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Gnoman
Feb 12, 2014

Come, all you fair and tender maids
Who flourish in your pri-ime
Beware, take care, keep your garden fair
Let Gnoman steal your thy-y-me
Le-et Gnoman steal your thyme







Star Fleet Battles is a starship combat game set in the Star Fleet Universe, which is technologically similar to the Star Trek TOS/TAS universe, and has most of the existing star nations (with additions!), in a setting that diverged significantly. The game is most famous for the hefty rulebooks, which clock in at 407 pages of rules text alone (not counting scenarios, ship descriptions, ship sheets, etc. These add another ~800 pages or so). Fortunately, you won't have to worry about that.


A stripped-down, free version of the rules is available on the official website, but I'll provide a quick summary of gameplay.

The first step in a turn is to allocate energy from your ship's engines to the various systems -shields, weapons, transporters, tractor beams, jamming, counter-jamming, battery recharge, etc. There are three kinds of energy in the game - Reactor, Impulse, and Warp. Reactor Power is produced by Auxiliary Power Reactors (APR), can power any system that does not require Warp power, but cannot be used for movement. Impulse is produced by Impulse engines, can do everything Reactor Power can do, and one point of movement can additionally be used for a single hex of movement. Warp Power is produced by Warp Engines and Auxillary Warp Reactors (AWR), can power everything (some systems require Warp power, most notably Photon Torpedos), and is used for moving more than one hex a turn (the power required scales with the size of the ships - smaller ones can move 3 or 4 hexes on a single point, the really big ones need 3 points to move 2 hexes).

From there, every ship declares speed, and the turn proceeds simultaneously via the Impulse Procedure. Each turn is divided into 32 impulses. Ships have a maximum speed of 31, while some seeking weapons move at 32. Each impulse, the speed of every unit is referenced on a chart, and the ships scheduled to move in that impulse move one hex. Everyone (including ships that did not move) can then carry out any action legally permitted (firing weapons, launching shuttles, blowing up their ship out of shame, etc) All action in an impulse is simultaneous - weapons destroyed in that impulse still fire if ordered to do so, everyone has already moved, etc).

If weapons are fired, the attacker rolls 2d6 and compares the die roll to the range chart to determine the amount of damage inflicted. This is deducted first from facing shields, then armor (on a small number of ships), and then is allocated internally via the Damage Allocation Chart - by default a roll is made for every point of damage inflicted in a given impulse, each of which removes one single box from the ship systems display. This isn't how I'm going to do it - I favor a house rule that allocates each weapon with one roll and marks off based on the arrangement of boxes on the display. This is faster and produces very similar results.

This is repeated for every impulse, and the turn starts over with the Energy Allocation Phase.


So how's this LP going to work? Obviously, playing against me is impossible to do fairly. Thus, I will simply be a referee and administrator for you to shoot at each other. I'm going to have to tweak things as they go, so the setup will change a bit. For now, I will give captains basic information about their ship, and they will give me energy priorities, a movement plot for their turn, and the conditions under which they will fire their weapons. The entire turn will be processed at once (if this becomes a problem, I will switch to doing 16, 8, or even 4 impulses at a time), and then new orders will be given.


The first scenario will be a classic duel between a Federation Heavy Cruiser (the Constitution-class ship from the show), and a Klingon D7 Battle Cruiser (the classic Klingon ship).

An overview of the two ships

Federation CA

Federation ships are represented by a black triangle on a blue background. The Heavy cruiser is armed with 3 Type-1 Phaser banks (firing in the RS, FA, and LS firing arcs) each containing 2 Phasers and 1 bank of Photon Torpedos (FA). It is reasonably well-shielded, well-armed, and less maneuverable than the D7.

Klingon D7

Klingon ships are represented by a White triangle on a Black background. The D7 is armed with 1 bank of 3 Phaser 1s (FA); 2 banks of 1 Phaser 2 (LF/L/RR and RF/R/LR); 2 banks of 2 Phaser 2 (L/LR and R/RR); 2 banks of 2 Disruptors (FA); and 2 Drone Racks. It is more lightly shielded, slightly less well-armed, but very maneuverable.


Weapon explanations (Tables and fuller rules text can be found in the free rules linked above):

Phasers come in 5 classes, 1, 2, 3, 4, and Gatling. Phaser 4s are mounted only on bases, while 1, 2, and 3 are starship mounted weapons that are weaker and shorter ranged based on number - 1 is the strongest, 2 is intermediate, and 3 is the weakest. The Phaser-G is a special phaser that fires multiple Phaser-3 shots per turn. At this stage you only need to worry about Phaser 1 and 2s, which operate identically except for 2 being somewhat weaker - each requires 1 power to fire.

Photon Torpedos are the Federation heavy weapon - they take 2 turns to arm (can be fired on the second turn) and require 2 units of warp power on each turn. They can fire in Standard or Proximity mode - Standard does 8 damage and hits with tolerable accuracy out to range 8, proximity does 4 and can only be fired at long range (8+), and hits decently out to range 30.

Disruptors are the Klingon heavy weapon - they take 2 units of any power, can fire every turn, and do 2-5 damage based on range. They can hit with tolerable accuracy out to range 22.

Drones are missiles - the drone racks mounted on a D7 each carry 4 Type-1 drones, which move at a speed of 8, do 12 points of damage, and take 4 hits from any weapon to destroy.



I need 2 captains - post your ship preference, it is first-come first-serve. Anyone else can sign up for a slot in the queue as well.

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wedgekree
Feb 20, 2013
Oh, wow, I remember this from many hours spent playing Starfleet Command and a few games in high school. Definitely going to watch this thread. Good luck!

cokerpilot
Apr 23, 2010

Battle Brothers! Stop coming to meetings drunk and trying to adopt Tevery Best!

Lord General! Stop standing on the table and making up stupid operation names!

Emperor, why do I put up with these people?
Oh god I love this game but i think some less experienced should get a shot a captaincy first.

wedgekree
Feb 20, 2013
Speaking as someone who in Starfleet Command 2 lost every single Dynaverse setup he ever played in, I can completely sympathize. Good luck to anyone who plays!

berryjon
May 30, 2011

I have an invasion to go to.
I won't be participating, but I will be watching.

edit; Actually, you may want to start with Federation Commander. The rules are simpler and play is much faster than pure SFB.

Gnoman
Feb 12, 2014

Come, all you fair and tender maids
Who flourish in your pri-ime
Beware, take care, keep your garden fair
Let Gnoman steal your thy-y-me
Le-et Gnoman steal your thyme




I don't have Federation Commander, and the burden of the rules will be entirely on me.



Glad to see this is starting to see a bit of interest, but I still need 2 players to start.

Added Space
Jul 13, 2012

Free Markets
Free People

Curse you Hayard-Gunnes!
I pretty much know nothing, but I'm willing to step up as the Klingon commander. drat the torpedoes and full speed ahead! :v:

Shoeless
Sep 2, 2011
This is fantastic, count me in. Haven't ever played before, I'd like to go as Klingon but as that's taken I suppose I'll put on my best Kirk face!

Added Space
Jul 13, 2012

Free Markets
Free People

Curse you Hayard-Gunnes!
Looking over the rules, drones are complete poo poo. A D7 can control six at once according to the rules, and has two launchers, but can only fire one per turn (that is, one per 32 rounds). They move at one hex per round and can be destroyed with 4 damage. They are no more difficult to hit then a full-sized ship. A Phaser on a Federation Cruiser has a 2/3 chance of doing 4 damage at range 5 and is certain to do 4 damage at range one. Drones can also be stopped by tractor beams. One of the first exercises used to practice the system is to destroy four of them heading towards you at once.

Galaga Galaxian
Apr 23, 2009

What a childish tactic!
Don't you think you should put more thought into your battleplan?!


The Drones aren't that useful against the Federation, yes. But they force him to expend valuable energy counteracting them while being cheap (or free? Its been a long time) to power for the Klingon.

Added Space posted:

I pretty much know nothing, but I'm willing to step up as the Klingon commander. drat the torpedoes and full speed ahead! :v:

The exact opposite of what a savvy Klingon Commander should do when engaging a Constitution Class Federation CA. :v:

berryjon
May 30, 2011

I have an invasion to go to.

Added Space posted:

Looking over the rules, drones are complete poo poo. A D7 can control six at once according to the rules, and has two launchers, but can only fire one per turn (that is, one per 32 rounds). They move at one hex per round and can be destroyed with 4 damage. They are no more difficult to hit then a full-sized ship. A Phaser on a Federation Cruiser has a 2/3 chance of doing 4 damage at range 5 and is certain to do 4 damage at range one. Drones can also be stopped by tractor beams. One of the first exercises used to practice the system is to destroy four of them heading towards you at once.

In this scenario (advice from expert SFB player here):

Your drones will never hit the enemy unless you slap a tractor on him and then launch a Scatter Pack. What they do do is affect the Fed's movement and force them to use phasers or tractors (and the associated power) on the drones rather than your ship.

Added Space
Jul 13, 2012

Free Markets
Free People

Curse you Hayard-Gunnes!
Hey, no kibitzing. :( I'll gently caress up just fine on my own, thanks.

Shoeless
Sep 2, 2011
So, correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like what I want to do is avoid being in the D7's front arc as it can bring 3x Phaser 1s and 4x Disruptors to bear from that angle.

Gnoman
Feb 12, 2014

Come, all you fair and tender maids
Who flourish in your pri-ime
Beware, take care, keep your garden fair
Let Gnoman steal your thy-y-me
Le-et Gnoman steal your thyme




Added Space posted:

Looking over the rules, drones are complete poo poo. A D7 can control six at once according to the rules, and has two launchers, but can only fire one per turn (that is, one per 32 rounds). They move at one hex per round and can be destroyed with 4 damage. They are no more difficult to hit then a full-sized ship. A Phaser on a Federation Cruiser has a 2/3 chance of doing 4 damage at range 5 and is certain to do 4 damage at range one. Drones can also be stopped by tractor beams. One of the first exercises used to practice the system is to destroy four of them heading towards you at once.

That's not correct - Type-I drones move at 8 hexes a turn, and both racks can be fired in one turn as long as they don't fire in the same impulse (they count as shuttle launches on that particular ship). The free rules are intended to introduce game concepts and are thus simplified.

berryjon
May 30, 2011

I have an invasion to go to.

Gnoman posted:

That's not correct - Type-I drones move at 8 hexes a turn, and both racks can be fired in one turn as long as they don't fire in the same impulse (they count as shuttle launches on that particular ship). The free rules are intended to introduce game concepts and are thus simplified.

Hold on, the basic D7 has F-racks, not A-Racks.

Actually, are you using the Cadet's Handbook?

Galaga Galaxian
Apr 23, 2009

What a childish tactic!
Don't you think you should put more thought into your battleplan?!


Shoeless posted:

So, correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like what I want to do is avoid being in the D7's front arc as it can bring 3x Phaser 1s and 4x Disruptors to bear from that angle.

To keep things a bit vague and simple, in the classic Fed CA vs Klingon CA duel, the Federation is armed with a sledgehammer (overloaded Torpedoes) while the Klingon is armed with a spear (disruptors). The Klingon wants to use his superior mobility to keep just outside of Overloaded torpedo range while he slowly wears down the Federation ship before moving in for the kill. The Federation ship meanwhile, wants to close so that his overloaded torpedoes can devastate the Klingon in one massive blow.

This is extreme simplifying, and clouded by age old memory, but that is the "normal" tactics of a this classic engagement.

Added Space
Jul 13, 2012

Free Markets
Free People

Curse you Hayard-Gunnes!

berryjon posted:

Hold on, the basic D7 has F-racks, not A-Racks.

Actually, are you using the Cadet's Handbook?

Yeah. I figured I'd just give my orders in terms of commander's intent and let the OP figure out how to cram them sideways through the rules.

Gnoman
Feb 12, 2014

Come, all you fair and tender maids
Who flourish in your pri-ime
Beware, take care, keep your garden fair
Let Gnoman steal your thy-y-me
Le-et Gnoman steal your thyme




berryjon posted:

Hold on, the basic D7 has F-racks, not A-Racks.

Actually, are you using the Cadet's Handbook?

I'm using the Master Rulebook, but provided a link to the Cadet's handbook so players could get their weapon tables and such.

You're correct on the drone racks - I'm AFB at the moment.

Shoeless
Sep 2, 2011
Just to be clear, to do this we'll be needing to read through the free rulebook to get the basics so we know how to allocate energy, declare shooting, etc, correct?

Added Space
Jul 13, 2012

Free Markets
Free People

Curse you Hayard-Gunnes!
Questions: How much energy does a D7 have to allocate? I couldn't seem to find a number. What our initial speed? Do we start with shields up or do we have to pump energy in to fill up the blocks?

Gnoman
Feb 12, 2014

Come, all you fair and tender maids
Who flourish in your pri-ime
Beware, take care, keep your garden fair
Let Gnoman steal your thy-y-me
Le-et Gnoman steal your thyme




Shoeless posted:

Just to be clear, to do this we'll be needing to read through the free rulebook to get the basics so we know how to allocate energy, declare shooting, etc, correct?

I'll be handling energy allocation at least for now - this is an experiment and I'll have to adjust as I go.

Similarly, for weapons fire I'll require a set of conditional orders illustrating the circumstances under which you'll shoot (otherwise we'd need to update every single impulse, needing 32 updates for a single turn). For example, for the Federation CC, those orders might look like this:

Torpedo Bank #1 (FA): Fire 1 torpedo in every impulse where the enemy ship is within the arc at a range of <6. If the range is closer than 4, or the target is at the edge of the arc with less than 4 impulses in the turn, fire all remaining torpedoes.

Phaser Bank #1 (FA): Fire both phasers whenever the target is within range 10

Phaser Bank #2 and #3 (LS and RS): Reserve 1 Phaser in each bank for drone defense until impulse 24. Fire whenever there is a target at range 10 or less.

Reading the basic rulebook is necessary, however. Knowing your energy costs will help you set priorities and determine your speeds, the strengths and weakness of your weapons can be learned by studying the tables, and understanding turn modes and firing arcs is vital. For this scenario, the ships we are using are nearly identical to the cadet ships, which can thus be used as a play aid (later on, this won't always be the case - you'll have to obtain the SSD yourself (ideally by purchasing the game) if you want to have that as a reference, I'll probably be using a homebrew ships a lot to make this a little easier, and will always designate the source of a ship if this is desired).

I'm setting up the scenario now.



EDIT: Adressing this before I get the scenario thrown together.

Added Space posted:

Questions: How much energy does a D7 have to allocate? I couldn't seem to find a number. What our initial speed? Do we start with shields up or do we have to pump energy in to fill up the blocks?

Shields will be up, and the initial speed will be 10. If you WANT to submit a filled out EAF, that is permissible. I'm not going to require it. For your information, a D7 has 2 size 15 warp engines (30 total), 2 size 2 impulse engines and 1 boom impulse engine (4+1), and 4 APR reactors (4). This is a total of 39 power.

Gnoman fucked around with this message at 22:50 on Jun 28, 2015

Shoeless
Sep 2, 2011

Gnoman posted:

Answers and useful information

Alright, thank you very much. I'll get to reading then! I take it the Cadet ships you mention are in the free rules so we can find them and take a look at them there?

Gnoman
Feb 12, 2014

Come, all you fair and tender maids
Who flourish in your pri-ime
Beware, take care, keep your garden fair
Let Gnoman steal your thy-y-me
Le-et Gnoman steal your thyme




Shoeless posted:

Alright, thank you very much. I'll get to reading then! I take it the Cadet ships you mention are in the free rules so we can find them and take a look at them there?

Yes. Specifically, we are using the Federation CA and the Klingon D7

Gnoman
Feb 12, 2014

Come, all you fair and tender maids
Who flourish in your pri-ime
Beware, take care, keep your garden fair
Let Gnoman steal your thy-y-me
Le-et Gnoman steal your thyme







Captain Shoeless of the USS Constitution has encountered the IKV Terror commanded by Added Space in contested space, and all attempts at diplomacy have failed.

Weapons status rolls:

USS Republic = 3
IKV Terror = 3

Both captains were running at a high state of alert, and all weapons are FULLY ARMED.

The previous speed for each ship (used for acelleration purposes) is 10

For this battle, and possibly the next few, I will be running the turns fully open except for orders, which must be emailed to me at sasfblp at gmail, an account which I set up specifically for this thread.


For this scenario, the map is floating, but if the ships ever exceed a 40 hex range, any ship facing AWAY from the opponent will be considered to have disengaged and removed from the scenario.

As mentioned, we will be using pre-plotted movement. Movement orders must be in the format (moves) (direction), where (moves) is a number of hexes and (direction) is a letter according to this chart




Orders are due in 48 hours, but I will process the turn quicker if I get the orders sooner.

Shoeless
Sep 2, 2011
---Record of diplomatic attempt between the USS Constituion and the IKV Terror---

(USS) Hey Klingons, get off our space lawn!
(IKV) Nuh uh! You get off our space lawn!
(USS) No way, YOU get off OUR space lawn!
(IKV) NO! One last time, USS Constitution, get OFF our space lawn!
(USS) This is an act of war! Remove yourself from the Federation's space lawn at once or we WILL open fire!
(IKV) Then what are you waiting for human? Fire away!

Galaga Galaxian
Apr 23, 2009

What a childish tactic!
Don't you think you should put more thought into your battleplan?!


The Neutral Zone is the Organian's Space Lawn, you guys are in a lot of trouble when they realize what you're doing. :colbert:

Shoeless
Sep 2, 2011

Galaga Galaxian posted:

The Neutral Zone is the Organian's Space Lawn, you guys are in a lot of trouble when they realize what you're doing. :colbert:

Ain't nothing wrong with a bit of intergalactic Ding Dong Ditch, okay?

Gnoman
Feb 12, 2014

Come, all you fair and tender maids
Who flourish in your pri-ime
Beware, take care, keep your garden fair
Let Gnoman steal your thy-y-me
Le-et Gnoman steal your thyme




Galaga Galaxian posted:

The Neutral Zone is the Organian's Space Lawn, you guys are in a lot of trouble when they realize what you're doing. :colbert:

The Organians kinda sorta don't exist in this universe. They're never mentioned, and I don't see them sitting around and watching a the General War without stopping it (the Starfleet Command games based on this game explain it as the Organians leaving for awhile) if they were around.


EDIT: New thread rule just occured to me - when you send your orders, you must post here with the subject line. THat will ensure that I get them (or at least I'll know I didn't get them), and also serve as a guard against false orders.

Gnoman fucked around with this message at 00:50 on Jun 29, 2015

RickVoid
Oct 21, 2010
Now I kind of want someone to run a game of GURPS Not-Trek over in the Trad-Games sub-forum. But only kind of.

Added Space
Jul 13, 2012

Free Markets
Free People

Curse you Hayard-Gunnes!
Order set Unwelcome Guests sent. Hopefully all the contingencies are understandable.

e: Order set Unwelcome Guests 2: Flight to Freedom sent with less broken formatting, sorry.

Added Space fucked around with this message at 05:55 on Jun 29, 2015

Gnoman
Feb 12, 2014

Come, all you fair and tender maids
Who flourish in your pri-ime
Beware, take care, keep your garden fair
Let Gnoman steal your thy-y-me
Le-et Gnoman steal your thyme




Not going to comment on the quality of your orders (we'll see the wisdom of that on the battlefield, one way or another), but the conditional plot is legal.

Shoeless
Sep 2, 2011
To confirm, I have two Warp Engines producing 15 power each, +4 from Impulse and +2 from APR for a total of 36 power? I know you'll be handling the exact allocation, but I'd like to know how much I have to work with while planning my orders and setting priorities, if that's alright.

berryjon
May 30, 2011

I have an invasion to go to.

Shoeless posted:

To confirm, I have two Warp Engines producing 15 power each, +4 from Impulse and +2 from APR for a total of 36 power? I know you'll be handling the exact allocation, but I'd like to know how much I have to work with while planning my orders and setting priorities, if that's alright.

No, you have 4 APR. The D6 (you're flying a D7) is missing the wing phasers, and has the reduced APR output when compared to the D7. You also have 3 Batteries, compared to the Federation's 4.

Shoeless
Sep 2, 2011

berryjon posted:

No, you have 4 APR. The D6 (you're flying a D7) is missing the wing phasers, and has the reduced APR output when compared to the D7. You also have 3 Batteries, compared to the Federation's 4.

Pssssssst, I'm the Federation captain, Added Space is the Klingon warmaster.

berryjon
May 30, 2011

I have an invasion to go to.

Shoeless posted:

Pssssssst, I'm the Federation captain, Added Space is the Klingon warmaster.

Stagewhisper: Then yes, you have 2 APR and not 4. Later versions of the ship add additional APR.

Shoeless
Sep 2, 2011
Also, are we using shuttles and tractor beams in this scenario Gnoman?

Gnoman
Feb 12, 2014

Come, all you fair and tender maids
Who flourish in your pri-ime
Beware, take care, keep your garden fair
Let Gnoman steal your thy-y-me
Le-et Gnoman steal your thyme




Shoeless posted:

Also, are we using shuttles and tractor beams in this scenario Gnoman?

Both are available, but overloaded weapons and proximity photons are NOT.

Shoeless
Sep 2, 2011

Gnoman posted:

Both are available, but overloaded weapons and proximity photons are NOT.

Okay, so my Photon Torpedoes are only really gonna be accurate out to 8 hexes, according to the OP? I'm gonna grab a quick dinner and then write up and mail my orders.

EDIT: Boringly named Turn 1 Constitution Orders sent.

Shoeless fucked around with this message at 00:47 on Jun 30, 2015

Gnoman
Feb 12, 2014

Come, all you fair and tender maids
Who flourish in your pri-ime
Beware, take care, keep your garden fair
Let Gnoman steal your thy-y-me
Le-et Gnoman steal your thyme




Shoeless posted:

Okay, so my Photon Torpedoes are only really gonna be accurate out to 8 hexes, according to the OP? I'm gonna grab a quick dinner and then write up and mail my orders.

EDIT: Boringly named Turn 1 Constitution Orders sent.

You have excess power and haven't given me a priority of where to put it.

Edit: You are the BLACK ON BLUE ship, not the WHITE ON BLACK one. Your movement orders cannot be fulfilled as written based on your position.

Gnoman fucked around with this message at 01:03 on Jun 30, 2015

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Shoeless
Sep 2, 2011

Gnoman posted:

You have excess power and haven't given me a priority of where to put it.

Edit: You are the BLUE ship, not the black one. Your movement orders cannot be fulfilled as written based on your position.

I feel like a moron. Emailing now with fix. Subject is Turn 1 Constitution Orders Fixed

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