Beta Changes

CURRENT VERSION CHANGELOG:

9 April 2023

  • Made the Mass values of engines more nuanced.
  • Updated all SDS sheets to new values.
  • Added 3 ships to the Ob-raqidi faction in preparation for the second Tabletop Simulator playtest.

8 March 2023

  • Changed to-hit roll from 3d6 to 1d20 to avoid issues with the roll distribution. Going to a flat distribution (1 die instead of 3) avoids pegging the to-hit results near the 10-11 range and increases the likelihood of hitting systems instead of structure.

3 March 2023

  • Minor updates to enhancement/limitation rules.

24 February 2023

  • Corrected some info in the Universe Book
  • Merged the Universe Book with the counters file and individualized Turn-By-Turn sheets

15 February 2023

  • Added Rule 17, which is a more detailed list of the enhancements and limitations in the Table Book.
  • Removed weapon tech design rules, as they were too rudimentary. Will revisit for a more robust design system.
  • Made light changes elsewhere in the rules that refer to the tech design system. Weapon Speeds are now listed in Rule 7.

12 February 2023

  • Increased hull structure values of all ships in Universe Book.

11 February 2023

  • Clarifications to Main Rulebook, Play Sheets and Table Book.
  • Changed progression of range costs to better reflect the high value of long-range weapons.

10 February 2023

  • All SDSs now have alternate graphical versions.

9 February 2023

  • Begun adding alternate, graphical SDS layouts to the Universe Book; updated Main Rulebook with this information.

7 February 2023

  • Added limitations to direct fire weapon firepower, to scale better with ship size; updated all existing Universe Book ships.
  • Added combination wheel to play sheets.
  • Fixed reversed silhouette ratings in Universe Book.

5 February 2023

  • Added table of contents.
  • Modified the catastrophic damage rules to not disadvantage good defenses.
  • Clarified defensive fire rules for matter weapons and missiles.

4 February 2023

  • Complete rewrite! Too many changes to list here! Mainly: switched to a free placement map (no hexes), removed the 3-D option (because it was super confusing), rebalanced everything for non-hex gameplay. Rewrote a chunk of the rules for clarity and changed the document structure overall.

PREVIOUS VERSION CHANGELOG:

23 August 2019

  • Minor updates to Main Rulebook and Ship System Book

1 August 2013

  • Armor now takes up Mass
  • Minor edits/clarifications throughout Main Rulebook

21 July 2013

  • Updated formatting of Campaign Book
  • Eliminated system armor, replaced with a more central role for sectional armor (now just called "armor")
  • Simplified armor cost calculations
  • Updated/clarified Rule 7.5, which wasn't even numbered correctly
  • Renumbered Rules 7.5 through 7.8
  • Basic hit locations chart was missing some data due to bad resizing

17 July 2013

  • Basic hit locations chart had arrows in all the wrong places

16 July 2013

  • New format for the rulebook
  • Basic and Advanced rulebooks consolidated into single Main Rulebook
  • Added weapon Speed (part of Defensive Fire rules) to eliminate some contortions, workarounds and silly possibilities

5 June 2013

  • Made technology limitation/enhancement availabilities more generic, to fit the new weapon tech design system
  • Moved some "universal" technology limitations/enhancements to the configuration limitation/enhancement lists

2 June 2013

  • Work on the Campaign Rulebook uploaded; still alpha quality

11 May 2013

  • All three main rulebooks have been revised (Campaign Rulebook has had its cover page changed…!)
  • SSB has been updated slightly

7 May 2013

  • Separated basic and advanced rules. Currently the basic rulebook is simply the advanced rulebook with the advanced sections yanked out; this will develop over time into a more elegant solution. For the complete rules (more or less as they were before), see the advanced rulebook.

5 May 2013

  • Renamed "Nuclear" weapon technology to "Radiation"

4 May 2013

  • Error corrections and clarifications.

3 May 2013

  • New anti-missile/torpedo defense options! See Rules 11.1.4 and 11.5
  • Clarified small vessel combat and moved HLT rules around a bit

30 April 2013

  • Fixed more errors
  • Uploaded a turn-by-turn control sheet file for the B5Wars ships

29 April 2013

  • Fixed multiple errors in the B5Wars Starships document

23 April 2013

  • Typo and cosmetic edits to master ruleset document

22 April 2013

  • Fixed some SSD bugs, added pulse interval calculation to firing solution table
  • Updated main ruleset and SSB, added a chart for pulse accuracy interval

17 April 2013

  • Specialized armor changed, more weapon tech designer stuff, changes to cargo hold costs
  • SSD is up to date, and also now includes a vector and speed calculator, and all of the existing B5Wars conversions

12 April 2013

  • Weapon tech designer added (Rule 17.5). Create or change weapon technologies and options!

09 April 2013

  • Updated and combined B5Wars starship SDSs. These are now up to date under the current rules.

07 April 2013

  • Added Drazi SDS file
  • Added RTS-style campaign rules to Expansion A

06 April 2013

  • Added optional movement rules
  • Reduced costs and power for shield construction (SSD not yet updated)
  • Updated Abbai and Centauri files

05 April 2013

  • Ship System Designer (SSD) now handles small vessels!

02 April 2013

  • Reverted arc shields to the original rules (with new costs), because the new rules were stupid.
  • CSSD updated to current rules and bug-fixes.

31 March 2013

  • Added more to CSSD. There is a bug currently that misdirects the button to the firing solutions table layout (not to the data entry form, though, so it can still be used). There is also a bug in the Direct Fire entry form where the Enhancements/Limitations and their costs have a drop-down menu that should be ignored.
  • Adjusted shield arc costs. (This change is not yet reflected in the CSSD.)

29 March 2013

  • Fixed some leftover formatting issues from the Great Font Shift of 2013.

28 March 2013

  • New fonts! Switched to Copperplate and Optima (from TR and Ogirema). This was for consistency with the CSSD (cap ship system designer), which needs those fonts in order to be iPad-compatible
  • CSSD fonts changed; added Firing Solution page (automates firing solutions and 3d6 rolling for hit location)

27 March 2013

  • Added optional rule to use vector markers for visualizing movement
  • Removed a paragraph in 3.2 that incorrectly stated that damaged systems do not release their power allocation. (This was an old rule that has been changed.)
  • Changed the rule for gravitic ship turning: now a partial acceleration is also required (in addition to the maneuvering thruster cost)
  • Errors corrected on weapon tables in SSB.
  • Emergency Arming I and II enhancements added.
  • Added default enhancement/limitation option (added to Rule 17.1).
  • Minor changes and clarifications to Rules 7 and 8.

26 March 2013

  • Various updates, clarifications and corrections to ship and weapon design, both in the rulebook and the SSB.
  • Changed how shield arcs are calculated, using facings instead of firing arcs (making it much easier to calculate). Shield arc modifier costs remain the same but are now described differently. The software ship builder is still mathematically accurate, but the terminology (firing arcs instead of facings) is out of date. This will be fixed in a future update.

23 March 2013

  • Created a "ship-wide adjustment" section in ship construction. This section now contains the Mass Adjustment rule and a completely rewritten rule for what used to be called Advanced Armor (and is now called Specialized Armor). Specialized Armor is available to all armor types, and is priced based on the total cost of the ship.

20 March 2013

  • Updated and clarified Gravitic engine/thruster rules
  • Clarified ESS shuttle rules

15 March 2013

  • Overheating reactors and Heat Sink and Radiator system effects revised
  • Turn Sequence chart updated with more detail on the above

14 March 2013

  • Increased range and power costs for Enveloping weapons
  • Fixed base range inconsistency in charts (was listed as -3/hex, but is actually -1/hex)
  • Updated sample ship in Master Ruleset book
    • New SDS format: no more tick boxes! All armor/structure now displayed like hull armor/structure
    • B5Wars ships have not yet been updated to this format

13 March 2013

  • Renamed "ballistic weapons" to "guided weapons" to avoid term confusion

12 March 2013

  • Updated B5Wars weapon systems CP costs to reflect 19 January update
    • Note that the B5Wars ship costs themselves have not yet been updated

23 January 2013

  • Switched default missile weapon type from Nuclear to Matter.

19 January 2013

  • Greatly increased Rate of Fire CP costs, to better reflect the true value of an improved RoF.

9 October 2012

  • Fixed some errors in the Ship System Book, clarified some data.

24 September 2012

  • Fixed firing arc cubes to handle multiple permutations of position.
  • Fixed error in 3D range finder chart.
  • Added a Shield limitation.

2 July 2011

  • Updated ballistics rules 17.2.1 and 17.2.2 to provide new weapon tech options
  • Updated shields and added rule 11.2.9 to explain EM weapon effects vs. EM shields
  • Clarified rule 11.2.2 on the interaction between buffering shields and Anti-Shield weapons

17 May 2011

  • Minor updates to the master ruleset text
  • Removed fleet-level combat rules, to be moved to Expansion I
  • Final beta, prepared for intensive testing

14 August 2010

  • Adjusted DF rules

11 August 2010

  • Many rules adjustments and SDS updates

24 July 2010

  • Changes to the hit locations table, making shields harder to hit
  • Started adding fleet-level combat rules

15 July 2010

  • Modified pulse count rules

14 July 2010

  • Finished updating all B5W SDS files to the new format, updated B5W Starships file
  • Minor tweaks to SSB
  • Clarification of shield rules regarding volleys

6 July 2010

  • Updated the layout of the SSB to make it easier to work with in ship construction

2 July 2010

  • Switched 2D firing arcs to use the cube method
  • Adjusted to-hit/hit location chart to be less "accurate"

1 July 2010

  • Simplified hacking/tech levels. Except for bridges and repair systems, tech levels can't be (and don't need to be) changed by paying CP. Hacking is bridge v. bridge now, instead of bridge v. system.
  • Improved the silhouette selection rule to account for ship shape differences.
  • Fixed a stupid geometry error on 5-section selection cube

26 June 2010

  • Completed the 3D firing arc cubes (four of them). Photo on the image page.

25 June 2010

  • Completely rewrote the way section selection is done. Now there is a set of section selection cubes that makes it visually easy. I may apply this same technique to firing arcs.
  • Updates and corrections to hit location procedure.
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