The Full Thrust Game Server is based on Full Thrust Light, a simplified subset FullThrust 3.
Turns
Full Thrust is a tactical turn-based wargame.
Under Full Thrust Light, there are only three phases per turn, with all players active during the entire turn.
- Order Plotting Phase (simultaneous)
- Ship Movement Phase (simultaneous)
- Ship Weapons Fire Phase (alternating, with initiative)
Weapons
Similarly, there are only two weapon classes:
- Beam weapons (weaken over distance)
- Pulse Torpedoes (less accurate over distance)
Firing Arcs
All weapons are characterized by their firing arcs, which are subdivided into six sections. Clockwise from the top, these are:
- F: Front
- FS: Front-Starboard
- AS: Aft-Starboard
- A: Aft
- AP: Aft-Port
- FP: Front-Port
Note that no weapon can first through the Aft firing arc (putatively due to interference from the main drive, but in reality to make positioning more important).
Mechanics
The key mechanics the Game Server needs to support are:
- Tracking velocity and (2D) orientation for each ship
- Calculating movement
- Determining firing arcs for weapon
- Targetting weapons to ships use Fire Control
- Rolling initiative, hits, damage, and system failures
- Calculating and tracking damage
- Determining victory conditions
Comparison to Full Thrust
Note that Full Thurst Light focuses on the core movement and combat mechanics, and thus does NOT support, e.g.:
- carriers, fighters and pilots (of any kind)
- advanced weaponry
- additional systems
- realistic movement rules
- damage control
- Faster-Than-Light travel (for entry and exit)
- custom ship designs