Back To The Future
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Back To The Future
As noted in the Y1 history, there was an incident where a Gorn sublight battle fleet encountered what was eventually discovered to be a time-travelling Fed CA. The original scenario used the old Commanders Edition sublight rules (with some modifications)....since there ARE no modern sublight rules to adapt, I'm using the standard SFB rules for this scenario.
Y50 (IIRC)`
Forces:
1 Federation CA (no refits) in 0115,facing any, speed any, WS-3.
Time Rift in 2215.
20 Gorn sublight BB's within 10 hexes of 2215, speed max (aheh), facing any, WS-3.
The map is fixed; any Gorn unit moving off map has disengaged, the Fed ship automatically loses if it disegages by any method other than going thru the Time Rift.
The only ship that can enter 2215 (the Time Rift) is the Fed CA, and ONLY after it has gathered 200 points of information on the Rift (to determine the exact way back). Any other unit (Gorn ships/shuttles/missiles, Fed shuttles/seperated ship sections) that enters 2215 is automatically destroyed. The Fed has 32 impulses to enter the Rift once the data is collected; after that he must collect ANOTHER 200 points of info to go home, etc.
Gorn 'wins' if he destroys the Fed ship or forces it to disengage; if ANY Fed unit (shuttle/ship section) is captured, he wins a Legendary Victory.
Commanders' Options are not in use.
To simulate the sublight Gorn BB, use the WBB SSD from Module Y1 (armed with lasers and atomic missiles), delete all warp, transporters, tractors, and shields.
OPTIONAL RULE: Gorn BB's have 5-box shields that cost 1 point of power to raise.
In this time period the Gorns had not developed Warp-targeted lasers; lasers may not hit any units moving speed 2+.
In this period atomic missiles had not received the boost modification, they have a speed of 1,not 2.
Gorn sublight shuttles are unarmed as per Mod Y1.
OPTIONAL RULE: they have a 360 laser, max range 0, may not hit targets moving speed 2+.
The Federation player may not conduct any type of boarding action, including hit and run raids, as he is attempting to minimize the contamination of the timeline. The Federation player automatically loses if ANY personnel or units are left behind.
Historically, the Federation Captain used Non-Violent Combat to minimize Gorn casualties, but the player is under no obligation to do so.
Tactics:
Fed - blast Gorns and get info. Then leave.
Gorn - Suffer.
Designers note:
The original scenario used the sublight rules as the Fed CA was prohibited from moving at warp speeds 'because it would collapse the rift'.
The Gorn player had more of a chance, since (manuevering wise) the Fed was no faster than he was.
I wrote it up using regular SFB rules due to the fact there is no 'Sublight Game' in Captains' Edition.
Also to show the relative helplessness of 'pure' sublight ships (with sublight weapons) vs tacwarp vessels.
I can't help thinking that if the Gorns looked like losing TWENTY ships, they'd pack up and go home. Besides, how do they get 20 sublight ships into one battle anyway, unless the Fred happened to land in the middle? The WBB has a command rating of 8.
If the Fed gets to move at warp speed (ie, more than 2), he can't lose. He just trots around at moderate speed and R4 from the nearest concentration of Gorns, blowing them up. They can't do anything.
Mike: Kinda gotta agree with Jim on this one. Best thing the Gorns could do would be Sublight Evade. This scenario's not a battle, it's a duck shoot.
Also, why would the peace-loving Feds even fire on the Gorn? They can move at speed 2+, be immune to fire, and just gather scientific info until they can disengage. Shooting the helpless Gorn might appeal to a school yard bully, but I can't see Kirk doing such a thing.
The scenario doesn't encourage combat....doesn't prohibit it either.
Jim, back in the day, there WERE no 'command ratings'. Plus, I'm trying to be as true to the original scenario as possible...and in the original, it was 20 sublight BB's. The fluff story said something about them being assembled for some massive assault on a nearby Romulan fleet. The Gorns supposedly attacked the 'mysterious alien ship' out of reflex. Considering the Fed didn't dare open communications, its believable.
About the only thing the Gorn can do is launch hordes of missiles in the path of the Fed and hope he runs into them.
And yeah, its not much of a scenario. I was trying to make a point to certain folks.
To make it more 'challenging', make the following modifications:
No Fed unit may exceed speed 1; if they do, the Time Rift collapses and the Feds lose.
The Fed player MUST escape by turn....50, lets say. The Rift collapses on turn 51, impulse 1. Players could bid on the number of turns the Rift will be active, with the low bidder taking the Fed.
Replace the Gorns with a Romulan Warbird fleet. Use the SWB SSD. Delete all shields, mask/veil charts. Remove the plasma R, replace with 4 atomic missile racks.
And yes, there are 20 of them..
I realised that it was meant to make a point after I read the Y2 topic. All the same, it's nice to see an attempt to make it playable, even if it's not sensibly historical.
One wonders why the Gorns amassed a fleet of 20 BBs when they had other ship classes too. But I guess that's what it says in Y1, so we're stuck with it.
Well, to be fair, it doesn't say anything in Y1 other than the fact that the 'Gorns battled a time-travelling Fed CA'. Gorn fleet composition was in the Nexus scenario (I forget which Nexus).
You COULD make it a S8 legal fleet (9 SBB's), but why bother? Gorn SBB's aren't that hard to run (6 power and very little to spend it on....), and with 20, at least you have a chance of doing SOMETHING if he's crazy enough to get in laser range/hits a stack of missiles.
S8 is only there to encourage PLAYABLE fleet sizes in pick-up fights; if you want LARGER fleets (and have large chunks of spare time) there is absolutely NOTHING that says you HAVE to use it, as long as your opponent agrees.
Is this Gorn-Shima? YR6.2 says that the WBBs lost it, implying that they were the only ships involved.
Nope, Gorn-Shima was Y39. this scenario happened in Y44 (found the exact date when I checked the history).