Except me.   

Have to agree would be good for AFBs to be some use, but that would disadvantage fighters/seekers/strikers further, which as they are an antidote to the dull sit there and shoot everything with lots of long range guns tactic, would be a shame.

Another way to tackle these issues is to contextualise the Starmada games - if they are part of a campaign that has objectives, such as bases or planets to capture, I don't see a problem.  As mentioned above, the tactic of sitting in the corner with lots of guns is a good one if you want to defend, and that's why defensive forces usually have a slight advantage.  If the scenarios force one side or another to attack, and allow forces that are imbalanced, the issue vanishes.  Its only a problem in one off fire fight scenarios where there are no goals.

How you generate these objectives - could be through a campaign system such as VBAM or something simpler, or you could add in an option that gives one side an objective to capture/destroy worth VPs - if destroyed/captured the attacker gets the VPs, otherwise the defender gets them.  All the defender would have to do is sit there.  The attacker could have maybe half the objective's VPs in extra ships.

Like the idea of a league.  However, I'm always short of time    - how long does it take to setup, do a turn etc?  And you can do it "postal" style?  Do you need to be logged on same time?

Glad to hear that!

Another way to make the hyperdrive thing work would be to allow multiple hyperdrives that make campaign travel faster - or escape faster on the field of combat.  Something like each additional drive reduces interplanetary standard travel time by  50%-25%-12%  etc more in decreasing curve for each additional drive, and that each additional drive gives another d6 when warming up to hyperdrive out - 3 drives would give a better than evens chance of always escaping on the same turn you declared warming up the drive.

The space cost would make it more worthwhile for a big ship to carry smaller ships.

Another example in fiction is the ships in Ian Bank's SF books - thinking of Excession here - that are HUGE and can manufacture and deploy smaller ships.

The use of fire ships suggest that a weapon that destroyed the ship, if properly balanced, could be interesting.

Personally, I'd like to see something that allowed a ship to ram another in a final "death or glory" bid.

While thinking about it, I'd quite like to see something that allowed different crew qualities.

And even more off the original point, what about micro jumps such as get in some of Elizabeth Moon's military SF?  Would be an utterly different game with timing and manouever much more critical.

oh, pretty, definitely!  Otherwise why not use numbered pins on a tiny hex sheet instead of miniatures!

Last night fought a battle between the NSA fleet, and a carrier group led by the Ark Royal (see first post) backed by HMS Terrible (below).  It was about 2300 points each - NSA fleet had the two battleships and battlecruiser above, 2 cruisers, 4 destoyers, 2 frigates and a scout.  The RN was the Ark Royal and Terrible plus 4 destroyers, 2 frigates and a scout.

Type: HMS Terrible - C17, Powerful Class, Royal Navy  Heavy Cruiser  (298)
Hull: 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Engines: [TL0] 3 3 3 2 2 2 1 1                       
Shields: [TL0] 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1
Weapons : 1:[V], 2:[V], 3:[W], 4:[W], 5:[W], 6:[W]
Weapons
Battery V:   Mauler Heavy Cannons  TL0,  1-3/4-6/7-9,  2/3+/2/2
No Range Modifiers, Continuing Damage
[AB]  [AB]
Battery W:   Spacewolf 2 Missiles  TL0,  1-4/5-8/9-12,  1/3+/1/1
[G]  [G] [AB] [A] [B]
Hyperdrive :
Armor Plating : Countermeasures :

We played a scenario where the RN attempted to ambush the NSA and the battle started off only about 15 hexes from each other, and lasted just 2 turns.  This was very bad for the RN - lesson 1 - keep the carrier well away until all the fighters are ready to go.  We were playing a modified deployment system where only a third of fighters deploy at set up.  In the first turn the NSA ships concentrated fire on the Ark Royal, causing about 9 hull damage and a lot of carrier capacity lost (about 8 fighters went "pop" still inside the ship).  The Ark dropped 6 swordfish torpedoes and 2 oblivion bombs at the end of turn one, all in range of the main NSA ships.  Other ship to ship combat, while close up and enervating, was largely irrelevant.

In the fighter phase of turn 2 the first area affect oblivion bomb destroyed a hull 6 cruiser, and most of the battlecruiser in one explosion.  Crucially, the first NSA fighter move shot down 4/5 of the other flight of oblivion bombs, probably saving the other NSA cruiser and a battleship the same fate, and essentially winning the game.  The fighters then all pinned each other, 4 swordfish torpedoes more or less destroyed one NSA Battleship (3 standard fighter flight attacks killed it just afterwards) while 2 more torpedo flights finished off the already damaged battlecruiser.  Unfortunately, this left on NSA battleship almost untouched, and in the ship fire phase, while it took a few good hits from the Terrible, it destroyed the Ark Royal.  RN minus 1900 points, NSA lost just over 1000.

A very quick and bloody battle - main learning was DONT EXPOSE THE CARRIER - when it comes to campaign play, a carrier should come into its own, as it can destroy/maim ships from afar and withdraw - so best used in offense, not to defend static objects.  Left wondering about strikers/seekers - can be devestating, but bringing a ship in close enough to launch is bad for the ship, while a fleet like the NSA, with a lot of firepower, can shoot the most dangerous flights down if they come in from long range.  If could just get around the flank......

I'm busy designing a near future campaign to run alongside a role playing one.  This is based on a campaign where there is essentially no time to build reinforcements - although can see that would work if each side had a certain number of points to "lay down" per month on a track planned about 6 months ahead.  While I'm a bit hazy on some things, what I've come up with so far is the following:

Timescales:

Campaign time is in days, with one strategic turn being a day.

Activation and communications:

Due to the need to send a ship with a hyperdrive to deliver news between stars, fleets and bases must be written standing orders prior to the campaign, covering what is happening and where they are going.  These standing orders also cover rules of engagement depending on any state of hostilities.

The orders of a fleet can only be changed by sending a courier ship with news.  This is assumed to happen using small ships not represented in game, but orders must be written and dated to come into effect at the point they will reach the target fleet or base, according to the days of travel between stars.

Movement:

Movement between star systems is from “Outer System” to “Outer System”, and takes the number of days required for hyperspace flight between those systems.

Movement in a system is one area per day.  Ships from different nations which are hostile to each other (or where one is hostile unknown to the other) have the option to hold a battle if they are in the same area together – both sides must agree to this if in the Outer or Inner system, as space is too big to blockade.  However, in other areas (i.e. planets/special system features) only one side needs to want to fight to get the ships onto the star mat.

The exception to this happens if one side challenges the other to make a “Readiness Roll” (see above) – if one side can get +4 on the other side it may engage the other no matter what, or flee any combat.

Movement is by day, as per hidden written orders executed simultaneously.

Where there is an umpire, movement is hidden and you will only know of enemy ship positions if you have a ship or base in the area in question.

Areas in a star system:

Every star system has an Outer System area, and an Inner System area.  Within the Inner System area are planets, bases and other special features, each of which have their own area.  For a fleet/ship to move to a planet from another planet it will have to move via the Inner System area, taking 2 days (1 day to Inner System, 1 day into the other planet's area).

For example, in Sol the areas might be:
·    Outer System
·    Inner System
·    Venus
·    Earth (includes Luna)
·    Mars
·    Ceres
·    Vesta
·    Jupiter
·    Saturn
·    Jupiter

Carriers:
Must specify exactly what mix of craft are carried at start of campaign.  Fighters lost during a battle cannot be replaced, unless the carrier has a fleet replenishment ship with it (and then only up to the cargo max for fighters, or transport max for marines – track this for replenishment ship) or if it visits a friendly naval base/station/planet where full replenishment can take place.

Post battle repair:
A ship with repair can do one repair per 10 SU on itself or another ship between battles – given a day per repair.  This can be on weapon system, equipment, thrust, hull or defence.
Self repair – ships may self repair all items except hull, at rate of one attempt per day.  Roll d6 – on 5 or 6 the system is repaired, if a 1 is rolled it is irreparable and must be done at a base.
A visit to a friendly base or planet can allow any repair, at the rate of one item per day.

One bit that might help above make more sense is a house rule I'm testing out to do with deployment:

Setup

Normal setup:
Ships deploy as per standard rules within 5 hexes of baseline, unless there is a friendly base or planet, in which case may deploy within 5 hexes of that.  Bases and planets are placed first, within the third of the map closest to the controlling side, except where there is multiple ownership of a body (i.e. Earth/Mars) where it is placed centrally.
Ships with mines may then place up to half their mine factors, provided these are within 10 hexes of baseline/bases/planets etc.
Starting speed = slowest ship –1 for all in fleet
Fighters – one third of all carrier based fighters can be deployed (round fraction of fighter up)
Ships are deployed in order of hull size, independent fighters last
Ships with stealth may be redeployed once after normal setup complete

SWACS:
Stellar Warning And Control System – takes 5% SU capacity, multiplies DRAT by 1.5.  Any ship carrying SWACS is placed last on set up, after ships with stealth are repositioned.

Readiness:
Readiness of a fleet affects how setup is done.  Both sides roll a d6 and apply modifiers from the table below:

+1    Per ship in fleet with SWACS, to a maximum of +3
+1    Per 100 points more in the opposing fleet
+2    Per point of difference between “Equipment” technology level for the nations (average if varies)

The difference between the two rolls is then calculated (a roll of 2 and 4 would have a difference of 2, with the winner being +2 readiness and the loser –2 readiness). 

The effects of readiness on set up are:

-4 or worse    Fully deploy all ships before opponent.  1/6 of fighters deployed.  Roll d6 to determine facing of fleet.  After deployment, opponent may move ¼ of your ships up to d6 hexes (roll for each ship).  Starting speed zero.
-2, -3    Deploy half force before opponent deploys any, then alternate ships.  ¼ of fighters launched.
-1    Deploy two ships to opponents one, starting first.
0    Normal deployment.
+1    Deploy within 7 hexes of baseline/friendly bases or planets.
+2, +3    May use delayed deployment.  2/3 of fighters deployed, make one free move (all phases – opponent may respond with fighters using “Combat Interception” rule, during firing phase opponent may fire)
+4 or better    May use delayed deployment.  Full fighter deployment, make two free moves as above.

Delayed deployment:

Up to one third of ships can be kept off the set up, and while the enemy is told there are off map forces, they need not be told what or how much.  The person delaying deployment can specify any edge of the board for them to appear at except the enemy base line, and in what turn this happens.  Further, if it is the Port or Starboard edge (from their baseline) they must specify near, middle or far third of the game area.  This is written down and sealed prior to other deployment.  Deployment is within 5 hexes of baseline, or 2 hexes of port or starboard sides.

A further option is to have a “marker ship” which acts as a focus for them to home on for deployment direct from hyperspace (again this ship is specified in the sealed order).  During the end phase of the turn before deployment, a marker is placed in each hex where a ship will deploy (within 2 hexes of the marker ship).  The player need not declare which ship is deploying to which marker – they represent hyperspace signatures that their opponent can detect.  Orders are written for the ships deploying from hyperspace and their movement will start from any of the hyperspace markers with the same facing as the marker ship – but once a marker is used it is taken off and cannot be used by another ship.  Any carrier deploying direct from hyperspace does not have any fighters launched.  If the marker ship is destroyed prior to deployment, it fails and the ships must appear 2 turns late at the baseline.

Sorry for the huge post - but would welcome any comments on this

I like this idea - especially with the dogfighting pinning rules, and the interceptor (combat air patrol type) rules.  Issue I can see for seekers/strikers is ensuring you get fighter superiority to prevent the opponent doing the same.  However, that's a nicely circular bit of Starmada - I have the sense that the "missile frigate" tactic could fail to a fleet defended with cheap interceptors and heavy on well armed ships, which in turn would fail to an all ship fleet, which would then fail against a fighter/seeker/striker heavy fleet and so on, ad infinitum.. very paper/scissors/stone.

I like the escort carrier idea - no shields, very slow, just a hull carrying fighters - you can get them as down as cheap as independent fighter flights would be, without exposure to the points loss at the front of battle.  This makes a sitting duck if your opponent gains fighter superiority or can get some seekers through your defences, but then they're not firing those resources at the actual fighting ships.

In a campaign setting there's a much better case for armoured carriers - not so much punch for the cost, but more likely to stick around from game to game.  Depends how your games are structured.

I'm interested in the use of strikers and seekers and how others do this?  Not had much chance to experiment yet, but it seems to me that using cheap strikers as interceptors, and seekers as bombers, would enable big carriers to pulverise opposition at long range with little risk to self (or a host of smaller ships to do so).

So far have not found the narrow arc of fire a problem - limits use to front on against larger ships, with escorts providing support for the other angles - makes manoeuvre critical.  The Nukes and Maulers have proved very effective but the trade off is the narrow fire arc.  I've found that either the engagement happens far enough back that the arc is not a problem, or a "sit and swivel" tactic works.  Also using the pivot rules.