Corvette & Battleship rules

[Mechworks]

my old group honestly liked IO more than RA for SPAAACE! related reasons, and ended up wanting to field more diverse ship types. we played around with them quite a bit, with all kinds of variations, but my opinion was and is that the Corvette and Battleship rules we came up with were the most 'developed' and generally playable within IO's basic context.

Corvettes are similar to Frigates in many ways, being fast, maneuverable, and inexpensive, however their extremely small size places considerable restrictions on their available equipment as a trade-off for their much greater maneuverability. Corvettes stand on a 4x4 base, and may not exceed Frigates in size, it is recommended that Corvettes be obviously smaller than Frigates visually. finally, due to their low cost of manufacture and crew requirements, Corvettes possess a base point value of two, and each system as well as the ship itself possess half value, rounded up to the nearest whole number. This means an example flotilla consisting of four Corvettes with three systems is equal to a pair of three-system frigates for asset tabulation, while a single two-system Corvette still represents one Tactical Asset but only a single System for point assignment purposes; this allows Corvettes to be fielded in far greater numbers than an equivalent point cost in Frigates.

To start with a corvette's advantages, a Corvette always possess one green d6 ( ) regardless of their other systems. Corvettes with less than three systems OR without weaponry gain an additional which may be added to its standard move; thus allowing the possibility of far greater speed than any other unit. additionally, any corvette with a movement system may utilize sinusoidal courses, that is, they make multiple turns in a single maneuver, and furthermore may make full, 3-click, 90° turns, exceeding the maneuverability of even Frigates. Corvettes are also nimble enough to evade even a frigate during ramming, if a Corvette would be rammed it may unilaterally decide whether to allow the hit or not, taking priority over frigates.
Finally, the tiny size and extreme maneuverability of Corvettes grants them a native Defense Value of either One or Two; the latter only when the ship has both a Movement System and either less than three systems or no weapons.

The tactical advantages of the sheer speed and maneuverability of Corvettes are therefore obvious, however the extremely small size of Corvettes does result in a number of compromises. The first and most obvious drawback of Corvettes is that due to their small size and minimal crew, Corvettes posses only a single white die. Secondly, Corvettes may mount only a single weapon type, IE a Corvette may posses only Assault, Support or Point-defense weaponry, not a combination. This explicitly includes split systems; Corvettes are simply too small to fight effectively at multiple ranges. Finally, Corvettes are too small to support Mobile Frame companies in the field, and therefore may not be equipped with Frame Catapults.


Battleships are the precise opposite of Corvettes; ponderous behemoths with greater firepower and durability than any mere Cruiser. Battleships rest on a 8x10 base and should not exceed twenty studs in their widest dimension. Battleships are extremely valuable, and possess a native point value of Ten points rather than five.

Battleships are expensive and powerful warships, and access to them is highly limited, not the least due to the energy cost of moving the massive vessels through the Transit Gate. as a result, you may feild a maximum of two Battleships in your fleet; and even that many represent an extremely powerful commitment of resources.

On the other hand, Battleships are vastly superior to Cruisers in most respects. Firstly, Battleships possess three white dice at base, and may add either an additional white die or either two blue dice, two yellow dice, or one blue and one yellow die at a player's discretion. These are not systems and cannot be removed.
Secondly, Battleships posses a native defense value of two due to their great bulk and generally superior armor. Thirdly, Battleships may possess up to six systems or up to Eight systems at the cost of all movement and maneuvering costs being doubled if the ship possess seven or more systems. Furthermore, Battleships may mount three weapons in a given range, doing so either adds an additional d8 (in the case of weapons) or two additional black dice and frame company capacity* (in the case of Catapults.) Finally, these ships are sufficiently large that Battleships may act as Cover regardless of systems to Frigates**.

Battleships do possess some drawbacks other than sheer cost, however. firstly, a Battleship is so large that even mounting additional thrusters has a negligible effect on the ship's maneuverability- any green dice gained from movement systems a half as effective as normal, IE, 1D3 normally or 1D2 with seven or eight systems. secondly, battleships cannot be Covered by any ship smaller than themselves, regardless of systems. Lastly, battleships are so large that they may not avoid collision with other ships unless the other ship's controller decides to avoid it, as they lack the maneuverability to easily move out of the way.

All in all, Battleships are expensive and valuable, but their sheer durability and concentration of force can be very useful to a shrewd Admiral, especially if supported by a number of smaller, faster vessels.

*eg, the ship may carry four frame companies rather than two.
**or Corvettes, naturally.

[Vitoria]

I'm really enjoying the new ship types, nice touch altering the maneuvering!

[Mechworks]

honestly, fiddling with maneuvering and defense values is, along with altering the dice mix, one of the simplest ways to make new ships.

with Corvettes, for example, having only one white die and a green die combined with their various movement abilities really drives home the whole idea of the 'speed is armor' tin-can that trades most of its flexibility for maximum zoominess, while Battleships really get the 'mighty glacier' ship role- sure, they aren't going to be winning any speed contests, but the sheer size of their dice pool and ability to take more hits than anything else on the field and keep on going makes them very valuable.

with those two in the mix, you have the option of small, cheap and blisteringly fast ships in corvettes, more flexible and sometimes faster* small capitals in Frigates, a 'main line' ship in Capitals/Cruisers, and in Battleships. combine that with frame companies, and you pretty much have the standard sci-fi mix; small fighters, sub-capital/large fighter type craft, small capitals, big capitals, and BIGGEST capitals.

I'll probably whip up some examples at some point, just to give some idea what the dice pools look like and the sort of size comparison one ought to be shooting for.

* a Corvette without any movement systems would be slower than a Frigate with to throw around, but with one can exceed anything else on the tabletop. some of the prototype games had Vette squadrons with good move rolls zipping halfway across the field in a single turn, and that kind of thing can grant some very Fun™ tactical problems for people, even if that generally meant not having any blue to play with.