2015 Solo Campaign Rules

[JimBlkHwk]

Hi all,

Hoping to go back and start playing through some of these various campaigns while spending extra time at home. Question on the maneuver and combat rules. Are those only applicable to the AI, or do they cover the player as well

Thanks!

James

[Bligh]

Hi Jim.

Because the earlier scenarios are no longer active you will not get AI captains generated for you, nor points for victories etc. The combat charts records are no longer active either.

As you are the only player this section is no longer in force.

AI Captains


I will develop AI ship captain rosters for each player.
For each scenario, choose AI ship captains from the available roster. Sometimes, ship captains are unavailable due to wounds or capture.
AI ship captains should be assigned to appropriate ships as needed by scenario requirements.
As AI ship captains gain experience through victories, they will gain skills and be able to captain larger ships.






This section below is aimed at the AI ships. Normal player controlled ships use elements of your own choice from the Ares rules Just pick and mix from the different levels.


Manoeuvre and Combat Rules

Manoeuvring
· Choose the quadrant in which the majority of the appropriate ship is. If the ship is equally in two sectors, choose the quadrant containing the front of the ship.
· If the wind direction falls exactly on a quadrant dividing line, randomly determine which quadrant via a die roll.
· If a ship is taken aback, use the red card corresponding to the maneuver card generated by the AI chart.
· When determining the +1 or +2 die roll modifier due to range to enemy ship, measure from the most advantageous firing arc red dot on the AI ship to the base of the player ship.
· If a die roll would cause a ship to violate veer, choose sharpest turn within veer limits.
· Sails are set to Battle Sails.

Combat
· Only use Ball ammo.
· When choosing between short and long distance shots for the AI ship, always choose short unless raking - B-damage is more deadly than A-damage - better to have less chits with greater chance of inflicting damage per chit.
· Only use the Crew Losses when special damage chits are pulled.

Crew Damage Effects on Captain

When half of a ship's Crew Damage boxes, rounded up, are filled, roll two six-sided dice to determine the effect on the ship's captain. Re-roll each time the ship takes additional crew damage.

Crew Damage Effects on Captain Table
· 2 or less - the captain is killed
· 3 - the captain is severely wounded; skip 2-4 scenarios
· 4 - the captain is wounded; skip 1 scenario
· 5+ - the captain escaped injury

Modifiers to Crew Damage Effects on Captains Die Rolls
· -1 if Crew Damage is caused by musket fire
· -1 if Crew Damage is caused by a rear raking shot
· -1 if all of the Crew Damage boxes are filled
· More than one modifier can apply on a given die roll

Capturing Captains

When a ship surrenders, the captain runs the risk of being captured. The first ship to touch bases with the surrendered ship, and remain there the following turn, secures the surrendered ship's captain. An AI ship will attempt securing a surrendered captain if it is within one ruler of the surrendered ship, and the player's other ships are more than one ruler from both the Ai and surrendered ship. Otherwise, it prepares to attack or defend itself against the oncoming player's ship.

If the only remaining ships of a given side on the board are surrendered, and if the opposing side has at least one functioning ship remaining, then the surrendered captain(s) are auto-captured by the surviving ship(s).

Disengagement

When a ship is within the last three boxes of hull damage or crew hits, role a 6-sided die for disengagement: 1-4 = remain in battle; 5-6 = disengage. Roll each time a ship takes additional damage. Disengaging ships will attempt to exit their side as directly as possible, and will avoid combat, only taking shots of opportunity. The nature of disengaging can be altered based on scenario specific rules.

Modifiers to Disengagement Die Rolls
· +1 if both hull damage and crew hits are within the last three boxes
· +1 for each enemy ship that is not disengaging
· -1 for each friendly ship that is not disengaging
· Additional modifiers as per relevant captain/crew skills

Hope this helps.
Rob.

[JimBlkHwk]

Extremely helpful, thank you. Plan to start the 2019 campaign early next week and stay current with it, but figure will have some extra time to explore previous campaigns.

[Bligh]

Good idea James, and if you get time have a look at the way some of the other players tackled the scenarios.
Rob.

[JimBlkHwk]

Gave my first solo game a try today using the AI movement mechanism, good stuff. I will post a brief AAR soon, but two quick questions on the AI movement.

1) I was using an 'E' deck for both vessels (HMS Amelia vs. Prosperine). The decks only run 1-9. Does a 0 on the chart become a 1 and a 10 become a 9.

2) For sideslips, 5\ is to port and 5/ is to starboard, correct.

Thanks!

[Vagabond]

James I'm sorry but I'm speaking from memory but on 1 I'm almost positive you are correct and on 2 you are correct.

I use Fred Miracle's AI, I'm pretty sure that Herkeybird is the same on these 2 points. I know Dobbs has a set which I've not tried yet, so if you're using his set then ignore my answer.

There may be others that I don't know about.
Cheers

Don't forget the AAR

[Dobbs]

If you're using mine, 1 is correct. For 2, sideslips become regular straights unless using my sideslip tweak.

[Bligh]

From what Jim said, I thought he was using your rules Dobbs. It will be interesting to see his reply.
Rob.

[JimBlkHwk]

From what Jim said, I thought he was using your rules Dobbs. It will be interesting to see his reply.
Rob.

I used Fredmiracle's chart since that had been linked in previous campaigns. I have a copy of Dobbs rules.too, just had to start somewhere!

AAR forthcoming! This first one will be pretty lackluster since I was using it mainly to practice the AI mechanisms and I just moved yesterday so was using the kitchen table until my gaming space is made ready.

James

[Bligh]

I have been using Herkybirds AI but you can use whatever set suits you best. No packdrill here James.

Rob.