Hello Everyone:
Spoiler Space for those who gotta wait:
OK, just a few FT/EFSB related thoughts on A Call To Arms:
The Victory Class Destroyer:
Armor: I would say this thing would use the KV armor rules. Level 2
for pulse weapons. Adds an additional -2 to HBW and Minbari beam weapon
rolls.
Maneuvering: Pretty good for a capital ship. Thrust 5-6
perhaps?
Minbari Neutron Lasers: This appears to be the standard armament of the
Victory.: Four cannons in front, at least two turreted fore and aft. Rear
weapons were mentioned though we didn't see what kind they were.
THE BIG HONKIN' GUN: A nasty looking weapon. I'd say it was a level
10 (!) EFSB HBW, recharge rate is the same as a non-minbari beam
system. The gun can't be fired until it The ship can not do ANYTHING
(maneuver, use weapons/systems) the turn
after it was fired. It's a sitting duck.
The Warlock: Where's the Warlock? There was supposed to be a Drahk shattering
Warlock? We got a glimpse of an unfamiliar missile firing ship and an new ship
racing out of the Death Cloud with the Omegas and the Excaliber. However, we
don't know if these were the same ship, much less the Warlock.
More after, I've watched my tape a few more times.
> Hello Everyone:
Level 2
> for pulse weapons. Adds an additional -2 to HBW and Minbari beam
You have a complication with the armor rules here. They only specified that it
deflected 80% of energy weapon damage. Never said anything about direct
physical damage (eg, missiles, et al). You can presume it gives some
protection to direct physical damage, but any guess you make is going to be
pretty much
speculation. :-/
> Maneuvering: Pretty good for a capital ship. Thrust 5-6
Oh?? I thought it manuevered like a pig stuck in mud. :-/ The *only*
time we saw it MOVE was when it left the black cloud (and that was as
faster as she could go) - and along with it were some Omegas and at
least one other new ship. The rest of the time it just seemed to pokily move
along. We already know the maneuverability potential of Omegas. This has got
to be the fastest we've *ever* seen them move!
At least that's the impression I got from watching it a few times. Granted,
it *did* manage to s-l-o-w-l-y overhaul the Drahk lighter ships, but as
for actualy *maneuverability*, I saw nothing that gave me any impression
beyond
the pig-stuck-in-mud bit.
Remember, don't take everything you see in the show as It(tm). JMS does
exercise his 'creative license' from time to time to get cool effects. I would
caution and suggest you wait for Crusade to air for a while before
you start trying to nail down the Victory-class destroyer's stats.
Other-
wise you're setting yourself up for disappointment and undue hardship.
> Minbari Neutron Lasers: This appears to be the standard
They appeared to be similar weapons all around. Each had basically the same
damage potential as a White Star.
> THE BIG HONKIN' GUN: A nasty looking weapon. I'd say it was a
Rules for the NovaCannon/Wavegun could be modified to fit this idea
here.
And mind you, we know it is a powerful weapon, but we do *not* have a good
gauge of it's destructive capabilities. Yeah, they blew away a 'big asteroid'.
How *big* was the asteroid? What kind of asteroid was it? Carbonaceous,
silicate, basaltic chondrite, iron-rich/poor? How much damage could said
asteroid have taken from the 'level 1 guns' before being destroyed? We don't
have a good feel for how powerful this new weapon is yet. We've seen it fired
3 times in the movie: once at an asteroid, once into a hyperspace transition
device, once into the structure of the Black Cloud (minimal effect, really).
When we see it fired at something we already *know* the kind of damage it can
sustain, then we'll have a good idear of how powerful this new gun is.
I seriously doubt it is on par with Vorlon weaponry because it was 'based
loosely on Vorlon tech'. It's more powerful than anything in the Alliance,
I've no doubt about that. But I don't think in 5, 6 years they've managed to
come up with something that'll rival the Vorlon's weaponry.
And if you make the new gun a level-10 EFSB HBW, where do you put Shadow
and Vorlon weaponry at? Level-15? 20??
> The Warlock:
Dunno. Maybe EarthGov opted out of continuing the development of those
ships since they *are* based partly on Shadow tech - and I'm *sure* the
Alliance wouldn't be too keen on any of it's constituent members building
ANYthing using Shadow tech!
Or you can assume they were all too far away to get to Earth in time to help
in the defense.
> We got a glimpse of an unfamiliar missile firing ship and an new
I missed seeing the new missile ship firing. I did see a couple new ship types
out there in the fleet, but never noticed them really do anything to even
start to think about their capabilities. Maybe they are 'medium' sized ships,
larger than White Stars, smaller than Omegas.
Mk
> OK, just a few FT/EFSB related thoughts on A Call To Arms:
> You have a complication with the armor rules here. They only specified
Agreed. We'll need to wait and see. But (speculating anyway) I'd assume
that armor would be no _worse_ than Earthforce ships of comparable size.
Aside, I liked the big, metalllic "Thunk!" sounds when the ships were hit.
Someone should digitize that for RL FT games.
> Maneuvering: Pretty good for a capital ship. Thrust 5-6
> Oh?? I thought it manuevered like a pig stuck in mud. :-/ The *only*
IMHO that's all camera POV stuff. I was given the impression it was supposed
to haul almost like a Whitestar. The apparent slow movement could be thge
result of the virtual camera moving almost as fast as the ship at whatever
speed. It certainly added to the tension of the scenes
where you _wanted_ the ship to be moving fast. I put it down to
"Dramatic Camera Placement" and would make the thrust equal to or slightly
less than a Whitestar (5 or 6).
> At least that's the impression I got from watching it a few times.
Granted,
> it *did* manage to s-l-o-w-l-y overhaul the Drahk lighter ships, but as
Well, when the Ex was burning out of the null field, the Victory had to shimmy
sideways pretty fast. That's something you can't really simulate in FT, but it
wasn't slow, and it was a nimble maneuver.
> Remember, don't take everything you see in the show as It(tm).
Celluloid = Canon! Anyone who says anything else is a blaspheeemer!
<Foam> <Drool> ;-)
> Minbari Neutron Lasers: This appears to be the standard
> They appeared to be similar weapons all around. Each had basically the
Agreed. They so much as said that the level one guns were only a little more
powerful than the White star's output. As is often the case, seems to me that
the armaments we see on an SF show are hard to fit into the FT system.
Especially if the system is
more 'advanced' than the average. It requires a Damage-Cost-Mass
equation different from the baseline 1d6-3pts-1mass standard for beam
weapons and other basic systems. Mass/damage goes down while overall
cost goes up.
> THE BIG HONKIN' GUN: A nasty looking weapon. I'd say it was a
> Rules for the NovaCannon/Wavegun could be modified to fit this idea
I'd keep the Wave gun as-is except for the charging rules and the caveat
for no action on the turn after firing. I'd eliminate the capacitor damage if
the gun gets a threshold, since the whole ship is basically the capacitor.
> And mind you, we know it is a powerful weapon, but we do *not* have a
True. I'd start with a base of the Wave gun and modify it from there once we
learn more.
> I seriously doubt it is on par with Vorlon weaponry because it was
Also looks losely based on the Death Star. Converging beams makes for great
visuals, but I was never too hot on the realism.
> The Warlock:
> Dunno. Maybe EarthGov opted out of continuing the development of those
I thought the Shadow Omegas were specifically _not_ Warlocks? There were
a couple fast moving unidentified Earth ships. Maybe some of them were new.
> We got a glimpse of an unfamiliar missile firing ship and an new
The only things I saw firing missiles were the Earth defense platforms. Same
as what Clarke tried to turn against Earth and Sheridan had to wipe
out. The platforms also mount a nice big particle type gun - enough to
knock out a Drakh Plague Seeder ship with one blow. (SML's with big magazines
and Class 4 beams?)
> Izenberg, Noam wrote:
he only things I saw firing missiles were the Earth defense platforms.
> Same as what Clarke tried to turn against Earth and Sheridan had to
I'm pretty sure I saw several Omega class ships that appeared to have been
fitted with missile launchers similar to those on the defense platforms.
This could make sense as a modular add-on for short-range defense
operations where the fighters and extra supplies that the Omega normally
carries can be stashed on orbital or planetary bases.