The "Fog of War" PBEM is a large fleet battle scenario where each ship has a separate captain, and communications between captains are strictly limited [In short: Each ship has a number of radios equal to its command rating. Each radio can send or receive 128 characters of information to other ships each break].
It uses a modified version of the Star Fleet Arena squadron rules [4 impulse autobreaks, no other breaks, longer breaks at long ranges] and runs at an average of one Sitrep per 10 days, with 5 days allowed for each SOP. There will be occasional longer SOPs for Christmas/New Year and perhaps Origins but generally one SOP per week (and a bit) is expected.
By combining the communications rules with tactical intelligence and secret damage a true 'Fog of War' can be simulated, where even the Admiral does not know the full picture of the game.
The first test of these rules (without tacint) was in the Starbase Assault. The first true Fog of War was an Alliance vs Coalition, 1700 BPV fleet engagement.
For Fog of War 4 we are going to try something quite different (see the scenario).
Players will be divided into 2 teams, invited onto one of two private discussion boards on Yahoo and allowed to communicate freely to organise themselves and choose their fleet in accordance with the scenario. The full communication rules will go into effect when the game starts on January 10, 2003.
The moderator for the game is Jim 'Vandal' Hart, taking the strain off of David "Cat Who Leaps" Crew, who moderated the first two Fog scenarios.