Gorn Fleet - Comments Welcomed

[Greg Smith]

The three ship system my run into problems when battleships arrive, with 10 drones!

 

[gord314]

I'm not to worried since the battleships are looking to be in the 500 pt range, so fleets of them are unlikely. A fleet of 3 federation battleships would cost about 1500 pts and at over 18" would land 9 drones (or 14 drones if drones don't suffer the -1 to hit at over 18") on a target each turn, which a 1500 pt fleet should be able to handle fairly easily.

 

[gord314]

At under 18" 3 federation battleships could land 27 drones on a target, which would likely kill without extra defensive fire, but then again we are talking about 3 battleships here.

 

[archon96]

i would almost expect Battleships to be higher then 500 points, think something twice the size of a dreadnought.

 

[Finlos]

A little closer to 33% bigger actually. They aren't -that- big.

Edit: they're still pretty intimidating. I'd still only expect to see one in the largest games.

 

[Captain Jonah]

At under 18" 3 federation battleships could land 27 drones on a target, which would likely kill without extra defensive fire, but then again we are talking about 3 battleships here.

To be honest if I was facing three Mars class at under 18", say about 15", the 27 Drones would be a secondary concern to the thousands of Photons and Phasers coming my way :shock: .

Having a ship destroyed by the 27 Drones after I had a few cruisers explode to the Photons and Phasers would be sort of anti climatic.

To be honest though the limit being ships not drones is to cover every possible size of Drone salvo. Setting it to 12 Drones rather than three ships means that your Fed or Kzinti BB suddenly cannot combine fire with another Drone ship because that gives you more than 12 Drones.

You would think that the larger ships had the fire control channels to handle the larger salvos and the limit was integrating extra ships rather than a BB being unable to combine fire with a Kirov because the two late war heavy ships cannot control 13 Drones between them.

Still the three ship limit is a sticky plaster solution; it’s not great with small ships since Drone 1 ships combining fire against an enemy can throw a whole three drones at it and in doing so they block any larger ships from firing.

Its better than being murdered by a Drone heavy fleet in one go and as I have said before it means the Drone heavy fleets take several turns to kill several ships rather than one a turn which gives us poor Gorn a chance to do something, write our wills, record messages for the family, finish that chapter in the book we are reading etc etc :roll:

Still Lumbering is GORN away for which I am very happy :mrgreen:

Scouts up next and I can wait a while for escorts, Matt has said he wants no deployment limits on ships so that should be fine as I will be able to tuck an escort or two into a fleet. I’ll just wait till the escort rule is previewed and get ready for a good argument then :wink:

 

[MongooseMatt]

To be honest if I was facing three Mars class at under 18", say about 15", the 27 Drones would be a secondary concern to the thousands of Photons and Phasers coming my way :shock: .

it’s not great with small ships since Drone 1 ships combining fire against an enemy can throw a whole three drones at it and in doing so they block any larger ships from firing.

To be frank, I am very happy with both extreme ends of the scale with this rule. On the one hand, this is exactly what a team of three battleships should be able to do (and, as you say, a bunch of drones could be the least of your issues). On the other, drones become 'opportunity' weapons for the 1 drone ships - which is what exactly what they should be at the lower end of the scale.

Use them to either make yourself immune to one drone attack (more, if you are Federation), force an enemy to use a phaser system, or pop one in after an enemy has expended all his weaponry.

D6 damage is D6 damage at the end of the day - nothing to be sniffed at, even if other ships are capable of doing more.

In short, this is a rule I quite like.

 

[Captain Jonah]

To be honest if I was facing three Mars class at under 18", say about 15", the 27 Drones would be a secondary concern to the thousands of Photons and Phasers coming my way :shock: .

it’s not great with small ships since Drone 1 ships combining fire against an enemy can throw a whole three drones at it and in doing so they block any larger ships from firing.

To be frank, I am very happy with both extreme ends of the scale with this rule. On the one hand, this is exactly what a team of three battleships should be able to do (and, as you say, a bunch of drones could be the least of your issues). On the other, drones become 'opportunity' weapons for the 1 drone ships - which is what exactly what they should be at the lower end of the scale.

Use them to either make yourself immune to one drone attack (more, if you are Federation), force an enemy to use a phaser system, or pop one in after an enemy has expended all his weaponry.

D6 damage is D6 damage at the end of the day - nothing to be sniffed at, even if other ships are capable of doing more.

In short, this is a rule I quite like.

Well it could be said that you are slightly Biased here :lol:

But since you took away Lumbering I shall say nice things about you if anyone asks. :wink:


Now about increasing the range of plasmas to 24”. 8)

Escorts.

The ISC.

The Frax.

The utter subjugation of the Drone using races under the Iron shod boots of the True Plasma races (Gorn and ISC not those sneaky Romulan types with their wanabee Klingon fleets :roll: ).

Oh and the currently new Drone rules, is it 4+ to hit at over 18” since that is the standard to hit roll or is it 5+ accounting for the fact that it is over half range?

Also with 24” plasmas will the same to hit roll apply to long range R or S shots? :wink:

Also Also how long till we get to play with Battleships?

Also Also Also Scouts this month, you did promise :wink:

 

[MongooseMatt]

Now about increasing the range of plasmas to 24”. 8)

They really don't need it

Escorts.

They will be here soon enough.

The ISC.
The Frax.

Bit longer for these chaps.

The utter subjugation of the Drone using races under the Iron shod boots of the True Plasma races (Gorn and ISC not those sneaky Romulan types with their wanabee Klingon fleets :roll: ).

Well, that will happen anyway, won't need my help...

Oh and the currently new Drone rules, is it 4+ to hit at over 18” since that is the standard to hit roll or is it 5+ accounting for the fact that it is over half range?

Uses standard rules at that point, so long range applies - it is 5+!

Also Also how long till we get to play with Battleships?

Mmm, Sand has just finished the last touches on the Fed and Klingon battleships. Certainly appear for the Battle Groups supplement at the bottom end of this year, maybe for Journal 2...

Also Also Also Scouts this month, you did promise :wink:

Yup, all written, currently with ADB to make sure I have not fouled up in some presumptions I made about the SFU background. But yes, the first scouts will appear in Journal 1, and the Gorn will have much to be happy about with their ship...

 

[McKinstry]

Any change on the Gorn -1 initiative?

 

[AdmiralGrafSpee]

Okay, well the man has spoken - thus I end my lobby for # of drones vs. # of ships. True a 1 drone ship can still use that to take on crippled ships without wasting his direct firepower - something that they often used torpedoes for in WWII.

What are these "Journals" you are referring to and how can we acquire them? New rules ships is something we all want!

-Tim

 

[Nerroth]

With a handful of exceptions, all seeking weapons, drone or plasma, need a control channel on launch. Unless you are cloaking after launch, or not using the EW rules, it is usually in your best interest to keep control of the plasma as well.

But in FC, the distinction is more firmly etched between controlled and self-guided warheads; you can't allocate a control channel to an Alpha Octant plasma torpedo, though in the current version of the FC Omega playtest rulebook, you can (or rather, must) for a HEAT warhead.

 

[MongooseMatt]

What are these "Journals" you are referring to and how can we acquire them? New rules ships is something we all want!

In a nutshell, the A Call to Arms Journal (issue 1) is a Signs & Portents Presents e-book, likely going for $4.99 on Drivethru/Wargames Vault, and covering all current A Call to Arms settings.

It is intended for the fan/hobbyiest rather than being a 'must buy' because of new official rules. That said, there _will_ be a few new official rules in there but nothing that will not be duplicated in future printed publications, so it is not an essential purchase unless you absolutely must have everything as soon as it comes out!

The first issue has new scout ships for every major SF fleet, for example. However, it will also contain new scenarios, battle reports, new stellar debris for Noble Armada, articles on the best use of certain ships/fleets, and so forth.

Basically, we want it to be an interesting and worthwhile read every quarter (is the plan) for any player of A Call to Arms, whatever flavour they prefer.

 

[Asguard101]

I tried to sort through al the pages here to find the new rules, but I was having trouble finding the final results, so.... If someone would be kind enough to respond with the new Drone and Gorn rules I'd be very grateful.

 

[Greg Smith]

Gorn (and others): Lumbering is gone.

Drones: Seeking weapons must roll to hit at ranges greater than 18. (so 5+ to hit). No more than three ships can fire drones at any one target.

 

[Captain Jonah]

Ninja'd by Greg :roll:

From another place - which all seems like big stride forward to me

Matthew's latest playtest rule draft
=======
The three ship limit stays in the errata as is.

We delete all references to Lumbering.

The Seeking trait gets changed to this text;

Seeking: Seeking weapons must travel across space to their target but will doggedly pursue it until they impact and explode with deadly effect. A weapon with this trait will automatically hit a target within 18", without rolling any Attack Dice. At greater ranges, it will require Attack Dice rolls as normal.

With the damage spread around the entire target ship, no rolls are made to see if the weapon penetrates Shields.

8)

Drone fire is limited to no more than three ships firing against a single target. Drones maybe fired at any target in range as normal but no more than three ships may lock on to a single enemy.

Drones fired at a target beyond 18" roll to maintain lockon, 5+ or they are lost. This is NOT a to hit roll, they do not go through shields on a natural 6.

All ships in the book with Lumbering no longer have that condition. Turning and HETs are determined purely by Turn Mode or Crew Check.

 

[Captain Jonah]

Now about increasing the range of plasmas to 24”. 8)

They really don't need it

Ah but its all part of our campaign for Galactic dominance. We cannot have those smug Klingon’s and Federation types saying their heavy weapons have a longer range than ours. We are the biggest and the best and we deserve the longest range as well :lol: :wink:

Escorts.

They will be here soon enough.

Glad to hear it

The utter subjugation of the Drone using races under the Iron shod boots of the True Plasma races (Gorn and ISC not those sneaky Romulan types with their wanabee Klingon fleets :roll: ).

Well, that will happen anyway, won't need my help... .

You read it here folks, the Man himself says it.

Save yourselves the pain of inevitable crushing defeat.

Bow down and acknowledge your new masters

The Mighty Gorn Mwahahahahahaha :twisted: :wink:

 

[archon96]

If romulans taste like chicken do Kznitis taste like lamb.

 

[Asguard101]

Gorn (and others): Lumbering is gone.

Drones: Seeking weapons must roll to hit at ranges greater than 18. (so 5+ to hit). No more than three ships can fire drones at any one target.

I like the sounds of the new rules very much, and think there does need to be some control on the Drones, but I kinda think the Kziniti should get a racial bonus where they are allowed to have 4 or 5 ships fire on one ship. Limiting their drone fire just makes them Klingons without the extra disruptors and weaker shields.

 

[billclo]

Gorn (and others): Lumbering is gone.

Drones: Seeking weapons must roll to hit at ranges greater than 18. (so 5+ to hit). No more than three ships can fire drones at any one target.

I like the sounds of the new rules very much, and think there does need to be some control on the Drones, but I kinda think the Kziniti should get a racial bonus where they are allowed to have 4 or 5 ships fire on one ship. Limiting their drone fire just makes them Klingons without the extra disruptors and weaker shields.

I don't think that's necessary. Most Kzin ships mount 4 drones, whereas most Klingon ships mount one or two (C7 and C8 being notable exceptions).