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...