These are the rules in effect for Fog of War 6.
These rules were originally written by Jeff 'Blackbeard'
Tonglet but this version represents revisions based
on the experience gained in PBEM play. They are currently maintained by
In a real-life battle, it is next to impossible for a fleet admiral on one ship to have a lengthy tactical discussion with a captain on another ship. Enemy ships are flying by, damage reports are broadcast, ships are blowing up, etc. Life does not have a pause button, and combat doesn't even have a "normal speed" button.
To simulate the limited capabilities of ships (and captains) to communicate with each other during combat, this is a set of rules to simulate limited communication between ships:
1) General overview
2) Limits of this rule set
3) Scenario organization
4) Fleet organization
5) Communication limits
7) Ship damage
Each ship may send and receive a limited number of messages every sitrep. These messages are routed through the moderator
with each SOP, who then sends to the receiving ship as many messages as the
receiving ship can handle.
These "comm rules" are designed for use
with Star Fleet Arena's
Squadron Rules. No breaks, no autobreaks, except
one universal autobreak after every 4th impulse, although other 'universal autobreak'
schemes could be used (e.g. the Operation Unity PBEM system, or the Fleet
Action Rules).
In a face to face scenario, these rules could only be used if teammates were isolated from each other. (That's why nobody tried to develop comm rules until PBEM. The whole point of face to face is for everyone to get together.)
When combined with TacIntel (D17.0), Secret Damage (D17.6), and Deception (D17.7), it can create a situation in which even the Fleet Admiral does not know the entire picture, the "Fog of War". However, TacIntel is not required for comm rules to work.
(SJGT2.1) These rules are best suited for PBEM scenarios involving several ships per side. At least 5 is a suggested minimum.
(SJGT2.2) Comm rules should only be used in scenarios where each player controls exactly ONE ship. If one player had several ships, those "captains" would be talking to each other constantly. While it is possible for one player to control more than one ship if not enough players are available, this must be done carefully to avoid too much cohesion between those ships. Experience suggests that two small ships, or two ships with different missions (a scout and a combat ship, a carrier escort and a scout etc) can be used if necessary.
(SJGT2.3) Players are on their honor not to communicate with teammates concerning the scenario. (This is next to impossible to enforce, but cheating only brings hollow victories.)
(SJGT3.1) Before the scenario starts, all players should have a reasonable amount of time to do as much communicating as they want. (The admiral has summoned all his captains to the briefing room on the flagship.) A month or two is not unreasonable.
(SJGT3.2) Once the scenario starts, players may only send messages to the moderator with each SOP, who will distribute them to the other players.
(SGJT3.3) At the end of every sitrep, as the last step in that sitrep, a "communications step" is added to the Sequence of Play.
(SJGT3.4) During the communications step, the moderator sends out messages to each ship, up to that ship's limits. The messages sent are those submitted during the immediately previous SOP.
Example:
a) Players submit SOPs for impulses 5-8 and messages for impulse 8.
b) Moderator sends back SITREP for impulse 8, along with messages broadcast on
impulse 8.
(SJGT3.5) Players MAY NOT send e-mails, post to BBS's, or in any other way communicate to each other regarding the scenario. (BIG NOTE: This entire comm rules system depends on players being on their honor in upholding this.)
(SJGT4.1) A fleet must be organized into squadrons.
Squadrons must be defined before the scenario begins. A Squadron consists of a
Squadron leader and one or two other ships.
(SJGT4.2) A two tiered squadron structure is allowed
in a fleet if the top tier is the "Command squadron" consisting of
the fleet flagship and the squadron leaders.
(SJGT4.3) No ship may be part of more than one squadron, except as part of the
two-tiered structure.
(SJGT4.4) Squdron's advantages: A squadron/group
leader ship may send a blanket message to the remainder of the squadron without
the message blocking the radios of the rest of the fleet. (See SJGT5.4)
Top
(SJGT5.1) Ships have a number of radios equal to their command rating. Ships with a command rating less than 4 are assumed to have 4 radios. Independently controlled fighter squadrons and PF's have 4 radios.
(SJGT5.2) Each radio is capable of either sending or receiving messages
during a communications step, but not both.
(SJGT5.3) The captain of each ship decides how to use each radio by the number
of messages he sends during a comm step. For example,
a Federation DN has 10 radios. The Federation Admiral decides to send 4
messages during this communications step. This allows 6 radios to be available
to receive messages. (but see SJGT5.7
below).
(SJGT5.31) PLAYERS ON THE SAME SHIP: When two players are physically
located on the same ship (such as the captain and the commander of a Fighter or
PF squadron), the two players can send one message of any length to each other
on each SOP. These messages travel over the ship's internal intercom, and do nto take up a radio, but are subject to the four-impulse
delay.
(SJGT5.33) EXECUTIVE OFFICERS: XOs are on the
bridge with the Captain, and can communicate with the Captain at any time, with
no limits, through any medium, without taking up a radio, with no delay. These
messages do not need to be passed through the Moderator, but should be CCed to him.
(SJGT5.33) OBSERVERS: Observers will receive all Sitreps,
SOPs, EAFs, and communication that are routed to or
from the ship's Captain, but cannot respond in any way. They only observe.
(SJGT5.4) SPOKEN MESSAGES ONLY
(SJGT5.41) All messages must be in unabbreviated English. The only exception is that standard SFB abbreviations may be used (e.g. SP for scatterpack).
(SJGT5.42) The moderator has the right to block any message he feels violates this, but must provide an explanation to the sending ship. In essence the moderator determines what is and is not an acceptable message.
(SJGT5.4) SEND OPTIONS:
Each radio on a ship used to send a message can send to either:
a) one specific ship
b) all ships in a squadron. See (SJGT4.0) Note the
Command squadron is also a squadron for this purpose
c) in the clear (to everyone with an available radio).
(Note, for (a), there is no mention of friendly or enemy.)
(SJGT5.41) SHUTTLECRAFT and PFs: Typically,
the same player will fly the shuttle and the launching ship, in which case the
shuttlecraft radio do not operate while this is so. The shuttle radio will
begin to function if the launching ship is destroyed in this case. If one
player controls several fighters but not the launching ship, only the fighter
leader's radios operate. If one player controls several PFs
but not the tender, only one's (usually the leader's)
radios operate.
(SJGT5.5) PRIORITY: Each message is assigned a priority by the sender,
from 1 to 9, 1 being the highest priority. All messages sent from one fleet to
another are given Priority 9 regardless of what the sender wanted. All messages
not assigned a priority by the sender are considered Priority 9.
(SJGT5.6) Sending a message voids the cloaking device. Receiving messages have
no effect on the cloak.
(SJGT5.7) USAGE PRIORITY:
Priority for a ship's radio usage is as follows:
a) Outgoing messages, by priority.
b) Incoming messages, by priority.
(SJGT5.8) If there are more messages than radios, then the lowest priority messages are lost. In the case of equal priority messages, random message(s) will be lost.
(SJGT5.9) Message Length: No message can be more than 128 characters in length. If needed, this can be used for formating: