Okay, so I edited the old post to factor in the changes.
-----
One other thing that might need to be added for the PA Panels; rules covering how they work in a nebula. In
FC, a relatively recent errata item added in a specific set of effects of a nebula on active panels; each panel holds only 6 points of power per box instead of 10, while each panel box incurs a point of energy from the nebula itself twice during the course of a turn. (This causes PA panels to fill up quite quickly; making running PA panels in a nebula quite a dicey proposition.)
Now, in theory, something similar could be done here; have the starting PA Panel score reduced by two-fifths, and have a certain amount lost each turn from the nebula's effects. But on the other hand, one could simply say that the pre-existing rule works fine; since, presumably, an Andro captain faced with such a buildup would simply not bother to turn his/her/its panels on at all.
So, should it just be ignored for now?
-----
Also, I wanted to touch on the issue of Andro logistics; crucial for understanding the way in which the Invasions are run.
The Andromedans do things quite differently than your average extra-galactic "visitor". If you had a look at, say, the Seltorians, you can get a fair idea of how, and why, they run their Tribunal expeditions the way they do; why the Hives can build only so many different sizes of ship compared to their Home Galaxy fleet yards; what kind of long-term game plan (i.e. to kill Tholians) the Tribunal forces themselves have planned, and so on and so forth.
However, with the Andros, we have no idea what is going on back in the M31 Galaxy; and we probably never will. What we know is derived from data gathered over the course of three theatres of war (in the Alpha and Omega Octants, plus the Lesser Magellanic Cloud), but there is still a lot that remains a mystery. (In game terms, hopefully the eventual development of the
Andromedan War module for
Federation and Empire can help with some of this; but even it would be likely to only offer so much about this enigmatic foe.)
The main thing we do know is that, for strategic purposes, the Rapid Transit Network is crucial to Andromedan operations. There seems to be two scales of RTN; the "inter-galactic" network anchored by an active Desecrator starbase on "our" end, plus the "intra-galactic" network joined together by hundreds of Satellite Bases.
(When I say "intra-galactic", it doesn't quite cover everything; the Andros did use chains of Satellite Bases to link their holdings in the Cloud with their entry points into the Milky Way. However, this is still more of a "local" branch, compared to the "trunk line" going all the way back to Andromeda.)
In terms of the actual bases themselves, the smallest you generally see is a standard Satellite Base; roughly the size of a Cobra medium satellite ship. The Base Station and Battle Station are made by taking two of these Satellite Bases (or three, in the dcase of the BATS) and joining them together with a core module of the same size. (This is not a coincidence; the size of a Satbase allows a Mothership to carry one or more inert bases within their internal hangar bays. Indeed, a handful of Mothership variants have larger hangars than normal, specifically to allow them to carry out this role.) However, the Desecrator starbases themselves cannot be built like this; while a Mothership can carry certain components for one, an Andromedan starbase must be assembled the old-fashioned way.
When it comes to production facilities, the Andros don't have that many of them. They can build Satellite Ships at the Desecrator, or at a construction variant of their battle stations; but, apprently, all of their Motherships had to come all the way from Andromeda itself. (The only exception was found during Operation Unity, when a "spare" Desecrator starbase was uncovered; it had been re-purposed to build the first known Devastator battleship, but had only gotten just over half of the construction work done by the time it was found.)
This can be seen in the
timeline for the LMC. The first wave of Motherships slogged across the near-void between Andromeda and the Cloud, arriving in the Cloud one (or two) per year from Y138 to Y145. While the more combat-oriented Motherships worked to secure a safe area of operations, the support Mothership started work on building the first Desecrator in Y139; completing its task in Y145. Once the starbase was finished, it could turn on its "trunk line" RTN node, allowing the next waves of Motherships to arrive far more quickly; while the Motherships in turn could then be used to start placing Satellite Bases in the region, allowing the Andromedans to begin their acts of conquest against the indigenous Magellanic empires from Y146 onwards.
(Had the Magellanics uncovered the Andromedans sooner, they could have tried to strangle the invasion in its cradle; unfortunately, by the time they knew what was going on, they were stuck with trying to drive the invaders out the hard way.)
As the timeline states, there were actually three Desecrators in the LMC; the first was destroyed by the Magellanic powers, the second was crippled (but not destroyed) in a later effort, while the third was untouched until Operation Unity in Y202. (The second Desecrator had apparently been more or less abandoned until Y200, at which point it was tasked with constructing that Devastator.)
So long story short; kill the smaller bases, disrupt the network; kill the starbases, cut off the "trunk line" back to Andromeda.
-----
So, I wanted to offer a sample Satellite Base; I used the Ship Card in
Communiqué #55, with the notes in the
FC Reference Rulebook about adding the special sensors back in.
SATELLITE BASE (SATB) - 150 POINTS
The critical element of the Rapid Transit Network, each Satellite Base acted as a beacon allowing Andromedan units equipped with Displacement Devices to travel across the network at Warp 15; providing an unparalleled degree of strategic mobility to the invaders. As their many enemies gradually learned to disrupt the RTN by destroying as many bases as they could find, the Andromedans attempted to counter these efforts by relocating uncovered bases, upgrading them to base stations or battle stations, or deploying more forces to defend them.
Turn: None
Power-Absorber Panels: 60/15
Damage: 12/4
Marines: 3
Craft: None
Traits: Enhanced Bridge, Immobile, Probe 0, Scout 2, Satellite Ship 4, Transporter 3
Weapons Range Arc AD Special
Phaser-2 12 PH 4 Accurate +1, Kill Zone 4, Precise
Phaser-2 12 SH 4 Accurate +1, Kill Zone 4, Precise
Heavy Tractor-Repulsor Beam 18 FH 2 Accurate +2, Kill Zone 8, Multihit 4, Precise, Reload
Heavy Tractor-Repulsor Beam 18 A, P 2 Accurate +2, Kill Zone 8, Multihit 4, Precise, Reload
Heavy Tractor-Repulsor Beam 18 A, S 2 Accurate +2, Kill Zone 8, Multihit 4, Precise, Reload
*The Satellite Ship value refers to the "dead weight" of the base when transported in an inactive state by a Mothership; a Satellite Base cannot be activated (or de-activated) in the course of a scenario.
-----
There might need to be a note clarifying that "inactive" = "target".
(In scenario terms, this would only really crop up if you can catch a Mothership in the midst of transporting one or more SatBases; which may be useful in a campaign, but only in very particular circumstances.)
-----
This unit shows the tricks that can arise with the conversion process.
On the Ship Card, the phasers have LF+L, RF+R and RA firing arcs. If you translated them too conservatively, you'd end up with P, S and A arcs; leaving the F arc exposed. On the other hand, if you left the RA arc as A, but went with F, P and F, S for the others, you'd end up with an unbalancing overlap in the F arc "corner" of the base. So, I cheated a bit and gave all three "corners" 180-degree arcs.
Also, the Panels are a bit tricky. For smaller bases (and ships), the
FC ship Cards only have two facings; so all incoming fire in the front three shield facings hit the same front panel. So, the panel scores I've done up so far are all based on the "#2 facing". However, larger Andro bases actially have six discrete panel banks; so, in essence, the base below should have three times the overall protection than the standard Satellite Base.
The problem is, that technically, the "#2 facing" is still only 60 points' worth...
So, I included an aggregate of all three panels in the front hemisphere in parentheses; I'm not sure if it should be used instead of the "direct" translation. (Given how much the base costs, the lower number might be a tad low...)
-----
BATTLE STATION (BATS) - 750 POINTS
The most powerful RTN node which the Andromedans could assemble out of Satellite Bases, the Battle Station took three such bases and joined them to a central core module of the same size. The configuration of the base meant that two of the Heavy Tractor-Repulsor Beams from each Satellite Base module were unable to operate (being blocked by the core module); even so, the Battle Station’s concentration of available firepower still proved daunting to would-be attackers.
Turn: None
Power-Absorber Panels: 60/15 (180/45)
Damage: 36/12
Marines: 10
Craft: None
Traits: Command +1, Enhanced Bridge, Immobile, Labs 4, Probe 0, Scout 4, Satellite Ship 16, Transporter 9
Weapons Range Arc AD Special
Phaser-2 12 F, P 8 Accurate +1, Kill Zone 4, Precise
Phaser-2 12 F, S 8 Accurate +1, Kill Zone 4, Precise
Phaser-2 12 AH 8 Accurate +1, Kill Zone 4, Precise
Heavy Tractor-Repulsor Beam 18 F, P 2 Accurate +2, Kill Zone 8, Multihit 4, Precise, Reload
Heavy Tractor-Repulsor Beam 18 F, S 2 Accurate +2, Kill Zone 8, Multihit 4, Precise, Reload
Heavy Tractor-Repulsor Beam 18 PH 2 Accurate +2, Kill Zone 8, Multihit 4, Precise, Reload
Heavy Tractor-Repulsor Beam 18 SH 2 Accurate +2, Kill Zone 8, Multihit 4, Precise, Reload
Heavy Tractor-Repulsor Beam 18 A, P 2 Accurate +2, Kill Zone 8, Multihit 4, Precise, Reload
Heavy Tractor-Repulsor Beam 18 A, S 2 Accurate +2, Kill Zone 8, Multihit 4, Precise, Reload
Displacement Device 24 T 2 Reload
*The Satellite Ship value refers to the total "dead weight" of the four component modules when transported in an inactive state by a Mothership; a Battle Station cannot be assembled or activated (or disassembled or de-activated) in the course of a scenario.