You are not logged in. Please login or register.
Play nice. (This means you.)
Logins from the previous forum have been carried over; if you have difficulty logging in, please try resetting your password before contacting us. Attachments did not survive the migration--many apologies, but we're lucky we kept what we could!
mj12games.com/forum → Posts by TalosX
Pages 1
Just curious how your conversions are going? I was considering doing some conversions myself until I saw your post, thought it would save me some time if they're already done.
I to have thought that Escort seems a bit difficult to use effectively for its cost. I simply allow Escorts to transfer there ECM rating to adjacent ships. An adjacent ship can only benefit from one Escort transfer at a time, and you leave that Escort with reduced ECM. Not sure if that helps or perhaps your looking for something else.
Just curious if anyone runs Nova or Fleet Ops online via a gaming engine? If you do, which engine do you think works best for which system?
Well, if your plan is to consider missiles and torpedos to be seeker or drone fighters, then yes, the AF stat will be perfect for the GARDIAN lasers. I do, however, always wonder whether missiles need to be statted up as destructible attack craft at all. As a veteran BFG player, I do get nostalgic for the days of filling up the space between fleet lines with corridors of nuclear death, but it's a little absurd given the scope of space combat and the discussion of tactics in the ME universe.
I think I'll just house-rule torpedoes to be seekers for the purpose of intercepting them with GARDIAN lasers. Seems like the simple and efficient fix.
Actually, I think that if you simply inverted VBAM's standard hyperspace system, it'd work just fine. Make the minor jump lanes really long and geographically important to represent the primary relays, and make the short, localized jump lanes be major lanes to represent secondary relays. What this will do, strategically, is make it so that fleets don't move across the face of the galaxy suddenly, but they do have a good ability to mobilize forces from local systems to assemble a good defense. On the Starmada side of things, I'd suggest that you use the standard Hyperdrive rules for in-battle retreat, even if individual ships don't need to equip a subsystem to do so.
Well the Hastings in the first book stated it was traveling at 15 million km per second. That's 50 times the speed of light. Though it is a frigate, so it's probably a bit quicker then cruiser or dreadnought class vessels. The closest star to Sol is Proxima Centauri at 4.2 light-years. The VBAM "1 turn = a month" timeframe fits fairly well into that equation (right about 1 month). I'm not sure how you'd discharge the drive cores between systems though. I'm sure there's probably a way, just WAY slower then using a planets magnetic field and WAY WAY slower then landing on a planet. After all it was stated that the Citadel had special platforms to safely discharge the drive core... I'm sure a more portable device that is considerably slower could be loaded into a cargo bay or storage area of a ship.
Back to the matter at hand. It seems you are suggesting I should "remove" the instantaneous travel between mass relays? That could be interesting as I was already planning to slow "solar systems travel" down quite a bit as well. For a fast frigate, under my rules; to travel straight from one side of a solar system to the opposite side should take around 2 to 3 turns. Add in a turn or two for Mass Relay travel, and it will slow force mobilization a bit. So a few months to get significant forces into a systems seems about right. It makes intel very valuable:
"Admiral... a Turian fleet is in route to this system, and they'll arrive in 3 months time!"
"Send for reinforcements from Sol system."
"It will take Sol's forces 5 months to arrive."
"Then we have to hold the line for 2 months, organize our policing vessels into attack groups and make preparations for ground forces as a last line of defense."
"Aye Aye sir!"
(And FYI, I feel fairly certain that the conceptualized flight between star-systems in ME2 is not ME cannon. The first two books never reference real-time travel greater than forty times the speed of light, which is treacherously slow for galaxy-spanning. I think most of the game just assumes you are taking secondary relays everywhere and wanted to get beyond the repetitive relay load-screen. Maybe.)
Well that's not the impression the Bioware staff gave in the interviewsMy reasoning for them actually traveling to other systems with onboard FTL capability stems from the fact that they use up fuel between the systems. If it was to conceptualize minor relay transit... you wouldn't be using that fuel. To each his own though. 
1) Since Eezo is essential for virtually all space-technology in ME, I'd make it be a randomly distributed resource on planets. I'd make it necessary for 1 Eezo to be spent for every X number of resources necessary to build a ship. This way, the more technologically formidable the race's fleets are, the more Eezo they need. Off the top of my head, I'd say 1 Eezo for every 10 resources it cost to build a ship would be good. As long as Eezo is scarce, it won't need to be used for anything else--players would trade it around as a critical bargaining chip in building up fleets. Probably :roll: .
That's similar to the idea I was considering. I like the idea of the different empires buying, selling, and trading Eezo. Economics make the... universe go round!
2) Hrm, well, I'd be all for keeping the mass accelerators on fixed arcs, but I'd say the rest of the weapons' guidelines look good. I definitely agree that main-line accelerator cannons should have a minimum range, to represent the fact that their limited aiming capabilities are worthless at a certain point. I'd say that the Disruptors can be statted out like regular batteries with short-range, since their weapon description in the codices seems to hold that they are so short-ranged that only fighters and frigates use them, in general.
This is again, me taking some creative licensing with ME. I like the idea of turreted mass accelerators. It just makes sense. The broadside guns on a dreadnought run through 40% of the vessels width. Why not mount of bunch of mass accelerators on turrets that equate to 20-30% of the width that allow you to fire on ALL arcs. As for torpedoes, it doesn't say their short range only weapons. Just that they get intercepted by GARDIAN lasers if you fire them at long ranges. It seems to me that firing a bunch of torpedoes at long range, mixed in with flights of fighters, would be a very valid tactic. Some of the fighters/torpedoes are bound to get through. Granted I wouldn't fire 1-3 torpedoes randomly without providing something else to shoot at... then you're just wasting ammo.
Also, what software/play method are you planning on using? I have a good amount of familiarity with Battlegrounds, which I've considered trying for Starmada battles, and I'm vaguely familiar with Vassal, too, but I'd be happy to learn any new system to try this campaign out.
I primarily use Battlegrounds. I am open to suggestions though.
I'd like to see about playing the Quarians, if at all possible. I imagine they'd be statted up with a sizeable, out-dated fleet with a mass of support ships, transports, and trade ships to represent the Migrant Fleet. If the trade ships are in the right proportion and active, they should provide just enough to cover the maintenance cost of the Migrant Fleet. That way, the Quarians will be dependent upon diplomatic treaties and inter-species trade, and they'd be appropriately reluctant to mobilize their massive fleet in open war.
I already have a plan for the Quarians Migrant Fleet. They will be similar to a random encounter where they show up in a factions system, and drain resources from that system. Players can buy them off, or attempt to "herd" them away from their system (carefully... they have alot of ships).
The Quarians and the Geth are the only two NPC factions I've decided on. Reapers will NOT exist in my game. No Collectors either, because they don't really have a purpose without Reapers.
Oh, and if these exchanges through the forum get too cumbersome, feel free to pm me and we can exchange more in-depth ideas there or through e-mail.
I'm fine for now. If someone else comes on and asks us to move it to PMs, then so be it. Deal with that when it comes to it.</r>
Dual-Mode (which is what I think you're referencing) is an interesting idea for that... the main issue with it is that all of your lasers then have to fire in the same mode on any given turn (assuming they're all in the same battery), which really hurts the versatility. I'm a fan of RoF-3 Imp-1 Dam-1 Anti-Fighter weapons for multipurpose close defense; Anti-Fighter doesn't hurt their function against ships, and RoF is effective against both targets (whereas Imp and Dam are wasted against fighters).
Hmmm, have to look up the "Anti-Fighter" trait. My only concern is, can it shoot down missiles? Spose I could just house-rule that it can. It would give me the stats that I want then... Thanks for the advice. I'll toy with the theory a little.
Yeah, technically there's no rules-enforced upper limit on hull size... it's just a sanity question, really. I know the Shipyard caps at 30, which is plenty huge enough for most anything you'd want to put on any one ship. And yeah, you don't see a whole lot of size 1 and 2... I once watched a game between a normal-ish fleet and one composed entirely of size 1 ships, each with a single Repeating weapon. It was actually kind of efficient, since there was a lot of wasted damage against the little buggers, and they hit pretty hard for their size. I think they still lost, but it was really really close.
Yeah, I don't want ships getting to big. I'm thinking 14-16 as the cap. Anything bigger is definitely in the space-station category in the ME universe.
And while I would be potentially interested, I know nothing of VBAM...
If you're actually interested, don't let lack of knowledge of VBAM stop you. I will be acting as the CM (campaign moderator) and would be more then willing to get you up to speed on the system, if you're truly interested.
1) I would generally cap Mass Effect ships somewhere around the 12 Hull range, and that I would reserve for true behemoths like the Destiny Ascension. In the Mass Effect universe, the ships are relatively fragile compared to the firepower available to them, and so Hull sizes should all stay relatively close together to facilitate that, IMHO.
Yeah I was thinking the same thing. Was actually gonna cap it at 14 after I re-read S:AE. So we're both thinking along the same lines.
3) With FTL, remember that the ships in ME do not use their mass-effect drives for interstellar travel, even though it is, technically, FTL. Mass-effect drives are used to travel quickly in-system to the secondary and primary mass relays, which provide effectively instantaneous travel between them. So, a ship's speed will only really matter on the ship-to-ship scale of Starmada, and the strategy of interstellar travel will be left to controlling the various mass relays. In essence, no Mass Effect ship really needs to have an FTL system assigned to it in Starmada's designs--the ability to quickly reach mass relays is just a function of the mass-effect fields and the ship's more-or-less conventional engines.
ME2 changed that a bit though (which is reinforced in the novels). Ships definitely do travel to other solar systems, but just systems that are close by (less then a hundred light years or so). For my games purpose, it would be easier if they didn't though. I've considered overlooking that fact. The only problem then becomes the Mass Relays. Does 1 relay have multiple connections, or are their multiple relays in each system? Separating "major" (long distance, single connection) relays from "minor" (short range, multiple connections) relays would just over-complicate it. I'm considering just going with the "several mass relays, with only 1 connection each" scenario for simplicity's sake. It falls in line with VBAM's current "hyperspace routes" system with a few "minor" changes (instant travel and a physical object at each end). What's your opinion?
I could go on with this and make some VBAM-oriented suggestions, but I'll leave it to you to ask more questions if you want to hear(read) me ramble more.
Would love to hear them. I've got so many idea's rattling around in my head, I have a hard time nailing down which I want to implement. The ME universe is just full of interesting idea's.
Chalk me up for interested on this one. I'd also be happy to help you with setting up any background materials, figure out specific stats in either system, etc.
Sure, I could definitely use a hand. Here's something to think on:
1) I want Element Zero to be integral for ship building, but I have yet to figure out how to work it into play on the VBAM side (shouldn't effect the Starmada side). Any idea's?
2) I'm also diverging a bit and permitting mass accelerators to be turret-mounted. These would be strictly ship-to-ship weapons. Here's a quick breakdown of available weapons on game start:
Spinal-mounted Mass Accelerators - highest damage capability (dreadnoughts can 1-shot you with good rolling... :twisted: ), greatest range, less accurate at close range (cause WMD strikes on planets!)
Disruptor Torpedoes - high damage, medium-to-short range, shields have reduced rating against torpedoes, can be intercepted by GARDIAN lasers
Turret-mounted Mass Accelerators - medium damage, medium-to-short range
GARDIAN Lasers - low damage, short range, completely bypasses shields, only weapon that can intercept fighters and torpedoes along with full starships
I'm using a hex based movement for clusters, but I think I'm just gonna tie the ships standard speed to it the FTL speed. It makes sense from a ME point of view and simplifies things for me.
I haven't the slightest idea what this "Shipyard" is that you've both referenced. You said to see the sub-forums, but their isn't a sub-forum with that title. I like the idea of basing spinal weapons off of size... it really adds credence to why the Dreadnaughts are the terrors of space, and it follows the ME universe well.
I'm thinking of giving the GARDIAN lasers the multi-fire type advantage (can't remember the exact name) from the Annex. So they'll be designed as a PD and an anti-ship capability, but you can't use both at the same time.
As for the ship classes, they are dependent on size. Since everyone's tech is really similar, their isn't going to be large point disparities between ships of the same class. Unless someone goes out of the way to build an expense ship... then that's on them. So I guess I should ask what are the sizes of ships? I might have missed it in the core book, but I didn't see an upper limit to sizes. Also size 1 and 2 just seem to small even for frigates... more like shuttles then anything else.
Thanks for the help guys.
[size=100]I forgot to add to my original post. I'm looking for 4-6 players. PM me if you're interested.[/size]
I'm putting together a VBAM online campaign based on the Mass effect universe. My current intent is to use the Starmada AE system for ship combat. I could use a hand with some of the more ME type conversions though. Any help would be appreciated. To start with:
1) How would you split up the size categories? Meaning all ships are considered either Frigates, Cruisers, or Dreadnaughts (Carriers too, but they are just lightly armed DN with alot of fighters).
2) How do you create the GARDIAN Lasers? They function as point-defense against missiles and fighters, and are also used against other ships at close range... So they have 3 functions.
3) How do you properly price FTL when each ship will have different FTL speeds?
4) How would you design a spinal-mounted mass accelerator that runs through 80% of the ship length? Also, how would you stat an internally mounted mass accelerator mounted in the side of you ship (think pirates of the carribean broad-side guns) that run through 40% of the ship width?
We'll start with that for now.
Just curious if anyone has attempted to adapt the Mass Effect ships/fleets to Starmada. I'm curious about it myself, but thought I'd ask and see if anyone had any pointers? Especially for aspects like the spinal-mounted mass accelerators. Just thought I'd ask.
Pages 1
mj12games.com/forum → Posts by TalosX
Powered by PunBB, supported by Informer Technologies, Inc.