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 So what do I need to know about Star Fleet Battles? Well have you ever seen Star Trek? If so then you should be pretty good, while this game is more about allocating exactly four points of warp energy to charge the phaser capacitor to make sure they ready to fire by impulse 16 when you expect to have the Bird of Prey you are chasing lined up for a shot with you dorsal Phaser bank, your Chief Engineer (me) ought to be able to figure out vague orders like, go as fast as possible, but make sure the shoots bang parts work. But remember Scotty isn’t a miracle worker, at a certain point there just won't be enough juice around to do everything at full power, so you do have to make choices. So What Is Star Star Fleet Battles is a wonderfully complex board game concerned with simulating combat between space faring vessels from the Star Trek: The Original Series Universe. Of course everything about Star Fleet Battles is “inspired” by Star Trek for Copyright Reasons. Star Fleet Battles is from a time from before computer games were A Thing (mostly the 80s), and it shows, whoever designed this board game really wanted to make a computer game.  I mean look at this thing, it looks like the design specifications for a piece of enterprise Fortan software. I feel Like I Have Played This as a Video Game Though You are not wrong, Star Fleet Command, and Start Fleet Command 2 are fantastic implementations of Star Fleet Battles, but with a real time game system instead of being turn based. Unfortunately these games are kind of Ugly and Jenky, and the AI is pretty bad. To make matters worse, when they made the third game in the series they left the Star Fleet Battles roots behind, and just became a kind of unremarkable lovely game. In fact the cadet rules pdf included on the Star Fleet Command 2 disk are the only reason I ever learned about Star Fleet Battles. So How Do You Play? I am not going to go over all the rules here, just some basics to get everyone started, but every ship in play is described by one of these, a Ship Status Display  Hold Up, this is just BattleTech Well, this technically came first, but yes this is BattleTech but Star Trek, now where were we? Star Fleet Battles is a strange hybrid between an IGOUGO and WEGO system, while opposing player’s orders are not actually executed simultaneously each “turn” is broken down into 32 sub turns called “impulses.” Both players are playing during each turn. In any given impulse the ship that is moving faster gets to act first. Before each turn players need to allocate energy, this is done in secret, the amount of energy they have to allocate depends on the size of their warp engines, and the amount of damage they have taken. Energy is allocated to life support, shields, shield reinforcement, movement, charging weapons (for heavy weapons sometimes over multiple turns), charging or maintaining tractor beams, readying transporter actions for boarders or mines, damage control, ECM and ECCM, and probably a few other things. Who is out there? Federation  The Federation, America in Space! The federation is made up of many different races but is mainly run by Humans. They say they are on a mission of exploration, but it is a mission of economic expansion. The more races and systems they can bring into their system of government the larger their grip on the galaxy becomes. In peacetime representatives and merchants from the Federation can be found all across the galaxy. Their borders are surrounded by “Neutral Zones,” wide areas of space where other governments are prohibited from colonizing or stationing forces. Yet these zones are heavily patrolled by Federation ships, and dotted with their colonies. Federation ships tend to be well balanced, and well equipped. Photon Torpedoes give Federation ships a lot of punch at close range. Klingons  The Klingon Empire, the USSR in space! Except not communist, and they sort of have a bushido Japanese thing going on in later shows. Much like the Federation, the Klingon Empire is made up of many different races, except in their case they tend to not be members by choice. Slightly more than half their navy are crewed with impressed members of subject races. Klingon ships are designed with special security stations placed strategically around the ship to keep the crew in line. A relatively poor space power, Klingon ships are mostly armed with Phaser IIs, a smaller weaker version of the Phasor I. To help pack some punch into their ships Klingons are outfitted with Disruptors, accurate to a longer range than the Federation torpedos. They also heavily employ seeking missile weapons called Drones. Romulans  The Romulan Star Empire, all glory to Rome (in space). The Romulan Star Empire is ruled by a hereditary emperor, and a senate made up of the heads of ancient noble houses and high placed military families. They are the most aggressive space empire, although their territory is quite large, it contains the fewest habitable planets. The Romulan Star Empire contains no other sentient races. Romulans are closely related to Vulcans, but where Vulcans are cool and calculating Romulans are fiery and passionate, (you know, because of the space Italian thing). Romulans see themselves as the rightful rulers of the galaxy, and see personal honor as the most important thing in life. In recent years the Romulan Star Empire began buying warships from the Klingons, but all romulan ships are equipped with cloaking devices and they employ a powerful seeking weapon the Plasma Torpedo. Kzinti  Kzinti you may know from Larry Niven’s Known Universe stories, they made the jump to Star Trek in 1973 when Larry Niven wrote an episode for Star Trek: The Animated Series. The Kzinti have long been ruled inappropriate for membership in the Federation because of their inconvenient habit of eating their prisoners. While the Kzinti Hegemony has grown to control worlds with sentient beings, they don’t allow them off world. The Kzinti Hegemony is a Monarchy, and their expansion through the galaxy has constantly been hampered by civil wars and succession crisis. Kzinti much like their traditional enemies the Klingons use Phasers and Disruptors, but they were the first empire to rely heavily on carriers. Their carrier and striker carrier craft can deploy numerous fighter craft, each armed with a Phaser III and a pair of seeking drones. Gorn  The Gorn Confederation is made up sentient lizards, far stronger than any Human man, they can pick up far larger styrofoam rocks. Their region of space is spare and contains few habitable worlds and no other sentient species. While they briefly engaged in war with the Federation, they quickly decided that the enemy of their enemy was their friend, and joined in an alliance with the Federation against the Romulan Star Empire, their more aggressive neighbor. Their ships are armed with Phasers, and Plasma Torpedoes. They also carry a large complement of shuttles, and redundant shuttle bays. Unlike their Romulan adversaries who depend on their cloaking devices to help them survive the long reload time on Plasma Torpedos, the Gorn mount multiple launchers on most of their hulls. etc. Included in the basic source book are also the Tholians, a crystalline race not native to our galaxy. As well as the Orion Pirates, a collection merchant criminal cartels operating across all empires. WEAPONS Phasers The standard weapon of the Federation and … Phasers come in three different size Class III to Class I, with Class I phasera being the largest. Class III phasers can be found on shuttle craft, or intended for use as point defense weapons on larger ships. The are relatively rapid firing but you need to be pretty close in to reliably score a hit. You don’t allocate energy to individual Phasers themselves, but rather to a Phaser capacitor. A ships Phaser capacitor is conveniently exactly as large as required to fire all un-destroyed Phasers on board. Once energy is allocated to the capacitor it is only used up by firing. Phaser capacitor energy can be used to fire any Phaser on board. Phasers can be fired once per turn. Phasers don’t miss, but they do variable damage based on range. Once you are firing at a target further than 5 hexes (for a phaser one) you are no longer guaranteed damage. Disruptors The standard weapons for the Klingons, faster firing and longer ranged and less damaging than Photon Torpedos, Disruptors require two units of energy to charge. Disruptor energy must be used to fire the Disruptor the same turn it was charged and Disruptors may be fired every turn. Disruptors can be overloaded for double the energy, but overloaded Disruptors have a short maximum range of 8 hexes, and will cause damage to you if fired at point blank range. Photon Torpedoes Photon Torpedoes are the heavy weapons of the Federation. Unlike Disruptors they have no damage fall off. While they have a high maximum range, they are only reasonably accurate close in. Photon Torpedoes are slow firing, requiring two energy on two consecutive turns to fire. If a Torpedo is not fired on the turn it is fully armed, it is lost unless one point of energy is allocated to maintain it. Photon torpedoes can be armed with proximity fuses (when they are first charging) giving them half damage, a minimum range of 8 hexes, and an increased chance to hit. Or they can be overloaded with variable amounts of energy (up to 2x), gain a maximum range of 8 and do more damage. Charged overloaded torpedoes always require 2 points of energy to hold after charging. Plasma Torpedoes The torpedo weapon used by the Romulus's and Gorn. Unlike a Photon torpedo this is a seeking weapon, and it will chase its target relentlessly. However over time the Plasma Torpedo dissipates, so if you can evade it for long enough it will become harmless. Plasma Torpedo launcher come in different size, larger ones can load a smaller class Torpedo if the need arises. Charging a Plasma Torpedo can be done while cloaked, but requires a specific amount of energy over three turns, with a larger amount of energy required on the third turn. They can be fired in Enveloping Plasma Torpedo mode (which must be declared on the first turn of arming, and paid with double the energy on the third turn), but an Enveloping Plasma Torpedo damages all six shield facings at once. Gorns can fire their Plasma Torpedos in “Shotgun” mode, where based on the size of their tube multiple class-F (the smallest) torpedoes are launched. You can shotgun a Plasma torpedo in the last turn of arming by paying double the cost for that round of arming. Finally most classes of Plasma Torpedo can be fired as a “bolt” turning it into a lovely an ineffecient direct fire weapon that you paid way too much energy for. While being chased by a Plasma Torpedo, you can attempt to target it with Phasers (and Phasers alone) to try and dissipate some of its power. Drones Seeking missile weapons, they will also seek their target relentlessly, but they have effectively infinite range. Different classes of “rack” hold more or fewer drones, and can handle launching different numbers of drones at once. Different classes of drones do different amounts of damage and have different speeds. Drones do not require energy to fire, but they are the only main weapon system with limited ammunition. Weirder Stuff There are other weapons, Expanding Field Generators, Web Generators come to mind. There are also mines, which you can either chuck out the back of your ship, or use transporters to teleport into a nearby hex (after dropping one of your shields of course). Shuttles can be launched as countermeasures for seeking weapons (wild weasel), as low rent fighters (some ships have real fighters through), or to carry a suicidal anti-matter payload to the enemy. Also once you have dropped your enemies shields, you can transport parties of marines on board to try and sabotage or even carry the ship. Firing Arcs Every weapon on a ship's SSD indicate the firing arc, this indicates which hexes can be targeted with that specific weapon. There are lots of different arcs, and some quirks from ship to ship, for example most Klingon Front Extended arc phasers can additionally fire in a line directly behind them. ENERGY ALLOCATION Energy can be allocated to lots of different areas: Engines: This makes you go faster. Weapons: This lets you charge your phasers, torpedoes, etc. Shields: Some amount of energy needs to be spent to keep your shields up, more can be spent to either specifically or generally reinforce your shields. Batteries: This lets you save power for later use. Systems: There are several systems you must power every turn, fire control, life support. Transporters: For when you need to move mines or marines around. Damage Control: Spend energy (up to your damage control limit) to repair broken shields, or attempt to repair damaged systems or weapons. Tractor Beams: If your ship has tractor beams you can assign energy to them to use to try and hold an enemy in the same relative position, or to try and prevent a drone from impacting your ship. Most of the time you either start from needing a certain weapon to be charged, or needing to move a certain speed and work backwards from there to figure out where to put your power. MOVEMENT When playing face to face, each player will just move their ships on the correct impulses, but Star Fleet Battles is also designed to work with a system of pre-plotted movement. Where after each player allocated their energy (allowing them to know how fast they can go), they then pre-plot movement. If you know where you want to go, or want to be pretty exact listing off the exact hexes you want to travel through you can exactly plot your movement. But if you want to be more reactive during a turn, you can give orders to: Follow another ship (friendly, enemy or neutral). You will move directly towards, follow behind the specified ship. Station keeping, try to keep the specified ship in the same relative position as when the order was set. Evade, just try to escape weapons range of the specified ship, favoring stronger shields and disabled enemy weapon arcs. Or pretty much any other order you can think of, and I will do my best, orbit, close to range, etc. WEAPONS FIRE In the section on plotted movement the game explicitly forbids plotting weapons fire, dropping mines, teleporting borders, engaging tractor beams etc, but we don't have time to stop at each impulse and wait for input, so we will have to come up with a system where you can delegate most of this stuff to your weapons officer (still me). Checkov might occasionally pop off a little early, but since this is an LP and not tournament play, I will know the full outcome of movement and should be able to execute your wishes to the best of the strategic situation. Because this is going to hopefully be a participatory LP, we can’t stop to get orders all the time, so we will have to bastardize the rules a little bit. I will be running full turns in between posts outlying what happened during that turn and the current state of the board. So instead of choosing which weapons to fire when, you will give orders from a choice of options Return Fire: Return fire setting will fire available weapons at a ship that has fired on you. This can be useful because damage is simultaneous, if their attack knocks out some of your weapons, you still get to fire them! Hold Fire: Save your shots not matter what, useful if you really want to get in close, or if you aren’t going to be allocating enough energy to recharge your weapons Target Shield: Pick a shield on the enemy ship that you think you will be able to bring weapons to bear on, and if the opportunity arises fire at it. Useful to try and hit weakened shields to get damage through. Chance to Hit Threshold: For heavy weapons, pick between 20%, 80% chance to hit. Range Threshold: Direct fire weapons, think Phasers, always hit, so pick a range you want to fire at, and if that range threshold is met during the turn you will fire. Seeking weapons designated to be fired will be released at the most favorable point of the turn. So whats the plan? Well depending on participation, I think it would be fun to run through a campaign, where posters who want to be captains can help their faction reach galactic dominance. The system is capable of handling scenarios with quite a few ships at once. If you are interested in being a captain just pipe up in the thread, and I will add you to the list. Also we should figure out which race we want to play as, go ahead and cast your votes now. Over the next few days while we tally votes, I will post a short prologue/tutorial.
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Jun 16, 2017 06:22
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wanabe spacemen Tagichatn Added Space Gnoman votes for blufor Romulans: 1 Federation: 2 Klingon: 0 Kzinti: 0 Gorn: 0 Tholians: 1 Hydrians: 0 VendoViper fucked around with this message at 02:42 on Jun 25, 2017 |
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Jun 16, 2017 06:22
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[reserved]
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Jun 16, 2017 06:23
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I want to play this boardgame again, I'm in as a captain.
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Jun 16, 2017 06:27
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Awesome! Great to see a SFB game. Watching! Also I know there was a SFB campaign a few years ago on the forums, you might look to that for how to handle it. wedgekree fucked around with this message at 06:45 on Jun 16, 2017 |
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Jun 16, 2017 06:38
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gently caress. YES. Back in the day when we still had a Friendly Local Gaming Store, the owner freely admitted that half the reason he opened the store in the first place was to find someone to play SFB with. It is astonishing to see serious grognards play this thing on hex grids littered with ALL THE CHITS and three-ring binders full of rules and ship displays encased in plastic so you can mark off damage with a grease pencil. It is mystifying to me, and while I never could summon up the wherewithal to learn how to play the drat thing, I always wanted to give it a shot. One of the things I love about SFB is that the designers looked at Star Trek and asked the kinds of questions a wargame nerd might ask - "why don't they outfit shuttlecraft with guns and use them for close air support? Why don't they just beam torpedoes onto the enemy's ship?" - and then answered basically all of them by saying "gently caress it, I guess they do." The Star Fleet Universe (as legally distinct from the Star Trek Universe because the lawyers all had a field day) is much less optimistic and much more militarized than you see on the TV show, and it's pretty fascinating. Its canon is limited to the original Star Trek series and some (but not all) of the Animated Series, which is how the Kzinti get in - note that they're always called the Kzinti rather than the Kzin, because the Kzin in Larry Niven's books aren't the Kzinti of the Star Fleet Universe our lawyers said so. Check out its Wikipedia page, it's pretty neat.
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Jun 16, 2017 07:04
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I somehow picked up an "advanced rules" book for Starfleet Battles something like 15 years ago... but no basic rules. I'll be interested to see how this is actually played.
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Jun 16, 2017 07:05
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wedgekree posted:Awesome! Great to see a SFB game. Watching! I was in that attempt. It ended when an unnamed goon swaggered in, said he was world ranked in this board game, and flipped the table when his orders weren't implemented in precisely the right way. That said, I'd love another go. I'd like to play Romulans, it's fun to scuttle around under cloak. Added Space fucked around with this message at 07:14 on Jun 16, 2017 |
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Jun 16, 2017 07:11
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Added Space posted:I was in that attempt. It ended when an unnamed goon swaggered in, said he was world ranked in this board game, and flipped the table when his orders weren't implemented in precisely the right way. Remember folks, these are your (un)friendly TOS era aliens. ALL HANDS TO BATTLE STATIONS! Looking forwards to seeing this game fly high once more. ALso why mount guns to your shuttles when you can use them to fire lots of drones or detonate an antimatter bomb on it and use it as a kamikaze?
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Jun 16, 2017 09:11
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Added Space posted:I was in that attempt. It ended when an unnamed goon swaggered in, said he was world ranked in this board game, and flipped the table when his orders weren't implemented in precisely the right way. This will be a learning experience for everyone involved. After chewing through the Cadet rules I found on the Star Fleet Command 2 CD, printing out the counters and then playing against myself a few times I got completely hooked on the "idea" of Star Fleet Battles. I bought the Captains Basic Edition several years ago, and then never convinced anyone to play it with me. I have a pretty good grasp on the idea, and not having to do everything in real time will make it easier. But we will have to figure out some modifications to the rules to make play by post work, so no one should be expecting a "Pure" SFB experience. That said, when processing turns I will be tracking impulses and all that. Any errors in carrying out player orders should be chalked up to either some techno babble about leaking phaser coolant in the weapons deck, or command and control issues with officers hesitating or getting nervous. Remember a Captain gives the orders, but her crew are not machines. wedgekree posted:Awesome! Great to see a SFB game. Watching! I would be interested to know how it was run, especially if there is anything to be learned in presentation. There is a lot going on in a game of SFB, and since the publisher is, shall we say touchy about IP, I want to try and communicate it without just uploading SSDs. In preparation for this LP I have been working on a custom VASsaL module for rendering the board state, it has been a fun project. So far I have automated facing, TurnMode, made little shield graphics that go up and down. I have not found a good way to implement SSDs or energy tracking in my module. There is an official Federation Commander module, but they haven't found a good way either, they have objects you can click the boxes on, but its built out of about a 1000 layers, and I don't have the time or the will to implement that when paper or a spreadsheet will do the job better anyway. VendoViper fucked around with this message at 18:31 on Jun 16, 2017 |
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Jun 16, 2017 18:28
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Ah, Star Fleet Battles. Star Trek through the lens of 1970's Mil Sci-Fi with a license made out of spite. Seriously, Star Fleet must always be two words and supposedly they can only mention the Enterprise a handful of times in the lifespan of the company.
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Jun 16, 2017 21:39
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Captain’s Log - 2265.156 Federation Light Cruiser USS Kelvin Captain Hammond Commanding. On patrol between the Capella System and Sherman’s Planet on the Klingon border. A shipment of supplies bound for Sherman’s Planet has failed to arrive on schedule two weeks ago and Starfleet fears the worst. The constant stream of supply ships to the edges of Federation space makes an enticing target for pirates. The merchant freighter Bueyes was being escorted by an outdated Paris-class light cruiser, the Minnow. Their last message indicated that the Bueyes was experiencing engine trouble near the charted asteroid C582-6. We are making best possible speed to their last known location. The continued development of the colony is critical to establishing firm control over the region, which the Empire has long coveted. No pirate activity can be allowed along this vital shipping lane. 2265.158 Hammond walked briskly through the turbolift doors onto the bridge of his first command. He had been aboard only three months, and still getting used to sitting in the command chair. Clearing the space between the door the captain's chair in several long strides, he made eye contact with his first officer commander Vasily. “Have we reached visual range of the asteroid?” “We are on the edge of visual range sir, C582-6 should be in sight in moments.” With a curt nod to Vasily, Hammond sank into his chair. “Any sign of the Bueyes or the Minnow on long range scans Lieutenant Cray?” Without looking up from her scanning port, her eyes bathed in blue light from the screen, she replied “No sir, no sign of either ship, nor any debris…” she trailed off. “Hold on, i’m detecting a heat signature from behind the asteroid, it just came out of nowhere!” “On screen,” commanded Hammond. The asteroid shifted to life on the main viewing screen, small in the large display at the maximum magnification of the ship’s telescope. A small orange speck danced on its periphery, Hammond ludicrously stood, as if getting closer to the screen would make the anomaly any more clear, “What is that?” Alarms blared from the tactical officer’s station, “Sir!” exclaimed Lieutenant Barker, “It’s a Drone, locked on and heading this way.” “Vasily, red alert, all crew to battle stations.” Situation The USS Kelvin is a recently updated model Federation Light Cruiser it is heavily armed and armored for its size. The first Viceroy class Light Cruiser left the yards in the year 60. 300 Souls serve aboard, including her complement of 80 marines. Her engines produce 20 units of warp energy a turn, and 4 units of impulse energy. With two points of energy stored in fusion batteries. There are four administrative shuttles in the shuttle bay. Armed in the forward arc with 4 photon torpedo tubes, and two phaser ones, and an additional two phasor ones in both the left and right side arcs. The Kelvin is well protected with strong deflector screens (24,20,18,18,18,20). The weight of arms and armor slows the Kelvin down with a movement cost of ⅔ warp energy per hex, and TurnMode rating of C. Expecting to find a debris field, or a ship in distress at asteroid C582-6 commander Hammond does not have his phasers energized nor his shields up, but starts the turn at speed 8. Your previous speed only matters for the next turn, because there is a maximum acceleration limit, you can’t coast on last turns speed without continuing to spend warp energy on movement. Map 
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Jun 17, 2017 02:38
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Hell Yes. I, uh, may have broken the previous attempt to LP this game by being better at it than the guy running it. Therefore I will sit back, shut up and watch - only to speak in retrospect, or if someone directly asks me about something specific. Added Space posted:I was in that attempt. It ended when an unnamed goon swaggered in, said he was world ranked in this board game, and flipped the table when his orders weren't implemented in precisely the right way. Yeah. Me. Hence the shutting-up part. berryjon fucked around with this message at 03:24 on Jun 17, 2017 |
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Jun 17, 2017 03:19
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Wait. I think I've played a game like this on my Palm Z22. Is this what that was based on?  Either way, definitely watching. 
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Jun 17, 2017 03:58
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VendoViper posted:In preparation for this LP I have been working on a custom VASsaL module for rendering the board state, it has been a fun project. So far I have automated facing, TurnMode, made little shield graphics that go up and down. I have not found a good way to implement SSDs or energy tracking in my module. There is an official Federation Commander module, but they haven't found a good way either, they have objects you can click the boxes on, but its built out of about a 1000 layers, and I don't have the time or the will to implement that when paper or a spreadsheet will do the job better anyway. From what I know of ADB's policies, you're kind of on thin ice with this. I used Maptool when I ran the abortive campaign that has been talked about here.
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Jun 17, 2017 04:08
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Gnoman posted:From what I know of ADB's policies, you're kind of on thin ice with this. I used Maptool when I ran the abortive campaign that has been talked about here. As far as I can tell even talking about this game puts you on thin ice with the people who sell it.
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Jun 17, 2017 04:10
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Turn 1 Orders Raise Shields, energize phasers, Load Tubes A and B with Photon Torpedoes, load Tubes C and D with proximity fuse torpedos make your speed 12, take us in! [That’s 2 points to maintain the shields, as well as 1 for life support and 1 for fire control. 6 energy for charging photon torpedoes, 1 for energizing Phasers, a special rule for turning on your guns for fluff reasons that means we won’t be able to fire this turn. As well as 8 points of energy assigned to movement.] From the far side of the asteroid a Klingon F5 Frigate, the IKV Fang, comes screaming out. Orders Raise Shields, Set speed to 21, charge all Phasers. Head straight towards the CL, and try to get behind them. Hold Fire unless the range is less than 3 (the point where Phaser 2s are guaranteed damage). Also another rule quirk, after impulse 24, firing a weapon counts as having fired it for the whole of the next turn, that prevents you from firing right at the end of a turn and then again right at the beginning. So you might want to specify if you want to make sure to not fire after the “impulse of decision.” Seeing the Klingon closing quickly, and with no weapons ready this turn, the USS Kelvin starts side slipping away. Since the Kelvin needs to move three hexes in a straight line before it can turn at this speed, Hammond saves his turn until the last moment. No matter what he does, the Fang will get behind him, and since the Fang closed the distance so quickly, he is now regretting those proximity fused photons now.  So it turns out that VASsaL will only render movement trails that appear in the map window when you use the image capture tool, but renders at different resolutions based on your zoom level. So, I might have to take pictures at different scales once things get more interesting. 
VendoViper fucked around with this message at 04:30 on Jun 17, 2017 |
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Jun 17, 2017 04:12
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VendoViper posted:As far as I can tell even talking about this game puts you on thin ice with the people who sell it. Fair enough, but I did want to mention the issue. Also, I managed to find the old threads if you're curious. Main Thread Alliance thread Coalition thread I also have to give berryjon a belated apology. I got too ambitious with my scenario design, got over my head, and lashed out. Also, don't get overambitious with your scenario design - you'll probably wind up over your head. EDIT: Feel free to pull anything I wrote in those threads if it would save you time, and I'd be perfectly willing to participate both as a captain and (in scenarios I am not participating in) assisting in running the thing. I think the system I was using worked well enough, I just tried to do too much at once. Gnoman fucked around with this message at 04:18 on Jun 17, 2017 |
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Jun 17, 2017 04:13
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From what I remember, shields take a turn to warm up but you can power phasers any time you like? Drones are pretty poo poo in this game, we can shoot them down with phasers. I suggest powering weapons and shields and close range with the asteroid. 8 is our ideal engagement range. E: waited too long to hit send 
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Jun 17, 2017 04:18
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Isn't there a maneuver that lets you turn in place without moving or something? It has some sort of penalty I think but might be worth it if the ship gets behind us.
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Jun 17, 2017 04:48
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Added Space posted:From what I remember, shields take a turn to warm up but you can power phasers any time you like? Other way around. You can power shields on the first turn of a scenario, but (at default weapons status) you need to spend a turn warming up the phasers. Tagichatn posted:Isn't there a maneuver that lets you turn in place without moving or something? It has some sort of penalty I think but might be worth it if the ship gets behind us. Tactical maneuvers. The downside of this is that you remain stationary and have to spend a few turns accelerating to get back up to speed.
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Jun 17, 2017 04:51
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FWIW the Klingon started this scenario traveling at speed 12, so was able to accelerate up to 21 during this turn, also they were in a state of weapons readiness since they were laying in ambush, so all of their Phasers are likely charged, judging by the fact that they didn't fire Disruptors. We could allocate energy next turn for a High Energy Turn. With the Kelvin's breakdown number (4-6), and the first HET of the scenario bonus of -2 to the dice roll, it might even work out. However, between the energy needed to bring Phasers online and the cost of the HET (5 hexes worth of movement), we wouldn't get very far. Breakdowns look really bad, you get stuck in place facing a random direction for half a turn, one quarter of your crew dies, you lose one fifth of your warp power, and take two points of internal damage. Keep the back seat captaining coming, if you want to throw out ideas for the Klingon as well be my guest. I want this to be a quick primer on what the game is about and then get y'all into the captains chair.
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Jun 17, 2017 05:12
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I wrote a whole post last thread in how a federation cruiser makes a better station than a ship. You can maneuver more than fast enough to keep a ship in your primary firing arc and use your engine power to reinforce the shield.
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Jun 17, 2017 05:16
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Looking forwards to the thread! Is there anywhere legitimat eto purchase the rules or get PDF's of them? I'd love to get into it if there's a good plac eto buy them online.
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Jun 17, 2017 10:07
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wedgekree posted:Looking forwards to the thread! Is there anywhere legitimat eto purchase the rules or get PDF's of them? I'd love to get into it if there's a good plac eto buy them online. http://www.starfleetstore.com/star-fleet-battles-c-1/?zenid=d9c11de640727f1a80ae911ed9e7b695
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Jun 17, 2017 11:41
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There are also the Cadet Rules which are free. They are organized in a series is scenarios that introduce concepts in a guided manner. It also comes with some "cadet" ships, they work on the same idea as what we are using here. I used an image of a cadet ship for the picture of a SSD in the OP because it is part of this free PDF. Cadet Training Annoyingly they don't host it directly, they make you go through the checkout of some RPG PDF sites, but just checkout as guest and you are there. The Cadet rules should get you up to speed with most of the basics. VendoViper fucked around with this message at 15:33 on Jun 17, 2017 |
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Jun 17, 2017 15:31
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Also I think I am going to have to increase the size of all of my graphics if I want it to look better, anyone know how to resize 50 Inkscape svgs at once?
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Jun 17, 2017 15:54
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Turn 2 Energy Allocation: Full power to the Phaser Capacitor, remove proximity fuses from photons (there is apparently no cost for this, you just have to do it during energy allocation, the only drawback is you can’t overload torpedos that previously had proximity fuses) and finish charging photon torpedoes, all four tubes. Engine power to 6 (spd 9). Movement: Close to range 2, attempt to keep the IKV Fang in the Forward Arc. Firing: Hold fire until range 2, if the IKV Fang is going to be able to leave the Forward Arc fire the full forward arc. Save side batteries for point defense, or shots on downed deflectors. Both the Kelvin and the Fang slow as they divert power to weapons and shields, preparing to batter each other. The Fang launches a second drone. With neither ship having met their turn mode the distance between them evaporates as they race together. The Klingon, moving faster moves on impulse 3, bringing the range to 3, but holds fire until the next impulse, when the federation ship closes the distance to 2. Impulse 4: FIRE FIRE FIRE The Kelvin unleashes a barrage with all four Photon Torpedoes, and 2 Phaser Is from the forward battery targeting the Fang. One Phaser I from the port battery targeting the drone in hex 1519. The Fang returns fire with 2 forward mounted Phaser IIs, and 2 Disruptors. USS Kelvin: Photon A: Hammond rolls 2 Hit! 8 Damage Photon B: Hammond rolls 5 Hit! 8 Damage Photon C: Hammond rolls 2 Hit! 8 Damage Photon D: Hammond rolls 4 Hit! 8 Damage Phaser I 1: Hammond rolls 5 4 Damage! Phaser I 2: Hammond rolls 3 5 Damage! Phaser I 3: Hammond rolls 1 7 Damage! The drone is destroyed. IKV Fang: Disruptor A: Klingon rolls 6 Miss! Disruptor B: Klingon rolls 3 Hit! 4 Damage Phasor II 1: Klingon rolls 4 4 Damage! Phaser II 2: Klingon rolls 1 5 Damage! Damage Allocation: The Fang had 5 points of reinforcement in the number 1 shield, bringing total shield strength to an effective 26. Having received 41 points of damage, the Fang takes 16 points of damage on internals. Rear Hull, Drone Launcher, Phaser II #1 (FA), Forward Hull, Rear Hull, Phaser II #2 (FA), Rear Hull, Bridge, Forward Hull, Phaser II #3 (RX), Phaser II #4 (RX), Right Warp Engine, Disruptor A, Left Warp Engine, Right Warp Engine, Right Warp Engine. The Kelvin took 13 damage to to number 1 shield, leaving 11 points of shield.  Impuse 8: The IKV Fang fires its remaining Phasor II at the Kelvin in defiance. Phasor II 5: Klingon rolls 6 3 Damage! against shield number 2. The Kelvin has 17 points left on shield number 2. In retaliation Hammond fires both Starboard Phaser I s against shield number 3 on IKV Fang. Phasor I 5: Hammond rolls 2 7 Damage! Phasor I 6: Hammond rolls 2 7 Damage! The Fang only has 9 points of shield, meaning 5 more internals are hit. Rear Hull, Phaser II #5, Rear Hull, Impulse, Tractor. Her teeth pulled, the Fang crosses the Kelvin’s wake and makes a run for it.  Impulse 18: Captain hammond fires a Phaser I from the port Phaser bank at the remaining drone. Phaser I 3: Hammond rolls 6 3 Damage the drone is not destroyed.  Rules check Going to have to go back and dig into the rule book, but here the Federation player declared a volley during the direct-fire weapons phase of an Impulse, resolution of declared weapons occurs in a separate step, so I belive in effect, you can’t add in more fire this impulse. But since captains have an option to declare fire even on impulses where they do not move, Hammond should get another shot on the drone in Impulse 19 before it can close the distance. Impulse 19: Captain Hammond fires a Phaser I from the port Phaser bank at the remaining drone. Phaser I 4: Hammond rolls 5 4 Damage the drone is destroyed!  After a pair of devastating volleys the IKV Fang is left toothless, and burning. Hull breaches on multiple decks. Their only hope to run.
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Jun 17, 2017 22:33
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Nice, turns out 4 photon torpedoes hurt quite a bit.
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Jun 18, 2017 00:49
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Photons are a very potent and versatile weapon, with the main drawbacks being their fairly long charge time and high power cost. A salvo of fully overloaded photons can wreck most ships in the game, while proximity fused photons outrange almost everything.
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Jun 18, 2017 03:00
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...Huh. My only familiarity with Starfleet Battles comes from the Starfleet Command games that I was terrible at as a kid. Only race I was ever decent at was the ISC. Will be watching with interest.
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Jun 18, 2017 03:03
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Yeah, I remember my early disapponitment with this game you could not use security personnel as munitions by loading htem into torpedo tubes. Then I learned that security personnel were actually useful here.
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Jun 18, 2017 04:37
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I actually have the giant VCR manual that tells you how to play this sitting on my nightstand. I've made four attempts to get through it so far. So yeah, I'm gonna watch this thread because seeing this game actually played is probably going to do wonders for my eventually maybe being able to run a game of my own.
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Jun 18, 2017 09:15
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Playing With Plasma - Turn 0 Commanders Record - Stardate 2266.34 Preator Vrax has decreed the long simmering border conflict between the Romulan Star Empire and the Gorn Confederation shall be fully ignited. Our Turma of War Eagles has been dispatched to cross the border in secret, seek out Gorn patrols of similar or weaker force, engage, and finally destroy them. Our orders are to cause as much havoc as possible with the GSC Navy without putting our ships at risk, to help draw attention away from the border. The final aim of this operation is to clear a path for an invasion fleet to reach Axelot II, the most prosperous colony on the border between our two empires. Our duty is to obey. All glory to the Empire! Situation The Turma of War Eagles, the Esemer commanded by Added Space, and the Cathex commanded by Tagichatn, have happened upon a likely target. A small squadron of Gorn ships made up of the GSC Destroyer Viper, and GSC Cruiser Asp. The Gorn ships are on patrol in a cluster of belt objects in the Koreb system, they have been warned that Romulans have slipped past the GSC border nets as other Gorn ships have already come under attack from other Romulan raiding parties. Their shields and phasers have been armed. You have spotted their ships barely in time, their sensor echos were masked as they passed behind the various chunks of floating rocks. Your phasers and shields have also been raised, but you are not cloaked. The Gorn know you are here. Added Space  Tagichatn  Gorn DD  Gorn CA  Situation Map  Romulan Zoom  Gorn Zoom 
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Jun 21, 2017 05:07
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Ooooh, the War Eagles are a nasty little beastie. Tough shields, armor plating, and a weapon that does 50 points of damage when fully charged. It even has the option of hiding in cloak. The only thing that makes me hesitant is the low sensor resolution, which means there might be more ships hiding behind those rocks. I'm thinking we power up shields and weapons, keep the cloak on standby, and head up the left side of the map to clear the rocks. Might as well order them to surrender, they're seriously outmatched as the board stands now.
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Jun 21, 2017 06:03
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That sounds good to me but I want to start arming my plasma torpedo too. It takes 3 turns to arm and if we go up the left side, we can probably avoid them until it's ready to go.
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Jun 21, 2017 06:18
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For anyone following along at home, for context check out "The Balance Of Terror" from ToS Season 1. The Romulans make their screen debut. In that episode they are piloting a much older "Bird of Prey" without warp engines. These War Eagles are much more advanced, developed in response to their encounter with the Enterprise. If you can look past the Styrofoam debris, and the inexplicable raining plaster and drywall inside a space ship under attack "The Balance Of Terror" is actually really quite good tv and holds up well.
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Jun 21, 2017 06:18
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The Gorn have plasma torps too but we can activate cloak to get a 2/3 chance of a miss and half damage on hit.
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Jun 21, 2017 06:26
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Romulans are fairly nasty. Gorn ships turn like a VW beetle going uphill overloaded with hippies. Romulans are dependent, however, mainly on thier plasmas to deal damage. Plasmas take a lot of energy to recharge and time to reload, and they can also be 'hit' by PD weapons to depower them. Gorn ships also have LOTS of weapons. Lots and LOTS of weapons and they cover lot sof arcs. Since a Gorn ship can't turn effectively, it will have lots of weapons to bear in any given arc. There's also the 'dance' that is done with plasmas and trying to trick folks to when you're powering them and armig them which is very fun. Romulans are very much about trickery and playing against your opponent's expectations and trying to game them. Are you launching a real plasma or a fake one? Do you have a shotgun load ready or are you trying to lure them close with a long range psuedo to make them think you're helpless while recharging? Romulan ships are about gaming your opponent and maneuvering for th ekill.
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Jun 21, 2017 06:26
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| # ? Apr 28, 2024 08:50 |
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What happened to the ships the Kelvin was looking for? Are they space dust? Also, this is bring back memories of my Starfleet Command days, where my tactical prowess was limited to playing the
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Jun 21, 2017 06:31
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