• Registered: 2006-05-17
  • Posts: 18

Topic: Klingon Armada AAR (and Vassal how it should look)

Finally got Vassal ready to represent Klingon Armada with style. Here is report from my first KA battle

Prebattle:

During the Klingon invasion of Federation space a klingon squadron on a search and destroy mission found a single federation vessel patrolling the Deirna system. As the squadron entered the system outskirts the klingon captains couldn't believe their sensor readings. A single dreadnought without any escorts nearby. This would be a truly worthy target.

Klingons (Attacker):
1x D7C Command Cruiser "Kotenna"
3x D7 Heavy Cruiser "Fek'Tohr", "Rotenn", "Keltak"

As word about the klingon invasion reaches Deirna captain Galov of the USS Union began to resupply his stocks at Deirna before departing for one of the fleet staging zones. But it was already too late, the sensors picked up four enemy cruisers inbound and instead of forming a fleet he was forced to sent a distress call to nearby federation vessels. The fast patrol force of captain Irner was in the vicinity and immediately changed course.

Federation (Defender):
1x Dreadnought "USS Union"
Reinforcements:
1x Fast Cruiser "USS Avenger"
2x Frigate "USS Tiernan", "USS Ouinville"

[attachment=0]klisquad.jpg[/attachment]

Sceanrio: To the Rescue

Turn 1
USS Union leaves orbit and heads for the asteroid field but the klingon squadron closes fast to score a quick kill. Union's shields deflect the massed disruptor fire however and a volley of torpedoes strikes the D7C in return causing heavy hull damage and reducing shields significantly. Maybe this lonely dreadnought won't be the easy prey after all. With reduced engine power which will make turning difficult next turn and failing shields the Kotenna launches 3 drone flights to force the DN to move away.

Turn 2
Despite being up against 12 drones and 4 Heavy Cruisers all on his own Galov turns his vessel around to bring his wepons and strong forward shield to bear, this ship won't go down without a fight. The klingon formation breaks up to the flanks while the Kotenna, due to engine damage advances straight ahead, her captain too arrogant to order evasive maneuvers.

Anti-Drones are lanuched and the onslaught on Unions frontal shield disperses almost harmlessly as a full spread of Unions torpedoes tear through Kotenna's weakened shields and hull literally ripping the ship apart.

Suddenly the tide of battle changed. The klingons lost their command ship in a 4:1 advantage and sensors are also picking up incoming federation vessels (still double VP for the D7C). The klingons try to maintain their formation and strategy and launch a drone flight each on Union while the DN launches one flight at each cruiser to further disperse their formation so the DN will not be surrounded too quickly.

Klingon VP: 0/800
Fed VP: 636/800 (D7C counted twice as per scenario rules)

Turn 3
In order to buy time for the reinforcements to enter weapons range USS Union cuts down speed and initiates evasive maneuvers. The klingons, still shocked also slow down and both flanking D7's Fek'Tohr and Keltak begin evasive maneuvers in fear of getting caught in too much long range fire. They know that they have too retreat with another loss and want to destroy the DN at least.

The evasive vessels remain mostly unharmed by weapon's fire and drones. Unions shields are getting dangerously weak though and a lucky Disruptor volley causes USS Ouinvilles sforward shields to collapse. Federation fire concentrates on the the klingon who doesn't evade and although the Rotenn's shields and hull remain unscathed nearly half of the ship's weapons are stripped in surface hits.

The klingons will have to have the full close range power of federation's phasers next turn and launch all their remaining drones. Interestingly the federation thinks the same with overloaded dsiruptors and also launches all drones to be able to form a formation and get USS Union out of the fray. Klingon drones target Union to finish it for good while federation drones spread out towards all three enemies.

Klingon VP: 0/800
Fed VP: 636/800

[attachment=1]end of turn3.jpg[/attachment]

Turn 4
The klingons try to maneuver Rotenn out of the danger zone while flanking with Fek'Tohr and Keltak. USS Union tries to break out by going to full impulse. The reinforcements should be sufficient enough to finish the klingons.

As drones home in the battlefield lights up under constant explosions. Union is hit by a massive wave of 36 drones from three sides and.. survives. Shields are down, engine power halved and hull breaches will be critical but most weapons are still online. There is no mistake now that USS Union will go down this turn but at least ithe ship goes down with phasers blazing. Federation drones are not as devastating but two drones manage to hit the escaping Rotenn and strip even more weapons from the beaten hull. Only Phaser-2's are left. Keltak also looses important weapon systems. Therefore both ships cannot deal more than minor damage. The Fek'Tohr is still fully battle ready and fires all overloaded disruptors on the escaping Union while mauling the centerlined USS Tiernan with heavy phaser fire.

With deadly blasts pounding their shields Union and Tiernan concentrate fire on Rotenn and manage to destroy the ship with the last overloaded torpedo. As explosions ripple through the destroyed Union and Rotenn it is clear than the klingons lost. But USS Avenger still has to earn her name and opens up an alpha strike of phasers and torpedoes on Keltrak, consuming the previously only lightly damaged vessel in a firestorm.

[attachment=2]end of turn4.jpg[/attachment]

klingon VP: 579
Federation VP: 1200

Although a decisive federation victory the loss of USS Union makes it bittersweet. From initially four cruisers only the Fek'Tohr made it back to klingon lines relatively unharmed.

  • Registered: 2009-11-11
  • Posts: 20

Re: Klingon Armada AAR (and Vassal how it should look)

Very nice AAR, thanks for posting!

  • Registered: 2008-12-22
  • Posts: 654

Re: Klingon Armada AAR (and Vassal how it should look)

Great AAR!
How many trek ships have you get into Vassal? I know there are places to get the counters, but I never seem to have the time  :cry:
Keep the good stuff coming!
Erik

  • Registered: 2006-05-17
  • Posts: 18

Re: Klingon Armada AAR (and Vassal how it should look)

Blacklancer99 wrote:

Great AAR!
How many trek ships have you get into Vassal? I know there are places to get the counters, but I never seem to have the time  :cry:
Keep the good stuff coming!
Erik

I have almost all Klingons and Feds (from KA) with models and Starmada statted cloneable ships in a savegame to set up games easily. Their ships are easy to find in good quality and with real top down views. The other races are quite difficult. I can find pics of the ships but they don't look pretty mostly and are not full top down. Two or three Romulans, Kzinti and Lyrons are also in but I wait till I have integrated more hulls before assigning stats. As I noticed you play vassal zoomed out most of the time anyways so 3 counters for DNs, CAs and FRs will usually do, although it is cool to be able to distinguish a Heavy and a Strike CA by slight graphical details alone. Also found several good top downs of TNG ships for future use.

I also plan to change more than just the ships. Explosion, drone and battle debris graphics will also be changed. Found a picture of a crippled Fed ship (from TNG Wolf 359, but it's so damaged you won't see the difference) which adds a nice touch to maps. There is also a red alert picture but don't know how I can make use of that. Maybe a house rule with alert levels...

Btw. does anyone know how you can add a properties window to seekers flights so I can have premade drones and all plasmas with stats. I always have to look them up in the rules otherwise.

  • Registered: 2008-12-22
  • Posts: 654

Re: Klingon Armada AAR (and Vassal how it should look)

Shugyosha wrote:
Blacklancer99 wrote:

Great AAR!
How many trek ships have you get into Vassal? I know there are places to get the counters, but I never seem to have the time  :cry:
Keep the good stuff coming!
Erik

I have almost all Klingons and Feds (from KA) with models and Starmada statted cloneable ships in a savegame to set up games easily. Their ships are easy to find in good quality and with real top down views. The other races are quite difficult. I can find pics of the ships but they don't look pretty mostly and are not full top down. Two or three Romulans, Kzinti and Lyrons are also in but I wait till I have integrated more hulls before assigning stats. As I noticed you play vassal zoomed out most of the time anyways so 3 counters for DNs, CAs and FRs will usually do, although it is cool to be able to distinguish a Heavy and a Strike CA by slight graphical details alone. Also found several good top downs of TNG ships for future use.

I also plan to change more than just the ships. Explosion, drone and battle debris graphics will also be changed. Found a picture of a crippled Fed ship (from TNG Wolf 359, but it's so damaged you won't see the difference) which adds a nice touch to maps. There is also a red alert picture but don't know how I can make use of that. Maybe a house rule with alert levels...

Btw. does anyone know how you can add a properties window to seekers flights so I can have premade drones and all plasmas with stats. I always have to look them up in the rules otherwise.

Cool, I look forward to new explosions and debris (two of my "complaints" with the original Vassal artwork). I don't know how you could "pre-property" the seekers and plasmas, but I suppose you could put the stats in a note and just have them there when you need them. I'm sure vassal has a way to do what you want, but I have only leaned enough of it to play Starmada  :oops:
I look forward to seeing what else you do (I was badgering MadSeason for plasma torp icons, but RL has been keeping him too busy, so that would be something worth doing if you have time...well, for me at least  wink  )
Again, good stuff,
Cheers,
Erik

  • Registered: 2006-05-17
  • Posts: 18

Re: Klingon Armada AAR (and Vassal how it should look)

Had some time yesterday and found out doing what I want to do with ordnance is easier than I thought. Here is a (staged) shot of drones and a plasma torpedo:

[attachment=1]plasma.jpg[/attachment]

The first thing I noticed in this screenshot: I have to change the map, too :-)

I only know plasma's from the Strafleet Command PC game where they are greenish sizzeling balls of... well plasma. So I settled for green. I could color code them for different types but I guess this wouldn't do much. The drones pics are borrowed from one of OldnGrey's unofficial source books. Flights cannot turn so they all look like flying up. I will change that so screenshots will look better :-)

Here is the original image I found with a google search for photon torpedo (plasma torpedo didn't found any good images):

[attachment=0]thumbnail.jpeg[/attachment]

  • Registered: 2005-06-08
  • Posts: 760

Re: Klingon Armada AAR (and Vassal how it should look)

Nice!

In the Starmada Vassal mod flights can turn (rotate) with ctrl-R or ctrl-L so long as they have the "Can Rotate".

When adding a new type do not forget to give them one of the game piece prototype definitions. I find it easier to copy an existing fighter or striker and just change the name and graphic.

Just a suggestion,straighten the plasma graphic, lengthen the tail slightly. Add the plasma typr "R", "S" etc below.
You could enlarge the plasma graphic just enough to put the size in the middle and have a layer for each size so that you can change it if any hits are taken.
Also handy if you do each type on it's own, that way you can ensure that the max size is correct, for example, plasma D would only have two layers.

Paul

  • Registered: 2006-05-17
  • Posts: 18

Re: Klingon Armada AAR (and Vassal how it should look)

OldnGrey wrote:

Nice!

In the Starmada Vassal mod flights can turn (rotate) with ctrl-R or ctrl-L so long as they have the "Can Rotate".

When adding a new type do not forget to give them one of the game piece prototype definitions. I find it easier to copy an existing fighter or striker and just change the name and graphic.

Just a suggestion,straighten the plasma graphic, lengthen the tail slightly. Add the plasma typr "R", "S" etc below.
You could enlarge the plasma graphic just enough to put the size in the middle and have a layer for each size so that you can change it if any hits are taken.
Also handy if you do each type on it's own, that way you can ensure that the max size is correct, for example, plasma D would only have two layers.

Paul

Thanks!

Yes rotation is not included in the Striker Flight I think I used as template. I defined a prototypes for the new factions and ships. Maybe it comes in later if I have a "Romulan Ships" Prototype and so on.

I will add it eventually. I had similar ideas for plasmas and it turned out that a number in the middle didn't look good. I think I will leave the target designation below and add a text on top for size and type like: LETTER/SIZE
Or I take the torpedo image and add small size dots on top not interfering with the image.

  • Registered: 2007-12-17
  • Posts: 331

Re: Klingon Armada AAR (and Vassal how it should look)

Hey, these look awesome! Once I get time to play again (I am swamped right now), I'd love to try out your vassal version.  smile

  • Registered: 2007-12-17
  • Posts: 331

Re: Klingon Armada AAR (and Vassal how it should look)

To create a properties sheet with the stats already on it is easy. In vassal, edit the unit, add a properties sheet and use the Label Only line in the properties sheet. Enter the stats for Drones, or plasma types. You can do several lines of this, if you need to.  I just whipped this up quickly in Vassal to show you what it would look like when you called up the properties sheet.

  • Registered: 2006-05-17
  • Posts: 18

Re: Klingon Armada AAR (and Vassal how it should look)

MadSeason wrote:

To create a properties sheet with the stats already on it is easy. In vassal, edit the unit, add a properties sheet and use the Label Only line in the properties sheet. Enter the stats for Drones, or plasma types. You can do several lines of this, if you need to.  I just whipped this up quickly in Vassal to show you what it would look like when you called up the properties sheet.

Cool, I will try this, although I already found a good way. I simply added a reference table like the ones for movement and to hit modifiers. So you can open it and have all Drone and Plasma stats ready in one place during their phase.

I added some explosion effects and a new map, still having a hard time finding good ship images...