Beams

[Zeru]

On average, the beam weapon should score as many hits as it has AD (so a White Star's Beam should only score 2 hits on average), but the exception is what we are talking about, not the rule :lol:

On the flip side, Beams are just as likely to produce squat as they are to run away with hits.

 

[kritikalfailure]

I'm a bit disappointed by the new beams. Don't get me wrong, I really like the rules.

What I dislike is how, supposedly, AD on beams was getting toned down across the board, yet it seems some gained AD (White Star, Darkner, etc), while most others stayed the same.

I am assuming most of this was done to follow the show (in which case I must admit they've done a good job, beams were nasty there too), but it makes the game feel too much about luck to me (especially when facing opponents that use Triple Damage precise beams).

Like most other folks said, I think I'll be avoiding large ships with my EA Crusade for the most part. I'll probably end up running the following as my standard 5 raid:

4 Chronos
4 Myrmidon/Hermes
1 Marathon/Omega/Apollo Strike

 

[Hans Olo]

I Also, I find them so much easier to play. Gone are the days when you have to figure out what you need to hit to begin with, then remembering to add one each time...

Sorry don`t get this wrong but... you did finish primary school, aren't you?
Sorry I had to ask.
As some people have already stated here, as long as there are Skirmish ships with lots of beams (or raid ships) this rule will result in the disappearing of higher priority class ships with Hull 6. What is sad because these are the iconic ships that appear in the show. The only way to ensure the use of these ships is to make a player agreement.
This could have been done better.
And really the new beam rules can´t be explained with they are more realistic now. If they add to the fun of the game, I'm happy. But that's a thing I still doubt.

 

[scorpioni]

I like the rules, but think they were better off going with this:

All beams hit on a 4+, then 5+ and all subsequents 6+
Give all beams one or two more AD to compensate

Now Hull4 ships aren't a death trap (just as with the current rules) but you also diminish the chance of the 'lucky strikes'

 

[eek]

I Also, I find them so much easier to play. Gone are the days when you have to figure out what you need to hit to begin with, then remembering to add one each time...

Sorry don`t get this wrong but... you did finish primary school, aren't you?
Sorry I had to ask.

Yeah, but it was still an unnecessary hassle.
(I'm a student, if that explains anything. )

 

[animus]

I Also, I find them so much easier to play. Gone are the days when you have to figure out what you need to hit to begin with, then remembering to add one each time...

Sorry don`t get this wrong but... you did finish primary school, aren't you?
Sorry I had to ask.

That wasn't my quote. I, animus, didn't say that.

 

[lastbesthope]

I Also, I find them so much easier to play. Gone are the days when you have to figure out what you need to hit to begin with, then remembering to add one each time...

Sorry don`t get this wrong but... you did finish primary school, aren't you?
Sorry I had to ask.

That wasn't my quote. I, animus, didn't say that.

Indeed, it was eek, near the top of this page.

LBH

 

[eek]

That wasn't my quote. I, animus, didn't say that.

Looks like he just deleted the wrong set of quote tags, seeing as how I quoted you as well.

 

[C.H.A.D.]

Playing ISA and Minbari now comes down to how well one rolls on his beams and nothing else. It's way too random. The chances of missing with beams does not balance with the the chances of causing big damage. White Stars with their triple damage, precise beams are way too likely to severely mess up War level ships with one beam shot.

As the expected result for a beam attack is 1 hit per AD it would have been better if beams just automatically hit with each of their AD. How do you miss with a beam anyway? I'm much more accurate with a flashlight than I am with a rifle (and I'm a pretty good shot).

 

[emperorpenguin]

How do you miss with a beam anyway? I'm much more accurate with a flashlight than I am with a rifle (and I'm a pretty good shot).

we see many instances of beams missing in the show

 

[C.H.A.D.]

Start listing them and I'll let you know when you get to "many".

Regardless, I was joking. Plus the rules to this game don't really reflect hitting/missing well. Is a big laser really more accurate than a small one? Why can you dodge half a laser?

 

[lastbesthope]

How do you miss with a beam anyway? I'm much more accurate with a flashlight than I am with a rifle (and I'm a pretty good shot).

Well a flashlight has a bigger 'footprint' in it's trajectory than a bullet, plus the range for Beam weapons is a lot bigger than you shining a flashlight isn't it?

LBH

 

[Iain McGhee]

I'm quite pleased with the results of the new rule. I wasn't too sure when I first heard about it, but with a dozen or so games of 2e under my belt I've found that it works out quite nicely. I'm not seeing too many huge runs of rerolls, generally the number of beam hits seem to be similar to before, and the increased survivability of lower-hulled ships is a definite improvement. The larger cruisers don't seem to dominate the game so much, although they still can't be taken lightly. Sharlins are still really scary, but at least now they're not pretty much guaranteed to kill a ship every turn !

 

[Lone Gunman]

he larger cruisers don't seem to dominate the game so much, although they still can't be taken lightly. Sharlins are still really scary, but at least now they're not pretty much guaranteed to kill a ship every turn !

That's exactly what I also found out and presently dislike. To me, it presently seems that all rules of the 2nd ed. favour masses of smaller ships and quasi bannes hugh ones. Why fielding white stars when 4 blues stars could do the same job? Or 4 Vorchan to 1 Primus? I think that we will see less and less war + ships and only very few raid, but masses of skirmish and patrol. That's at least the trend in my play group after reading through the new book and I'm not very fond of this improvement (?)

I would have rather seen real cap ships (raid +) having a reason to be there. Sure, it's not a general problem of the beam rule, but beams tend to be main weapons on most ships and the new rules favour small ships rather than huge ones. Why fielding a Hull 6 dreadnought if several smaller ones can do the job better?

 

[madpax]

Unfortunately (for me), I still didn't play with 2nd ed so far, but hope to in a near future. Whatever, I feel that big ship will still be useful because they have a lot of hit points. More vulnerables to critics, but that was already the case before. Now, beams seem really to be legendary weapons and not one of the least interesting weapon of the game. Some times ago, twin-linked seem to dominate the game...

Marc

 

[Lord David the Denied]

I played an intro game at the Midlands Club and some funny beam rolls came out. My opponent had jammy dice like I've never seen, but couldn't roll criticals. She produced 15 hits with an Omega's beam, but no criticals, and 13 hits with its next shot and still no criticals!

My Primus' beam rarely produced more than a handful of hits but routinely scored critical hits with the Precise trait. Seems that beams can be big or small, but not much in between. I still favour going back to increasing the to-hit number for subsequent rolls.

 

[Triggy]

My first game with Hifano had some variance on the Beams but generally were all pretty close to the mean. We didn't really have a huge amount of luck either way and ended up with a very close finish to our Abbai/pak'ma'ra vs Narn game.

 

[C.H.A.D.]

How do you miss with a beam anyway? I'm much more accurate with a flashlight than I am with a rifle (and I'm a pretty good shot).

Well a flashlight has a bigger 'footprint' in it's trajectory than a bullet, plus the range for Beam weapons is a lot bigger than you shining a flashlight isn't it?

LBH

Straight line, speed of light, in space... Seems kind of hard to miss...

 

[Voronesh]

The new rule can produce some funny results.

A friend and me produced some wicked results with the new beam rule, theoretical rolling only though.

One of his WS did a start roll of 1 hit and 1 miss. Nothing spectacular there. But he did continue rolling for another 9 hits, potentiall totaling quite a few ships out there.

The new beam rule seems good, but with the old rule, most beams quickly dried up. Cant decide yet, what i like more. I love the option of taking a hull 4 fleet against Minbari though ^^.

 

[Spideredd]

How do you miss with a beam anyway? I'm much more accurate with a flashlight than I am with a rifle (and I'm a pretty good shot).

Well a flashlight has a bigger 'footprint' in it's trajectory than a bullet, plus the range for Beam weapons is a lot bigger than you shining a flashlight isn't it?

LBH

Straight line, speed of light, in space... Seems kind of hard to miss...

until you realise that you are moving whilst aiming at a target that is also moving accross many KM of open space.

and this is before you realise that your flash light only has so much useful range and illuminate everything within that range.

and you will realise this just before you realise that a LASER is highly focused light, whereas a flashlight is not.

aiming a rifle is comparable to aiming a laser accross that distance, in theory. (but then, in theory, communisum works :wink: )