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June 2013
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Star Fleet Universe News
SORRY FOR THE DELAY In other news, registration for the third annual Platinum Hat started on July 1, 2013. Paul Scott, winner of the 2012 tournament, will be the judge for this one. 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. TWITTER: ADB has recently started a Twitter feed. We are ADBInc_Amarillo. You'll find news as well as links to pictures. Check us out and retweet news of interest to your own followers. We're excited and our first goal is to get 100 followers. Help us reach that, please. 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 has started. Only two second round games remain to be played. Andrew Koch is the judge. Rated Ace Tournament 40 is has started. Only two second round games remain to be played. Andrew Koch is the judge.
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 Nashcon 2013 was held May 24-25, 2013 at Cool Springs / Franklin Embassy Suites. Tony L. Thomas ran the latest revision of The Battle For Kh'rtis Rock, a massive scenario involving over 60 Federation and Klingon ships (with a battle station and some civilian units thrown in case 60 ships isn't a large enough number!). In addition, a three-round ACTASF tournament was played on Saturday 25. Merl Dewitt was the winner, with Mark Thomas coming in second and Mike Curtis placing third. From all reports, fun was had by all. 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 They have broken through, so what do you defend?
Often, the Alliance will be forced to defend some targets with less strength than they want to, so what should you defend? Clearly, the homeworld takes slots #1, #2, and #3 in the priority list, so this assumes the homeworld hex has all you are going to put into it. So what do you defend next? Starbases over planets should take the priority! Why? First, a starbase plus a fleet will inflict greater damage than a planet plus a fleet. Second, once a starbase is dead, it is dead. However with a planet, they never die! Let's say you can defend either a starbase or a planet, while the enemy has enough forces to pin one and capture the other. By defending the starbase (thereby protecting it), the enemy will capture the planet. The planet makes an ideal counterattack point for you. Either the enemy aims to hold onto their recently captured real estate (therefore allowing you to use up fighters, perhaps in exchange for the enemy crippling ships), or should they want to run, it allows you to regain your planet on the cheap! I should point out that starbases do not produce money, while planets do, so your treasury (and citizens) will not thank you for the logical defense of your territory! Occasionally a planet will become more important (supply for the enemy for example) so the tactical situation will take priority over the strategic situation. Still you can always regain your planet, but a dead starbase remains dead! (End F&E Strategy of the Month) Call To Arms Tactic of the Month A DEFENSIVELY DRIVEN OFFENSE One of the things that becomes rapidly apparent in A Call to Arms: Star Fleet is that ship-vs.-ship combat is a lot more savage than it is in Star Fleet Battles. Often times in small engagements the fighting can be over in as little as two or three turns. This makes decisions on which Special Action you use crucial to your survival. Empires that have to rely on the Reload Weapons! Special Action in order to bring their heavy weapons back on line may need to take a moment to weigh the options. If you have already taken shield damage, it may be in your best interest to use the Boost Energy to Shields! Special Action over the Reload Weapons! Special Action. Both cause power drain, but the extra shield boxes you gain now can pay off in a bigger dividend than the threat of having heavy weapons ready for a next turn of combat that may not even be needed. 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 Federation Battlecruiser
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New Releases Communique #90 has been posted to the Commander's Circle. Click here to see our previous issues of Hailing Frequencies. Recently Released To be released in 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 "Johnson, bring us to forty-five degrees. Mendolow, fire the number three phaser at twenty thousand kilometers. Fire the other two phasers at point-blank range." The turn they were in would take the left-side phaser out of firing arc before the plasma torpedo reached point-blank range, so he had no choice but to fire it at twenty thousand. I wish I could save them all to fire at the SkyHawk instead, but reducing the strength of this plasma torpedo comes first.
O'Donnell refused to think that he might be wasting his fire on a fake. He could feel it in his bones that the SkyHawk captain had panicked when he realized that he might not be able to tractor the escaping frigate and had launched a real torpedo at him in the hope of scoring some internal damage. He was not going to allow that to happen at this early stage of the game. "Firing phasers, Sir," Mendolow reported seconds later. The first phaser erupted from the frigate's phaser banks and spat its controlled burst of destructive energy. Two more bluish-white beams of barely-controlled violence followed shortly afterward and disappeared into the glowing mass of the plasma torpedo, now barely ten thousand kilometers away. The brightness of the torpedo dimmed noticeably, but it still chased them inexorably. "Brace for impact," he ordered quietly. It was the second time in the last couple of minutes that he had given that command, and he didn't like it all. The ship shook hard as the torpedo moved within the detection range of its proximity-armed warhead and detonated. Despite the strength of the explosion, the shield held. A quick glance around the bridge showed him that there was no damage. "Right front shield down 44 percent, Sir," T'Chira reported. "No casualties reported so far." "Johnson, continue acceleration to warp two point nine two and bring us to heading zero-zero-zero. Mendolow, start arming both of the photon torpedo tubes to standard levels. T'Chira, use battery power to initiate level one jamming. Let's force them to use a little battery power or slow down if they don't want to fire through fuzzy scanners." "Level one ECM jamming initiated, Sir. Romulans are counter-jamming, but not slowing. Romulans are firing phasers." Again, a shield on Guderian sparkled with the terrific effort of absorbing the energy imparted to them by the phased energy beams. The bridge shook slightly. At least they didn't fire as soon as the torpedo hit. That ship must have a political appointee as its captain, he chuckled to himself. He was only half in jest. It was an old joke in Star Fleet Academy that there would be no Romulan fleet if they threw all the personnel off of their ships that had political ties to the Great Houses. "Number three shield down 55 percent, Sir." He looked at the situation display. They were clearing the jaws of the trap now, and from Rommel's position, it looked like it would also be able to escape. Even as he watched, Rommel fired two phasers which connected solidly with the rear shield of SkyHawk Alpha. Immediately, the SkyHawk began a turn which would take the damaged shield away from the course the second Federation ship was following. He smiled. The turn, while it protected the damaged shield from continued attack, would also allow both Federation ships to put some needed distance between them and their pursuers. The smile faded. In normal times, a mistake like that would probably have meant the end of the battle, as it would have given them time to call in a relief force. The Romulans would also have realized that they had botched the ambush and would have left to no doubt try a more successful one another day. (Continue reading here) Ask Admiral Vanaxilth Docking Shawn Hantke asks:
If a Klingon D6 and six fast patrol ships dock separately inside a module they take up (7+6=) 13 docking points. A D6P also takes up seven docking points. A tug with pods docked generally does not take up more space with the pods. Does a fast patrol ship tender take up more space with patrol ships docked to it?
(Ask Admiral Vanaxilth continues here)
F&E Q&A MOVEMENT AND MANEUVER Q: Police ship rules originally came out with CO, and then a year later the expanded police rule came out in PO. My question is regarding (531.212). The rule in CO reads: "Police ships cannot enter a hex containing more than one enemy ship."
The PO rule reads: "Police ships cannot use Operational Movement to enter a hex containing more than 1 enemy ship." Does the PO rule supersede, change, or clarify the CO rule or was it just sloppily written and not intended as a change? A: The PO rule clarifies the CO rule and reflects questions asked by players. Police ships cannot use Operational Movement, Reaction Movement, or Reserve Movement to enter a hex containing more than one enemy ship. A police ship can enter space containing enemy units during the retreat process. Q:I am looking at the rules for diplomats, specifically trade between allies. Rule (540.22) specifies that a valid Strategic Movement path between the capitals is required. How then do the Romulans trade with the Klingons and Lyrans, since the shortest path between a Klingon base and a Romulan base is 8 hexes? A:The Federation is a future belligerent (503.4) and as such, the trade delegation is allowed to communicate until it is no longer a future belligerent. This allows for the diplomatic action using a Federation Strategic Movement Node (SMN). Q:Rule (205.141) states that crippled units may not use Reaction Movement. Fair enough. However, can a crippled carrier send its fighters in reaction using (205.142)? Example: A crippled Lyran CVD is sitting on a supply point and has six fighter factors on the crippled side. The crippled CVD obviously may not react; however, may its six fighters react under the normal conditions for reacting groups of fighter factors? A:Correct. Rule (205.71) allows groups of six fighter factors (from one source) to react (as one group, to one target).
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Q:May a player with ships already in the WYN Cluster use blockade running to move an unlimited number of cargo, EP-carrying ships out of the WYN Cluster? A:There are several issues here. First, Raid Pools are limited by (314.10), (320.14), (320.51), and (320.511), so, no, you can't use an unlimited number of ships. As a non-Federation/Klingon empire you could have a maximum of three ships doing blockade runs until the Raid Pool is expanded in the Spring of Y176 (Turn #16) which increases this number by two. Federation/Klingon Raid Pools are one ship larger. (314.10) Second, blockade running to the WYN Cluster is a round trip, from the Raid Pool to the WYN Cluster and back, all in the same turn. By definition, ships in the WYN Cluster cannot be in your Raid Pool (unless you are the WYN player). (End of F&E Q&A) ASK AUNT JEAN Q: Dear Aunt Jean, we heard that you had GURPS Prime Directive sessions at Origins. How did it go?
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 When fighting in an asteroid field with web caster-equipped Tholian ships, look for opportunities to trap an unwary opponent in the gap between two asteroid hexes.
Here's how it works. Since ships tend to avoid asteroid damage by staying out of asteroid hexes and remaining in clear space, the enemy will often fly through single-hex gaps between the asteroids. If your opponent finishes his movement in such a gap, you can exploit this with your web caster. Throw a three-hex web of 16 strength points per hex (at up to ten hexes' range), anchoring the ends in the asteroid hexes to either side, with the middle web hex in the same hex as the enemy ship. This will trap the enemy ship immediately, and at worst will ruin his plans for the turn. At best it may well trap him for long enough for you to hit him with a seeking weapon or two. Since Tholians are not big on seeking weapons, this trick is best performed when fighting alongside allied ships that do have such weapons, such as the Gorns. A web hex forms a perfect anchor situation and makes the enemy ship a sitting target for plasma/drone strikes from hexes off to the side of the web strand. The trick still works with larger gaps of course, but it will not slow your opponent as much.
The counter tactic to this is to avoid single-hex gaps. Use maneuver, speed, and acceleration/deceleration to make sure that you finish the movement sub-pulses a hex or two away from such gaps, and then dash forward to clear the gap in a single impulse. This works because the web caster can only fire after movement is completed for that impulse. If your ship has already been trapped in a web, or has just broken out of it, it can sometimes even be worth decelerating upon release in order to avoid a similar gap and being trapped again. Then move forward in a burst of speed as above. As this is taking place in an asteroid field, you will need to maneuver carefully to avoid entering asteroid hexes at the sorts of speeds required to break out of webs of that strength; unfortunately these are also the same speeds required to avoid those gaps in the first place. Still, the increased speed will likely give you the initiative, since the Tholians will not necessarily want to be moving at that speed in an asteroid field either - and it can also put your ships into some interesting attacking positions! (End of FC Tactic of the Month)
SFB Tactic of the Month THOLIAN JUMPSTARTER Tholians can use their web pass ability to "jumpstart" from very slow speeds to battle speeds by using the web. It starts with the Tholian ship being at low speed and in or near a web. Get into the web and turn off the ship's web-pass ability (it would be clever to make sure you are going slow enough to avoid the web deceleration damage). Change speeds (being sure to stay too slow to actually get out of the web). Wait until the earlier, lower speed limitation is over (usually 32 impulses). Change speed again if you want (to your desired speed) and turn on the ship's web-pass ability. You can go from Speed Zero to Speed 31 over the course of a couple turns without moving at all.
Star Fleet Marines at Questing Knight1 |
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