Infinite Dark CL2 Thoughts

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As some of you will be aware, I've been thinking long and hard about how Command Level 2 sits within the Infinite Dark concept.  I've wavered back and forth around whether to ditch it completely, or whether to blister it off into a supplement, or whether to build rules for it into the core game as they currently stand.

At the moment, I favour a mix of the latter two options.  So I'm going to share with you some of my tentative thoughts that I'll be putting on the table this week to test in more depth.

The first reason I want to retain it was raised on the Discord, which is that it's the place where CL3 and CL1 can meet.  This gives it a good reason to exist but just increases the complexity around it.

The second reason I want to retain it is that it feels like a middle ground in which new and distinctive stories can be told.  CL1 is fighters.  It's X-Wings and Vipers.  It's old-fashioned dog-fighting and good, old-fashioned space opera.  It's mano a mano - the classic duel of the fates.  CL3, meanwhile, is grand fleet management - mighty battleships clashing across the void.  Star Destroyers and Honor Harrington and Battlefleet Gothic.

These tell compelling and familiar stories.  But what about Firefly?  What about your EVE mining sorties?  What about the smugglers and tramp freighters and explorers?  There are compelling - but very different - stories to be told about them and I see this being the sweet spot for CL2.

So my plan is to keep CL2 in the game.  For the purposes of the core rules, it'll have rules which I'll sketch out for you in a moment.  But I think CL2 will come into its own with a supplement dedicated to that command level, putting scouting, mining, exploration and trade at the heart of the game - a very different and more immersive kind of hybrid tabletop wargame and RPG to the rather basic "blow stuff up, earn XP, gain new skills" type that CL1 and CL3 will offer players.

The big rules challenge for CL2, of course, is the introduction of CL3 and CL1 elements.  And this is my preliminary outline of how they will work:

1. CL3 Vessels in CL2 Battles.  In a CL2 battle, a CL3 vessel:

- Is limited to a single CL3 vessel for every full 12 points in the fleet.

- Costs +2 points

- Gains +2 F

- Will remove all shields from a CL1 vessel with a single hit.

- Will destroy an unshielded CL1 vessel with two hits in the same action, regardless of the target's MAS and POW.

- Requires two hits in one action from a CL2 vessel to remove one shield or inflict one hull damage.

- Requires three hits in one action from a CL1 vessel to remove one shield or inflict one hull damage.

- Still loses one shield or takes one hull damage from a Lucky 12.

So if a CL1 shoots F3 at a CL3 with a target of 8 and rolls 9, 10 and 12 after damage control, the CL1 would get a single hit for three successes of 9, 10 and 12, then an extra hit for the Lucky 12, for a total of 2 hits.

2. CL1 Vessels in CL2 Battles.  In a CL2 battle, a CL1 vessel:

- Is half its normal cost, rounding up (yes, this means it makes more sense to focus on CL1 vessels that cost 2, 4, 6, 8 or 9 points).

- Needs to inflict two hits in one action on a CL2 vessel to remove one shield or inflict one hull damage.

- Still removes one shield or inflicts one hull damage from a Lucky 12 on any target.

In all cases, Lucky 12 damage can be inflicted after other hits.  So if, for example, a CL1 hits an A2 CL2 vessel with four hits and a Lucky 12, the four hits will remove the two shields and the Lucky 12 can then be used to inflict a single hull damage.

If a vessel inflicts surplus hits on a target that are insufficient to provide damage, they may be used, instead, for bonus actions.  So if a CL1 vessel inflicted five hits on a CL3 vessel, three could be used to remove a shield, but the remaining two hits aren't enough to inflict damage, so can be used as bonus actions instead.