This is a Starbase assault scenario, that will hopefully be different enough, that people will want to play it.

By Scott Tenhoff (Scottt) on Monday, September 09, 2002 - 07:29 pm: Edit

(October Y169) by Scott Tenhoff, California
As the Lyran invasion finally reached the Count’s Starbase of the Kzinti. A huge month long battle erupted around it. Lyran, Kzinti, and even the Klingon detachment sent to aid the Lyrans all suffered astounding lose of life and machines.
Finally as the Lyrans prepared for the final assault, the Count ordered all of his last reserves into defense of his symbolic powerbase, the Starbase. Fighters from nearby worlds were brought in, decimated fighter squadrons joined, and a drone bombardment ship forced into direct combat.
The Count decided to lead his fleet from the bridge of the Starbase to the end, to destroy as many Lyrans and Klingons as he could, before the Starbase was destroyed. There would be no living for him, if the seat of his power was destroyed.

(SH??.1) Number of Players: 2; the Kzinti player and the Coalition player.

(SH??.2) Initial Setup
9 Maps, Classic 3x3 grid, with map 5 being in the middle.

Kzinti
All, WS-3, speed 10, facing player’s choice, within 6 hexes of the SB. Ships may start docked to the SB, and repair may be begun at the beginning of the scenario.
SB Map 5, 2215, rotation speed selected by Kzinti. (see SH??.45) Note: No Y170 refit. 4 Hanger Modules, 2 Power Modules, VIP Module, Hospital Module, 12 AAS Fighters
40 small mines, and 8 large mines within 20 hexes of the SB, and at least 6 hexes from 2215. 50% of these are command controlled, the other must be set to SC detection.
CVS Zname1 (8 AAS)
CLE+ Zname2
CVL+ Zname3 (6 SAS)
CLE+ Zname4
CC Zname5
BC Zname6
DD Zname7
SDF Zname8

Coalition:
enter on southern map edge, speed max, WS-3
Lyran DN+pB Red Claw ???
Klingon D6S Kname1
Klingon D6B Kname2
Klingon D5 Kname3
Klingon D5 Kname4
Klingon D5 Kname5
Lyran DD+ Lname2
Lyran FF+ Lname3
Lyran FF+ Lname4
Silver County’s Pride squadron (See (SH??.461))
DWL+p Lname5
DW+p Lname6
DW+p Lname7

(SH??.3) LENGTH OF SCENERIO: The scenario continues until one side disengages or is destroyed.
(SH??.4) SPECIAL RULES
(SH??.41) MAP: The map is fixed. The Kzinti’s may only disengage in direction A/B, and the Coaltion may disengage in direction D/E.
(SH??.42) SHUTTLES: No fighters or shuttles have Warp Booster packs. If playing with EW fighters, the Starbase has 1 EW-fighter, the CVS and CVL do not have one available. The Starbase has only 8 normal shuttles remaining total. 4 from modules 4+5, and additional ones being brought out of cold storage and housed in empty fighter bays.
(SH??.43) COMMANDER'S OPTION ITEMS: The Kzinti player may purchase 160 Commander’s Option points, this low amount is to show that this siege has been going on for a month already, and supplies have dwindled to almost nothing. The Coaliton player may purchase 220 Commander’s Option points; this is greater than the Kzinti’s because the Coalition was much more prepared for the Assault then the Kzinti’s were for a siege. No MRS shuttles may be purchased, as they have all been used up in previous assaults on the SB. The Kzinti player may spend Commander’s Option points to purchase new mines.
(SH??.431) All drones are "medium", i.e., speed-20. Each drone armed ship may purchase special drones up to the historical racial percentages as part of Commander's Option items.
(SH??.44) REFITS: All ships have all available refits for Y169. All eligible Lyran ships have the UIM Refit, and Power Pack Refit. The Klingons have NOT received the K-refit.
(SH??.45) SB Damage. The Starbase is close to destruction, to reflect this, the following damage has happened to it, in the weeks of attacks before this scenario. The following applies to the Starbase.
(SH??.451) Previous damage. Starbase Modules 6, 1,2, 3 are all destroyed, mark off every box in them. 20 damage has been done to the SB Core, through the armor, roll 2 groups of 10 damage to the core.
(SH??.452) Recent Repairs. Repair any 12 boxes in Modules 1 or 2. Repair 6 boxes in the SB Core Module. All Armor has been repaired. All shields are intact. CDR has been replenished before the scenario begins. Each magazine of the H-Drone Racks counts as 1 box for repair purposes.
(SH??.453) Crew Casualties. The SB has it’s crew reduced to 65 crew, 30 boarding parties, 18 Deck Crews. This was from either evacuation or the continuous siege. There are 10 wounded boarding parties that are in the hospital spaces of the SB. At the end of each turn, roll a D6, on a 1-3, 1 boarding party is healed, and added to the available boarding parties.
(SH??.46) Coalition Damage. The Lyran DN has taken 24 internals. Each SC3 ship has taken 14 internals. Each SC4 ship has taken 8 damage. Apply this as one volley through the #1 shield. CDR may then be applied to fix as many systems as possible. All shields are intact. CDR has been replenished. Each ship has lost 1D3+1 (round up) crew units and boarding parties. Additional crew or boarding parties may be purchased with Commander’s Option points.
(SH??.461) Silver County’s Pride squadron. These ships follow different damage rules then (SH??.46) above. These ships have been much more abused, and have all have been crippled from previous assaults. Each ship take a 10 point volleys through the #1 shield, then a 10 point volley through the #2, and a 10 point volley through the #6 shield. Each ship may then conduct CDR to fix upto 2 boxes, but both ESG must be operational. CDR has been replenished. All shields are intact. Each of these ships has lost ½ of it’s crew and boarding parties. These were brought as drone/fighter defense platforms and possibly minesweepers only, not to be constantly fired upon by the Starbase.
(SH??.47) Kzinti Damage. Each SC3 ship has taken 14 internals from the #1 shield. Each SC4 ship has taken 8 damage through the #1 shield. After all damage has been rolled, each ship may conduct it’s maximum CDR to repair any systems. All shields are intact. CDR has been replenished.
(SH??.48) The Count. The Kzinti Count is considered a Legendary Officer for tracking purposes, but does not give any bonuses. He must be in any control space in the SB core. And if his box is destroyed, he is considered killed. He may be captured by capturing the control space, or a hit-and-run raid. He must be guarded. He must be in the last control space of that type to be hit. He cannot be prematurely killed for the Kzinti’s to retreat.
(SH??.49) Kzinti Drone Reserves. The SB has a total of 200 spaces of drones available. The CVS has a total of 80 spaces of drones available. The CVL has a total of 50 spaces of drones available. The SDF has a total of 60 spaces of drones available. All other ships have the standard amount of drones (IE. 1 reload for each rack) These can be used for fighters, drone racks, and scatter packs on each respected ship.

(SH??.5) VICTORY CONDITIONS:
Use Modified victory conditions. The Kzinti Player gets a bonus of 5 VP for each turn that the Count lives after Turn 15. Kzinti SC3 ships may not disengage until the Count has been killed or captured (by any means). The Lyran Silver County Pride’s Squadron ships are only worth ½ BPV if destroyed.
(SH??.6) VARIATIONS: The scenario can be played with the following.
(SH??.61) Replace the D6B and a DD with a D6G and a DDG with 50% boarding parties.
(SH??.62) Replace the SDF with a Small AuxScout, and a FF+
(SH??.63) Replace the Lyran DN with an undamaged Lyran BC.
(SH??.64) Replace the CC with a Large Asteroid within 2 hexes of the SB. With 3 Bombers. Others would be assumed to be destroyed in previous battles.
(SH??.7) BALANCE: The scenario may be balanced for players of different skill levels by one or more of the following:
(SH??.71) Increase or decrease the damage to any selected vessel.
(SH??.72) Add additional fighters to the Kzinti’s.
(SH??.8) TACTICS:
Kzinti:
Remember that the SB may change rotation speed to bring weapons into arc quicker, or leave them in arc longer. Read the advance base rules carefully.
Coalition:
Decide on your targets first, either the fleet or the SB, and stick with it. The Starbase can still take an amazing amount of punishment even though it’s missing ½ of it’s weapons.
(SH??.9) HISTORICAL OUTCOME:
The Count’s Starbase was obviously destroyed, and the Count died as he wished. The Kzinti were able to cripple all of the D5’s before they were withdrawn from battle. The Silver County’s Pride Squadron was destroyed in it’s entireity. The remains of the Kzinti carrier groups were crippled beyond recognition, and were forced to flee to the Barony where they were repaired and then went on to fight against the combined Lyran/Klingon drive toward the Kzinti homeworlds.
(SH??.X) DESIGN NOTES:
A non-standard SB assault that can be quicker to play then the standard one. OK, the Kzinti’s are top heavy, this is to reflect that the escort frigates got destroyed in previous assaults on the SB, but the Kzinti heavy ships are more damaged to compensate, and more importantly the carrier’s drone supply is depleted.

By Scott Tenhoff (Scottt) on Monday, September 09, 2002 - 07:29 pm: Edit

Comment's welcome.



The first comment from SPP would probably be a better explaination of why the EFF's aren't in the battle. I'll have to add it I guess.

By David Slatter (Davidas) on Tuesday, January 21, 2003 - 05:50 pm: Edit

I can see the EFFs dying beforehand. After all, killing EFFs is a standard tactic in F&E. However, there may well have been a depleted Zin FCR around, as an AO F&E battle at the SB will probably have it as an emergency escort by this point.
Its possible that there may be a Zin SAV or SAD or SAS around, but they might have all copped it by now. However, those are exactly the kind of ships that may be kept docked until the last gasp.

24 command controlled mines is really lethal IIRC. You can't sweep them as they are command triggered when you move next to the mine - the whole minefield would have to be forced by ESGs. This is very non-standard. I would suggest that you have several holes in a more normal(originally double strength?) minefield, locations known to the coalition, where it has previously been penetrated.

Historically, I don't think the colaition has such a large problem with ships. They probably would have withdrawn the cipples and put fresh ships in. Problem about that is it makes the battle one-sided. I'd suggest making more of the coalition ships fresh, but really poor qality (the dregs) i.e. mostly FFs, a lyran DDG perhaps. You could also have the command ship downgraded to a Lyran BC.
The scout will probably be a lyran tug scout.

Many of these are very recent publications, so I understand if you miss them off.

By Scott Tenhoff (Scottt) on Tuesday, January 21, 2003 - 06:07 pm: Edit

Wow!!, just 3 months to get a response!! <weep>

Well from an F+E point of view, this is what I was thinking. The Coalition attack both the Count+Duke's starbases the same turn. So most of the Klingons to the Duke's, and not as much to the Count's.

This battle is "effectively" round 5-7 maybe at the SB, generating SIDS the first rounds and pounding it to scrap.

The crippled Lyrans are their to let the Lyrans remain in control of the Command ship. Remember the Lyrans need to keep 50+% of the ships in the battle, to let them use their DN as the commandship. And honestly, I figured a crippled DW (with 2ESGs) is better then 1DD (with 1 ESG) for drone/fighter defense. It's not like I have to keep those DW's in, I just thought it would be a little different if they were in there.

I actually put in a variant to replace the SDF with a SAS and FF (it's in their, just gets lost)

By Stewart W Frazier (Frazikar) on Tuesday, January 21, 2003 - 09:46 pm: Edit

Hmmm, I'd change the minefield to 1 standard package (M6.2) between 10-20 from the SB but with only 12 command control (what's left after a month). After all, adding the command bits ain't gonna be easy during the 'seige' (while throwing 'extra' mines out can be)...

By David Slatter (Davidas) on Wednesday, January 22, 2003 - 04:50 am: Edit

Its just that I don't think the Lyrans would risk their precious DWs - they don't have many at this point - they use their FFs and DDs. The Klingon contingent may also be down to F5Qs by this point.
I know you need 50% to have a Lyran command ship - I was implying to replace the lyran DWs with lyran DDs/FFs, and maybe replacing one or two D5s with smaller ships. One advantage this will have is that the coalition DSRs will be more or less ineffective outside range 15, as many will only *be* range 15. That will stop too much mucking about for turns on end plicking away at R30.

I havn't seen many F&E games where a serious assault is done on both the Count's and the Duke's SB in the same turn - it tends to cripple too many coalition ships and leaves them open to counterattack.

By Scott Tenhoff (Scottt) on Wednesday, January 22, 2003 - 03:51 pm: Edit

So how about this for the Klingons+Lyrans:
Lyran DN
Klingon D6S
Klingon D6
Klingon D5
Klingon F5L
Klingon F5
Klingon F5
Lyran DD
Lyran DD
Lyran FF
Lyran FF
Lyran FF

A lot more Frigates and destroyers then. But its still only 14 Disruptors over range 15. But I'm kinda worried about the Coalition being out ranged by the Kzinti's Disruptors.

By David Slatter (Davidas) on Wednesday, January 22, 2003 - 05:08 pm: Edit

They will be (somewhat). But then that forces the coalition to fight rather than play a boring sniping game, which is healthy for people's sanity. If you are really worried, keep another D5. But do remember that this force will have its ships in much better condition.
Remember that the Caolition can still snipe with P-1s (although they don't have many).

It all boils down to what options you want to give the coalition. I guess it may be best to make the standoff and come-in strategies seem equally viable.