Thread: Revolt in Space: 2094

Artaxerxes — 2007-12-12T17:06:12+00:00

Revolt in Space

BattleFleet: Mars is a game that portrays an interplanetary war within our solar system late in the 21st Century. The conflict pits the Earth-based Ares Corporation against a group of dissatisfied employees of the company who have decided to launch a rebellion. The Corporation has a monopoly over the procurement and distribution of the solar system's extraterrestrial resources. The rebels, who live and work primarily on Mars, and in the asteroid belt, and at Ganymede Station (an orbital base at Jupiter), want to gain political and economic autonomy by taking a piece of the pie for themselves.

When the revolt erupts (ie., the game begins) on January 1st, 2094, the allegiance of the Corporation's spaceships and bases must be determined. There is a total of 44 ships in orbit around the following planets and asteroids: Earth, Mars, Ceres, Pallas, Juno, Vesta, and Jupiter. A seperate die roll is made on the Revolt Table for each of those locations to determine how many ships join the rebellion and how many remain loyal to Ares. In addition, the allegiance of the four asteroids, along with each one's orbital base, is determined by the same die roll. Earth, however, always remains loyal, while Mars and Jupiter automatically rebel. An average revolt will have the Martians seizing control of about 30 of the 44 ships in orbit, and two or three of the asteroids. Luckily for the Corporation there are 10 ships in transit within the system at the moment the revolt occurs, and those ships automatically remain loyal.

BFM is essentially a strategic game, but it does include a very detailed "3-D", and entirely optional, tactical sub-system to resolve the game's ship to ship battles. The game has two mapsheets: one strategic, one tactical. As interesting as the tactical system looks, though, it is easy to see that it results in a greatly lengthened playing time. Therefore, when I made my one solo play of the game I opted to use the game's much simpler, and much faster, Tactical Abstract sub-system. The Tactical Abstract system doesn't utilize the tactical map; it merely involves a comparison of one side's total combat strength to the other's total combat strength and a good old-fashioned roll on the CRT to determine the outcome of a battle. This review will cover just the strategic game and the simpler tactical system, not the 3-D tactical system.

The Solar Display and Interplanetary Movement

The game's strategic map, called the Solar Display, features seven concentric circles, representing the orbits of the previously mentioned planets and asteroids (three of the asteroids use the same circle), plus Mercury and Venus (the two innermost planets are not military objectives but they can be useful as intermediate waypoints for ships). Each orbital circle has hashmarks at regular intervals to indicate the distance travelled in one month (one game-turn) by the planetary body (represented by a counter) on that circle. Naturally, Earth's orbital circle has 12 hashmarks. Jupiter's, by contrast, has a whopping 148. According to the rulebook the starting positions of the nine planets and asteroids in the game are the actual relative positions they will occupy on Jan. 1, 2094.

There are no hexes on the Solar Display. When a ship or task force begins a journey from one planet/asteroid to another a ruler-like device called the Time/Distance Trip Measure is used to measure the distance from the point of origin to the intended destination. The result of the measurement determines the number of game-turns of travel time. If the distance is approximately 160 million kilometers (slightly more than two inches on the SD) or less the trip will take one turn, if the distance is more than around 620 million kilometers (slightly more than eight inches on the SD) the trip will take three turns, and if the distance is anywhere in between the trip will take two turns. So, basically, the duration of ship movement in BFM is always one, two, or three game-turns (there is one exception-- more about that at the end of this section).

The actual movement of the ships in BFM occurs in abstract fashion on the Ship Transit Tracks. Between the orbits of Jupiter and the three outermost asteroids (where there's a lot of empty space because Jupiter is so far from the sun) there are nine transit tracks-- one for each planet/asteroid. Each transit track is divided into six sections: a box for ships in regular orbit around the planet/asteroid, another box for ships in a cometary orbit (used by ships that want to be "at" a planet/asteroid without having to participate in combat there), and four boxes representing the number of game-turns of travel remaining to the planet/asteroid for any ships en route there.

As an example of interplanetary movement let's say that the Corporation player, during the Ship Transit Allocation Phase of the second game-turn, decides to send a ship from Earth to Vesta. A quick measurement reveals that the distance of the trip is approximately 380 million kilometers-- or about five inches on the Solar Display (by the way, it's important to note that when measuring the distance from the point of origin to the point of destination the position of the latter is the position it will occupy on the game-turn of arrival rather than the current turn). This falls into the two game-turn range. The Corporation player places the ship in the Vesta transit track box labeled "2". During the Ship Movement Phase of game-turn three the ship will be moved into the "1" box on the Vesta transit track. In the fourth game-turn's SM Phase the ship will be moved into Vesta's In Orbit box. Later in game-turn four, during the Combat Phase, that Corporation ship will be able to participate in any combat that occurs at Vesta.

While the basic mechanics of ship movement in BFM are surprisingly simple, and smooth to execute, there is one complication that tends to pop up. Sometimes after sending off a ship(s) to a particular destination to carry out your latest brilliant strategy, you subsequently realize that maybe you weren't so brilliant after all. If you decide to correct your mistake by changing the ship(s) intended destination, and the new destination is not in the same general direction as the old destination, the travel time will be increased by one game-turn (which is why there are four en route transit boxes on each Transit Track, instead of three). I'm not going to describe the precise procedure required in this type of situation, because it's kind of complicated. I'll just note that it slightly mars the overall elegance of ship movement.

The Fog of Space War

The players can (and will) use task force markers on the Transit Tracks, and keep the ships repesented by those markers off map, in order to keep the composition of their ship groups secret. As a result, the players know when an opposing task force is coming to a particular planet/asteroid, but not how many ships it contains. It could be a single ship, or it could be fifteen. After a task force arrives (but before combat occurs) the number of ships it contains must be revealed, but not the types of ships (at this point either side can choose to withdraw any ships and immediately send them off to another destination). The total combat strength of a task force isn't known to the opponent until both sides have committed to at least one round of battle. You never know whether or not you have a strong enough force to win a particular battle until the battle has begun. After the first round of battle is concluded-- after every round, in fact-- the players are again allowed to withdraw any desired ships if the battle is deemed to be hopeless. Withdrawal from battle is something that happens quite often in BFM.

The problem with running away when you are at a disadvantage is that you are conceding control of the planet/asteroid without making the opponent pay for it with any damaged or destroyed ships. Whatever cost he pays, though, you can rest assured that you will pay even more dearly and not end up in control of the planet/asteroid anyway. In BFM discretion really is the better part of valor. More on this point later in the review...

Having played the game but a single time I'm certainly not going to pretend to have a deep understanding of the game's strategic subtleties. It does seem apparent to me, though, that what you are looking for are situations where you can send a potent strike force from A to B while simultaneously being able to reinforce A with ships from C if your opponent should suddenly strike at A with a force from D. Of course, the relative positions of the planet/asteroids (and, consequently, the travel times involved) factor hugely into the decision-making. The game is actually rather chesslike, and analytical players will probably find it more to their liking than players who are just looking for some exciting ship vs. ship mayhem. In fact, those latter players might be better off skipping the Strategic Game entirely and just having a go at one of the 3-D tactical game scenarios.

Ships and Bases

There are two general types of combat units in BFM: bases and spaceships. The ships come in three different "models": catapults, miners, and transports. In terms of the game's back-story neither catapults nor miners are designed for a military purpose. They are drafted for that purpose out of sheer necessity. Miners normally use their lasers to cut away valuable chunks of ore-containing rock. Catapults "throw" those chunks from where they are mined to another location (Earth primarily) where they are "caught" by other catapults. Then the ore is processed and sold. The primary purpose of transports is to move people and non-catapultable equipment from place to place in the Solar System, but they also are patrol ships meant to deal with any trouble that might develop. The crews of transports are carefully screened by the Corporation to ensure their loyalty so, in the game, transports cannot join the rebellion.

Each ship and base has a Strength Value which represents its combat effectiveness, as well as its capacity to absorb damage before being destroyed. As a ship or base incurs damage its current SV is kept track of on the Fleet Status Chart. Each base has an SV of 6. Catapults are the most powerful ships, with an SV of 4. Transports and miners have SVs of 3 and 2, respectively. Catapults do have one disadvantage, though. They are not equipped with lasers at the outset of the hostilities. Consequently, they have an effective strength of zero until they are supplied with lasers at a friendly planet/asteroid during the Logistics and Maintenance Phase.

Beginning on the second game-turn Corporation ships can be equiped with missiles, and beginning on the fifth turn rebel ships can be equiped with fighters. Ships with missiles or fighters have a SV one higher than normal, but their capacity to absorb damage is unchanged. After participating in a battle ships with missiles or fighters lose their SV bonus until they are resupplied at a friendly planet/asteroid.

After a ship participates in a battle the chemical engines that it uses specifically for maneuvers during battle are assumed to have exhausted all (or nearly all) of their fuel. Such ships must visit a friendly planet/asteroid for refueling before it can be involved in another battle.

When a ship or base's damage reachs 50% of its capacity it has sustained major damage, which means that it cannot contribute its strength to its side's total strength in a battle. A ship or base with major damage can be repaired for a cost of one or two Logistics Points at a friendly planet/asteroid during the Logistics and Maintenance Phase. Any damage short of major damage is automatically repaired after a battle is over.

The Abstract Art of War

Battles are very quick and simple affairs if the players stick with the Tactical Abstract system. The attacker's total combat strength is divided by the defender's total combat strength to produce a percentage, which in turn identifies which of the 8 CRT columns will be used for the current round of combat. For example, if the attacker has a strength of 28 and the defender has a strength of 20 the percentage is 140%. A die is then rolled and a result such as, let's say, 10/30 is obtained, meaning that the attacker's damage is 10% of his total combat strength and the defender's damage is 30%. Unless one side is defeated, or withdraws, another round of battle must then be fought.

The three columns on the left side of the CRT (used when the attack percentage is 75 or less) are unwinnable for the attacker, while the two columns on the right side of the CRT (150% and higher) will invariably lead to the defender's defeat. That leaves three columns in the middle of the CRT which are relatively balanced enough in terms of casualties to allow for a battle in which the outcome is not a completely foregone conclusion. The truth is, though, there is only a single column (the 101% to 125% column) which, in the majority of cases, will be acceptable enough to both sides to result in a multi-round battle.

What this means is that when the attack percentage is 100 or less the attacker will usually withdraw after a single round of battle (if not before), and when the attack percentage is 126 or greater the defender will almost always choose to avoid battle. That is a very narrow range, and it makes BFM a game in which most battles are won and lost by the maneuvers that lead to battle, rather than anything that occurs during the actual battle (assuming a battle occurs at all). At first, this element of the combat system seemed too deterministic to me, but I soon realized that this approach of rewarding the player who "gets there the firstest with the mostest" is preferable to a luck oriented system in which a player can get outmaneuvered but still get bailed out by the dice. I suppose that when the 3-D tactical sub-system is used to resolve the battles a whole different dynamic comes into play. There may very well be enough randomness and/or potential for tactical finesse there to create the possibility for dramatic victories by the underdog.

The Morale of the Story

The preceeding facts explain how battles are fought but now you might be wondering why they are fought (other than the sheer thrill of blowing stuff up, of course). Ultimately, the idea is to influence the Morale of the people.

In the real world, when a war is going well for a particular side that side's citizenry is happy, or at least content, and they will likely maintain their support for the conflict. On the other hand, when a war is not going well the people can easily become disenchanted with the whole sorry affair and ask, or demand, that their leaders end the hostilities.

In BFM the effects of the war on the collective sentiment of each of the game's two important civilian populations-- Earth and Mars-- is well represented, and of paramount importance. Each side has a Morale Index which fluctuates up and down due to important events, both good and bad. Some of the key events that add or subtract morale points are: winning or losing a battle (large battles cause a bigger shift in morale than small battles), gaining or losing control of an asteroid, possessing all four asteroids at the same time (this is a per game-turn effect), and losing five or more ships in a single battle (this effects the rebels only, the rationale being that since it is more difficult for them to build replacement ships losing many at one time is more demoralizing to them). Generally, Martian morale is more "sensitive" to all of these crucial events, meaning it tends to fluctuate by a larger amount than Earth morale does for the same events.

The morale of the rebels starts at a higher level than the morale of Earth's populace, 77 for the former, and only 55 for the latter. According to the game's designers this reflects a certain amount of sympathy for the rebel cause at the outset of the war by the people of Earth because the latter are hopeful that the defeat of the Ares Corporation and the ending of its monopoly will result in free trade and lower prices for consumers. If the Martians fail to win quickly, however, and the war drags on, the blockade of Earth by the rebels will gradually create anger on Earth as products disappear from the market, and the economy suffers. This effect is reflected in the fact that Earth morale automatically increases by either one or two points each game-turn beginning with the fifth, until the conclusion of the game. This causes the Rebel player to feel a little more "time pressure" than his opponent, which probably tends to make him more agressive (the fact that the Rebels have more ships than the Corporation does early in the game is another reason why they are well advised to make hay while the sun shines). The Corporation player, on the other hand, shouldn't feel so bothered by the prospect of a longer game. If the game is over quickly it's probably because he lost!

Which brings up a very important question: how, exactly, does one lose the game? That happens when either an "Ares Victory" or "Martian Victory" result is rolled on one of the Morale Effects Tables. Once each game-turn, during the Political Interaction Phase, each side makes a die-roll on the appropriate Morale Effects Table. To be specific, there are twenty Morale Effects Tables: ten for each side. Which table to use is based on the "10s" digit of a each side's current Morale Index. For instance, there is one morale table for when Martian Morale is 40 to 49, another one for when it is 50 to 59, another one for when it is 60 to 69, and so on. The Victory results only occur on the lowest tables, and the lower the table the more likely the Victory results are. For example, when the Martian Morale Index drops down into the 20 to 29 range there is a 4 in 6 chance of rolling an "Ares Victory" result, and in the 10 to 19 range there is a 5 in 6 chance. When Martian Morale dips below 10 a victory by the Corporation is automatic.

Spy vs. Spy

In addition to the "sudden death" results the Morale Effects Tables contain a variety of interesting results that provide the game with some decidedly non-military chrome. That means it's time for me to introduce you to the agents of BFM. No, I'm not talking about the William Morris Agency or anything like that. I'm talking about the individuals whose business it is to conduct all of the game's political and covert actions. The rulebook describes the agents as "charismatic, resourceful, and competant individuals". Basically, they are spies and/or diplomats.

The Corporation player has nine agents and the Rebel player has four. Each agent has a Political Point Value from 1 to 4. The higher the rating the more effective the agent. The Rebel agents tend to have higher ratings, which somewhat offsets the fact that they are outnumbered. Players will find that Ares has more flexibility in terms of how its agents are deployed and loses less if one is killed. In contrast, the Martian agents are better (and nobody does it better than that one rebel agent boasting a PPV of 4 who surely must be named Bond... James Bond) but losing one of them can be a severe blow.

Essentially, agents are used to modify die-rolls by an amount possibly as high as their PPV. Agents located on Earth can modify rolls on the Earth Morale Effects Table, and agents located on Mars can modify rolls on the Martian Morale Effects Table. The point of modifying these die-rolls, of course, is to increase the probability of a result that is favorable to the side employing the agent. In order for an agent to modify a die-roll a number of Political Points must be spent equal to the agent's PPV.

During the Political Interaction Phase a player receives a number of Political Points equal to the 10s digit of his side's Morale Index. Political points are expended during the current game-turn (they can't be saved) any time a player wants to have one or more of his agents affect a die-roll. The number of points expended is equal to the agent(s) Political Point Value. So, when a player's Morale Index (and, consequently, his Political Points) drops he will have a more difficult time getting his agents to accomplish everything he would like for them to accomplish.

The Morale Effects Tables can create such opportunities as gaining the political backing of WORD (the World Organization for Resource Development, which is the de facto planetary government of Earth), assassination attempts on enemy agents, sabotage of Ares ships under construction by Martian sympathisers on Earth, the possibility of a truce (which will last for a variable number of game-turns), and, last but not least, a possible counter-revolt of rebel controlled asteroids. In most cases these events are resolved on their own special table, the die-rolls of which can be modified by agents located on the proper planet/asteroid (at a further cost in Political Points, of course). Each agent can be used only once per game-turn.

The bottom line is that all of this political and espionage stuff is quick and painless and does serve to add quite a bit of spice to the game. It gives the players something else to do besides just fighting epic space battles, which as we all know can get a little old sometimes.

Production and Logistics

Speaking of those space battles, there is another important consequence of them that must be dealt with before I can finish this review, and that is the unfortunate fact that ships that are damaged or destroyed need to be repaired or replaced. In the real world this requires factories and raw materials. In the game both are abstractly represented in the form of Production Capacity and Logistics Points.

Production Capacity is a number that determines how many Logistics Points each side can spend in a single game-turn to initiate construction of new ships and bases, and to repair ships and bases with major damage. Ares, because it owns so many factories on Earth, and in Earth orbit, has a Production Capacity of 12 each and every turn of the game. The rebels, on the other hand, with few factories, have some troubles in the area of manufacturing and repair. During the first five game-turns their PC is a measly 2. Then it slowly increases according to a schedule until it peaks at 7 on turn 24, and remains at that level until the conclusion of the game.

To illustrate just how much of a handicap the scant PC of the rebels is it costs 3 LPs to build a miner, 4 to build a transport, 5 to build a catapult, and 7 to build a base. The Martian player can't even begin construction on anything until turn 6, when he can start building miners (only). On turn 11 he has the ability to build transports, and on turn 16 he can take on the challenge of constructing catapults. God forbid he should need a new base before turn 24 because it just ain't happening. The rebel player has to rely heavily on the ships and bases he starts the game with because he may not be able to build very many new ones.

When we take a look at Logistics Points (raw materials), though, we find that the tables are turned and it is now the Corporation player who probably has the most headaches. LPs are produced at the four asteroids in the game. Each asteroid produces 3 LPs if the player controlling the asteroid has one catapult and two miners in orbit there. Each producing asteroid also requires that another catapult be stationed at the controlling player's home planet. It's entirely possible that Ares will find itself without any asteroids under its control early in the game, and thusly, no inflow of LPs. Even if the Corporation player has an asteroid or two in his possession he may not have the required catapults and miners present there because they revolted. Of course, he can send some ships there to work on gathering resources but that means fewer ships available to attack the rebels with, and he is already outnumbered in ships.

The rebel player usually has plenty of LPs because, in addition to those gathered from the asteroids, he automatically receives two each and every game-turn from Mars. Unfortunately for the rebels, since they extract most of their energy from Jupiter (lots of hydrogen there) they are required to always keep one catapult at that planet and another one at Mars. If they fail to do so thay can't spend any LPs at all until the situation is rectified. If the Martian player loses control of the gas giant for very long he will find himself in deep trouble. He has to be very careful not to let his opponent blindside him at Jupiter.

So, most of the time, both sides have challenges in the area of production and logistics-- they just tend to have different challenges. The fact that the two sides are fundamentally different in this respect just makes the game more interesting to play.

Conclusion

This is a very good game. Unlike most science fiction games its extrapolations actually seem plausible. It has strategic depth, and can be a tense contest of cat and mouse maneuvering. In my opinion it has "aged" surprisingly well. Having said that, I suspect it probably will only appeal to a small minority of gamers. If you like hard science fiction (as opposed to space opera), and you don't need an abundance of flashy visuals, and you don't have a problem with written record-keeping, and a high luck factor (the Morale Tables) isn't a big turn off, and solitaire play isn't important to you (hidden force compostion), then BattleFleet Mars is well worth giving a try.

Game: Battle Fleet Mars

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Thread: Revolt in Space: 2094

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