This is the first mission in the multi-level play style that I'm working on. You can find my latest ruminations on that in this thread. At this moment, this mission sounds like a good idea on paper (or computer screen), but I haven't tested it out. Hell, I don't even own a HWK-290, though I plan to have one soon. I'm hoping you guys can give me some feedback here and tell me how I might tweak it to make it an exciting mission.

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"Trebuchet, this is TB-2-10," the comm crackled. "I'm picking up ambient heat among those asteroids. We're going to check that out."

"Farkled," Jasc Garzana cursed as he saw the TIEs come about to head in his direction.

His bucket-of-rusty-rivets craft, the 'Last Orokeet' - an old Corellian HWK-290 - came alive as he restarted the engines. He had hoped that by running silent he would have evaded detection. It appeared these imperials were a bit more thorough than the local authorities. It was regrettable, but it squared with the information that he carried.

"What are you doing?" Anda called up from the sensors. Anda Trevver was the recon specialist who had been compiling that information.

"We've got company," he said as he hit the thrusters, "and they ain't the kind that's gonna leave politely."

Now he needed to get that information into the datapads of those who needed to know it. He wanted to survive doing it too. He was one of few Alderaanians left in the galaxy, and he didn't want to see that number diminish any further. Thankfully, the route home was plotted, as was an alternate route which wouldn't let the imps vector trace his destination. Of course, that alternate route would take him four long days to circumnavigate, in addition to the two days to get back to base.

The ways those TIEs were coming at him, he was about to have to make some decisions. Try to bug out to lightspeed (the long way or the short way?), quickly send the data over subspace with as much encryption as he could muster, and/or kill off these TIEs before their friends arrived.

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In the middle of the map, set up an asteroid field, with 12 asteroids spaces no less than a #2 straight movement marker away from eachother. The asteroids get placed according to the normal alternating method of asteroid placement, but no asteroids should be placed within a 1-3 range marker of each side (right or left) of the playing field. The 1-2 range on the rebel and imperial sides are fair game, however. The Empire sets up on their side of the table as normal.

The 'Last Orokeet' in the middle of them, facing the Empire side of the table.


Rebel Operative (HWK-290)(16) + Recon Specialist(3) + Blaster Turret(4)

vs.

2x Academy Pilot (TIE/ln)


To transmit data:
At the end of each round, unused focus tokens are turned into data tokens. To transmit the data, the Rebel Operative needs to perform an action [ transmit data]. The number of data tokens represents the degree to which the data is encrypted. The more it is encrypted, the less likely the Empire will be able to decrypt the data, which will include the subspace path it is dialed to transmit over (ie. lead them to the data's destination).

To go to Hyperspace:
The Orokeet can jump to hyperspace while all of the following conditions are met:
* Be more than range 1-2 away from any asteroid.
* Facing the edge of the map to the rebel player's right (and the Imperial player's left) OR the opposite edge. the rebel player's right means Jasc has chosen the long way around, and his left means he's taking the shorter (but more traceable rout).
* Not have any of the following critical damages:
- Damaged Sensor Array
- Console fire
- Thrust Control Fire
- Damaged Engine
* Perform Action [engage hyperdrive]

Imperial Reinforcements
Once the Orokeet begins to move, the Imperials are alerted to an escaping craft, and they call for backup. At the end of the second round roll one attack dice. On a focus result, the Imperial player places another two Academy TIEs on the playing field. They will be in the Empire's set-up zone and no more than range 1 removed from one another.

I like it!

A few questions:

How do either side win the scenario?

How many data tokens are needed? Is the imp player rolling dice once the data is transmitted to see if they can trace it? Is each data token forcing rerolls or adding difficulty in hits needed?

What happens depending on the side the rebel player escapes via?

I think this is a great intro scenario that can the branch off depending on the outcome.

What if you run out of Academy Pilots? It doesn't have a cap on them.

Looks like an awesome scenario though. Can't wait to see where this goes.

I like it!

A few questions:

How do either side win the scenario?

How many data tokens are needed? Is the imp player rolling dice once the data is transmitted to see if they can trace it? Is each data token forcing rerolls or adding difficulty in hits needed?

What happens depending on the side the rebel player escapes via?

I think this is a great intro scenario that can the branch off depending on the outcome.

Regarding the win/loss, this mission can have a number of different outcomes. Clearly if the imperials shoot down the Orokeet without it getting its data out, then the rebels are blind to the information that was gathered. Of course, if they shoot down the rebel after he releases his data with minimal encryption, then it's likely they'll decrypt the data and have an idea where they might find its intended recipients - which would be nearly the worst possible outcome. The worst possible outcome is if the imperials are able to disable the Orokeet by way of a crit that can't be repaired. That way the imperials just have to wait until a ship with a tractor beam arrives, for them to capture the rebels, download the data directly, torture the rebels and find out all they know. (Well, maybe. Torture is not the most effective means of gathering information.)

The idea is that this mission is the first in a series, which will be designed after I've had this one playtested. Just like you said, there are a number of ways this can branch out.

What if you run out of Academy Pilots? It doesn't have a cap on them.

Looks like an awesome scenario though. Can't wait to see where this goes.

Thanks! I'm open to ideas you might have. Feel free to friend and/or message me.

What will happen if the players run out of academies is that the rebel gets a little bit of a break. Of course, the models are entirely recyclable once destroyed. I figure that between two players, there should be enough TIE fighter models to go around.

Makes the scenario dependent on how many TIEs you own, which I suppose ain't too bad. For consistency you could either cap the TIEs at four/five/six or maybe have it escalate. If you're unlucky enough to call in all your Academies the Alpha Squadron Pilots start to arrive...

Makes the scenario dependent on how many TIEs you own, which I suppose ain't too bad. For consistency you could either cap the TIEs at four/five/six or maybe have it escalate. If you're unlucky enough to call in all your Academies the Alpha Squadron Pilots start to arrive...

True. I have yet to see the balance of the mission. Regulating the appearance of reinforcements can be how I tweak that balance.

Okay, so today I've been playtesting up a storm. I've tried a number of things, but this mission is just nigh impossible for the HWK to survive. I tried adding the blaster turret, but that just eats up Focus, even if the recon specialist gives him focus to spare. I've tried not doing the reinforcements, and I also just added boost.

I think I'm really going to have to cut down on the number of asteroids, given that these make it very problematic for the HWK to make the jump to lightspeed. That and/or the ion cannon turret.

with the transport,comes a token marking a "jump to hyperspace"

there is also tokens increasing ofense, energy and other things...

this is how i would run your scenario:

you need 5 "energy" tokens to mark your jump to hyperspace

and 10 "data" tokens to mark data

you set the orokeet in the map, and after 2 turns, you set imperial forces whenever the imperial wants but at distance 1 of any border he wishes

each turn you can use an action to gain 1 energy or encrypt

when you have 5 energy , you place the jump to hyperspace on the board and at the "end" phase, move the orokeet to the other side of the token (or if you have no hyperspace token just use a 1 maneuver template) and remove all imperial ships

2 turns later, the imperial set up again wherever they want but at distance 1 of any border (they are following but since ties have no hyperspace, they need to return to the capital ship)

thats the only change id make maybe give the orokeet one extra defense die

oh right, id use a 2 meters long board, you need like 7 turns to get to one side to the other at max speed

the scenario ends whenever the orokeet makes a jump and the movement takes him out of the border

at the end of the scenario, the imperial rolls 10 red dice, one less for each encription token and the results "damage" tells you your next campaign

Great idea. Here are some tweaks I'd consider:

For a more durable Orokeet, it could be a YT-1300, or the HWK could add a Shield Upgrade, Hull Upgrade or Engine Upgrade.

Ion Cannon Turret seems like a great option with so many asteroids around.

You could give the Orokeet a maximum point value and a handful of upgrades to choose from, giving the Rebel player some customization options before the mission begins.

Cutting the number of asteroids seems like a good idea. I always like a bit of randomness in mission setup, so maybe roll an attack die: [critical hit] place 7, [hit] place 8, [blank] place 9, [focus] place 10.

Cap the number of TIEs at 3 or 4 at most if you're using an HWK, maybe 4 or 5 if you're using a YT-1300, and make reinforcements reliant upon a die-roll of some kind. Maybe at the end of each round in which the Orokeet takes the "Transmit Data" action, the Imperial player can roll an attack die. On a [focus] 1 reinforcement Academy Pilot is placed, on a [hit] 2 Academy Pilots are placed, on a [critical hit] 2 Academy Pilots or 1 named TIE pilot (Howlrunner, Dark Curse, Backstabber) can be placed; additionally, if no TIEs are in the game area at the end of any round, place 1.

An A-Wing or X-Wing wingman might make for a more balanced mission all-around, but I understand why that might not fit the narrative.

The "Transmit Data" action could be dissociated from any tokens, but could be assisted by using a Focus token to count as 2 data tokens instead of 1.

End conditions and levels of success should be known ahead of time so the Orokeet player can make a reasonable risk assessment. If 3 data tokens is the minimum required to escape, 6 is safer but still not assured of a perfectly clean getaway, and 10 is squeaky clean, I'd want to know that so I can decide whether it's worth it to stick around an extra turn and achieve the next level of success, even if it means I have to endure another round of TIE laser fire.

A lot of good suggestions from what I'm reading.

For the reinforcements on the Imp side you could probably do something like Mission 2 of the Hoth Evacuation Scenario made for the Transport. You could set up points on the board where reinforcements will come in at the end of several predetermined rounds.

After some playtest with different options, it seems like the best rebalancing results from returning the asteroid distance placement to the 1 range distance, rather than the #2 straight movement marker. I wanted to have a tight asteroid field for the labyrinthine feel of it, but the HWK's dial is just not set up for that. The TIEs on the other hand, are brilliant at it, with their #1 turns.

with the transport,comes a token marking a "jump to hyperspace" there is also tokens increasing ofense, energy and other things...

this is how i would run your scenario:

you need 5 "energy" tokens to mark your jump to hyperspace and 10 "data" tokens to mark data

I've not seen the material that comes with the transport. I'm tempted to get it, but I've made a number of purchases already this week and probably need to cool it for a few. Also, given the transport's modest utility in most games that I play, I'd want to know for certain that this campaign-style play is going to pay off for me.

So, in the meantime, I'm open to being convinced that the jump-to-hyperspace method introduced in the Transport is one worthy of adoption. Is it the same as in the Tantive? IIRC, for the Tantive, all that needs to happen is to wait 6 turns. I'd prefer to have a single mechanic to run the jump to hyperspace. I'd appreciate your input in the thread that deals with this.

Cutting the number of asteroids seems like a good idea. I always like a bit of randomness in mission setup, so maybe roll an attack die: [critical hit] place 7, [hit] place 8, [blank] place 9, [focus] place 10.

I do like the idea of a random number of asteroids. Last night I ended on 10 asteroids (after trying 12, because I own two Core sets), spaced at least Range 1 apart. That gave the HWK room to maneuver. Within the square that's Range 2 away from every edge, it makes asteroid placement really competitive. However, because I don't want this to actually be too much more than an introductory mission that sets the scene for later events, I don't expect players to build up expertise in the placement tactics of it.

Here's a visual of my set-up:

Cap the number of TIEs at 3 or 4 at most if you're using an HWK, maybe 4 or 5 if you're using a YT-1300, and make reinforcements reliant upon a die-roll of some kind. Maybe at the end of each round in which the Orokeet takes the "Transmit Data" action, the Imperial player can roll an attack die. On a [focus] 1 reinforcement Academy Pilot is placed, on a [hit] 2 Academy Pilots are placed, on a [critical hit] 2 Academy Pilots or 1 named TIE pilot (Howlrunner, Dark Curse, Backstabber) can be placed; additionally, if no TIEs are in the game area at the end of any round, place 1.

I want to stay away from named pilots for now. I like the idea of characters being developed, and they may have named-character abilities with a slip of post-it note over the name on the official card. But I'm not that far out in the development of this yet.

The narrative has this being two freshly-minted TIE squadrons aboard a Vindicator-class heavy cruiser. It's currently on patrol, with elements of TIEs spread around the patrol area. When the 1st element of TIEs spots the Orokeet, they call in reinforcements, which narratively arrive as soon as they can, mechanically whenever the eyeballs hit.

Balance-wise, now that the Orokeet can maneuver, it becomes more of a time-game. How fast can the Orokeet bug out vs. how quickly can the TIEs reduce her shield and hull. Reinforcements entering in the deployment zone may not do much more than add the feeling of pressure, given that they might be too late to get their attacks on the Orokeet in before she pulls the levers.

End conditions and levels of success should be known ahead of time so the Orokeet player can make a reasonable risk assessment. If 3 data tokens is the minimum required to escape, 6 is safer but still not assured of a perfectly clean getaway, and 10 is squeaky clean, I'd want to know that so I can decide whether it's worth it to stick around an extra turn and achieve the next level of success, even if it means I have to endure another round of TIE laser fire.

The way I've been thinking about it is that with the recon specialist on board, the rebel player can actually build up a lot of data tokens as long as those focus tokens aren't being used to evade. The number of imperial focus tokens on the board when the message is transmitted divided by the number of data tokens that the rebel sends off fives us the odds of decryption. E.g. after three turns, the rebel has been able to convert five focus tokens (having used one to evade). The Combat Phase hasn't taken place yet, and both TIEs are focused. The rebel does Action [transmit], and the Imperial devotes both focus tokens to interception. That gives the imperials (2/5=)40% chance to decrypt.

I imagine that this is where the Imperial reinforcements (should they appear) would be really important.

That last bit to determine the chance of encryption sounds like the whole mission could be won or lost based on a die-roll after the scenario, which seems unsatisfying to me.

Concrete goals -- say, 2 net focus tokens for a partial win, 4 net focus tokens for a full win, or whatever -- can be calculated easily during play and give players the feeling that their dogfighting skills are making the difference.

That last bit to determine the chance of encryption sounds like the whole mission could be won or lost based on a die-roll after the scenario, which seems unsatisfying to me.

You're quite right about that. Sending the transmission, in the campaign context, is also a very risky choice that the pilot should only make if it's otherwise clear that he's toast. And maybe even not then. I don't know. I haven't worked out how it will all end yet.

However, I think that in the RW context of cyberwar - which is also alive and well in the SWU - I think there's poetic value in the indeterminacy of the flow of information. You play with it at your peril.

Concrete goals -- say, 2 net focus tokens for a partial win, 4 net focus tokens for a full win, or whatever -- can be calculated easily during play and give players the feeling that their dogfighting skills are making the difference.

I'm working on coding the mission outcomes into my online (to be) system. I'll see how I wind up doing it, but I have to say that I do like the unknown fog-of-war aspect of a probability. But, I've not gotten to that part of the coding yet, so I'm open for further argument.

By the way, at some point, I think it'd be fun to come down to Corvallis to show this off. You have a train station in the vicinity right? Though, when it's online I won't actually have to be there in person.

mmmm i didnt write the jump to hyperspace mechanic from the transport scenario, i was talking based of some comics i have, called on the shadow of yavin, there, the rebels get away from the imperials doing little jumps (and are traced several times and followed)

Hey guys,

Was collecting innovative campaigns/missions to try, thought this one was a lot of fun.

Do you guys have an updated version?

I'm kind of mangling it right now trying to figure out how it works...

Hey guys,

Was collecting innovative campaigns/missions to try, thought this one was a lot of fun.

Do you guys have an updated version?

I'm kind of mangling it right now trying to figure out how it works...

Yes, I do have an updated version. It's online, but it's behind a ID/PW wall.

It's just the start of a series of missions; the outcome conditions of each mission determine both the mission as well as some parameters and lore text within in.

The overall campaign is far from complete, but I'd like to get some outside playtesting of what I have. PM me with user name and password, and I'll set you up. Ideally, your opponent should do this too.

Sorry if this all sounds convoluted. It's just because it is the start of an interactive campaign with a fog of war that it has to be that way.