Fleet Battles

## The Flow of Battle

There are several steps that occur in sequence for Fleet Battles. Fleet Battles themselves are split into 2 rounds.

A regular fleet battle is not the same as a Decisive Battle.

### **Encounter Step**

During this step, the Admiral declares the number of enemy ships as well as their names. The circumstances of the encounter are also revealed at this time. All other information may be withheld by the Admiral. The Admiral also sets out the "Fleet Sheet" with a side for both the PCs and NPCs each.

The Admiral may then choose the battlefield. If he does not wish to choose, you may default to the Parallel Engagement or the Admiral may roll 1D6 to determine it.

#### ***Battlefield Table***

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### **Start of the Round**

The PCs all become active at this point. Any effects that are to be resolved before the round take place and the PCs must then determine their cruising formation.

The cruising formation of the fleet affects several things. It affects the order of the turns and the targets that may be chosen from the enemy fleet among other things. There are 6 positions in the formation and more than one ship may occupy one at a time. It's entirely possible that even with 6 ships, the fleet may have an empty spot! Typically turns will be done in order of the highest numbered position (6) to the lowest (1) unless there are other conditions present such as range during shelling.

To determine the formation, PCs individually choose a position from 1 to 6 in secret. They then reveal their position simultaneously and place their marker on the appropriate spot on the Fleet Sheet.

At the same time, the Admiral decides the formation for the NPCs.

#### ***Reconnaissance***

At this point, the PCs may use "Reconnaissance" if their equipment is capable. By first making an "Enemy Awareness" Check the PC attempts on discerning the presence of the enemy on a location. If they succeed, they may then proceed with Recon. If the enemy has Anti-air or Extended Anti-air as an ability, they may attempt to roll against it. If their roll does not surpass the Recon value of the equipment used, the abyssals in the position are revealed. To deny the reconnaissance, the abyssals must roll dice equal to their equipment's Anti-air or Extended Anti-air capability. If the result is higher than the Recon stat of the plane, they remain hidden.

During this period, PCs may move about as they discover positions of the enemy but the NPCs may not. Once all the PCs have done Reconnaissance, the NPCs may also choose to use it as well. Ships that have been revealed may not move their location but may still perform Reconnaissance so that other NPCs may move about.

#### ***Formation & Resolving Actions***

During the aerial combat, shelling and torpedo phase, actions are resolved from the highest position to the lowest. If multiple PCs and NPCs are in the same position, resolve the PC actions first and then the NPCs. In *Crossing the T (Disadvantage)* the NPCs go first. For characters on the same side, they may decide who goes first among themselves.

#### **Submerging**

During Fleet Battles, Submarines and Aircraft Carrying Submarines may choose to submerge. Instead of revealing their position they must hide their dice in order to be considered in the 'submerged' state. They are not added to the Fleet Sheet at this time and are treated as being at the 0th position. When surfaced, they are treated the same as any other ship.

In the Submerged State, the character may not attack during the shelling phase. However they can still make torpedo attacks as well as participate in the Night Battle Phase. During this, they may choose to attack any target, regardless of position.

A Submerged character cannot be targeted in the Aerial Attack Phase, Opening Torpedo Phase or the Torpedo Phase. Certain ship classes may target Submerged characters in the Shelling Phase (including Night Fighting Phase). You can target a Submerged character regardless of your position in the Cruising Formation, but you may not use Sustain Fire.

In addition, Firepower for Aviation Cruisers/Battleships, Amphibious Assault Ships and Seaplane Tenders is calculated differently:

If the attack is successful, only the Firepower value of the Anti-Submarine Equipment Ability used is counted. The character's own Firepower is ignored. In case of a Special, the Firepower of the attack is increased by 2 as normal.

 May Attack, but only Anti-sub Value is used to determine Firepower

While in the Submerged state characters may make Aerial and Torpedo attacks along with other characters. A Submerged character may surface when determining their position in the Cruising Formation. If a character reveals a die as normal when determining the Cruising Formation, they will be in the Surfaced state.

### **Aerial Combat Phase**

Only characters with equipment with the "Airstrike" capability may participate in this phase.

Roll 1D6 for each equipment you have that has the "Airstrike" capability. The result from this roll is a position your plane must target. In the case of multiple planes, you must assign the planes to the dice before they have been rolled. If there are multiple ships in the targeted location you must pick one to damage. The damage done to the ship is D6 equal to the rating of your chosen equipment's "Airstrike" capability.

#### ***Damage and Hits***

When a character takes damage, the number of hits must also be calculated. The equation for damage in ALL scenarios is:

*(Damage/Armor Value) = Hits*

Where the number is always rounded down. If the damage is less than a character's armor value, the character suffers no hits.

### **Opening Torpedo Phase**

In order to be capable of an opening torpedo strike, a character must have either the "Sniper of the Sea" Combat Ability or equipment with "Opening Torpedo Attack".

If multiple characters can make opening torpedo strikes, resolve them in order of their position in the Cruising Formation. In order to perform an opening torpedo attack, choose an equipment with the Torpedo Launch
Capability, target an enemy character and make a Torpedo Check. On a successful check, you deal
[Torpedo Launch]D6 damage to the target.

### **Shelling Phase**

During this phase, the Shipgirls and Abyssals exchange fire.

#### ***Range***

The Shelling Phase has 4 sub-phases based on range. They are resolved in the order:

1. Extreme Range Shelling Phase
2. Long Range Shelling Phase
3. Medium Range Shelling Phase
4. Short Range Shelling Phase

Each character may only attack during one of these phases. Whether they may participate in a specific phase is dependent on if their equipment has the range to fire in it. If one has Long Range equipment, they may choose to fire in any one phase up to it (in this case just leaving out Extreme). Once a character makes a shot, they become temporarily "Exhausted". If a character is "Exhausted" they may not shoot again until the next shelling phase.

#### **Marked and Unmarked**

In battle, your cruising position can affect how you participate. In if an enemy ship is in the same position as a PC, they are considered 'Marked'. If a Shipgirl is not marked by an enemy ship, they are 'Unmarked'.

When Marked:

* You may only target the ship in front of you.

When Unmarked (PC):

* You may choose any enemy ship as a target.

When Unmarked (Abyssal):

* Increase Firepower by 2
* Elite, Flagship and Kai class ONLY - Target all enemy ships in a single position in the Cruising Formation

#### ***The Second Shelling Phase***

In this phase, the only sub-phase for shelling is the Short Range Shelling Phase (unless the engagement is Head-on).

#### ***PC Attacks and Firing Checks***

PC and NPC attacks are resolved with different rules in the shelling phase.

When a PC makes an attack, they must select a piece of equipment capable of firing in that phase. If there is an enemy ship in the same position, they must choose them as their target. If there is not, the PC is free to choose any enemy ship.

Once they have chosen their target, the PC makes a "Firing Check" using the equipment and the trait it is tied to. Add your character's Accuracy rating as well as the Accuracy modifier on the piece of equipment. However, if you roll a value equal to an Abyssal's Evasion, that die is treated as a 0 instead. If the check is still successful, determine the damage.

In the case of a special during the Firing Check, add 2 to the Firepower.

##### ***Determining the Damage***

If the Firing Check is successful, roll D6s equal to your "Combined Firepower".

*Combined Firepower = Character's Firepower Rating + Firepower of Equipment*

In the case of rolling a special, increase the sum by 2 points. Once damage has been calculated, the PC becomes "Exhausted".

##### **Example:**

Nagato has a Large-Caliber Naval Gun and wants to target an Abyssal in the same position as her. The gun has the Command trait linked and she has that trait. As such, she needs to get a 5 to pass the check. Nagato has no Accuracy herself and neither does her gun so she gets no bonus to her roll. She rolls her 2D6 and gets a 5 and a 1. Success - or is it? The Abyssal she's targeting has an Evasion of 1 and her second die is removed. Her final result is a 5 which just hits her requirement.

She has 4 Firepower and her gun has 2 so her Combined Firepower is 6. She rolls 6D6 and ends up with a sum of 23. The enemy Abyssal only has 3 armor so she does 7 Hits, much more than the 4 needed to sink the poor Abyssal.

##### ***Sustained Fire***

When using Sustained Fire, the PC rolls to hit with a second equipment on their target. To do so, they must first hit their target with their first and declare they are going to be using Sustained Fire.

Sustained Fire requires that a different trait than the first equipment's be used. The PC also suffers from a cumulative -2 modifier to their Firing Check for each time they use Sustained Fire. With Sustained Fire, any piece of equipment may be used *regardless* of range.

When calculating the damage for Sustained Fire, add the Firepower of your second piece of equipment to your Combined Firepower. You may use Sustained Fire as many times as you wish as long as you have the equipment for it. However, **if you miss a Sustained Fire** **the entire attack misses** and the character becomes exhausted.

#### **Evasion Checks**

When an NPC makes an attack, they must also choose an equipment and a target. However, instead of making a Firing Check, the PC must make an Evasion Check. The PC must roll with the equipment's trait and add their Evasion to the result. If they miss, the NPC becomes exhausted. If they hit, calculate damage as normal. Similar to Firing Checks, if the PC rolls a die with a value equal to the NPC's Accuracy rating it is treated as having rolled a 0 instead.

NPCs may also use Sustained Fire, requiring another Evasion Check from the PC. However, no modifiers are applied to either side. All other rules still apply.

Support may be used for any of these checks.

### **End of the Round**

Once all characters have become exhausted, the round ends. After the first round, the characters become active again. At the end of the second round, the Torpedo Phase may begin.

#### **Withdrawal**

At the end of any round, the players may attempt to withdraw from the battle. To do so they must make a check using the Withdrawal trait. If it is successful, the battle ends.

All battles where the PCs withdraw is considered a loss with no exceptions.

### **Torpedo Phase**

Only attacks that involve torpedoes are involved in this phase. In order to make a torpedo attack, equipment with the Torpedo capability is required. For each equipment that has the Torpedo capability, you may choose a target and make a check using the Torpedo trait. If it is successful, roll D6 equal to the capability rating and determine the damage.

#### **Becoming Inoperative During Battle**

When a character becomes inoperative during battle they are removed from the "Fleet Sheet". A character that is removed from battle may not do any action but Support.

### **Night Battle Phase**

After the Torpedo Phase, players may decide if they wish to engage in night battle.

If yes, one PC representative makes a check using the Night Battle trait. If is succeeds, they proceed with the Night Battle Phase.

If they decide not to take part in night battle or the previously mentioned check fails, the battle ends there.

The Night Battle Phase consists of one last Shelling Phase at short range. There are also several effects:

* Increasing the firepower of short and medium range equipment by 1.
* On Firing Checks, Specials are rolled on a 10 or higher (without modifiers).
* On Evasion Checks, Fumbles are rolled on a 4 or lower (without modifiers).
* Equipment with a type of Aircraft may not be used.
* Characters who have taken heavy damage (3 Hits) may not attack.

Once this phase ends, the battle is over.

### **Determine Results**

With the battle over, the winner is determined by the number of ships who are sunk or with heavy damage on the other side. Inoperative ships must also be included for this count. If the count is equal for both sides, it counts as a loss for the PCs. When the battle ends, all PCs become active.

#### **Spoils of War**

If the PCs won the battle, they may roll on the Spoils of War Table equal to the number of ships they sunk on the other side.

Sinking the following, rewards bonus rolls:

* Elite: 1 additional roll
* Flagship: 2 additional rolls
* Remodeled (Kai): 3 additional rolls

##### ***Spoils of War Table***

Result
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