Star Fleet squadron boxes

[Rambler]

Actually if you apply the original source material to the mix the only fleet battles in TOS were all cruiser on cruiser engagements. Fair enough that was because of budget restrictions but it is what it is.

Maybe once the initial launch is over Mongoose and ADB might consider adding a Battle Group Squadron box that would add 5 or 6 small ships (Light Cruisers, War Cruiser, Destroyers, Frigates and/ or Police Ships) to complement the Squadron Boxes. And yes the SFU has rules that would cover this in the other games.

 

[Poi]

But that is purely a popular tri-d representation, and has no bearing on the real SFU. :mrgreen:

 

[Democratus]

Substitute the KRC for the KR (Same basic mini, just based on the Romulan conversion of a D7 rather than a D6)

Just for the sake of accuracy:

The KRC is based on the D7C, the K7R is based on the D7, and the KR is based on the D6.

 

[scoutdad]

Guilty as charged.
I accept the punishment for inaccurate references.
The KRC is based off the D7C, not the vanilla D7.



Still, it provides a fairly even points match. Even though that would not be my first choice of units to field.

I also understand ADB's motivation behind maintaining the existing packaging.
Unfortunately, the realities of modern day marketing are at war with the needs of the fan-base.

Mongoose is a much larger company than ADB and have a larger percentage of the market. It's considerably easier for them to introduce a new product and get it on the dealer shelves.
ADB on the other hand must fight, scratch, and claw for every single cubic inch of shelf space.
They have been forced to release the miniatures in the format they currently have to even have a shot at getting some of them on the store shelves.

If they told distributors and vendors that they were going to introduce a version of their SFU game in a new gaming system (ACTA)... AND that said release "would require a completely new line of miniatures with multiple SKU numbers... oh yeah, and we're keeping the old numbers, too!" The distributors would go into apoplexy.
At least Mongoose is able to provide balanced fleets via the "Fleet Boxes".
That will soften the blow to the ACTA gamer who wants to buy a box and put it on the table.

 

[AdmiralGrafSpee]

Are they not going to be selling the miniatures individually as well? Can't you just pick up a "fleet box" and then supplement it with individual minis?

 

[AxisFan67]

Are they not going to be selling the miniatures individually as well? Can't you just pick up a "fleet box" and then supplement it with individual minis?

Exactly what I was thinking. Not sure what the reason is for all of the fuss about these fleet boxes. Either don't buy the fleet box and get your ships individually or sell or trade away the ships you don't want out of it.

 

[Finlos]

It seems the part I'm missing here is that I'm not yet used to the scale of ACTA games although given said scale I would expect to see a dreadnought in most games. I'm not nearly as familiar with Federation Commander as I am with SFB other than it seems to be a more streamlined version with a lot of the math-heavy 'stuff' removed. As an aside, I remember there being a list of rules cut from SFB but I don't know where. Could someone point me to a link?

It seems there are 4 options currently for purchasing minis. There should be little problem getting the ships you want

1) individually (larger ships) or in blisters of 3 (smaller ships)
2) squadron boxes -- a small selection of ships from one empire
3) border boxes -- ofter containing several ships from multiple empires
4) fleet boxes -- intro'd by Mongoose and contains, well, a viable fleet for one empire

How many days are there left again??

 

[Iron Domokun]

Someone mentioned 750-1000 points as being the typical scale for ACTA games. A dreadnought in FC weighs in at around 240-250 points, in ACTA the points are 125% of FC points (with a few tweaks), so a DN would be 300-ish points. Half your fleet in a 750 point game, a significant investment at 1000.

I gather that the Border Boxes of 2500s will only be available by mail order, and most retailers will not carry the blister packs (too many individual items to stock and keep track of). They will be available by mail order from ADB and Mongoose though.

 

[Greg Smith]

Someone mentioned 750-1000 points as being the typical scale for ACTA games.

That would probably take around 90 minutes, with 6-8 ships. That is considered a skirmish or raid level game. Probably not a game for a dreadnaught. Altghough Da Boss and I have playtested such a game, and the dreadnought acquitted itself well.

 

[scoutdad]

Same here. We've used DNs in smaller games (i.e., 1,000 points or so), but it's hard to justify 1/3 of your points on a single ship.
Going with a BC in a 1,000 games lets you easily get 6 or 7 ships total.

 

[Da Boss]

I thinkn it was 1500pts

We were trying out the big Klingon Dreadnought to see how they survive compared to the ACTA:B5 big ship issue - It was good (even if some of the weapon placement is very wierd - all of its anti-drone phasers are at the rear instead of at the front/sides where they would be useful - I guess this is to with how SFB works).

Managed to get in a good complement of cruisers and small escorts to act as In sinks. Splitting the fleet into two seperate attack groups (one holding position - the other flanking using the terrain) worked very well given the Klingon front shield rule.

Although had trouble getting my head round the fact that the Dreadnought could move as fast as the frigates - although this proved very useful in the game.....!

 

[Myrm]

Yeah the whole everything can go fast does change things. Suddenly its all about who can steer better than the other pregnant whale....

 

[Da Boss]

It makes thing harder to predict and having the ability to suddenly jump forward 12-18" with your biggest ship is very different from ACTA I am used to (except for the Victory). Makes it harder to work out where to place ships and can mean that in sinks are just as important as in older versions. Terrain is I feel, still vital, for a good game

 

[Finlos]

What's the largest game you playtesters have played so far? How did it work out? And, if you remember, what were your fleets?

 

[scoutdad]

Having no previous ACTA experience, but coming from 30 years of SFB, having all ships capable of maintaining speed didn't seem that big a deal to our group.

Terrain does come into play in a big way in CTA... much bigger than in standard SFB or Fed Comm.

As for the biggest game to date:
We played a 2,500 point versus 2,500 point game once. Klingon versus Kzinti.
IRC, Kzinti fleet was DN, BC, 3xNCA, 3xCM, 3xCL, 3xDW, and 3xFF
Klingon fleet was C8, C7, 3xD7, 3xD5W, 3xD5, 4xF5.

This was under an older draft of the rules when seekign weapons were placed on the baord as actual markers. We were trying our best to break the system and thought that 70 AD of drones from a single fleet just might do so.

 

[Da Boss]

Indeed - Terrain does give the game a good tactical element - especially if used well.

the ship movement thing was not an issue - just something I had to consciously keep in mind -as you say if you are used to it then it will be automatic.

Larger point games also bring the ability to field squadrons which changes the game quite a bit.

Oh and popped over to the Federation Commander thread and saw they were talking about Legendary Commanders - ACTA: B5 had a whole load of rules for Admirals which would transfer. Although they would need tweeking a bit as they ended up costing too much most of the time. Points cost may solve this issue.

You could however use the varied abilities to represent legendary crew members so:

legendary Engineer could have any of the following abilities for X cost:
Engineering Genius, Linked Targeting,

Legendary Science Office could have:
Analytical Mastermind, Meticulous Planner

etc