ACTA:SF Mod at Historicon, Fredericksburg VA

[demiurge]

Hi guys, just wanted to post some of my work in case any ACTA players were going to be at Historicon on July 21st. Its the biggest minis con in the Midatlantic, and a pretty good time.

This year I'm doing ACTA:SF, though as usual I can't help but mod and tweak to my heart's content.

Its a 6 player game with tech spanning several generations of Star Fleet battles lore. So the stats will be different than what you are used to. The tech is compressed a bit - there probably should be a greater difference between the tech levels.


The Klingons call them the *DELETED FOR LICENCE REASONS* The Hydran refer to them as the Silent Swimmers. To the Federation, they are the Space Leviathans. Myths speak of these magnificent creatures as portents of wonder and doom, their passage an omen that raises the hopes of billions and inspires the downfall of great powers. As they cross through Klingon space, it is unknown if they will venture toward the Hydran or Tholian border. Starfleet's guiding ethos, the hard realities of regional politics and the call of the blood hunt clash in this role playing wargame!

So there is less focus on a straight up fleet action, and more focus on sitting in the Captain's seat and making decisions. The Labs and science rules are going to have a big part to play, and each captain will get a packet with a back story and individual goals (and their resultant Victory Points).

For a cinematic feature, many players will also have counters to denote Elite characters, special technologies, or unique faction knowledge.

 

[demiurge]

A few examples of what I'll be handing out to the players:

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By demiurgex at 2012-06-06

Front page of the Quick Rules page - there's some changes to the Special Rules, including putting the various Sensors and Probes into the Special Actions section (as you can't do a Special Action when using them anyway, so they are de facto SAs in the first place).

I'm also making a significant change in the Probe rules to factor more what I want to do in the scenario. The range for the probe is now 30" - but you'll be able to shoot down probes as they fly toward the beasties. They now give a Science point value equal to the probe level, so a Probe score of 4 would give you 4 points, period. So a lot less than the current rules but you can keep a significant distance away - which IMO is the point of a probe.

I'll be running the beasties, and they will react to be poked and prodded in various ways. Queue evil laughter. Mwahahah!

The beasties will be a big mystery, and have some pretty big effect on game play as the various factions pursue their goals, which may has to do directly with the space whales or not.

 

[demiurge]

The big element of the game will be the various factions interaction with the space beasties. The mystery of what they are and what they truly represent will drive much of the action. In that vein I'm breaking out the labs rules considerably, and will be using the concept of science thresholds - a certain level of accumulated labs research to gain greater insight into the game.

You'll be able to do life form scans, space/time scans, and n-space scans, each with their own particular secrets to reveal.

So much like the SFB 'monster' scenarios, there will be various ways to interact with the beasties, some of which will hopefully come as a great surprise.

Definitely going for an aura of mystery like in the space amoeba.

Anyway, thanks to Mongoose for a great game system for con play and some quality content over the years!

 

[Greg Smith]

That looks very, very cool.

 

[demiurge]

Thanks, Greg, wish you were close enough to drop by and check it out!

Each player will have unique goals, though some may mesh, and others be diametrically opposed.

One thing, as this will be a Con game and I expect most players will be playing ACTA for the first time, I left out seeking weapons and defensive fire. Big part of SFB, but felt that I'd be throwing enough new stuff at them this time. Next game I'll add in the Romulans.

 

[archon96]

Im not shure i but i think this falls into the copy right infringment catagory. But im pretty shure this was the kind of thing they did not want post in the forums.

 

[demiurge]

Hi Archon!

Yep, you are right. Sorry, hadn't noticed the rather draconian provisions on this regard. Went and read Matt's opening notice and saw his commentary. I've removed the references to any IP that Mongoose hasn't licensed.

However, in that vein is a down rev'd version of the Constitution. This is to factor in later more advanced designs in the form of the X-ships.

My thoughts on this (at least for this scenario) are:



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As stated, the stats are nerf'd a bit from the standard ACTA:SF Heavy Cruiser to reflect the tech scale.

Some thoughts on the tech breakout:

The Early Year photon is 15", Devastating +1, Multihit 3, Reload.
The standard photon is 18", Devastating +1, Multihit 4, Reload.
The X-ship photon is the same. However, they don't have the Reload stat unless fired with the Special Action Overloaded.
It also adds a 'Spread' option, which adds +50% to the AD, Accuracy +1, Multihit 4, and a that also adds back the Overloaded. Spreads can't be Overloaded though, but offer a nasty long range hit that is actually more accurate because of the large number of Photons fired.

X-Phasers get significantly longer ranges with the appropriate kill zones.

Anyway, any constructive feedback appreciated.

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Oh, and if we can't mention Early Years or X ships because they aren't covered in the license, just let me know.