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Topic: Stamada X vs older version

Can someone explain the differences to a newbie?

I see a bunch of material in the Yahoo group "Starmada" folder and in the "StarmadaX" folder...is everything in the Starmada folder incompatible with StamadaX?

Can we make a folder for stuff that is non-version specific? (like maybe ship counters or scenarios?)

Re: Stamada X vs older version

xombe wrote:

Can someone explain the differences to a newbie?

I see a bunch of material in the Yahoo group "Starmada" folder and in the "StarmadaX" folder...is everything in the Starmada folder incompatible with StamadaX?

Can we make a folder for stuff that is non-version specific? (like maybe ship counters or scenarios?)

The differences are outlined in the update doc:

http://www.mj12games.com/starmada/update.pdf

I wouldn't say that the older versions are "incompatible" with Starmada X; but there does need to be some tweakin'...

Daniel Kast
Majestic Twelve Games
cricket@mj12games.com

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Re: Stamada X vs older version

cricket wrote:

The differences are outlined in the update doc:

http://www.mj12games.com/starmada/update.pdf

I wouldn't say that the older versions are "incompatible" with Starmada X; but there does need to be some tweakin'...

OK, maybe I'm dense, but the only thing in that Update PDF that is different than my XBrigade book is the intro letter which says:

"X was close enough to the "old" starmada that it was possible to generate a list of changes that owners of previous incarnations can get hold of and bring their rules up to date. You can get these updates from our website.."

then it goes into the same stuff that is in XBrigade...which may be fine for those who know the "old" rules.

But is there a list of changes for those of us that never saw the "old" versions? For example, if I see a ship record somewhere that doesn't say it is for X or not, how do I know if it is "X" friendly?

or I guess in short: how do I know what to "tweak"?

Re: Stamada X vs older version

xombe wrote:

But is there a list of changes for those of us that never saw the "old" versions? For example, if I see a ship record somewhere that doesn't say it is for X or not, how do I know if it is "X" friendly?

Well, the only major change between the two is the difference in damage charts: in the Compendium and earlier editions, the result of a damage roll was the same for all ships:

1-3 = Hull
4-5 = Weapon
6 = Shields

In X, we moved to the more detailed damage charts, e.g.:

1 = HQ
2 = EQ
3 = Ha
4 = Eb
5 = Hb
6 = S

The only other significant changes were in how weapons were defined; moving to the ROF/PEN/DMG splits and special effects as opposed to the more rigid weapon types in the Compendium.

Daniel Kast
Majestic Twelve Games
cricket@mj12games.com

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Re: Stamada X vs older version

cricket wrote:

Well, the only major change between the two is the difference in damage charts:

Ah. Thanks. That is what I was looking for.

I also noticed alot of (older?) ship designs refer to a weapon that "Ignores PDS" - I assume that was a weapon special option in the old version...so is there an equivalent way to translate this in X?

BTW I was walking through the mechanics of a game the other day and I am amazed how easy/quick it is to play compared to what I expected reading all the options in the rules...it really does give a flavour of massive starship destruction and the forces can vary greatly but still balance fairly well.

For example, I took about 650 pts of Yenpalo vs the same from AMREP (I figured it would make a neat "advanced alien vs terran' battle). Even though it gave AMREP something like 17 ships vs the 4 Yenpalo ships - it really is amazing how all the weapons and ships balanced in play. Kudos to all who put the effort into this system. Now I have to find a group to start playing regularly.

Re: Stamada X vs older version

That was an option for vessels in the Babylon 5 universe--a conversion, if you will. PDS in the standard games cannot be ignored. But in B5 conversions, Starmada X lists the value as between 1.6 and 2

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Re: Stamada X vs older version

murtalianconfederacy wrote:

That was an option for vessels in the Babylon 5 universe--a conversion, if you will. PDS in the standard games cannot be ignored. But in B5 conversions, Starmada X lists the value as between 1.6 and 2

ah, so one can't put that stuff in the starship creator spreadsheet then...you just have to tarck it yourself?

By "value" do you mean what it adds to the total point-cost of the ship?

Re: Stamada X vs older version

Nope.

Okay, in Starmada X you design weapons that fit onto a vessel. Range, accuracy, damage and special modifiers. The first three are pretty obvious. Special modifiers are modifications to a weapon that more accurately meets what you think such a weapon should look like. For example, if you wanted a weapon that killed a lot of crew, you would use the option "Extra Crew Casualties". If, however, you wanted a weapon that fires more rapidly at short range than at long range, you would use the option "Range-Based Rate of Fire".

"Ignores PDS" is a special modifier, and thus modifies the space unit requirement of such a weapon. Thus if a weapon was 24 SUs in size, but you wanted it to ignore PDS, the weapons new SU cost would be 48.

Is that reasonably clear?

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Re: Stamada X vs older version

murtalianconfederacy wrote:

Nope.
"Ignores PDS" is a special modifier, and thus modifies the space unit requirement of such a weapon. Thus if a weapon was 24 SUs in size, but you wanted it to ignore PDS, the weapons new SU cost would be 48.
Is that reasonably clear?

Yep. It's just not an option in the spreadsheet tool, so there was no way I could add it and have it auto-generate the number.

I guess I can probably unlock the sheet and manual adjust the number or something...

Thanks!

Re: Stamada X vs older version

Ah, good. I helped someone then...:D

Can you explain it to me now? big_smile big_smile big_smile