Delta Vector 2026 Space Drift Mechanics

 Ok, I was bored on a car trip again, and I'm rehashing my space/drift mechanics for my homebrew space game.

I had a system with counters showing where ships would "drift" to - a kinda projected location which was simple and precise - but with 6 or so ships per side, a dozen counters on the table got messy. 

So now I'm trying to remove the markers. I'm trying to abstract it a little so there are some "speeds" or "velocities" that are a factor of thrust. I.e. T0 = ship is stationary, can move thrust in any direction, T1 = ship should move 1xthrust in direction of travel, then can apply thrust to move from there. T2 = ship moves 2x thrust in direction of travel, then can use thrust to change final location. I can show this by a little directional triangle with a velocity number on it, touching the ships' base.*

Perhaps a napkin sketch will help:

 

I used 4" as a standard thrust (say a cruiser); with perhaps 3" for a capital ship or 5" for a faster vessel. The precise number isn't really important at this stage - it's just to align to a 28mm infantry 4" walk/8" run/12" sprint so it's easy for me to visualize.

Ships can pivot on bases. The ship model itself shows the direction the ship is facing for weapons/shield directions etc. But a triangle next to the base shows the direction of drift. (I'll probably label the triangles 1, 2, 3 etc to denote the "velocity" i.e. "thrust x "). 

 A turn sequence will look something like this:

 

^A: You start out with an imaginary "drift point" - where you will move to if you just let the ship drift. This is determined by a directional triangle against the base, which also shows how fast velocity is. In the example, the velocity shown on the direction triangle is 1; aka 1 x thrust (which is, say 4" in the previous example)

^B. You can then move the actual destination to a new spot - up to thrust (in inches) from the original drift point. 

 

^C. Place a directional triangle to mark the new drift point, facing away from the original position. (This drift is mostly independent of the actual spaceship's facing). A new drift path has been established - this is the actual route the ship will take across the table.

 

^D. Now slide the ship base from the old location up to/touching the new drift point (aka the directional triangle you just put down in step C.)

This will be the most time consuming bit if I allow reaction fire which was my original design as the ship pauses on its path to exchange fire with other ships in range.

^E. Once you arrive you are done. Begin at "A" next turn. 

It sounds complicated but the only thing that is quite time consuming is "D" as the ship may have to interact/react/fire at enemies as it moves along its path. So reaction mechanics will be the real time consuming bit. 

Also at "D" there is a question of facing - what way does the ship face as it moves along its path? Again, if there are reactions this is very important during the movement.

My current idea for ship facing is this. If a ship moves its full thrust away from its original drift point in step B i.e. a 4" thrust ship moved to new drift point 4" away - then it must face directly away from its old drift point. 

 

Perhaps if a ship moves less than its full thrust - say 2", or 3" (maybe depending on how bulky the ship is) it may face any direction as it uses its excess thrust to pivot around quickly.

*Ok, let's back up to the velocity thing. Velocity is denoted by a directional triangle with a number on it - 1,2 or 3. If it is 3, it is 3x the max thrust of the ship. So a 4" thrust ship moving at "2" would move 4"x2 = 8". Or that's where it will drift to if no thrust is applied - in the direction of the directional triangle.

So how do the ships change between these velocities? By moving full thrust further along the direction of travel, you can increase to the higher velocity. By moving full thrust back towards the direction of travel you can slow down to the lower velocity. Hmm maybe I need my napkin again:

 

 

#1. I keep wondering if I've missed something and there's a simpler way to do this. I want

a) minimal tokens (so far, just a small triangle with a number on it, next to the base)

b) a sense of "drift" where ships are predictable (but higher thrust allows you to move further from that predicted location)

c) ability for a ship to face one way and drift another.

#2. Probably my biggest takeaway was thinking about how to do reactions/firing etc. My original manifesto called for "reaction mechanics" so ships couldn't just teleport past each other. But unless I limit these they will eat up a lot of time (in stage D). If a single ship moves past 2-3 opponents that's a lot of shooting/damage to resolve in a single turn, which means a single wrong move would not only be slow to resolve, but may wipe out a ship fast.

Note: I may change things here rather than clarifying/correcting myself in comments I may use italics and brackets near the relevant bit in this OP rather than respond in comments...

Pirate PC Games & 30 Years War

 Just realised I've yet to register my monthly post. I'm still painting and hobbying but at a reduced rate as I am waiting my budget to recharge.

The Forest (haunted forest where overusing magic makes you lose your characters) is awaiting more ragged aventurers/wizards to complete three warbands (King's Rangers, Baron's men at arms, and the Mage's Guild). Parcel just arrived today! I continue to experiment with rules, namely (a) making a RPG 'feel' without the crappy/clunky mechanics that infests 99% of RPGs and (b) melee combat that has decisions without being too complex in its mechanics. 

30 Year War/ECW. I've painted my Bloody Miniatures characters (recommend!) and have based/prepped another ~30 or so pike/muskets/horse each side. I don't have an exact project for them as yet - I've painted them blue/cool tones vs red/warmer tones as I often do to make matched enemies. I do know it will be bloody, violent, civil-war-esque and there will be a twist - some sort of dark twisted undead/sorcery/plague/hellmouth to mirror that very violent period (some parts of Germany lost 50% of their population.)

I bought these minis to revive my disinterest in my boringly similar Warlord ECW minis. I've found lately sometimes you need to buy more, to revive a project (kinda the opposite of the sunk cost fallacy) e.g. my Frostgrave plastics have allowed me to use/kitbash many unused sprues.

 I'm still working out a suitable grimdark 'setting' for these minis that isn't just a zombie apocalypse. Suggestions welcome!

 Given I haven't done a final highlight my paint job certainly does not do the minis justice. They ooze character and will spice up my boring rank-and-file collection.

Skull & Bones. But a lot of my gaming times has been spent rewatching Pirates of the Carribbean with my kids and playing Skull and Bones (a pirate ship PC game) with them as well.  

Skull and Bones is a good example of how expectations and advertising can ruin a game. It was hyped as "AAA" and "Black Flag but multiplayer" and failed miserably. Compared to Assassins' Creed it's like 1/4 of a game - it's like they pulled the ship portions of Odyessey/Black Flag, turned it into a game but removed everything else - you can only leave your ship to go shopping(!) and as such it's inferior to Sea of Thieves (or Windrose) and even ancestors like Sid Meier's Pirates. However, if you view it as a pirate ship game where you roleplay as a schooner/brig it is competing more with indie titles like Windward or Tempest. It's also quite user-friendly, and shines in co-op.

....I call this "Anthem syndrome" - the game sets massive expectations, flat out lies/fails to deliver most of them, and gets hated into oblivion and nothing about the game can be good by players who have jumped on the hate bandwagon - many without even trying the game. It's possible for a game to completely fail to live up to expectations/deliver promises AND still be fun. They're not mutually exclusive. E.g. I paid $5 for Anthem, enjoyed zipping around in an Iron Man suit on an alien planet with mates for 30hrs. I don't plan to ever play it again but I certainly got my money's worth and had fun. Would I have been mad if I bought into the hype and bought a premium pre-purchase edition? Sure. But anyone who does that - it's kinda on them.

Anyway, Skull and Bones cost us $5 for each PC (Ubi panic sales ftw) and we can team up fighting ships, convoys, forts and (naturally) sea monsters in a mythic Indian Ocean. I've played 50 hrs and I and the kids haven't "ground" anything  yet (i.e. we are still doing new missions and tasks and haven't had to repeat old ones ad nauseam to get stuff). 

...and a red team to be the opposing civil war faction. Maybe the Holy Empire to take on the Schismatics? 
Anyway, I'll count the dodgy paint jobs. 658 minis painted this year - so far. 

My pirate craze has inspired me to finally push past the first episode of Black Sails (I'm now on S2, really enjoying it) after trying to get into it twice previously. Naturally,  I am now eyeing off age of sail ship miniatures but Black Seas (surprisingly affordable in Australia) has rigging (blegh!). I do have some 1:2400 from Tumbling Dice but I can't figure out what ship is which....    ...if someone knows how to identify them please let me know...  They are also a bit too chunky to "spark joy" though they are very sturdy playing pieces. Heretic that I am, I'll probably pick easy/fun AoS rules like Fighting Sail instead of "proper" nerdy rules.