Narn thoughts and suggestions

[Greg Smith]

I've had a couple of ideas for the Narn for P&P. I've already passed them on to Matt and the other playtesters, and I thought I'd see what other players thought.


The first one is mainly because the Narn CBD doesn't help the ships that need it - the big ones, but does help ships like the Sho'kos.

Close Blast Doors! (Narn don't have defence grids )

Narn ships are exceptionally tough and have the ability to withstand catastrophic amounts of damage when their crews ready the ships to receive an attack. This Special Action may only be used by Narn ships that have a starting Damage score of 50 or more*. Ships using this Special Action not only ignore each point of Damage and Crew loss but also ignore Critical Hit effects on a roll of 5+.



*as an alternative you could have Lumbering as the restriction. Either way it doesn't help the G'Vrahn (which is ideal) because it isn't likely to be on CBD.



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My big bugbear with the big Narn ships is that their secondary weapons don't have enough range.



Boost Power to Weapons on that Side! *

Crew Quality check: 8

Clever Narn fire control officers can transfer power from weapon batteries on one side of the ship to increase power to weapons in other firing arcs. If this Special Action is successful, the ship may not fire weapons from one arc in the following firing phase. This arc must have weapons in it and must not be affected by a critical hit that prevents weapons from firing. In another arc, Light Pulse Cannons will have their range increased to 10" and Light Ion Cannons will have their range increased to 12". No more than one firing arc can be improved in this way. The affected firing arcs must be declared when the Special Action is announced.



*The name isn't great, but I didn't want a name that included one particular arc, to prevent confusion.

 

[skavendan]

Why not just say +50% range that sounds better. Probably have to say said battery that has the power redirected from can not fire. so you gain range but lose firing from a weapon. that sounds reasonable to me.

 

[H]

mmmm, I'd have to try them for effect before i could comment. the new blast doors could be feasible, but I can see people getting highly uppity at the crit redundancy for narn and not their race (even if the have other defences!)

the diverting power one I dislike, you can get range increases in campaigns from upgrades anyway, (all be it at half AD) but again, i will try it IF matt sees it as a possibility.

 

[Foxmeister]

I prefer the CBD here to the current Narn version, but I agree with Hiffano that this will be a problem for other races.

How about a slight revision, whereby all races get a 6+ crit save when on CBD, but the Narn (and perhaps some other races, e.g. Dilgar?) get it on a 5+?

As to your second suggestion, I certainly think it has merit.

Regards,

Dave

 

[silashand]

Close Blast Doors! (Narn don't have defence grids )

Narn ships are exceptionally tough and have the ability to withstand catastrophic amounts of damage when their crews ready the ships to receive an attack. This Special Action may only be used by Narn ships that have a starting Damage score of 50 or more*. Ships using this Special Action not only ignore each point of Damage and Crew loss but also ignore Critical Hit effects on a roll of 5+.

*as an alternative you could have Lumbering as the restriction. Either way it doesn't help the G'Vrahn (which is ideal) because it isn't likely to be on CBD.

I think maybe I'm missing something here. Are you saying the rule works as in the playtest document, i.e. on a 4+, but you are adding in the restriction of being usable by ships with 50+ damage? If so then I like it as it represents better how tough the big Narn ships really are. Not sure about the crit protection though unless you simply apply that to all versions of CBD for everyone (or use the V@S version I mentioned in another thread).

My big bugbear with the big Narn ships is that their secondary weapons don't have enough range.

Boost Power to Weapons on that Side! *

Crew Quality check: 8

Clever Narn fire control officers can transfer power from weapon batteries on one side of the ship to increase power to weapons in other firing arcs. If this Special Action is successful, the ship may not fire weapons from one arc in the following firing phase. This arc must have weapons in it and must not be affected by a critical hit that prevents weapons from firing. In another arc, Light Pulse Cannons will have their range increased to 10" and Light Ion Cannons will have their range increased to 12". No more than one firing arc can be improved in this way. The affected firing arcs must be declared when the Special Action is announced.

I like it, though I think it should be 'Reroute Power to Weapons". Otherwise, the rule sounds like a good one.

Cheers, Gary

 

[Greg Smith]

There are other races without defences, Vree, Dilgar, larger Drazi ships, most of the pak. Drakh gain crit resistance in P&P.

Maybe we can stick with the 4+ CBD but restrict it to the bigger ships.

the diverting power one I dislike, you can get range increases in campaigns from upgrades anyway, (all be it at half AD)

True, but you actually have to use a G'Quan before it can get upgrades, and therein lies the problem.

 

[skavendan]

Maybe we can stick with the 4+ CBD but restrict it to the bigger ships.

No war class ship would use this special action so I would have to say how do you define "bigger ships"

 

[silashand]

There are other races without defences, Vree, Dilgar, larger Drazi ships, most of the pak. Drakh gain crit resistance in P&P.

Maybe we can stick with the 4+ CBD but restrict it to the bigger ships.

I don't think the comment was to say that other races are defenseless. I think it was to say people would be upset that one race got protection vs crits and they didn't. Crits are a very emotional issue because they are 1) so powerful and 2) so absolutely frustrating. Personally I wish they were toned down a bit or actually give everyone some way to mitigate them. Barring that I almost wish they'd simply go away.

Cheers, Gary

 

[H]

yup, that was it. A number of races have no active defences, so they will get uppity if the narn gain them. that said, screw them, i play narn . .. bring on the crit resistance ;-)

 

[silashand]

yup, that was it. A number of races have no active defences, so they will get uppity if the narn gain them. that said, screw them, i play narn . .. bring on the crit resistance ;-)

I play Drakh, and I don't actually *want* the version they gave us! ;-)

Cheers, Gary

 

[H]

no i doubt i will use that when i play drahk, not worth it apart from on the mothership perhaps

 

[Greg Smith]

Maybe we can stick with the 4+ CBD but restrict it to the bigger ships.

No war class ship would use this special action so I would have to say how do you define "bigger ships"

50+ damage, or with Lumbering.

 

[CZuschlag]

I've had a couple of ideas for the Narn for P&P. I've already passed them on to Matt and the other playtesters, and I thought I'd see what other players thought.


The first one is mainly because the Narn CBD doesn't help the ships that need it - the big ones, but does help ships like the Sho'kos.

Close Blast Doors! (Narn don't have defence grids )

Narn ships are exceptionally tough and have the ability to withstand catastrophic amounts of damage when their crews ready the ships to receive an attack. This Special Action may only be used by Narn ships that have a starting Damage score of 50 or more*. Ships using this Special Action not only ignore each point of Damage and Crew loss but also ignore Critical Hit effects on a roll of 5+.



*as an alternative you could have Lumbering as the restriction. Either way it doesn't help the G'Vrahn (which is ideal) because it isn't likely to be on CBD.

My suggestion from here, as modified by skavendan! Of course I love it, but my vote doesn't count; I'm too biased.

The second action is also ... pretty cool. It also improves the Rongoth and G'Sten considerably, which is a Very Good Thing(TM). The Rothan still isn't in good shape, though.

I've got to think about that balance on it. I don't mind it on some ships, but its use for the skirmish ships might be a bit too much. I do worry a bit about the Thentus and Ka'T** with the order, but, given there's a crew quality check that can be failed, I don't think I'm terrified. I might suggest that the arc turned off has to have as many AD as the arc magnified .... no, Waitaminute. That's a horrible idea. I can think of 3 reasons why my modification is a terrible mistake right offhand. Never mind!

 

[Da Boss]

How about this:

Close Blast Doors
A Narn ship of the Line declared to be acting under this order can either prevent damage and crew loss on a 4+ by sealing off non vital areas of their huge ships. OR they make use of the reknowned Narn resiliance and love of self sacrifice by activating repair crews to work in the most dangerous areas and coniditons. If the latter choice is made they ignore all criticals, damage and crew loss that turn on a 6+.

A Narn Ship of the Line is any Narn ship with 50 or more damage points

 

[Greg Smith]

My suggestion from here, as modified by skavendan! Of course I love it, but my vote doesn't count; I'm too biased.

I recall reading that now. I guess maybe the idea stuck in my subconcious and fermented away. If we are talking about the robustness of Narn ships, I don't think a CQ check should apply, but it could actually work just as well as a straight 5+ roll.

 

[katadder]

yup, that was it. A number of races have no active defences, so they will get uppity if the narn gain them. that said, screw them, i play narn . .. bring on the crit resistance ;-)

I play Drakh, and I don't actually *want* the version they gave us! ;-)

Cheers, Gary

I agree, its a load of crap. my opponent tried it on his carrier in a 5pt raid and because of that I managed to cripple his carrier 1st turn and finish it 2nd turn before he even managed to get his raiders out. I was using ISA and against that was even using my WS secondaries.

 

[Foxmeister]

I agree, its a load of crap. my opponent tried it on his carrier in a 5pt raid and because of that I managed to cripple his carrier 1st turn and finish it 2nd turn before he even managed to get his raiders out. I was using ISA and against that was even using my WS secondaries.

If it's crap can the Narn have it then? Perhaps with an "effective GEG" (for crit redundancy) score of 4 at Armageddon, 3 at War, 2 at Battle, and 1 at Raid.

Note that this is a light hearted suggestion and I don't expect it to be taken seriously, but the Drakh "Critical Systems Defense" does show that the PTB are not totally averse to some degree of critical protection.

Regards,

Dave

 

[Drahazar]

oh your where cheating useing ISA so the game dose not count. I actually like the crits system makes it a interesting game. the only time the sucked was when i was playing vorlons adn the hole fleet was floeting around not doing anything casue teh dud kept crtiing on the wpns crit table and hits a random arc can't fire lol yeah I only have one. I am starting narn so this is all very interesting. should the get a crew increase to I mean don't you run out of crew before your hull is gone..

 

[Burger]

I like the Drakh's one. Makes sense when facing Precise fleets such as Minbari, Vorlons etc. Otherwise, stick with standard GEG. I think it is a good compromise, losing the GEG's damage soaking ability to gain crit defence.

 

[Foxmeister]

I like the Drakh's one. Makes sense when facing Precise fleets such as Minbari, Vorlons etc. Otherwise, stick with standard GEG. I think it is a good compromise, losing the GEG's damage soaking ability to gain crit defence.

I think it would work very well on the Amu if it were still hull 5, but definitely less so on the Ma'cu. However, as it stands, it's only the Dra'Vash and the Ria'Vash which really benefit.

Regards,

Dave