> At 11:46 PM 6/24/98 -0500, you wrote:
It's a matter of taste. Me I think the FSE aren't that great. They look to me
more like ships that have been stepped on. Whereas the NSL ships just
look too cool. :-) And a lot of the NAC ships just look silly, excepting
of course the heavy frigate which just looks so cute.
And back to the Missile pack problem. Something that suprised me about most of
the fleets is the lack of Area defence for most fleets. Other then the NSL
they seem to be a very low priority. I've only played 4 games with the new
rules so far, but on all occasions that I took my NSL fleet up against the FSE
I was very successful. The amount of defensive fire to stop their misiles,
mixed with the armour to halt the threshold checks and the supriority of the
beam weaponry meant I was able to carve up their fleet as they approaced,
cause some checks much earlier and then on meeting the remander of the fleet
up close shattered them.
Now at the same time I have seen FSE ships do very very well against the ESU.
Which while beam heavy, had little point and area defence and next to no
armour. I think it's more a question of which fleet you take then anything
else. Over two afternoons I came up with the belief that the SML's just wern't
worth it, while another player in the same battle thought they were just too
powerful. It's a matter of perspective. I've had a fleet barely unscathed by
concentrated misile fire with the aid of fighter screens and defence and
armour. I'm suprised that others see the misile packs as so dangerous.
> You wrote:
> It's a matter of taste. Me I think the FSE aren't that great. They
Well, I detest glueing booms, so most NAC ships are right out--I've got
a heavy cruiser which never did get assembled properly.
> And back to the Missile pack problem. Something that suprised me about
I note that taking the book ships as they are, you're right. But at least for
the NAC ships, escort varients with ADFC are listed for both Frigate types,
and the NAC escort cruiser (on which the Nea Rhomaioi one is based) can be
quite effective.
> no armour. I think it's more a question of which fleet you take then
Hehe. Which is why I play Nea Rhomaioi. Who's gonna tell me I'm wrong when it
comes to fleet design or ship choice. For the record, think
FSE-style hulls with NACian armament and armor choices--but SLM
varients exist for many of them. SLMs tend to be seen only when the Deep Space
Fleet battleline shows up. Why? Logistical
concerns--Sector fleets can't always resupply after every skirmish.
And then when the DSF battleline shows up, there are a LOT of SLMs and
fighters together. (Hint--unless I can bring on 4K+ points, it's not a
battleline fight) Am I the only person who thinks those two are a neat way to
provide an opponent with a nasty dillema? OK, you've got SLMs attacking your
battlecruiser while the fighters are attacking your escort cruiser. Do you let
me gut your BC while smacking the fighters and hope they're too shot up to do
anything next turn, or do you knock down the missles this turn while letting
my fighters clear a path for the next salvo?
[snip]
> And back to the Missile pack problem. Something that suprised me about
Don't forget that the ships detailed in the FB, and the few variants of them
mentioned, are still just a very small sample of the classes and types
available to each navy. Most fleets probably have ADS variants of many of
their escort and cruiser classes, either designed as such or as refits. We
deliberately DIDN'T detail too many minor variants in order to give players as
much freedom as possible to customise their ships.
> no speed, or the FSE which is dead opposite (BTW, Why, oh why did GZG
> make the FSE models so darn cool? It's annoying--I won't play
So 2300ad is out then? I always rather enjoyed the way the French had become
this imperial power getting on everyone elses nerves while trying to maintain
their ascendancy. There seems to be some scope for adapting 2300 to FT
although the space combat is heavily sensor dependent.
I remember a campaign game in Challenge magazine for 2300 called Lone Wolf.
Its out on the web somewhere as well. Essentially it involved an enhanced
Kafer raider in human space and the attempt by the humans to stop the raider
while also dealing with the political agendas of all involved. French and
Germans at one anothers throats, while nobody really wanted to give the
Americans any support bases to work from on the French arm. One of the better
attempts to model the affect of politics impinging on military operations.
I can find the url if anyone would like to take a look at it.
> Whereas the NSL ships just look too cool.
I can only agree. I quite like the Kra'vak ships as well. Some of the Brigade
ships seem quite good too.
> You wrote:
> So 2300ad is out then? I always rather enjoyed the way the French had
> At 10:47 25/06/98 -0500, you wrote:
Can't just be the French? The Kafers are one of the best developed Alien races
in any Scifi setting. The whole new frontier thing works well for me. As for
the technology used, well I never much care as to how its supposed to work in
reality.
> Whereas the NSL ships just look too cool.
> Why? The #*($%(@#&$)@#*)% is actually NARROWER than the base stand.
Been there. Still, no cruiser squadron would be complete without them.
As a matter of interest what is everyones favourite GZG model? I suppose mine
would be either the NSL SD or BD. No fiddly bits on them at all, they look
like they mean business.
> John
> You wrote:
> Can't just be the French? The Kafers are one of the best developed
Who put it out? If it's GDW it's gotta be pretty good. It's also kinda outa
print. I'm already spending too much effort trying to track down TNE stuff.
> As a matter of interest what is everyones favourite GZG model? I
Category:
Small: NAC Heavy Frigate So Gosh-darn cute.
Medium: FSE Heavy Cruiser One-piece, sleek and mean.
Large: FSE Superdreadnought Easy to assemble and ONE BIG MOTHA'. I mean,
that's a serious hunk o' lead. Other: Dirtside "Boxcar" VTOLs. Versatile.
Mounted them on clear plastic bases (bought some Warzone ones) and use them
both as Dirtside II transport VTOLs and Full Thrust Light Freighters.:)
> At 12:22 25/06/98 -0500, you wrote:
> how its >supposed to work in reality.
> down TNE stuff.
GDW circa 1987. It was a roleplaying game, with some mechanics similar to
Megatraveller.
In some ways very similar to the FT universe actually. Lots of different
factions/nations making the inital push into space. Of course they bump
into a voracious race of aliens but with a few nice kinks to them. One of the
main ones being that as a race they are extremely stupid until they get into a
combat situation. The adrenaline rush the Kafers get seems to trigger some
sort of intelligence boost. The more combat the smarter the Kafer as they
never quite fall back to the level of intelligence they had before. Therefore
the soceity is very violent in order to improve the race as whole. Human
forces bumping into Kafers usually have to eliminate them early or they don't
come home.
Its out of print sadly but then so is Renegade Legion my other favourite
"dead" game. Such is the way of things. When you think of it there really
aren't that many sci-fi roleplaying games that stayed the course apart
from Traveller.
> At 15:28 25/06/98 +1000, you wrote:
The NAC models are much improved IMHO cut cut the booms in half and then
assembeling. I'm not real keen on the FSE ships accept their carriers which I
assemble without those ugly fighter launcher thingys (YUK!)
> On Thu, 25 Jun 1998, Niall Gilsenan wrote:
> GDW circa 1987. It was a roleplaying game, with some mechanics
There *was* a related space combat game (for hexes, naturally), but it was
never a hit and I forgot the name... Star Cruiser perhaps...
> Mikko Kurki-Suonio wrote:
> There *was* a related space combat game (for hexes, naturally), but
The name for one of the two was: Battle Riders.