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White Flame
MECHANIC AND RULES UPDATES!
Text extracted from FASA#2225 The White Flame Starship Combat Scenario Pack
(This is not the complete book, but portions of it are discussed, Text has been Modified)
Designed for the STCS Starship Combat Game.
"Uses the Graduate Starship Tactics Course"

This write-up more or less represents the design mechanics and rules presented in The White Flame in a form of an outline to suggest methods on creating your own scenarios and to update STCS with FASA rules that where published after. These new "rules" are based on FASA's defined terms and guidelines used in the STCS Rulebook and approved by FASA for a finished official release. Due to the fact that the STCS book only uses a rough outline (when compared to the White Flame) to present the scenario creation and trainning secenaros, I chose to use the The White Flame book as a rule update template to provide FASA-Like source material.

The White Flame Book wasn't actualy published in the form of a sourcebook to present the new STCS rules, you sorta of discover them when progressing throughout the 15 scenarios. If a designer where to examine the book carefully, it could show you, indirectly,  how to outline different types of custom Starship Scenarios; single, linear or campaign style. This isn't realy anything new, since much of FASA's supplements and adventures seem to include some sort of mechanic or rule 'update' that expand the core rules. These new extentions are normally from the designer of the module.

Due to the fact the entire finished White Flame Book is not presented here, you may need a copy of The White Flame Book inorder to get the complete idea of how things where done, if you have it. However after reading this write-up you should beable to come up with your own scenarios or scenario book using the new White Flame mechanics and rules. Feel free to skip any of the lengthy steps if you wish to present a simpler scenario or refer to the STCS Scenerio Sections.

Note; This write-up is in a very early construction period, its a learnning phase for me and I haven't entirely 'converted' the Flames non-direct updates to direct updates.

BOOK STRUCTURE

You may want to provide Extensive History and background of the Fleets involved in all the scenarios you make, such as FASA did with the White Flame. Its time consuming but its worth it especially if your doing something of a 'canonical' representation.

Also a list of OFFICER's should be provided. They should have Personal History, Physiological Makeup, Crew Description and Physical Description profiles. A photo of the character and brief stats including the Captains Skill Rating, you may want to provide the Crew Efficiency Rating for each Commander, since most starships in these types of scenarios usually are made to have an experienced crew onboard that have been working for the same Commander.

STARSHIP SCENARIO TYPES

There are three basic types of scenarios your group can play. Each scenario you design can recreate a single battle or encounter, or you may want to have several scenarios interrelated, maybe four, representing an Operation with various actions and responses. If you want something a bit longer you can try to provide Four scenarios as a single, continuous battle. In these campaign scenarios, players keep track of battle damage taken by various vessels from one engagement to another, with earlier damage and losses affecting the condition and make-up of the forces involved. This damage must be recorded and carried over in the four scenarios.

• Single Battle - 1 battle
• Interrelated - 4 battles that effect the outcome of the next battle.
• Campaign - 4 battles that are linear; a single, continuous battle.

THE SCENARIO TEMPLATE

Scenario rules should include all necessary information for understanding and playing the game. Each scenario should open with a narrative description of the combat, followed be a brief description of the battle's historical content, or cannon occurances.

The Game Set-Up section provides the map arrangement, special terrain features, attacking and defending forces, and their deployment. Special damage or deviation from the listed statistics are given.

The Victory Conditions describe the various possible outcomes of each scenario. Because combat between two sides rarely continues until one or the other is destroyed, the Victory Conditions usually list objectives for both sides, as well as any point values used. ( See WHITE FLAME CUSTOM RULES and RULE EXTENSIONS after the Template for Victory Rules and Tables)

Finally, most scenarios include special rules and escape parameters not covered in the Starship Tactical Combat Simulator rules. These are discussed in the Special Rules section of each scenario. When this section refers to escape by Warping Out, use the following rule: any vessel with warp capability may Warp Out at the beginning of the phase(players simply declare their intentions). However, the vessel must have at least one movement point remaining during that phase. ( See WHITE FLAME CUSTOM RULES and RULE EXTENSIONS after the Template for Special Rules listed.)

The Captain's Skill and the Crew Efficiency ratings for each side are listed under the appropriate commander's description. Opponents' ratings are either listed in the scenario by the GM, or rolled up using the rules in the Starship Tactical Combat Simulator.

WHITE FLAME CUSTOM RULES and RULE EXTENSIONS
(mandatory FASA and custom rules set by the scenario designer.)

These are all the examples of the kind of rules that where supplied in the White Flame Book. The rules use all of STCS rules and in some cases expands on them to add to a customized scenario, rarely are these rules re-used in more than one scenario; some are created for specific scenario types and some are general and used several times. These new rules are fairly straight forward and nothing extensive.

White Flame's VICTORY CONDITIONS and TABLES:
The book has expanded the Victory guidelines by adding custom variations of the STCS rules to provide a better method to determine victors in custom scenarios.

<insert victory information here>

White Flame's SPECIAL RULES:
You can use what is presented here or come up with different ideas. Just remember not to over complicate them and avoid straying from the normal when possible. Usually only one - three special rules are all that is needed per scenario.

One general rule the book did supply;
Escape by Warping Out, use the following rule: any vessel with warp capability may Warp Out at the beginning of the phase(players simply declare their intentions). However, the vessel must have at least one movement point remaining during that phase. This rule applies to any scenerio that has the option to Warp Out on, Warping out refers to changing ones Warp speed and Course as to move away ffrom the current area fast, escaping the situation.

ESCAPE

• The freighters escape by leaving the Board or Warping Out. Any Vessel leaving the board can not return.
• Any vessel escapes by Warping Out or by exiting the board at anytime. Vessels cannot reenter the board.
• Players escape by Warping Out, or by exiting on their side of the map. Any vessel leaving the map may not return.
• The Romulan player escapes by Warping Out or by leaving the board. The Klingon player escapes only by exiting the  map on the left edge.
• Both players escape by Warping Out, but cannot escape off a map edge. If a starship leaves a map edge, float the map to accommodate that ship.
• Either Player's warships may escape by exiting the mapboard or by Warping out, but the Defending freighters may only escape by exiting the left side of the board. Any vessels that escape may not return, but they do not count as destroyed for victory purposes.

NEUTROLIUM

• The freighters were completely loaded with Neutrolium. When these ships explode, figure damage by adding 15 points to their energy level.

FEDERATION REINFORCEMENTS

• At the beginning of Turn 4, one player rolls a die. On a result of 9 or more the Fleet from Starbase 12 arrives, and the game ends. For each successive turn, add one to the die roll.

RESTRICTION

• Ships may not Warp Out or leave the board. Doing so forces that vessel to deviate from its course into the neutral zone, placing it at the mercy of other Federation vessels in the area.

THE ASTEROIDS

• Place the first six asteroids in hexes 1401, 1601, 1801, 1418, 1618, and 1818. These asteroids move inward towards the center of the board, at a speed of 3. They move before any vessels, moving 1 during each Movement Phase. At the beginning of Turn 2, place six additional asteroids on the board, in hexes 1501, 1701, 1901, 1320, 1520, and 1720. On Turn 3, place six asteroids in the first six hexes, and so on. This continues until the end of the scenario. Asteroids may be destroyed, but have 20 damage points representing the damage they take and the number of damage points done to any ships they collide into. This damage occurs before any other damage. If an asteroid collides with a ship, that asteroid is destroyed. If the asteroids collide with each other, they move in a new direction, determined randomly, at speed three.

BEAMING AND REPAIRING

• In order to board the Searcher, the starship must be within 4 hexes of the vessel with the shield facing the vessel down. That player may move the research ship in two turns. If at some time the opposing player can beam aboard, the players each roll dice. Whichever player controlled the ship last receives a +2 bonus to the die roll. The player with the highest number now controls the ship. Please note that repairs continue to require two turns, regardless of who controls it. (Neither Captain beamed marines over, fearing an escalation of the incident).

THE SEARCHER

• The Searcher is an Anton  Class MK VI cruiser. After the player repairs the ship, it is undamaged, but only five points of power are put out by warp engines, bringing the total power available to only eleven points. The vessel may not Warp Off the board. It is otherwise unharmed. The Searcher's  Captain Skill number is the same as the skill rating for the side who controls the vessel.

RELUCTANCE TO FIRE FIRST

• Neither Captain wished to fire first upon the other's vessel. To simulate this, both captains must roll above their Captain's Skill Rating in order to fire. Ignore this rule once one vessel fires upon the other.

WARP SPEED

• This scenario begins at Warp 3, but the Warp speed increases by one at the beginning of each turn, up to Warp 9. It is assumed that the Gallant Wing is keeping up with the destroyers.

EXPLOSIVE CARGO

• One of the Freighters, Defender's choice, is filled with explosive munitions. The Attacker is not informed as to which vessel it is. When this freighter is destroyed, add 15 to the energy of the explosion. It is identical to the other freighters in all other respects.

CLOAKING EXPERTISE

• The captain of the L-42 Wings of Destruction, Captain Kvel sutai Urussig, is an expert at detecting cloaked vessels. His vessel subtracts one from all Cloak Detection rolls.

REPAIR

• The three wings returning from combat repaired their vessels to some degree. To simulate this, use the following rules. All Sensor, Shield Generator, and Engineering hits are repaired. Percent Casualties are decreased by two dice, but all weapons are not repaired. Note that Repaired weapons fire at a +1 modifier, and are powered to 1/2 their original level. Any damaged Engines and Superstructure are repaired one die worth of points.

BOARDING

• All ships contain marines, represented by boarding points. Vessels may beam marines aboard a freighter in order to capture that vessel. To do this, both the beaming vessel and the receiving vessel must have shields facing the other down. Players record the number of points beamed to that vessel and whoever is the only one with points, the Klingon player controls the ship. To conduct boarding combat, roll one die, and add the number of points aboard that ship divided by 2. This represents the number of points the opponent loses. Both players roll simultaneously at the beginning of every Movement phase.

THE RED WING

• All vessels in the Red Wing, Defending Force One, must remain within two hexes of each other at all times until the traitor is revealed.

THE TRAITOR

• Before the start of the scenario, the attacker writes down the vessel, in the defender's first force, where the traitor is located. At the beginning of any turn, the attacker may claim that vessel.

ENDING

• A large number of reinforcements for the defender are en route. This means the game ends at the end of Turn 6. Attacking vessels incapable of Warping Out at the end of Turn 6 are destroyed.

FIRING ON THE PLANET

• Victory is based on damage done to the planet. When firing upon the planet, roll the hit. A hit results in that damage, while a miss results in half damage (round down).

KILTS WOUNDS

• Kilt was ill and wounded during this engagement, and so his skill rating is 60.

END