If you wanted to go down that route, perhaps one could use the Battlewagon from Module R12? It's got a lot more firepower than the "standard" Hive Ship, albeit at the cost of re-purposing the front six starship bays.

Historically, it seems that the real onus is on the "finder", rather than the "responder". According to the "secret history" article in Module X1R, it took a few years post-Y195 for the Alpha empires to do more than disrupt small portions of the network at a given time, mainly because the Andros could often move in to pack up the base before the locals could assemble the forces required to stop them. It wasn't until the Alpha powers got serious about employing faster and more powerful "finders" in the first place before the real degrading of the network could begin in earnest.

As for the Federation, I would agree that the GVX is their best RTN-hunter. But it's interesting to see how, in the absence of PFs (this side of the "dark future" timeline, at least), Star Fleet lucked out by also having the "standard" GSX to call upon. That class is quite good for the job in and of itself, even without the Powell's squadron of F-111s thrown in for good measure.

(On a side note, I really hope the Feds get a second-generation "XGS" in Module X2...)

By Jon Berry (Laz_Longsmith) on Sunday, August 02, 2015 - 05:32 pm: Edit

On a certain other board, I'm playing in a certain campaign. It's Play by Post, but the Moderator/GM won't allow Mid-Turn speed changes because he doesn't understand them/finds them too complicated/doesn't like them.

This annoys me. Exceedingly so.

Therefore, I have prepared a plain-language (with pictures!) explanation as to how Mid-Turn Speed Changes work, and I am posting it here with the added request for all of you who read it to give me critical feedback regarding my examples, my language and, well, everything else.

Hopefully, with this, I can demonstrate that the rule isn't as bad as it's made out to be, and if I can convince the other players to try it out, perhaps we can get the GM/Moderator to improve their game as well. Please remember that I am writing for an audience that consists in the majority of people who have never played SFB before, so I've cut out a lot of technical cases and system interactions.

Oh, if you see weird formatting symbols, it's because I've got it formatted for the other board at this time.

Thanks in advance!

=====

Mid-Turn Speed Changes for Dummies

[b]Introduction[/b]
Normally, when you choose your speed during energy allocation, you plan to have a single, consistent speed throughout the entire turn. Observe this Impulse Chart:

http://www.starfleetgames.com/sfb/sfin/32_Impulse_Chart.pdf

But, Mid-Turn Speed Changes alter that. Before I get into the details of 'how' it works, I need to explain a couple other concepts.

First is that SFB uses something called "Proportional Movement", that is, everyone moves in a manner that is not simply 'your turn, my turn - faster moves more'. Rather, it is a case where everyone moves at the same time, but faster ships move more often. By altering one's speed during the turn, one can more precisely control /when/ they move during their turn, not just that they can turn.

Second, Acceleration and Deceleration. The typical ship in SFB can, at the start of the turn, change their speed up to a limit imposed by their speed on the previous turn. This limit is a positive change of +10 or double their speed previous - whichever is greater. There are exceptions, obviously. The two most notable ones are Freighters and Nimble Ships. Freighters tend to have a limit to their acceleration of +5 or double their previous turns speed, while ships that are considered 'Nimble' can accelerate by +15 or Triple the previous turn.

EXAMPLES:
[code]
SHIP TYPE Previous Turn This Turn
Federation Heavy Cruiser 4 14
Federation Heavy Cruiser 14 30
Orion Medium Raider (Nimble) 6 12
Orion Medium Raider (Nimble) 2 18
WYN Aux. Cruiser (Freighter) 5 10
WYN Aux. Cruiser (Freighter) 10 25
[/code]

Here, I have shown legal and illegal speed changes for each ship. The Fed CA can go from 4 to 14 over a turn break because it is acceleration by +10 or less. It cannot accelerate from 14 to 30 on the next turn because that is in excess of double (14*2=28) or +10 (14+10=24). The Orion MR goes from 6 to 12 as that is well within *3 or +15, while 2 to 18 is excess of both. The WYN AxC has the same legal/illegal pattern going on for the same reasons - though the illegal plot for it would be legal for the other ships in the example.

A Deceleration has different limits. Namely, a ship can only halve their [u]current[/u] speed, or reduce it by 4 - whichever is greater - during a Mid Turn Speed Change. However, a speed change that occurs during Energy Allocation can drop your ship to 0(or any speed lower than your current one) from any speed, as long as it has been at least 8 impulses since a mid turn speed change (6 for Nimble Ships)!

The third thing to make you all aware of is a slight change in the concept of the 'turn'. In the vast majority of cases, a turn starts with Energy Allocation, and advances through 32 impulses until the End of the Turn. For the purposes of Mid Turn Speed Changes, the concept of the 'previous turn' [i]only applies to the previous 32 impulses[/i]. This is where a lot of people get tripped up, but I will be working at providing graphs for all of you to demonstrate as I go along.

[b]Limitations[/b]
I'll keep this simple. No Mid-Turn Speed Change can occur under the following conditions:
[list]
[*]A Speed Change of any sort has occurred in the past 8 impulses. 6 for Nimble Ships.
[*]Cannot occur within 4 impulses of the start of the turn.
[*]If the ship is damaged, a Mid-Turn Speed Change cannot accelerate a ship past it's normal maximum speed. (A Federation CA has taken 4 points of Warp Power damage. It's maximum speed for the turn is 26 (26 Warp with a 1.0 Move Cost). It cannot go faster, even temporarily.)
[/list]
There are a couple exceptions, such as using Breaking Energy, or ship-to-ship tractors, but those are outside the scope of this introduction.

Another thing to note before getting into the nitty-gritty is that all Mid-Turn Speed changes are announced on the Impulse before they take effect. You cannot spontaneously change speed with no warning what-so-ever.

[b]Plotted Mid-Turn Speed Changes[/b]
The most common form of Speed Change is performed during Energy Allocation. The ship's captain decides that they need to change speed during the turn for whatever reason, and makes a legal plot. They pay for it, and move that way during the turn.

So, how does one pay for it? Let's do a couple examples. Remember that PDF I linked at the start? I would like you to have that open and available for the duration of this lesson. It is your friend. For all our examples, we will be using the Federation Heavy Cruiser 'Lexington', and all Speed Plots will be legal. For the first four examples, we will assume that the initial speed for the ship is the speed that the Lexington was using for the 32 impulses previous to the example.

http://lpix.org/2162477/SpeedChange_001.png

In this first example, the Lexington is going at speed 16 for the first 16 impulses, then speed 24 for the last 16 impulses. This is a completely legal speed plot. But how do you pay for it? That's easy!

Count the number of times the ship will move under this plot using the PDF I've asked you to keep open. Although this is an easy example, I can tell you that the Lexington will move 8 times in the first 16 impulses, then 12 times in the last half of the turn for a total of 20 moves in the turn. Thus, the Lexington will pay for 20 hexes of movement!

Let's look at a different one, just for practice: Behold, the Speedy Weasel!

http://lpix.org/2162478/SpeedChange_002.png

Here, the Lexington is moving at speed 4 for the first 11 impulses of the turn, then accelerates to 14 starting on Impulse 12. Using the chart, we can see that the Lexington moves 1 point during the Speed 4 section of the turn, then 10 times for the rest of the turn. Total movement that needs to be paid for: 11!

This next example shows multiple speed changes in a turn:

http://lpix.org/2162479/SpeedChange_003.png

14/18/28 split. This is legal as the ship's total acceleration is limited by the initial speed. 14 can double to 28. Anyway, with the speed changes happening on 6 and 25, we see that the Lexington is now spending energy to move 20 hexes in a turn! (2, then 11 then 7 at each speed for the duration of the change.)

One last example before I step up the complications. Have a Deceleration! Actually, have two of them!

http://lpix.org/2162480/SpeedChange_004.png

Looks complicated, but it isn't. Remember that Decelerations are limited by the current speed of the ship, not just the previous 32 impulses. It is easier for a ship to slow down than it is to speed up! Anyways, counting movement, this plot will give the Lexington a total of 14 hexes during the turn.

Now it is time for a little bit more work. I set up the previous examples such that there was no interfering limits from previous turns. Let's go back to the Speedy Weasel and show how that affects movement on the turn following it.

http://lpix.org/2162481/SpeedChange_005.png

Now, the Red line shows off the initial legal plot. All is well here. But, during the follow-up turn, the Green Line shows off the legal maximum speeds during the turn. Because of the 32 impulse limit, the Lexington is still stuck at going - at most- speed 14 during the first 11 impulses of the turn before that slow speed leaves the 'memory' of the ship, and it can then accelerate to a maximum of speed 28!

But what if the captain of the Lexington decided that they didn't need to keep to a speed of 14 during the start of the next turn? What if he decided to slow down to, say, speed 10? How would that complicate things?

http://lpix.org/2162482/SpeedChange_006.png

Now, the Lexington has still performed a Speed Change, and there can be no further one until impulse 9 at the earliest. From here, the Orange Line demonstrates what would happen if he tried to accelerate up to his legal maximum at that time. He would be limited to speed 14 due to the combination of slow speed in the previous 32 impulses, and because he is also limited to 8 impulses between speed changes, cannot accelerate past that point until impulse 17 at the earliest!

But, if the Lexington waited until impulse 11 to change speed again (the Blue line), then the Lexington could accelerate to Speed 20! This is because the limits of the speed 4 on the previous turn are no longer in play, and the slowest speed in the previous 32 impulses was the speed 10 leading into this change.

And, on Impulse 17, the Orange Speed Plot can join the Blue plot at speed 20 now that its acceleration limits have been cleared.

Please remember that I am demonstrating /maximum/ acceleration values for the purposes of example. You are not required to do such a thing.

I hope I have explained how Plotted Mid-Turn Speed changes work, and I heartily encourage you all to look at your options in that regard. If I may offer a piece of advice for you beginners, look at the Turn Mode on your ships and practice plotting out speed changes that move you from one turn bracket to another - you may find something interesting when you slow down....

[b]Unplotted Mid-Turn Speed Changes[/b]

Make no mistake; Plotted changes are easy. Unplotted changes are difficult at the best of times, and frustrating at the worst. I will try to ease you into it, but please forgive me if reality is far more obtuse.

You see, there are actually two different kinds of Unplotted changes. Temporary and Permanent. A Temporary change is just that - you temporarily alter your speed before returning to your normal speed plot. A Permament change lasts until the end of the turn, or a later plotted speed change intercepts it.

Now, before we begin, I want to note two things. The first is that Unplotted Changes are under all the same restrictions as the plotted ones in terms of when they can be done, and to what extent your speed can change.

The second one is that they are all done using Reserve Warp Power.

What is that you are asking? Look at your EAF again. There is a line for "Reserve Power" or "Recharge Batteries". You see, when you put power back into your batteries after they've been emptied, that power retains the quality of its source for the turn. Confused? I don't blame you. If you fill your batteries with power from the Warp engines, then the power in your batteries are considered to be Warp Power for all purposes, including Speed Changes! If you fill them with Impulse Power, then it is Impulse Power. APRs generate normal power with no special qualities. You can also mix and match types of power in your batteries if you want to. At the end of the turn, however, that power looses all special qualities and goes back to being plain and normal.

So, let's start with the Temporary one, shall we? The Lexington is going to be going at speed 16 for the entire turn for these examples, and has filled all four Batteries with Warp Power during energy allocation, giving it maximum flexibility during the turn.

http://lpix.org/2162483/SpeedChange_007.png

Simple! Now, for whatever reason, the captain of the Lexington decides he needs to go faster. But not for the whole of the turn - that would be a Permanent change. He decides that on Impulse 9, he needs to bump himself up to speed 20 for 8 impulses, then back down to 16 for the rest of the turn. This doesn't violate any other restrictions, so let's have a look at it:

http://lpix.org/2162484/SpeedChange_008.png

The Green line represents his altered speed plot. The question becomes: How much power does he pay for this out of his batteries? The first thing you do is count how many hexes are gained - [i]or lost[/i] in the temporary movement change. In this case, the captain of the Lexington sees that his normal plot would give him 16 hexes of movement, but his altered plot would give him merely 1 extra hex of movement. (Perhaps it is not the extra point that matters, but when he moves; the reason is irrelevant, just that this is the new plot.)

A Temporary Unplotted Mid-Turn Speed Change will cost a ship [b]DOUBLE[/b] the added or lost hexes of movement. In this case, the extra hex would mean that the Lexington pays two points of Warp Power out of their batteries, leaving 2 behind for other uses, including future speed changes.

In fact, you could make an Temporary Unplotted Speed Change within a Temporary Unplotted Speed Change! Let me show you an example of that:

http://lpix.org/2162485/SpeedChange_009.png

Once again, the Lexington has plotted a speed change of 16 through the entire turn. Then the Captain decides to accelerate to speed 18 for 16 impulses, gaining one hex of movement. This is the GREEN line. The Lexington has paid for the speed change, and there is still 2 points of power left in the Batteries. However, coming up on impulse 16, the Lexington decides they need even more Speed!

They decide to accelerate to speed 22 for the duration of impulses 17 through 24, dropping back down to speed 16 on 25. This is the ORANGE speed plot. A look at the Impulse Chart reveals that this will only gain the Lexington a single point of movement, and thus two points of power are paid into it. The Lexington has no more reserve power for the duration of the turn an cannot make any more unplotted speed changes in addition to any other uses reserve power might have.

This is still legal! And quite the headache on occasion.

Now, let us move on to Permanent Unplotted Speed Changes:

http://lpix.org/2162486/SpeedChange_010.png

Here is a simple example. Once again, the Lexington is plotting speed 16 during the whole of the turn, and has 4 points of Reserve Power available. Except in this case, the Unplotted speed change as denoted by the Green Line lasts until the end of the turn. This makes it [i]Permanent[/i].

And because it is Permanent, the cost is a little different. The Lexington gains 2 points of movement under this unplotted change, but only pays that cost evenly - two points of Reserve Warp Power.

Not 4! Two! This is the advantage to Permanent Unplotted Speed Changes. They are cheaper!

And, like Temporary Speed Changes, you can make changes within changes, limited by your available reserve warp power and your other, general Speed Change limits!

So, what happens when you combine Plotted and Unplotted Speed Changes? Let me show you:

http://lpix.org/2162487/SpeedChange_011.png

As usual, the Red Line denotes a plotted speed, done during Energy Allocation. The Blue Line represents an Unplotted Temporary Speed Change with all the limitations noted above. The Green Line shows us an Unplotted Speed change that is Permanent.

"But Wait!" I can hear you asking. "You told us that Permanent Speed Changes last until the end of the turn!"

Yes, I did. I also said that it would be permanent if a later speed change intercepts it! And in this case, the Red plotted line interrupts the unplotted green line, making it a Permanent change! Let me give you another example of Unplotted Permanent Speed Changes and how they interact with Plotted ones.

http://lpix.org/2162488/SpeedChange_012.png

Here, we have two examples of an Unplotted, but Permanent change. The Green line denotes an Unplotted, but Permanent Speed Change that has the Lexington accelerate earlier than plotted, while the Orange line denotes a plot that makes the speed change happen later.

Please remember - a speed change that looses you movement must still be paid for. The Orange plot requires 2 points of movement to be paid for - the hexes lost due to the delay.

Now, I expect some of you have realized something about timing, and I'm about to show it off.

http://lpix.org/2162489/SpeedChange_013.png

The Green and Orange Unplotted Speed Changes are both legal and Permanent. I've already explained why they are Permanent - they intercept a previously plotted speed change. But legal? How? There isn't the necessary 8 impulses between changes!

Here's the thing - there [i]is no speed change where the Green line meets the Red one[/i] or [i]or where the Orange line splits off from the Red[/i].

The single most common use for Unplotted, Permanent Speed Changes is to make a plotted Speed Change occur [i]earlier[/i] or [i]later[/i] than what was planned.

I'll let that sink in for a moment while I tell you this: Mid-Turn Speed changes are perhaps the single most important rule you will ever learn. More important than everything else, including weapons.

And, while I've shown off examples through the use of Acceleration, everything I have just said applies to Decelerations as well. You can slow down with Unplotted Mid-Turn Speed changes, either temporarily, or to later join up with a Plotted change.

Another example, just to show off a certain case. What happens when an unplotted, but Permanent Speed change happens within 8 impulses of a Plotted speed change? Let me show you:

http://lpix.org/2162490/SpeedChange_014.png

What is happening here? Well, the Lexington has obviously plotted a 16/24 split, so what is up with the Green and Orange lines? And that Blue Line seems to have a mind of its own...

Well, in this case, the Lexington decided that they needed to move faster now, but not so fast as to make their Speed change come early. In this case, they accelerate to speed 20, then up to speed 24. The Green line indicates the changed plot before the Plotted change, and the Orange line after. This is still a Permanent Speed change, but requires a bit more math to calculate the power cost involved. First, figure out how much movement is gained before the plotted Speed change, then figure out how much movement is [i]lost[/i] by the Orange line being below the Red line.

That is the total cost in moves that must be paid for; the new plot is still legal, but all differences in hexes moved must be accounted for.

And as for the Blue line? Well, this is a case where a Permament Unplotted Mid-turn Speed Change goes completely against the grain of the Plotted speed change (hope you have lots of reserve power!), but is still legal as long as the power for it is paid.

One last thing to note, and I am sorry it took me so long to get to here. If a Speed Change - Permanent or Temporary - would result in NO hexes of movement gained or lost, the energy cost for the change is for a single Hex of movement (doubled if Temporary).

Thank you all for your patience, and I hope I have explained everything in such a manner that you can understand how Mid-Turn Speed Changes work, and how they can work for you!

By Gregory S Flusche (Vandor) on Sunday, August 02, 2015 - 07:43 pm: Edit

Well you gave me the same headache the real rules do However I did understand all that you wrote. Not sure if it was because i know it are just the way you explained it.

By Shawn Hantke (Shantke) on Monday, August 03, 2015 - 09:57 am: Edit

CL#22 has a "Could You Give Me an Example" article "Mid-Turn Speed Changes."

By Randy Blair (Randyblair) on Monday, August 03, 2015 - 12:34 pm: Edit

I confess that I am a GM that doesn't allow mid turn speed changes at my games at conventions simply because I get a whole range of experience with my players.
And it takes way too long to try and explain all the rules.
AND it's a munchkin rule anyway. We keep it light, simple, and fun.

By Richard B. Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Monday, August 03, 2015 - 07:15 pm: Edit

That is NOT a munchkin rule. That is a pretty loaded term that I object to in this case.

By Gregory S Flusche (Vandor) on Monday, August 03, 2015 - 10:02 pm: Edit

well i do agree with Randy. I like mid turn speed changes myself. There are still some groups that do not use them. At a convention setting it can be hard.. mind you they are standard for tournament play.

By Jon Berry (Laz_Longsmith) on Monday, August 03, 2015 - 11:04 pm: Edit

Shawn, I knew about that article, and did read it in prep for that, but I cannot in good faith ask people to buy a single issue of a magazine to justify my opinions and to try and teach them the rules first.

Better to get them to buy the Basic Set first, then work our way up from there.

By William T Wilson (Sheap) on Tuesday, August 04, 2015 - 09:20 am: Edit

My really old group (the one I learned with in the early 90s) used an interesting limitation on speed changes, where only UNplotted ones were allowed. This was fun because it still allowed some flexibility but without the rule complications (as the problems with unplotted changes and the cap rule only occurred if they were combined with plotted decelerations).

Note that at the time, this was using the old interpretation of the rules which did create a lot of problems. Under the "new" rule (which is not really all that new... more than a decade old at this point) speed changes are no longer particularly complicated, especially given the large amount of thinking time available to a PBEM game. (For me, the slowest part of calculating a speed change is counting up the movement impulses, especially considering that advanced players generally tend to think in terms of individual movements instead of speeds, and so I frequently consider many different timings and speeds in order to move at exactly the right time).

Unfortunately, your post reflects several misunderstandings of the rules and I am afraid you will have to redo most of it. I also feel like your post is excessively long. If your goal is to convince someone who thinks they are too complicated, the wall of text will likely reinforce, rather than counteract, their concerns.

First, I would expect that *plotted* speed changes are not too complicated for any SFB player who is not very new. Frankly I would not trust any GM who claims that plotted speed changes are too hard. They are just trying to impose their personal preference because they simply like it better and hiding behind the cloak of "simplicity". However, it is possible that the GM may not understand (or may not have heard of) the simplified cap rule which eliminates basically all problem cases.

In that case, I would refer you to the Really Simple Calculation Form in the Official Rulings topic:
http://www.starfleetgames.com/discus/messages/12031/83.html?1388523266
(the second half of the second post, with lines A, B, C, D)

which takes less than a paragraph to explain and covers all "ordinary" speed change situations. A very few situations can be somewhat more complicated than this (for instance if you are performing two separate modifications to your speed plot, one using the cap rule, and one not) but even there simply following the steps will generally lead to the right conclusion so long as nobody goes rules lawyer and tries to insist that things are different from the way they are.

====

I did notice some errors, and other things I have comments on.

---

Quote:

The WYN AxC has the same legal/illegal pattern going on for the same reasons - though the illegal plot for it would be legal for the other ships in the example.

---

---

Quote:

a speed change that occurs during Energy Allocation can drop your ship to 0(or any speed lower than your current one) from any speed, as long as it has been at least 8 impulses since a mid turn speed change

---

---

Quote:

ships that are considered 'Nimble' can accelerate by +15 or Triple the previous turn.

---

---

Quote:

There are a couple exceptions, such as using Breaking Energy, or ship-to-ship tractors

---

---

Quote:

Another thing to note before getting into the nitty-gritty is that all Mid-Turn Speed changes are announced on the Impulse before they take effect. You cannot spontaneously change speed with no warning what-so-ever.

---

---

Quote:

Unplotted changes are difficult at the best of times, and frustrating at the worst.

---

---

Quote:

You see, there are actually two different kinds of Unplotted changes. Temporary and Permanent. A Temporary change is just that - you temporarily alter your speed before returning to your normal speed plot. A Permament change lasts until the end of the turn, or a later plotted speed change intercepts it.

---

---

Quote:

If a Speed Change - Permanent or Temporary - would result in NO hexes of movement gained or lost, the energy cost for the change is for a single Hex of movement (doubled if Temporary).

---

By William T Wilson (Sheap) on Tuesday, August 04, 2015 - 09:23 am: Edit

---

Quote:

Now, technically, the speed change does not take effect until next impulse, but the only even vaguely common scenario where it matters is if you plot a deceleration to speed 4 or less in order to launch a weasel.

---

By Alan Trevor (Thyrm) on Tuesday, August 04, 2015 - 09:38 am: Edit

William Wilson,

You say that accelerating by triple or +15

---

Quote:

...only applies to X-ships (and certain other unusual ships such as the Juggernaut)

---

By William T Wilson (Sheap) on Tuesday, August 04, 2015 - 09:53 am: Edit

I was thinking only of "standard" ships in this case, but yes, PFs can do that also.

Fast ships do not have improved acceleration abilities.

By Paul Scott (The_Rock) on Wednesday, August 05, 2015 - 02:45 am: Edit

I agree with everything Sheap said and add the following:

Example 12 - Orange line. Not legal because you cannot use an unplotted MTSC to go slower than your original plot. The Orange line prevents the plotted acceleration from 16 -> 24 on impulse 17.

Example 13 - Orange line. Not legal for the same reason. The Orange line prevents the plotted acceleration from 16 -> 24 on impulse 17.

Example 14 - All proposed unplotted MTSCs in that example are illegal for the same reason.

I agree with a couple of things you said - MTSC are critical to advanced play and not that difficult in terms of the rules. That said, perhaps given that almost all of your examples are wrong, you may want to consider whether you are being too harsh on your judge.

By Jon Berry (Laz_Longsmith) on Wednesday, August 05, 2015 - 10:50 am: Edit

Perhaps, Paul. I know that I am quite annoyed with this person, and that's why I wanted a sane and sound second opinion before making that post on the other board. To help remove my personal opinions.

William and Paul; I have taken your comments and will be working on an improved introduction to MTSC's over the next week. Thank you again for your feedback, and I hope my next pass will have less faults in it.

By Alan Trevor (Thyrm) on Wednesday, August 05, 2015 - 10:34 pm: Edit

William Wilson,

Well, heck! I was almost positive that "fast ships" had improved acceleration but I just rechecked my rules and can't find anything that says they do. I guess I was partially mis-remembering. At least I recalled correctly that PFs have the improved acceleration.

By Gregory S Flusche (Vandor) on Wednesday, April 06, 2016 - 07:05 pm: Edit

I am setting up a Jindarian Caravan for a campaign game. The Jindarians VS the Walmart mining corporation in the Trill-ac star system in the Year 175. There is no habitable planets in the system and a large asteroid belt. We have divided the map into 12 sections each is a part of the asteroid belt. He will place his base are bases. Then we will each write down so many operating ships/units in each sector we want to. Note as per Jindarain operating R16.1F1. His are a little less strict.

I have 2100 BPV to buy my caravan. He has the same to buy his mining force. To include two navel ships not more then 250 bpv. (Federation ships) He may also spend points on Orion pirates (bounty on prospecting shuttles) He also will buy a civilian mining base. There will be no mine fields to simplify things. We will get 2 victory points per operating prospecting shuttle at the end of each campaign turn.

I have to keep with in S.8 for my caravan. My problem is I want as many prospecting shuttles as I can have. That means I really do not want to replace my prospecting shuttles with fighters. I can get Bombers and i want to put them on external pads. I could buy 18 total Bombers but want about 10 are 12 Two squadrons. Since I have to spread my ships out in the asteroid field. (See Jindarain operating) I will know what sector his base is in. (I might even raid it) I need to split up my bomber squadrons among my asteroid ships to protect my prospecting shuttles. (My asteroid ships can start a battle hidden ). This means they are not going to get any of the squadron benefits. Any thoughts on this?

By Michael Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Thursday, April 07, 2016 - 02:13 pm: Edit

Why exactly can't the bombers raid anywhere in the system? They can travel between stars. Travel within a single system is literally a matter of minutes.

Diameter of Plutos orbit (worst case scenario) = 6 billion km. Speed of light 300,000 km per second.

So 6*10^9 / 3*10^5 = 2*10^4 seconds at lightspeed.

So around 5 1/2 hours at Warp 1.

Except in high warp they can go at warp5 plus.

5^3=125 So less than 3 minutes for a Bomber to zip clear across the system at Warp 5.

By Gregory S Flusche (Vandor) on Thursday, April 07, 2016 - 04:41 pm: Edit

I could use them to raid into a sector. That would mean I could keep them as a squadron. One more of the thoughts I have of keeping them all on one ship. Then however i would have unescorted prospecting shuttles. I could have a destroyer/frigate there and the asteroid ship. Mind you any asteroid ship in a sector can start out hidden.. unless in a sector were his base is.

By Mike Strain (Evilmike) on Friday, April 08, 2016 - 11:40 am: Edit

Given you have 'roid ships (and the excellent metal-hull ships), what is to prevent you from simply staying in one spot with your mining shuttles (covered by the roid ships) while you go kill his civilian mining base with your standard ships? What's to stop him from trying to do the same to you?

Given he has a max of 2 real warships, even with auxiliary cruisers/carriers you outgun him immensely.

His only real option is to buy as many fighters as he can.......and this is the almost the worst terrain and opponent matchup possible.

This isn't going to end well for the Feds.

By Gregory S Flusche (Vandor) on Friday, April 08, 2016 - 12:16 pm: Edit

Well he is going to buy some Orion mercenary ships. yes the problem is I will know were his base is but not were his prospecting ships will be (hidden set p each campaign turn) Also I am only allowed a max of 3 ships per sector. (even when attacking his base) I out gun him i believe. I am hoping he guards the base with his warships and allows me to clean up his prospectors the first turn. As for him going after me he has to find me i have no fixed base .

Note: In a even BPV battle my roid ships are tough but the propsecting shuttles are to expensive to lose and i need use them for protection. Thus I buy fighters are bombers for the Roid ship for protection saving the prospecting shuttles.

By Aaron Port (Trueborn) on Saturday, September 03, 2016 - 09:11 pm: Edit

Hello, everyone. This is my first time posting here, so please forgive me if it isn’t in the best thread. After a lot of gaming in high school and college, work and kids put a hiatus on most of my gaming. Now that my oldest is getting older, I’ve been working on teaching him some of the games I still have. Although he is still a few years away from SFB (I’m looking into FC as an alternative), I have rekindled my own interest in the game.
So after filling out my first EAF in several years, and being a guy who likes to do things digitally, I have built a pair of EAF spreadsheets in MS Excel and thought the community might be interested. The first one is quite simple, just a spreadsheet with a bit of automatic addition. That’s nothing that most people couldn’t come up with on their own. The second one I am a bit more proud of.
In order to add some more functionality, I made use of a lot of macros. None of the macros affect anything other than the workbook itself, but you can check for yourself by pressing Alt-F11. But on to the features. At first glance, you should see a fairly standard 20 turn EAF in a tab called EAF 1. If you put a counter/ship name in the SHIP/COUNTER block, it will rename the tab for easy reference. Should your game run past 20 turns, the sheet will automatically expand (up to 50 turns). Along the bottom are most of the improvements. Clicking either of the “Toggle” buttons will change the form to reflect the alternate Orion or Lyran forms. “Add EAF” adds a new EAF for another ship, while “Delete EAF” does the opposite. “Clear EAF” will reset the form to its original state, with no requirement to manually delete all the data you entered. The final feature is Advanced Plotting. This allows you to plot mid-turn speed changes by clicking on the arrow at the bottom of each turn’s column. Although it isn’t 100% fool-proof (acceleration and deceleration limits don’t look at the previous turn, for example), most errors should be caught.
Both files can be found here: File Downloads Please let me know if you have any feedback.

By Mike Strain (Evilmike) on Sunday, September 04, 2016 - 03:12 am: Edit

Wrong topic.

IIRC there is a topic for SFB computer stuff.

Good luck.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Saturday, February 18, 2017 - 02:21 pm: Edit

A request for help.

Brian White contacted me to see if anyone had developed a form or other material to make controlling and tracking a fighter squadron (or squadrons) in combat easier.

If anyone has such a thing, could you e-mail him at:

tracker98576@yahoo.com

I have a mailing address and a phone number if anyone wants to talk to him. He lives in Conway, Arkansas.

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Saturday, February 18, 2017 - 02:42 pm: Edit

I have such a spreadsheet. In fact, it tracks deck crew actions on a carrier, as well as each fighter individually. I also customized it for a Federation CVA and its escorts when I once played Radey to the Rescue.

I will forward both to Brian White. If anyone else wants it send an email to fneted_at_gmail.com

[Edit] Comments for revisions or customization also welcomed.

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Saturday, February 18, 2017 - 02:46 pm: Edit

Email sent to Brian's provided address with my CV/fighter trackers.