Playtesting vorlons.

[No. 1 Bear]

couple of first looks the dreadnaught doesn't look dreadnaughty enough. First its beam weapon doesnt look big enough.you might as well take 2 light cruisers for sheer firepower!

Great vorlon frigat looks awesome.

Just waiting a shadow skirmish option.

 

[katadder]

at same level would take a vorlon heavy cruiser instead.

 

[Da Boss]

fairly pointless ship - not really sure why its there.................

raid level ship makes sense, another Armegded - not really - A huge Vorlon Carrier maybe ................but a slightly different version of the HC just takes up space better filled I am afraid..........

 

[katadder]

any ideas for a skirmish shadow scout variant whilst we here.
TBH i could see the same ship at skirmish minus the stealth and scout stats.

 

[Da Boss]

Shadow Infiltrator Skirmish
True masters of deception and manipulation, only matched by their Vorlon rivals, the Shadows often find it necessary to infiltrate or extract key operatives – usually those who they have convinced should join them. This ship serves that purpose well and has the ability to eliminate pursuit or witnesses if required.
Speed: 10 ,
Turn: SM,
Hull: 4,
Damage: 10 (3)
Special Rules: Atmospheric, Self-Repair 1, Shields 5/1, Stealth 5+

Weapon..........................Range.........Arc.........AD......Special
Phasing Pulse Cannon.......8.................F............3........Accurate, Double Damage, Super AP

 

[Grunvald]

Vorlon Dreadnought has 3 more quad beam dice, 20 extra damage (40 if you count AA) -1 speed -1 AAF -10 AD beam double damage!

On the whole give it the name Vorlon DreadZERO!

Most definatly NOT worth it at Armageddon FAP!

It would be nice at war lvl but under Vorlon fluff the dreadnought is ment to be a bigger more scary ship although a lot less seen!

 

[No. 1 Bear]

skirmish lv scout would be cool.

 

[Shut Up Hippie!]

A new vorlon raide level ship... excellent news.... gives me something else to blow up in Grunvald's fleet :twist

Raid ship looks great. Agree on the Dreadnought........ lets remove the dread from the first half its name and just call it nought!

 

[silashand]

Agreed on all points. Dreadnought isn't scary enough even as an Armageddon level ship. HC is nastier overall. Raid option is kinda nice, now the Shadows just need their one missing PL ship and we're golden.

As a note, I know why they have rules for the dread now though, FA ships. However, they also need to remember that the Shadows have a Dreadnought level ship in that range as well ;-).

Cheers, Gary

 

[Grunvald]

If memory reminds me corectly it is usually my Vorlons that blow something of yours up

And basically the frigate is "2" transports slapped together into 1 ship with a bit less damage!

Lookin at it i see a vorlon ship at Raid lvl and think NICE!

But it needs a little something to not be 2 transports slapped together.

 

[stepan.razin]

Its a good thing that vorlons are unofficially prohibited at our local game store :lol:, none of my fleets can stand up to them anyway!

 

[Ukezwoll]

any ideas for a skirmish shadow scout variant whilst we here.
TBH i could see the same ship at skirmish minus the stealth and scout stats.

One simple approach would be to create a Shadow skirmish level option which is to the Vorlon Transport as the Young Shadow Ship is to the Vorlon Light Cruiser. If one want to stay with the 25 damage body, it might look something like this:

Shadow Floater

Typically seen in remote corners of the universe where the awesome powers of a Shadow Ship would be wasted on the locals, Shadow Floaters are occasionally called upon to operate along their larger breathren in a supporting role.

Speed: 10
Turn: SM
Hull: 4
Damage: 25 (7)
Special Rules: Atmospheric
Self-Repair 1
Shields 5/2

Molecular Slicing Beam.....15......F......3......Beam

Damage is up about 40% and shields 150% from what proportionality would suggest. Dunno whether the lower hull value is appropriate compensation.

 

[Foxmeister]

Shadow Floater

Is it just me, or did this make anyone else chuckle?

Regards,

Dave

 

[CZuschlag]

I did. At least there's no a Shadow Sinker.

Below is a completely alternate thought on the Shadows. I have no idea if it's of any use at all .... rip it to shreds, and let's see what ideas are left.
----------------------------------------------------------------

Another idea might be to resurrect the old full-scale Shadow Fighter as a new figure for the Shadow Skirmish or Patrol slot. The benefit of this would be the reuse of a miniature that is already in production allowing for faster casting when production is restarted.

Shadow "Infiltrator" or "Corsair":

Just as Shadow Ships evolve in power as they age, so too can Shadow Fighters. It is more unusual for this to occur, however, as combat experience is at a premium, and the Shadows are loathe to expose themselves unnecessarily. The attrition rate for Shadow Fighters is also imposing. However, the result is a substantial improvement in capability, durability, and independence.

Speed: 12....Damage: 13(5)....Craft: Special, See Below
Turns: SM....Crew: - ...............Special Rules: Atmospheric, Dodge 4+,
Hull: 5.........Troops: - ..................Shields: 3/2

Weapons:

Polarity Cannon ------ 8" ---- T ---- 3 AD ---- AP, Double Damage

Special Rules:

Hangars: Shadow Infiltrators may be housed and launched from Shadow Ships as per the Fighter dispersal tube. It counts as one flight for purposes of Hangar use.

Merging: Shadow Infiltrators may only merge with Shadow Ships. After 1 turn of merging, the Infiltrator can be considered to be inside the Shadow Ship at the discretion of the Shadow player. It may be deployed as per the Fighter Dispersal Tube. This is the only access to Self-Repair that Shadow Infiltrators have.

Expert: This is the farthest that a Shadow Fighter can grow. It can never buy Personality Traits with experience dice.

----------------------

I put the last in when I saw the Personality of Evasive, and thought "Wow, that'd be busted!".

Edit: Updated once already when I decided this one didn't pass my smell test. Downgunned from 5 AD to 3.

 

[Ukezwoll]

Shadow Floater

Is it just me, or did this make anyone else chuckle?

Regards,

Dave

I would hope so... then at least one worthwile task would have been accomplished using that name. Even at far too high a price of course : ) I've only seen the term floater used once, the game was Fallout 2 and they were some sort of upright worm critters. Apart from sounding vaguely boatish, I mean, hell, as floaters they should not sink at least, I have not good enough feel for the language to judge just exactly what it might really mean. Still I felt some sort of name or title would aid the presentation.

 

[Ukezwoll]

One simple approach would be to create a Shadow skirmish level option which is to the Vorlon Transport as the Young Shadow Ship is to the Vorlon Light Cruiser.

Adhering more closely to the above approach, these stats seems a close fit. I'd name it Shadow Snooper, but since I'm apparently not so hot with those I think I'll pass.

Speed: 11
Turn: SM
Hull: 6
Damage: 18 (5)
Special Rules: Atmospheric
Self-Repair 1
Shields 2/1

Molecular Slicing Beam.....15......F......3......Beam

 

[locarno24]

Hmm.....


How to make the dreadnought suitably scary, then?

1) Possibly make the weapon slow-loading, as that gives room for a humungous lightning arc of death

2) Make it ancient level

4) Give up on it as a bad idea and make a carrier instead (personally I'd prefer not)


The obvious question is, if the dreadnought isn't bigger than the heavy cruiser, what are the two supposed to do relative to each other.

In the EA fleet, you do get this situation as the Hyperion Heavy Cruiser and Nova Dreadnought are the same priority (admittedly some 4 priority levels lower...)

 

[Grunvald]

Speed: 5
Turn: 1/45o
Hull: 5
Damage: 125
Crew: -
Troops: -
Craft: None
Special Rules: Adaptive Armour, Advanced Anti-Fighter 6, Advanced Jump Engine, Flight Computer, Lumbering, Self-Repairing 3D6+3
In Service: Until 2261

Weapon Range Arc AD Special
Giant Lightning Cannon 36 F 9 Beam, Precise, Quad Damage
Discharge Gun 24 F 6 Beam, Precise, Double Damage
Discharge Gun 24 F 6 Beam, Precise, Double Damage

Now something along these lines is what i would call a dreadnought and something i wouldn't want to face!!!

 

[katadder]

and would have to go to ancient level, which is sometihng we want to avoid.

 

[silashand]

and would have to go to ancient level, which is sometihng we want to avoid.

Why? If the HC is already Armageddon level, I see no reason the Dreadnought should be anything less than Ancient, same with the Shadow Dreadnought since both have Fleet Action models that will probably eventually be released. After all, both the Vorlons and the Shadows actually *are* First Ones.

Cheers, Gary