G10.8 provides rules for webs established before the scenario starts, with G10.82 providing the method for calculating the BPV cost for any webs the Tholians wish to purchase. The basic cost is .25 BPV per web point, so a fully powered up 3 tier wedding cake will have 54 total web hexes at strength-35, giving a total of 1890 web points. It costs the Tholians 472.5 BPV to buy this web. So if the Tholians have 1000 BPV available for the scenario and choose to have a full strength wedding cake defense, they would only have 527.5 BPV with which to purchase the base and any supporting ships/fighters/minefield etc. Note that G10.821 gives additional costs for large asteroid anchors, but also explicitly states that the Tholians can use globular web to save points, if they don't wish to pay for the asteroids. Note also that G10.834 allows the Tholians to reduce the strength of webs in order to have more points to buy other stuff. For example, the Tholians might make the outer ring (30 hexes) strength-32 (960 web points/ 240 BPV to purchase) and make the middle and inner rings strength-1 (24 total web points/ 6 BPV to purchase). The strength-32 outer web will stop a ship from moving through it, but if the Tholians can't reinforce it prior to being driven back behind the middle ring, it decays to a strength the enemy can move through in only one turn. And unless the Tholians hold the attackers at the outer ring for many turns, they won't be able to reinforce the middle ring enough to significantly delay the attackers from reaching the inner ring and attacking the base directly. On the other hand, the Tholians now have 754 BPV with which to buy their base and ships, rather than 527.5 BPV. They are gambling that the stronger forces will make up for the weaker web structure.

The problem with G10.82, in my opinion, is that it doesn't reflect the web improvements described in G10.32. Under that rule, the Tholians improve their technology in Y160 and Y175 to make reinforcing energy more efficient. Prior to Y160, the Tholians need to reinforce web with 1 energy per hex, merely to counter degradation and maintain the web at current strength. But after Y160 reinforcing energy is 50% more efficient due to tech improvements so they only need reinforce with 2 energy per 3 hexes to maintain strength. And starting in Y175 reinforcing energy is twice as efficient so 1 energy will maintain 2 hexes. So the identical Tholian force provides a much stronger defense after Y160 than before, and after Y175 than before, because the ships have more energy left for other things. But this isn't reflected in the cost to buy that Tholian defense.

Let's look at aspecific example. Y159; 4 Tholian PCs are defending a Base Station with a three tier defense. The base can maintain the inner ring but the 4 PCs will need to supply the 48 points of power (30 for the outer ring, 18 for the middle ring) necessary to maintain the full defense. PCs only generate 14 points of power and will spend 1.5 on shields and life support. (Fire control isn't necessary to reinforce web, and a PC stationed behind the middle web wouldn't need shields. But 3 of the PCs will have to be adjacent to the outer ring and will need shields.) Once any energy already in their phaser capacitors or batteries is expended, those PCs are expending (on average) 13.5 of their available 14 energy just to maintain web, life support, and shields. They have nothing left for phasers, maneuver, ECM, etc. This is a very brittle defense, and at least in my opinion the Tholians are better off fighting this battle with a two-tier rather than three-tier defense, simply because they don't generate enough energy to adequately support the three webs.

But move the battle back a couple of years, after Y160. Now the outer two rings only require 20 (outer) + 12 (middle) = 32 power to maintain. Those Tholian PCs now have the power to fight a full 3-tier battle and use their phasers. The attackers (Klingons, let's assume) will take more damage each turn because they're being hit with phaser-1s and the base's phaser-4s, rather than just phaser-4s and a small fraction of the ships' firepower. And as the Tholians start to loose ships, they can maintain the webs longer since the power requirements are lower, so the Klingons also take additional turns of phaser-4 fire from the base. The Tholian defense is much tougher than before Y160, but doesn't cost any additional to purchase. A similar, though less dramatic, effect takes place at Y175. The Y160 improvement reduces the aggregate support cost for the outer two rings by 16 energy. The Y175 improvement reduces it by a further 8 energy.

I propose that the .25 BPV per web point specified in G10.82 be modified so that the cost varies by year. This would only affect scenarios in which the Tholians are buying their defenses, rather than scenarios in which the initial forces are fixed by scenario rule. I propose that after Y160, the BPV cost for web established before scenario start be .4 BPV per web point and starting in Y175 the cost be .5 BPV per web point. This will reduce the Tholian forces for later scenarios, or alternately, for a given Tholian defense, increase the attacker's forces. While this proposed fix isn't perfect, I believe it will better balance scenarios involving base assaults than the current rule does.

One final point; YG10.41 greatly increases the energy cost to maintain web prior to Y121. This suggests that the BPV cost should be lowered in those years since the high energy cost, combined with the Tholians only having small ships available, makes it very difficult for the Tholians to maintain web in the early years. While a small BPV reduction might be in order, it is well to remember that the attackers will be Early Years opponents, against whom the Tholians don't need a lot of help. If the web BPV cost is reduced at all in the EY period the reduction should be minor, perhaps down to .2 BPV per web point, but no lower than that.

Just my .02 quatloos worth.

By Mike Strain (Evilmike) on Sunday, November 25, 2007 - 03:18 am: Edit

Very good idea.

By Jim Davies (Mudfoot) on Sunday, November 25, 2007 - 09:33 pm: Edit

Good point, well made. Dunno if the numbers are right, but they sound plausible.

By Mike Strain (Evilmike) on Sunday, November 25, 2007 - 10:52 pm: Edit

Given that in EY, the Tholians have p-4's (on their bases) and p-1's (on their ships), I would argue that no reduction for web BPV is necessary.

Have played one battle vs a Tholian base in EY, with a full 11 ship Klink fleet (C4,D4x10) and man, it was ugly.