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| By Andy Vancil (Andy) on Saturday, August 31, 2002 - 01:36 am: Edit |
I have developed the following scenario for the Saturday night free-for-all at Ghenghis Con next weekend. Your feedback would be appreciated.
(SG--.0) CANISTERS OF CONVENTION CARNAGE
The Masters have set up an arena with a number of relics from an ancient
highly advanced civilization, placed in special stasis canisters. Many of
them are helpful devices, some of them are dangerous, and some are worth
victory points. The objective: Disengage through the wormhole in the center
of the map with the most victory points.
(SG--.1) NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 2 or more, each controlling one ship. Tournament
cruisers are used, including the playtest ships from Module T, the Peladine
and the Omegan tournament cruisers. Each player must choose a different
ship; if two or more players want the same ship, resolve by die roll.
(SG--.2) INITIAL SETUP
TERRAIN: The scenario uses a custom map that is hexagonal, 51 hexes in
diameter, and contains an asteroid field. The center hex (2626) is a
wormhole; see (SG--.455). The gray hexes around the edge of the map are
tournament barrier (P17.0).
CANISTERS: Take 4 sets of 13 identical counters (e.g. asteroid, mine, etc.),
for a total of 52 counters. Decide which set of 13 counters represents the
Transformers, which represents Effects, which represents Items, and which
represent Flags. Mix them up and place them face down in random places
around the map. Take a standard 52-card deck and separate it by suit.
Shuffle the diamonds, spades, hearts and clubs in separate stacks.
STARTING POSITIONS: Tournament cruisers are evenly spaced around the
outermost ring of white hexes. Draw randomly for position, after canisters
are placed.
For 2 players, starting positions are 1407 and 3845.
For 3 players, 1407, 1345 and 5126.
For 4 players, 2004, 0132, 3248, 5120
For 5 players, 1407, 0132, 2350, 5137, 4410
For 6 players, 1407, 0127, 1345, 3845, 5126, 3908
For 7 players, 1407, 0122, 0641, 2950, 4940, 5120, 3506
For 8 players, 2004, 0213, 0132, 1244, 3248, 5039, 5120, 3908
For 9 players, 1407, 0117, 0134, 1345, 2950, 4741, 5126, 4812, 3305
For 10 players, 1407, 0116, 0132, 0943, 2350, 3845, 5137, 5121, 4410,
2903
For 11 players, 1407, 0115, 0128, 0440, 1747, 3049, 4442, 5132, 5118,
4109, 2702
For 12 players, 2004, 0611, 0122, 0134, 0943, 2149, 3447, 4741, 5132,
5120, 4511, 3305
Weapon Status-III, speed max, heading at option of each player.
(SG--.3) LENGTH OF SCENARIO: The scenario continues until all ships have
either been destroyed or have disengaged.
(SG--.4) SPECIAL RULES
(SG--.41) MAP: The map is fixed; it does not float. No unit can disengage by
acceleration, distance or sublight evasion; the only way to disengage is by
entering the wormhole in the center of the map.
(SG--.42) SHUTTLES AND PFs: No shuttles have warp booster packs. No PFs are
used.
(SG--.43) COMMANDER'S OPTION ITEMS: There are no Commander's Options per se;
players will have the equipment items specified in the tournament ship rules.
(SG--.44) REFITS: There are no refits of tournament ships.
(SG--.45) TOURNAMENT RULES: All tournament combat rules are in effect, except
as follows:
(SG--.451) Asteroids are used (including EW effects thereof); see (P3.0).
(SG--.452) Under tournament rules, only free-standing web is allowed. This
means that asteroids (including Chlorophon subspace coagulators) cannot be
used to anchor web. Any cast web will be free-standing, regardless of where
its endpoints are.
(SG--.453) Probes may be used to gather information for seeking weapon
identification and (SG--.4734); see (G5.2).
(SG--.454) Some canisters (SG--.47) contain items or systems that are not
normally included in the tournament. These use the standard rule for that item
or system unless otherwise specified.
(SG--.46) WORMHOLE: The center hex of the map contains a wormhole.
(SG--.461) The wormhole does not block line of sight, direct fire weapons, or
have any effect on non-ship units that enter its hex.
(SG--.462) Any ship entering the hex of the wormhole immediately disengages.
This will take place regardless of any other factors that might appear to
prevent this - web in the hex, a tractor beam on the ship, etc.
(SG--.463) Disengagement through the wormhole occurs immediately after movement,
before damage due to movement is applied.
(SG--.47) CANISTERS: The Masters have placed 52 stasis canisters around the map.
Ships open them and receive the benefit (usually) of their contents. When a
canister is collected, it opens automatically and its effect is immediately
applied to the opening ship.
(SG--.471) DETERMINING CONTENTS: There are four types: Transformers, which add
some functionality to a ship; Effects, which cause something to happen to the
ship; Items, which can be used at the option of the ship captain, and Flags,
which are worth victory points. When a canister is collected (see below), the
counter is removed from play. Turn the counter over to reveal the type, then
draw a card from the appropriate set: Clubs for Transformers, Spades for
Effects, Diamonds for Items, and Hearts for Flags.
(SG--.4711) Transformers (CLUBS): A swarm of nanobots boards the ship, instantly
transforming it.
_A MEGAPHASER WING - A small Megaphaser Wing, as defined in (E107.23) of
module P6, is added to the ship. The phaser is energized and its capacitor is
charged.
_2 WARP ENGINE - A 4-box center warp engine is added to the ship. Its energy
must be allocated immediately.
_3 ARMOR - Five boxes of armor are added to the ship.
_4 EXTRA SHUTTLE BAY - An extra shuttle bay, holding two shuttles, is added
to the ship. The shuttles are of the standard type for that race; if the race
doesn't use shuttles, they are standard Alpha Quadrant admin shuttles.
_5 NANOBOT OPTIONS - These nanobots will instantly transform any 5 systems on
the ship into APR, lab, battery, tractor, transporter or control spaces, at the
player's option. Energy from APR boxes must be immediately allocated. Batteries
come charged but only hold one point of energy, even on Andromedans.
_6 IMPROVED STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY - The turn mode of the ship is improved one
category; e.g. turn mode C becomes B, A becomes AA, etc. The chance of breakdown
is reduced by 1 in 6. Ships that only suffered breakdown on a 6 do not have
their chance of breakdown reduced, but instead gain an additional breakdown
bonus.
_7 SUPER SWIVELS - All weapons on the ship now have 360 degree arcs.
_8 AUXILIARY STORAGE FACILITY - The ship gains 10 center hull and 10 cargo.
Its movement cost is increased by 1/3 and it slows accordingly. Its turn mode is
reduced by one category, e.g. C to D.
_9 SHIELD GENERATOR - The ship gains 5 shield boxes on each shield facing. An
Andromedan gains one P/A panel on each bank.
_10 REPLICATOR - Roll 5 times on the DAC. For each "damage" point, add one
system of that type to the ship. Phasers can be added to any existing phaser
bank and will be the same type and have the same arc. If the specified system
type does not exist on the ship (e.g. "drone" on the Fed TCC), move to the next
column of the DAC. Once-per-volley (boldface) hits are still treated as such.
_J TRANSMOGRIFIER - Roll 5 hits on the DAC, re-rolling "hull" and "cargo"
hits. Each system that was hit is transformed into a center hull box.
_Q PREPARATION "A" - The ship has a special asteroid deflector shield and
cannot take damage from asteroids (including subspace coagulation).
_K ENHANCED FIRE CONTROL - The ship's sensor rating is increased by one and
the scanner rating is decreased by one; see (G22.712) if less than 0. The ship
gains one free point of ECCM.
(SG--.4712) Effects (SPADES): The Canister opens with a bang. This type of
canister is more dangerous than the other types.
_A SUBSPACE CHAOS FIELD - The ship is enveloped in a field of energy for the
next 16 impulses. During this period it receives 9 points of ECM and any seeking
weapons targeted on it lose tracking. Its own weapons are also affected by the
ECM, and the ship cannot launch or guide seeking weapons.
_2 DISPLACEMENT - The ship is displaced 2-12 hexes in a random direction.
Andromedans get the (G18.41) limited control over the direction.
_3 WEAPONS RESET - All weapons on the ship are reset to weapon status-III.
All weapons are treated as unfired and could be used without delay. All multi-
turn weapons are considered armed and held, at any level that is possible on
turn one at WS-III. All single-turn weapons are considered armed, with the
arming level at the owning player's option. All weapon capacitors are charged
appropriately for WS-III. However, any weapons on the ship that have been
destroyed are NOT repaired. Any ammo or single-use items (drones, probes,
plasma-D, pseudo plasmas, Lyran UIM, hypercannon rounds, etc.) that have been
used are NOT replaced.
_4 WARP SURGE - The ship accelerates to speed 32 and cannot slow down for the
remainder of the turn, except by emergency deceleration.
_5 CRITICAL HIT - The ship suffers a critical hit. Roll on the table in
(D8.2); "no critical hit" means just that.
_6 SHIELDS RESET - All shield damage on the ship is removed.
_7 GRAVITY WAVE - A 10 point gravity wave forms in the six hexes surrounding
the ship and proceeds to expand outward until it is off the map.
_8 RESERVE CHARGE - The ship received 10 points of reserve power. This energy
must be used during the current turn or allocated during the next EA.
_9 WARP FIELD REVERSAL - The ship is now retrograding at the same speed it
was moving prior. There is no facing change. The ship executes the its movement
plot normally (in the reverse direction); this change in direction is not
considered a speed change for any purpose and the ship is treated for
acceleration limits as if it had been moving in reverse the whole time. (If the
ship was retrograding prior to this effect, it is now moving forward.)
_10 STASIS - The ship is placed in stasis for the next 16 impulses. The ship
is treated exactly as if it had been placed in stasis by an SFG; see (G16.0).
_J NAVIGATION COMPUTERS LOCKED - The ship must follow a pursuit course, as
defined by (C1.322), toward the nearest enemy ship, for the remainder of the
turn. The ship will not change targets but could be distracted by a wild weasel.
If the ship loses lock-on to its target, the ship executes emergency
deceleration. If two or more ships are equally distant from the ship when the
canister is opened, choose the target randomly.
_Q SPACE WARP - Select one of the other ships on the map at random. The two
ships trade hexes. The ships keep their original speed and facing.
_K SPACE-TIME ANOMALY - The ship disappears from the map. At the beginning of
the next turn, it appears in the hex where it started the game, with the same
facing. All systems on the ship are returned to the exact condition they were in
at the start of the game. The effects of any canisters the ship has collected
are removed. The ship keeps any victory points it has, however.
The player is not required to use the same EA that he used on turn one.
(SG--.4713) Items (DIAMONDS): The Canister contains an item that can be used at
the option of the player (with two dangerous exceptions).
_A REPAIR NANOBOTS - Can instantly repair up to 5 systems on the ship. They
can be used individually or all at once, at the option of the owning player.
_2 BOARDING PARTIES - 8 standard boarding parties and 2 commandoes. Note that
under tournament rules, these can only be used for hit-and-run raids or as
guards.
_3 T-BOMB - One standard t-bomb (includes a dummy t-bomb).
_4 ALIEN ARTIFACT - This device can change any one die roll by ±2. It can be
used after the die has been rolled.
_5 FIGHTER - This generic fighter has speed 15, 10 hit points, 1xp2 FA, 1xp3
FA, 1xp3 RX, 1 chaff pack and DFR 4. It can start out flying next to the ship or
landed in an empty shuttle box.
_6 LEGENDARY ENGINEER - As in (G22.4).
_7 BEAUTIFUL ANDROIDS - Appearing beautiful to all beings, sporting 1960s
hairstyles and claiming to have been made by someone named Mudd, all they do is
distract the crew. As long as the Androids are on board, the ship is treated as
having a poor crew (G21.1). The only way to get rid of them is to beam them onto
another ship. This takes a single transporter action. They won't consent to
leave the ship in any other fashion (and the crew won't make them do so).
_8 LEGENDARY NAVIGATOR - As in (G22.8).
_9 WHITE FLAG - When this device is activated, the ship cannot be fired upon
by direct-fire weapons. No seeking weapons can be launched at this ship. The
ship cannot be boarded without the player's consent. Any seeking weapons
targeting this ship that are already in flight are not affected. Other combat
devices that could damage this ship are not affected. There is no restriction
against tractoring the ship. While under the white flag, the ship cannot fire or
launch any weapons, or use any device defined in Annex #7D as a "weapon." It may
not board any unit without that unit's consent, or use tractor beams on
unfriendly units. It must drop tracking on any seeking weapons in flight. The
White Flag can only be used once, for a maximum of 16 impulses. It can be
dropped on any impulse immediately following the Movement phase.
_10 LEGENDARY WEAPONS OFFICER - As in (G22.7).
_J TRIBBLES - These things just keep reproducing and gradually eat the ship.
For the remainder of the turn that they were found, the ship takes a point of
internal damage, determined by the DAC, ignoring phaser direction, on each
dogfight resolution interface. The following turn, the ship takes 2 points of
damage on each DRI. The turn after that it takes 3 points of damage on each
DRI, and so on. If the last excess damage point is "eaten", the ship does not
explode but instead becomes a writhing mass of tribble flesh (no further effect
on game play). There is no way to get rid of them, but an infested ship can beam
some onto an enemy ship (one transporter action), causing that ship to be
infested as well.
_Q ACME SCUD LAUNCHER - Contains one Scud missile; see (FD54.0). It is
launched out the shuttle bay. The missile has the following stats: Endurance 50
hexes, hit points 30, 6 points of negative tractor, warhead 60, speed 20.
_K PULSAR IN A CAN - Is rolled out the shuttle bay using the same procedures
for laying a mine (M2.1). When it is laid, roll 6 dice as in (P5.12). In that
number of impulses, a pulsar erupts in that hex; effect as in (P5.2). The
impulse following the eruption, it disappears.
(SG--.4714) Flags (HEARTS): The Canister is worth victory points:
_A 25 VICTORY POINTS
_2 5 VICTORY POINTS
_3 5 VICTORY POINTS
_4 10 VICTORY POINTS
_5 10 VICTORY POINTS
_6 15 VICTORY POINTS
_7 15 VICTORY POINTS
_8 PHILANTHROPY - The player must pick one other player who still has a ship
on the map. That player receives 15 victory points.
_9 TOUGH GUY BONUS - The player earns one victory point for each damaged (and
unrepaired) system on his ship.
_10 BONUS MULTIPLIER - The player's current total of victory points is
increased by 25% (round fractions to nearest point).
_J POINT STEAL - The player steals 15 victory points from the player of his
choice. The player stolen from must still have a ship on the map.
_Q ASTEROID CHALLENGE - The player earns a number of victory points equal to
his speed the next time he enters an asteroid hex.
_K DOUBLE BONUS - Any victory points the player scores in the next 16
impulses are doubled.
(SG--.472) COLLECTING: There are two ways to collect a canister: enter its hex,
or tractor it and land it using the (J1.621) shuttle landing procedure, treating
the canister as a shuttle. Collection of canisters is automatic; players don't
have a choice.
(SG--.4721) If two or more ships enter a hex simultaneously, use the (C1.313)
movement order of precedence. If one ship pulls a canister into its hex, it
collects the canister regardless of the presence of other ships.
(SG--.4722) A cloaked ship can still collect a canister, but doing so will void
the cloak. A Souldra ship that has phased out cannot collect canisters.
(SG--.4723) No other condition will prevent a ship that has entered the hex of a
canister from collecting it; including but not limited to disrupted fire
control, erratic maneuvers (not allowed under tournament rules), the canister
being tractored by another unit, the presence of web, etc.
(SG--.473) OTHER CONDITIONS
(SG--.4731) Canisters cannot be damaged by any means as they are protected by
their stasis field. Explosions have no effect on them. ESGs ignore them. They
cannot take damage from asteroids or any other source.
(SG--.4732) Canisters can be tractored; see (SG--.472). They could, in theory,
be displaced, but tournament rules prohibit the use of a DisDev on other units.
They cannot be boarded or transported, or collected by any unit other than a
ship.
(SG--.4733) Ship systems and other items obtained from a canister can be damaged
or destroyed by normal rules.
(SG--.4734) Canisters can be partially identified by labs or probes, using the
same procedure as for identifying seeking weapons. If a canister has been
identified, the player may examine the counter to determine the type. However,
the exact contents (i.e. which card will be drawn) will not be known
until the canister is actually opened.
(SG--.5) VICTORY CONDITIONS: The player who disengages with the most victory
points wins. The condition of the ship is irrelevant, but victory points don't
count unless the ship manages to disengage. There are two ways to score victory
points: A) Damage enemy units, and B) Collect Flags (SG--.4714).
(SG--.51) For each point of internal damage scored on an enemy ship, a player
receives one victory point.
(SG--.511) Shield damage and PA panel degradation don't count. Later repairs
don't have any effect on victory points.
(SG--.512) Destroying a shuttle is worth one point.
(SG--.513) If the damage destroys the ship, only the internal damage points that
can actually be scored before the ship explodes count.
(SG--.514) If two or more players score damage on a ship in a single volley
during the same damage step, points are awarded to each player proportional to
the number of damage points scored, rounded to the nearest whole point. E.g.,
two ships fire on the same damaged shield of a third unit. Player A scored 15
points of damage, player B scored 11 (total damage 26), resulting in 18
internals after the remaining boxes on the shield are marked off. Player A would
score 15_18/26 = 10 victory points, player B would score 11_18/26 = 8 victory
points.
(SG--.515) Damage scored in separate volleys or separate damage steps is
accounted for separately. E.g. if player D scored 5 internals through a
different shield that same impulse, player C would receive 5 victory points. If
player D scored 10 internals with a hellbore fired the same impulse
(benefiting from the down shields A, B and C created), player D would receive 10
points.
(SG--.52) A player who destroys an enemy ship is awarded all the victory points
belonging to that player. If two or more players scored damage during the same
damage step that caused the destruction of a ship, points are awarded
proportionally, as in (SG--.514).
(SG--.6) VARIATIONS: The scenario could be played under different conditions
with the following rule variations:
(SG--.61) Use non-tournament ships. Any balanced set of single ships will work,
although the contents of some of the canisters may have to be adjusted for very
small or large ships.
(SG--.62) Use standard rules without the tournament limitations. In particular,
use of EW will affect the play of this scenario.
(SG--.63) Mix all 52 cards together. Eliminate the ability to partially ID a
canister (SG--.4734). Any of the 52 canister counters can represent any of the
four types.
(SG--.64) Reduce the number of canisters. Keep the cards the same but realize
that not all cards will be drawn.
(SG--.65) Throw in the Jokers and reduce the number of canisters to 48. If a
Joker is drawn, draw three more cards.
(SG--.66) Use a different map and or different terrain.
(SG--.7) BALANCE: The scenario can be balanced between players of different
skill levels by one or more of the following:
(SG--.71) Adjust the size of the ships for each player.
(SG--.72) Place canisters closer to the less experienced players.
(SG--.73) Allow less experienced players to ignore the effect of one canister.
(SG--.8) TACTICS: TBD
DESIGNER'S NOTES: This scenario is designed to inject a lot of chaos into a
free-for-all with lots of players. Players who can be aggressive without getting
killed are rewarded.
Revised August 30, 2002
| By Kenneth Jones (Kludge) on Monday, September 02, 2002 - 03:22 pm: Edit |
Andy
SG--.512 You give a Victory Point for destroying a shuttle. What about Fighters? 1 Point to Cripple and another to destroy. Is what I suggest.
| By David Kass (Dkass) on Monday, September 02, 2002 - 03:31 pm: Edit |
You should give a rule for how to randomly distribute the cannisters. Also, the standard asteroid field rule won't work well on a hexagonal map.
Was there any particular reason for including the asteroid field? It takes what are otherwise balanced ships and distorts the balance signficantly (all seeking weapon races now have signficant issues).
I'm not sure (SG___.52) is a good idea. I suspect it gives high crunch ships too much of an advantage.
What is the death dragging speed for cannisers?
| By Andy Vancil (Andy) on Tuesday, September 03, 2002 - 01:43 am: Edit |
Kludge,
Since fighters are shuttles, the rule technically covers them. But I like your idea and will incorporate it.
| By Andy Vancil (Andy) on Tuesday, September 03, 2002 - 01:46 am: Edit |
David,
In this case, the moderator will distribute the canisters. However, I think a good general procedure would be to give each player an equal number of canisters to place, before starting positions are known, then determine starting positions randomly.
I have a custom map to use for the scenario at the Con; for general use, an asteroid layout would need to be specified. You can actually make a decent 41-hex diameter hexagonal map using 1 1/2 module B asteroid maps.
I included the asteroid field because I have found that in free-for-all scenarios, it is good to have some sort of terrain to break up the playing field and give damaged ships a chance. I have fought a lot of battles with a lot of different races in asteroid fields, and I have found that the ships stay pretty balanced. (Tholian Web Casters are a notable exception but are addressed by the rules.) True, the rocks provide cover from seeking weapons, but they also restrict manueaver -- the result is that long-range launches become less effective but short range launches more so.
As far as (SG__.52) goes, I'll probably reduce the award to 25% of the player's points, mainly because I can see where a player who just happened to be in the right place at the right time could gain too much of an advantage. I'm not worried about this award giving an advantage to high-crunch ships. Ships that get in close and inflict lots of damage tend to take a lot themselves, and become shark bait in the free-for-all environment.
Lastly, (SG__.4731) specifies that the canisters cannot be damaged by any means, which would include death dragging, but I'll add a note to (SG__.472).
Thanks for your input!
| By Jeff Williams (Jeff) on Tuesday, September 03, 2002 - 02:39 am: Edit |
Wow...sounds wild.
I'll take a dozen.
| By Kenneth Jones (Kludge) on Tuesday, September 03, 2002 - 09:33 am: Edit |
Andy The main reason I suggested increased Victory points for Fighters. Is that there is a BIG difference in effectiveness between an Admin and a St2.
A 3 VP would at first seem to be applicable. But a WW when you need it is a lot more useful then even 2! St2's. So a Crip point and a kill point are reasonable IMO.
| By gene malin (Privateer) on Tuesday, September 03, 2002 - 11:35 pm: Edit |
Alright,
Fizzbin with starships!!!!!!! But only on the second Tuesday.
| By David Jannke (Bigslowtarget) on Tuesday, October 22, 2002 - 10:49 am: Edit |
Playtest Report on this
My group tried this today and it was a blast - Starfleet with powerups! Our first play used the original scenario exactly as written with 5 people running Hydran, Gorn, LDR, Selt and Orion (hb,hb,g,p,p)
Basically people roamed for the first turn or two picking up powerups. The big map left a great deal of room to zip about and snipe. Turn three the selt (w/megaphasers and ledgendary navigator) was chasing the LDR (extra 4 warp, gatt, disr and hull, poor crew, 360 deg arcs) when the orion (move cost 1, 10 extra hull, 10 extra cargo) pulled navigation lock and started to home in. They ended the turn at 9 or so around some asteroids from each other. Following turn they chewed on each other, the selt totally destroying the Orion at the cost of his #1 and #6 owing to an Orion error in manuver/reinforcement.
The LDR moved in to vulture the now empty selt, killing him with ESGs. The gorn chased the LDR intending to return the favor.
Questions: 1) Asteroid damage: When damage is inflicted running through asteroids does anyone get points? If a ship is destroyed by asteroid damage do his points just go away or are they used in figuring out who won at the end? What if another ship is dragging him through the asteroids?
2) How many asteroid counters should be used in this over large map? We used 30 with every hex within two of a counter being considered asteroids. That worked pretty well.
3) Do ships explode? If so are explosion point scoring? The person killing the ship gets that ship's points, but the explosion could theoretically (and this happened in our game) score damage after the ship was removed from the map. (Presumably this would only apply in a variant where points were scored even if you didn't make it through the wormhole)
4) Can a ship drop a tractor on a canister voluntarily? What about over a turn break?
5) A number of the 'powerups' have ECM effects, as does the terrain, but there is no EW in tourney. More should be explained about where and when EW applies.
6) After a spacewarp do the swapped ships have disrupted fire control?
7) Is the ship that found it damaged by the gravity wave?
8) When is the effect of canisters applied? (During movement, before damage due to movement, as part of damage due to movement, etc)
Many of our group thought that allowing the picking up canisters while cloaked was not a good idea. It encourages people to hide and pick up canisters while others fight, then coming out of cloak to pick off cripples. We also think there will be a tendancy to avoid combat and guard the wormhole to kill (VP) rich cripples making a run for it. Rewarding those who avoid combat makes for a boring scenario.
| By Andy Vancil (Andy) on Tuesday, October 22, 2002 - 12:27 pm: Edit |
David,
Glad you liked it! Our group just tried it again with an updated list (104 total) of canisters. I'll be posting an updated version soon, along with a report of our battle.
A few answers:
1. Asteroid damage would not score anyone points, although you could argue that if one person were dragging another through asteroids, they should get points for damage caused.
2. When I post the update, it will include provisions for setup on standard maps.
3. Yes, ships explode - 20 point blast, see page 3 of module T2000.
4. While you don't have a choice as to whether or not to collect a canister that has entered your hex, there's no reason you couldn't drop the tractor voluntarily before you pull it into your hex.
5. There _is_ EW in the tourney, just not ship-generated or certain other sources. See pg 4 of T2000. If you play a variant that uses non-tourney ships, you could certainly use EW -- I don't see any reason why that would unbalance things.
6. The Space Warp doesn't say it disrupts fire control (as displacement does) so probably not. I will add a clarification to the updated rules on the status of ships that get teleported by various effects.
7. No, the ship that found the gravity wave is unaffected, since it will never be in a wave hex.
8. My updated rules have SOP details. Effects are applied at the very beginning of 6A3 for canisters collected during movement. Canisters collected via tractor beam take effect immediately following the Recover Shuttlecraft step of 6B8.
Collecting a canister while cloaked voids your cloak, making you an easy target, since you will be going slow. I didn't want cloaking to make you immune to canisters.
In any free-for-all scenario, there is the basic problem that people who get into combat early get picked off by others who hang back. The victory points are designed to reward those who fight, but the problem still exists. I am looking at ways to change the victory conditions to solve this -- perhaps a time limit on the scenario, rather than disengagement, or bonuses for "first blood", etc. Any ideas?
| By Ken Humpherys (Pmthecat) on Thursday, October 24, 2002 - 11:44 am: Edit |
I have 2 suggestions:
1. I think a one time "first blood" VP bonus of like +5 for first internal scored is a good idea. It encourages earlier combat durring the canister seeking phase.
2. To prevent camping of a single central wormhole, place 4-6 alternate wormhole locations along the edge of the map. Have the wormhole rotate among them every 8, 16, or 32 imp. If you want to be cruel, have the wormhole switch locations randomly.
| By David Jannke (Bigslowtarget) on Friday, October 25, 2002 - 12:26 am: Edit |
The alternating wormhole location sounds good, though random is cruel mostly to the cripples.
The issue with cloaking is that the ability to take advantage of the cloak being voided is inversely proportional to both the distance to the closest ship and the amount of ECM the target has. The large map means that you generally have significant separation from your opponent (obviously this varies with number of opponents) and even when the cloak is voided, the asteroids make sure lock-on is not retained. While you will have one direct fire opportunity, your opponent will presumably take advantage of his low speed to pick up the canisters in asteroid hexes.
I guess in the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter though. The low speed will prevent them from picking up too many canisters and they can't really hurt anybody under cloak.
On the first blood - sounds like a good idea. I was trying to work something out making the number of VP scored decrease for anyone but the first shooter. The only thing I came up with that didn't involve huge math was having the number of VP decrease over time (say full for turns 1-4, half for 5-8, quarter after that) but it might tend to favor crunch races. Might be able to avoid that by making the number of turns large enough.
I think the reduction in award points is a definite plus - if somebody exchanges fire, loses weapons and/or shields they are already going to be a target for the vultures. The last thing they need is more attention.
| By Andy Vancil (Andy) on Friday, October 25, 2002 - 01:59 pm: Edit |
My original intention was that the cloak would be voided from the point it picked up the canister forward, rather than just the instant of retrieval. Still, I wouldn't have a problem just saying that cloaked ships can't pick up canisters.
The "first blood" bonus is pretty straightforward. Another idead would be to have a bonus for scoring the first internals on any given ship. That would make the non-cripples more attractive.
As for camping out by the wormhole, that sounds like a problem, in theory. However, the two times we have played this scenario, no one has actually managed to disengage -- both times, the scenario was called at a point where only one viable ship remained.
I have added a "wormhole moves" event. I should be able to post the updated version some time this weekend.
| By Andy Vancil (Andy) on Sunday, October 27, 2002 - 04:26 pm: Edit |
Here is the updated scenario. As always, comments and playtest results are welcome.
(SG__.0) CANISTERS!
By Andy Vancil, Colorado
The Masters have set up an arena with a number of relics from an ancient highly advanced civilization, placed in special stasis canisters. Many of them are helpful devices, some of them are dangerous, and some are worth victory points. The objective: Disengage through the wormhole in the center of the map with the most victory points.
(SG__.1) NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 2 or more (5 or more recommended), each controlling one ship. Tournament cruisers are used, including the playtest ships from Module T, the playtest Andromedan, the Peladine and the Omegan tournament cruisers. Each player must choose a different ship; if two or more players want the same ship, resolve by die roll. Note that certain cruisers will not be balanced for the scenario; in particular the Flivver and the Drex may have balance problems in this scenario.
(SG__.2) INITIAL SETUP
MAP: The scenario uses two map sheets arranged as shown below, with hex 0130 of the top map aligned with 0115 of the bottom map.
| A | B | C |
| D | E | F |
| D | E | F |
| By Andy Vancil (Andy) on Sunday, October 27, 2002 - 04:40 pm: Edit |
(SG__.465) LIST OF CANISTERS
(SG__.4651) Transformers: A swarm of nanobots boards the ship, instantly transforming it. Systems created by the nanobots are under the following restrictions: Power generating systems cannot be used until the following turn; they can be allocated in EA at that point. Batteries come charged. Systems that require power are not armed but may begin arming immediately from reserve. Phasers will be energized but have empty capacitors.
A(clubs) 1. Preparation "A" - The ship has a special asteroid deflector shield and cannot take damage from asteroids (including subspace coagulation).
2. Warp Engine - A 4-box center warp engine is added to the ship.
2(clubs) 1. Extra Shuttle Bay - An extra shuttle bay, holding two shuttles, is added to the ship. The shuttles are of the standard type for that race; if the race doesn't use shuttles, they are standard Alpha Quadrant admin shuttles.
2. Total Transformation - The ship is transformed into one of the other ships allowed in the scenario. Pick randomly from all available, unused ships. Apply the effects of any canisters the player had previously collected. If the player's ship had sustained damage, roll a number of internals on the new ship equal to 50% (round fractions up) of the old damage. The player's point total is unaffected.
3(clubs) 1. Minor Ship Improvement - The ship receives a minor ship improvement from the table on the right side of page 84 of the Campaign Designers Handbook. For results #13 and #14, the phaser can be added to any bank with that type of phaser, and will be of the same type and arc as the phasers in that bank; re-roll if the ship does not have phasers. For result #17, the fighter will be the generic one in 5(diamonds). For #20, the ship gets a t-bomb (with dummy). Re-roll result #23. Re-roll result #29 unless the ship has fighters. If the CDH is unavailable, treat as 10(clubs), Replicator.
2. Enhanced Fire Control - The ship's sensor rating is increased by one and the scanner rating is decreased by one; see (G22.712) if less than 0. The ship gains one free point of ECCM.
4(clubs) 1. Nanobot Options - These nanobots will transform any 5 systems on the ship into APR, lab, battery, tractor, transporter or control spaces, at the player's option. Batteries only hold one point of energy, even on Andromedans.
2. Super Labs - Labs receive a +3 bonus rolling to identify seeking weapons. They also gain the ability to lab canisters. To lab a canister, the ship rolls as in (G4.2), but with a -2 penalty instead of the +3 bonus. If successful, the player can look at the card for that canister.
5(clubs) 1. Improved Structural Integrity - The turn mode of the ship is improved one category; e.g. turn mode C becomes B, A becomes AA, etc. The chance of breakdown is reduced by 1 in 6. Ships that only suffered breakdown on a 6 do not have their chance of breakdown reduced, but instead gain an additional breakdown bonus. Takes effect immediately.
2. Deltan Turn Mode - The ship now has the turn mode of a Deltan (i.e. 4 at speeds 2 and up).
6(clubs) 1. Improved Weapon Arcs - All weapons on the ship have their firing arcs increased by one hex row; i.e. they can now fire into hexes that used to be adjacent to the edge of their firing arc. Plasma tracking arcs are increased but launch arcs are unchanged. Weapons with 360° arcs are unaffected.
2. Black Hole Asteroid Gun - This weapon can fire once per turn (standard 8-impulse delay between turns) and requires no power from the ship (it generates its own) but does require full active fire control. It has three firing modes; the weapon can fire in any mode for its one firing: Hyper Asteroid Mode - can target any unit on the map, regardless of range or line of sight, does two dice of damage on the facing shield. It can hit cloaked units but these get the (G13.37) damage reduction. Lightning Effect Mode - Treated as a 360 degree phaser-1 (Alpha Quadrant type), except that it ignores shields and PA panels. Red Wave Mode - A burst of energy does 4 points of damage to the facing shield of every unit within 5 hexes, unaffected by terrain or cloaks.
After its damage is resolved, the owning player must roll a die. On a roll of 1 the device ceases to function and can't be used again. On a roll of 6, it explodes, inflicting damage as if all three modes had been used on the owning ship; roll the shield facing randomly for each firing mode. On roll of 2-5 the device continues to function normally.
7(clubs) 1. Flag Bridge With Flag Officer - The ship gains one flag bridge box, complete with a Very Important looking flag officer. The officer does nothing but sit at his desk and shuffle papers - no effect on the capabilities of the ship, but if the ship disengages with the flag bridge intact, the player gains 15 extra victory points.
2. Ionized Vapor Trail - The ship leaves behind a trail of ionized vapor. Immediately after exiting a hex, that hex becomes filled with the vapor (use any convenient counter. Any unit (including the ship that left the trail) entering a vapor hex takes 1 point of damage each impulse it is in the hex, on the shield facing of its choice. This is treated as phaser damage for plasma weapons. The maximum number of vapor hexes that can be in existence at any time is 10; the instant the 11th hex is created, the oldest vapor hex reverts to normal. All hexes dissipate if the ship is destroyed or disengages.
8(clubs) 1. Armor - Five boxes of armor are added to the ship.
2. Shield Generator - The ship gains 5 shield boxes on each shield facing. An Andromedan gains one P/A panel on each bank.
9(clubs) 1. Turn Mode H - The ship now has turn mode H and a breakdown rating of 1-6 with no HET bonus.
| Turn Mode | Speed |
| 1 | 2 |
| 2 | 3-4 |
| 3 | 5-7 |
| 4 | 8-11 |
| 5 | 12-15 |
| 6 | 16-19 |
| 7 | 20-23 |
| 8 | 24-29 |
| 9 | 30+ |
| Original Weapon Type | ||||
| Die Roll | Phaser-1 (any) MLA Gauss Cannon | Phaser-2 (any) Sonic Pulser DMP-H | Phaser-3 (any) SLA DMP-L Plasma Whip | PE IPE Phaser-G |
| 2-3 | AP-1 | AP-1 | AP-3 | 2 x AP-3 |
| 4-5 | PQ-1 | PQ-2 | PQ-3 | 2 x PQ-3 |
| 6 | PW-1 | PW-1 | PW-3 | 2 x PW-3 |
| 7 | P-1 | P-2 | P-3 | P-G |
| 8 | PP-1 | PP-2 | PP-3 | 2 x PP-3 |
| 9-10 | PM-1 | PM-1 | PM-3 | 2 x PM-3 |
| 11-12 | PR-1 | PR-1 | PR-3 | 2 x PR-3 |
| By Andy Vancil (Andy) on Sunday, October 27, 2002 - 04:41 pm: Edit |
(SG__.4653) Items: The Canister contains an item that can be used at the option of the player (with some dangerous exceptions).
A(diamonds) 1. Hockey Puck - A Space Hockey Puck, as in (SG47.0), appears directly in front of the ship. The first player to move the puck into the wormhole in the center of the map scores 25 victory points.
2. "Old Rules" Suicide Bomb - Increases the explosion strength of the ship to 60. As it was in the Commander's Edition, the explosion will do 100% damage at range 0-1, 75% at range 2, 50% at range 3, and 25% at range 4.
2(diamonds) 1. Legendary Ensign - This precocious young honorary officer has the annoying habit of saving the day, when he isn't getting into trouble. At the beginning of the turn, before EA, roll one die for his effect:
1. Legendary Officer. Roll on the table in (G22.111).
2. Gets in the way. Cancels the effect of any legendary officers.
3. Inspires aspiring young cadets everywhere. +5 victory points.
4. Annoys Star Trek Purists. -5 victory points.
5. Visiting Mom. No effect.
6. Experiment goes awry. Roll on the critical hit table (D8.2).
Unfortunately, there is no way to get rid of him, but he will cease to function if the ship gets the Beautiful Androids (7 of diamonds).
2. Small Moon - A small moon (P2.23) appears in the hex. Units already in the hex do not have to roll for collision, but any unit entering the hex would have to roll.
3(diamonds) 1. Alien Artifact - This device can change any one die roll by +/-2. It can be used after the die has been rolled.
2. Mulligan Device - This strange device creates a small variance in the space-time continuum. It can be used once to do one of the following: Allow the player to re-roll one die roll, OR allow the player to redraw the card for one canister. For the second option, the original card is shuffled back into the deck after the player redraws.
4(diamonds) 1. Fighter - This generic fighter has speed 15, 10 hit points, 1xp2 FA, 1xp3 FA, 1xp3 RX, 1 chaff pack and DFR 4. It can start out flying next to the ship or landed in an empty shuttle box.
2. White Flag - When this device is activated, the ship cannot be fired upon by direct-fire weapons. No seeking weapons can be launched at this ship. The ship cannot be boarded without the player's consent. Any seeking weapons targeting this ship that are already in flight are not affected. Other combat devices that could damage this ship are not affected. There is no restriction against tractoring the ship. While under the white flag, the ship cannot fire or launch any weapons, or use any device defined in Annex #7D as a "weapon." It may not board any unit without that unit's consent, or use tractor beams on unfriendly units. It must drop tracking on any seeking weapons in flight. The White Flag can only be used once, for a maximum of 16 impulses. It can be dropped on any impulse immediately following the Movement phase.
5(diamonds) 1. Legendary Engineer - As in (G22.4).
2. Repair Nanobots - Can instantly repair up to 5 systems on the ship. They can be used individually or all at once, at the option of the owning player.
6(diamonds) 1. Legendary Navigator - As in (G22.8).
2. Instant Tournament Barrier - Can be used once on any impulse during the (6B4) web stage. Creates tournament barrier on up to 10 contiguous hexsides, which must include at least one of the sides of the hex containing the ship. The barrier cannot completely enclose any hexes, but could include a single line or multiple branches, so long as all pieces are connected. Note that tournament barrier will not block lock-on but will block direct fire, etc. The tournament barrier does not move with the ship, but remains in the place it was created
7(diamonds) 1. Legendary Weapons Officer - As in (G22.7). If using the tournament EW rules, he can generate one point of ECCM via (G22.71) but not ECM.
2. Drogue - A drogue (G34.0) of the player's choice. This can be a Seeking Weapons Drogue with 6 x 1M drones or 6 x plasma-D, a phaser drogue (standard or Hydran), a decoy drogue, or a heavy drone drogue with 2 x H3 drones. Any race can take any type. The drogue will take up one shuttle space; the player must launch a shuttle to make space if there are no empty shuttle spaces. It could be placed in a destroyed shuttle box. Andromedans put this in the hanger and can deploy it from the external hatch.
8(diamonds) 1. Legendary Marine - As in (G22.5).
2. Boarding Parties - 8 standard boarding parties and 2 commandoes. Note that under tournament rules, these can only be used for hit-and-run raids or as guards.
9(diamonds) 1. Acme Scud Launcher - Contains one Scud missile; see (FD54.0). It is launched out the shuttle bay. The missile has the following stats: Endurance 50 hexes, hit points 30, 6 points of negative tractor, warhead 60, speed 20.
2. Asterex(tm) Spray - Leaves space sparkling clean! Has three applications, each of which can be used any impulse during the Web Caster stage, on any one hex adjacent to the ship. Will remove all asteroids from that hex. Also cleans up Ionized Vapor Trails (7 of clubs), web, mines, Chlorophon subspace coagulation, and Alunda plasma clouds. Removes Instant Tournament Barrier (6 of diamonds) from all hexsides of the application hex. It has no effect on any unit or terrain not listed above.
10(diamonds) 1. T-Bomb - One standard t-bomb (includes a dummy t-bomb).
2. NSM - One standard NSM. The ship is allowed to carry it, in an exception to various rules.
Note that mines are not hidden under tournament rules.
J(diamonds) 1. Tribbles - These things just keep reproducing and gradually eat the ship. Newly infested ships take one point of internal damage, determined by the DAC, ignoring phaser direction, on each dogfight resolution interface, for the remainder of the turn. The following turn, the ship takes 2 points of damage on each DRI. The turn after that it takes 3 points of damage on each DRI, and so on. If the last excess damage point is "eaten", the ship does not explode but instead becomes a writhing mass of tribble flesh (no further effect on game play). The only way to get rid of them is to beam them onto an enemy ship (one transporter action), causing that ship to be infested.
2. Moray Eel of Space - This monster is described in (SM3.0). It will move as a seeking weapon toward the nearest ship (resolve ties by die roll). It could change targets every impulse. It is not damaged by asteroids. Each point of damage scored on it is worth one victory point, but see (SM3.45) and (SM3.48).
Q(diamonds) 1. Beautiful Androids - Appearing beautiful to all beings, sporting 1960s hairstyles and claiming to have been made by someone named Mudd, all they do is distract the crew. As long as the Androids are on board, the ship is treated as having a poor crew (G21.1), and all legendary officers cease to function. The only way to get rid of them is to beam them onto another ship. This takes a single transporter action. They won't consent to leave the ship in any other fashion (and the crew won't make them do so).
2. The Moellmer Device - This much-feared device activates automatically when the canister is opened. For the next 32 impulses, any time the player makes a die roll, he must roll twice, and take the worst of the two results. If the ship takes internals, any damage point that is not a weapon hit, power hit, or boldface result on the DAC, must be re-rolled. The result of the re-roll stands; do not re-roll again. (With apologies to Scott.)
K(diamonds) 1. Pulsar In A Can - Is rolled out the shuttle bay using the same procedures for laying a mine (M2.1). It will erupt into a pulsar blast after the number of impulses specified by (P5.12). The impulse following the eruption, it disappears. In the impulses prior to eruption, the Pulsar In A Can is treated as an inactive small mine for purposes of system and terrain interactions; e.g., it could be swept or destroyed by an ESG, and would be moved by a black hole.
2. Can O' Whoop-A** - This device can be employed during the Direct Fire Weapons step of any impulse. It inflicts 25 points of damage on the facing shield of all units within 5 hexes. Note that there is no exception for friendly units.
(SG__.1114) Flags: The Canister is worth victory points:
A(hearts) 1. Asteroid Challenge - The player earns a number of victory points equal to his speed the next time he enters an asteroid hex. Points are doubled if the ship drops its #1 shield (if traveling forward, #4 if retrograding).
2. Barrier Challenge - The player can earn 25 points by running into the tournament barrier around the edge of the map within the next 32 impulses.
2(hearts) 1. Space Leprechaun - Place the Space Leprechaun in a random hex determined by (SG__.461). It moves one hex in a random direction each impulse at the step when monsters move; re-roll if the move would take it off the map. It is immune to all damage and terrain effects. The first ship to "catch" the leprechaun by ending the Movement phase in its hex wins 25 victory points. The Space Leprechaun disappears after it has been caught.
2. Double Bonus - Any victory points the player scores in the next 16 impulses are doubled.
3(hearts) 1. Dilithium Crystals - Place 5 dilithium crystals in random hexes around the map, determined by (SG__.461). Dilithium crystals are collected the same way that canisters are. They are worth 10 victory points each.
2. Point Steal - The player steals 15 victory points from the player of his choice. The player stolen from must still have a ship on the map.
4(hearts) 1. Wormhole Challenge - If the player enters the wormhole in the center of the map within the next 16 impulses, he receives 25 victory points. Note that he has a choice of what to do after entering the wormhole; see (SG__.456).
2. Bonus Multiplier - The player's current total of victory points is increased by 25% (round fractions to nearest point).
5(hearts) 1. Shield Challenge - The player has the option to drop all of his shields (or turn off all PA panels) at this point. He will then earn 2 victory points each impulse until he raises them.
2. Canister Challenge - If the player can collect another canister within the next 16 impulses, he can choose the contents from any of the cards left in the deck. (SG__.4633) is still in effect; the player cannot take the second item unless the first has been collected, or take the first item if it has already been collected.
6(hearts) 5 Victory Points
7(hearts) 10 Victory Points
8(hearts) 15 Victory Points
9(hearts) 20 Victory Points
10(hearts) 25 Victory Points
J(hearts) 1. Tag - The game is Tag and you're It! The ship will take one point of internal damage every four impulses until it "tags" another ship. To tag another ship, the ship must score at least one point of damage on it. If all damage is reinforced, the tag doesn't count. There are "no touchbacks" for 16 impulses - the ship that is It can still shoot the ship that tagged it, but damage scored will not count as a tag.
2. Philanthropy - The player must pick one other player who still has a ship on the map. That player receives 15 victory points.
Q(hearts) Will-O-Wisp - The canister disappears and then reappears in a random location on the map determined by (SG__.461). If that canister is collected again, draw a new card. After drawing the Will-O-Wisp, shuffle the card back into the deck.
K(hearts) 1. Neutronium Nugget - This object has a movement cost of 2, but is worth 50 victory points to the player who tows it via tractor beam into the wormhole in the center of the map. It is immune to all damage. It is considered the "larger unit" for purposes of tractor rotations.
2. Tough Guy Bonus - The player earns one victory point for each damaged (and unrepaired) system on his ship.
(SG__.5) VICTORY CONDITIONS: The player who disengages with the most victory points wins. The condition of the ship is irrelevant, but victory points don't count unless the ship manages to disengage. Exception: In the (SG__.61) variation, ships don't have to disengage. There are two ways to score victory points: A) Damage enemy units, and B) Collect Flags (SG__.4654).
(SG__.51) For each point of internal damage scored on an enemy ship, a player receives one victory point. The first player to score internal damage on an opponent gets a "first blood" bonus of 15 victory points.
(SG__.511) Shield damage and PA panel degradation don't count. Later repairs don't have any effect on victory points.
(SG__.512) Destroying a shuttle is worth one point. Crippling a fighter is worth 1 point; destroying it is worth one additional point (i.e. 2 points for destroying an uncrippled fighter).
(SG__.513) If the damage destroys the ship, only the internal damage points that can actually be scored before the ship explodes count.
(SG__.514) If two or more players score damage on a ship in a single volley during the same damage step, points are awarded to each player proportional to the number of damage points scored, rounded to the nearest whole point. For example, two ships fire on the same damaged shield of a third unit. Player A scored 15 points of damage, player B scored 11 (total damage 26), resulting in 18 internals after the remaining boxes on the shield are marked off. Player A would score 15x18/26 = 10 victory points, player B would score 11x18/26 = 8 victory points.
(SG__.515) Damage scored in separate volleys or separate damage steps is accounted for separately. E.g. if player C scored 5 internals through a different shield that same impulse, player C would receive 5 victory points. If player D scored 10 internals with a hellbore fired the same impulse (benefiting from the down shields A, B and C created), player D would receive 10 points.
(SG__.516) Players receive points for damage caused remotely by items or devices they employ, including damage from shuttles, seeking weapons, mines, cast web, etc. This includes damage caused by the use of a canister device (Diamonds, e.g. the Pulsar-in-a-Can) but does not include damage caused by canister effects (Spades, e.g. the Gravity Wave). In the (SG__.61) variation, players receive points for damage done by their ship exploding.
(SG__.517) Players do not receive points for damage caused by asteroids or collisions with the tournament barrier or other terrain, except in the case where a ship has another unit in a tractor link, and its movement causes the other unit to take damage from asteroids or a collision. If one ship moved another into an ESG, mine, web or other player entity, the owner of the ESG, mine, web or other entity would get any victory points from damage caused.
(SG__.52) A player who destroys an enemy ship is awarded 25% of the victory points belonging to that player. If two or more players scored damage during the same damage step that caused the destruction of a ship, points are awarded proportionally, as in (SG__.514).
(SG__.53) The first player to score internals on any enemy ship gets a bonus of 25 victory points (the "First Blood" award).
(SG__.6) VARIATIONS: The scenario could be played under different conditions with the following rule variations:
(SG__.61) Eliminate the wormhole in the center of the map. No ship can disengage. Play will continue for a set number of turns (five turns recommended) or until only one ship remains. In this variant, players keep their victory points even if their ship was destroyed.
(SG__.62) Use non-tournament ships. Any balanced set of single ships will work, although the contents of some of the canisters may have to be adjusted for very small or large ships.
(SG__.63) Use standard rules without the tournament limitations. In particular, use of EW will affect the play of this scenario.
(SG__.64) Throw in the Jokers. If a Joker is drawn, draw three more cards, applying the effect of each card in the order the cards were drawn.
(SG__.65) Use a different map and/or different terrain.
(SG__.7) BALANCE: The scenario can be balanced between players of different skill levels by one or more of the following:
(SG__.71) Adjust the size of the ships for each player.
(SG__.72) Place canisters closer to the less experienced players.
(SG__.73) Allow less experienced players to ignore the effect of one canister.
(SG__.8) TACTICS: Move fast and grab as many canisters as you can early in the game. Keep your options open in case a bad canister puts you in a bad situation. Have an exit plan in mind before you engage another ship. Don't be afraid to hang back and play "vulture" on damaged ships, but if you wait too long, others may disengage with an insurmountable lead in victory points.
DESIGNER'S NOTES:} This scenario is designed to inject a lot of chaos into a free-for-all with lots of players. Players who can be aggressive without getting killed are rewarded.
Revised October 27, 2002
| By David Kass (Dkass) on Monday, October 28, 2002 - 10:37 pm: Edit |
A few minor points.
When discussing starting weapon status, I assume you want the standard Tournament weapon status and not WS-III (the two are different, eg drones cannot be launched before the start of the tournament). Unless, of course, the players are playing with non-tournament ships. This also applies to the Q of spades #2.
It might be worth mentioning the wormhole under the map terrain in the setup section.
In several places you mention keeping VP but not cannister effects. How does this apply to simple VP flags? (eg if a player has the 8 of hearts and then gets hit with the 10 of spades #2).
In the Q of spades #1, it is actually possible for the ship to end up in a hex with the gravity wave. Either through displacing itself (if an Andro) beyond the wave, or by some of the other cannister effects (some are volunary eg the stable wormhole, some are involuntary).
In the K of hearts, does the ship have to enter the wormhole as well?
| By Andy Vancil (Andy) on Tuesday, October 29, 2002 - 05:25 pm: Edit |
Good points.
Starting weapon status should be "WS-III as modified by tournament rules".
I'll add the wormhole reference -- it got lost when I added provisions for standard maps.
I'll clarify the VP situation. In these cases, the ship loses all canister effects, but since hearts don't affect the ship, the points are retained.
For the Gravity wave, this is true, but my point was to clarify that the ship that got the canister is not affected when it forms.
For the neutronium nugget, only the nugget needs to enter the wormhole hex.
| By Jeff Laikind (J_Laikind) on Monday, July 28, 2003 - 05:56 pm: Edit |
I ran this scenario at GenCon last week, and all 10 players thought that it was great. In fact, a couple who played in other scenarios asked me to drop in a few canisters to make the the other scenarios more interesting.
I did make one semi-major change. I went ahead and printed out each effect on card stock. So rather than drawing a playing card and looking for the cross reference, the players read the effect directly off the card. There wasn't a first time/second time for drawing cards. Depending on the exact situation, the players were either very non-chalant picking up a card, or very cautious.
One thing that came up was that the Temporal Glitch came up while the Gravity Wave was still on the map. I ruled that the wave traveled the hexes for the missing impulses, but that it jumped over anything in its path.
| By Andy Vancil (Andy) on Tuesday, July 29, 2003 - 04:39 pm: Edit |
Cool!
I have thought about the card stock idea, but never got around to it.
I have made a few modifications to the scenario since then, based on feedback from playtesting. If you would like the latest version, email me at avancil666@aol.com.
| By John Kasper (Jvontr) on Sunday, March 20, 2005 - 11:33 pm: Edit |
Most of our group has ended up taking a two year hiatus from SFB. We played this scenario last night as our getting-back-to-SFB scenario. Everyone had a blast. I've seldom seen people laugh that hard and that long.
We added a few extra effects, which I've listed below. The mirror asteroids allowed people to shoot around corners, with comical results, while the ACME Nova Bomb helped speed up the end of the game.
Plasma R Pod Contains a Plasma R launcher (FA), 3 APR and 2 BTTY. Starts fully loaded. Reloads by itself 3 turns after firing. If any of the boxes in the pod take damage, the torp will be smaller.
3 APR + 2 BAT = R
3 APR + 1 BAT = S
2 APR + 1 BAT or 3 APR = G
2 APR = F
1 APR + 2 BAT = F (but takes 5 turns)
Subspace Ripple Cannon Can be powered with up to 32 points of power. Can be fired once for each point of power, max once per impulse. Each firing does 1 point of damage to all units in a single hex up to 30 hexes distant. Randomly determine which shield is hit.
Im Shrinking Replace the current ship with a frigate of the same race. Transfer all canisters and damage.
Do I look fat? Replace the current ship with a Dreadnought. Transfer all canisters and damage.
Mirror Asteroids For the next 32 impulses, any phaser that misses its target will be reflected from any asteroid it hits, doing damage to anything hit based on the range of the firing ship to the asteroid.
Big Defense Satellite A defense satellite with 4 phaser-IV appears 8 hexes from the ship which found the canister and will fire at any ship that comes within 10 hexes of the satellite. Phasers fire once per turn. The Def Sat has 24 hit points and cannot be hit from more than 5 hex range. Each 6 points eliminates one Ph-IV.
Mauler Pod (8 APR, 2 BTTY, 4 BTTY, 2 BTTY) Comes with Batteries full. Fires forward or back. Each Battery holds 4 energy and can only be filled from the attached APR. An entire group of batteries must be discharged at the same time. When the Mauler is fired, the firing ship moves in the opposite direction one hex for each energy point fired.
Flame Shield The ship is now equipped with a Flame Shield as per (OG1.0)
ACME Asteroid Seeds Package contains 12 asteroid seeds. Placed as a T-bomb. Sprouts into a 1 hex asteroid field 8 impulses later.
ACME Nova Bomb A T-bomb sized object which is placed as a T-bomb. The bomb detonates 8 impulses after it is placed and produces a Nova as per (P-12.0).
Movable Shields You can move any of your six shields to cover any shield arc. All of your shields could be moved to cover one arc. Once they are moved, they must remain in the new position for 16 impulses before they can be moved again.
| By Andy Vancil (Andy) on Monday, March 21, 2005 - 11:38 am: Edit |
That's great. I'm glad to see my scenario continues to have a following.
I like some of the new canister ideas, especially the ACME Nova Bomb. I would make the Nova wave front expand at a speed equal to twice the current turn number. I would tone down the Shrinking/Fat effects (make them last for 32 impulses, say) and maybe the movable shields (shields can move once only). For the mirror asteroids I assume the phaser is reflected back at the firing ship?
I have an updated set of rules that includes many fixes, as well as a template to print out the canisters as cards. Anyone who is interested, e-mail me (see my profile for current e-mail).
| By John Kasper (Jvontr) on Monday, March 21, 2005 - 01:59 pm: Edit |
Hi there,
The fat effect wasn't nearly as powerful as you might think. As soon as I got it, everyone ganged up on me for a unified attack. I was crippled within two turns.
As for the mirror asteroids, sometimes it reflects back at the firing ship - sometimes, it shoots around the corner. See http://www.geocities.com/jvontr/Phasermirror.jpg
Please send me a copy of your new file. Thanks.
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