Solo Play rule development thread

[7eat51]

Italicized portions will be deleted.

Rosters
Each player will create a roster of eight captains. During a game, players can choose, from their roster, those captains that are available. As captains gain experience through victories, they will gain skills. As they are injured, they might have to sit out one or more scenarios. Assign ranks to your captains as appropriate to the nation for which you sail.

We'll play two three-month mini campaigns this year to play test rule sets. In January, we'll kick off a year+ campaign that will be thematic and chronological. However, for those few who brave the waters during these two mini campaigns, whatever victories they, and their AI captains, have achieved will follow onto next year's campaign. In that sense, these mini campaigns can be thought of as backstory, albeit loosely. I will set up a spreadsheet to track successes, deaths, and injuries of our captains.

For the 2015 campaign, we'll probably focus on British vs. French given the ships that are available since that campaign will be thematic. For the scenarios between now and the end of the year, we can do anything we want, substituting ships for ships of other nations. Any scenario writer who wants to do so simply tells us what we need and gives us the stats - for example "2 Dutch SoLs with the following ship logs". Any captains from this year's scenarios can be carried over to next year's campaign, and if the captains are not British or French, then they can be assumed to sail under those colors next year, or have their names “legally” changed. I will create rosters for the AI captains, and they, too, will gain experience.

Captain-Crew Mixes
Captains are able to move from ship to ship.
Crews are assigned to a specific ship.

With our game, it could make sense to have some limits based on rank, for example a Lt. not commanding a 1st rate. I don't know how restrictive we should be given that this is for fun, and is not a tournament or competition.

I think the above scheme would be the easiest regarding record keeping, and it would allow some choices as to how players set up their side for a given scenario. It might to might not be historically accurate, but it probably will work for fun gameplay.

Skills
Captains accrue skill points according to the following schema. For every 10 skill points accrued, a captain gains a new skill.

• 1 point for every ship defeated (sunk/captured) that is of a broadly defined smaller class, for example a 74-gun SoL defeating a frigate, or a frigate defeating a sloop. The scenario author will define such classes.
• 2 points for every ship defeated of the same broadly defined class.
• 3 points for every ship defeated of a broadly defined larger class.
• 1 point for achieving a scenario specific goal - does not require the taking of a ship but the achievement of a strategic goal as defined by the scenario writer.

For the first solo campaign, choose two captains and assign each one a skill of your choice.

If a crew survives two scenarios with 50% or more of the crew intact, the crew earns a skill. It will maintain the earned skills until it receives more than 50% casualties. To earn a skill, the crew must have engaged in battle, i.e. the crew must have fired its guns at an enemy ship, and received fire from an enemy ship.

Skill List

• Good Aim-When firing a broadside, and opponet draws one or more "0s", you may use this ability to make them draw an additional counter (may be used twice)
• Well-trained gunners- Single broadside may be reloaded after it has fired (may be used once)
• Elite Marines- When shooting muskets, if a "0" damage counter is drawn, you may force the opponent to draw an additional counter (may be used once)
• Hold Fast- Ship has one free crew damage box left to take a crew hit in, the ship may take an additional three crew hits before surrendering
• Skilled Quartermaster- May increase Veer by 1 for duration o the turn (may be used twice)

Folks, let's create a list of potential skills that folks can earn as they accrue victory points. I read through the captain/crew cards, but I think a more expansive list of captain/crew skills is desirable.

Awards
If you know of awards/medals captains of your respective navy earned during the time period covered, please list them here along with their requirements. These will not affect gameplay, but will give us something to toast upon recognition.

After Action Report (AAR)
After each player plays the given month's scenario, the player will write up an AAR and post it in the campaign thread. Again, I will set this up. You can write in any style you want. I will provide some guidelines as to the information I will need at the end of the AAR to do the record keeping.

Basic Rule Maneuver Principles:
Solo Maneuver Chart: http://sailsofglory.org/downloads.php?do=file&id=84
1. Choose the quadrant in which the majority of the appropriate ship is. If the ship is equally in two sectors, choose the quadrant containing the front of the ship.
2. If the wind direction falls exactly on a quadrant dividing line, randomly determine which quadrant via a die roll.
3. If a ship is taken aback, use the red card corresponding to the maneuver card generated by the AI chart.
4. When determining the +1 or +2 die roll modifier due to range to enemy ship, measure from the most advantageous firing arc red dot on the AI ship to the base of the player ship.
5. Sails are set to Battle Sails.
6. If a die roll would cause a ship to violate veer, choose sharpest turn within veer limits.

Basic Rule Combat Principles:
1. Only use Ball ammo.
2. When choosing between short and long distance shots for the AI ship, always choose short unless raking - B-damage is more deadly than A-damage - better to have less chits with greater chance of inflicting damage per chit.


Disengagement
When a ship is within the last three boxes of hull damage or crew hits, role a 6-sided die for disengagement: 1-4 = remain in battle; 5-6 = disengage. Roll each time a ship takes additional damage. Disengaging ships will attempt to exit their side as directly as possible, and will avoid combat, only taking shots of opportunity. The nature of disengaging can be altered based on scenario specific rules.

Modifiers to Disengagement Die Rolls

• +1 if both hull damage and crew hits are within the last three boxes
• +1 for each enemy ship that is not disengaging
• -1 for each friendly ship that is not disengaging
• Additional modifiers as per relevant captain/crew skills

Playing SGN solo might be a little tougher then doing so with Wings. The addition of the wind and how it effects your maneuvers is going to make creating a artificial intelligence system much harder. Don't forget that there are quite a few other things that effect just how your ship moves as well (sail settings, crew actions). There is also a lot more going on with shooting. There are three different types of ammo, three different firing arcs, reloading, waiting for a better shot, either rang or arc... the list goes on and on.

Seems like an AI system quickly would become rather complex. I hope we find it isn't beyond doing though. If it is, sadly, so be it.

If others are interested, when we have the full complement of rules, I wouldn't mind trying our hand at it. If we could develop such a system, it would greatly facilitate campaigns like Over-the-Trenches. If we can't, I for one, would learn a lot trying.

Here are some links to Aerodrome-based AI and campaign rules:
http://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/sho...Campaign-Rules
http://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/sho...ule-Amendments
http://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/dow...p?do=cat&id=13
http://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/dow...p?do=cat&id=63