> From several comments, I've become confused as to what is the
Of course, special scenerio setups are always possible, but do folks normally
let the participants start however they want, use set startings, or something
randomized? We've been using
a d6+4 which I think was how the last GenCon battles were
started, but I'm not finding any 'official' book answer so far, and was mostly
curious as to how others do it.
One thing I think I may start changing, though, is our tendency to line the
ships of one fleet along one board edge. This does seem a bit static.
Does make 'deploying the fleet' an art in itself.
The_Beast
> From several comments, I've become confused as to what is the
It varies for how I do things. I know a handful of people who hard and fast
believe in the 'no more than twice (or 3x) the thrust rating of the slowest
ship in your force' theory, but I have a real hard time
swallowing that (what if I *want* to start my thrust-2 superdread out
at speed 10??).
In some scenarios I specify a reasonable speed (between 6-10 or 8-12,
as the players see fit), and in others I'll roll a die (similar to
how you do it - but again, it varies to how I 'feel' about the scenario
in question). Noam and I are hammering out some simple FT Campaign rules and
one of the things we've touched on is speeds of fleets in encounters. We
basically have decided so far that if someone is defending a planet they are
restricted to a speed of 6 initially while attackers can go wat whatever the
hell speed they want (fine, you want to make a high velocity
speed-40 pass against defenders who are basically sitting still, go
nuts; it'll be a while before you get turned around again...:). And in
encounters where there is no clear defender (eg, the defender of the system
has opted to 'go out and meet' the aggressors to the system), each side can
choose whatever speed they want.
Yeah, this has the potential to make for single-pass,
not-terribly-interesting
encounters, but what the hey? You get what you pay for. ;-)
Mk
G'day,
> From several comments, I've become confused as to what is the
We do it a few different ways 1) What ever you like
2) D6 + thrust of the ship (this is the one used most often at the club
here) 3) Anywhere betwen 0 and 20 4) As determined by what you said in you
operational turn (for the campaign Derek and I are slogging out)
As for directions, that's usually up to the player. Though, the boys tend to
like to line up opposite each other (I'm more erratic).
Basically the young guys (I can't believe that at the grand old age of 25
I've taken to calling 18-20 year olds "young guys") like to be pointing
where there going and be at about 10, Derek usually likes to start slow and
then keep on a parallel course to his opponent and I just wizz around like a
lunatic (with direction and facing hardly ever coinciding).
Hope that gives you some ideas.
Cheers
Beth
For one-off games, we usually start at a max of (the thrust of slowest
ship) x
2.
Usually the vector is head-on for simplicity. We also restrict leaving
the table (again for the sake of simplicity).
Some of the most fun one-offs started with vectors determined by random
AFTER the 1st turn's orders have been written. Each player writes the 1st
turn's orders then rolls a d12. On a roll of 1, the player starts at table
position 7 and a vector of 1; on a 3, the player starts at 9 on a vector of 3;
etc.
Much
fun if both players roll the same number, or even 1 number off!
---
As long as I know before we announce fleet composition, anything is okay.
"Anything" is usually 2 or 3 times thrust of your *slowest* ship, or the
result of 2d6, but I wouldn't mind high speeds. I think I'd be inclined to
insist on sensor rules, though.
"You're using passive sensors. Your speed is forty MU/turn. Your end
point...oh dear, I guess you didn't see that asteroid, did you? Well, everyone
else sees it now."
When I'm moderating a game I:
1. have both sides secretly write down how fast they want to close relative to
the other 2. average them
3. divide by 2 - this gives a base movement for each fleet
4. each fleet rolls 1d6 and can add or subtract this to their speed
A little complicated, but it seems to work.
Chan
Beth:
It is funny you should ask. In the last two games I played the opponent
started out with an entering speed of 35 and 40 inches per turn. (were in the
US) Of course he had a vested interest in getting close quick as he was
Kra'Vak and heavy in scatterguns. Basically a one shot fleet come in fast
unload and leave. As far as starting speed speed we usually say up to twice
the fastest ship thrust of the ships you brought. Of course the opponent
always brings a thrust 8 ship when we do that.
John Fox
> G'day,
Somebody Wrote a While Back <sinp>
> Basically the young guys (I can't believe that at the grand old age of
<snip>
Then is my gaming group of 14 year olds?????? :-)
I must stop reading at 2:14 AM.
Good night. Aaron Davis
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