I think the idea behind the pricing for range is to keep the game from turning into a long range turret fight.

The biggest limiter to games that I have seen is an overall lack of terrain. With games such as warhammer 40k ect, terrain plays a huge factor in the battles... but space games rarely have anything to even simulate terrain..... Maybe Dan can price up some "Flares" or something... basically they would be an expendable munition, much like the sunbursts, but you pick a hex, set it off, and for a certain number of turns, it blocks line of sight ect. That way, both sides can create "terrain" that can be used to add more tactical flavor to the game. That would keep the long range weapons balanced, in that there would be times when they could be used, and also allow those with shorter ranged weapons a means of closing, or gaining cover, even if only for a limited time.

Nahuris

That is a lot of inexpensive firepower... but at range one, the chances of using it for anything other than fighters is very small....

When using the vectored thrust from AE, the chances of actually being that close are very small.....

Dan might make a ruling here to settle things, but I don't see too much overkill with it, at least in games that I have played.

Nahuris

Happy Birthday all around !!!

Nahuris

I've seen those...

Unfortunately, I watch any show in segments... it usually takes me 2 or 3 days to watch a movie... between work, and other stuff, I rarely get any uninterrupted hours a day.

Nahuris

I've done some box style figs, and they work well -- usually I wrap the "box" around a piece of foam to help reinforce it for use ... also an idea we can incorporate here.

My primary hope is to have them in PDF version - that way, anyone can print needed figs for a game.

I am currently working on a Miranda Class ship for Star Trek (it's an easy set up) So far, I have it set with a top view, and with the nacelles already attached directly to the hull... the roll bar and torp box are separate. You print in on card, fold the nacelles down and the roll bar folds across with tabs on the end that fit in slots on the hull...

To make it more durable, I cut a small piece of foam board (a little thicker than poster board) in the shape of the hull, and glued it to the underside of the hull. As soon as I get some pics going, I'll upload them for people to look at.

I am also currently looking at a Constitution class, with a fold over inverted V-shaped secondary hull, ect. 

However, they do not need to be Trek ships, and I would prefer that they be generic designs, or ones from the current Starmada books (with permission), so as to not violate any copyrights.

In the end... I would love to create printable 3D counters in paper... fold and glue along tabs, ect.... and make them available to package with the games... some of it I can do with programs, and some of it, I am doing by hand to ensure that it will always be good quality, and that it won't be a difficult job assembling them.....

With the price of figs rising due to increased cost of material, as well as increased cost of shipping and transport, I'd like to make an economical way to share the hobby.

Nahuris

[Edit]

P.S. I do have a copy of Pepakura - and am working with it right now -- my goal with that is to get the final product down to the same scale as readily available figs - most of what I've seen so far as Pep files are fairly large -- will keep everyone updated on my experiments.

Nahuris

Not necessarily that fewer ships are not a serious game.... but I've been wanting a large fleet on fleet battle..... I want to have multiple tactics running in a big general free for all....

I truly enjoy small skirmishes... but have been wanting to just have a big bash using the Starmada rules rather than something like G.O.B.S. or similar....

I've played a number of games..... and most of the ones that have larger fleet actions, tend to turn the smaller ships into one hit wonders, or missile catchers.... Starmada runs fast enough that it works for a larger number of ships, and yet each ship is it's own entity, and is a viable combatant versus other ships on the table.

Nahuris

Not only nicely done so far. I very much like the fact that you are also keeping the Hull values within reasonable limits..... I have a control sheet around somewhere from SM-X where the Omega was a Hull 20, the Hyperion was a Hull 15.... ect. They were created by a friend with a huge selection of B5 figs... and they were hugely fun to play, but most of our battles involved 4 or less ships on a side due to the heavy point costs for those huge ships......

Then again, I am trying to get some of my friends to agree to a serious battle..... I'd love to see at least 20 ships per side. 

Nahuris

I love the concepts so far....

Be interesting to see how those races play out.

Also remember that soldiers tend to develop loyalty to certain equipment....and the people who make final decisions towards change (and also develop the force's tactics) tend to be the older officers... who are used to, and plan their tactics based on equipment that they are most familiar with.....

Entrenched loyalty to older tactics plays a huge part in what equipment is in general usage, and how it is used....

You can draw a lot of parallels based on how tanks were used by various militaries during the second world war..... part of what made German army advances so dangerous was the fact that they used their tanks as mobile heavy hitters, rather than short ranged fixed artillery mounted in a hard position (unless they were moving the battle line).... which is how France and England initially used their tanks. The German model became the standard once it was proven effective, but the Allied Officers needed to see it as effective before they began to adopt the tactic for use.

John

I'm getting paid today.... and there is soon to be an "emptyness" within my wallet......LOL

I'll be getting a copy over the weekend.

Nahuris