Well, for one, if I have a choice of direct fire weapons that can be fired as seekers without any carrier capacity cost or  SU cost that don't count against my seeker limit, or spending SU's on actual seekers that I can only fire so many of, why would I ever choose the seekers? It seems like a waste.

I LOVE the concept of a direct fire weapon that can also be fired as a seeker (like Plasmas) and they work great as presented for RA, I just think there should be a reason why someone would choose seekers over a Direct fire/Seeker weapon in a campaign where players can design their own weapons. I'd even be happy with something like a straight modifier used for other traits (1.5, 2.0, etc), but I'm not sure what would be fair for that added capability.

The idea I had would be to first design the "Bolt" option, and then base it's seeker characteristics from that- I'll try to work an example later but right now I'm pressed for time.

The VBAM/Starmada supplement uses the square root of CRAT divided by 2, I believe. (So a ship with a CRAT of 100 would cost 5 EP.) But that (along with maintenance cost) is modified by certain strategic and tactical special abilities.

I think 1.5 might be about right if you made it so that an extra shield hit occurred for each damage die that actually hit shields instead of for every damage die.

You could go here (or other places that have them)

http://www.spaceempires.net/shipyards-g-SE4.html

and download the shipsets you want. Then copy the top down view to a paint program to make whatever modifications you want and then copy them to wordpad in whatever ratio you want, to make a countersheet. Time consuming, but they look nice.

If you don't see a set that you'd like to have, let me know, I probably have it.

I'm with bridgesy.

Especially the tugs. I've been trying to think of how to do them and the best I've come up with is set aside a certain amount of SU space for "transport" and have pods be like a smallish base.

With the addition of Strike Carriers.

I just checked my rulebook- they do not have a damage chart (like a phaser or other weapon) so don't cause any inherent damage, BUT, ships going fast enough (speed 12 or greater)- if the web is strong enough (strength 12 or greater)- would take damage due to the violent deceleration.

Hmmm...

I think it (the original idea) could be tweaked to work for webs in some fashion or another.

As far as adding "speed based damage" as an enhancement for a direct fire weapon- do you think it would be worth about the same, more, or less, as "range based damage."

Yeah, the thing we SFB players need to take into consideration is that Starmada is NOT SFB/FC. The whole energy allocation process, for example, and the tactical implications that go along hand in hand with it are a non-issue. And, quite frankly, that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make to able to pit task force against task force in a strategic scale engagement. Which is where Starmada definitely shines. Even a squadron level engagement (3-4 ships each side) in SFB would take FOREVER.

In Starmada it's like 20-30 minutes. If that.

I do have a question about seekers/strikers though. Are they limited by the same launch restrictions as fighters? In other words, if I have a ship that could launch 4 fighter flights per turn, but also carries strikers, does that mean it could launch 2 strikers and 2 fighters (or whatever combination) in a turn OR that it can launch 4 fighters and as many seeker flights as it wants?

I can't wait to see how the Expanding Sphere Generator is handled in Starmada. Possibly a variation on the "Area Effect" enhancement combined with "Range Based Damage." Or something.

I've been thinking of doing a Starmada conversion of all the SFB weapons I have access to (For instance, I would have done the PH-1 as 6/12/18  ROF 1, ACC 4+, IMP 3, DMG 1 (Range Based IMP) and Photon Torpedos as 3/6/9, ROF 1, ACC 5+, IMP 2, DMG 4 (Slow firing) with the overload version adding (carronade/double damage) just for my own use in my own campaign and maybe posting it for other old SFB players (and FC players) to use if they'd like.

*Eyes that Omega Rules compendium at the local game store with, like, 50 additional SFB weapons he's never seen before*