We're back, with a final paragraph on data cards (aka, starship character sheets). They are actually for any ships involved in the conflict, whether they have jump drives or not. The same format is used, but some things are left blank depending on the ship's capabilities. Well, that makes sense.
So, we jump straight into starship combat movement. We're talking M-drive movement, not J-drive movement, which just takes the ship out of the fight entirely. M-drives are for local travel, and use vectors. So, don't expect to see Star Wars-style combats with snub-nose fighters acting like World War II Spitfires. The vector in this case is simple the direction and distance the ship moves. The direction is listed in degrees (of a circle) instead of with directions such as east or west (which are meaningless in space anyway). The ship's velocity and direction of travel make up the vector, as follows: 6 inches at 90°, or 4½ inches at 277°, which are the two examples in the book. Good luck going to exactly 277° with your ruler, though. For tracking vectors on the playing surface, the book recommends using string, soft wire, or even chalk, depending on the surface.
The vector determines the next turn's travel, assuming it's not changed by the ship's captain...or by any nearby gravitational sources. Yes, we'll get to those effects soon; I'm looking forward to it.
There are two figures shown for how vector movement works. It's a bit complicated, but a bit of basic geometry will help. You basically take the initial vector (let's say 3 inches at 90°), and add the new acceleration to it. If you're just going in the same direction, (vector 2 is 1 inch at 90°), then you just put them together, and the new vector is 4 inches, 90°. That part's easy. It's the next part that is going to get tricky. Basically, starship piloting in this game is going to require you go back to your high school math. You put the initial vector (again, for example, 3 inches at 90°, and put the next vector at the end of it (in the example case, it's 3 inches at 180°). Then you make a triangle with a third line from the starting point of vector 1 to the endpoint of vector 2, and that's the actual vector you travel (and your vector for the next movement turn).
The book stresses that you don't actually need to do math; just mark the vectors on the playing surface and connecting them. Yeah, but we're gaming geeks. Math is our thing.
The thing I like about this system is that, while it's more complex than just going in a new direction, it's far more realistic for space combat. I know, I know...'realism' and 'old school gaming' aren't really compatible. But in this case, it works. You can't just stop on a dime and reverse direction in space; there's nothing to push back against. You want to turn around? Turn your ship around and thrust in the other direction. It's going to take a while, and the guy shooting at your tailpipe is going to have an easier shot, so if playing chicken with his missiles isn't your thing, do something different.
Alright, so that's the initial part of figuring out starship combat. I'm liking where it's going. Let's see what happens next.
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