Play Guide

To play FTJava you must know how to play the tabletop miniatures game of Full Thrust first - the basic rules are covered in Full Thrust Light more advamced use in Cross Dimensions which covers most of the rules used in this version. Some xeno rules such as Kra'Vak or Phalons are only covered in Fleet Book 2.

FTJava is a game of starship battles. You command a squadron against a computer opponent. Each turn has two phases: in the movement phase you plot where every ship goes and launch fighters, torpedoes and missiles, and in the combat phase you choose what every ship shoots at. Then the game resolves the turn for both sides at once and shows you the result.

This manual follows one battle from start to finish: Human Practice, one of the three practice scenarios that come with the game. You play the Federal Stats Europa (FSE) squadron, six ships from a frigate to a carrier armed with beams, salvo missiles, submunition packs, point defense and fighters, against a Kra'Vak strike fleet with kinetic guns, scatterguns and fighters of its own. A planet, Kestrel IV, and a small asteroid belt lie between the fleets.

Starting a game

Start the game and the home window opens.

• Play Scenario... starts a new battle against automated opponent.

• Play Online... host or join an online game against the living there is a seperate Online play guide

• Load Game... opens a finished game to look through it again (see Saving and loading).

• Show Game brings back the orders window and star map if you closed them. It appears once a game is loaded.

• Resign Game gives up the game in progress. When a game is over, this button becomes View Game Log.

• Messages, at the bottom, keeps a record of what has happened: games started and loaded, turns, the end of a game.

• The File menu holds Preferences... (see Preferences) and Exit. 

• The Editor menu holds the Scenario Editor, which has a separate Scenarios design guide. And the Ship Editor which has a separate Ships design guide

Click Play Scenario... and choose a scenario file: the dialog opens in the Scenarios folder. Pick Human Practice.xml. The game then asks which side you want to play.

Choose FSE and click OK. Every other side is flown by the computer: its players are renamed Bot Alpha (...), which is how you can tell them apart.

Only one game runs at a time. If a game is already in progress, Play Scenario warns you that starting a new one ends it and clears its files. If that game is finished and you want to keep it, save it from the Game Log first.

Two windows open: the orders window and the star map.

The Orders Window

This is where you give your orders.

The ship tree (top left) lists every ship in the battle: your side first, then the enemy. A carrier's fighter groups are listed under it.

• Colours: your ships are green, enemy ships dark red, and destroyed ships grey. You can change these in Preferences.

Status dots: green means undamaged or lightly damaged, yellow moderately damaged, and red heavily damaged or critical. A skull means destroyed, a jump symbol means the ship has left by FTL, and a white flag means it has struck its colours (surrendered).

• Bold names: a ship's name turns bold once it has orders.

• Selecting: click a ship in the tree, or left-click it on the star map, to select it. The rest of the window then shows that ship, and it is highlighted on the map. Fighter groups, missiles and enemy ships are selected the same way. Where ships overlap on the map the one nearest the click is picked: zoom in, or use the tree, for the one you want.

• Right-click menu: right-click the tree for display options for the selected ship: its movement plots, weapon arcs, lock-ons and so on (see Showing ranges and arcs).

The ship diagram (top right) is the ship's control sheet. It shows its systems (weapons, fire controls, drives, screens), its hull boxes, and under it the class, race, mass and points value. Damaged systems are shown in yellow and destroyed ones crossed out in red. Hover over a system to see what it is. The diagram only shows information; clicking it does nothing.

The order panel (below) shows the selected ship's details and its orders.

• Status runs from Ok through Light, Moderate, Heavy and Critical to Destroyed.

• Armor and Hull show what is left out of the total.

• Position, Heading, Velocity and Thrust are where the ship is, which way it faces, how fast it is going and how much its drive can do this turn.

• FTL Drive Status is Available, Activated, Recharging, Damaged, Destroyed or None.

• Plot is where you type the ship's movement order.

• The buttons below change with the phase: Ship Log, Launched Weapons and Damage Control in the movement phase, and Ship Log and Weapons Targeting in the combat phase.

The submit button (bottom right) sends your orders: Submit Movement Orders in the movement phase, and Submit Combat Orders (or Skip Combat) in the combat phase.

The menus along the top:

• Game has the scenario briefing, your objectives, Resign Game and Close.

• View has the reports, the targeting summary, the star map and Save Star Map.

• Ship shows things on the map for the selected ship; Squadron does the same for all your ships at once, and Allies and Enemy for the other sides' ships.

• Help has About FTJava.

The Star Map

The star map shows the battle: every ship with its name, a small bar under the name showing its hull (and screens), the planets and asteroids, and anything in flight such as fighters and missiles. Your ships are drawn in your side's colour, the enemy's in theirs. The grid lines are 10 MU (movement units) apart at 100%; zoomed out they spread to 20, 50, 100 MU and so on, so they never crowd together. The picture of space behind the map is parallaxed: it doesn't pan with the map, it only drifts a little when you pan and grows a little as you zoom in.

Moving around the map:

• Pan: drag the map with the mouse, or scroll: two fingers on a trackpad in any direction, or the mouse wheel (hold Shift to scroll sideways). There is no edge: pan as far as you like.

• Zoom: hold Ctrl (or Cmd on a Mac) and scroll. The selected ship stays where it is while the map zooms around it; with nothing selected, the middle of the battle does. While the map window is active, + (or =) and - step through the fixed zoom levels, Shift+1 zooms to fit and Shift+0 goes back to 100%. You can also hold Cmd (Mac) or Alt and click to zoom in, and add Shift to zoom out.

• Zoom menu: right-click the map and open the Map submenu for Zoom In, Zoom Out, Zoom to Fit (everything you can see, with a margin), the fixed zoom levels from 2% to 800%, and Save Star Map.

• Clear: press Z to clear the arcs, plots and other displays on the map.

The right-click menu:

• SSD brings the orders window to the front.

• Clear removes every display from the map, including the mark.

• Map holds the zoom levels and Save Star Map.

• Center centres the map on the point you clicked.

• Set Mark puts a red cross-hair where you clicked. The mark is how you aim salvo missiles and other launched weapons, and how you send fighters somewhere (see Launching weapons and Fighters).

• If you right-click close to a ship or other object, the menu also has a submenu for it, with that ship's display options (see Showing ranges and arcs).

If you'd like the map to follow the ship you select, turn on Center on Selected Ship in Preferences.

The Movement Phase: plotting your ships

Each movement phase every ship's Plot field starts empty, which means it keeps going at the same speed and heading: an empty plot is the same as 0. Select a ship, in the tree or on the map, and the cursor is already in its Plot field: just type its order. The star map updates as you type: a ghost plot, a dashed line ending in a faint copy of the ship, shows where it will end up.

Cinematic plot orders

A plot is made of a few parts, in any order, with no spaces needed.

• A speed change: a number, with + or -. +3 or 3 speeds up by 3; -2 slows down by 2. Speed never goes below 0.

• A turn: P (port, to the left) or S (starboard, to the right) followed by how many clock points to turn. P1 turns one point to port; S2 turns two points to starboard. Headings run like a clock: 12 is up the map, 3 is right, 6 is down and 9 is left.

• A sideslip: Z (to port) or C (to starboard) followed by a number. The ship moves sideways but keeps facing the same way.

• A roll: RO or R rolls the ship over. This only works in scenarios that allow rolls, and none of the practice scenarios do.

• A jump: FTL or J activates the FTL drive (see FTL). Everything else in the order is ignored.

• Surrender: STRIKE makes the ship strike its colours: it surrenders and leaves the battle.

Examples:

• 0: no change.

• 4: speed up by 4.

• -2: slow down by 2.

• P1: turn one point to port.

• P1+2 (or +2P1): turn one point to port and speed up by 2.

• S2+1: turn two points to starboard and speed up by 1.

• Z1: sideslip one point to port.

• C2+1: sideslip two points to starboard and speed up by 1.

• J or FTL: jump.

How much a ship can do

A ship's Thrust limits its orders each turn:

• Turning: a ship can turn at most half its thrust, rounded down. A thrust 4 battleship can turn up to 2 points, a thrust 6 destroyer up to 3. Ships with an Advanced drive can turn their full thrust.

• The thrust budget: the turn, plus the speed change (up or down), plus a roll, must add up to no more than the ship's thrust. A sideslip counts double. So a thrust 4 ship can do P1+3 or P2+2, but not P2+3.

• Turning on the spot: a ship at speed 0 that doesn't change speed can turn as far as it likes for free.

If an order asks for too much, the Plot field turns red. A red order isn't refused: the game cuts it back to what the ship can do, first reducing the turn to the most it can make, then the speed change. The ghost plot shows that cut-back move, not what you typed, so if the ghost plot doesn't go where you expect, check the colour of the Plot field.

Seeing your plots on the map

The Ship menu's Movement Plots submenu (also in the tree's right-click menu) has three displays for the selected ship.

• Ghost Plot: where the ship will end this move. It is on for your own ships from the start of each movement phase.

• Plot Envelope: a shaded area showing everywhere the ship could end this move. It is on for other sides' ships, so you can see where the enemy might go.

• Ghost Trail: where the ship was last turn.

Gotchas when plotting

• Only the first turn letter counts. A second one is dropped, and its number is then read as a speed change: P1S1 turns one point to port and speeds up by 1.

• The turn number goes right after the letter. P1+3 turns 1 and speeds up by 3. In 1P3 the number after the letter wins: it turns 3 and speeds up by 1. 31P is read as a turn of 31, which is refused. Write the turn as letter-then-number, and the speed change separately.

• P-1 is not a turn. The minus sign makes -1 a speed change, so P-1 slows down by 1 with no turn.

• Any J anywhere means jump. Don't use it in anything but a jump order.

• A bare letter is a turn of 0. P alone does nothing.

• Planets and asteroids are solid. A ship whose move crosses a planet or asteroid stops at its edge and takes 1000 points of damage, which destroys it. Watch the ghost plot near Kestrel IV and the asteroids.

• A carrier that launches fighters can't move that turn. Its Plot field shows Launching... (see Launching weapons).

• The map's edge: there is no edge unless the Play Area preference is on. With it on, a red box marks the play area, and a ship that ends its move outside it leaves the battle.

Vector movement

Everything above is cinematic movement, which every scenario that comes with the game uses. A scenario can use vector movement instead (in the Scenario Editor, select the top line of the tree, click Edit, and set Movement on the Variations tab). Vector movement is closer to real spaceflight: a ship keeps moving the way it was going, whichever way it faces, and its drive only adds to that. The computer's ships know how to fly it.

Velocity, heading and course

In a vector game the order panel's plot field is called Vector Plot, and the panel shows three things that are separate now:

• Velocity: how far the ship moves each turn if you give it no orders.

• Course: the direction it is moving in, as a clock heading.

• Heading: the direction it is facing, shown in brackets before the course. This is the way its main drive pushes and the way its weapon arcs point.

A ship starts the game moving at its speed along its heading, unless the scenario says otherwise. Each turn it moves by its velocity plus whatever thrust its orders add, and whatever it ends up with carries on into the next turn. The order 0 means drift on: no thrust, keep going exactly as before. It does not stop the ship.

Vector orders

A vector order is a list of steps, separated by spaces, done in the order you write them:

• Turn: TP1 turns the ship one point to port, TS1 one point to starboard. Turning changes only which way the ship faces, not where it is going. Write a turn of two points as TP1 TP1, since each turn step pays for one point

• Burn: MD and a number fires the main drive for that much thrust in the direction the ship faces at that moment. MD3 adds 3 to its velocity along its heading

• Push: PP1 pushes the ship one point to port, PS1 one to starboard, PA1 one point backwards, without turning it. Each push can be used once a turn, and only for 1

• Roll: RO or R rolls the ship (only in scenarios that allow rolls)

• Jump: FTL or J activates the FTL drive, as in cinematic movement

• Surrender: STRIKE

Because the steps happen in order, where you put the burn matters. TP1 MD3 turns first and then burns along the new heading. MD3 TP1 burns along the old heading and then turns, so the ship ends up facing one way while moving another.

Examples:

• 0: drift on.

• MD4: speed up by 4 in the direction the ship faces.

• TP1 MD3: turn one point to port, then burn 3.

• MD2 TS1: burn 2, then turn one point to starboard.

• TS1 TS1 TS1 MD2: turn three points to starboard, then burn 2.

• PA1: push back one point, to slow down a little without turning.

• PS1: slide one point to starboard, to step out of a salvo's way.

How much a ship can do

• Thrust: the burn, each turn step and each push all come out of the ship's Thrust. A thrust 6 destroyer can do MD6, or TP1 MD5, or TP1 TP1 MD3 PA1, but not TP1 MD6.

• Turning: a ship can make at most half its thrust in turns and pushes together (at least 1). Ships with an Advanced drive can make as many as their full thrust, and their turns cost no thrust at all.

If an order asks for more than the ship can pay for, the Vector Plot field turns red. The game does what it can: a burn is cut to the thrust that is left, and turns and pushes it can't pay for are dropped. The ghost plot shows that result.

Reading the map

The ghost plot works as in cinematic movement: the dashed line runs from the ship to where it will end the move, and the faint copy faces the way it will face.

A ship's facing and its line of travel don't have to agree. Below, FSS Ibiza faces north-east but is drifting south-east, and a push backwards (PA1) only takes a little off that drift.

After the move the ships carry on. Next turn they will move just as far again, in the same directions, unless their orders change it.

Gotchas in vector movement

• Slowing down takes as long as speeding up. To stop a ship moving at 12, you have to turn it round and burn 12 against its course, over several turns if its thrust is lower. Plan the stop before you arrive, not when you get there.

• Momentum carries you into things. A ship drifting at a planet or asteroid hits it on a later turn even if you give it no orders at all. Look at where the ghost plot points, and remember next turn's move goes the same way again.

• Overshooting. Closing fast gets you to the enemy quickly and then carries you straight past. Faster is not better when you want to stay in beam range.

• Turning doesn't change where you're going. Turning a ship round changes where its guns point and where its next burn goes, but it keeps drifting the same way until it burns.

• Fighters and missiles are not affected. They move as in cinematic movement.

Showing ranges and arcs on the map

The star map can show each ship's weapon arcs and ranges, so you can see what it will be able to hit. Use the Ship menu for the selected ship, the Squadron menu for all of your ships, and the Allies and Enemy menus for the other sides' ships.

• Weapon Arcs shows the arcs and range bands of one kind of weapon: Beam, Pulse Torpedo, Salvo Missiles, Submunition Pack, Point Defense, Graser, AntiMatter Torpedo, Kinetic Gun, Scatterguns, Plasma Bolts or Pulser. For beams, each band is marked with the number of dice the ship rolls at that range. A ship shows one kind at a time; picking another replaces it.

• Lock Ons draws a line from the ship to each of its targets in the combat phase: red to the first fire control's target, yellow to the second's and green to the third's, with dotted white lines for point defense.

• Sensors shows the sensor range bands. It only appears in scenarios with fog of war; the practice scenarios have none.

• Clear Arcs removes the ship's arcs; Clear removes everything shown for it.

• Remove if Dead or Jumped takes a destroyed or departed ship off the tree and map.

The arcs are drawn from where the ship will be, not where it is. While a ship's Ghost Plot is on, its arcs and range bands are drawn from the end of its plotted move and its new heading. Change the plot and the arcs move with it, so you can check which enemies will be in range before you commit.

The map's right-click menu has the same options for a ship you click near, and an Arcs submenu for plain range rings: All shows every arc out to 12, 24, 36 or 48 MU, and each arc (Fore, Fore Port, Fore Starboard, Aft Port, Aft Starboard, Aft) can be shown on its own.

If you use these a lot, turn on Enable Accelerator Keys in Preferences. Then single keys work in the orders window: E Plot Envelope, G Ghost Plot, T Ghost Trail, B Beam, P Pulse Torpedo, M Salvo Missiles, S Submunition Pack, K Kinetic Gun, A Plasma Bolts, L Lock Ons, C Clear Arcs, Z Clear and X Remove. On their own they act on the selected ship, with Shift on your whole squadron, and with Ctrl on the enemy. They're ignored while you're typing in a Plot field.

FTL: jumping out

A ship with an FTL drive can leave the battle by jumping out.

• Two turns running: type FTL or J as its order on two turns in a row. On the first turn the drive activates (its status reads Activated); at the end of the second turn's movement the ship jumps.

• What cancels it: any other order on the second turn, or firing a weapon. If you open Weapons Targeting for a ship whose drive is active, the game warns you. Confirming shuts the drive down and the jump is lost.

• Nearby ships are dangerous. If any other ship is within 6 MU when a ship jumps, a die is rolled. On a 1 the drive fails and the ship stays. On 2 to 4 it jumps, and the ships nearby take 1 to 6 points of damage. On 5 or 6 the jumping ship is destroyed, and the ships nearby take damage equal to its whole hull. With nobody within 6 MU, it simply jumps.

• After the jump: the ship is Out of System, shown with the jump symbol in the tree. It no longer counts as a fighting ship, but it isn't destroyed.

• Arriving by FTL: a ship arriving by FTL appears on its arrival turn, scattered a random distance from where it was aimed.

Launching weapons

Fighters, salvo missiles and other launched weapons are launched in the movement phase, after you've plotted. Select the ship and click Launched Weapons. (The button only appears on ships that carry launched weapons.)

Salvo missiles

Most launched weapons are aimed with the mark. First right-click the star map where you want them to go and choose Set Mark. Then open Launched Weapons.

Each launcher has a row. Choose the salvo type in the Type list and click Launch. The Launch ID column shows the salvo's name, and Message tells you about any problem.

• Range: a salvo flies toward the mark, up to 24 MU (36 for extended-range salvos). A mark further away just means the salvo goes as far as it can.

• Lock-on: at the end of the movement phase the salvo locks on to the nearest enemy ship within 6 MU of where it is. So put the mark where the enemy will be at the end of its move, not where it is now.

• Attack: in the combat phase some of the missiles lock on, the target's point defense and fighters shoot at them, and the rest hit. The salvo is used up that turn.

• Messages: Mark is undefined means you haven't set a mark. LOS to mark blocked means a planet or asteroid is in the way, and the launch is refused. Out of arc is only a warning, but a salvo launched out of arc is dropped when the turn is resolved, so turn the ship or move the mark.

• Aborting: Abort cancels a launch. To re-aim, set a new mark, then Abort and Launch again.

• Launchers and racks: a Salvo Missile Launcher draws salvos from the ship's magazine (the Type list shows what's left). A Salvo Missile Rack holds a single salvo and is used up once fired.

Other launched weapons

Some ships in other scenarios carry these.

• AntiMatter torpedo: aimed with the mark, up to 18 MU. It locks on to the nearest enemy within 6 MU and damages everything within 3 MU of it.

• Plasma bolt: aimed with the mark, up to 30 MU. It damages everything within 6 MU of where it ends up, including your own ships.

• Missile: needs no mark. It launches straight ahead and flies for three turns, up to 18 MU a turn with a turn of up to 2 points halfway; you steer it each turn from its own panel in the ship tree (movement, turning and target). At the end of each movement phase it locks on to the nearest enemy ship within 6 MU that isn't behind it, and in the combat phase it strikes, after point defense has fired at it. Its right-click menu on the map shows Range Band (where it can strike, in red), Plot Envelope (where it can end its next move) and Lock Ons (what it is locked on to). Selecting an enemy missile shows what it is locked on to, so you know whose point defense can take it.

• Nova Cannon and Wave Gun: fire straight ahead, with no aiming. A ship that fires its Nova Cannon can't move that turn.

Fighters

A carrier's Launched Weapons dialog has a row for each fighter bay.

Click Launch on a bay to launch its fighter group. It appears on the map halfway along the carrier's move. A carrier that launches fighters can't move that turn: its Plot field shows Launching... and its order is fixed at 0.

Fighters

Once a fighter group is launched, it has its own entry in the ship tree under its carrier. Select it to give it orders.

The panel shows the group's type (attack, interceptor, torpedo and so on), its Count (how many fighters are left), its Endurance and its Speed (24 MU, or 36 for fast fighters).

• Orders is what the group does this turn. The list next to it is its target, where the order needs one.

• Secondary Movement gives the group its combat move, an extra move that closes in on its target.

• Move to Mark sends the group toward the map's mark right away, so you can see where it will go. Reset puts it back where it started.

• Fighter Log shows what the group has done.

Fighter orders

• Move: fly to the mark and defend yourself if attacked.

• Stand-off: fly to the mark and avoid combat.

• Screen: stay with a friendly ship and protect it from enemy fighters. The group flies to that ship by itself.

• Attack Target: attack an enemy ship (or Any Enemy Ship), using the combat move if Secondary Movement is ticked.

• Aggressive Attack: attack, always using the combat move.

• Conservative Attack: attack, never using the combat move.

• Engage Fighters: attack enemy fighters, torpedo fighters first.

• Engage Ranged Weapons: attack enemy missiles and torpedoes.

• Return Home: fly back to its own carrier and land. The group flies there by itself.

• Emergency Landing: land on the nearest friendly carrier. The group flies there by itself.

Fighter gotchas

• Most orders need Move to Mark. Only Screen, Return Home and Emergency Landing fly the group anywhere on their own. For Move, Stand-off and the attack and engage orders, set a mark where you want the group to go and click Move to Mark; otherwise it doesn't make its main move at all. The combat move still helps, but only against a target within 18 MU.

• The combat move: it happens after everyone else has moved. A target within 6 MU needs no move. One 6 to 12 MU away is caught; one 12 to 18 MU away is closed by 12 MU; one beyond 18 MU is out of reach. Each combat move costs 1 endurance.

• Endurance: a group starts with 6 (9 for long-range fighters). Each attack costs 1, and torpedo fighters spend all of theirs on one attack. At 0 the group can't make a combat move or do any damage, so bring it home.

• Attacks: fighters attack anything within 6 MU, and they don't need line of sight. Interceptors can't attack ships. Attack fighters are better against ships and poor against fighters. Each group attacks once a turn.

Landing

To land, a group must be ordered to Return Home (to its own carrier) or Emergency Landing (any carrier), and all of these must be true after movement:

• it is within 6 MU of the carrier;

• the carrier's order that turn is exactly 0 (no manoeuvre) or a jump;

• the carrier has an empty bay.

A carrier can take in at most half its working bays (rounded up) each turn. Landing restores the group's endurance. When a carrier is destroyed, the fighter groups still on board are damaged along with it.

Submitting orders

When every ship has its orders, click Submit Movement Orders. The computer moves its ships at the same time, and the game resolves the turn: ships move, fighters move and fight, salvos lock on, and damaged ships attempt repairs. Then the next phase opens by itself. There's no animation: the map is simply redrawn with the ships in their new places. Turn on Ghost Trail to see where they came from.

If no ship on either side has anything in range, the combat phase is skipped and the next movement phase opens straight away.

The combat phase

In the combat phase the Plot fields are greyed out, and each ship has a Weapons Targeting button instead of Launched Weapons. The warning light on the button's icon is lit when enemy salvos or fighters are after that ship.

Fire controls and targets

Each ship has one or more fire controls. A fire control tracks one target, and the weapons you slave to it fire at that target. Select a ship and click Weapons Targeting.

• Targets: each fire control (FireCon1, FireCon2, ...) has a target list. At the start of the combat phase the game picks one for you: the nearest enemy for the first fire control, the next nearest for the second. Each entry shows the arc it's in, its range and its name, nearest first. Ships hidden behind a planet or asteroid aren't listed, because nothing can shoot through them.

• Slaving weapons: every direct-fire weapon has a row. Pick None, or the fire control it should fire with.

• Weapon Report: tells you if the weapon has No target!, or if its target is Out of arc! or Out of range!. These are only warnings: the weapon is still slaved, but it won't hit anything.

• Point Defense: point defense systems, and class-1 beams if you want, can instead be pointed at an incoming salvo, missile or fighter group within 6 MU, using the Point Defense list. A class-1 beam given a point defense target doesn't also fire at its fire control's target. Point defense can also shoot at enemy ships within 6 MU.

• Area Defense Fire Control: if the ship has one, you can choose a friendly ship within 6 MU to protect, and its point defense covers that ship too.

• OK and Cancel: OK keeps your choices; Cancel keeps nothing.

The game picks targets but never picks weapons for you. Every turn, open Weapons Targeting for every ship and direct its weapons, or they won't fire. The default target is only a suggestion; change it if you'd rather shoot something else.

After you press OK, turn on Ship > Lock Ons to check your choices on the map: a red line runs to the first fire control's target.

View > Targeting Summary lists, for each enemy ship, which of your ships have it as a target, at what range, and with which weapons.

Then click Submit Combat Orders. (If none of your weapons has an enemy in range, the button reads Skip Combat instead.)

How combat is resolved

Both sides fire at the same time, in this order:

1. Salvos lock on to their targets.

2. Point defense fires at salvos, missiles and fighters.

3. Fighters fight each other, then attack ships.

4. Torpedoes, plasma bolts and similar weapons go off.

5. Salvo missiles hit.

6. Damaged ships make threshold checks (see below).

7. Ships fire their direct-fire weapons.

8. Threshold checks again, then the turn ends.

A target that has moved behind a planet or asteroid by the time a ship fires is safe: the ship holds its fire, and its log says Line of fire to (target) blocked by (planet). Point defense against fighters and missiles is never blocked.

Damage and damage control

When a ship loses a whole row of hull boxes, every system on it makes a threshold check and may be damaged. The first row lost damages a system only on a 6, the second on a 5 or 6, and later rows on 4 to 6. A system that is already damaged and fails again is destroyed. Damaged systems turn yellow on the ship diagram, and destroyed ones are crossed out in red.

In the movement phase a damaged ship's Damage Control button opens its repair crews.

Each column is a damage control team, and each row a damaged system. Assign up to three teams to a system: one team repairs it on a 6, two on a 5 or 6, and three on 4 to 6. Repairs happen at the end of the movement phase. If you don't assign any teams, the game sends them to the most important systems for you. OK keeps your choices; Cancel clears them and leaves it to the game. Destroyed systems can't be repaired.

Reports

The View menu has two reports.

Sensor Report lists every ship you can see: its player, name, status, position, heading and speed. Click a column heading to sort by it.

Full Report shows the same list at the top, then a section for every ship: its class, its ship diagram, its status, position, heading and speed, and its ship's log for the whole game.

Each ship's Ship Log button opens its log on its own: every event, turn by turn, such as hits scored and taken, systems damaged and repaired, launches, and blocked shots.

Each squadrons Fighter Log button opens its log on its own: every event, turn by turn, such as launch, hits scored and taken, combat endurance used.

The Game menu has the Scenario Briefing (the story of the battle, which both sides read) and Player Objectives (what your side has to do, which only you see). NOTE currently the objectives are not recognised by the game engine so don't impact the game play. The plans are to add an objective based game resolution.

Fog of war: the practice scenarios have none, so you see everything. Scenarios with fog of war show enemy ships in less detail the further they are from your ships: first their status is hidden, then their class becomes a size (BogeyDD, BogeyCA, BogeyBB), then they become an unnamed Bogey, and beyond five sensor bands (90 MU by default) they don't appear at all. You also don't see the enemy's logs, only when one of its ships is destroyed, jumps out or surrenders.

Resigning

To give up, use Game > Resign Game in the orders window, or the Resign Game button in the home window. The game asks first.

Resigning makes every one of your ships strike its colours, which ends the game in your opponent's favour. It can't be undone. It works in either phase: in the combat phase, your ships hold their fire and strike their colours in the movement phase that follows.

The end of the game

The game ends when only one side has ships still fighting. A ship stops fighting when it's destroyed, when it has jumped out by FTL, or when it has struck its colours. If both sides lose their last ships at once, the game ends with no winner.

When the game ends, a Game Over window shows every ship's final state, including enemy ships you couldn't see.

A planned future version will have objective based resolution.

At the end of the game

• The final turn opens in the orders window and star map, read-only;

• the Game Log window opens;

• in the home window, Resign Game becomes View Game Log, and Load Game... can be used again.

The Game Log lists every phase of every turn. Click one, or move through them with the arrow keys, to see the battle as it was at that moment. The orders window, map and reports all show that turn, with nothing hidden.

An animation of the whole battle: in the Game Log, Create Animation makes an animated GIF of the battle, one frame per phase, a second each, with the last frame held for three seconds. It suggests saving it in the game's folder as (game name)-animation.gif, and it also writes every frame as a picture in a screenshots folder next to it. The animation shows everything, with no fog of war.

Saving and loading

Saving a game in progress: choose Game > Save Game... in the orders window and give the game a name (letters, numbers, spaces, _, - and .). It's copied into the SavedGames folder, as it stands at the start of the phase on screen: orders you haven't submitted yet aren't saved with it. Nothing is saved automatically.

Saving a finished game: click Save Game... in the Game Log.

Loading: click Load Game... in the home window (or the Game Log) and choose the game's folder in SavedGames.

• A finished game opens in the Game Log for you to look through.

• A game that isn't finished asks whether to Continue Playing or Review Only. Continue Playing makes it your current game again: its latest turn opens and you carry on from there.

Only one game at a time:

• Load Game... is greyed out while a game is being played. Finish or resign it first, or quit and start the game again.

• Starting a new scenario, or continuing a saved one, replaces the files of the last game played; the game asks first. If you want to keep that game, save it before you start the next.

Closing the windows: if you close the orders window or the map by mistake, click Show Game in the home window to get them back. If you close the orders window with orders not yet sent, the game asks first.

Maps and animations

A picture of the map: View > Save Star Map (or Save Star Map in the map's right-click Map submenu) snapshots the battle as a PNG picture: exactly what the map window shows, at its size and shape, with any arcs and plots you have on, and sharp on a high-resolution screen. Use Zoom to Fit first to get the whole battle. The file has .png is added to the name if you leave it off.

An animation of the whole battle: in the Game Log, Create Animation makes an animated GIF of the battle.

Preferences

Open File > Preferences... in the home window. There are four tabs. Most settings show what they do when you hover over them. OK saves your changes; Close throws them away. Most changes take effect from the next turn or window opened. Your preferences are kept in the file home/.FTJavaPrefs in the game's folder.

StarMap

• StarMap Font, StarMap Font Size, StarMap Font Style: the font of the names on the map (default: Monospaced, 12, Plain). Names are drawn in each side's colour (set on the Orders tab), and planets and asteroids in grey.

• Selected Ship Font, Size, Style, Text Color: how the selected ship's name is drawn (default: Monospaced, 14, Bold, white).

• Destroyed Ship Font, Size, Style, Text Color: how a destroyed ship's name is drawn (default: Monospaced, 12, Italic, red).

• Background Image: the picture of space behind the map, chosen from the pictures in the Images folder (default: starfield-01-deep-field-sparse.jpg, thirteen come with the game). Any large GIF, PNG or JPEG starfield put in that folder can be selected 2560x1440 is a good size.  Darker images are better for contrast.

• Grid Lines and Grid Lines Color: the map grid, on and green as shipped.

• Grid Coordinates: rulers along the top and left edges of the map with the coordinate of each grid line (default: off).

• Center on Selected Ship: centres the map on a ship when selected, turning this off makes map zooming more counter intuitive (default: on).

• Graphical Status Bar: the small hull and screen bar under each ship's name it shows armor and hull (default: on).

• Play Area: draws the edge of the play area as a red box, and a ship or fighter group that ends a move outside it when on, leaves the battle (default: off).

Orders

• Own Ship Tab Color, Allies Ship Tab Color, Enemies Ship Tab Color, Destroyed Ship Tab Color: the colours of names in the ship tree. The first three also colour names on the map, a little lighter.

• Illegal Orders Color: the colour of a Plot field whose order asks too much (default: red).

• Enable Enemy Plotting: gives enemy ships a Plot field, so you can try out where you think they'll go. It doesn't give them orders.

• Enable Accelerator Keys: the single-key shortcuts for the Ship, Squadron, Allies and Enemy menus (see Showing ranges and arcs).

• Confirmation Popups: shows a message after you submit orders if the next turn doesn't open straight away. Against the computer it almost always does.

• Status Tab Icons: the status dots, jump symbol and white flag next to ships in the tree (default: on).

• Destroyed Tab Icon: the skull next to destroyed ships in the tree (default: on).

• Target Confirm at Top: puts the Weapons Targeting dialog's OK and Cancel buttons at the top instead of the bottom (default: on).

Ship Status

These change how systems are drawn on the ship diagram.

• System Status by Color, System Status by Icon, System Status by Crosses: show a system's state by its colour, by a small icon, and by crossed lines.

• Operational System Color, Damaged System Color, Expended System Color, Destroyed System Color: the colour of each state (default: black, yellow, blue and red).

• Cross Color: the colour of the crossed lines (default: red).

Misc

• Use Phalon Icons: when off, Phalon ships are drawn with an alternative set of pictures where there is one.

Quick reference: Cinematc plot orders

• 0: no change.

• +n or n: speed up by n. -n: slow down by n.

• Pn: turn n points to port (left). Sn: turn n points to starboard (right).

• Zn / Cn: sideslip n points to port / starboard (counts double against thrust).

• RO: roll (only in scenarios that allow it).

• FTL or J: activate the FTL drive. Two turns running jumps the ship out.

• STRIKE: surrender this ship.

• Combine them: P1+2, S2-1, Z1+1.

• Turns are at most half the ship's thrust. Turn plus speed change plus roll is at most its thrust.

• A red Plot field means the order asks too much. It will be cut back to what the ship can do, and the ghost plot shows the result.

Quick reference: Vector plot orders

• 0: drift on (no thrust).

• MDn: burn n along the way the ship faces.

• TP1 / TS1: turn one point to port / starboard; one step a point.

• PP1 / PS1 / PA1: push one point to port / starboard / backwards, once each a turn.

• RO: roll. 

• J or FTL: jump. 

• STRIKE: surrender.

• Steps happen in the order written: TP1 MD3 turns then burns, MD3 TP1 burns then turns.

• Burn plus turns (standard drives) plus pushes is at most the ship's thrust; turns plus pushes at most half of it (all of it for an Advanced drive, whose turns cost no thrust).