Ask and you shall receive!

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It's been a while since I played a game of Starmada so when I saw that there was a battle to be played (and I actually had a couple hours of free time), I figured that I would play it out as a solo game.  Due to it being a solo game there were a couple of rule changes to better the game.

Starmada Rule Changes for the battle:

1.    All ships were assigned a playing card and those cards were shuffled together.  When a ship's card was drawn, it had to move.  During the fighter phase, fighter combat was not considered simultaneous so each side rolled a d6.  The highest having the choice to move one flight or have the other side move a flight.  Sides took turns move a fighter until all fighters had moves (kind of a chore with 24 flights on the board).

2.    Ships may move through each other, but no ship could end its movement in a hex with a ship currently in it (I like the idea of forcing fleets to spread out).

3.    The number of fighter flights that could attack a given ship in a turn was equal to 1/2 the target's hull value (rounded up). This keeps the fighter swarm from being really bad.

4.    All flights started deployed on the board within 1 hex from their carrier.  Flights had to start in the A or B arc of the carrier. This was mainly since I couldn't tell the number of launch bays each carrier ship had.

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“Sir, multiple contacts at EOS.  From the power levels being generated, I'd say that their weapon systems are hot.  Multiple small craft emerging from the contacts now, Sir.  Orders?”

“Sound general quarters on all ships within our communication range and lets pay a visit to our new friends…”

-Final transmission from the Wept Fro Class ship in the Brecheck fleet

The Encounter range was 31 hexes and the Struve reinforcements would arrive on turn 7.

Turn 1:  Both fleets move towards each other keeping formation.  All fighter flights move at max speed to engage.  The Salik scouts veer off to stay away from the main battle.

Turn 2: The Struvan ships slow down a bit to allow their fighter flights a round to hurt the opposing fighters.  A single Alcoa is move into engagement range of the enemy fighters to bait them to attack (which they do).  The Khegan flights engage the Alcoa #6 and cripple it.  In the process, the Khegan flight #6 is destroyed by Stalnish flights (All Stalnish flights I might add - this is where I get worried for the Struvans).

Note: Even though I knew the capabilities of the fighter flights, the fleets didn't so I tried to play it that way.  If the Struvan knew they were outmatched and outgunned with just the fighters, they might have started the FTL drive at Turn 1!

Turn 3: The heavy bombers of the Salik Empire inflict massive damage this turn crippling Alcoa #5, Alcoa #4 and Wept Fro #2 (The entire Mindaras fleet is in a world of hurt).  In the same fighter round, the Salik bombers finish off Alcoa #6.  The ship-to-ship combat phase sees the Alcoa #5, Alcoa #4 and Wept Fro #2 destroyed with only minor damage to Zunag #2 (What Mindaras Fleet?!?)

Note: The Struvan forces could 'tell' which ship launched all those fighters as the two fleet moved to engagement range.  If they could destroy them, they might have a chance in the coming defensive battle. Thus, the Struvan forces went after what I thought was the carrier (the Drake notation was missing the Q hits).

Turn 4: Khegan bombers prove to be an effect yet again crippling Alcoa #3 and stripping the remaining weaponry from all Alcoa ships still alive.  The ensuing ship combat kills Alcoa #1 and Alcoa #3.

Note: Even though having only 4 flights attack an Alcoa Class ship (due to special rule above), having ~24 fighter attacks hitting on 4+, going through shields on a 2+ caused havoc on those ships (~10 DMG rolls per turn on average).  Even more so, I needed to roll a single ‘2' on the DMG roll to strip the ship of its only main weapon (I don't count the Expendable weapon for this purpose).

Turn 5: The Khegan bombers destroy remaining Struvan ships. The rest of the fighters on both sides try to eliminate the opposing forces. The ships begin to concentrate on the remaining fighter flights.

Turn 6: The shear number of Heavy bombers from the Salik Empire is too much a match for the smaller Interceptors from the kingdom of Struve. 

Final damage:

Struve –  Brecheck and Mindaras fleets destroyed.
Salik – minor damage on both Zunag class, but not enough to cripple any ship. A total of 39 bombers were destroyed by the end of the combat (still 9 full fighter flights).  Since the reinforcements didn't make it to the battle, the Pursuit scenario wasn't needed and the defensive scenario yet to be played.  If I was the Salik player after that impressive win in deep space, I would probably move into the system and fight the defensive scenario.

Final thoughts:

I noticed that a lot of the Interceptor fighters were being destroyed when a 1 was rolled to attack the enemy fighters (I was playing under the Starmada X Brigade rulebook). Combined with the rules for heavy bombers, the fighter combat was terribly one sided.  Since the Salik fighters were firing at ships, they weren't losing any by my bad die rolls.  I've never really liked the idea that defending fighters get to ‘attack back' when a dogfight is going on and in retrospect, I'd probably change that rule so that the fighters don't damage themselves on their own die rolls. 

The second thing that I would probably change in the next battle is use optional rule F.3 so that fighters can lock up opposing fighters if desired (definitely in the Struve's favor to attempt this).  It forces player to balance out their fighter flights and keeps those pesky (heavy) bombers from having free reign against the ships.

I really wonder how this combat plays out in CSCR since this was such a one sided battle.

Have a good one!
-Bren

Problem there: Doesn't the "No Accidental Suicide" Rule make Anti-Fighter batteries (more) useless?

I would just get rid of the '1' being a friendly fighter hit and leave it at that.  If a fighter groups wants to attack a fighter group back, it should cost them their combat action for the turn. It shouldn't matter if the defender is light, heavy or normal...

That's true, but ships can be designed with more launch bays if desired, but if I play the battle over: the Zunag class ships would have 3 launch bays and the Wept Fro class ships would have 1 launch bay.

Battle of Barnard's Star (Take II)

Seeing that the changes in the campaign might make this a whole different battle, I decided to play it over with the new rules in place

Starmada Rule Changes for the battle:

1.    All ships were assigned a playing card and those cards were shuffled together.  When a ship's card was drawn, it had to move.  During the fighter phase, fighter combat was not considered simultaneous so each side rolled a d6.  The highest having the choice to move one flight or have the other side move a flight.  Sides took turns move a fighter until all fighters had moves (kind of a chore with 24 flights on the board).

2.    Ships may move through each other, but no ship could end its movement in a hex with a ship currently in it (I like the idea of forcing fleets to spread out).

3.    The number of fighter flights that could attack a given ship in a turn was equal to 1/2 the target's hull value (rounded up). This keeps the fighter swarm from being really bad.

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Turn 1:  Both fleets move toward each other in formation.  Maximum fighters are launched.

Turn 2: Each fleet advances slowly except for the Salik scout which veer off; more fighters launch.

Turn 3: Salik fighters inflict minor damage to Alcoa #4. The Struvan fighters begin forcing the Salik flights into dogfights.  Ship to ship combat does minor damage to both fleets.  More fighters are launched on both sides (at this point, the Struvan flights are outnumbered 8:3).

Turn 4: Both fleets continue to move slower to each other.  The Salik bombers destroy Alcoa #1 and cripple Alcoa #4.  In ship-to-ship combat, both Telekag class ships fire at Alcoa #6 finishing it off (A total of 18 DMG dice were rolled!).  At this point, 13 Khegan fighters and 10 Stalnish fighters have been vaporized.

Turn 5: Fleets engage at short range.  Salik bombs are merciless crippling both the Wept Fro #1 and Alcoa #2.  All Struvan fighters are involved in dogfights against the heavier bombers. Alcoa #5 blasts into Miskael #2 destroying it (A total of 12 DMG dice rolled).  Combine Salik fire destroys Alcoa #3 and Alcoa #2.  Fighter losses are mounting: 20 Keghan fighters and 16 Stalnish fighters.

NOTE: The only Struvan ship to have any weapon is Wept Fro #2

Turn 6: Salik bombers are unstoppable taking out the Wept Fro #1, Alcoa #4 and Alcoa #5. The wept Fro #2 is destroyed by ship-to-ship combat.

Turn 7: Fighters tangle while Salik ship assist in the dogfights (37 Keghan fighters and 39 Stalnish fighters.

NOTE: The commander of the Struvan fleet thought that using the reinforcements would be senseless since only ~9 fighters remained).

Turn 8: Salik fighters finish off the battle.

Final damage:

Struve –  Brecheck and Mindaras fleets destroyed.
Salik – One Miskael ship destroyed A total of 40 bombers were destroyed by the end of the combat

Have a good one!
-Bren

Higher energy defenses might have helped, but the real big issue in this battle was the lopsided fighter battle.  Those heavy bombers in high numbers can do some serious damage to the Struvan ships.  Also, with having only a couple of weapon systems on the Struvan ships, you can lose your weapons early and be a sitting duck for the rest of the battle. It's rough that a hull size 8 ships has only 1 non-expendable weapon (and all you need to roll is a 2 to destroy it), but that might be an issue with the low tech levels (which I haven't played much).

-Bren

--warning 'gamey-ness' below--

The starmada system is designed for a ship to lose one half of its systems before it explodes.  Under that rules, if you design a starship with 1/2 Hull +1 weapons, the ship 'should' have at least a weapon remaining when it explodes (fate willing).  With that thought, a hull 8 ship, should have about 5 weapons in order to keep it from being 'de-clawed' prior to destruction.  At least in theory...

I think that this could be dangerous. If you equip a ship with HS / 2 weapons per battery, the weapons are hit on a one in six chance. So if you have a size 12 ship it can take around 24 internals before it loses all of its hull and blows up. It should also lose around 24 / 6 or 4 weapons ( assuming HS / 2 weapons ) leaving two weapons when it dies. If you bump up the weapons in a battery to HS / 2 + 1 the there will be two hits on the damage track for that battery and your weapons will disappear twice as fast. So, the same size 12 ship with 7 weapons in its A battery will blow up after around 24 internals. Now it will take 24 x 2 / 6 weapon hits or 8, which is more weapons than it has. This means your ship will be "de-clawed" before destruction.
I think you should design ships with weapon batteries that are multiples of HS / 2, not HS / 2 + 1.

INteresting, thanks for the further input.  I'll look over the ships posted in these forums for some ideas on how to balance weapons better.

In the CSCR battle being played out (VBAM strategic battle system), the Struvans suffered significant damage overall, but still combat effective.  The Saliks were overwhelmed with "directed damage" that crippled the fleet flagship and two of its three squadron escorts.  The Saliks lost four flights of bombers to Struvan interceptors, and one Struvan flight was destroyed by bomber counter-fire - but it was literally the worst rolls possible for the Saliks and best rolls possible for the Struvans (which in fact happened pretty much in all phases of round 1, so I expect the KoS to get ravaged in round 2...)

More to come.