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mj12games.com/forum → Posts by Jeffr0
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Oh my... those are brilliant!
Why didn't I know about these sooner!?
How have people printed theirs...? Onto labels? Cardstock? Can an Office Store like Staples grok how to handle these...?
Are counters available for Imperial Starmada?
That doc makes no sense to me.
I'd like to know what's up with the Nova edition. Can someone point me to the crunchy, yummy designer's notes and/or blurt out your totally biased opinions.
Klingon Armada and Romulan Armada are both perfectly good starting books.
I think there's maybe one extra rule in KA because it was needed in some of the ship designs....
I'm jealous of you having Fleet Ops already...! That's okay.... my Admiralty core rulebook will tide me over until I can get it...!
Well... you can come to it trying to "fix" Star Fleet Mada... or... at some point you say, **** it... I'll make my own **** game!!
But seriously... I think what needs to happen is... after your minimum five games played as written before you're allowed to make a house rule for *any* game system... the "FC guys" need to develop their own Starmada game with the core Starmada rulebook and play five more games with *that* before they try to make the ultimate SFU/Starmada homebrew. That way they can at least understand what the core engine can do out-of-the-box and how easy it is to design ships and tune option sets to taste.
Making a Star Fleet Mada game appears to be pretty freaking hard to me, though. It seems a better course to roll back expectations temporarily and see what can be done more along the lines of a "simple, but not simplistic" game... and then see how much "Star Fleet" you actually want to tackle.
At least... I can get my fighter fix a lot quicker if I ignore the Star Fleet Universe for the moment....
I have a conjectural Tholian Battleship mini that wants to play. 
But yeah, count me in as seconding the carriers.
I'd also like to see PF flotillas and their tenders.
Also... some kind of Scout implementation.
Also, it could make tractors and marines a bit more useful as they never enter in action because ships are usually destroyed before that.
This.
Tractors are essential to what make SFB combat it's own "thing". While I don't necessarily expect such a major piece to make it through the translation process (plotted movement with a single simultaneous fire phase is pretty stringent), the fact that there are rules for things in the game that will basically never get used because everything is dead by the time you get to range 5 or so... that's telling. (Sorry if I'm belabouring the point here-- just trying to back up madpax.)
Is there a magazine for Starmada...?
Fiction...?
How developed is the default/implied universe...?
It's obvious that the system is designed with the intent that players roll their on universes and tool up their own fleets.... Is it possible to have some of these player-designed rigs thrown together for sale in PDF...? I'd almost rather see several of them developed over time in a magazine, though....
I guess Starmada: Hammer & Claw and Starmada: Iron Stars and especially The Imperial Starmada Sourcebook are what I'm looking for, though....
I think the simplest solution to the overpowered phaser problem is simply to remove Range Based ROF from the phasers.
I like it. (Range Based ROF basically turns the *all* phasers into Gatlings....) Also... the only errata required would be to recalculate the ship costs.
Combine that with a house rule that gives every ship a free +1 to shield values all-around... and the nastiness should be about right.
(Of course, that will add a turn or two and maybe an hour to game play.... But there it is....)
Jeff,
How much SFB have you played?
Ouch. Epic gamer put down! (Answer: only a couple of real fleet battles... aaaand about 50+ CA/D7 and pirate scenarios.)
My only concern about the fighters is if they are allowed to have seeking weapons themselves and therefore making them over powering which is the case with SFB.
That is where I'm headed. I'm thinking that a flight of six fighters should be able to launch a drone wave... and then retire to the mother ship to reload. The drones and fighters should soak up some of the overpowered phaser-1's.... (It has been my life long dream to do a big battle with Module J... but I've never been able to train an SFB opponent to that point. I never get past duels and the occasional fleet battle with Basic Set ships.)
Carrier designs are easy: just give 12 fighters to any CA and call it a strike cruiser. 
Or... remove the heavy weapons and call it a carrier.
Just want to say... this is the book I look forward to the most.
If you can do carrier groups and PF flotillas in Starmada... I think you'd have a very good game. (The launching, recovery, and repair of these units will make for some interesting tactical situations. Also... the interaction of the fighters with the sequence of play make for some good tactical opportunities.)
Yes... FedCom probably should not implement these units... but I really think the Starmada game wants them from a gameplay standpoint. I don't see adding them as turning Starmada into SFB at all, though I would argue that in the case of Fedcom. Starmada's fighter abstraction just seems to work fairly well based on the Stingers in Distant Armada (though those Stingers might be a bit wimpy.) I do like the Starmada Stingers better than the Starmada plasma torpedos.
Also... the only things I'd want to change for a serious campaign game are... Phasers with ranged based ROF are too powerful. (Not sure how you'd fix that.) Also... the evasive actions introduced in Distant Armada hurt the long ranged action when you could only expect to make a hit or two at that range as it was. When players both choose active sensors *and* do directed damage, the death rate increases even more at close range. Hmmm.... Maybe some repair rules would help give one more reason to keep the range up... or... at least give the game a chance of having a second pass. (Also... the Romulan War Eagle that loses its Plasma-R really needs a chance to get back into the game!)
But back to the main point. When fleets collide like that... it suddenly matters where the fighters are in relation to each other and to the fleets. Fighters and PF's maneuvers could really be the place where the game is won or lost. (Their ability to pick off weakened ships before they can resolve fire and/or pull back and get repairs is the main thing.) Plus... ships have to decide whether ignore the fighters are not. This is much more interesting than a game where people merely close range and fire everything in arc.
Oh... last thing that needs fixing. I don't want to see fleets of ships all in the same hex. SFB uses an explosion rule to discourage this; SFB Starmada needs the same thing (if it is not there already)!
A few requests and a question:
(A) Can you please make sure to have four *new* ships in each issue? It's a little disappointing to flip back to the end and maybe see just two ships, but worse... seeing ships I've already gotten.
(B) Is there any way (now that Stinger fighters are out) that you can get more carriers and fighter groups published in Captain's Log...?!
(C) Also... in each issue... is it possible to maybe get a new scenario for use with the most recent release...?
(D) I've sent in tactics "term papers" before, but I'm not sure they're getting to the right person. What is the correct place to send those so that I could have a chance to get them published...?
So far I've mostly run Romulan Armada and Distant Armada as more of a teaching/demo type thing. One thing that Andromedan brought up at Origins was... (a) how does it play when its two experienced players that are seriously trying to kill each other... and... (b) what additional rules options should be folded into the game to ensure a balanced, challenging engagement.
Has anyone given much thought to what the groundrules/scenario should be for tournament level play...?
These sessions were almost a secret-- I organized them informally with the ADB crowd just days before the convention.
If Origins isn't canceled next year due to GAMA's choice of day, then I hope to have SFU-Starmada on the main schedule somehow.
We held two sessions at Origins 2011, both Lyran vs. Hydran:
A four player game on Thursday and a two player game on Saturday. Each took about a half hour to explain the rules, pick out ships and set up. The four player game had eight ships and ran for four turns and two hours before ending decisively in favor of the Lyrans. The two player game went for two turns one hour before ending decisively for the Hydrans.
I like the new rules for sensors, evasive maneuvers, and Stinger fighters a lot. The SFU game is starting to shape up nicely now.
(I have pictures I'd post on Boardgame Geek, but there's no page up for Distant Armada, yet.)
According to ADB's Facebook... they "should" have a few copies at Origins in a few weeks. The main print run is scheduled for July, though.
Oh yeah, I love the Hydrans and Lyrans. My favorite SFU ships, to be sure.
I am pretty excited about this product.
I will be at Origins.
If you would like to play, please post here and we will work out a time. (It is not currently a scheduled event.)
If you would like to have this game demoed, feel free to ask. If you'd like to play a few serious, competitive games, that's great, too.
Let's do this!
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mj12games.com/forum → Posts by Jeffr0
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