Void Assault: Some of the Mechanics.

So with the main rules mostly done for Void Assault I thought I'd share some of the games mechanics that I believe set it apart from other games. Once it's done I'm going to ask a few people to look over it for thoughts and try to get a play testing session in with some proxy ships.

No clue how this is relevant but who cares!

Crew Value

Your Crew Value is probably your most important asset. It represents not only the experience of the crew on board the ship but the equipment it has as well. It's used for most tests that you'll have to make and works as part of the shooting and boarding systems. It's also something that you purchase as part of your fleet list. This might seem a bit odd but not all ships have the same experience and equipment. Not every Galaxy class ship in Star Trek has Picard commanding it nor do they all have the tweaks LaForge made to the systems to improve them from factory default. So why should they all have the exact same stats? Obviously the better the Crew Value the more expensive it is points wise but more often than not it's better to have better crew than numbers.

Power Diversion

"All power to Shields! NOW!" is a common saying among sci-fi captains in the heat of battle, along with weapons and engines. So why is it that no game has incorporated this? Also why is it that you never see the downsides to this in the shows and films? Void Assault solves these issues. At the beginning of your turn you can choose to Divert Power on your ships to either Engines, Shields or Weapons. This gives a huge boost to that system but at a heavy cost to the other 2. This lets you get that massive firepower boost to destroy an enemy ship, but leaves you very vulnerable should you fail. Another cool thing you can do is combine it with orders.

Orders

What sort of commander sits around and does nothing for the whole battle? Exactly so this is where orders come in. Orders aren't a new concept to wargames, Imperial Guard do it a lot, but when combined with Power Diversion they have much more of an impact in game. New Heading for example lets you make 2 turns during your move phase instead of 1. Now divert your power to Engines for double speed and your battle cruiser is now right up in front of the enemy or dodging debris with remarkable ease for a ship of its size.

Escape Pods and Shuttles

Escape Pods function as a mini objective in game. You get bonus points if you can rescue them. They also function as actual escape pods for your Commander. If his ship has escape pods on and gets destroyed then he can simply jump in one and hope to be picked up. He can't do anything while in there and pods are pretty vulnerable but he can be picked up by shuttles and taken to another ship to start sending out orders again. Bonus points to whoever can permanently kill him off though. Shuttles can also be used as a commanders get away vehicle but there is a chance that he wont make it and not all ships have shuttle bays to let him on board.