76 Topic by cnuzzi

(0 replies, posted in Starmada)

The Fed Old Heavy Cruiser is built on an enlarged version of the hull of the Texas-class CL (aka the Old Light Cruiser). Intended as a competing design to the Constitution-class CA, the ship didn't make the cut. Only two were ever constructed - NCC-1361 Alfred the Great and NCC-1362 Theodoric the Great. A third ship, NCC-1363 Alexander the Great was planned but never built. Historically, the Alfred the Great was destroyed during the Romulan incursion depicted in the Star Trek: TOS episode "Balance of Terror." While the CA Enterprise was fighting the Romulans on one end of the Neutral Zone, the OCA AtG was similarly (but less successfully) engaged at the other end of the line.

Note that the version presented here is taken from the Fed Com ship card, which depicts a fully refitted "General War version" of the OCA which never existed in the more historically rigorous SFB timeline, hence the addition of ph-3s and a drone/ADD rack, the standard defensive fire package which formed the Federation Star Fleet's Y175 refit.

Thanks to Mike West and Will McCammon on the ADB Fed Com Forum for info on the names and history of the OCAs.

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77 Reply by cnuzzi

(1 replies, posted in Starmada)

A little more info on the Saladin-class DD:

This ship was designed the way it was for reasons which seemed reasonable at the time: using the exact same primary hull as the CA (as well as one of its standard warp nacelles) made the Saladin DD economical to build, and allowed it to share the same supply chain as the ubiquitous CA - an important consideration, especially during wartime. The one concession made was to cut the amount of space devoted to science labs in half, and to use that space for auxiliary power reactors. This is why the DD has a lower science rating than the CA. The Saladin-class was designed so that, during peacetime, it could perform the same sorts of exploration, research, and general patrol duties as the CA, only in a more cost-effective manner.

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78 Reply by cnuzzi

(1 replies, posted in Starmada)

A little more info on the Fed BT:

The FH/RAL/RAR ph-1s, the LS/RS ph-3s, one drone rack, and two tractor beams are on the tug. Everything else is on the battle pod. The pod has no warp engines, but it has a small impulse engine and a huge bank of auxiliary power reactors that give the BT a level of power between a BC and a DN. In SFB there were a set of rather fiddly rules to "drop the pod" (and reattach it). The pod could then operate independently, but only at sub-warp speed. These rules were not incorporated into FC.

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79 Topic by cnuzzi

(0 replies, posted in Starmada)

This is a ship which I like in FC, and which appeared in Captain's Log for AE/NE. I wanted to add it to my game, so I created a Unity version.

During wartime, admirals command their fleets from a dreadnought. During times of peace, however, DNs spend most of their time docked at starbases due to their high cost of operation, and admirals command from, appropriately enough, a command cruiser. A CC is a CA with slightly better weapons and shielding, and much better "command and control" and communications facilities. The Fed CC, however, had a problem. Designed during the "middle years" period, by the time of the General War it had become nearly identical to the CA due to the CA's numerous incremental refits. Given that there were never enough DNs to go around, and many task forces were led by CCs, Star Fleet badly needed a new CC that was designed for the exigencies of wartime, and thus was born the Heavy Command Cruiser (CB).

My next creation will be another ship which appeared in Captian's Log, but will likely never show up in any official product for Unity: the Federation Old Heavy Cruiser.

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80 Topic by cnuzzi

(1 replies, posted in Starmada)

The Federation Battle Tug is a ship with an interesting history. To quote from the 1979 Designer's Edition of SFB:

In a controversial program, the Federation Star Fleet developed the "Battle Pod". Its purpose (according to its supporters) was to enable the fleet, in an emergency, to convert Tugs into Heavy Cruisers.

I've always loved the idea of this ship. The battle pods would be warehoused at starbases in border regions, awaiting the outbreak of hostilities. When such occurred, tugs could be converted to warships in a matter of hours. Note that while the writeup quoted above compares the battle tug to a heavy cruiser, the BT's firepower is more nearly equivalent to a Fed battlecruiser like the New Jersey.

As time went on and more supplements for SFB were published, BTs were created for all the major races, but in "my" SFU, only the Federation built battle pods, most likely at the urging of some crazed admiral with a nickname like "Crackerjack" or "Buckshot". The BT handles like the '66 Dodge Monaco my dad had when I was a kid, but like the Monaco, when you see it coming, you get out of the way. smile

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81 Reply by cnuzzi

(6 replies, posted in Starmada)

The account is free. I got one - nothing bad has happened to me yet.

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82 Topic by cnuzzi

(1 replies, posted in Starmada)

There are two ships that I simply must have as part of my Federation fleet that have not been brought over to Starmada yet. One of them is the Saladin-class Destroyer. I have created the ships below following the rules laid out by Daniel in the "SFU Unity" thread (including the bit about adjusting shield strength if it does not reach 20% of the FC value). Note that as I am still having issues with the Drydock (I use Libreoffice, and even Excel Online is problematic), I created these the old-fashioned way: by cutting and pasting from other ships. That's why there is no Victory Point Value. If someone can calculate it for these, or tell me how it is done, I will add them.

Why two versions? The Fed DD was a ship with a problem: it was notoriously underpowered for its standard weapons package. Overloading those 4 photons while maintaining a reasonable speed was nearly impossible, even before taking engine damage. For this reason, Fed doctrine was to send in the DDs already armed. Then, after firing one volley of OL'd torps, they would limit themselves to phaser fire for the remainder of the battle. Other captains (like myself) used only two photons and allowed the other two to sponge up torp damage, effectively extending the life of the ship's heavy weapons by a factor of two. Eventually, all but 5 of the Saladins would be stripped of two photon tubes. These would eventually be replaced by either two drone racks (the DDG) or two type-F plasma torps (the DDF) obtained from the Gorns. While the plasma torps did nothing to ameliorate the ship's power-curve issues, the drone racks did. Additionally, since they were Fed G-racks, which incorporated ADD, they gave the DDG a powerful defense against drones, making it a welcome addition to the Federation's Third Fleet along the Klingon/Kzinti border.

Coming next: the other ship I referred to above: the Federation Battle Tug!

EDIT: FH ph-1s were marked FX. Fixed and re-uploaded.
EDIT: Engine rating on DD changed from 4-4-3-2-1 to 4-3-2-1

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83 Topic by cnuzzi

(1 replies, posted in Starmada)

When a drone or plasma torp is launched, it is placed in the same hex as the launching unit, in a direction facing its target. By the time it is activated for the first time, its target has had an opportunity to move. Must the seeker move forward at least one hex before turning, or can it turn before moving?

Also, SFU seekers make "tight turns," correct?

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84 Topic by cnuzzi

(1 replies, posted in Starmada)

The title says it all. If, say, a ship has 4 FA photon torps (or phasers, or whatever), can two fire at ship A and two at ship B simultaneously?

This is an SFU question,  btw.

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85 Reply by cnuzzi

(2 replies, posted in Starmada)

I had a Seltorian - Neo-Tholian battle myself yesterday. Seltorian CA and CL vs Neo-Tholian CA and CL. I had never played Selts before - I have ship cards for them in FC, but I never used them. Their particle cannons pack quite a punch! You want to fire them at close range, however, to get a decent chance to hit. The good news is that close range is up to 5 hexes.

The Selt CL went down first due to concentrated fire from both of the Neo-Tholian ships. The Neo CL then lost all of its engines, and died soon afterwards. After that, it was CA vs CA. Both had downed forward shields. By turn 7, the Neo had taken a lot of internals - it was down to about 1/3 of its weapons and only had 4 hull boxes left. My Selt still had all its weapons and still had 7 or 8 hull boxes. I decided to risk a head-on alpha strike and let the Neo take its best shot. We came at each other and fired everything we could bring to bear at close range. I took some hits, but the Neo went boom. All in all, a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

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86 Topic by cnuzzi

(2 replies, posted in Starmada)

On page 15 of Alien Armada, it states:

Note there are two Web Fist modes; a standard mode which requires 2PP and an “overload” requiring 4PP.

On the ship card for the Neo-Tholian Avenger-class Heavy Cruiser (pg 52), however, the Web Fist is marked as "free" to fire in standard mode, and 2 PP overloaded.

FYI, all other Web Fist-enabled ships are correct.

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87 Reply by cnuzzi

(2 replies, posted in Starmada)

Cool. For any who are interested, the rule in question is 2D1 in the Federation Commander rulebook.

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88 Topic by cnuzzi

(2 replies, posted in Starmada)

In FC/SFB, there is something called a "tactical maneuver," or simply a "TAC." This is similar to a High Energy Turn but does not entail the possibility of breakdown. A ship plots no movement for the turn, so it remains in the same hex, but it pays 1 PP and can turn one hexside to the left or right. Can this be done in Starmada SFU?

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89 Topic by cnuzzi

(1 replies, posted in Grand Fleets)

I am a big fan of warships - battleships in particular - and I am interested in giving Grand Fleets a try. On w23 there are two versions - one for the "dreadnought era"(1890-1940) and one for the "battleship era" (1890-1950). Does that mean that the "battleship era" version has all the ships and rules of the "dreadnought era" version, plus more to cover WWII, or do you need to buy both if you want to play both WWI and WWII-based scenarios?

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90 Reply by cnuzzi

(2 replies, posted in Starmada)

Cool! Thank you!

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91 Topic by cnuzzi

(2 replies, posted in Starmada)

At the bottom of page 22 of Alien Armada, there is a ship description for the Orion Medium Raider, but there is no ship display for that class. Was it left out, or was the ship description included by mistake?

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92 Reply by cnuzzi

(7 replies, posted in Starmada)

Lol I played Starfire as well! SSSAAAHWIFIWDIIII

My first SFB purchase was the Designer's Edition back in 1982 or '83. I had the three expansions too, and then I bought the Commander's Edition. I dropped out before the Captain's Edition was released, but I came back to the SFU a few years ago by playing the Cadet Game, then I got into Fed Com. 

I prefer Starmada as well. I am finally able to play bigger scenarios with more ships per side. I'm impressed with the way the system handles things that are very complex in FC/SFB, such as cloaking and Tholian Webs. "Simple but not simplistic" is a great way to describe the game.

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93 Reply by cnuzzi

(7 replies, posted in Starmada)

Steven, did you play Federation Commander or Star Fleet Battles before Starmada SFU? I'm a long-time SFU player, and I am really loving Starmada! I've played more games since buying Klingon and Romulan Armada about a month ago than I played of FC in the past six months. I'll always have a fondness for SFB and will still play FC, but Starmada is my main game now. It's exactly what I was looking for - the setting and the ships I know and love, with modern, streamlined gameplay that eliminates nearly all of the bookkeeping. Since the third game or so, I don't need to reference the manual unless I'm doing something new. You have to love a game where you can keep the Damage Allocation Chart in your head!

Chris

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94 Reply by cnuzzi

(7 replies, posted in Starmada)

Good choice, since it adds Hydrans, Lyrans, and WYN to the game. I've always shied away from Hydrans because fighters in FC/SFB were too involved for my taste, so I'm excited to play them in Starmada where the game mechanics won't bog down. I'm curious how ESGs will be implemented!

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95 Topic by cnuzzi

(7 replies, posted in Starmada)

Will Distant Armada or Battleships Armada be the next Unity conversion?
Also, what do you think will be the approximate time frame on those? Three months? Six? Just curious when I can give you my money. smile

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96 Reply by cnuzzi

(3 replies, posted in Starmada)

Cool - I like your naval-style designs!

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97 Reply by cnuzzi

(2 replies, posted in Starmada)

Lol I guess I fail web calculus! So, we can generalize it to say that, without reinforcement,"a strand of strength X web will take X turns to degrade, regardless of length." Got it. Thank you, Daniel!

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98 Topic by cnuzzi

(2 replies, posted in Starmada)

I can't find any mention of web deterioration in the rules. In FC, web deteriorated by 1 pt for each hex of length per turn if not reinforced, so a 3-hex strand of strength 4 web would go down to strength 1 after 1 turn. Does web not deteriorate in Starmada? (I would advise against non-deteriorating web - it might be too powerful).

Also, the inclusion of a "Tholian Web Tender" in Alien Armada makes me think that web was intended to deteriorate, but perhaps the rules for it were left out accidentally?

I had posted about this under the "Tholian Web" topic, but I think that perhaps it was unnoticed amongst the various posts. My apologies for re-posting.

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99 Topic by cnuzzi

(3 replies, posted in Starmada)

Just curious...I'm a life-long fan of Space Battleship Yamato (aka in the English-speaking world as "Star Blazers"), and I was wondering if anyone has ever tried creating any of the ships from that franchise? It would be like a mashup of Starmada and Grand Fleets!

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100 Topic by cnuzzi

(6 replies, posted in Starmada)

If, like me, you can't run the Unity Drydock because you use Linux, or if you simply don't have access to Excel, I have good news. The version of Excel in MS Office Online seems to run the Drydock just fine. I have not tested it completely, but the "error 502" I was getting no longer appears, and so far it seems to be working as expected. Give it a try - it's free, so you have nothing to lose! Instructions are here:

https://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/1584

The instructions on the above page will work for you whether you run Linux, Windows, or Mac - it's all the same since you run the app in your web browser.

Go forth and build!

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