FreeSpace Tactics is a tabletop space battle plot establish on the Graeco-Roman late-90s video game Descent : FreeSpace – The Great War . Take control of an advanced quad fighter and have a thrilling tussle between the Terran Alliance and the Vesudan Empire .
Chris Taylor , who helped design the original Fallout and Fallout 2 ( and should not be confused with the Chris Taylor who designed Dungeon Siege ) , is helming the design of FreeSpace Tactics . The base set of the biz has enough miniature ship for 2 – 4 players , each controlling a single ship . stint goals for the game ’s Kickstartercould increase the number of vessels admit significantly . Note that all images shown are prototypes and not final production model .
Chris explained to us a great mountain about how the game will mold and what players can expect .
io9 : At what dot in the FreeSpace timeline is this biz bent ?
Chris Taylor : FreeSpace Tactics bulge out in the final years of the Great War between the Terrans and the Vasudans , just before the Shivan invasion . In the video biz timeline , this is just more or less before the start of the first FreeSpace game . This ensures that we get the core ship that really form the baseline for gameplay : the Apollo , Valkyrie , Anubis and Horus . One attack aircraft and one interceptor for each side gave us a very solid game in the core stage set , but one we can extend with other ship type .
io9 : What camarilla will the players be capable to control ?
Taylor : The two gist camarilla are the Terrans and the Vasudans . They each have a overnice mix of ships and are like in play , but have enough differences that you do n’t feel like you are start the same side . If we ’re successful , we would care to add the alien Shivans invaders . The Shivan arm are really unlike .
Some of the mission may touch on to submarine sandwich - factions . Fans of the video plot get it on that not every Terran or Vasudan agrees with how the war should be oppose . There will be mickle of opportunity for inter - faction combat .
io9 : What type of maneuvers and weapons will be available to each ship ?
Taylor : Each ship comes with a number of attack die for a basic attack . This can be modified by your selection of move batting order . Many move board use just the introductory tone-beginning die , others have modifiers and some virtuoso cards replace the basic attack with a wholly unlike pool of die . The go-ahead time value on each move card determines when you will get to move and assault with your ship . The base of each ship type has a unlike movement arc and the colours of the arc join up with the icons on the move notice . The same move card will have a different outcome depending on which ship you playact it on .
There are move icons for straights , well-heeled turns , heavy twist and even a few 180 ° iteration . Some cards have multiple icons , so you could make a heterosexual followed by an easy turn or your choice of two types of turning . The maximum move distance is free-base on your ship .
All ship have guns , but guns add up in different flavors . Some are better at attacking shell while others do more damage against unshielded hulls . There are attack fillip for maneuvering into the rear arc of your aim or attacking at stuffy kitchen range . longsighted range shots are more difficult to make .
Most ships have missiles , but those are limited . projectile can only be fuel at average or long ambit . They employ a special attack die that varies the amount of scathe they visit but can also have a particular result . A projectile can make a vital hit that is drawn from a pile of particular counter or the projectile can misfunction wholly !
justificative cards can be played from your hand to counter an approach , but there are costs of doing so ( commonly giving up your own attack as you attempt to dodge , but there can be other negative ) .
Each fender also tally a number of ace card to the musician ’s deck . This pass on a player the prospect to custom-make their deck to conform to their play style .
io9 : manifestly this game is principally inspired by the FreeSpace video games . Does it take out stirring from any tabletop ship - to - ship armed combat game ?
Taylor : I ’ve been a rooter of tabletop space combat games for a very long clip . From the building complex , like Star Fleet Battles , to more casual games , like Silent Death , I ’ve played a bunch . No doubt there are some influence as I incorporate aspects of these games that I enjoy . It ’s not really a conscious decision , however .
The achiever of [ Fantasy Flight Games ’ ] X - Wing miniatures secret plan avail plunge FreeSpace Tactics by showing that there is a substantial demand for these types of games . They have done an excellent line with the quality of their miniatures and rule . I ’m an X - Wing player and have a decent set in my collection .
With FreeSpace Tactics , I embark on with rules for a devotee - made conventionalism secret plan that I did days ago using a dissimilar IP . It was a project that have me and my friend press some nerveless toys around a starmap and blow things up . I ’d say there are only about 10 - 20 % of those rules persist as we ’ve developed FST into its own plot . My favorite newfangled bit is the deck of cards customization , which is really a fundamental component of the game now .
io9 : In the original FreeSpace , upper-case letter ship could play a major character in missions . Is that simulate in any manner in this game ?
Taylor : Oh , the capital ship were one of the coolest parts of the original biz . We did n’t forget those ! There would be no way of life of take “ miniature ” in any scale close to the fighter , so we have architectural plan to tot up a capital ship mat with justificatory turret if we make enough stretch goal . Even without the mat , there is one scenario that postulate a uppercase ship bordering one side of the map . One team must defend the ship from attackers .
io9 : Are there unlike scenario or win condition , or any way to link missions into a sort of campaign ?
Taylor : We ’re be after on six scenarios for the core readiness . Each scenario will come with a advise list of ships to employ with the nucleus corner and then guidelines for how to increase the size with expanding upon . The first few scenario are moderately basic , but have variants to alter how they dally ( by adding asteroid or fighting within a dust swarm ) . The others are based on missions from the figurer plot . Each mission has unlike victory conditions , but you ca n’t go unseasonable by blow your opponents into quad dust .
We would enjoy to flourish the secret plan with a full - blown cause . We have theme right now for pilot experience and skills , ship repair , tech upgrade , linked missions and more . If there is enough need , we will certainly be very happy to add that to the FreeSpace Tactics system .
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