From: John Kovalic <muskrat@m...>
Date: Thu, 30 Jan 1997 11:57:34 -0500
Subject: FT-Battle Report
Thanks for all the input everybody had on the FT multiplayer game. It came off without a hitch last night at The Last Square. We had a 12'x6' table, and played across the width of it. The ships were "Classic Trek" Star Trek micromachines, but the stats were pretty much standard FT. I removed the Klingons' A Batteries and gave them the equivalent points worth of Needle Beams (I didn't worry about the mass difference). I called the Beam Batteries "Phasers" and the Needle Beams "Disruptors," just to give the game a *simple* Star Trek flavor. We had about ten players, ranging from dyed-in-the-wool historical gamers to a couple of 11-year olds (one of whom I wanted to throttle). Apart from the kids, all the players were 25 years old or older. The Federation probably had 200 more points worth of ships (Three heavy cruisers, six destroyers and a battleship versus five D7 heavy cruisers and two destroyers for the Kilingons). Funnily enough, the most confusing point in the evening was me trying to describe the turn modes. After a couple of tries (met with blank stares), I finally figured out that the best way to describe it was "Make half your turn, make half your move; make the last half of your turn, make the last half of your move." After two turns, though, everything ran smoothly. The lack of Quick Referrence Sheets was a problem, but not a critical one. (Has anybody made any up? I'm gonna try and put some together for the next game). Traditional battle-lines formed, with the Federation battleship (commanded by the obnoxious kid - negating the Federation's points advantage) set up far to the right flank. A Klingon battlegroup of one Heavy Cruiser and the two destroyers was sent out against it, but apart from that, the lines clashed without much tactical thought. The lack of range on the needle beams frustrated the Klingons, as the Federation "A" batteries caused first blood. But the Battleship turned into the flank too late, and the Klingon Cruiser/Destroyer battlegroup got behind it. One Klingon commander tried to take out some Federation ships by going FTL once he was down to a few hits left. He caused as much damage to another D7 as he did one of the Federation destroyers (minimal), but left alive - "It is a good day to...flee." In the end, it was a bloody mess as the lines got into close range. The Battleship was down to one hit left before the ships tailing it were taken out. That, a cruiser (which had lost all thrust) and two destroyers were all that got out alive at the end of the game. Only the one D7 got out alive. The end game found the two remaining Federation destroyers circling the last D7. (The bleeding battleship had already fled the field). The Needle Beams were surprisingly ineffective. Only one hit from all sources (Each Klingon ship had two). To "simulate" Disruptors, I might double their range in the future. But, most importantly, EVERYBODY was raving afterwards. A fun time was had by all - even one gamers' girlfriend, who just played for the heck of it. "This was even more fun than the elephant races (Circus Maximus)," she was heard to say. We'll probably do another big game in a month or so, adding more weapons this time. But a lot of people had a lot of fun, and in Madison, it looks like Full Thrust is here to stay!