Gridding and Movement

Type of Grid

One thing thing I've been very split on is the type of grid to use for the game. 

The only reasonable shapes are obviously hexes and squared, and each provides several advantages and disadvantages.

	Squares	Hexes
Advantages	Clear front, rear and flanks Easy to line up ships in ranks Can fit 4 ships in a square	More flexibility in movement choices Each square of movement is the same distance
Disadvantages	Diagonal movement is longer than orthogonal Less movement options	No clear flank, only front and rear Cannot neatly line up Cannot efficiently fit 4 ships in a hex

Overall I'm inclined to go with a hex grid and to split each group of 4 ships into separate hexes to not make then to small or too empty.

Movement

Movement will have to be in units of hexes. This will in theory facilitate movement by avoiding having to measure distances every time or argue over the minutiae of turning 28 or 32 degrees.

My initial thought is to have standard ships have a movement allowance of 3. Each point of movement allowance can be used to move a group of 2 ships forwards or backwards by one step or rotate by 60 degrees. Each ship group have to be moved separately but they have to remain adjacent to the other half of their group at the end of their activation.

Having each of the two part of the group moving separately will add more flexibility and hopefully interesting choices. 

Movement allowance

• Normal ships: 3
• Cruisers: 5
• Fast Battleships: 4
• Fighters: 1

Below is an example of a Fast battleship movement sequence.

Movement sequence

Final situation

Of course this might be too little movement but, given that battle groups can activate up to three times per turn, it might be enough. (pending playtesting)

Firing

Another major element which is affected by the gridding is the firing ranges and firing arcs. Now, we know that in the anime ships can fire from any direction, but the forward parts of the ships have a very high concentration of guns while the rear barely has any.

So what are our desired characteristics?

• Want to be somewhat simple and intuitive
• Needs to have different effectiveness depending on the firing arc
• Needs to have decreased effectiveness at longer ranges (but not none)
• My preference would be a single roll, no save roll or damage roll

So let's just start with something simple that can then be adjusted after playtesting.

• 1d6 is rolled per ship per attack
• Any positive result after applying modifiers is a hit
• Apply modifiers for distance
• Apply modifiers for firing arc
• Apply modifiers for target arc (opposite of firing arc modifier)

For example If the unit is firing at range 3 on its side firing arc and the target is presenting its front arc the modifier is: -4-1= -5 (only 6s hit)

Or if the unit is firing with its front arc at distance 1 to the front of the enemy, the modifier is: -1+1-1=-1 (so 2,3,4,5,6 will hit)

If the total modifier would make any roll a success, for example when firing at close distance onto the rear of an enemy group, then each 6 would explode. Exploding dice mean that you roll an additional die and also apply that result. 

The extra die could be an additional hit (or more if another 6 is rolled) or could give different other benefits.

Next Step

I think the next step after this would be to devise a short scenario and run the mechanics that we have to see how it plays out.