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April 2013
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Star Fleet Universe News THE BIG NEWS this month is the impending release of STAR FLEET MARINES LAST STAND on 15 April and the summer release of SFB MODULE C6 LOST EMPIRES. Counters for Star Fleet Marines: Last Stand and Module C6 . In other news this month, the second annual Platinum Hat International Online SFB tournament has finished and Paul Scott is this year's champion. We look forward to seeing the third annual tournament start this summer. Stay tuned here for more news, but remember you can always find the most up-to-date information on the BBS: http://www.starfleetgames.com/discus/. WEBSITE: Our website, www.StarFleetGames.com, continues to grow and improve. You are welcome to send us your requests, comments, and suggestions. Joel Shutts, our graphics director, continues to update the website, do covers for the new products, shut down pirate websites, help out around the company, and learn more about the game business. One of our newest pages is for Starline 2500 where we display photos and 3d renders of the new starships. FACEBOOK: Jean continues to improve our page on Facebook, adding many new photos and other features. VIDEOS: StarFleetGames has taken its act to YouTube and we now have a YouTube channel. Our goal is to create a video for the new product releases during each month. We have "In the Box" videos to show you what you will see when you unpack your new game. We have also done "Spotlights" on a single product or product line. So pull up a chair and join us at the movies! Our newest uploads are: Star Fleet Marines Part 1 STARBLOG: Our StarBlog has moved to a new URL
and all links on StarFleetGames.com websites have been changed to match. The new
site is JAGDPANTHER
Custom Decals for Starline ships Tenneshington Decals now provides custom decals for all currently produced Starline 2500 miniatures, as well as special sets encompassing the contents of the Federation Fleet Box, the Federation Squadron Box 1, and Squadron Box 7 - Federation Reinforcements. Decals for each of these ships are available individual sheets and we now have a sheet of "windows" which can be used to detail any ship with additional window blocks, sensors, hatches, and even phaser scars.
ONLINE TOURNAMENTS Rated Ace Tournament 41 is in the sign-up phase. Andrew Koch will be the judge. Be sure to get your name in here: http://www.sfbonline.com/tourn_signup.jsp You have until midnight on April 16! I wonder if we can get 40 players. Rated Ace Tournament 40 is moving with Geof Clark as the judge. Round
1 is finished and there is only one game left in Round 2. One game in Round 3
is through! This one is rocketing along!
DEMOS AND CONS WITH SFU GAMES Please send information to Jean via the email in her BBS profile, PM on the Mongoose or Federation Commander forums, or Message on Facebook. If you want convention support, please contact Mike Sparks at support@StarFleetGames.com. Your convention must meet a few simple requirements (one of which is being held in the United States due to shipping costs) which are here: http://www.starfleetgames.com/sfb/tournament/tourn_main.shtml Download Transmissions HAILING FREQUENCIES: This is our newsletter and will let you know all the news for all our games. You can subscribe here. Have you missed an earlier newsletter? Click here to get caught up! COMMUNIQUE: The latest Communique brings you more Ship Cards, scenarios, and more news from the Star Fleet Universe! It can be downloaded from the Commander's Circle. FC Forum Recent Posts
We are very pleased to see the medals, honor bars, and ribbons awarded to players being incorporated into their signatures. It is exciting to see lots of interesting conversations about a wide variety of subjects. Get in on the activity! While for new players the Federation Commander Forum is a little easier to manage, the original (Discus-based) BBS is where most product development takes place. If you have a proposal you'd like to see worked on, don't forget to make sure it is mentioned here. It also has active F&E and SFB forums where players run campaigns, Rated Ace tournaments and other SFB tournaments are organized (most FC tournaments are organized on the Forum), SVC's "My Day" appears, along with current news and strategies dealing with Prime Directive, and each issue of Captain's Log is created. While less colorful (no avatars or sigs), it is a vital part of ADB, Inc.'s communications. F&E Strategy of the Month The Klingons should use their penal PF flotilla for the (528.42) "special attack" mission instead of their D6J, D5J, or DWJ penal cruisers. "Special attacks" by penal units allow Klingon battle lines a battle intensity modifier of plus one. This is just the thing to do when defending a starbase with stasis field generators!
The penal PF flotillas have the added benefit in this mission of causing the Alliance to waste more damage on the penal PF flotilla than a crippled penal cruiser. A "crippled" penal PF flotilla absorbs 30% damage like any other "crippled" casual PF flotilla. So being crippled merely destroys two of the five PFs in the penal PF flotilla, since PFs are a two-combat-factor unit with no crippled side [See Rule (302.611)]. The upshot is that there are three PFs with six combat potential left after completing the special attack mission, more than the four combat factors left over after a penal cruiser is crippled. Unless the Alliance uses directed damage to kill the last PFs in the penal PF flotilla, it can do the "honor duel" mission on the next combat round. At a "crippled" six combat factors, they are better at that mission than a F5J or F6J! (End F&E Strategy of the Month) Call To Arms Tactic of the Month SPECIAL ACTION ESCORTS With the quasi direct-fire manner in which seeking weapons are handled in A Call to Arms: Star Fleet, many old school Star Fleet Universe players are lamenting the lack of escort ships and aegis fire control. Well never fear, with a bit of creative maneuvering and the Intensify Defensive Fire! Special Action, the escort ability can be duplicated in A Call to Arms: Star Fleet. Demotivationals Throughout the month our graphics director places on the website various cards called Demotivationals. These are like postcards with an image and a phrase that is often used for humor. To see our previous Demotivationals click here. Mini of the Month Starline 2500 Kzinti Battlecruiser
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New Releases Communique #88 has been posted to the Commander's Circle. Click here to see our previous issues of Hailing Frequencies. Recently Released
Federation Commander: Reinforcements Attack, Stock # 4110, $29.95 Federation Commander Booster Pack 34 Escorts, Stock #4234, $9.95 Federation Commander Booster Pack 35 Cops & Raiders, Stock #4235, $9.95 Federation Commander Booster Pack 36 Heavies, Stock #4236, $9.95 Captain's Log #46, Stock #5746, $24.95 Starmada: Battleship Armada, Stock #6105, $16.95 Starmada: Battleship Armada Nova Edition, Stock #6105N, $16.95 Alien Armada Nova Edition, Stock #6103N, $16.95 Distant Armada Nova Edition, Stock #6104N, $16.95 To be released during April-May 2013 PDF SALES: ADB, Inc. continues its relationship with Steve Jackson Games and their e23 Warehouse. We chose e23 because they have a philosophy that agrees with ours -- our customers are honest and honorable and wouldn't aid people who want to steal our products. Furthermore, we know from experience how devastating a computer crash can be and want our customers to know that they don't have to worry about the loss of their e-products bought through e23. What do we have there? We have created a new page that allows easy access to our PDFs for sale on e23. From here you can see what we currently have posted and have links to those products. RECENTLY RELEASED ON e23 RECENTLY RELEASED ON DRIVE THRU RPG Star Fleet Fiction The sleek Federation frigate slid silently through the depths of space. Starlight glinted softly off the saucer-shaped hull as the winds of interstellar space gently caressed the ship. A soft glow emanated from the ship's two warp nacelles, indicating to any chance alien observer that here were a people advanced enough to tame the hellish reaction between matter and antimatter.
Every sensor the ship possessed was pointed outward, probing the dark reaches between the stars toward the Romulan Neutral Zone - not that it was neutral any more. The bridge was quiet. Only the low hum of electronics and the hiss of the life-support system broke through the layer of silence that lay preternaturally heavy upon the members of the bridge crew. They moved about their duties with the stiff movements of automatons, an effect of the stress they had been under from the constant threat of attack they had endured since the Romulan horde had stormed over the borders in what was too large an operation to be a raid. Rommel's crew now seemed more like machines than intelligent creatures - machines fit only to do the tasks that had been pounded into them through countless drills that in retrospect seemed to have scarcely prepared them for the harsh realities of war. They had been tired, at the end of a three-month patrol, when the war started. Commander Ronald McGilland felt the tiredness, too. He smoothed down the ever-present cowlick in his sandy brown hair. Then he rolled his head around on his neck, and tried to massage the tension knot away from his right shoulder blade, but the ache would not go away, no matter how hard he tried. At last he gave up, and focused his attention back on the main viewscreen. It showed only the typical, slowly-scrolling starscape common to warp-powered travel as the frigate steadily moved along its patrol route in a universe turned topsy-turvy by war. He checked the ship's chronometer which was positioned over the main viewscreen. It had been fashioned after an old-style chronometer often found on old Earth naval vessels. Only a few more minutes before we reach the rendezvous point with Guderian. Guderian was their sister ship and would be taking over the patrol sector while Rommel headed back to the nearest base that was clear of Romulans for refueling and resupply. The sector was a gap between two Federation squadrons, both of which were under heavy attack by Romulan fleets. A ship had to be here, just to warn either squadron if they were about to be outflanked, but it was lonely and dangerous duty. The warning that a Romulan squadron was breaking through might well be the last word anyone ever heard from Rommel. (Continue reading here) Ask Admiral Vanaxilth Drones A. David Merritt asks: Can you replace type-I drones one-for-one with type-VI drones in an A/B/C/H/or other non G-rack, if you wanted to?
ANSWER: Only type-G and type-E racks and ADDs (plus type-H racks that have a type-VI magazine), per (FD2.51), can hold type-VI drones, so, no. Roch Chartrand asks: Can someone explain or give me an example of ballistic targeting (F4.0), especially the procedure in (F4.11)? ANSWER: A ship in hex 2008 launches a drone in direction A, targeted at hex 1908. The drone moves ahead to 2007A, then turns to 1907F, then turns to 1807E. [Note these are the only moves that satisfy (F2.21) and (F2.22), unless the drone does a high energy turn, which it is not required to do.] At that point, it would begin evading its target hex, and could move to 1708E, 1707E or 1707F. Roch Chartrand asks: I have an ECM drone that was protecting a ship moving in direction A, for an entire turn, following the same path and facing as the protected ship. On the following turn my ship went to Speed Zero and made a few warp tactical maneuvers bringing its facing to E. The ECM drone went to Speed Zero to keep pace with the ship. Does the drone do tactical maneuvers to keep the same heading as the ship? I ask this because if my ship starts moving again it will head in direction E, but if the drone is still facing A it will not protect the ship for a few impulses! ANSWER: When your ship drops to Speed Zero, so will the ECM drone. It will not change facing, as there is no provision for drones doing tactical maneuvers. However, nothing prevents you from having the drone execute a high energy turn at some point to match the facing of your ship. David Zimdars asks: There is an interesting implication here. The ECM drone is at Speed Zero. While it may make a high energy turn at any point (and more than one if at Speed Zero for more than 32 impulses after its first high energy turn), a seeking weapon normally skips its next movement if it does not move during the impulse it uses a high energy turn. This might imply that after an ECM drone did a high energy turn in this situation, it would be unable to follow the ship out of its hex on the first impulse on which it moved. As the drone is at Speed Zero and never moves during this period, one might argue that the drone could accelerate, on a pro forma basis, to some "speed," gain its move but stay in the hex, just for one impulse. This would always work for a Speed-32 weapon, but slower ECM drones might face some perverse circumstances when even this may not be possible. ANSWER: I sent this one to Kommodore Ketrick who replied: As I read rule (F2.13) and the specific case of (FD9.182), the player can order an ECM drone to use a high energy turn and provided that the target is moving slower than the ECM drone, this will not cause the ECM drone to "lose a hex of movement" (specific overriding general) because the lost movement is one of the movements it will not use. In the case of slow drones this would have more impact, e.g., a Speed-8 drone moving with a Speed-8 ship which does a high energy turn is going to be left behind because it lost that hex of movement. But a Speed-8 drone accompanying a Speed-7 ship which does a high energy turn can be assumed to have used the unused hex of movement to stay with the ship [under (FD9.182)].
(Ask Admiral Vanaxilth continues here) F&E Q&A THE CRUCIBLE OF COMBAT Q: When can the Coalition attack the Tholians?
A: There is some potential conflict here, but (603.16) is general where (602.11) is specific. So, only the Klingons can attack the Tholians on Turn #7 or later, and only if at war with the Federation. The other Coalition members must wait for Turn #10. Q: Rule (312.45) says an SFG unit in "single combat" is hampered by this rule. I assume that if an SFG unit is in Small-Scale Combat, but has two consorts, then these penalties don't apply and the SFG can freeze targets normally. The question is, how do you resolve damage in SSC then? Does each frozen ship take only "one casualty" to destroy? A: Remember SSC has two die rolls: One by the attacker's offensive ComPot on the defender's defensive ComPot; and one by the defender's offensive ComPot on the attacker's defensive ComPot. If the SFG ship freezes a unit, the frozen unit cannot use its offensive ComPot. There is no provision for "directed" or double casualties; the frozen unit simply has zero offensive ComPot to offer which affects this die roll under (310.2). The specific rule you asked about (312.45) applied to the old OLD Single Combat rules, before the addition of Advance Small-Scale Combat rules (318.7) in AO. This rule (312.45) will need to be reworded when CO is updated. Q: When taking voluntary SIDS (308.84), each one resolves 4.5 Damage Points, but you lose the half point to rounding, so does scoring two SIDS on different battle rounds lose a point? I mean, if I score two SIDS in the same round I resolve nine points but if I score the same two SIDS in separate rounds I resolve only eight! That does not seem fair. A: Fair or not, that's what the rule says. The rule has no provision to "carry over" the last half point. This was a deliberate design decision, both to reduce record keeping and to reflect the fact that the same damage over a longer period is inherently less effective.
Q: Can a retreating force capture a pursuing ship during a pursuit battle (307.4)? A: No, see (305.12). (End of F&E Q&A) ASK AUNT JEAN Q: Are you going to have anything for Free RPG Day? Will we ever find out more
about the crew of the Amarillo?
Send questions to Jean at design@StarFleetGames.com and SVC will decide which one Jean will answer next. Cool Stuff on the Website In this section we will provide links to various web pages and items that we think you will find "cool". We have also uploaded new Xander wallpapers to our Wallpapers section on the website. We have new images of our next game Star Fleet Marines posted on our BBS topic page. STAR FLEET ALERTS These are the press releases we send to the wholesalers, retailers, and media. You can get on the mailing list for them by asking Marketing@StarFleetGames.com to add you to the list. (Obviously, they are free.) They are uploaded to the Star Fleet Alert page One of the most often overlooked rules (especially by those more familiar with Star Fleet Battles) is (3C3b) shield transfer, or as the members of Battlegroup Murfreesboro refer to it: the shield ballet. This rule allows you to rotate five undamaged boxes from one shield to an adjacent shield. True, five boxes does not sound like a lot, but it can be the difference between life and death.
For Klingons performing the saber dance, use of this rule can turn the saber dance into a work of art. By steadily rotating fresh boxes onto the facing shield during your oblique approaches, you can keep a stronger shield towards your opponent. If you do lose a shield, do not panic; do the shield ballet. A disabled shield cannot be reinforced to reduce incoming damage, but a five-box shield can be. Sometimes, the difference between no reinforcement and five shield boxes plus batteries may be enough to save your ship (or a key weapon) for another turn. Or in a worst-case scenario, the shield ballet may allow it to survive long enough to disengage, thereby denying your opponent the victory points accrued by destroying a ship. (End of FC Tactic of the Month)
SFB Tactic of the Month ONLY ATTRITION UNITS AT STRATEGIC LEVELS It is easy to be consumed with the campaign/strategic wisdom of fighters and fast patrol ships being attrition units, and treat them as throwaway distractions that are lost when they are damaged, even in tactical battles. In contrast, it is important to remember that fighter repairs are some of the most efficient uses of your few Repair Points. NEW MINIATURES! Starline 2500 C5 Light Raiding Dreadnought |
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