Rules: Space Combat

[jftanner]

There needs to be special rules for fighting in space.

These are my (current) requirements:

• Movement should be Newtonian and acceleration-based
• Movement should be relative, so that chases don't constantly accelerate away.
• Ideally, movement should happen simultaneously, so that positions are consistent for all gunners.

[jftanner]

Hex Velocity Idea

This option takes advantage of a hexagonal grid for movement (though could probably be adapted to a square grid with some loss in accuracy).

• Ship's have five positional data values:
  • Heading (1-6), indicating the direction the nose of the ship is pointing on the grid.
  • X, Y, and Z velocity vectors, indicating velocity in each axis on the grid.
  • Elevation velocity vector, indicating the velocity up or down, out of the plane of the grid.
• Each round, all pilots secretly write down their maneuvers.
  • A ship has a certain number of "maneuver points"
  • Maneuver points can be spent to change heading.
  • Remaining maneuver points can be spend to increase/reduce velocity vectors.
  • Thrust can be used to change velocity vector in the selected heading only. (increase velocity for positive headings, reduce velocity for negative headings.)

Issues:

• Does not allow for an "up or down" heading
  • Vectors can add up redundantly, and reducing them is complicated math.
  • Ex: Y: +2, X: -1, Z: -1 is equivalent to Y: 1, X: 0, Z: 0.
  • There's six transformations to avoid these, but they're a pain.
• It's a lot to keep track of.

See Red Blob Games' hexagon tutorial for help.

[jftanner]

Improved Hex Velocity Idea

Similar to the idea above, this option takes advantage of a hexagonal grid. However, instead of tracking three planar velocity vectors, only two are used. To move along a center axis, add or subtract one to each of the vectors. So, each movement point can be +-1 in the X, Y, both. (Note that it will always be the same sign for both.)

The six headings and their associated velocity vectors:

Compared to a square grid:

• Only six valid headings, instead of eight. Squares allow four cardinal movements (left/right, up/down) and four ordinal movements (angles). Hexes have the six adjacent cells.
• All valid headings are dimensionally accurate. With squares, ordinal movements are further than cardinal ones. With hexes, all movements are exactly one cell-width.

Compared to the un-improved version:

• Just so, so much better.