Infinite Dark - The Pre-Beta, Unfinished, Barely-Tested Edition

As promised, here it is!

These really are just the basic rules (hence why it's only 7 pages long), with a few chunks missing or still in testing (marked in red).  But most of what's here has been checked, mathematically and tested on the tabletop to make sure it's not just silly-broken.  All the same, the areas where I'd particularly like some feedback are noted at the end of the document.  All the same, I'm open to absolutely anything you want to say about these rules.  Compliments are welcome, of course, but they would be best if couched in terms of "I really like [particular mechanic or rule] because [your experience of it on the tabletop]".  Criticism is even more welcome, and I'm open to general "this is shit" responses (I'll cry, but I'll get over it), although I would prefer "I don't like [particular mechanic] because [your experience of it on the tabletop]".

In other words: throw some dice and see how it feels.

For those familiar with Horizon Wars, which is probably more the core source than Zero Dark at this point, a couple of areas I am particularly pleased with are what I feel are alterations to damage and recovery.

A thing that always did annoy me with Horizon Wars was how basically impossible it was to one-shot anything but infantry elements.  With Infinite Dark, with good tactics it should be at least possible (albeit improbable) for even the lightest of vessels to one-shot a heavy vessel with its shields down.

Although individual vessel stats aren't affected by damage in the same way as elements are in Horizon Wars, you will still have to decide between repairing shields and repairing hull damage.  But the addition of bonus actions, carried forward from Zero Dark will mean that you won't (necessarily) be left entirely defenceless by the decision to order damage control.

Movement - if you didn't see it, a couple of weeks ago I did a demo of movement and shooting in my FB livestream, so you should be able to watch the video for an idea of how it works - feels like it strikes a good balance between "Star Wars"-style WW2-fighter-space-combat and the more ponderous geometry calculations of what "real" space combat would inevitably look like.  As I mentioned earlier, I was heavily inspired by playing Asteroids on a BBC Micro in the late 80s and early 90s.

Anyway, I think that's enough meandering.  I need to prepare for a podcast!