 FLK1/-
FWL Medium 2 5 l 3 14 3 3 2 123
LC Medium 2 5 l 3 14 3 4 2 117
CC Light 1 6 l 4 10 2 2 1 87 RCN
DC Light 1 6 l 4 10 3 3 1 93 RCN
DC* Light 1 7 l 3 10 3 3 1 87 RCN
FS Light 1 6 l 4 10 3 3 1 93 FLK1/-,RCN
LC Light 1 6 l 4 10 3 3 1 87 RCN


[mchapman1970]

I was told my pv is to high  because the templet is wrong  I have to divide by 3 twice in two different spots on the same number  so instead of being in the hundreds my battalion should of been in the 50s for PV

[Alexander Knight]

Going from individual 'mechs to Lances = divide total PV by 3.
Going from Lances to Companies = add the PV together.
Forming Companies into Battalions = divide total PV by 3.

So a Battalion should probably have between 100-200 PV in 3025-3039.

[ScrapYardArmory]

I'm having an issue with how the ACS is supposed to work.

To make an attack, here is my understanding.

You declare attacks from formation to formation.

You roll one attack per Combat Unit in your formation. 

Damage is resolved using random assignment or opposed tactics roll depending on what was agreed by the players.

Is this right?  If so, doesn't an ACS Formation need a TMM?

[Welshman]

You attack Combat Units in a Formation. Formation's are very much an abstraction in ACS. Most of the real work is at the Combat Unit level.

[Weirdo]

I'll admit, this is one of the few things I really don't like about systems from Battleforce on up - the fact that different components of a playing piece can have different TMMs. It makes it impossible to use modifier dice to  display the TMM, allowing players to calculate their to-hits without having to constantly pester the other player about the TMM of each sub-component of a target, interrupting their own to-hit calculations. In my experience, it slows things down to the point that Battleforce games don't go much faster than TW ones, for a given number of playing pieces. It's probably a bit late to revise everything from BForce on up to ACS in this manner, otherwise I'd advise that all the sub-units of a playing piece average their TMMs together, and that average apply to every unit within that piece.

[atlask]

working on these for Inner Sphere at war.. work in progress. Will have to be double sided.. but let me know what you all think

[mchapman1970]

are there planetary militia for those planets that don't have a formation on it?