House Rules compilation

[Foxmeister]

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.

Of course, if you are keen on allowing crits to be repaired on the turn they are incurred (which personally I'm not, but I'm trying to be constructive here ), you could do so and avoid this issue by saying each DC party can fix 1 crit in the turn it is inflicted on a simple die roll needing 5+ (i.e. CQ/SR etc does not come into it until after turn 1).

Regards,

Dave

 

[Da Boss]

So which Time on Target SA do we prefer?

 

[Ripple]

The whitestar problem being sighted only has one damage control party, and would still suffer the effects of the damage/crew loss. It's not crit immune, it's crit effect resistant.

How often is the WS going to take all that damage and still be a viable ship? If it's on CBD, maybe... but then it gets only one roll at a 3+ to repair.

Some crits effects are immediate. The defensive SAs can be blown off, arcs shut down if you haven't fired yet (not much different than now when a crit can effect you twice if you haven't fired yet), Adrift movement would still happen in the end phase (think you repair last).

Just saying don't blow it up into something it isn't. This is NOT crit immunity for some ships.

ISA/some PSI Corp can get a repairs on a 3+ (remember, raid gets 2 chances using a SA)
Vree get 4+
Some Gaim get 4+
Pak still get 6+ rolls but might need a boost as All Hands bonus was critical too them. Maybe their redundancy rule allows extra rolls or a bonus.

Ripple

 

[Foxmeister]

The whitestar problem being sighted only has one damage control party, and would still suffer the effects of the damage/crew loss. It's not crit immune, it's crit effect resistant.

WS already have significant "crit resistance" due to Dodge, as it reduces the number of hits that could potentially cause crits in the first place. I agree that a WS can't take much damage from crits, but there are plenty of crits in the table where the effect is the real penalty, not the additional damage/crew loss. In the specific case of the WS, I'm thinking AD loss on Reactor charct and all the Weapon chart crits.

Perhaps a better example though would be the buff that the Excaliber is gaining through this. Assuming a full complement of DC crews it could repair 3 criticals (4 on AHoD) before they've had a chance to take effect, and have a pretty good chance of doing it.

Regards,

Dave

 

[SylvrDragon]

Personally I would recommend that only major, widely accepted house rules be added, such as the beam changes and revised crit effects. Those which only a few people actually use, such as ship changes or new special actions, can remain as forum threads.

Just my opinion

Wow, been a long time since I posted here. But to get to the point. Is there a commonly accepted beam system aside from what's in the book? I had quit playing the game sometime back in part due to the new beam system. It completely ruined my Crusade Era EA fleet...My friends played Drakh, Minbari, Shadows and ISA so it was hard enough to begin with, but them negating my beautiful hull 6 across the board just caused my fleet to go down the toilet! >.o This was also one of the reasons I switched to Dilgar...and though I don't see myself switching back, god I love Dilgar, I'd still like to see some justice brought to those cheesy beam users!!!

 

[katadder]

So which Time on Target SA do we prefer?

whats time on target?

 

[inq101]

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!"

It's supposed to represent using the ships main guns as the defense grid. We did try it as only getting AA or interceptors in your weapons fire arcs but it was needlessly complicated and not in the spirit of the rules.

 

[tschuma]

Sorry if this has been discussed, but what if you took the Redundancy numbers that Dave listed in his spreadhseet and treated them like interceptors for Criticals Hits. If you have a Redundancy score of 2, then for every Critical Hit suffered from that wepon fire you roll 2 die, with a 2 or better to save, then 3, then 4 , etc, for each Critical Hit. For every die that misses it is removed. Then you when you are down to 1 die you at least have a chance on a 6. You could even have ships with no Redundancy score have a chance on a 6.

Just a thought.

 

[Kosh127]

if you are trying to take away almost all crits that would work, but I don't think that a good idea, JMO

 

[Da Boss]

So which Time on Target SA do we prefer?

whats time on target?

Track that Target? the one that allows boresight ships to fire off boresight

 

[Ripple]

Best track was

CQ on 9
May fire one bore sighted weapon as if it were the wider respective arc at one half AD.

Allows you to swing one weapon (necessary for EA ships really) at full power if you can line a ship up, or half a weapon in a the wider arc if you target gets blown up moves away or gets a disabling crit.

You give up significant other SA's to get the option, and helps the Drazi specifically with flexibility and it's not so reliable you want to bet on getting it instead of CBD/All Hands/Launching flights/etc.

Leave it open until the moment of fire to choose the weapon to reduce book keeping.

Some folks thought this was too powerful I think.

Ripple

 

[Foxmeister]

Ok, so some will argue "what's in a name?", but if it is going to be called "Track That Target", I think you should declare your proposed target at the time you call the SA, and if you make the CQ check (which I think should be CQ8 ), you get half AD on that target if it is still in your forward arc (or aft, for B(a) weapons) when you come to fire.

Essentially, it does nothing for you if your proposed target is destroyed before you get to fire, but this is no different to what would happen if you lined up a boresight on the same target.

Regards,

Dave

 

[SylvrDragon]

Maybe you should change the name to something like "Ready the Main Gun", or something of the like?

 

[SylvrDragon]

Oh, and I just finished reading this thread and I've seen nothing on beam changes. What are some of the ideas in that area? I'm not fond of the always hitting on a 4+ as it really trashes hull 6 ships.

What, maybe just go back to the old rules and give Skirmish and under AP beams and Raid and up SAP beams?

 

[Da Boss]

There are three main suggested beam amnedments - I have finsihed the first draft of the rules - still needs work but its a start.

 

[SylvrDragon]

I know the old beam rules were real harsh on low hull ships, but the new ones punish high hull ships. What if you limited it to a max of 3 rolls, or what if all secondary rolls were made on a 5+ instead of just increasing the roll by +1 each time? Or maybe both.

 

[Da Boss]

I am thinking of this: :?:

Track that Target! CQ: 9 / 8 (if a target is announced when the action is declared)
Despite the limitations of the large beam weapons on younger race ships, skilled crews can use the limited traverse ability to maintain a target lock on a moving target.
When successfully carried out, this Special Action allows this ship to fire one bore sighted weapon as if it were the wider respective arc at one half AD. For example a B(f) arc beam can then be fired (at ½ AD) in the F arc. If you declare the target when you announce the Special Action you may only fire the designated weapon at the targeted ship but the CQ check required is reduced to 8.

 

[Da Boss]

I know the old beam rules were real harsh on low hull ships, but the new ones punish high hull ships. What if you limited it to a max of 3 rolls, or what if all secondary rolls were made on a 5+ instead of just increasing the roll by +1 each time? Or maybe both.

the three main candidates are:

The Burger Beam System (BBS)
For each AD of the Beam, roll 1 dice and consult the following chart

1,2 Miss
3, 4,5 1 hit
6 3 hits

The Humbaba Beam System (HBS)
For AD of the Beam roll 1 AD and consult the following chart

1,2 Miss,
3,4,5 1 hit,
6 2 hits with progressive re-rolls,
On re-rolls you need to keep rolling 6’s, but each adds 2 more damage then the previous one (the first successful re-roll adds 4 damage, a second would add another 6 damage, etc.)

The Triggy Beam System (TBS)
For AD of the Beam roll 1 AD and consult the following chart

1, 2 Miss,
3-4 1 hit,
5-6 1 hit and reroll on this table

 

[Foxmeister]

I am thinking of this: :?:

Track that Target! CQ: 9 / 8 (if a target is announced when the action is declared)Despite the limitations of the large beam weapons on younger race ships, skilled crews can use the limited traverse ability to maintain a target lock on a moving target.
When successfully carried out, this Special Action allows this ship to fire one bore sighted weapon as if it were the wider respective arc at one half AD. For example a B(f) arc beam can then be fired (at ½ AD) in the F arc. If you declare the target when you announce the Special Action you may only fire the designated weapon at the targeted ship but the CQ check required is reduced to 8.

Best of both worlds! Works for me.

Regards,

Dave

 

[SylvrDragon]

the three main candidates are:

The Burger Beam System (BBS)
For each AD of the Beam, roll 1 dice and consult the following chart

1,2 Miss
3, 4,5 1 hit
6 3 hits

The Humbaba Beam System (HBS)
For AD of the Beam roll 1 AD and consult the following chart

1,2 Miss,
3,4,5 1 hit,
6 2 hits with progressive re-rolls,
On re-rolls you need to keep rolling 6’s, but each adds 2 more damage then the previous one (the first successful re-roll adds 4 damage, a second would add another 6 damage, etc.)

The Triggy Beam System (TBS)
For AD of the Beam roll 1 AD and consult the following chart

1, 2 Miss,
3-4 1 hit,
5-6 1 hit and reroll on this table

I don't care for any of those to be honest. They still don't take hull into account. Some ships rely on high hull, and sacrifice hit points for such, as their defense. These really help fleets such as the Drakh and hurt fleets such as Crusade EA. : /