These rules are currently a work in progress, and I haven't tried play testing them yet.
The rules on gravity cover what happens when a spaceship approaches a planet, but say nothing about what you might want to do when you get there. Since Full Thrust is a wargame, the answer is probably to blow something up.
Planets are assumed to have settlements and bases. The former are simply civilian population centres which have no bearing on the game other than as background or plot points. Destroying (or protecting) a settlement might be a mission goal, but it never fires back.
A base has tactical significance, in that it may have ground based weapon systems, fighter bays or other features that allow it to defend itself.
Settlements
In Full Thrust a settlement is simply a place on a world which might be a valid target. Like ships, settlements have their equivalent of hull points. A settlement though has a number of points equal to the square of the cube root of its population.
| Type | Population | Strength |
|---|---|---|
| Hamlet | 100 | 20 |
| Village | 1,000 | 100 |
| Small Town | 10,000 | 400 |
| Large Town | 100,000 | 2,000 |
| City | 1,000,000 | 10,000 |
| Large City | 10,000,000 | 40,000 |
It is assumed that large settlements are more dense, so it is easier to cause greater damage with the same amount of force.
Settlements do not have any point cost associated with them. Given the size of such settlements, it is suggested that structure points are recorded as a number, rather than by ticking off boxes.
Bases
Bases are military installations, and tend to be of tactical significance. They will often have defence systems of some kind, as well as launch pads and sensor arrays. They may also be armoured, which helps protect against attacks from orbit.
Bases are designed and costed in a similar way to how ships are. They cannot have drives of any time, nor shields unless the world lacks an atmosphere. They always have 50% of their size dedicated to structure, and cost 1pt per mass.
Each point of structure costs 1pt (rather than the 2pts of a
spaceship hull). Armour costs the same as for spaceships.
Both heavy and salvo missiles can be launched from bases, but
range is reduced by twice the surface gravity.
For example,
Armour
Bases can have armour, and this represents hardened shelters. If a base has as many armour columns as it has structure columns, then it is considered to be fully hardened. It may have multiple rows of armour to provide extra levels of hardening, but only full rows count.
If a base suffers damage, and loses some armour, then this doesn't affect the hardened level - it's the initial amount of armour that matters.
Attacking from Orbit
There are a variety of ways of attacking settlements and bases from orbit. If the target is on an airless world (such as a moon or asteroid), then attacks are exactly the same as against ship.
Atmosphere goes some way towards protecting ground targets though. Air may not be as tough as a starship hull, but when there's 10km+ of it between you and the target, it makes a big difference, and acts much like an advanced screen does. The number of levels depends on the thickness of the atmosphere.
| Atmosphere | Screens | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Very thin | 1 | x10 |
| Thin | 2 | x30 |
| Standard | 3 | x100 |
| Dense | 4* | x200 |
| Very dense | 5** | x300 |
Three levels of atmosphere means damage is only caused on a 6, and there is no roll up. For Dense atmospheres, no damage is caused on a 6, but a re-roll is allowed and 1pt is caused on a 5+. For Very dense atmospheres, 1pt is caused if the re-roll is a 6.
Damage of pulse torpedoes is reduced by the level of atmosphere per die, to a minimum of zero. Salvo missiles have the number of missiles reduced (they tend to burn up in the atmosphere). Heavy missiles have a chance of burning up before reaching their target equal to the atmosphere level.
Scatterguns fire very light projectiles, which burn up in the atmosphere very easily. Reduce damage per die by twice the level.
Ortillery
Orbital artillery is only carried by specialised planetary assault vessels, and is designed to cause maximum damage against planetary targets, regardless of any atmosphere. As such, ortillery is completely unaffected by atmosphere (however, if you can't see the target, you can't shoot it).
Ortillery has a range of 9". This limit is for game purposes more than anything. Since planetary bases are stationary, there is no to-hit roll. A FireCon is required for each target being fired at. Damage is 2d6.
Heavy Missiles
The best offence against settlements is to use nuclear bombardment. Heavy missiles are generally nuclear weapons, though do minimal damage against ships due to the lack of atmosphere, doing 2d6 damage.
Damage against installations is equivalent, however with an atmosphere the damage is multiplied according to the atmosphere type due to the concussive shock wave that is produced. For example, a nuclear missile exploding above a settlement in a standard atmosphere would do 2d6 x 100 damage. Use of nuclear weapons against civilian targets is banned by most treaties of course, and even using them against military targets can come with a political cost.
If a base is hardened, then reduce the damage multiplier by 10 for each level of hardening (down to a minimum of x1). If the above target had been a base with a level of hardening, then the damage would have been 2d6 x 10.