Forum

Good morning. I have a doubt regarding the approach speeds (and possible escape) of spaceships in Space Combat. From what I've read, I understand that ships use FTL (Faster Than Light) speed for traveling between systems, but what speed is used when ships are in combat? I believe that in this case, FTL speed does not apply as it's for inter-system travel. The Manual explains that the speed used is the approach speed, but this speed is not indicated on the ships (only . From what I understand on page 189 of the manual, the approach speed used is usually 2 zones per turn. If I'm not mistaken, this speed applies to ALL ships, which means they move at the same speed regardless of the size and characteristics of the ship. Is that correct? Because I feel like that strategically limits combat to mere missile and dice exchanges. But what if a ship wants to escape from combat? Or if it wants to flank the ship and get behind it to destroy a Helium 3 tank? Or if it wants to get very close to avoid being targeted by missiles because it would also affect the attacker? All these options seem to make no sense if you move at the same speed. Thank you for your responses.

Thanks everybody. I`ve already found this tutorial on YouTube that explains it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bwJXqwunzA

That's a great tutorial about it and cleared up some things for me too - great find!

space combat and dealing with speed ... it's very complicated ...
the youtube tutorial is great.

I also manage these situations with instincts in the spirit of keeping the storytelling active... but we all have players who swear by the rules so we have to see about it....

Arthur.