House Rules compilation

[Burger]

A house rule which we play, doesn't affect the game much but is just because that's the way it seems to happen on TV:

When a Shadow ship dies, it withers, crumples and disintegrates. A dead Shadow ship does not roll on the usual table to see if it runs adrift, is a burning hulk or explodes; it is simply removed from the game.

I'm pretty certain that was the rule in 1st edition and got scrapped for some reason in 2nd...

Yes it was, I don't know why it got scrapped, they quite clearly don't explode in the show.

 

[Lord David the Denied]

Ah, Burger, so many strange things in 2nd ed... who knows where they all came from?

 

[mollari_uk]

For the Vorlon/Shadow special ability to repair crits we have our own "house rule", which I didn't include in order to keep the original post down to the essence of the solution.
Vorlon/Shadow ships can attempt to repair all and any crits, in the turn they are suffered and any subsequent turns, with a +2 modifier on all repair attempts.

I like the general idea of repairing on the turn as I find repairing crits very rare as they stand. Most of the time a crit'd ship is dead on the next turn or suffers even more crits (normally stopping them from repairing at all).

For the ancients, why not just make it auto after the first turn? Surely your version nerfs them. Even giving a +2 to the first turn wouldn't be too overpowered in comparison to other races as they are supposed to repair crits.

 

[greenboy]

The problem as i see it with repairing crit the turn they happen is that they will have little to no effect on ships which have already moved

 

[Foxmeister]

The problem as i see it with repairign crit the turn they happen is that they will have little to no effect on ships which have already moved

You mean fired? After all, all movement occurs before shooting (Drazi Attack Run not withstanding), so everything will have already moved.
Regards,

Dave

 

[greenboy]

The problem as i see it with repairign crit the turn they happen is that they will have little to no effect on ships which have already moved

You mean fired? After all, all movement occurs before shooting (Drazi Attack Run not withstanding), so everything will have already moved.
Regards,

Dave

that as well

 

[Ripple]

I find crits so common that being able to repair one a turn before it can take effect not over the top.

Ripple

 

[Dave G]

And, of course, the repair isn't automatic.

This allows an attempt to repair a critical hit before it has an impact on the ships performance.

 

[Foxmeister]

And, of course, the repair isn't automatic.

This allows an attempt to repair a critical hit before it has an impact on the ships performance.

My concern here is that this will prove to be quite a major buff for races with inherently better CQ. It may not seem like it much as they have this bonus anyway, but at least at present they *must* suffer the crit effects for a turn, whereas this makes it significantly less likely for them over everyone else.

Regards,

Dave

 

[Burger]

Yes it would cause problems for White Stars, who will become virtually immune to crit effects!

+1 CQ, +1 to damage control due to Self-Repair... put it on All Hands On Deck and you're immune!

 

[Foxmeister]

Yes it would cause problems for White Stars, who will become virtually immune to crit effects!

+1 CQ, +1 to damage control due to Self-Repair... put it on All Hands On Deck and you're immune!

Yep, unless the knife fighter is being used, there's probably little incentive not to just call "All Hands" as a matter of routine (unless you specifically want another SA) and then become crit immune whilst still employing the tactic of sitting at 18" and sniping away.

Regards,

Dave

 

[Dave G]

Yes it would cause problems for White Stars, who will become virtually immune to crit effects!

+1 CQ, +1 to damage control due to Self-Repair... put it on All Hands On Deck and you're immune!

Firstly: in order to do this the WS would need to be put on "All Hands on Deck" before the crit(s) had been suffered. If the player was expecting incoming fire then CBD would be a better choice at that stage I would have thought.

Secondly: Surely this is a problem already, just one move later. I have a vague recollection about this from another thread.

Thirdly: another part of our House rules is that "All Hands on Deck" adds one more damage control party, rather than allowing repair of all crits.

Fourthly: Isn't there something about a roll of ?? always fails? (I could easily be wrong about this).

What other fleets get a CQ bonus?
Vree? Does there bonus apply to damage control? Should it?
Gaim? From memory only the Supreme Queen gets it, so I don't think that is a big problem.
Anyone else?

 

[Foxmeister]

Firstly: in order to do this the WS would need to be put on "All Hands on Deck" before the crit(s) had been suffered. If the player was expecting incoming fire then CBD would be a better choice at that stage I would have thought.

Personally, I'd take the guaranteed crit resistance over a 5+ save.

Secondly: Surely this is a problem already, just one move later. I have a vague recollection about this from another thread.

No because currently it is guaranteed to suffer the crit effect for one turn. Yes, it could potentially auto-repair on turn two but it would still suffer for at a single turn.

Thirdly: another part of our House rules is that "All Hands on Deck" adds one more damage control party, rather than allowing repair of all crits.

+1 CQ and +1 due to SR still make it far more likely that a WS would not suffer a crit over say a Var'Nic - too much of an advantage IMHO.

Fourthly: Isn't there something about a roll of ?? always fails? (I could easily be wrong about this).

No

What other fleets get a CQ bonus?
Vree? Does there bonus apply to damage control? Should it?
Gaim? From memory only the Supreme Queen gets it, so I don't think that is a big problem.
Anyone else?

Psi-Corp.

Vree +1 CQ due to telepathy does apply, and the Ruling Queens CQ bonus applies to any non-Queen Gaim ship within 12" (so a 24" reach) which is significant.

Paks are hosed to by having a -1 CQ. Yes, I know that applies whenever you allow them to repair a crit, but it does make a difference if some fleets are going to rarely suffer crit effects (unless you get lots of crits). ISA with precise beams, SR and +1 CQ are buffed massively in my opinion, and in a game between the Pak and ISA, you've just made the disparity between the two fleets worse.

Regards,

Dave

 

[Dave G]

As noone in our group plays ISA, Pak, or Gaim I'll have to bow to your superior wisdom on the interactions between those.

Our House rule "All hands on deck" doesn't provide a bonus to CQ - does that make a difference?

Personally I don't see it as a game breaker, or as a small shift in emphasis rather than a big one.
All fleets, by this change, get to be better at repairing crits. If some gain a bit more than others then I don't have much of an issue with that.

Especially when there are much bigger differences than this between fleets and ships at the moment - or at least other threads would have you
believe so.

 

[inq101]

For campaigns, free admirals. Each player gets 1 free admiral. They can be transfered to any ship before any game but once lost you do not get a replacement. No-one was using admirals so we put this in to make them useful.

Activate defese grid. If a ship has no AA or Interceptors and and goes on Activate Defense Grid orders it gains the appropriate trait at rank 1.

 

[AdrianH]

Activate defese grid. If a ship has no AA or Interceptors and and goes on Activate Defense Grid orders it gains the appropriate trait at rank 1.

Captain: "Activate defence grid!"
Lieutenant: "An excellent suggestion, with just two small problems. One, we don't have any anti-fighter system. Two, we don't have any interceptors."
Captain: "See these stripes? I'm the captain around here, which means if I say 'activate defence grid' and you don't have one, you build it!"

 

[Triggy]

Activate defese grid. If a ship has no AA or Interceptors and and goes on Activate Defense Grid orders it gains the appropriate trait at rank 1.

Captain: "Activate defence grid!"
Lieutenant: "An excellent suggestion, with just two small problems. One, we don't have any anti-fighter system. Two, we don't have any interceptors."
Captain: "See these stripes? I'm the captain around here, which means if I say 'activate defence grid' and you don't have one, you build it!"

Well, that's put a crimp on an otherwise damned fine plan!

 

[Lord David the Denied]

It's fairly clear, though, that neither anti-fighter nor interceptors represents dedicated systems, but rather main or secondary weapons firing in a defensive role. Consider the on-screen evidence, only B5 itself appears to have dedicated interceptors and they can be reconfigured to offensive fire, while Omegas and Demos are both seen firing their primary weapons to shoot down enemy fire. Omegas are seen several times engaging fighters with their heavy pulse cannons but have no obvious "flak" guns.

I support the proposed change to the SA - it could simply represent reconfiguring the fire control computer to defensive mode. Maybe with a corresponding drop in weapon AD.

 

[Da Boss]

intersting idea - IDF does already lower your total AD IIRC

 

[Lord David the Denied]

Checking the description, I see it halves all AD on all weapons in all arcs. Now why can't they do for Close Blast Doors?