Three Phases or Five

[devastator]

Hey folks,

I've been playing a bit of the computer version of STCS and I noticed one of the options is five phases per round versus the standard three phases.  Is this a common house rule that folks use?  If you have played with five phases, how does it affect the game?

I remember back in the day three seemed perfectly fine until I came across SFB...but 32 impulses seemed insane!  I always wondered if there was some middle ground that made the ships feel more like capital ships and stretched out the round so it took a bit more time to bring ships around.

[Meteo Ascension]

I used to play with it constantly in 2006, and then switched over to the universal 3-phase turn most of the time after that, and ICON is really simplistic, but not detailed, while I used SFB for speculation, postulation and reading practice at a cosmic postgraduate level.

[trynda1701]

devastator

I believe that the five phase option in the computer game was available as an option to the now standard three phases in an earlier version of the paper and pencil version of the game. Where the box says "Star Trek III Starship Combat Game", which came with four or five booklets covering the rules instead of one consolidated rulebook in the final "Star Trek Starship Tactical Combat System" game.

*EDIT: There is an earlier "Star Trek II" version, but I don't know whether it has the five phase option.

Unfortunately, I personally haven't used it, but I think someone here might have used it, but I can't remember who it is. Hopefully they can pop in and answer your question about what differences it makes to the game. My one thought is that you would have the potential to decide to fire at five points within a turn (only once per weapon, of course) instead of three.

[Gorn]

In the ST3 manual, there was an option to limit the firing to 1 weapon/target/round (3 phases was an EXTRA option, too; it was initially 5!). I adopted this at the age of 15 and have used it ever since. I found this gave much more of a capital ship feel to it, since 20pwr phaser and 2 x 20 torps into your front shield basically finished the game right there.

[thescreamingswede]

I have several box sets in my collection. Going back through my library I found a supplimentary set of rules that list the five phase game turn. The rules are found in the First Edition of the Star Trek III Starship Combat Game. The Second Edition has the same art on the box, but is listed as Star Trek III Starship Combat Role Playing Game. The box that came after that was the Star Trek Starship Tactical Combat Simulator. Both the Second Edition and the Combat Simulator books list the three phase game turn and seem to have dropped the five phase option.

The rules that came with the Star Trek III Starship Combat Game First Edition set is actually a series of four simple booklets with no covers on them:

-Introduction To Starship Combat
-Book One: Basic Starship Combat (this is the one that lists the five phase game turn)
-Book Two: Advanced and Expert Rules (This is where Gorn found his Limited Fire Optional Rule. Page 6 bottom left)
-Book Three: Starship Data and Combat Charts

The Star Trek III Starship Combat Roleplaying Game, or the Second Edition, does away with both the five phase game turn AND the Limited Fire Optional rule. It does add the Command And Control RPG aspect of the game though with the addition of the larger sheets meant for individuals to take charge of a particular job on the ship. Both First and Second Editions also give the option of using a system calle TAC, which divided the important elements of the game like power generation, movement points, power to arm, shield power and damage by a factor of three. They also privided a smaller, easier to use ship sheet that allowed the use of the counters in this scale.

The Star Trek Starship Tactical Combat Simulator drops the TAC option in addition to the five phase turn and the Limited Fire Optional Rule. It does add more stuff, especially on the RPG combat end, but it isn't much different than the STIII-SCRPG Second Edition.

Of course, others have added and modified rules to fit their style of play or interpretation of what was seen on TV to make the game fit better, but sometimes house rules get mistaken for actual rules. I hope this clears up any confusion on this matter.

theSwede

[trynda1701]

Apr 27, 2023 11:54:02 GMT -7 thescreamingswede said:

I have several box sets in my collection. Going back through my library I found a supplimentary set of rules that list the five phase game turn. The rules are found in the First Edition of the Star Trek III Starship Combat Game. The Second Edition has the same art on the box, but is listed as Star Trek III Starship Combat Role Playing Game. The box that came after that was the Star Trek Starship Tactical Combat Simulator. Both the Second Edition and the Combat Simulator books list the three phase game turn and seem to have dropped the five phase option.

The rules that came with the Star Trek III Starship Combat Game First Edition set is actually a series of four simple booklets with no covers on them:

-Introduction To Starship Combat
-Book One: Basic Starship Combat (this is the one that lists the five phase game turn)
-Book Two: Advanced and Expert Rules (This is where Gorn found his Limited Fire Optional Rule. Page 6 bottom left)
-Book Three: Starship Data and Combat Charts

The Star Trek III Starship Combat Roleplaying Game, or the Second Edition, does away with both the five phase game turn AND the Limited Fire Optional rule. It does add the Command And Control RPG aspect of the game though with the addition of the larger sheets meant for individuals to take charge of a particular job on the ship. Both First and Second Editions also give the option of using a system calle TAC, which divided the important elements of the game like power generation, movement points, power to arm, shield power and damage by a factor of three. They also privided a smaller, easier to use ship sheet that allowed the use of the counters in this scale.

The Star Trek Starship Tactical Combat Simulator drops the TAC option in addition to the five phase turn and the Limited Fire Optional Rule. It does add more stuff, especially on the RPG combat end, but it isn't much different than the STIII-SCRPG Second Edition.

Of course, others have added and modified rules to fit their style of play or interpretation of what was seen on TV to make the game fit better, but sometimes house rules get mistaken for actual rules. I hope this clears up any confusion on this matter.

theSwede

Very nice and succinct summing up on the firing phase options and other slight differences of all versions of the FASA game, thescreamingswede .

[Gorn]

Well I definitely have the four booklets you mention, swede, (Starship Combat Game) but it ALSO had the Command And Control RPG sheets, which also use the cardboard chits.