Ok, the basics of a combat system at least in my head so far are as follows.
Torpedoes are given a range of 1 Million KM, though their accuracy increases greatly as you close distance. Beam weapons are useful from 300,000 on in.
There are three types of engagement, depending on how contact was made.
Meeting Engagement- Both forces meet, knowing the other force is coming and combat ensures.
Assault- One force is defending a fixed point in space against another fleet that is attacking.
Ambush- One force is caught by surprise by a force it did not expect.
Essentially you can sub-divide your fleet or task force (whatever is engaged) however you choose. This is the part that is up to the players. For you to subdivide you are going to have to give me a breakdown of unit types in each group and figure the combat power (and break it into an overall/torpedo category) for each group you are using in a tactical situation. Otherwise I won't have the time to do it if we are in a major war by myself.
Everyone starts 1.2 million KM apart. Each turn you can move 500,000 KM. Battles are two dimensional (3-D mapping is out of the question here, just too many ships to worry about). Everything is deployed along a start line that runs straight across from your flagship. No one sub-unit may be more than 100,000 KM from another. So if you have 3 sub-units one is in the middle and two can be 100,000 KM either to the left or right, or two to the right 100,000 KM each. There is no use of warp.
There is no diagonal movement for simplicity sake. If you want to do that just instruct the group to move 300,000 KM forward and 200,000 KM to the left.
You issue orders basically to do the following each tactical turn.
Move- Just as described above. You can go forward, backwards, left and right. 500,000 KM a turn.
Attack- Pick an enemy target and open fire. This automatically orients the attacking group in that direction.
Face- After moving you can orient your force in a direction if you do not wish to attack but suspect an attack from either the flank or behind.
Combat between groups is resolved as rules were listed before, just on the smaller scale. Each turn you get a report of damage. There are combat bonuses and penalties for the following.
Flank attack- If you are able to attack from more than 90 degrees off the axis your target is oriented you get a 25% bonus to your combat power.
Rear attack- If you are able to attack from the rear quarter (within 45 degrees of directly behind the enemy orientation) you get a 50% attack bonus.
Combined attack- If you gain the bonus of a flank or rear attack and attack from the front hemisphere (less than 90 degrees off axis) you gain the same bonus for the group in front which otherwise would have no bonus for basically sandwiching your opponent.
Flagship attack- You can order your group to target the flagship of the enemy. Your combat power is reduced by 50% for this specialized targeting but your chances of taking out the flagship triple (normal chances are figured by taking the number of ships destroyed and dividing it by the total in the group so if the group has 50 ships and 10 are destroyed it has a 1 in 5 chance of being destroyed). If you take out the flagship your enemy loses the ability to issue commands for 1 turn while command is switched to another ship.
Melee- If two units end up occupying the same space on the battle map they are considered to be in a melee. They can either retreat, be destroyed in place or force the enemy to do the same before further orders can be issued. Due to point blank range damage is tripled at this range.
Retreat- If you order a unit to retreat it will move at maximum speed to your side of the battle map. Once there it must wait one whole turn before jumping to warp. During that time it has an effective combat rating of 10% its total and will take heavy losses. You can do this to get out of a melee not going your way, or in an attempt to avoid battle.
Rout- If a unit loses 50-75% of its units there is a chance it will rout with every ship making a mad break for its own safety. Klingon, Breen and Dominion ships will not rout under any circumstance. Other powers have different chances of doing so based on their cultural standing.
See below for what the maps will look like. (Warning, very rough because I am in a hurry)
1- Two fleets in 4 task forces deploy opposite one another
2. Blue fleet moves out to the left flank. Red Fleet moves straight ahead at full speed.
3. Red Fleet gangs up on Two task forces.
4. Blue fleet closes in on the left flank. One blue fleet task force routs and runs. One task force for each fleet is stuck in melee on the left flank.
That is what I have. I am open to suggestions though.
