Whitehaven
Mongoose
Renny said:
Yep , Get on with it
ACTA: Battlestar Galactica - Some input please...
- Thread starter Court Jester
- Start date
Yep , Get on with it
I just recently found this thread, and I have to say, awesome job Jester. I have already downloaded the basic counters, and I am planning on copying them and basing them tonight.
Unfortunately, I am committing heresy and using them with my BattleFleet Gothic rules, lol. It's mostly because I am alread familiar with and own the game, and also a supplement that has a formula for building ships' stats from scratch, although i am looking into ACTA or maybe the Full Thrust ruleset.
It shouldn't come out too bad, though, as I am doing it with a heavy reliance on the 'spirit' of BSG in mind.
As a side note, I already wanted more ship types for the colonials, so here's an entirely generic 'light cruiser' sized battlestar that I made with some creative cutting and pasting of Joker's Galactica.
Overall it's about 75% the Galactica's size(both length and width), with a longer engine suite, and the launch pods are porportionately smaller than the G's, with only one support strut. The only thing I have to do is clean up the lines on the ship.
Unfortunately, I am committing heresy and using them with my BattleFleet Gothic rules, lol. It's mostly because I am alread familiar with and own the game, and also a supplement that has a formula for building ships' stats from scratch, although i am looking into ACTA or maybe the Full Thrust ruleset.
It shouldn't come out too bad, though, as I am doing it with a heavy reliance on the 'spirit' of BSG in mind.
As a side note, I already wanted more ship types for the colonials, so here's an entirely generic 'light cruiser' sized battlestar that I made with some creative cutting and pasting of Joker's Galactica.
Overall it's about 75% the Galactica's size(both length and width), with a longer engine suite, and the launch pods are porportionately smaller than the G's, with only one support strut. The only thing I have to do is clean up the lines on the ship.
CraftyShafty
Mongoose
Thanks for putting this mod together, Jester. It's always easier to edit (or worse, criticize) than create, so good work on getting the started. Very nice formatting and artwork.
Given the age of this thread I'm not sure if you're still working on your BSG mod, but I thought I'd throw some playtesting comments in for consideration.
This past weekend four of us played out an engagement between two Acropolis Battlestars and two Basestars. The Cylons were attempting to secure a Tylium-rich system (with a moderately-sized planet on table), the Colonials were trying to cripple the Cylon fleet and prevent them from getting a foothold on the system.
I'll start by saying we're all noobs at ACTA, so I'm sure mistakes were made in gameplay. Having said that, YIKES!
We really had some real issues with playbalance in this setup. While nominally equivalents, the Basestars seemed hopelessly outclassed by the MASSIVE firepower from the Battlestars.
The Cylon Raider waves just weren't able to mass enough firepower to do more than scratch a Battlestar.
Maybe we played it wrong, but the large size of the waves limited them to four waves attacking at a time. That, of course, just unmasked more of the Battlestar's batteries - a total of 48 AD divided between four attackers. 12 AD each, with an average of 6 hits and 3 saves...leaving four depleted Raider waves with too few AD to do anything. That's assuming, of course, that they all reached there intact. Lots of wrecked Raiders, no real damage to the BS.
Regarding the nukes, I'm assuming we played them entirely wrong since they didn't do much more than drain off some Colonial AD for a turn.
What we understood from your rules was (for example) a battery of 8 AD fires at a nuke. You need 6's to hit, and each '6' removes 8 AD (the original number of the weapon system's AD) from the nuke's AD. Is this correct? As it was, the Cylon's attacked with both nuclear salvos simultaneously at the same Battlestar and both were eliminated without getting close - a MAJOR disappointment. So disappointing, the Colonials didn't even bother launching their own nukes, especially with the restriction that no other weapon systems may fire in the same turn.
The balance issues are actually more severe than a '2 on 2' battle suggests, as the Colonials foolishly split their Battlestars up and the Cylons were able to concentrate both Basestars and Raiders on a single Battlestar for a couple of turns...with little appreciable damage to show for it. We finally called the game as the Basestars (losing Raider waves faster than they could be replaced) withdrew before the advancing Battlestars would employ all those batteries against them directly.
We were all left feeling that (a) perhaps we're doing something wrong in the attack resolution that reduced the effectiveness of the Cylon attacks (I'll look around at other threads to see if we're doing fighter v. capital ship combats correctly) and/or (b) that the Battlestars had way too much firepower to contend with. It felt so unbalanced that it was pointless to attack the Battlestars - it just wasn't possible to generate sufficient numbers to (a) survive the massive defensive fire and then (b) swamp the point defenses and get through the thick armor of the target. And we weren't even using the Fire Control or Critical Hit rules!
The Cylons 'died' in such numbers that they should have mutinied - by your command, my metal bottom!
The counters are top-notch, by the way. We were using Konami BSG figures I picked up in Japan a few years ago for the capital ships, with your counters for the auxiliary craft. Really nice work on those.
Given the age of this thread I'm not sure if you're still working on your BSG mod, but I thought I'd throw some playtesting comments in for consideration.
This past weekend four of us played out an engagement between two Acropolis Battlestars and two Basestars. The Cylons were attempting to secure a Tylium-rich system (with a moderately-sized planet on table), the Colonials were trying to cripple the Cylon fleet and prevent them from getting a foothold on the system.
I'll start by saying we're all noobs at ACTA, so I'm sure mistakes were made in gameplay. Having said that, YIKES!
We really had some real issues with playbalance in this setup. While nominally equivalents, the Basestars seemed hopelessly outclassed by the MASSIVE firepower from the Battlestars.
The Cylon Raider waves just weren't able to mass enough firepower to do more than scratch a Battlestar.
Maybe we played it wrong, but the large size of the waves limited them to four waves attacking at a time. That, of course, just unmasked more of the Battlestar's batteries - a total of 48 AD divided between four attackers. 12 AD each, with an average of 6 hits and 3 saves...leaving four depleted Raider waves with too few AD to do anything. That's assuming, of course, that they all reached there intact. Lots of wrecked Raiders, no real damage to the BS.
Regarding the nukes, I'm assuming we played them entirely wrong since they didn't do much more than drain off some Colonial AD for a turn.
What we understood from your rules was (for example) a battery of 8 AD fires at a nuke. You need 6's to hit, and each '6' removes 8 AD (the original number of the weapon system's AD) from the nuke's AD. Is this correct? As it was, the Cylon's attacked with both nuclear salvos simultaneously at the same Battlestar and both were eliminated without getting close - a MAJOR disappointment. So disappointing, the Colonials didn't even bother launching their own nukes, especially with the restriction that no other weapon systems may fire in the same turn.
The balance issues are actually more severe than a '2 on 2' battle suggests, as the Colonials foolishly split their Battlestars up and the Cylons were able to concentrate both Basestars and Raiders on a single Battlestar for a couple of turns...with little appreciable damage to show for it. We finally called the game as the Basestars (losing Raider waves faster than they could be replaced) withdrew before the advancing Battlestars would employ all those batteries against them directly.
We were all left feeling that (a) perhaps we're doing something wrong in the attack resolution that reduced the effectiveness of the Cylon attacks (I'll look around at other threads to see if we're doing fighter v. capital ship combats correctly) and/or (b) that the Battlestars had way too much firepower to contend with. It felt so unbalanced that it was pointless to attack the Battlestars - it just wasn't possible to generate sufficient numbers to (a) survive the massive defensive fire and then (b) swamp the point defenses and get through the thick armor of the target. And we weren't even using the Fire Control or Critical Hit rules!
The Cylons 'died' in such numbers that they should have mutinied - by your command, my metal bottom!
The counters are top-notch, by the way. We were using Konami BSG figures I picked up in Japan a few years ago for the capital ships, with your counters for the auxiliary craft. Really nice work on those.
super squirel
Mongoose
was there ever a VaS mod done for this in the end?
I don;t suppose anyone created any new ships for either side did they? Would be nice to see osme different Cylon ships. Saw Razor the other day and it had the original raider ships in it!!!!
I don;t suppose anyone created any new ships for either side did they? Would be nice to see osme different Cylon ships. Saw Razor the other day and it had the original raider ships in it!!!!
M1ndr1d3rs
Mongoose
Aegis said:Here's a side-by-side comparison:
How about the Valkyrie as the third class? It is said to be smaller than Galactica. You may edit this image if you want.
M1ndr1d3rs
Mongoose
Glad you approve. She may not be pretty, but she'll get the job done.
Unfortunately there's no model of the Valkyrie just yet.
Unfortunately there's no model of the Valkyrie just yet.
Court Jester
Mongoose
M1ndr1d3rs said:Glad you approve. She may not be pretty, but she'll get the job done.
Unfortunately there's no model of the Valkyrie just yet.
Not true... :wink:
http://www.ravenstarstudios.com/catalog.html
Scroll down to the BSG section... lots of goodies there...
Court Jester
Mongoose
CraftyShafty said:
That is essentially what they are meant to do... Whilst the Battlestar is throwing all of its firepower into stopping those waves of Raiders it is not shooting at the Basestar, which can then use its conventional missles to pound the Battlestars from a distance (ssuming the few remaining Raiders manage to whittle the interceptors down enough).
CraftyShafty said:
Yup you played them wrong.
Each hit (a roll of a 6) against a salvo reduces it by one point.
CraftyShafty said:
I would certainly suggest using the critical hit rules... they effect the Colonials far more than the Cylons...
I have read various playtest reports where one side had whitewashed the other in both directions... Although I am not working on the BSG rules any more I may modify them to VaS...
M1ndr1d3rs
Mongoose
Court Jester said:M1ndr1d3rs said:Glad you approve. She may not be pretty, but she'll get the job done.
Unfortunately there's no model of the Valkyrie just yet.
Not true... :wink:
http://www.ravenstarstudios.com/catalog.html
Scroll down to the BSG section... lots of goodies there...
Booyah! I'm glad I'm wrong.
How's the quality by the way? Might just get one to accompany my Galactica and Pegasus.
Court Jester
Mongoose
Quality is very good.
wargame_insomniac
Mongoose
M1ndr1d3rs said:Court Jester said:M1ndr1d3rs said:Unfortunately there's no model of the Valkyrie just yet.
Not true... :wink:
http://www.ravenstarstudios.com/catalog.html
Scroll down to the BSG section... lots of goodies there...
Booyah! I'm glad I'm wrong.
How's the quality by the way? Might just get one to accompany my Galactica and Pegasus.
Very good, especially for fan-produced models. I have picked up many of Ravenstars ships for both old and new series of BSG. There is some flash but no more than I have had on commercially produced resin models such as from Forgeworld.
Would not hesitate in recomending them. This is the guy that will re-release the Cold Navy line so order away!!
Cheers
James
M1ndr1d3rs
Mongoose
Thanks for the info guys.
Temptation... Temptation...
Temptation... Temptation...
M1ndr1d3rs
Mongoose
Here's the Pleiades. Another type of medium sized battlestar I think...
Much nicer looking than the Valkyrie, IMO. Although if you want something quite different, Valkyrie might be a better choice. This one look like a cross of the Pegasus and Galactica.
Just found it. Not very sure, but I think it's from Razor.
Much nicer looking than the Valkyrie, IMO. Although if you want something quite different, Valkyrie might be a better choice. This one look like a cross of the Pegasus and Galactica.
Just found it. Not very sure, but I think it's from Razor.
Mouth of Sauron
Mongoose
That's a pretty sweet design M1ndr1d3rs. Where did you find it?
Court Jester
Mongoose
my golly gosh that thing has a load of guns...
Court Jester
Mongoose
I think it was a fan designed battlestart that appeared brifly in Razor as the Scoprion Shipyards were destroyed. It may have just looked like a Galactica styled battlestar at the time but when you look at the stills from the scene it is different.
M1ndr1d3rs
Mongoose
@ Mouth of Sauron: I just googled for pics: battlestars That's how i found her
@ Jester: Yeah, there are several battlestars in Razor, I think the Pleiades was the one hit by nukes and broken up in two. I 1st thought it was aValkyrie type. There was one that looked like Galactica although presumably only the hull was similar.
@ Jester: Yeah, there are several battlestars in Razor, I think the Pleiades was the one hit by nukes and broken up in two. I 1st thought it was aValkyrie type. There was one that looked like Galactica although presumably only the hull was similar.
