[mattivanhanen]

Hello all

During two decades or so of pen-and-paper role-playing gaming, I never quite got myself into the world of tabletop miniature/wargaming. Especially if the game mechanics tracked firing arcs and ranges of various tabletop game objects (like which guns of those 20 tabletop units of yours are pointing in whichever direction, which are aimed at the target, which are not, etc.). Tried out a dozen of them to find out time after time that this stuff wasn't quite my cup of tea. To keep accurate track of dozens of objects on the tabletop, using only pen and paper, was IMO a time-consuming ordeal (not to speak of the frustration if you noticed an error on your tracking papers later on, an error which would have altered the outcome of the whole scenario ) and all that was deducted from the enjoyment of my gameplay.

Then it occurred to me... how about trying out these tabletop wargames with computer-based assistance? Creating a UI/framework of sorts that keeps track of your game assets with pinpoint accuracy, throws (most of) those thousands of dices for you and gives you results with the click of a mouse button - but STILL keeping a strong sense of a tabletop wargaming on it all; the computer won't move your objects, won't throw the most critical dice rolls for you, won't edit your character/unit sheet as the game goes on - you do all that by yourself, but without the higher math and thousands of details you have to remember for each turn and for each unit like it is with pure pen-and-paper. (or at least that's how it felt to me )

So, I went out in search of three things to start from:

1) An easily scriptable virtual tabletop gaming platform. Found an open-source, non-profit platform called the RPtools.
2) A reliable set of tabletop gaming rules for space fleet combat level battling. Found a starborne board game system called Starmada.
3) A space based campaign setting that is free to use and hasn't been overused... *drum fill* Freespace.

My aim is to merge these three into something that can be enjoyed with friends and popcorn.

And thus my bold project was born - the Freespace Virtual Tabletop.

[General Battuta]

Huh. Cool. You should put those pics on Imageshack and link them using lvlshot tags.

[mattivanhanen]

You should put those pics on Imageshack and link them using lvlshot tags.

There you go.

[Droid803]

Oh yesssss.

[IronBeer]

Nifty. Looks like you've already got some work done- this I'ma watch.

[swamper123]

Excuse me , because my level of english I didnt understand very well the text, its basically a estrategy game or what?

[mattivanhanen]

Excuse me , because my level of english I didnt understand very well the text, its basically a estrategy game or what?

Yeah, a turn-based multiplayer virtual tabletop strategy game.

[mattivanhanen]

Scanning your target will reveal you important information about it's relation to your own position and heading. You will know which of your weapons are pointing at it and at what range - and most importantly - you will know which of his guns are pointing at you.

[swamper123]

Excuse me , because my level of english I didnt understand very well the text, its basically a estrategy game or what?

Yeah, a turn-based multiplayer virtual tabletop strategy game.

Thank you very much

[-Norbert-]

Do the RPtools also support 3D (in terms of graphics, the ships should still move on a 2D plain), so you can tilt and rotate the perspective?
Can ships roll to bring their upper/lower turrets to bear, or will they also be considered to fire to the sides, front or back in the game?

[mattivanhanen]

Do the RPtools also support 3D (in terms of graphics, the ships should still move on a 2D plain), so you can tilt and rotate the perspective?

Nope, it doesn't. Wish it did soon.

Can ships roll to bring their upper/lower turrets to bear, or will they also be considered to fire to the sides, front or back in the game?

Game mechanically speaking yes, roll about (turn "belly up") and roll back (normal "belly down") are implemented. Costs you some engine power for that turn though (less movement).

[-Norbert-]

Only full 180° rolls or also 90°? Because 180° won't help you bring other weapons to bear in 2D, while 90° allows you to fire the upper and lower weapons to the "sides".
If it's just 180, I'd just ignore it and define the firing arcs on the horizontal plain only.

[mattivanhanen]

Yup, only full 180° rolls so far. And you are right, the firing arcs are defined on horizontal plane only, therefore it makes sense that way.

[-Norbert-]

So in this game it's only to bring the other broadside to bear, without having to change course. It might be usefull for asymetric ships like the Darkness from Inf or the Diomedes from BP2 (if they get put in) and maybe the Ravana.

[mattivanhanen]

Hey guys, want to help me out with something?

As we all know, Freespace ship models have their turret placements in all three dimensions. However, on tabletop we have to make a conversion from 3D space to a 2D plane. So I thought that if some of you might want to contribute, feel free to help me with turret placement of the following Freespace starship designs to the Freespace VT system:

* 3 weak terran turrets of GTSC Faustus
* all turrets of TD Reliant
* 3 heavy terran turrets, 2 terran turrets and 2 light terran turrets of TFg Atropos
* 8 light turrets of TCa Sagittarius
* 2 heavy turrets, 3 medium turrets and 2 light turrets of TCa Constellation

These are mostly Terran-Vasudan War project ships, FS1 and FS2 ships will come later.

The firing arcs of Freespace VT are as follows ("north" is in the middle of arcs A and B):


      A               B

         \         /
           \     /
             \ /
C ---------*-------  D
             / \
           /     \
         /         \

     E                F

Notation is simple: If you have a weapon turret in arc A, it means that the weapon can fire "northwest" from the ship in a 60 degree arc. A weapon can cover more than one arc. So if a turret's range of motion covers both arcs A and B, it's arc is AB. For example, if you distributed Faustus's weak turrets in the following fashion, the notation would be the following...

Weak turrets: 1 x AB, 1 x AB, 1 x EF

...this means that two turrets could shoot in a 120 degree arc forward and one turret could shoot in a 120 degree arc to its rear.

So as you now know the notation, feel free to chime in.

[-Norbert-]

Didn't the Atropos pack a missile launcher on the "bottom" extension with a 360° firing angle just like it's semi-succesor, the Fenris, does?

[mattivanhanen]

Good news, Freespace VT has matured to alpha now and I'd like to give it a test run during the next week. If you are interested in giving it a try, contact me via PM.

[Legate Damar]

Does this system implement jump tactics/tactical jumps?

[mattivanhanen]

At this moment travel between subspace nodes is possible but no in-system tactical jumps. Subspace drives cannot be used on a whim though; the decision to enter subspace must be made well before the actual jump occurs.