[FT] After action report - first FB rules game for me . . .

Greetings!

Well, Lonnie & I played our first FB rules game (my 3rd FT game overall). It
was a three cornered affair, with three players (Jesse was the third
-
his first FT game) playing 1000 pts a side, no Nova, Cloak, or Reflex allowed.
While I did reasonably well (considering the setup circumstances:), I
definitely need to tweak some of the designs, as my K'rathri fleet got mauled
pretty badly.

We played on a 4' x 8' table, and rolled randomly for entry sides (1d6) and
starting velocity (2d6). Player rolling lowest side set up first.

       [5]     [6]
    +-------+-------+
    |       |       |
[4] |       |       | [1]
    |       |       |
    +-------+-------+
       [3]     [2]

Naturally, I got stuck in the middle between two fleets - I set up first
on side 3 (speed 6), Lonnie got side 4 (speed 6), and Jesse set up last on
side 6 (speed 3!). Victory condition for everyone was a simple Kill Everything
In Sight.

I brought two CH, one CC, and two DAs to the melee. Lonnie took a BC, CC
(missile ship), CE (in escort configuration), and a couple of DDs. Jesse
took seven(!) ships - the largest a BB, the others were DH and below, if
I remember correctly. The game lasted 7 turns and then was called due to the
store closing. Lonnie and Jesse fought to a near even draw, after they both
trashed my ships. It wasn't a deliberate collaboration between the
two - I just happened to be in the middle and was an easier target for
both of them.

Here's the ship designs - critiques are always welcome.

[CH] Gr'kaa Heavy Cruiser
=========================
82 Mass, 277 Points 25 Damage, 5 Crew Thrust 4, Armor 5, Shields 1 2 Pulse
Torpedoes, 3 arc, both centered front 2 Class II beams, 6 arc 1 Class I beam,
6 arc 3 FiCon, 2 PDS

[CH] Gr'kekh Attack Cruiser
===========================
80 Mass, 266 Points 24 Damage, 4 Crew Thrust 6, Shields 1
     1 Wave Gun
     2 Class II beams, 3 arc, centered Front/Port and Front/Starboard
2 FiCon, 2 PDS

[CC] Fr'thra Cruiser
====================
68 Mass, 230 Points 20 Damage, 4 Crew Thrust 4, Armor 5, Shields 1 2 Class II
beams, 6 arc
     2 Class II beams, 3 arc, centered Front/Port and Front/Starboard
2 Class I beams, 6 arc 4 FiCon, 3 PDS

[DA] Ra'athri Attack Destroyer (I took two of these)
====================================================
34 Mass, 112 Points 10 Damage, 2 Crew Thrust 6, Armor 2 1 Pulse Torpedo, 3
arc, centered front 1 Class I beam, 6 arc 1 FiCon, 1 PDS

In the game, the Fr'thra CC and the two Ra'athri DAs were the most effective,
while I continue a now three game tradition of quickly losing my heavy
cruisers to bad threshold die rolls. The wave gunner actually got a shot off
in turn 3 against Jesse's BB at extreme range, doing a decent amount of 2d6
damage while trashing a frigate that happened to be in harm's way. I actually
had another shot lined up against Lonnie's BC when I lost both FiCons to bad
threshold rolls just before it was my turn to shoot (drats!!). At that point
both Jesse and Lonnie overkilled the poor ship to teeny tiny itty bitty
pieces, crit'ing the overcharged wave gun on the third row threshold roll
[BOOM!!!]. The Gr'kaa CH got a grand total of two turns of shots off before it
was neutered by massed Class III beam fire from Jesse. The Ra'athri DAs were a
real winner, doing significant damage
to several of Lonnie's ships - even a tiny bit of armor soaks up enough
damage from beam fire to allow the Pulse Torps to get within good shooting
range.

By the time the game was called, Jesse and Lonnie were pounding on each other
from close range. I ended up with one Ra'athri DA and the Gr'kekh CH
destroyed, the Gr'kaa CH just streaming wreckage astern (*1* damage point
remaining!), and both the Fr'thra CC and the second Ra'athri DA practically
undamaged (go figure! <G>). All in all, a most enjoyable evening.

Greetings, Mark,

> Here's the ship designs - critiques are always welcome.
[...]

Well, the following is only my $0.02 worth. For the most part they
look okay to me, reasonable designs. I would prolly reduce the arc-age
of the Pulse Torps to either 2 (F/FP and F/FS) or 1 (F) each. The 6-arc
Class-2 batts I'd prolly reduce to 3-arc, but that's just me. Those
reductions would save you some Mass for other things (more armour/armor,
more Class-2s/1s, more PDS, etc)

Q: why does the Fr'thra cruiser have *4* firecons? Talk about redundancy in
backup systems!  ;-)

Anyway, there you go. Real quick and dirty feedback from me. Back to
work...

Mk

> On Wed, 16 Dec 1998, Ya know [blah blah blah] wrote:
[snip]
> Well, the following is only my $0.02 worth. For the most part they

That's interesting, because my two previous games led me to exactly the
opposite conclusion <g>.

[snip]
> Q: why does the Fr'thra cruiser have *4* firecons? Talk about

Mostly because I'm consistantly losing FiCons in disproportionate numbers to
threshold checks - I could have really used a third FiCon on the Gr'kekh
CH to shoot off the wave gun (both FiCons were crit'ed on the same check
<grrr>),
and the Gr'kaa CH lost all three FiCons at once. I started wondering why I
couldn't roll that many sixes in a row for my attack rolls...

> [snip]

You obviously are suffering from what I think is called 'The Indy Effect'.
Except for me it happens for *firing* my pulse torps, not losing my firecons.
;-)

Ya spake thusly upon matters weighty:

Actually, Indy can build ships without firecons. It just saves him from having
to roll the dice to not hit.....

> >[snip]

> Ya spake thusly upon matters weighty:

HEY!!!!!

:-P~~~~

Mk