nightshade
Mongoose
I did some searching for this, but didn't find anything. Of course, it was made extra difficult because of the name of Mongoose's magazine, and it might have even been in there at some point, too...
Has anyone ever tried a "Signs and Portents" scenario? This was the first significant battle involving the station, and was quite memorable. It's very asymmetric.
I've thought about this a bit more before posting, and its probably not a great scenario for the ACTA system, since it is almost entirely fighters, which go "pop" by the handful in ACTA. Still, I'll post what I'd written anyway, and maybe someone else can adjust it.
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I was thinking it could be played on two, smallish tables, with Delta wing (two Aurora flights?) coming out of a jump gate to attempt a rescue of the Achilles (corporate freighter) from the raider Delta-Vs (4 flights?). Set it up so that Delta wing could get to the Achilles in a couple of turns, with the raiders essentially on top of it. The raiders can break off, or try and take out the freighter and do damage to Delta wing. Delta wing cannot turn back until the Centauri liner launches from B5.
On the other table, Alpha wing (two Aurora flights?) launches to chase down a Centauri liner (unarmed, 10" movement?, disabled if successfully hit by a starfury against hull 5?). Next turn, a Strike Cruiser opens a jump point >24" from B5 (Third Age, battle version) and has to get the liner to dock with it and then jump away before taking significant damage. B5 and Alpha wing have to prevent the Raiders from damaging the station and disable the liner.
Delta wing will take two turns in transit between the jump gates, whenever they choose to return.
Some problems I see:
1. The Raiders are completely outclassed by the station, and the Delta-Vs wouldn't last a single turn against the huge amount of anti-fighter firepower it possesses. Perhaps a few more flights of Delta-Vs, or some Double-Vs, could come in through the jump point? Maybe B5 only gets a fraction of its full anti-fighter, to represent them being caught flat-footed? Only after the "recalibrate the defense grid" moment can the full firepower be used.
2. Even with a few added Raider flights, Delta wing doesn't really need to return in order to wipe them out. I guess whether Delta wing has a chance to attack the Strike Cruiser depends on how long it takes for the Strike Cruiser's jump engines to recharge for the jump out.
3. To give the B5 side some tension, maybe they lose points for every successful point of damage against the station and for every wing lost.
Thoughts?
Has anyone ever tried a "Signs and Portents" scenario? This was the first significant battle involving the station, and was quite memorable. It's very asymmetric.
I've thought about this a bit more before posting, and its probably not a great scenario for the ACTA system, since it is almost entirely fighters, which go "pop" by the handful in ACTA. Still, I'll post what I'd written anyway, and maybe someone else can adjust it.
----
I was thinking it could be played on two, smallish tables, with Delta wing (two Aurora flights?) coming out of a jump gate to attempt a rescue of the Achilles (corporate freighter) from the raider Delta-Vs (4 flights?). Set it up so that Delta wing could get to the Achilles in a couple of turns, with the raiders essentially on top of it. The raiders can break off, or try and take out the freighter and do damage to Delta wing. Delta wing cannot turn back until the Centauri liner launches from B5.
On the other table, Alpha wing (two Aurora flights?) launches to chase down a Centauri liner (unarmed, 10" movement?, disabled if successfully hit by a starfury against hull 5?). Next turn, a Strike Cruiser opens a jump point >24" from B5 (Third Age, battle version) and has to get the liner to dock with it and then jump away before taking significant damage. B5 and Alpha wing have to prevent the Raiders from damaging the station and disable the liner.
Delta wing will take two turns in transit between the jump gates, whenever they choose to return.
Some problems I see:
1. The Raiders are completely outclassed by the station, and the Delta-Vs wouldn't last a single turn against the huge amount of anti-fighter firepower it possesses. Perhaps a few more flights of Delta-Vs, or some Double-Vs, could come in through the jump point? Maybe B5 only gets a fraction of its full anti-fighter, to represent them being caught flat-footed? Only after the "recalibrate the defense grid" moment can the full firepower be used.
2. Even with a few added Raider flights, Delta wing doesn't really need to return in order to wipe them out. I guess whether Delta wing has a chance to attack the Strike Cruiser depends on how long it takes for the Strike Cruiser's jump engines to recharge for the jump out.
3. To give the B5 side some tension, maybe they lose points for every successful point of damage against the station and for every wing lost.
Thoughts?
