The Flashpoint Ten Commandments

[Dave Baughman]

I. Flashpoint is not the Fan Council.

Superficially, Flashpoint shares many elements of terminology with the Fan Council campaigns; additionally, they have very similar turn structures and orders sheets. However, beyond these surface elements they share in common, Flashpoint is a fundamentally different game system in many respects. It is important to remember that when the Beta version of the Flashpoint rules, which became the First Edition rules currently in use, were written, the development team deliberately avoided importing rules from FGC. Because of this, even very extensive knowledge of the FGC rules can't really be used as a substitute for the Flashpoint rules.

II. Have your reference material close at hand.

Everyone should take the time to familiarize themselves with the Flashpoint First Edition Manual; In fact, I recommend  printing it out and putting it in a three-ring binder for ease of reference. Also, its critical to read the Eratta posts in the Rules Thread - these posts cover a number of items that were either accidentally left out of the manual during editing or that have entered the system after the manual was published.

In addition to the rules themselves, make sure you are familiar with your faction's political objectives. The GM Team as a rule does not railroad players into following (or not following) these objectives, but they can and do add or subtract public support based on the success or failure of these goals.

III. Flashpoint rewards risk and penalizes caution.

In the past some players have remarked on how certain projects seem significantly more powerful than others. This is true; the classic and iconic example is the comparison between Detoxify Planet and Market Encroachment. Both of these projects have a chance to grant additional revenue to a faction; Detox Planet costs a substantial amount of money (20% of faction's income for one round) and provides diminishing returns over time (based on how toxic world penalties are calculated). Market Encroachment, on the other hand, is free and can grant a faction huge amounts of money if a powerful target is stolen from.

Why is Market Encroachment so much more powerful?

Detoxify planet is "safe" - there is no 'loser' when Detox is used, even if it fails (1 in 6 chance under normal circumstances). This is a project that a faction - presuming it has the funds - could run every turn over and over again and never undergo any risk. The sole opportunity cost of this project is its cash funding requirement.

By contrast, Market Encroachment is "dangerous." Regardless of whether or not the actual theft is successful, there is a 2/3 chance that the faction doing the encroachment will be identified. Stealing up to 10% of a rival's national income, especially when some factions lose half or more of their income already to toxic world penalties and military upkeep, could easily be justification for war.

Many other projects and random events are similarly structured; the rules are not there to hold back roleplaying - instead, they are there to encourage the type of roleplaying that puts the Battle into BattleTech. A player who takes calculated risks will reap greater rewards than a conservative player... unless their luck runs out.

IV. Flashpoint rewards confrontation and penalizes cooperation.

Backstabbing and intrigue is an integral part of the BattleTech universe; mindful of this, the Flashpoint rules tend to reward players who engage in this type of conduct and penalize those who attempt to cultivate peace and stability. Making a peace offer results in an automatic penalty to public support, as does accepting one; likewise, agreeing to a trade deal with any other nation, no matter how friendly, results in an automatic public support reduction. These can be overcome through projects and random events, but projects cost money and random events are... random.

At the same time, the rules reward confrontational behavior. The "Holy Shroud" random event is a good example of this: the public support penalties associated with this event can be negated by blaming a neighbor for the event and invading them.

As with everything in Flashpoint, players are free to move against the tide set by these rules - with luck and planning, the public support penalties associated with being a "white hat" player can be offset and overcome; doing so is just more difficult than taking the traditional "gray" route.

V. There is only one game mechanical constraint on roleplaying actions, but it is important.

Read the public support rules on page 80. Read the loyalty rules on pages 26-27, especially the part about how public support affects recruiting and how low loyalty levels can result in your orders not being carried out (or worse).

Public support is the only means in the game system to regulate in-character behavior; all other activities of this sort are in the hands of the players to carry out. This is in part to prevent railroading by the GM team or by strong factions, but it was also to create an environment where all factions need to adopt actual policy positions and back them up if they wish to influence the actions of their neighbors.

Having said that, Public Support is still a critically important factor that needs to be considered when making strategic decisions. One of the important factors to bear in mind is that the public support rules strongly penalize factions who "fight to the death."

VI. Transport Matters.

While Flashpoint does have an abstract movement system, it is slow and has substantial restrictions. Transport (and to a lesser extent Patrol and some WarShip) units are critical for military operations and should not be underestimated. Protect them accordingly, and be mindful of the second paragraph of the Interception order on page 43. Using unescorted Tranport Groups is a risky move, since even a relatively weak interceptor unit can cause significant collateral damage.

The presence of Transport units to move around ground forces can often make the difference between a routed force escaping, and the same unit surrendering.

VII. Critical Events Matter.

Critical Events in Flashpoint are triggered by the amount of damage a force inflicts on the enemy, not by a die roll. This means that if a fight is played in MegaMek or MechWarrior 4, a critical event roll may still be needed after the battle has been fought.

Critical Events are one of the key ways for units to gain quality and for factions to gain public support and VIPs; critical events are also one of the only ways Unit Improvements can be destroyed. All players will want to know the critical event rules in detail, especially how they apply to non-simple-resolution battles.

VIII. Operational Initiative Matters.

The player who wins operational intiative generally sets the pace for that round. By declaring orders first, they not only can dictate what sort of battle is fought, what scoring conditions will be used and how large a force will participate, but by carefully choosing their orders they can turn "the system" towards the advantages of their force while shielding their weak spots.

IX. Sportsmanship Matters.

Everyone who games online has had their moments of extreme frustration, be it with a GM, another player, a rule they hate, or a piece of roleplay that (rightly or wrongly) gets under their fingernails. This is part of gaming online and will never be fixed 100%. Having said that, one way we can all reduce the amount of interpersonal tension is to be in agreement about standards of sportsmanship. I put my suggestions on page 6 of the manual, and I recommend everyone take a deep breath and review them before making an angry post.

X. Never forget that Flashpoint is BattleTech.

Flashpoint is a game about the rise and fall of interstellar empires, with all the backstabbing, devastation, upheaval, and conflict that comes with that. The GM team tried hard to make the backstory of the game as simple as possible to let the players fill in the blanks, but we also structured the game to encourage the sort of behavior (and some would say shenanigans) that are the bread and butter of BattleTech.

Break out your old copy of Tech Readout 3025, MechWarrior First Edition, or the (available for free on CBT.com) Old House Sourcebooks and read up on the kind of bastards the Successor Lords were before the Clans came. That's the spirit the rules are designed to encourage, and I strongly recommend players trying to take that to heart when you plan your strategy for this game - remember, there's no Terran Hegemony to beat, no Wolverine survivors to wipe out, no Grand Council to cast down; Flashpoint is a game that was designed with the intention of the players setting the course of the story, and those who take the lead (and the risks that go with it) will be the first to reap the rewards.

Be bold, be ruthless, be cunning.
Choose secret goals in addition to the public ones and develop a Master Plan.
Never forget that while you may be weak from the Jihad, so are your neighbors.
The whole Sphere is in your grasp, if you are willing to do what is neccessary to grab hold.