"I'm positing that there must be one ship that is so utilitarian and outstanding regardless of situation that would always be chosen first by Captains."

Yup.

B10A.

Stasis, firepower, durability, casino.....it has it all.

Gets even better with the X-refit.

By Troy Williams (Jungletoy) on Sunday, August 15, 2010 - 03:50 pm: Edit

Thanks everyone! There is a method to my madness. I played SFB 22 years ago and now that the kids are gone I have recommitted (and re purchased) the game. It appears that parity in the SFB universe has been achieved and any imbalances have been balanced. When I was an avid player the Lyrans had the upper hand (significantly). I can't remember which Lyran ship, CC CA with the + refit (phaser Gs) was the bomb. Comparable BPV from other races got owned frequently by this ship in one-on-one duels. I am trying to get through all the rules now but it looks like the Kizinti (unbeatable in the hands of a seasoned player) got toned down a bit with all the drone/anti-drone/shuttle rules, and the others have come up with changes in maneuver rules. Still the best tactical board game I've ever played.

Mike- Do you get a better EW when the topless casino dancers are deployed? ;-)

By John Trauger (Vorlonagent) on Tuesday, August 24, 2010 - 01:39 pm: Edit

Each one counts as a wild weasel.

By Xander Fulton (Dderidex) on Tuesday, August 24, 2010 - 02:13 pm: Edit

---

Quote:

Mike- Do you get a better EW when the topless casino dancers are deployed

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By Sidney G. Kanouse (Konus67c7) on Friday, September 10, 2010 - 03:36 pm: Edit

What is the opinion of the forum concerning the Triangulum Galaxy module. Is it worth the money, and is it a "complete" module; with counters,SSDs,etc. I have bought the Magellanic and a few Omega modules and enjoy playing the various "odd" ships. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Sunday, September 12, 2010 - 01:57 am: Edit

Before I give my own thoughts, I should offer the disclaimer that I haven't had the chance to try any of the M33 ships on the tabletop; I mainly buy SFB modules both for the background data, and to see what kind of ships/fleets/rules could be re-worked into Federation Commander.


That said:


There is no formally published full module for the Triangulum Galaxy, though I hope there will be one someday. (Not least in terms of seeing how the final rules might make the transition to FC.)

Right now, there are 4 playtest factions in print; the Helgardians, Arachnids and Mallarans (mostly) in Module E2, plus the Imperium ships seen in Captain's Log #23.

Bear in mind that as a playtest module, E2 has no counters, and comes with less 'clean' SSDs than those in full releases. Plus, the included timeline only goes as far as Y122.

Even so, I find the glimpse at the setting to be a fascinating one; which I tried to give an overview of over on the FC forum.

Oh, and the thread for the Triangulum Galaxy on this board is here, if you haven't found it already.

By james lee boyce II (Postalpanzer) on Wednesday, July 13, 2011 - 06:34 pm: Edit

"I'm positing that there must be one ship that is so utilitarian and outstanding regardless of situation that would always be chosen first by Captains."

I would say a D5L incredible arcs limited aegis 2 ADD good power curve.

By Richard B. Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Wednesday, July 13, 2011 - 07:18 pm: Edit

An Andromedan Python is pretty good for duels. Better than a D5L for duels imo.

By John Trauger (Vorlonagent) on Wednesday, July 13, 2011 - 08:14 pm: Edit

There isn't a single ship. There's a list due to the number of points to play with and player preference.

I think people are easily given to reaching for war cruisers and NCAs. In addition to the Klink D5, I'm very partial to the Hydran Tartar (three hellbores and power, power power)

Being a plasma player, I like stuff that caters to my preference.

Hand me 200 points of Feds I'll make a beeline for the BCF every time.

Give me 200 points of anything, and I might grab a Hydran Paladin+ if you let me drop all the fighters. Or a Gorn BCH (Do NOT try to tell me the Novahawk is a BCH)

I love the Rom SKL. Near-CW plasma, cloaks on a dime, loads of power and reserve power (can cloak from batteries alone) and flies very fast under cloak to boot.

Probably the best all-around PF is the Gorn PF (3x P-1, 4x PL-F, what's not to love?)

By james lee boyce II (Postalpanzer) on Sunday, August 07, 2011 - 07:13 pm: Edit

{Thanks everyone! There is a method to my madness. I played SFB 22 years ago and now that the kids are gone I have recommitted (and re purchased) the game.}

try the omega stuff we really like the variety of weapons. Alpha has 3 plasma races using all the same kind of plasma, 3 races using disrupters. In Omega there are 4 different plasma users each races plasma functions a little differently. Each race has different kinds of basic phasers. And at least a dozen more direct fire weapons. Omega does not have any races that put out massive quantities of drones. No scatterpacks. A couple of the races use Tachyon missiles that are much larger, a cruiser can usually only launch one a turn and they are super modular it is fun just to make 6 different missles to go in your racks.

By Andrew Granger (Captaincf) on Tuesday, August 09, 2011 - 04:21 am: Edit

I have recently printed out a ton of simulator stuff from the downloads page and I was thinking of using it before repurchasind C4, I am sure some of this stuff changed before C4 was realeased, but I was wondering if anyone had good tactics for Triaxian ships, Flivers and Frax Subs. Also for the Hispaniolan ships.

By Mike West (Mjwest) on Tuesday, August 09, 2011 - 10:27 am: Edit

Flivvers? Ah, Flivvers ...

They have two main points about them:

1) You want to sit at and *stay* at 20 hexes. At 20 hexes your hyperdrones will hit that impulse, limiting some defensive options. Hyperdrones are equally effective from range 1 to 20. So, pick 20. Fortunately, with hyperwarp, your ability to maintain range like that significantly increases.

As part of this, recognize you have zero crunch. Except for your phasers (which you will probably want to reserve much of for anti-drone and anti-plasma work), your damage potential is identical at ranges from 1 to 40, and your odds of hitting are virtually identical. If you ever get close to the enemy, or worse yet, enter overload range, you will probably lose.

2) You can swap out hyperdrones for drones. Use this to play some stupid drone tricks. Make sure you grab an ECM drone. Since you want to maintain a range of 20, so much the better. Also, take enough drones to make a pair of scatterpacks. Since your ships have three magazines, it is easy to unload your drones and reload hyperdrones without slowing down your firing rate.

As part of this, remember you can only control three seeking weapons, not six. Don't spit out so many drones you have to drop tracking on something. Don't forget that your ECM drone takes a control channel (unless you give it ATG).

By Mike Strain (Evilmike) on Thursday, August 11, 2011 - 01:33 pm: Edit

Question.

Has anybody ever actually USED Suicide Freighters during a base assault?

Were they useful?

Did they work as intended?

Or not?

By Troy Latta (Saaur) on Thursday, August 11, 2011 - 02:25 pm: Edit

Wow, not only have I never used them, I forgot they existed! What rule # covers them, again?

By Stewart W Frazier (Frazikar2) on Thursday, August 11, 2011 - 07:15 pm: Edit

(R1.33) IIRC...

By Mike Strain (Evilmike) on Friday, August 12, 2011 - 04:24 am: Edit

They're in Basic Set.

Has anybody used them at all?

Base assault or otherwise?

By Michael C. Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Friday, August 12, 2011 - 04:44 am: Edit

Actually, there was a term paper not that long ago that featured suicide freighters...

By Terry O'Carroll (Terryoc) on Friday, August 12, 2011 - 10:51 pm: Edit

I've used them in Federation Commander.

IMX they are very good for sponging up fire, just like any other seeking weapon.

By Shawn Perry (Redmop) on Saturday, September 17, 2011 - 02:31 am: Edit

So I've been convinced (by me, mostly) to remake our campaign's order of battle for each race for our next run through.

My goal is allowing a choice of a scout carrier with small fighters, a scout carrier with large fighters, a pft and flotilla, and a pair (or more) combat hulls, filling the rest of the BPV with combat hulls or escorts. Every option is to ideally have channels.

So here's my question. Which would you choose for which race and why?

1. Scout Carrier with heavy fighters and a combat hull (with a filler combat hull if needed)
2. Scout Carrier with heavy fighters and an escort
(with a filler escort if needed)
3. Scout Carrier with small fighters and a combat hull
(with a filler hull if needed)
4. Scout Carrier with small fighters and an escort
(with a filler escort if needed)
5. Carrier with small fighters and an escort
(with a filler escort if needed)
6. Carrier with small fighters and a scout
(with a filler escort or combat hull if needed)
7. PFT with a full flotilla (the PFT would likely be somewhat combat-ish)
8. Scout and a combat hull

The first ship mentioned would on the same or similar hull type, and all options be very close in BPV value. I'm aiming for about 435 BPV or so (this seems light for some races like the ISC).

No Andro, LDR (folded into Lyran), Orion, or WYN, and yes to Peladine, Frax, Jinso, and Seltorians.

Feds could be allowed their Thunderbolts for this exercise.

Fighters replace at EPV, hulls and PFs cannot be replaced anywhere near as easily.

Of course, feel free to suggest other options.

By George Duffy (Sentinal) on Saturday, September 17, 2011 - 02:50 am: Edit

If Feds allowed Thunderbolts, then have them lose F-111s. Let them use F101s and A-20s for the heavy fighters.

By Shawn Perry (Redmop) on Saturday, September 17, 2011 - 08:02 pm: Edit

This is the only turn they get the choice so they cant have both. Also it doesn't answer my question. I'll try to reword it.

Which would you choose for which race and why?

BPV 440 or so
1. Scout Carrier with heavy fighters enough hulls to bill out the BPV
3. Scout Carrier with small fighters enough hulls to bill out the BPV
5. Carrier with small fighters enough hulls to bill out the BPV
6. Carrier with small fighters, a scout and enough hulls to bill out the BPV
7. PFT with a full flotilla (the PFT would likely be somewhat combat-ish) and enough hulls to bill out the BPV if there is enough left
8. Scout and enough hulls to bill out the BPV

Also, if given the option, would you prefer to have your carriers escorted or have equivalant BPV in combat hulls?

By Geoff Conn (Talonz) on Monday, April 30, 2012 - 11:00 pm: Edit

I cant find a suitable forum section for cross game issues so this is it...surprised to see no generic SFU or SFB forum section...

Old vet here considering a return to the SFU in some form. I have a need to fire up engines and target deep space intruders with weapons again...

At first I was looking at something none-SFU related, and thus picked up starmada, firestorm armada, and star blazers battle system rules to read as I was thinking of doing some genere mashing. FA seems too simple, and SFBS too much like sfb. Starmada seems alright, decent ship construction rules.

I actually started 2 fleets (this is all about miniatures this time around) until I found myself drifting towards ST micromachines and a third fleet (or more!).

Then I played a demo of ACTA star fleet this weekend, which got me fired up on the SFU again. But I dont like the lack of seeking weapons in that game. Nor the loss of faceted shields, although thats less of an issue. Nor how they are dealing with drones... But the special actions are a good way to approximate the EA, and in that regard im suprised they didnt make it exactly that (secret and simulataneous action choice, then reveal all at start of turn, but i digress...)

Ive been looking at fed commander but it just seems like sfb lite...if I wanted to chop my ssds in half, i could do that myself.

Which might leave klingon/romulan armada in the middle. Faceted shields and seeking weapons (sort of!).

Any thoughts on any of those systems if you have tried them?

And what of these new miniatures? They are huge! Im not sure I have a use for minis that size...

By John Trauger (Vorlonagent) on Tuesday, May 01, 2012 - 02:20 pm: Edit

There's no one topic that addresses all your comments, true. But there's also nothing at all in your post that relates to tactics, so the best we can do for you here is break things down for where you can get more info.

Comments on other games go to "Games and Science Fiction"->"Other Games (for SFUers who like to play them)"

There's more FedCom than you can shake a stick at the root discussion Board level right above the Star Fleet Battles heading

There's a miniatures topic right below the Star Fleet Battles heading. bet some people there have played with the new minis.

There's a Starmada topic further down that same master list of topic headings.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Monday, October 01, 2012 - 10:52 pm: Edit

Since there is no X-ship tactics thread, I figured I'd ask this here.


Recently, I've been trying to get a better sense of how the first-generation advanced technology ships perform in game terms; and one thing I noticed is that, even with the additional power reserves of each X-ship, there were still a few issues that might pop up in even this embarrassment of riches.


For example, take the Feds. While they would have plenty of additional warp power to arm their photons, they would start running into the issue of just how to use them. Do they make a point of filling the batteries with fresh warp power every turn, in order to allow for overlods armed with reserve power? Do they try to fast-load them every turn, or spread things over two turns as a non-X Fed would be forced to? And would the sum total of these force the ship to plan on going less than speed 31 in order to fit everything in?

Or, when it comes to actually playing with Fed X-ships on the tabletop, do the power management issues end up to not matter all that much compared to X-ships from empires hat don't have the same warp power requirements for their heavy weapons?


(Actually, one thing that really stood out for me when going over the battery rules in Your Text is that X2-tech batteries can store warp power over turn breaks. I'm sure I'm far from the only person to imagine how much of an advantage that would be to a Fed player.)

By Loren Knight (Loren) on Tuesday, October 02, 2012 - 12:10 pm: Edit

I find that speed 31 is rarely needed except when withdrawing from something. Most of the time the mid to high 20s is enough for most tactics, particularly when closing. Mid-Turn Speed Changes also save energy and can be the energy needed for the Feds to opperate fairly unhindered.
Feds and all X-ships, IMO, should rotate reserve warp through the batteries if not for an opertune photon shot, at least for an un-scheduled speed change.
I personally believe one should always float at least a little shield reinforcement this can be where the battery power goes for rotation. Of course, during mid-battle freeing up battery power for reserve warp won't be a problem.