Archive through February 24, 2003
Star Fleet Universe Discussion Board: Star Fleet Battles: SFB Proposals Board:
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Archive through February 24, 2003
I can't wait to see how this story comes out!
Go team!
Hoo AHHH!!!
SPP, but they ARE available to purcase, right? I'd think they'd be a common "attachment" both for their combat utility and to fix they base's "stuff" when it gets broke...
Like buying commandos or HWS on a frigate, getting these guys seems to me to be a good deal (especially better than HWS if no ground combat by the ship id forseen) if enemy ship come into range and we can make a boarding attempt to capture. They are a good deal ESPECIALLY when you have limited transporter capability...
Besides, they are just cool. mike
btw,a rules question.
In bp combat do the shifts for commandos and outstanding crew "stack?"
Well, forgive my little burst of humor, and I hope no one who reads the "personalities" of the 429th Battalion will be upset either with their job or their ranks. I will note that I listed everyone who has posted in this topic, save only one obvious person, and stress again that I meant no insult. I started backwards listing names, so as I found more, there were fewer positions to fill. Originally I was going to stop at Command and Staff, but then went on to the various platoons. Some positions are still unfilled, but that is only because I ran out of names. Note that only officer positions were listed, except for the all important Command Sergeant-Major, of course.
If this thing actually does play out to some extent in this topic, feel free to speak "in persona", but note that any of you would have to act in accordance with the "orders" the Battalion Commander gives, i.e., he would be the one as the actual player who determines when weapons fire, where the fighters move, etc.
And be prepared to "die" or be "badly wounded" with good grace if it happens.
And fill free to back date things (maybe we can develop some sort of fiction story out of this . . . but in that case probably some people would lose their "appearance" as there are a lot of "characters" currently listed.
So when I say "back date things", perhaps the story would open with Justin Howell, the battalion Intelligence officer getting the report that a Klingon raiding force has penetrated the zone and is believed to be heading towards the planet.
Our story opens (GRIN):
Good Lord! Turn up the pressure why don't ya! 
SPP: This sounds like fun but I got to tell you it's going to take time then. Sure, I post a lot but that's all little inbetween times and all and off the top of my head so if I'm going to think seriously and continuously then it's going to take some time. About one or two posts per day.
Tomarrow, (SUNDAY) I'll post the starting lay out and ask for comments from my Officers. Then I'll lay down the final decision by Monday afternoon/evening.
Whould you suggest I track this on a map? Is this "Play By BBS"? Or a more general description of tactics and reactions?
Hee, hee. Now I'm excited.
Lieutenant Fant reporting for duty.
Major Harding reporting for duty.
(Character background: A little old for a major, as I entered service late. I obtained a reserve commission thinking it might help my company sell shuttle parts and supplies to the garrison; liked the service enough that I stuck with it. Allegations of impropriety in the awarding of the WBP contract are entirely unfounded, I have an independent audit to prove it...)
Major Wells reporting in also.
The first organizational questions would be layout of the bases relative to hex sides and power grids. I would want to pair a Ground Based Defense Phaser-4 with either a Ground Warning Station or the Ground Marine Garrison to increase the amount of damage the phaser bases can take and still fire, using the ample power supply of the other base.
A second organizational question is how many shuttles are diverted to support a fast reaction Marine force versus doing Wild Weasel or localised fire support for their base. Edited to add: I forgot about the scatterpacks which are needed to increase drone launch totals to respectable levels. We need to keep a shuttle near each fighter base to replace the shuttle the base launches as a scatterpack and to start preparing the scatterpack.
Some initial guidance would make the succeeding decisions easier.
Major Harding, Fighter base 1 stands ready for operations.
Some notes:
We appear to have 5xAdmin shuttles available for use, plus any purchased. We also have 3xGAS shuttles.
As for base setup, one of the GCLs should have the 4 maximum allowed base, to form an energy grid to allow for greater flexability.
Possible layout:
GCL1:
Military Garrison, Small Fighter Base #1,Small Fighter Base #2 ,Phaser Battery #1.
(19 Power Available)(3xAdmin,3xGAS)
GCL3:
Phaser Battery #2,Small Warning Station #1.
(17 Power Available)(1xAdmin)
GCL:5
Phaser Battery #3, Small Warning Station #2.
(17 Power Available)(1xAdmin)
This layout would allow a good deal of power for both sensor channel operation and offensive weapon usage.
Note: I have looked, but cannot locate, anything that would show or not show that ground based sensor channels are blinded by weapons fire from the same or adjacent GCLs. If blinding is the case in the same GCL, then it would be better to co-locate the Small Warning Stations with the the HQ, and Fighter bases with the Phaser 4 Batteries.
End of Report.
Colonel Knight:
Regret to inform you that operational Necessity requires, in a normal set up and assuming an A, C, E arrangement of the firing battery, that the elements of the Space Warning and Electronic Support Company of necessity must be in in A and D, or B and E, or C and F. Each only has a 180 degree scan of space, and two are required for the full 360, and that requires that they be on opposite sides of the planet.
So, assuming that A, C, E, you could have a Ground Warning Station in A, and could link it in a power Grid with the Phaser Station in A, but Ground Warning Station #2 HAS to be in Area D, and Phaser Stations #2 and #3 have to be in C and E respectively.
You should also append a discussion of why two Fighter Ground Base-Small are preferable to one Fighter Ground Base-Medium. Or decide if you want to demand that your two Fighter Ground Base-Smalls be traded in for one Fighter Ground Base-Medium. (Of particular note since you are sticking both Fighter Ground Bases in one hexside facing of the planet in any case.)
Remember, I am trying to find out how you see things. And I will provide as needed counter-arguments in some cases.
To answer a question, fire by one ground base has no effect on another base, i.e., the sensor channel will not be blinded.
Side note to all concerned, I am (with the current setup more or less set) toying with various Klingon and non-Klingon (well, okay, Orion) forces for the raid/assault force.
Special Note to Colonel Knight: you are going to have to let your "people" know which stations they are at, and the hex sides they are deployed on (2215 will be the assumed hex of the planet).
Major Jeff Wile, Battalion Operations Officer (s3), reporting to duty station, Sir!
SPP:Need some help here, not having ever served in the military, I find I have a lack of knowledge concerning the role and duties of just what a Battalion Operations Officer does.
(My guess is planning for the battalion at large, assisting in training? evaluation of completed operations?)
Additional Note to Colonel Knight in re:
"Would you suggest I track this on a map? Is this "Play By BBS"? Or a more general description of tactics and reactions?"
Yes, you will need to track things on a map in terms of where your forces are set up. Be sure to list which officers of your battalion are where. I.e., Captain Stovell, the Battery Commander is probably co-located with you to advise you on the situation of his battery. Things like:
"Alpha has been knocked out. Lieutenant Lampert is trying to get minimal power restored so that the main weapon can be fired at reduced power."
This would tell you in short hand that a Phaser-4 battery labeled "Alpha" has had its shield punched in, taken massive internals (well, at least for a Ground Base) that have knocked out all of its power systems, probably its defense phasers (the four phaser-3s), but the phaser-4 is untouched. This would reflect a decision YOU made as the "player" when the base took its damage. I.e., you decided to score the damage (damage on small ground bases is not done by the DAC, but by the owning player allocating the points) on the last APR rather than the phaser-4 because it would take three turns to get a phaser-4 repaired (takes ten repair points, assuming no damage to the Damage Control Track the base has a damage repair rating of four), but only one turn to repair an APR to enable the phaser-4 to fire as a phaser-1. That at least might let it get one more shot off, while having an APR and nothing to power (shield had been destroyed) would be senseless.
Note that the above also assigns Lieutenant Lampert to that gun, but maybe you call the Guns something else, maybe you will refer to Lieutenant Lampert's Gun as simply "first platoon" (or maybe you do not want Lampert to be the first platoon leader of your firing battery, but want him to be your second platoon leader?).
As to action, that it going to be rather complex.
Pretty much I am going to be providing input on what the raiding force is doing, you will input that data into your map, and make decisions on your actions, like "I will fire the bearing phaser-4 at the Ship Designated "Shudos" when it reaches ten hexes range." I might then halt the action and have "Shudos" do something different than it was going to do, i.e., "Shudos" was going to close to range seven, but now I may decide to close to range five because you fired. There is no way we are going to do this "hex by hex". And to some extent you are going to have to trust me on the actions I provide for the attacking ships. Do not worry that I will attempt to "cheat" you or act in a way other than would be reasonable for the level of intelligence that the attackers may possess.
Jeff Wile:
That is an adequate enough description of the Battalion Three Slot. You are also, nominally, third in command. If Colonel Knight and Major Wells are . . . let's just say "no longer able to exercise command", you are it.
The commander of a fighter ground base would be responsible for the upkeep of the fighter group based there, defense of the base in case of ground assault.......what else?
SPP- Thank you.
(Hmmm. Third in command. If this were a ship that would make my combat post the Auxillery Control room. Puts the 2nd in the chain of command at the Emergency bridge. Which of the ground bases would constitute the tertiary command post? Better go back to the earlier posts, maybe there is a clue there? (goes scurring away happily content with his lot in life knowing 2 more experienced officers stand between him and the age old point in time where the excrement impacts the impeller driven air filtration unit.))
Kommodore Ketrick, I hereby volunteer to lead the first wave of the landing force. I await your orders.
Kaptain K'eremy Kray, DSF Marine Force.
(This is so cool!)
If this draws out well, it might make a cool entry into Captain's Log.
Christopher E. Fant:
That is pretty much it. In theory you are going to be organizing the deck crews to refill the ready racks and service the fighters as they come in (repairs and what all). You will also be directing the firing of your "phaser". But as noted Knight will be making the actual moves, you will be basically making suggestions and providing color text. Maybe noting some shortage of some component, or trying to get your crew to form militia as the Enemy begin assaulting your base. Perhaps falling "gallantly" at their head in "hand to hand combat" at the end of your final scene (or, perhaps waking to find yourself in an enemy holding cell).
This is going to be a battle, if it works out right, and not all of those present will "survive".
Jeff Wile:
Actually, normally, your combat position is with the Battalion Commander. You two will probably "survive" unless the planet "falls" as you both relocate from the GMG to some "hidden" command center not otherwise shown. If the planet falls, the attackers will eventually dig out the command center's location.
The thing is that being in command Knight might choose to "move" (by transporter of course) to some place where there is on-going action to personnaly see what is going on. And might not "return" (went to a GCL, the attackers then knocked out the DefSats, and he was not able to beam back, and it was too risky to go by shuttle, and the attackers overran the position . . . and you have not heard from Major Wells in some time . . . and YOU ARE IT!)
Lt. Lampert reporting for duty.
I also note that the vile aggressor commander seems to have used my instalation as an example of a badly damaged base, if his ships will be good enough to close to range 6 on impulse 32 my crew will undertake to demostrate to him just how damaged we actually are.
Just out of curiosity am I career or reservist, and are we national guard or Starfleet? I would suggest that I am probably reserve national guard.
Lieutenant Frazier, Charlie Battery, reporting in.
Awaiting SitRep (current position, neighbors, and intellegence)...
Captain Chobot, ready for duty.
What would be the durites of my post? And what elements, in SFB terms, am I commanding?
Being the efficient and (it is to be hoped) effective staff officer (with, I assume the obligatory dotted line to my "box" on the Table of Organization), go to the closest command termminal station and verify that the standing orders, the commanders previously posted duty orders are being followed. The priority being:
1. Was the alert sounded properly and achnowledged by all posts.
2. did the yeoman bring me my coffee and side arm? (not necessarily in order of importance depending on how close the OPFOR is.)
Captain Kass reporting in (I have no military experience). I'm guessing I'd be assigned to wherever Colonel Knight is.
In some ways an appropriate choice since I do (non-military) remote sensing analysis as part of my job. Although I'm used to looking at a planet's atmosphere (and surface when it gets in the way) from space rather than the opposite.
It might be worth considering locating the FGB-S on non-adjacent hex sides to spread out the fighter support facilities so that it is more likely that one is out of sight of the attacking force. On the other hand, putting them together will allow a better concentration of force. Note that putting type-VI drones on the fighters will allow them to launch two drones per turn (but these can be put on the upgraded rails of the C-refit).
Mike Grafton wrote
Quote:they should also have some (rule whine inserted here) special benefit vs GCS' and vs ground bases assaulted "on foot."
Note that they do get a bonus on the (P2.75) table for the second case, so they already get at least part of what you're asking for. I'll also note that they're only useful in assaulting ships if one is using (D16.0), they do nothing if only using (D7.0) [and most of my play, at least, has used (D15.0) without (D16.0)].
SPP, I was looking over the rules and couldn't find any limit on the number of Combat Engineer squads that could be purchased as part of CO items (unlimited BP--at least as long as one has CO points--for 1 BPV each?). The only rule I could find explicitly limiting the number of BP is the description in Annex #6, so I may have missed a rule somewhere.
I should note that the issue had never come up before for me, because I had thought that the special squads were types of BP and therefore under the max 10 extra BP limit. This was apparently a misconceptions (but one that never actually caused my forces to violate rules so I suppose it wasn't too much of an issue).
Battalion Conference Room aboard the Federation Tug NCC-3808 Galilei.
Major Wells, please call the meeting to order… Thank you.
The Galilei will be orbiting Cassandra VI in 36 hours. Currently the 251st Construction Battalion is making preparations to bring all six Ground Defense Systems on line and have requested my final plans for placement of our bases. I will send my plans as soon as I hear any last minute comments and concerns from my staff.
The six GDSs I have code named Annapolis (A), Biloxi (B), Chico (C), Dallas (D), Encino (E), and Fargo (F). We have three drone armed DefSats code named Bellos (B), Dante (D), and Franco (F).
My plans for deployment are:
GDS Annapolis (A): GMG (Headquarters), GBDP (Battery-1), GWS, and FGB-S-1 (Banshee flight).
GDS Chico (C): GBDP (Battery-2).
GDS Dallas (D): GWS, FGB-S-2 (Ghost flight).
GDS Encino (E): GBDP (Battery-2).
Once we have established the base I will request various extra supplies from Star Fleet to fortify our position.
Cassandra VI is a dry but pleasant planet. Nearly three quarters desert it has a mild climate given its distance from Cassandra Prime. There are over three and one half million colonists on Cassandra. We are there to defend their lives and Star Fleet interests. Any attempt to gain a base on Cassandra IV by the enemy must be denied. Though we are not on the front line there is some strategic importance to this system and we may well end up being on the front as a result however remote.
Please record your comments and concerns by 2300 hours tomorrow. I will then send the 251st my deployment list.
Thank you…dismissed.
Editorial note: The planet is in hex 2215. Direction A is facing 2214. Each GDS and DefSat code name begins with the letter that corrospondes to the facing of the planet they are on. I will state my commanders options tomarrow. I have been tied up with chores and family and didn't get a chance to go over them. See you all soon!
Since Colonel Knight has yet to formalize the positioning of bases, I will present two formats. Hex side A is assumed to be the primary settlement and defensive region.
First, we concentrate all the bases on hex side A. Power Grid #1 would include 2 Phaser-4 bases and the Ground Warning Station. Power Grid #2 would include 1 Phaser-4, Small Marine Garrison, and both small Fighter Bases. The other Ground Warning Station would be on Hexside D and evacuated by transporter through the hidden DefSats. The Ground Warning Station's shuttle will have to be sacrificed. With the small forces available, I prefer this more concentrated defense. Landings elsewhere will be harassed by sending raiding forces through the transporter repeaters.
Or spread the bases around. Move a phaser-4 base to hex sides C and E. I do not know the best emplacement for the fighter bases.
The advantage of 2 fighter bases is the increase in drone control. Should the defense use a medium fighter base, it would be necessary to upgrade 1 shuttle to a MRS if possible.
Anticipated fighter tactics are to launch drones and transfer control to the ground bases and the EWF, landing half the fighters should the attacking force break off closing. Augmented by scatter packs, the launch rate should exceed total attackers ADD capability. Defense Satellites will only fire as part of the combined drone launch; otherwise, they should stay hidden for use as Transporter repeaters.
Subordinate commanders should suggest additional equipment and personnel. Defense force has 8 shuttles (3GAS) and 26 BP.
The defense force bases will only survive 12 battle bases by a frigate squadron. Plans should be in place to remove survivors to outlying regions in preparation for an extended guerrilla campaign.
Note: I suggest keeping the fighter bases together to make it easier to transfer deck crew between bases.
(I hope I do not mangle the format excessively. My military service ended in 1987.)