Victory Decision Future Combat: Q&A

[hubbabubba]

Hmm, I don't mean to be antagonistic or horrible in any way Agis, but what you've written there seems more like an advert than an informative review.
I know I could go and trawl through the VIDE threads, but perhaps for the benefit of myself and others who are interrested in your system, you could give some kind of concise summary of the actual basic mechanics of the system. I read the part about activation based on leadership values, so you activate unit by unit based on unit leadership characteristics, or do you roll off for each unit?
Is there a reactive component to the system?

Edit: after re- reading the link and getting a better idea, a couple more quetsions.
Do all figs have to operate in units or is there scope for infiltrators, snipers heros etc to operate as individuals? I.e could I play a game of 5 or 6 elites, operating individuall vs. 20 or so standard troops operating in units/fire teams?

[hubbabubba]

I was busy editing my own post while you were replying Agis

What you've said is a good point, it is impossible for one to objectively review ones own work , perhaps one of the other members will be inspred to put a review up with a bare bones description of the game mechanics.

What about the questions I posted?

[Agis]

Q: I read the part about activation based on leadership values, so you activate unit by unit based on unit leadership characteristics, or do you roll off for each unit?
A: Before activating a unit each player declares which unit he wants to activate. Both players roll a D6 and add the Ld of the declared unit (+ other modifiers). Highest wins and activates the unit. A high Ld force - like Special forces - tend to win activation rolls several times and can there act on a higher pace.
This is BTW a unique part of ViDe. Ld modify your chances of activating your units, but you never have certainty.

Q: Is there a reactive component to the system?
A: Yes, you can put units on Overwatch by spending Command Points. As an Overwatch action you can shoot or move (away). Command Points (CPs) are an abstract game method of representing experience, tactical awareness, pre-battle planning and Force Commanders’ capabilities on the gaming table. CPs are used by the player to re-roll dice or use special actions. Each player has a number of Command Points equal to the Leadership of the model with the highest Leadership Characteristic statistic in his force.

Q: Do all figs have to operate in units or is there scope for infiltrators, snipers heroes etc to operate as individuals? I.e could I play a game of 5 or 6 elites, operating individual vs. 20 or so standard troops operating in units/fire teams?
A: Basically all minis operate in units. Some units are really small (Sniper Teams), that can infiltrate use ambush etc.. There is however a dedicated scenario in the book, that puts one elite unit on a sabotage mission against a whole army.

[Westfalia Chris]

Hi guys,

as the reference thread is not intended for in-detail discussions of individual sets, I've split your posts on ViDeFuCo into a separate thread. Hubbabubba, I'll repost your JD post into the reference thread.

[Agis]

Hi guys,

as the reference thread is not intended for in-detail discussions of individual sets, I've split your posts on ViDeFuCo into a separate thread. Hubbabubba, I'll repost your JD post into the reference thread.

Good move, thanks!
I copied the following:
Q1: I am finding Broken LoS a little confusing. Broken LoS seems to be determined on a model-by-model basis. When checking LoS from a shooting unit to a target unit, at what point does it become classified as "broken"?
  (A) when a single shooting model cannot draw LoS without it crossing intervening terrain or friendly models (since enemy models BLOCK LoS they aren't considered for Broken LoS).
  (B) when the majority of the shooting unit cannot draw LoS without it crossing intervening terrain or friendly models
  (C) something else?

A1: C – Shooting in FuCo is pretty deadly, hide, use every bit of cover that you can! Consequently be generous with broken LoS.
Quote from P. 24: “LoS is checked from model to model, while range is checked from unit leader to unit leader.”
Quote from P. 25: “As soon as you trace the “virtual” straight line through other models or terrain features but both models can still partially see one another (any part of the target model is not fully visible) the LoS becomes broken.”
So as soon as not all enemy models are in the open with clear LoS, the Broken LoS DD modifier applies.

Q2: Once you have determined that LoS is broken to at least some models in the target unit, does the +1 modifier to Hit apply to all dice rolled or just some?
On page 26, the rules state: "Roll Damage Dice: Simply roll the established number of Damage Dice and apply ONE of the following modifiers (Broken LoS OR Soft Cover OR Hard Cover)"
If both Cover (say the target unit is in a forest) and Broken LoS (a friendly unit is standing in the way) are applicable, should we default to using one over the other? Always use Cover instead of Broken LoS or vice versa?

A2: Yes, you apply ONE of the modifiers, they are not cumulative. Just as you quoted from P.25. And you always apply the modifier to all rolls of the shoot action.

If anything else comes up, feel free to ask!

[hubbabubba]

Thanks for the replies Agis.

And thanks for sorting the rules reference thread out Chris. My fault, I forgot about not making comments in the thread. Sorry for making extra work for you.

[Blue in vt]

Q: I read the part about activation based on leadership values, so you activate unit by unit based on unit leadership characteristics, or do you roll off for each unit?
A: Before activating a unit each player declares which unit he wants to activate. Both players roll a D6 and add the Ld of the declared unit (+ other modifiers). Highest wins and activates the unit. A high Ld force - like Special forces - tend to win activation rolls several times and can there act on a higher pace.
This is BTW a unique part of ViDe. Ld modify your chances of activating your units, but you never have certainty.

My question about activation is this...if team A and team B are chosen for activation and team A wins the initiative and is activated....what happens to team B?  Do they get to go right after team A? Or do they have to be nominated for activation (along with an enemy unit) again and win an iniative challenge before activation?

Thanks!

Blue

[Talarius]

what happens to team B?  [Snip]  they have to be nominated for activation (along with an enemy unit) again and win an iniative challenge before activation?

Yes, you have to try and activate them on a subsequent roll-off. Once all of one player's units have activated the opponent can activate the remainder of their force without the need to roll off. Each turn you will be activating all the units in your force, you just have to hope that Luck favors you and you win more roll-offs.

[Agis]

I changed again some minor errors; Changes 21.12.2013:
Page  87 - Points for Close Combat Specialist added, other points corrected
Page 102 - Jet-Pack option added to 22.2.2. Hardshell Power Armour Combat Suit Command Section
Page 106 - Points for Close Combat Specialist added 

There is now an "Updates" section on my website:
http://www.adpublishing.de/html/fuco_updates.html

And I have added some more example units to give you an idea what kind of units can be created with Future Combat:

Robots by Copplestone Casting - High Tech Infantry Platoon Combat Element;
Multirole Combat Suit Infantry Squad - 335 points; Options: Kinetic Pulse Carbines (-5 points), Pioneer option for whole unit to represent the additional toughness of Robots (the Tenacity ability will help a lot!) (+35 points), 5 minis removed from unit (5*37= -185 points), Overall Cost: 180 points


Modern Troops by The Assault Group - Low Tech Infantry Platoon Combat Element;
Rifle Squad - 130 points; Options: 4* Assault Rifle (4*6 = +24 points), 1* Grenade Launcher (+10 points), 1* LMG (+30 points), 5 minis removed from sqaud (5*12 = -60 points), Overall Cost: 134 points


Troops by DUST-Models - Mid Tech Infantry Platoon Combat Element;
Ballistic Armour Rifle Squad - 250 points; Options: 4* Experimental Laser Rifle (4*5 = +20 points), 1* LMG (+30 points), Enhanced option for whole unit to represent the weird war touch (+135 points)5 minis removed from unit (5*48 = -240 points), Overall Cost: 195 points

[Agis]

V 010003 – 140111
Changes 11.01.2014:
Page   3 - DreamForge added under "Miniatures shown in this publication"
Ash Barker added under "Creative Consulting, additional Editing and Proofreading"; he edited severalgrammatical and verb tense items out of the book. No rules were changed but reading the rules should now be more accessible.
Page 38 - New Weapon Feature Z Infection/X+ added.
Page 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 94 - Flechette Gun added.
Page 95 - Option to take the new Weapon Feature Z Infection/X+ added.
Page 99 - Lasergun added to 22.1.6. High Tech Infantry Hardshell Weapons
Page 97, 100, 101, 105, 113 - Guided Flechette Gun added.
Page 102, 109 - High Tech Infantry Weapons chart added under Options.
Page 113 - Picture added.

[rollntider]

Will you be doing an expansion to cover martians i.e. mars attacks? I love these rules what I have read so far. I just don't see disentigration guns freeze guns etc. Thanks

[Agis]

Will you be doing an expansion to cover martians i.e. mars attacks? I love these rules what I have read so far. I just don't see disentigration guns freeze guns etc. Thanks

Thanks for the nice comment!
A dedicated Mars Attack supplement is - for copyright reasons - not possible. 

But it is certainly possible to use ViDe FuCo for Mars Attack. I drafted a unit here: [url]http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=38951.msg717889#msg717889[url]
For your convenience reposted:
Not difficult to tackle.  Wink
The Future Combat book features 3 army lists at different tech levels.
The Martians would be well covered by the High Tech list.

Basic Combat Element is the Multirole Combat Suit (MCS). The MSC entry provides agood starting Point for a Martian unit.

The unit Looks like this:
Multirole Combat Suit Infantry Squad - 335 points
Multirole Combat Suit (MCS) Infantry provide the backbone of the High Tech Infantry. Their power armoured suits allow faster movement in difficult terrain while providing highly advanced protection and battlefield awareness.
1st MCS Fire Team: MCS Squad Leader (unit leader) with Laser Carbine, 4 MCS Soldiers with Laser Rifles.
2nd MCS Fire Team: MCS Team Leader with Laser Carbine, 4 MCS Soldiers with Laser Rifles.
Type                Critical   Hit   Save   Ld   Ability
MCS Squad Leader,
MCS Team Leader   6+   4+   4+   5   Fire Team, Grenades, Light Footed,
Night Vision, Tank Hunter
MCS Soldier   6+   4+   4+   4   Fire Team, Grenades, Light Footed,
Night Vision, Tank Hunter

Weapon                U/T   Range   Damage   Features   Points
Laser Carbine   3   12”   3xD6   Laser   6
Laser Rifle   3   24”   D6+1   Laser   6

Laser
Laser or similar Beam weapons can inflict additional damage once they hit the target.
After all shooting attacks are resolved count the number of unsaved hits of the target unit. Roll for armour Save for that number again ignoring any cover modifiers or Infantry Cover saves. Which models to remove is again the choice of the model owning player.

So without any Options you have a power armoured unit (2+ save in Hard cover!) with a very decent ranged weapon.
But that is only where the fun starts.
The Options enable you then to fully stat your Units in almost any way desired...
Youn can add Artillery Specialist or Medics.  You can equip the unit with Special weapons as an Anti Aircraft Guided Missile Launcher, Anti Tank Guided Missile Launcher, Flamethrower, Guided Grenade Launcher, Laser Assault Weapon, Kinetic Pulse Gun or Light Plasma Launcher ... and BTW all weapons have Points costs, so no guessing around.
Or you can give the unit a different combat role:
Close Combat Specialist, Cavalry, Motor or Hoverbikes, Combat Drugs , Jet Packs, Stealth Package etc etc
Using the above rules I only have to rename the MSC unit and have a nice Martian Invader unit:

Martian Invader  Infantry Squad - 335 points  
1st Martian Invader Fire Team: Martian Squad Leader (unit leader) with Laser Carbine, 4 Martian Soldiers with Laser Rifles.
2nd Martian Invader Fire Team: Martian Team Leader with Laser Carbine, 4 Martian Soldiers with Laser Rifles.
Type                        Critical   Hit   Save   Ld   Ability
Martian Squad Leader,
Martian Team Leader   6+   4+   4+   5   Fire Team, Grenades, Light Footed, Night Vision, Tank Hunter
Martian Soldier           6+   4+   4+   4   Fire Team, Grenades, Light Footed, Night Vision, Tank Hunter

Weapon                U/T   Range   Damage   Features   Points
Deathray Carbine   3       12”       3xD6       Laser   6
Deathray Rifle       3       24”       D6+1       Laser   6

[Agis]

If you need any specific weapon or unit, just ask here and we can work the rules out for sure!

[rollntider]

Thank you for the info. Can't wait to play my first game. Are there anymore expansions planned for the future? 

[Agis]

Thank you for the info. Can't wait to play my first game. Are there anymore expansions planned for the future? 

Well I have started a dedicated Robot expansion, but somehow "real life" (work etc) came in the way.
Lately I got an itch to do more, so I am open to suggestions.

More heroes, character driven?
Ultraskirmish edition for 5-10 minis per side?