Rule Mod: Capture the Flag

We recently had a question on the Discord asking about "Capture the Flag" style play in MFZ: Rapid Attack by RabidFlea.  I've also seen other comments about a lack of diversity in gameplay of Rapid Attack, so why don't we explore this rule space a little?

A comment was made Shades Corvid about "moving a station to another station" which made me think a bit.  We've seen moving Stations before -- that's essentially what HVAs are in Intercept Orbit -- and my group has had Stations placed on moving terrain, so it's not really a new concept.  It just changes the dynamic because you now have to handle a battle around a moving point rather than a static one.

And rather than have a special unit, which was another comment, we should probably allow any Frame the ability to capture and transport "The Flag".  That way no-one has to make any special allowances for their squad and you can switch in this gameplay option at the last minute if you want.

My second thought about this was capturing the Flag can be done any time a Frame would capture a Station but this action "uses up" one of the Frame's White dice for that Activation.

My first thought about this was that any Frame that is carrying a captured Flag has to drop it when it takes Damage, it's the "shock of getting hit" or whatever fiction you want to use to explain it.  This prevents the game from devolving into a massive attempt at a beatdown because -- as was seen in this blog post -- it takes a lot of damage to destroy a Frame.  If the Frame that dropped the Flag was activated by this damage then they can dedicate a White Die to picking it up again.  Otherwise you'd better hope that you have another Frame nearby or it's close to the end of the Round and you can activate quickly.  Also, like Stations that have been abandoned, any dropped Flag is still under control of the player that dropped it until another player -- or the original player -- picks up the Flag again.  If the Flag is dropped in a crowd this may cause a Contested Station situation (page 130, 131).

The player that controls a Flag at the end of the Round gains the points for that asset.  The same goes for the end of the game. 

As to what a Flag Station should look like, let's start simple.  A 4x4 Round Plate, a Round Large Jumper, a 6.6L Bar w/Stop, and a 1x4 Left Wave Flag adds up to something easy to build and clear to see on the battlefield.

So to recap:

Flags can be captured like Stations (page 91, 92) but it requires use of a White Die.

Damage to a Frame carrying a Flag causes that Frame to drop the Flag.

Flags can be recaptured by the dropping Frame if they have a free activation.

Otherwise they can be captured by opponents.

The player that controls a Flag at the end of the Round gains the points for that asset.

The player that controls a Flag at the end of the Game gains the points for that asset.

Hopefully this is a fun option for people.