ACTA: Battlestar Galactica - Some input please...
- Thread starter Court Jester
- Start date
Okay, I've taken them from tCJ's forum and cut/pasted them into word, then tweaked them to size.
Only done in B&W on paper, though - don't have any card and no access to colour printing atm. Still, should have sufficient: 2 Mercury, 4 Acropolis, 4 Basestars, and a page each worth of the fighters.
Might see if I can give the system a try tonight with a friend.
I would assume the PLs: Mercury and Basestar at War, Acropolis at Battle.
Only done in B&W on paper, though - don't have any card and no access to colour printing atm. Still, should have sufficient: 2 Mercury, 4 Acropolis, 4 Basestars, and a page each worth of the fighters.
Might see if I can give the system a try tonight with a friend.
I would assume the PLs: Mercury and Basestar at War, Acropolis at Battle.
I have to admit, I don't quite understand the critical hit rule wording - how do I roll?
A 6 is a crit, but is each crit equal to 1+d3 crits? What does this mean? Do I still roll as normal on the crit table?
Hopefully my colleague from work wont mind trying out the game tonight, when we would've been playing FT. I will try: Mercury vs. Basestar.
I will assume that a Viper Squadron is 4 Flights (so that gives the Mercury 32 total, and the Acropolis gets 24).
I will take each wave of Cylons to have 6 flights (or 6 hits). However this raises questions over their dogfight score (I will base it around normal ACTA rules on how many flights are in base contact, and leave it at a maximum of +6? - or is the score of all members of the wave 4+?). So I would suggest: A wave acts like a ship squadron - all members of the wave must remain within 2 inches of another member for coherency - the instinctive nature of the Raider means they tend to flock and follow only general commands from the Basestar.
Viper pilots are more autonomous, so squadrons need only maintain 6 inches distance from their members for coherency.
A 6 is a crit, but is each crit equal to 1+d3 crits? What does this mean? Do I still roll as normal on the crit table?
Hopefully my colleague from work wont mind trying out the game tonight, when we would've been playing FT. I will try: Mercury vs. Basestar.
I will assume that a Viper Squadron is 4 Flights (so that gives the Mercury 32 total, and the Acropolis gets 24).
I will take each wave of Cylons to have 6 flights (or 6 hits). However this raises questions over their dogfight score (I will base it around normal ACTA rules on how many flights are in base contact, and leave it at a maximum of +6? - or is the score of all members of the wave 4+?). So I would suggest: A wave acts like a ship squadron - all members of the wave must remain within 2 inches of another member for coherency - the instinctive nature of the Raider means they tend to flock and follow only general commands from the Basestar.
Viper pilots are more autonomous, so squadrons need only maintain 6 inches distance from their members for coherency.
Okay - I've reread and now get that a wave of raiders is overall +4 to dogfight, until reduced to 3 hits.
As for crits, you simply roll for location as normal, and the d3 is the type of hit? (so you can never get any better than the 1-3 crits on any of the locations on the table?) That makes sense, and will make the ships far tougher.
As for crits, you simply roll for location as normal, and the d3 is the type of hit? (so you can never get any better than the 1-3 crits on any of the locations on the table?) That makes sense, and will make the ships far tougher.
captainsmirk
Mongoose
I can see the Galactica loosing out quite a bit to the basic Acropolis, she'll only have 2 fighter squadrons... :?
Oh and obviously she'll have to loose the Flight Computer too...
Nick
Oh and obviously she'll have to loose the Flight Computer too...
Nick
Locutus9956
Mongoose
The crit wording is a little ambiguous but as I read it it means:
For each weapon system if you roll any number of cirts (ie 6s rolled (and 5s with precice) you get ONE roll on the crit tabel with a D3 and add the number crits (to a maximum of 6) and apply this result. This basically means you will tend to score lower crits and need to land a pretty devastating attack to score the really nasty ones (ie you have to score at least 3 crits with a single volley to be able to score number 6 result on any of the crit tables
Assuming I have got this right, I really quite like this and am actually tempted to try it out in normal ACTA (though it might be a little naff for Minbari as it does nerf their weapons more than most and it might REALLY hurt the shadows and vorlons who have preciceness galore and dont take crits themselves)
For each weapon system if you roll any number of cirts (ie 6s rolled (and 5s with precice) you get ONE roll on the crit tabel with a D3 and add the number crits (to a maximum of 6) and apply this result. This basically means you will tend to score lower crits and need to land a pretty devastating attack to score the really nasty ones (ie you have to score at least 3 crits with a single volley to be able to score number 6 result on any of the crit tables
Assuming I have got this right, I really quite like this and am actually tempted to try it out in normal ACTA (though it might be a little naff for Minbari as it does nerf their weapons more than most and it might REALLY hurt the shadows and vorlons who have preciceness galore and dont take crits themselves)
Court Jester
Mongoose
Right I'll see if I can get everything covered.
Criticals...
Locust 9956 has it right...
Although I am worried that this might still result in some devastating criticals so this is something I will be looking at when we get some test games in at Basingstoke on Tuesday.
Vipers
Vipers are used in squadrons and a squadron represents roughly 20 craft. (although there are only 5 in the picture).
One squadron is one flight as per the normal B5 rules.
So a Mercury gets 8 squadrons (flights) against the basestars 8 waves. The Vipers should hopefully be out numbered by quite a bit.
I know this has scaled up the flight size quite a bit but I think it is needed for the number of fighters in the game.
The counters
Although some of the counters appear huge on the screen they print to defined sizes.
I have re-made the counters to have less obvious arc lines and generally better quality.
I'll try and get them up loaded to the web asap.
I will admit however that the counters are big. A fighter squadron will print out at 1.5" x 1.5" and the capital ships will be around 5" - 6" long and 3"-4£ wide. Because you will only have 3-4 ships on the table I wanted them to have presence.
Criticals...
Locust 9956 has it right...
Although I am worried that this might still result in some devastating criticals so this is something I will be looking at when we get some test games in at Basingstoke on Tuesday.
Vipers
Vipers are used in squadrons and a squadron represents roughly 20 craft. (although there are only 5 in the picture).
One squadron is one flight as per the normal B5 rules.
So a Mercury gets 8 squadrons (flights) against the basestars 8 waves. The Vipers should hopefully be out numbered by quite a bit.
I know this has scaled up the flight size quite a bit but I think it is needed for the number of fighters in the game.
The counters
Although some of the counters appear huge on the screen they print to defined sizes.
I have re-made the counters to have less obvious arc lines and generally better quality.
I'll try and get them up loaded to the web asap.
I will admit however that the counters are big. A fighter squadron will print out at 1.5" x 1.5" and the capital ships will be around 5" - 6" long and 3"-4£ wide. Because you will only have 3-4 ships on the table I wanted them to have presence.
Court Jester
Mongoose
Locutus9956 said:
Remember though if you score say... 3 criticals there is a good chance you will do horrendous damage to the location you hit. thats a minmum damage of 4 on the table... this is why I am worried it could still seem quite nasty...
Court Jester
Mongoose
Quality
These files will be poor quality as I had to reduce the resolution by two thirds to get them online. I can email the press-quality pdfs if people want them. As it stands the writing on the counters is probably not visib;e due to pixelation.
I am also working on 3 different Raptor variants that you can choose from at the start of the game. Hence the increased number of Raptors on each sheet (they do have different names on each row)
These files will be poor quality as I had to reduce the resolution by two thirds to get them online. I can email the press-quality pdfs if people want them. As it stands the writing on the counters is probably not visib;e due to pixelation.
I am also working on 3 different Raptor variants that you can choose from at the start of the game. Hence the increased number of Raptors on each sheet (they do have different names on each row)
captainsmirk
Mongoose
One point I have hit upon is that the Battlestar's guns don't appear to be railguns...
Sure the big guns have rails but their posistioning means they wouldn't work, plus there three of them, when only two are required. Also they have muzzle flare which would only occur if chemical propellents were in use.
The Battlestarwiki also makes this point as well. Their not refered to as railguns in the series, only in some early design scetches, and those were changed to the present design (the designs refered to as railguns could well have been).
The smaller defensive guns are definitely not railguns, again with the muzzle flair and also they mutiple barrels like a gatling gun, something not feasible in a railgun.
Not really a problem, doesn't effect the game as such. Just a fluff niggle.
Nick
Sure the big guns have rails but their posistioning means they wouldn't work, plus there three of them, when only two are required. Also they have muzzle flare which would only occur if chemical propellents were in use.
The Battlestarwiki also makes this point as well. Their not refered to as railguns in the series, only in some early design scetches, and those were changed to the present design (the designs refered to as railguns could well have been).
The smaller defensive guns are definitely not railguns, again with the muzzle flair and also they mutiple barrels like a gatling gun, something not feasible in a railgun.
Not really a problem, doesn't effect the game as such. Just a fluff niggle.
Nick
were to start? captain smirk is correct the weapons on the battlestars are not railguns, they are kinetic energy weapons(KEW) or use the more generic term of "autocannons". this can be seen in the series in the battle scenes and there was an episode(can't remeber which at the moment) where the had a misfire on a viper that when chief tyrol check the ammo he found it was sabotaged. i love the look of the book and the counters. as for the rest , well you'll see as i start posting "Battlestar Galactica: the cylon wars" (tns edition) on the mongoose mods group. if you would like to check out some of my stuff on this forum search for "Battlestar Galactica: the Cylon Wars (tos edition) or check out traveller 61's battlestar galactica tns threads.
Locutus9956
Mongoose
think about it though Jester, yes if you take 3 or 4 crits you are likely to suffer horrible damage. BUT if you roll all 4 crits seperately and take them all your pretty likely to still take that horrific damage result and 2 or 3 other crits AS WELL.
Locutus9956
Mongoose
also, aside from precise weapons, to take 3 crits, statistically you would need (assuming average rolls, which as we all know never happens but still...) you would have to take about 18 hits. From a single weapon volley. Really you dont tend to take more than 1 or two crits in a volley. I would suggest by the way that you alter the wording so that its d3 + 1 per ADDITIONAL crit scored in that volley (ie if you take 1 crit you get result d3 on the table, if you take 2 you get result d3+1 etc etc).
Okay, tonight I half played a game with a friend - Mercury vs. Cylon Basestar.
Some things became pretty clear from the start of the game:
Cylon Raiders are simply too good at dodging. 2+ means that even salvo fire (TL) cannot reliably kill 1 single hit from a wave of Cylon Raiders per turn (8 dice TL, that is, hitting on 4s) because they dodge 5/6 hits. This doesn't IMO reflect the effectiveness of Galactica/Pegasus' flak patterns in the show.
Vipers aren't good enough at dogfighting, or Raiders are too good - in the show, again, Vipers kill ratios against raiders are massive - in the game, Vipers need to go 2:1 against a swarm just to equal its dogfight score, and then beat it in combat 6 times. Doesn't work...
Regards launching raiders - 3 a turn is your max with scramble (assuming you make your roll). You can barely keep up with the Cylons swarming out...
Carrier rules need a rehash - obviously a Battlestar cannot enter from FTL with fighters deployed (but it can with Raptors - since they can FTL). Cylon Raiders can FTL - this is a bit of imbalance, and needs a rethink.
Also, it needs to be stated whether Raptors give rerolls for deployment and first turn init.
The fact that Basestars can launch nukes every turn is just too much. It's even worse when you consider they can CAF them freely every turn - 12 AD of SAP TD, twinlinked at 30 inches - it's just too much. They should either be unable of using certain specials (like Shadows/Vorlons) or have their nukes as a separate weapon which is slow loading with fewer AD (say have 4 AD of nukes, SL and 8AD of standard missiles).
1/45 may be simply too low for a Battlestar, or 8 inches move with SM is too much for the Cylons.
Raiders need to gain the limited payload stat on their nukes.
Some things became pretty clear from the start of the game:
Cylon Raiders are simply too good at dodging. 2+ means that even salvo fire (TL) cannot reliably kill 1 single hit from a wave of Cylon Raiders per turn (8 dice TL, that is, hitting on 4s) because they dodge 5/6 hits. This doesn't IMO reflect the effectiveness of Galactica/Pegasus' flak patterns in the show.
Vipers aren't good enough at dogfighting, or Raiders are too good - in the show, again, Vipers kill ratios against raiders are massive - in the game, Vipers need to go 2:1 against a swarm just to equal its dogfight score, and then beat it in combat 6 times. Doesn't work...
Regards launching raiders - 3 a turn is your max with scramble (assuming you make your roll). You can barely keep up with the Cylons swarming out...
Carrier rules need a rehash - obviously a Battlestar cannot enter from FTL with fighters deployed (but it can with Raptors - since they can FTL). Cylon Raiders can FTL - this is a bit of imbalance, and needs a rethink.
Also, it needs to be stated whether Raptors give rerolls for deployment and first turn init.
The fact that Basestars can launch nukes every turn is just too much. It's even worse when you consider they can CAF them freely every turn - 12 AD of SAP TD, twinlinked at 30 inches - it's just too much. They should either be unable of using certain specials (like Shadows/Vorlons) or have their nukes as a separate weapon which is slow loading with fewer AD (say have 4 AD of nukes, SL and 8AD of standard missiles).
1/45 may be simply too low for a Battlestar, or 8 inches move with SM is too much for the Cylons.
Raiders need to gain the limited payload stat on their nukes.
