1,101 Reply by mj12games

(23 replies, posted in News)

tnjrp wrote:

Ah, then your usual places just aren't my usual places. I most certainly haven't seen anything on The Miniatures Page nor yet on the reportedly currently the-most-hip Beasts Of War as of yet - those are the biggest miniature wargaming nexuses I frequent.

Sent in a notice to TMP, guess it hasn't shown up yet.

Hadn't heard of "Beasts of War" (I know, I'm not among the most-hip...)

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1,102 Reply by mj12games

(23 replies, posted in News)

tnjrp wrote:

[size=85](and you still need to advertise this a bit more)[/size]

Been advertising in all the usual places... I'm open to suggestions.

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1,103 Reply by mj12games

(23 replies, posted in News)

Do any of the other MJ12 books (assuming you have some smile) work with the white-on-black view?

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1,104 Reply by mj12games

(23 replies, posted in News)

You obviously don't have clearance... sad

I'll fix that right now.

EDIT: Just rechecked the file, found no problems, re-upped it to the DTRPG site. If you still have problems, please let me know what page(s) are affected, and if possible, send a screen shot to cricket [at] mj12games [dot] com.

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1,105 Topic by mj12games

(23 replies, posted in News)

Majestic Twelve Games is pleased to announce the long-awaited new release for the Defiance game system: Evolution of Arms!

Into the tunnels, through the city streets and in your face, this supplement for the Defiance: Vital Ground Universal Skirmish System™ brings you new gear, new tactical options and a new way to balance battles in tight terrain. With the Defiance: Close Quarters Battle™ rules, you can now bring the specialized tactics of close-in fighting into an even more balanced game system.

Within this volume you will find:

* A more expansive Army Customizer™, allowing players even more freedom to build the army of their imagination without sacrificing game balance.

* A whole new Point System to accurately reflect the complicated tactics of fighting in a cramped environment, where the cautious use of pistols, grenades and hand-to-hand combat can win the day.

* Specialized Rules for destroying terrain, blowing holes through walls and the explosion shock of combustion in small spaces.

* New Options for enhancing hand-to-hand combat effectiveness.

* Example Army Lists to illustrate the strategic aspects of army customization.

This is not a standalone product. It requires ownership of the Defiance: Vital Ground rulebook.

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1,106 Reply by mj12games

(17 replies, posted in Grand Fleets)

Edited to include Achilles and Ajax.

Go to forum: Grand Fleets

1,107 Reply by mj12games

(17 replies, posted in Grand Fleets)

And for the British:

BB King George V, Prince of Wales, Ramillies, Revenge, Rodney, Nelson, Resolution, Valiant, Warspite
BC Hood, Repulse, Renown
CV Ark Royal, Furious, Glorious
CA Suffolk, Norfolk, Dorsetshire, London, Exeter, Berwick, Devonshire, York
CL Kenya, Galatea, Aurora, Neptune, Hermione, Edinburgh, Manchester, Birmingham, Sheffield, Cairo, Effingham, Glasgow, Southampton, Arethusa, Coventry, Curlew, Enterprise, Penelope, Carlisle, Curacoa, Calcutta, Achilles, Ajax

46 ships, plus destroyers.

Go to forum: Grand Fleets

1,108 Reply by mj12games

(17 replies, posted in Grand Fleets)

So, for the Germans, we'd have:

BB Bismarck, Tirpitz
BB/BC Scharnhorst, Gneisenau
CA Deutschland, Admiral Scheer, Admiral Graf Spee
CA Admiral Hipper, Blucher
CA Prinz Eugen, Seydlitz, Lutzow (Hipper-class series 2)
CL Emden
CL Konigsberg, Karlsruhe, Koln (K-class)
CL Leipzig, Nurnberg

Total of 18 capital ships, plus destroyers.

Anything I'm missing?

Go to forum: Grand Fleets

1,109 Reply by mj12games

(17 replies, posted in Grand Fleets)

If there were to be a GF and/or GA supplement for WWII in the North Atlantic, what ships would you consider indispensable?

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1,110 Reply by mj12games

(19 replies, posted in Starmada)

The spammers are actually posting EVERYWHERE. But even spammers need to make sure they're playing Starmada correctly... smile

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1,111 Reply by mj12games

(17 replies, posted in Grand Fleets)

I believe Rifleman was referring to Grand Fleets -- GA does not have a comparable set of tables.

Go to forum: Grand Fleets

1,112 Topic by mj12games

(0 replies, posted in News)

"It was during that minute in nineteen hundred and eighteen, that millions upon millions of human beings stopped butchering one and another. I have talked to old men who were on battlefields during that minute. They have told me in one way or another that the sudden silence was the voice of God. So we still have among us some men who can remember when God spoke clearly to mankind." --Kurt Vonnegut

Thanks to all who have served, and let us not forget the reason we stand silent at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, in hopes that future sacrifices will no longer be needed.

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1,113 Reply by mj12games

(6 replies, posted in Starmada)

The two different types of ramming seem a bit fiddly. Also, allowing ships to conduct ram "attacks" inherently unbalances the game, since you can create low (or no) cost ships with large hulls and lots of engines that run around the board smashing in to things...

Go to forum: Starmada

1,114 Topic by mj12games

(3 replies, posted in Defiance)

tease... tease...
<IMG src="http://www.mj12games.com/images/covers/mjg0411.png">http://www.mj12games.com/images/covers/mjg0411.png</IMG>

Go to forum: Defiance

1,115 Reply by mj12games

(3 replies, posted in News)

Yup. One managed to post 145 messages before I got to it. sad

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1,116 Reply by mj12games

(6 replies, posted in Starmada)

diddimus wrote:

Ok, makes sense, kind of  :?

That's just the approach I took when trying to point-cost ammo. I'm open to other suggestions...

Go to forum: Starmada

1,117 Reply by mj12games

(6 replies, posted in Starmada)

diddimus wrote:

If I add ammo 20 to this, the ship cost increases.  Can anyone explain?

It depends on the size of the ship.

The underlying assumption is that a ship can expect to get a number of "shots" out of a non-ammo weapon based on its size.

Hull 1-3: 2 shots
Hull 4-8: 3 shots
Hull 9-15: 4 shots
Hull 16-24: 5 shots
Hull 25+: 6 shots

(The idea being that larger ships will last longer and therefore get to use their weapons more often.)

So, when determining the point cost, a weapon on a size 3 ship that can only shoot once is given a 50% discount. The "problem" is that if you give a battery enough ammo to provide the above number of shots per weapon, there is no point reduction -- and if you give a battery MORE than this amount of ammo, the point cost will actually INCREASE.

Go to forum: Starmada

1,118 Reply by mj12games

(4 replies, posted in Starmada)

I am less convinced the issue is one of game balance than one of "narrative" -- i.e. there are players who feel, perhaps rightly, that because strikers are not described as direct-fire weapons, there should be an opportunity to shoot them down before impact.

(Oh, and welcome to the OP! smile)

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1,119 Reply by mj12games

(5 replies, posted in News)

Now in Milwaukee. Not exactly settled yet, but at least the moving part is over...

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1,120 Reply by mj12games

(20 replies, posted in Starmada)

jwpacker wrote:

Oh, and I just noticed, I made Middy! Is there a byzantine hazing ritual I'm supposed to undergo now?

Feel free to flog yourself with a wet noodle at your convenience.

Go to forum: Starmada

1,121 Reply by mj12games

(22 replies, posted in Starmada)

jwpacker wrote:

really appreciate how accessible you are (quite so for me, as I'm in Commerce City, just up the road a piece

Well, until Saturday.

What you say hinges on the idea that you know, going in, what your opponent has selected for weaponry. I agree that in any sensible game, that is reasonable. You allow for the fact that the enemy knows, to some degree, your tricks each of you have honed your technology and strategy against one another's defensive whetstones. I guess the lesson I'm taking is that the notion of "best or sneakiest build trumps tactics" is an artifact of allowing someone carte blanche and a CRAT budget instead of giving them some manner of framework to work within.

True. Which is why I can get behind the idea of a "tournament" set of options/rules.

That said, what size maps do you play on, and with what average thrusts and ranges, as a rule of thumb?

Roughly 24-30 hexes across, with thrusts in the 4-6 range. Weapon ranges span the gamut from 6 to 18 (I find the 24 and 30-hex ranges too large for my tastes).

Go to forum: Starmada

1,122 Reply by mj12games

(20 replies, posted in Starmada)

Completely spitballing here, but using the breakpoints already defined in certain rules:

Size 1-3: Type F ("Frigate") -- or Type E ("Escort")
Size 4-8: Type D ("Destroyer")
Size 9-15: Type C ("Cruiser")
Size 16-24: Type B ("Battleship")
Size 25+: Type A ("???")

Go to forum: Starmada

1,123 Reply by mj12games

(11 replies, posted in Starmada)

Nomad wrote:

Yeah, part of that is that we're a bunch of primitive savages who use naval movement here.  Newtonian is too complex for our simple ape brains.

I can see where that would make a difference. wink

Go to forum: Starmada

1,124 Reply by mj12games

(22 replies, posted in Starmada)

jwpacker wrote:

I can't speak for others, but in reading up on the game online, the most common complaint I saw was that longest range weapons (be that 18 or 30) with traits like Ignores Shields and Double Inverse Range Mods were effectively impossible to beat without having exactly the same sort of options. I'm curious what you would do in terms of countering that particular strategy?

Against that particular combination, I would consider a couple things:

1) Low shield ratings (to negate the "ignores shields" trait)*.

2) High thrust ratings (to close the distance more quickly).

3) A larger number of smaller ships. Spread the wealth... smile

4) Fighters/seekers.

I would NOT bother with things like countermeasures. This is because to-hit penalties are proportionally less effective when the target number is lower. With Double Inverse Range Modifiers, the minimum target number is going to be 4+, and could be as low as 2+. At that level, you're overpaying for countermeasures -- a multiplier of 1.5 vs. a 20% reduction in expected hits.

(I love these conversations -- for me it's part of the fun. wink Please know, however, that I am more than happy to consider altering the point costs for options or traits that seem out of whack... There's a difference between something that just needs to be valued more when constructing a ship and something that breaks the game.)

* Note that by "lower" I mean shield ratings of 3 or less. At those levels, the benefit your opponent receives (no more than twice as many expected hits) doesn't match the cost of the weapon trait (2.5).

Go to forum: Starmada

1,125 Topic by mj12games

(5 replies, posted in News)

Just a few more days before the big move! Majestic Twelve Games is going cross-country, from the mountains of Colorado to the land of beer and cheese -- otherwise known as Wisconsin.

What does this mean for you?

Not a heck of a lot. However, it does mean that we might be a little slow responding to emails and such for the next week or so...

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