Full Thrust

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Cover of the Full Thrust second edition rule book.

Full Thrust, Polish edition cover

Full Thrust is a science fiction strategy wargame published by Ground Zero Games of England. It is usually played with miniature figurines representing imaginary starships, although cardboard chits representing the vessels can also be used.

Full Thrust is one of the most popular games representing starships battles. The game has its own military science fiction/space opera universe. There are also many unofficial conversions to other sci-fi universes like Star Trek, Star Wars and Honor Harrington.

1 History
2 Plot and universe
3 Overview of game mechanics
4 List of available Full Thrust releases
5 References
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] History

The current version of Full Thrust is version 2.5 published between 1998 - 2000. Ver 2.5 incorporates the changes to the rules published in Fleet Book, Vol 1 and Fleet Book, Vol 2: The Xeno Files. The previous version, Ver 2.0, was the Second Edition, published in 1992, which incorporated several changes from the previous, now out of print, Ver 1.0 published in 1991.

A Ver 3.0 is planned sometime in the future, but no date has been set. Ver 2.0 however, and the Ver 2.5 Fleet Books are all available as free downloads in PDF form on the Ground Zero Games online store.

[edit] Plot and universe

Although the authors of the game stated that their universe is of second imporatance to the rules, nonetheless the universe as developed in the rulebooks has been adopted and expanded by many fans.

The official universe is an example of a military space opera, with many galactic empires fighting for control of the known space. The main political entities include four major human powers, dozens of smaller human powers and three alien races. The game is set around the year 2188.

Human Empires:^[1]

NAC — The "New Anglian Confederation" was formed in 2057. The NAC colonies fall under a constitutional monarchy. Their Royal Space Navy decended from the British Royal Navy, and is an amalgam of former British, Canadian and United States forces. Their official language is English and their capital is on the planet Albion. Their symbol is a stylized "A" shape with three bars of red, white and blue in the center.
NSL — The "Neu Swabian League" was formed in 2101 after the split of the European Space Force. Their colonies fall under a national-socialist core government. Their official language is German and their navy is known as the Kriegsraumflotte. Their capital is located on the planet Neu Slazburg. Their symbol is a stylized black eagle with spread wings on a field of red.
FSE — The "Federated States of Europe" (a.k.a. "Federal Stats Europa") was formed in 2101 after the split of the European Space Force. Their colonies fall under a democratic council core government. Their official language is French and their space navy is known as L'Astromarine des FSE. Their symbol is stylized gold bull's head with a gold star between the horns upon a field of blue.
ESU — The "Eurasian Solar Union" was formed in 2079. Their colonies fall under a primarily communist republic government made up of an amalgam of former Russian and Chinese societies. Their naval fleet, literally Military Space Fleet is known as Voyenno-Kosmicheskiy Flot in Russian and Taikong Jiann Dwee in Chinese. Their capital world is Nova Moskva. Their symbol is a red star with a gold edge on top of red field.

Alien Species:^[2]

Kra'Vak — The Kra'Vak, (their name translated as "People of the Sorrow Killer"), are clan-based bipedal anthropoids with a mix of reptillian and insectoid features. They communicate with a guttural language that is hard for humans to comprehend thus making relations with them very difficult. Relations are complicated further by the fact that Kra'vak pass through several gender and behavorial stages as they age which make them somewhat unpredictable as members of one stage are more aggressive and territorial than those in another stage. Kra'vak technology is similar to humans, but in some cases they are not as advanced. They favor powerful non-energy based weaponry such as railguns and missiles, and they also lack shield technology.
Sa'Vasku — The Sa'Vasku are extremely long-lived semi-aquatic lifeforms resembling giant nearly-immobile jellyfish. They are an ancient race that has seen many space-fairing species rise and fall. Little is known of their race except for the fact that they seem obsessed with balance and are fearful of change. They believe young space-fairing races like humans are too naive to be left unchecked and they ruthlessly oppose their expansion into space. Sa'Vasku technology is biosynthetic and their spaceships are alive, genetically created and grown for specific purposes. Their construct ships are equipped with various "weapon organs" that generate energy beams or launch spore projectiles.
Phalon — The Phalons are a carbon-based, oxygen-breathing species, somewhat humanoid in physique however they have multi-jointed limbs, exoskeletal hides and flat triangular-shaped heads dominated by single tri-lensed eye. They have three sexes, fertile males and females, and a more numerous asexual group that comprises most of their military force. Like the Sa'Vasku, Phalon technology is bio-synthetic in nature however they use genetically grown materials like humans use metal and plastic, building snail-like spaceships that are made from organic components but are not "alive" in their own right. The Phalon thinking-prosess is similar to humans, and the two species can carry on meaninful conversations, however Phalons are completely amoral. They take what they want without considering payment, and do what they wish without any regard to consequence.

[edit] Overview of game mechanics

^[3]^[4]

Full Thrust (FT) uses six-sided dice, or d6, for all combat resolutions. Typically, a game of FT requires lots of six-sided dice. In version 2.5 of the rules, measurements in FT are based on Movement Units (MU), which can be equal to whatever measurements the players wish to use. Usually they are either inches or centimeters, but this depends on the sizes of the models used and the size of the battle board. FT is more easily played on a hex-printed battle board where each 1 inch hex represents one MU. If FT is played on a "hex-less" battle board, tape measures or rulers need to be used to measure distance between models.

FT is a turn-based game, where each player secretly writes down their movement orders, then each player moves their ships simultaneously in accordance with those orders. Combat is played in several phases.

[edit] Fleet points

Players build fleets of warships based on Fleet Points. Opposing forces decide how many Fleet Points they will be using before play. The more points, usually the longer a session may take to play. Fleet Points are used to buy weapons and control systems for each ship. The more deadly the ship, the more Fleet Points it will cost to build.

Ship designs must also incorporate a Command Bridge, Life Support, and Engineering sections into their design, as well as Fire Cons centers. Without Fire Cons a ship cannot operate its weapons, and the more Fire Cons incorporated into the design, the more targets the ship can fire at per turn. It is also wise to add a few optional Damage Control crews to the design so damaged weapons and control systems have a chance of being repaired during battle.

[edit] Mass factors

In version 2 each ship has a Mass Factor that increases as the player adds systems. As the ship gets larger, its classification could change. The smallest ships are usually Scouts, Frigates, and Corvettes (10 - 50 mass); medium mass ships are Destroyers and Cruisers (50 - 100 mass); and the heaviest ships are Battleships, Dreadnoughts, and Carriers (100 - 200 mass). There are also "Superships" which have Mass Factors over 200. Adding weapons and systems cost points. In version 2.5 this has changed to a far more complex, but flexible system. Now a variety of classes, including escort, frigate, destroyer, heavy destroyer, etc, are available, and a given ship may, for example, be considered a heavy destroyer or a light cruiser depending on the wishes of the designer.

[edit] Thrust rating

All ships need sublight engines with a Thrust Rating. This number represents how many Movement Units (MU) on the battle map a ship can increase its speed per turn. Speed is incremental, so for instance a ship with a Thrust Factor of 3 can increase its speed up +3 MUs per turn from a Thrust Factor of 3 one turn, then to 6 the next, then to 9 the next, and so on. It can also slow down its thrust rating per turn as well. If were at Thrust 9, it would take it 3 turns to slow to a dead stop.

All movement of ships is planned ahead of time, before the miniatures are physically moved. These movements are written down on a Movement Orders sheet and kept secret from other players until the turn begins. Players must move their ships as they have written them down on their orders sheet. Movement orders must also include the launching of any missiles and fighters.

[edit] FTLs

Ships also have FTL (faster-than-light) drives. Every ship needs to factor an FTL system into its design, unless of course the ship is considered to be an intra-system defense ship, orbital space station, or has been pulled into combat via an FTL tug.

The nature of the FTL system in the game can be used as a weapon itself. Ships entering FTL during close combat with enemy ships have a chance to destroy ships that are next to them. This of course, has the same chances of destroying the fleeing ship as well. Ships that have fled the battle with FTL are not allowed to return to the game once they have left.

[edit] Weapons

There are several weapon systems available in the Full Thrust game:

Beam weapons

The most common ship weapons are Beam Batteries which have a power level such as 1, 2, 3 (or higher). The larger the number, the farther the battery can fire, and the more damage dice the weapon inflicts.

For every power level of the battery, the beams can fire out 12 Movement Units (MUs) from the ship on the battle board. A Level 1 battery can fire at a maximum range of 12MU. A Level 2 can fire a maximum of 24MU, and so on. For every 12MU the beam fires, it loses 1 die of damaging power. For instance: A Level 2 cannon inflicts 2 dice of damage within 12MU, and only 1 die of damage after that.

Under the Second Edition (Ver. 2.0) of the FT rules, batteries had a letter designation, with Class C batteries being equivalent to Level 1 batteries. Class A was the most powerful until Mega AA batteries were added. Mega AA's could fire the farthest, but had a chance of burning out. In Ver. 2.5 the beam weapon system was refined, and the former class A became class 3, the former class B became class 2 and so on. In theory, there is now no limit to how powerful a beam weapon can be; for instance, a massive super ship could have a beam weapon of class 10 (or higher), although such an application would be impractical. The ship would have a better chance of inflicting more damage with several smaller weapons instead of one super weapon.

Other weapons

Other kinds of offensive weapons include Pulse Torpedoes, Needle Beams (which can target a specific system on an enemy ship and disable it), Cluster Bombs, Missile Packs, Minelayers and "mega-damage" weapons, such as the Nova Cannon and Wave Gun.

Ships can be protected by Point-Defense Systems (PDFs) and Area-Defense Systems (ADFs) (which are clusters of smaller weapons used to shoot down missiles and enemy fighters). There are also Shield systems to use against beam attacks. Shields in FT can only defend against Beam weapons. Missiles and mass driver projectiles can pass through to the hull which are why PDFs and ADFs can be an asset. Some miscellaneous systems include Reflex Shields (which have a chance of deflecting a beam back at an attacker), Cloaking Screens, and Enhanced Sensors.

Another new edition in version 2.5 are Salvo Missiles, which are smaller missiles than in version 2.0, but launched in groups of six and more likely to hit and overwhelm point defense systems. PDFs and ADFs have been combined. With a special ADF Fire Control, a set of PDFs can fire in "area" mode.

Fleet Book Vol. 2: The Xeno Files added even more weapons including mass drivers, strange alien weapons, and living ships hulls.

[edit] Fighters

If players include carriers in their fleets, (or a ship big enough to hold a hangerbay), they dispatch groups of fighters into battle. There are many kinds of specialized fighters for different tactical attacks. Interceptors, for instance, have better chances of destroying enemy fighters, while Torpedo Fighters can inflict incredible damage upon an undefended ship.

[edit] Optional rules

The system of movement for a ship in FT is pretty straight forward, however, with the release of Full Thrust Fleet Book Vol:1 players can use more realistic, optional Vector Movement. With Vector Movement, ships can thrust in one direction, but spin around to attack sideways or as they are moving in reverse, taking advantage of inertia. Keeping track of facing and direction can be a little tricky, but if used properly, tactics can change dramatically.

[edit] List of available Full Thrust releases

Full Thrust - published 1991 (out of print).
Full Thrust: Second Edition - published 1992 (the core rule book). Available as a free PDF download at Ground Zero Games website.

Full Thrust: More Thrust - published 1993 (now out of print, this book adds more weapons, ship designs, and combat scenarios to FT). Available as a free PDF download at Ground Zero Games website.

Full Thrust: Fleet Book Vol. 1 - published 1998 (adds new rules for beam batteries, vector movement, new fleet designs, and additional background information to the FT storyline). Available as a free PDF download at Ground Zero Games website.

Full Thrust: Fleet Book Vol. 2 "The Xeno Files" - published 2000 (adds updated rules for alien spaceship fleets and weaponry). Available as a free PDF download at Ground Zero Games website.

Dirtside II (a set of combat rules based of FT for planetside battles, using marines and tanks). Available as a free PDF download at Ground Zero Games website.