Infinite Dark Update

I'm back at work now and, having dealt with most of the tedious bureaucracy of running a business this morning, I took a few hours this afternoon to flesh out rules for torpedoes and for what I'm calling skirmishers.

Skirmishers are fighter squadrons at CL3, drones at CL1 and... probably individual fighters or drone squadrons at CL2 (CL2 is always tricky).

Basically these, when launched (with a bonus action), fly straight towards a designated target.  Torpedoes are faster and cause more damage, but are easier to shoot down on the way in.  Plus, once gone they're, well, gone.

Fighters are slower and less explode-y, but they are better at lasting the journey and have a chance (a slim chance) of getting back to their parent vessel afterwards (or of flying on to hit something else).

I'm also working on rules for deployment, which are surprisingly tricky (especially for the Red Fleet) and for space stations.  These two things are connected as at least one option for deployment involves deploying from a space station (or jump gate or whatever).

Another little puzzle that I think I've worked out revolves around the mechanics of the tabletop and the whole 2d/3d issue - which is how to manage two vessels in the same place on the tabletop.

Basically, my idea is that miniatures must always be at least 2" apart.  If two friendly minis are too close together, they simply move apart until they are 2" apart.  The player chooses which moves and in what direction.  I'm sure there are ways you can manipulate this to get "free movement".

But when you have two opposing miniatures that are too close, the player with the vessel with least MAS or - if they have the same MAS - whichever player is not active must move their vessel the least amount possible until it is at least 2" away from the enemy's.

In addition the vessel that didn't move gain advantage over the one that did.

The object behind this is to represent the fact that big, massy objects can influence the movement of smaller, less massy objects in space.   Is it technically scientifically accurate?  Not even slightly.  But I think it captures a little more of that 3d flavour we want and need in a spaceship game.

I will have an updated pre-beta for you by the end of the week.