Overview of game mechanics
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Full Thrust (FT) uses six-sided dice, or d6, for all combat resolutions. Typically, a game of FT requires many six-sided dice. In the version 2.5 rule set, measurements in FT are based on Movement Units (MU), which can be equal to whatever measurements the players wish to use. Usually they are either inches or centimeters, but this depends on the sizes of the models used and the size of the battle board. Normally, rulers or tape measures are used to measure distances between models, as in most traditional figure-based wargames; FT can also be played on a hex-printed battle board where each 1 inch hex represents one MU, but the rules do not explicitly support this.
FT is a turn-based game: each player secretly writes down their movement orders, then all players move their ships simultaneously or one after another, in accordance with those orders. Combat is played in several phases (missile movement, fighter attacks, direct-fire weapons, etc.). A game may be played until one side is wiped out, or for a set number of turns, but most commonly an explicit objective is set for each side, with victory determined both by this and by the remaining forces at the end of the game, or when one side has taken heavy damage and the player decides to retract their fleet from the game play.
Point values
For a pick-up game rather than part of a more extended campaign, players build fleets of warships based on point values. Opposing forces decide how many points they will be using before play; larger and more powerful ships cost more points, so this is a reasonable guide to the length and complexity of a battle.
Mass factors
Each ship has a Mass Factor which represents the size of its hull; all systems (weapons, drives, defences, etc.) must fit inside this. As the ship gets larger, its classification could change. The smallest ships are usually Scouts, Frigates, and Corvettes (9 - 28 mass); medium mass ships are Destroyers and Cruisers (30 - 90 mass); and the heaviest ships are Battleships, Dreadnoughts, and Carriers (up to about 270 mass). The game is capable of handling "Superships" which have Mass Factors over 300. Adding weapons and systems costs points as well as mass.
Thrust rating
All ships need sublight engines with a Thrust Rating. This number represents how many Movement Units (MU) on the battle map a ship can change its speed per turn. Speed is incremental, so for instance a ship with a Thrust Factor of 3 can increase its speed up +3 MUs per turn: from a speed of 3 one turn, to 6 the next, then to 9 the next, and so on. It can also slow down its thrust rating per turn as well. If it were at speed 9, it would take it 3 turns to slow to a dead stop.
Two movement systems are available: the default "cinematic" system, in which ships move and turn in the style of wet navy vessels as seen in space opera film and television, and the "vector" system which is a rather more realistic representation of movement in space but is somewhat more complex.
All movement of ships is planned ahead of time, before the miniatures are physically moved. These movements are written down on a Movement Orders sheet and kept secret from other players until the turn begins. Players must move their ships as they have written them down on their orders sheet. Movement orders must also include the launching of any missiles and fighters.
FTL
Most ships also have FTL (faster-than-light) drives; the only ones that don't are in-system defence ships, orbital stations, or "battle riders" brought into combat via an FTL tug.
The FTL is normally used not for tactical but for strategic purposes, allowing a damaged ship or an outnumbered fleet to flee from battle and preserve its remaining strength. Due to the physical nature of the FTL system, it can (in desperation), be used as a weapon itself although it has as much a chance of destroying the ship that deploys it as it does an enemy vessel.
Variant settings, such as the one based in the Star Trek universe (Full Trek), may have different technology rules. In Full Trek, the nature of the Warp drive allows ship-to-ship combat while in warp.
Weapons
There are several weapon systems available in the Full Thrust game:
Beam weapons
The most common ship weapons are Beam Batteries which have a power level such as 1, 2, 3 (or higher). The larger the number, the farther the battery can fire, and the more damage dice the weapon inflicts.
For every power level of the battery, the beams can fire out 12 Movement Units (MUs) from the ship on the table. A Level 1 battery can fire at a maximum range of 12MU. A Level 2 can fire a maximum of 24MU, and so on. For every 12MU the beam fires, it loses 1 die of damaging power. For instance: A Level 2 battery inflicts 2 dice of damage within 12MU, and only 1 die of damage after that.
Under the Second Edition (Ver. 2.0) of the FT rules, batteries had a letter designation, with Class C batteries being equivalent to Level 1 batteries. Class A was the most powerful until Mega AA batteries were added. Mega AAs could fire the farthest, but had a chance of burning out. In Ver. 2.5 the beam weapon system was refined, and the former class A became class 3, the former class B became class 2 and so on.
In theory, there is now no limit to how powerful a beam weapon can be; for instance, a massive super ship could have a beam weapon of class 10 (or higher), although such an application would be impractical due to the increases of mass and point cost. The ship would have a better chance of inflicting more damage with several smaller weapons instead of one super weapon.
Other systems
Other kinds of offensive weapons include Pulse Torpedoes, Needle Beams (which can target a specific system on an enemy ship and disable it), Submunition Packs, Missiles, Minelayers and "mega-damage" weapons, such as the Nova Cannon and Wave Gun.
Ships can be protected by Point-Defense Systems (PDSs), which are clusters of smaller weapons used to shoot down missiles and enemy fighters. There are also Screen systems to use against beam attacks, though not all weapons are impeded by them; missiles and mass driver projectiles can pass through to the hull, which are why PDSs can be an asset. Some other miscellaneous systems include Reflex Fields (which have a chance of deflecting a beam back at an attacker), Cloaking Fields, and Enhanced Sensors.
Ships are required to include Fire Control sensors in their designs. Without firecons a ship cannot select targets; the more firecons incorporated into the design, the more targets the ship can fire at per turn. A specialised firecon, the Area Defence Fire Control, allows a ship's PDS to attack missiles and fighters aimed at other targets, in the manner of an Aegis ship.
Fleet Book Vol. 2: The Xeno Files added even more weapons including mass drivers, strange alien weapons, and living ships hulls.
Fighters
If players include carriers in their fleets, they may dispatch groups of fighters into battle. There are many kinds of specialized fighter for different tactical attacks. Interceptors, for instance, have better chances of destroying enemy fighters but have no anti-ship strike ability, while Torpedo Fighters have a heavy one-shot anti-ship punch but are vulnerable to other fighters.
