Call to Arms tournament at NashCon 2012
- Thread starter scoutdad
- Start date
Tony, I don't mind you telling people that I'm "Author X".
I have to do major re-writes on the story before Steve Cole will accept it. In order for me to make it fit his theory, the BATS has to become a Base Station or Mobile Base. Either way, it doesn't do what I want, so now I'm looking at re-writing it as the Gorn advance into Romulan space mid-way into the General War. I do need feedback as to how well the BATS stands up in the Fed/Klingon battle before I press on.
As Tony said, he modified the scenario because it was originally set a dozen years before the General War, long before D5, F5W, Fed NCL, DW, or fast ships. During that era, the Feds don't have drones or Ph-3, but on the flip side all the Ph-1 on Klingon ships (expect D7C) are Ph-2, and they can only launch one drone per turn, and drones are MUCH slower (SFB speed 8 & 12 vs. speed 32). Tony felt it was too many "special rules" to introduce, so I told him to move it up to early/mid war.
I have to do major re-writes on the story before Steve Cole will accept it. In order for me to make it fit his theory, the BATS has to become a Base Station or Mobile Base. Either way, it doesn't do what I want, so now I'm looking at re-writing it as the Gorn advance into Romulan space mid-way into the General War. I do need feedback as to how well the BATS stands up in the Fed/Klingon battle before I press on.
As Tony said, he modified the scenario because it was originally set a dozen years before the General War, long before D5, F5W, Fed NCL, DW, or fast ships. During that era, the Feds don't have drones or Ph-3, but on the flip side all the Ph-1 on Klingon ships (expect D7C) are Ph-2, and they can only launch one drone per turn, and drones are MUCH slower (SFB speed 8 & 12 vs. speed 32). Tony felt it was too many "special rules" to introduce, so I told him to move it up to early/mid war.
Teams:
If anyone has strong commitments for one side or the other, we'll put them there. Leftovers will randomly be assigned a side to even it out.
After that, it plays liek a regular game with two sides.
The Klingon players can assign ships as they desire
They can determine movement order and fire order as they choose.
The controller of each individual ship will select his special actions, choose a target... attack...
The Federation will do the same thing.
I hope the whole thing can be finished within two sessions, but if not - we leave it set-up til Saturday morning and then as everyone finishes their tournament games, they can jump back into the big battle until it's time to set-up the next tournament round.
If anyone has strong commitments for one side or the other, we'll put them there. Leftovers will randomly be assigned a side to even it out.
After that, it plays liek a regular game with two sides.
The Klingon players can assign ships as they desire
They can determine movement order and fire order as they choose.
The controller of each individual ship will select his special actions, choose a target... attack...
The Federation will do the same thing.
I hope the whole thing can be finished within two sessions, but if not - we leave it set-up til Saturday morning and then as everyone finishes their tournament games, they can jump back into the big battle until it's time to set-up the next tournament round.
That's up to Tony.
For the most part, SFU scenarios have set Order of Battle (OoB) lists. This accomplishes a few things:
-- With any luck and skill, the OoB sets a good game balance. Yes, using point-values does, too, in theory, and many SFB/FedCmdr scenarios say "select 'X' amount of ships" to get there. I tried to calculate the total points on each side to give both a fighting chance to win (no pun intended).
-- It sets up a historical scene, usually to coincide with a fiction story and/or to fill in the grand scheme of the SFU timeline. This scenario was originally intended to do both, but the companion story has been "overcome by events". I tried to set a reasonably historically-accurate mix of big & small ships in each fleet.
-- It forces players to use ships they would not otherwise select. This is especially important in FedCmdr & ACTA more so than in SFB because SFB uses a Year In Service data to say what ships are available. This scenario was originally set twelve years before the start of the General War (aka the Great Galactic War), so a lot of ships were simply not invented yet. Even with moving to the later date, ships such as the BCG/BCJ and C7 are still not in service yet.
-- It helps prevent min-maxing / meta-gaming, or as a friend of mine likes to call it, "cheating within the rules." I didn't want one side to cash in half their heavy cruisers fo a dozen frigates, for example, to gain a lot of Inititive sinks. But nobody here would do that, right?
-- It'll help Tony with set-up time because he can have all the pre-selected ships ready to go ahead of time, rather than waiting for the players to decide at the last minute how "best" to spend 'X' amount of points to build the ultimate fleet.
For the most part, SFU scenarios have set Order of Battle (OoB) lists. This accomplishes a few things:
-- With any luck and skill, the OoB sets a good game balance. Yes, using point-values does, too, in theory, and many SFB/FedCmdr scenarios say "select 'X' amount of ships" to get there. I tried to calculate the total points on each side to give both a fighting chance to win (no pun intended).
-- It sets up a historical scene, usually to coincide with a fiction story and/or to fill in the grand scheme of the SFU timeline. This scenario was originally intended to do both, but the companion story has been "overcome by events". I tried to set a reasonably historically-accurate mix of big & small ships in each fleet.
-- It forces players to use ships they would not otherwise select. This is especially important in FedCmdr & ACTA more so than in SFB because SFB uses a Year In Service data to say what ships are available. This scenario was originally set twelve years before the start of the General War (aka the Great Galactic War), so a lot of ships were simply not invented yet. Even with moving to the later date, ships such as the BCG/BCJ and C7 are still not in service yet.
-- It helps prevent min-maxing / meta-gaming, or as a friend of mine likes to call it, "cheating within the rules." I didn't want one side to cash in half their heavy cruisers fo a dozen frigates, for example, to gain a lot of Inititive sinks. But nobody here would do that, right?
-- It'll help Tony with set-up time because he can have all the pre-selected ships ready to go ahead of time, rather than waiting for the players to decide at the last minute how "best" to spend 'X' amount of points to build the ultimate fleet.
I may look at the force set-up and see what can be tweaked.
Garth is correct though, generally; those of us who write scenarios for SFB and Fed Comm try to create "realistic" OoBs for our sceanrios, and we try to keep in mind the fact that this operation is going on in a vacuum.
[Realistic: Sure, we know this is a Sci-fi game, but real world conditions can be applied...]
I'm sure that every Federation Admiral would wat to have a force comprised of nothing but Kirovs and Ramius's, but in truth; there are only so many of those to go around.
And sceanrios such as this provide a good excuse to break out some of the units considered substandard in a tournament situation nad give them a ride.
The objective of this scenario is to provide a balanced force mix that could have actually been assigned to the operation at hand.
From a Federation Commander perspective, the orginal OoB appeared to be fairly well balanced.
How closely that translates into ACTA is another question altogether. With limited experience in large-scale fleet actions, we can only take a stab at it.
Hence the reason for playtesting. we may find that one side or t he other just runs away with the fight, in which case we adapt and adjust fleet strengths.
Eventually, we'll have a well balanced force and Garth can finish writing up his fiction piece.
Now, seeing as how it's being moved up in time, I may tweak the forces a bit.
Garth is correct though, generally; those of us who write scenarios for SFB and Fed Comm try to create "realistic" OoBs for our sceanrios, and we try to keep in mind the fact that this operation is going on in a vacuum.
[Realistic: Sure, we know this is a Sci-fi game, but real world conditions can be applied...]
I'm sure that every Federation Admiral would wat to have a force comprised of nothing but Kirovs and Ramius's, but in truth; there are only so many of those to go around.
And sceanrios such as this provide a good excuse to break out some of the units considered substandard in a tournament situation nad give them a ride.
The objective of this scenario is to provide a balanced force mix that could have actually been assigned to the operation at hand.
From a Federation Commander perspective, the orginal OoB appeared to be fairly well balanced.
How closely that translates into ACTA is another question altogether. With limited experience in large-scale fleet actions, we can only take a stab at it.
Hence the reason for playtesting. we may find that one side or t he other just runs away with the fight, in which case we adapt and adjust fleet strengths.
Eventually, we'll have a well balanced force and Garth can finish writing up his fiction piece.
Now, seeing as how it's being moved up in time, I may tweak the forces a bit.
scoutdad said:
Well as for Ramius web page says: ...Fewer than a dozen were built...
So certainly half a dozen in small game is going to stretch some credibility if you care about being historical.
In scenarios like these on big events I definitely condone trying to create historical OOB's. Min-maxing and creating from scratch is fair enough for casual games and tournaments but events like these are perfect for historical scenarios.
Consider it tactical challenge
How to win without your favourite ships Wish I could take part but obviously trip from Finland is...Well unviable! Unless I happen to win a lottery quickly of course
(too bad I don't play lotto...Kinda decreases the odds)Lincolnlog
Mongoose
Scoutdad,
I won't be in until Saturday morning. The huge scenario sounds cool. I will definitely do some watching between tournament rounds. I'm curious to see how long it takes to get through a turn with that many ships.
Bob
PS: Ah, yes and this is a contract year for me, expires in April, so if there is a work stoppage may not make, will depend on length and pay loss (knock on wood).
I won't be in until Saturday morning. The huge scenario sounds cool. I will definitely do some watching between tournament rounds. I'm curious to see how long it takes to get through a turn with that many ships.
Bob
PS: Ah, yes and this is a contract year for me, expires in April, so if there is a work stoppage may not make, will depend on length and pay loss (knock on wood).
The Preliminary Event list is up:
Nashcon 2012
Nashcon 2012
Saw the proofs of the Fed cards yesterday. They don't have the final ADB/Mongoose compromise errata in them yet... but the layout was good.
I'd have done a few things different, but nothing I can't live with.
So I know that they are on the way... it's now just a question of how long to get them printed nad when they get delivered... and do I pre-order them or wait until they are readily available... :roll:
I'd have done a few things different, but nothing I can't live with.
So I know that they are on the way... it's now just a question of how long to get them printed nad when they get delivered... and do I pre-order them or wait until they are readily available... :roll:
Lincolnlog
Mongoose
Trying to line my fleets up for the tournament.
Can we play a different fleet each game, or are we limited to playing the same ships for all three rounds (I'm okay with either condition) but depending on what we are allowed to play will definitely push me more toward one fleet versus another. :twisted:
Can we play a different fleet each game, or are we limited to playing the same ships for all three rounds (I'm okay with either condition) but depending on what we are allowed to play will definitely push me more toward one fleet versus another. :twisted:
Lincolnlog
Mongoose
I'm partial to the ship cards Stumonster created, modified for my own needs. The are slightly smaller than 1/2 sheet of 8.5 x 11" paper, printed on card stock and laminated. We use grease pencil to mark them and they work perfectly.
Many prefer smaller cards, I experimented with 6 ships on a single card and I May use that for the Tournament.
Many prefer smaller cards, I experimented with 6 ships on a single card and I May use that for the Tournament.
