Hello, This last weekend I played in a game of Cameleon Eclectics B5 game
(essentially a full thrust variant for Babylon 5) at a local convention. There
were two games of this run. The figures were very well done and extremely well
painted, I was impressed. However, there were two weapons that completely
dominated the game. The Narns and humans torched the Centauri fleet in two
different games. First the Narns used their energy mines and heavy beams to
destroy the Centauri fleet. In the next game the Humans torched the Cenauri
fleet in a hail of heavy beam attacks. The HBW system just has too mcuh power
and the rollover of a full die six for a natural six makes it just too
impressive at long range. Okay so I can only cause damage on a six at my
extreme range, but if I do, I get do an additional 1D6 with a rollover for
every
six....
I would not play that game again unless some serious changes were made... Add
the HBW issue to the fact that the Centauri forces have their weapons spread
across all thier arcs and you have a seriously weak fleet. Their only
advantage is in the mix with the enemy line, but if you can't close with them
without getting zorched, it does you little good. Phil P.
Gort, Klaatu barada nikto!
> The HBW system just has too mcuh power and the rollover of a full die
Because of this, I like to use the basic FT beam roll for HBW rerolls
(1-3 no
extra damage, 4-5 1 point, 6 2 points and another reroll). This cuts
down the problems of extreme damage on long range shots.
Hopefully Jon will do something like this for FT3 when the HBW shows up as an
alternate weapon. Or maybe when the League Sourcebook shows up for the
Babylon Project in about 6 months (what they said at GenCon). It is supposed
to include ships for most of the league races and lots of new weapons systems.
In message <3.0.1.32.19980909093443.007c2c40@pop.nps.navy.mil>
> "Phillip E. Pournelle" <pepourne@nps.navy.mil> wrote:
> Hello,
Well, I had my own private game of it at GenCon over the weeked as well. The
glorious Centauri fleet crushed the insignificant Narns in a hail of pulse
cannon fire!
> However, there were two weapons that completely dominated the
First
> the Narns used their energy mines and heavy beams to destroy the
The Centauri are very manoeuvrable, and tend to have longer range
'all arc' weapons. If you can keep the Narns/Humans within your
pulse cannon range, but out of theirs, while avoiding their big weapons, the
Centauri can be very effective.
Unfortunately, one wrong move and you're toasted!
After seeing that episode (Movements of Fire and Shadow??) where Vorchan
cruisers wipe out a Drazi fleet with missiles, I feel the Centauri ships (in
the various B5 games) should be upgraded with this sort of tech. The other way
to play it, is to simply give the Centauri bigger fleets. The tactic of
numbers rather than quality (the Centauri should have massive resources to
churn out warships by the bucket full) could easily apply to them.
> Phillip E. Pournelle wrote:
The
> Narns and humans torched the Centauri fleet in two different games.
First
> the Narns used their energy mines and heavy beams to destroy the
[MUNCH]
This was a matter of some discussion at GZGECC I, and on the testers list for
Fleet Book. Personally, I think the HBW has got the punch it needs in the B5
Universe, because we've seen weapons that can core starships with one shot. It
may mean that playing in the B5 universe isn't for everybody, because ships
tend to die so easily. (It's a problem I'm having with Honor Harrington Rule
Adaptations; any attempt to make the rules faithful to the books means players
starships tend to blow up rather messily and quickly. This is also why it's
taking so bloody long to get a second version
out. (8-( )
Also, I've found the Centuari starships to just not be as good as other
ships, mass for mass. Maybe that's why their Empire went to hell. (8-)
I've yet to see a player handle a Centauri fleet well enough to use its
superior maneuverability and arcs against a slower, less agile opponent.
(And forget it once the 'advanced technology' ships get involved...)
> Dean Gundberg wrote:
This is a nice idea, maybe as an option for FTIII? But for B5, I think you
need the full reroll. A lance of fire from across the stars, shattering
starships, spreading them as dust along the spacelanes. Yeah, I like that.
(8-) (And I've been both on the giving and reciving end of them, so I
know
what it's like to have your Hyperion go BOOM. (8-) )
Two cents or so...
J.
> At 04:25 PM 9/9/98 -0400, Jerry Han wrote:
> Also, I've found the Centuari starships to just not be as good as other
> ships, mass for mass. Maybe that's why their Empire went to hell.
(8-)
> I've yet to see a player handle a Centauri fleet well enough to use its
> superior maneuverability and arcs against a slower, less agile
One interesting addition a friend of mine gave to the Centauri in his B5
Campaign rules based on the EFSB rules was giving the Centauri more advanced
Pulse Batteries than the younger races. To represent their more advanced
weapon technology, their Pulse Batteries ignore the first
range-band penalty, in effect increasing the ranges of their Pulse Batts
by one range band and giving them a bigger punch at short range. It makes
their vessels a bit scarier and more able to stand in the line with other
races ships and balances things out a little more.