CADET SCENARIO #1: BATTLE DRILL
This scenario is a training exercise. You, as commander of the starship
Constellation, are assigned to track down and destroy a series of five
target drones. The exercise is intended to give you experience in
controlling your ship and firing its weapons. A few minutes ago you moved
your ship into the starting position. This scenario can be played several
times with slight variations. You'll be told more about that later.
PLAYERS: This is a scenario for
one player only.
REQUIRED MATERIALS: You will need the Federation Cadet cruiser SSD, the 8-Impulse Movement Chart, the Basic Impulse Procedure Chart, the map with sectors A and B, the counter for the Federation cruiser (representing the Constellation), five of the Klingon drone counters, one six-sided die, a pencil, and some scratch paper. The Cadet Sequence of Play will be used in Scenarios #1-#6. Put all other materials aside for the time being.
NOTE: As the ship cannot be damaged, there will be no need to mark on the SSD. It is used only to remind you of the firing arcs of your phasers. In later scenarios, when the ship can be damaged, you will need to make photocopies of the SSDs before playing. Be sure to never mark on your original SSD sheets as you will need these to make copies for future games.
SCENARIO SET UP: This scenario takes place entirely within Area "A" on the map (as defined by the straight white line). Any drone which leaves this area has escaped and cannot be fired at. If the ship leaves the area, the scenario is over. You have already placed the ship in hex 0111 facing in direction A (toward hex 0110). The ship will move at a speed of 8 hexes per turn during the entire scenario. The player can turn the ship as allowed by its turn mode (which is 2 at a speed of 8). You have already satisfied your turn mode and can turn on the first impulse if you desire. Place the counter for drone A in hex 0101 facing in direction C, drone B in hex 0207 facing in direction B, drone C in hex 0705 facing in direction D, drone D in hex 0810 facing in direction F, and drone E in hex 0801 facing in direction D. Each drone moves straight ahead at a speed of 8 hexes per turn. Each drone is destroyed (removed from play) by four damage points (total, scored as part of one or more volleys). Keep track of each drone (and the damage points scored on it) on your scratch paper.
OBJECTIVE: To successfully complete this training mission, you must destroy all five target drones (before they can leave the map) within two turns. Due to the mathematical percentages, even the most perfect maneuvers give you only an 83% chance of destroying all five targets and only 99% chance of destroying four of them. Do not worry too much about "winning" or "losing" this scenario; the object here is "learning." If you scored three or more points of damage on every target (whether you destroyed it or not), you did your job successfully.
THE FIRST TURN: For purposes of example, we'll talk you through the first turn. Note that this is only one of several ways that the first turn could be played. You aren't required to move this way and may choose other courses when you play the scenario yourself. We will track the three closest drones, but you should move all of them so that you can see if you did it correctly. (We'll tell you where they should be at the end of this turn.)
First impulse: The Constellation turns right and moves to 0210. The three drones move to 0307 (drone B), 0706 (drone C), and 0710 (drone D). The closest drones are four hexes away. At that range, you cannot be guaranteed a kill with a single phaser, so you decide to hold your fire. Place the Point Of Turn marker in hex 0111.
Second impulse: The ship moves to 0310. The drones move to 0406 (drone B), 0707 (drone C), and 0609 (drone D). At this point, drone D in 0609 is at a range of 3. Even at that range, however, a die roll of 6 would score only 3 damage points, not enough to destroy it. Since it is getting closer, there is no hurry and you decide to wait.
Third impulse: The ship moves to 0409. The drones move to 0506 (drone B), 0708 (drone C), and 0509 (drone D). At this point, drone D in 0509 is one hex away. You fire the forward phaser-1. Roll the die and determine how many damage points you have scored. As this cannot be less than four at a range of 1, the drone will be destroyed. Before you can start the fourth impulse, you have to make a decision about which way to move. Look at drone C in 0708. It is three hexes away. You also note that this drone will escape (by leaving Area A) in four impulses, so it requires immediate attention. Let's look at your options:
A - Move straight ahead. If you do this, you will be in 0509 and drone C will be in 0709. This will be a range-2 shot with the right phaser, with 5 chances out of 6 of scoring a kill (four or more damage points). This is a pretty good risk. However, if you miss, you will have to turn the ship to enter hex 0615 on the next impulse to use your left phaser to destroy the drone. Moving in this direction will take you farther away from other targets and require a more round-about maneuver to reach them.
B - Turn immediately to 0510. This isn't a very good idea. It puts the
target out of the firing arc of your right side phaser and takes the
Constellation out of range of other targets. More importantly, it doesn't
improve the firing possibilities until another impulse, when the ship
reaches 0610. Of these two options, A is obviously superior. There is
another option, however, which is to go back to the third impulse
and use the left side phaser to kill drone D. This leaves the forward
phaser to be fired on the fourth impulse from 0509 toward drone C in 0709.
If you don't score a kill (only a 17% chance of that), the right side
phaser can destroy the drone on impulse #5. (Note that going back and
doing it over is not allowed in thegame. The point of this exercise is to
make you think about why and where you will use your weapons, not just
how.) Having resolved these alternatives, we proceed.
Fourth impulse: The Constellation moves to 0509. The drones move to 0605 (drone B) and to 0709 (drone C). You fire the forward phaser at drone C in 0709, with an 83% chance of scoring four or more damage points and destroying it. Roll the die now, and determine if you destroyed it or not.
Fifth impulse: The Constellation moves to 0608. Drone B moves to 0705, and (if it survived) drone C moves to 0710. If drone C survived, use your right phaser to destroy it now.
Sixth impulse: The Constellation moves to 0708.
Seventh impulse: The Constellation moves to 0807.
Eighth and final impulse: The Constellation turns left and enters hex
0806 (facing 0805). The surviving drones will be in 0809 (drone E), 0905
(drone A), and 1003 (drone B). Move the Point of Turn marker to 0807. If
you did not have to use the right side phaser on drone D,
you can use it now on any of the three drones. Which would be best? Well,
as drone E is moving away from you, it can't wait for the next turn (when
the phasers can fire again) and probably should have been shot on impulse
#7. Drone B will be the most trouble (since you can't get closer to it and
will possibly need two shots to destroy it). Drone A would probably be the
best choice. Now play the second turn, and see if you can destroy all of
the remaining target drones. Then go back and play the entire scenario,
experimenting with your own ideas for the first turn.
INSTANT REPLAY: Without learning any further rules, you can play this scenario again several times. You can modify the scenario by moving some of the drones to different starting positions. An alternative starting arrangement is 0102-C (that is, in hex 0102 facing in direction C), 0104-C, 1101-D, 0717-A, and 0112-C. Another is ship in 0717-A, drones in 0117-A, 1317-A, 0701-D, 0105-C, 1402-E.
After playing this scenario at least twice with the Federation Cadet cruiser, play the scenario once or twice with the Klingon Cadet battlecruiser (which is named Destruction). Note that while the Klingon ship has four phasers (rather than three), they are less effective and cannot guarantee four damage points at any range beyond zero (i.e., in the same hex). scenario can also be played with the other cadet ships, but as the Romulan Cadet cruiser (named Eagle), but as that ship has only two phasers, you should only use three or four target drones.
NOTE: The second scenario cannot be played without photocopies of the Cadet SSDs. You may wish to play the first scenario several times before completing your first session with this game, then obtain several photocopies before starting the second scenario. (Four to six will be enough for Scenarios #2 and #3. Simply copy the entire page with all three Cadet ships, then cut them into separate sheets and save them for later use.)