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Quote:

Xander's art needs a disclaimer:

"Ships not shown actual size".

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By Nick Samaras (Koogie) on Tuesday, February 07, 2012 - 06:44 pm: Edit

Xander, the rear tail/platform does not look right, and the subspace augers should be on the outside of the pincer/arms/whatever you call it to support the firing arcs.if it helps Mark James did a scratch built Nicozian miniature a lifetime ago.
http://www.geocities.ws/outclassed2001/

By Xander Fulton (Dderidex) on Tuesday, February 07, 2012 - 06:52 pm: Edit

Hmmm. Had never seen that before - it is quite a change from what I was envisioning. The design I came up with (based on just the SSD) had a more barrel-shaped central body, with the rear platform being vertically-oriented (instead of horizontally) and essentially equidistant around the body (on its top) from the two lower 'rear wings'.

I can see the point on the fire arcs coming from the augers, though. Will need to move those.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Tuesday, February 07, 2012 - 07:17 pm: Edit

Nick Samaras:

By the way, please do not turn this topic into a platform for arguing tactics. I will readily acknowledge that since the Nicozians are "playtest" that the BPVs might need adjusting. My response was simply to note the reality that tactics have counter tactics and players need to run them against each other feel them out.

By Nick Samaras (Koogie) on Tuesday, February 07, 2012 - 08:28 pm: Edit

Xander, his interpretation does not mean he is right and your are wrong. I like how you made the hull look like it was composed of exotic matter. Looking at the SSD I don't know how the rear platform works with the RH phasers, though.

By Alex Lyons (Afwholf) on Tuesday, February 07, 2012 - 10:24 pm: Edit

Nick Samaras,

The FF and DD seem to look perfect with RH since the FF had no back wings and the DD back wings are not covering that RH arc, but you have to consider that maybe that platform is a high rise and slightly above those back wings. Maybe the ship is the high rise and the platform is below it, but there are ways that the RH makes alot of sense.

Now the FH Phasers in the nose appear to be out of arc, every set of wings (except, arguably, the FF) are covering a portion of that FH arc, i believe FA would be more balanced in how the SSDs are laid out.

By Nick Samaras (Koogie) on Tuesday, February 07, 2012 - 10:36 pm: Edit

Alex, I was thinking more about Mark's miniature and the raised rear platform and how those phasers look more 360. As for the forward phasers, if the nose slopes downward, or if there is a raised structure behind them (ie bridge), then FH should work, assuming the slope is still above the "claws"

By Xander Fulton (Dderidex) on Tuesday, February 07, 2012 - 11:55 pm: Edit

@Nick - that's largely how I saw the forward phasers, yes. The hull is multiple concentric 'barrel' rings, so there is a definite several steps up 'behind' the forward phasers preventing 360-degree arcs, and the 'wings' are no thicker than one of the smaller central rings...so you get FH arcs for the 2 phasers on top of the hull (and corresponding 2 phasers beneath it to get 4 phasers with the FH arc).

May have to rethink the rear phasers some, though.

It's tricky, given the ship design, to get RH arcs without 360 arcs on a distinct 'tail' platform...

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Wednesday, February 08, 2012 - 01:28 am: Edit

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Quote:

(E98.0) Both this weapon system and (EN102.0) from Module E2 are designated as "pulse phasers"; although both systems have distinct abbreviations on their respective SSDs. Should either system be re-named in order to avoid duplication? REPLY: Obviously should be but I have no idea what to change to what as of this moment.

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By Terry O'Carroll (Terryoc) on Wednesday, February 08, 2012 - 02:25 am: Edit

The information says that the Nicozian ships are "about the size of a drone" IIRC, which to me implied about the same volume. The Nicozian ships seem to have the same size (i.e. length AND width AND height) as a shuttle, making it much bigger than a drone.

By Nick Samaras (Koogie) on Wednesday, February 08, 2012 - 06:06 am: Edit

Xander, perhaps the rear platform is not a raised platform but a "tail" in line with the main hull and extending just past the rear wings?

By Mike Kenyon (Mikek) on Wednesday, February 08, 2012 - 01:23 pm: Edit

SPP,

REFD93.4) As to the WIT pressure field, as they skip warp ship/missile is not in the physical universe for half it's movement (the skip-portion), shouldn't you get that portion but not the destination movement for a pressure field? Of course, since you also have to go straight for those moves, it makes it unlikely you'll hit in that time ...

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Wednesday, February 08, 2012 - 01:54 pm: Edit

Mike Kenyon:

A pressure field is effectively a tractor beam that is covering a wide area, hence able to capture multiple units. As the cited rules very specifically say that a skip warp missile caught in a tractor beam is held, and the tractor overrides the skip warp of a skip warp missile (unlike for a ship). As the existing rules say a tractor beam can hold a skip warp missile normally, I had to make a call and went with an "advanced tractor beam" as used by the Bolosco would also have that effect, even if it is being used in a pressue field as opposed to a direct one-on-one link.

By Mike Kenyon (Mikek) on Wednesday, February 08, 2012 - 06:32 pm: Edit

Thanks for the clarification Steve!

By Daniel K. Thompson (Dkt0404) on Friday, February 10, 2012 - 12:39 am: Edit

Picture question:

Mostly curious.

If that is a neutron star in the background (which I would think it would have to be to be a Nic settlement) why are there craters on it?

I rather doubt a asteroid would have sufficent damage to even put a dent in a neutron star assuming it even lived long enough to get that close.

And if so, wouldn't a shuttle at that range be considered to be within the hex of the neutron star and hence instantly destroyed?

By Nick G. Blank (Nickgb) on Friday, February 10, 2012 - 09:24 am: Edit

I think a better picture would be tiny Nicozian ships zooming over a huge Federation saucer and blasting holes in it. (E.g. replace your background weith a Fed saucer to show the Nicozian's scale) Trying to do a neutron star would be boring as it shouldn't show any detail, certainly not craters, special non-rotating variety notwithstanding. Even if a shuttle is made of "duranium" it is still just ordinary matter (atoms, molecules) and would be instantly pancaked into nothing recognizable on impact, the atoms themselves being torn apart.

By Daniel K. Thompson (Dkt0404) on Friday, February 10, 2012 - 03:43 pm: Edit

for some reason Nick's post made me think of a tiny hollow styrofoam ball or packing peanuts hitting a multi tens of feet think, multi-ton, armor-hardened metal wall.

Made me laugh a bit heh

By Daniel K. Thompson (Dkt0404) on Friday, February 10, 2012 - 03:51 pm: Edit

Nic gravity question:

So being able to live on neutron stars means landing on them and being abkle to ignore pretty mucvh all the gravity up to and including the surface.

How does that translate into other parts of the game? Like, for example, how affected are they by a generic black hole's gravity?

If they can completely ignore the effects of a neutron star (which they would have to be able to do for the most part to be able to shoot anything into orbit) I would think there would have to be some sort of reduced effect for certain items like that.

By Terry O'Carroll (Terryoc) on Friday, February 10, 2012 - 06:34 pm: Edit

The playtest rules don't give them any special abilities around black holes.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Friday, February 10, 2012 - 07:21 pm: Edit

Terry O'Carroll:

And they are playtest rules, and the original authors did not think of the concept of Nicozians wandering around black holes and so no notice of it was taken. That does not mean that something cannot, and should not, be written in that regard, making Nicozians more dangerous around black holes.

However, the existing rules in Module R107 for them, created by your humble transcriber, DO have them affected by the gravity of a Neutron Star with some exceptions (landing, taking off, and orbiting). Otherwise they are affected by the gravity of a neutron star (pulled one hex closer on Impulse #16) normally, so obviously are affected by the gravity of a black hole normally.

(C91.29) "Exception, while Nicozian ships cannot land on normal planets, moons, or asteroids, they can land on (and take off from) neutron stars by the same procedures as landing on a class M planet (P2.4)." This is also on all four existing SSDs.

From the Nicozian Civil Wars article included in Module R107: "Also assume that Nicozian ships can enter into orbit around a neutron star, and while in orbit, will not be affected by the requirement to be pulled one hex closer to the star on Impulse #16 (P15.5). This is their home environment after all."

By Alex Lyons (Afwholf) on Saturday, February 11, 2012 - 01:20 pm: Edit

FD93.24 Nicozians can guide a missile out to 50 hexes, last night my group had a game and one player launched the missiles at range 45 roughly, while other players thought launch was still limited to 35. Can these missiles be launched out to 50 hexes?

Nicozian vessels seem to be exploratory, they each have two sensor channels, however one player understood the rules to say Nicozians use scout tables for Tac Intel without using a sensor channel, other players disagreed.

The main focus here is due to the Probe Drone, If it is used as a scout to gain Tac Intel, The Probe Drone only needs to get within range 9, launch the probe, and instantly have Tac Intel Level 'L'.

Also does the Probe Drone get EW shifts (for or against) when doing Tac Intel?

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Saturday, February 11, 2012 - 01:58 pm: Edit

Alex Lyons:

Yes, the rule means that a missile can be launched at a target that is 50 hexes away, just as a drone can be launched at a target that is 35 hexes away. If the Nicozian ship is 50 hexes from the target than by definition the missile it is launching is 50 hexes away.

Nothing in the rules says any ship is considered a scout for tactical intelligence purposes simply because it has a scout channel. It is a scout for tactical intelligence purposes if it is USING a scout channel for tactical inelligence purposes (D17.121). A Federation SC or GSC is no better than a ship unless they are using a special sensor under (G24.29) to gather tactical intelligence at which point they gather tactical intelligence as scouts.

Yes, the probe warhead works as a normally launched probe and yes, this is affected by electronic warfare: "(D17.155) Probes used for this function gain the benefit of the launching unit’s EW status, including the benefits of crew quality, lent EW and legendary officers." ECCM can be countered by ECM (D17.26).

By Alex Lyons (Afwholf) on Saturday, February 11, 2012 - 02:05 pm: Edit

Follow up on Probe Drones.

(FD97.123) TACTICAL INTELLIGENCE: The probe fired by the missile will relay data back using the appropriate column of the (D17.3) information chart for the controlling unit. This
provides a significant improvement over the standard probe drone of (FD6.0). Note that all Nicozian vessels are considered scouts for the purposes of (D17.0).

According to this the Nicozians ones get a specialized bonus on thier Probe Drones as it works as if the controlling unit was doing it. This is also where he understood that all Nicozians are scout level Tac Intel without using a channel, No one else understood it as such.

(FD97.124) CREW QUALITY: The information above is not improved if the ship has an outstanding crew (G21.0) or legendary officers (G22.0), but a ship with a poor crew cannot use a probe warhead at all.

The main reason why i asked about EW is because this rule states that Crew/Officers DONT effect it and i wasnt sure if EW was included. Thank you for clearing this up.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Saturday, February 11, 2012 - 02:16 pm: Edit

Alex Lyons:

All Nicozian ships have scout channels and it was felt necessary to state they are considered scouts, but they are scouts ONLY if they us a scout channel, just as a normal scout, or a PFT, or a Scout Carrier, or a Star Base, or a Battle Station, or a Base Station, or a Mobile Base, or a Drone Bombardment Cruiser, or whatever other unit with a scout channel is IF it uses a scout channel to gather tactical intelligence.

I have added the following errata items to the list:

(FD97.123) The reference to all Nicozian ships being scouts only refers to the fact that they all have special sensors. They would still need to use a special sensor under (G24.29) to gain scout benefits for tactical intelligence under (D17.121).

(FD97.124) The reference to crew quality and outstanding officers not improving the information simply means that the mere presence of these does not, their ECCM effects, however will improve the quality of the information gathered by the probe just as it would for a probe launched by a ship.

By Alex Lyons (Afwholf) on Saturday, February 11, 2012 - 02:18 pm: Edit

Thank you SPP.