Vector Command

Rules Reference

Vector Command is a fast capital-ship duel on a hex map. Each ship has shields, four hull sides, a reactor, weapons, point defense, and a motion vector. Destroy all enemy ships to win — the game ends the moment one side has no ships left.

Each Turn

Every active ship resolves three phases in order:

1. Allocate Power — divide power among thrust, rotation, weapons, and shields, and optionally overboost one category.
2. Move — build an ordered command list; the ship then drifts along its resulting motion vector.
3. Fire Weapons & Point Defense — fire what your weapon power allows and set each side's PD stance.

After the last ship fires, the round ends: shields recharge, strain is checked, then missiles, chaff, and asteroids move.

Power & Shields

Power is split among Thrust, Rotation, Weapons, and Shields. Shields power is capped at 2:

• Shields 0 — offline. Incoming fire hits hull at full damage, but that power is freed for thrust, rotation, or weapons. Your shield pool isn't lost — re-power Shields next turn and they come back online.
• Shields 1–2 — active. They absorb damage and, at end of round, recharge by that many points (1 or 2).
• Overboost (once per turn) adds 1 strain and boosts one category: +1 thrust, rotation, or weapon power, or it doubles shield recharge (up to 4). At 3+ strain an overboost risks reactor damage; at 6+ that risk applies every round.

Tip: once your shields are gone, dropping Shields power to 0 costs you nothing defensively and frees a power point to push the attack.

Movement

Ships carry inertia — each turn the ship moves by its motion vector, and facing turns independently. Order matters: rotating before accelerating differs from accelerating first.

• Accelerate adds a hex of velocity along your facing (limited by thrust budget; may repeat).
• Reverse / Port / Starboard thruster nudges the vector, once each per turn.
• Rotate Port / Starboard turns facing one hex side (limited by rotation budget).
• At the map edge the ship slides along the rim instead of stopping dead.

Weapons & Firing Arcs

Hull is the maximum hull damage when shields are down: a weapon that penetrates the shields spills its unblocked shield damage into the hull, up to its total (a Gauss Cannon hits an unshielded side for up to 5).

A weapon fires once per turn if it has HP, ammo, and enough weapon power. Arc by mount: Fore straight ahead, Aft straight behind, Port and Starboard each cover two hex directions to that side. Lasers, gauss, and guns are direct fire and cannot shoot through asteroids; missiles fly around them.

Hit Rolls

Each direct-fire shot rolls one d6. You hit if the roll meets or beats the shot's hit threshold — the lowest roll that counts as a hit. It starts at 3, so by default a 3, 4, 5, or 6 hits (about two shots in three). The conditions below shift the threshold, and the key thing is: a lower threshold is easier to hit, a higher one is harder.

• Easier — lowers the threshold by 1 each: firing at close range (within 1/3 of the weapon's range), and firing at a target that did not move last turn.
• Harder — raises the threshold by 1 each: firing at a target moving faster than 3 hexes, and firing at a target screened by chaff.

Add up the shifts, then keep the result between 2 and 6. For example, a point-blank shot (−1) at a stationary target (−1) hits on a 2 or better, while firing at a chaff-screened ship (+1) racing past at speed 4 (+1) needs a 5 or 6.

Damage

Damage lands on the side facing the attacker. Shield damage drops shields first; hull damage applies only once shields are down, and unblocked shield damage then spills into hull. A side reduced to 0 — or struck again while already destroyed — costs the reactor 1. A ship is destroyed when its reactor or all four hull sides reach 0. A heavy hull hit can also knock out that side's weapons or point defense.

Missiles

Missiles launch facing the target and travel their first leg immediately, then move again at end of round: rotate up to 1 side toward the target, then 2 forward, an optional drift, 1 forward, an optional drift, and 1 more forward — four forward hexes plus up to two drifts. A salvo that uses up its range disappears with a small explosion. Flying through an enemy missile's hex triggers an attack.

Point Defense & Chaff

Point defense reaches one hex out: a missile within one hex is rolled against, exploding a hex away if intercepted and only striking the hull if it survives. Intercept costs 1 ammo; Intercept +1 costs 2 and rolls an extra die. PD ammo is a shared pool.

Chaff (2 ammo) deploys a drifting cloud into an adjacent hex for 3 turns. It reduces incoming missile hull damage by 1 and makes direct fire against the nearby ship harder. Deploying chaff doesn't change your intercept stance.