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By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Monday, August 17, 2020 - 06:20 pm: Edit

An update.

I have sanctioned for this round the Andromedan Tournament ship with two (2) TRHs. May God have mercy on my soul because I know the players will not.

I have also Sanctioned the Vudar tournament cruiser. I do this cautiously because I never got reports on it, which might indicate it was too weak to be of interest, but the SSD that was done was not changed. Note that the Ion pulse generators can only be used in defensive ionic wave mode (G36.33).

I have also decided to allow the Federation to have a limited drone rack. It has two type-IM drones, and four ADDs. It has the option to switch the four ADDs to four type-VIs after learning what the Opponent is. (Little use for ADDs versus Romulan, Gorn, or ISC plasma torpedoes, or Lyran or LDR ESGs. While they have some value against shuttles, that is so restrictive as not to merit more than a footnote).

Not all of the ships will definitely be in this round. Paul Franz has a real life and workload, and may not have time to produce what he needs to enter these ships. I have asking him, however, to prioritize the Andromedan (which he may be willing to spend some more time in since he is, after all, "The Andromedan").

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Monday, August 17, 2020 - 06:26 pm: Edit

Super interesting!

With the Vudar, the issue comes down to what rules with the IPG be using? Will it be able to create ECM? Or just be used as a pulse to destroy drones and shuttles?

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Monday, August 17, 2020 - 06:33 pm: Edit

I had just gone back and edited this in: "Note that the Ion pulse generators can only be used in defensive ionic wave mode (G36.33)." This text was in the 2012 edition of the Tournament rules. And note again that I did not want to impose an undue burden on Paul Franz, so other than the Andromedan, the other two ships are dependent on his schedule.

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Monday, August 17, 2020 - 06:36 pm: Edit

Ok, thanks!

By Jack Taylor (Jtaylor) on Monday, August 17, 2020 - 07:56 pm: Edit

Yay Steve!!! Thanks for giving us something new to think about!!

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Tuesday, August 18, 2020 - 10:15 am: Edit

Well, this piqued my interest. I think I will actually jump into this tourney to playtest one of the new ships. I'm thinking the Fed.

@Paul Franz, the Fed playtest should be low-hanging fruit. I'm hoping it's as easy as copying the file and adding a drone rack.

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Tuesday, August 18, 2020 - 10:15 am: Edit

Before I sign up I'd like to know which ship definitions are going to make it in.

By Gregg Dieckhaus (Gdieck) on Tuesday, August 18, 2020 - 11:28 am: Edit

Can someone point me to a quick rundown of the vudar rules and or where they can be found?

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Tuesday, August 18, 2020 - 12:48 pm: Edit

Vudar are found in Module F2 which contains all the rules.

The only change to their rules for the tournament is the restriction on the Ion Pulse Generator to only function in defensive ionic wave mode. This was adopted because Electronic Warfare is not used in the Tournament, and the jamming capability of the Ion Pulse Generator was disallowed.

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Tuesday, August 18, 2020 - 01:05 pm: Edit

The Vudar rules are also in the MRB.

The short version:

-Ion Cannons: Similar to photons, but do 12 damage instead of 16, hit on 2D6 so are a little more accurate.

-Ion Pulse Generator: In tournament play, they allow you to spend energy to do some amount of damage (which isn't a lot; something like 1-4 power for 1-4 damage total for each of the 2IPGs on the ship) to all small objects (drones and shuttle) within some number of hexes of the ship that impulse (2, I think? I gotta look that up again), so sort of like an instant, low energy ESG. In non tournament play, they can put up a cloud of ECM around your ship for a while also, but that is ignored for tournament play.

-Impulse Energy Requirement. The ICs and IPGs require impulse power to arm (some amount per weapon). They tend to have large impulse engines and their APRs produce impulse power, so early in the game, not an issue. They have the ability to spend some power to convert warp power to impulse power to arm things. Which basically means that late in the game, you get penalized by a point of power for warp to impulse conversion.

The Vudar TC flies kinda like a Fed with a little more accuracy and a little less crunch, and better drone defense. It has 2FX IC, 2FA IC, 6P1 all of which are FA, and a couple are FA/L/R, a couple side P3s, and a couple of RA/L/R P2s. 2IPGs. 40 power apparently, so that's something!

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Tuesday, August 18, 2020 - 01:07 pm: Edit

I remember trying the Vudar in a tournament a ways back (possibly a non sanctioned, SFBOL playtest tournament where we were using all the wacky ships) where it was allowed to use ECM from the IPGs, and it was kind of a horror show, 'causing tractors to fail to lock on, drones to miss, and full enveloping plasmas to hit for 15 damage once in a while.

I'm very pro it not having access to the ECM aspect of the IPG :-)

By Majead Farsi (Devil) on Tuesday, August 18, 2020 - 04:43 pm: Edit

Steve don't suppose we could add the Carnivon in here too!

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Tuesday, August 18, 2020 - 04:49 pm: Edit

If memory serves me, the Heel Nipper and Death Bolt combo is a little too wacky for tournament play (as it is basically an instant, free tractor followed by 60 points of seeking weapon that takes 20 points of damage to shoot down...)

By Majead Farsi (Devil) on Tuesday, August 18, 2020 - 05:29 pm: Edit

Peter that sounds fair if you get caught that way

By wayne douglas power (Wayne) on Tuesday, August 18, 2020 - 07:28 pm: Edit

I have been in 4 of the Sapphire Star Tournaments to date, I will sign up if need to fill the last spot.

By Jack Taylor (Jtaylor) on Tuesday, August 18, 2020 - 09:16 pm: Edit

Doesn't look like the store is set up to take money yet for Sapphire 6. Not sure who needs to know.

By Jean Sexton Beddow (Jsexton) on Wednesday, August 19, 2020 - 10:23 am: Edit

I've let Leanna know. Thanks.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Wednesday, August 19, 2020 - 11:33 am: Edit

So far, two signups. Jack Taylor was registered.

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Wednesday, August 19, 2020 - 11:52 am: Edit

I'm certainly in, in one of the wacky ships :-)

Will sign up officially later today.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Wednesday, August 19, 2020 - 01:17 pm: Edit

Sigh.

New problem.

My E-mail has shut down and wants a password. It has rejected the password that was used, so I am locked out and cannot get sign up as of now. More on this as it develops if I do not blow the Computer's so call "brains" out.

By Thomas Mathews (Turtle) on Wednesday, August 19, 2020 - 01:49 pm: Edit

SPP, will that destruction be by M1911A1 or SF92?

By Gregory S Flusche (Vandar) on Wednesday, August 19, 2020 - 04:53 pm: Edit

Use a phaser on kill. No mess to clean up after.

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Wednesday, August 19, 2020 - 04:57 pm: Edit

Signed up, currently unpaid. Waiting for payment link in store.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Wednesday, August 19, 2020 - 05:47 pm: Edit

Okay. I admit it. The computer was innocent in this case. It was a problem with Futurequest, and they have resolved it, so my E-mail is now working. The first sign of its now working was the arrival of Peter D. Bakija's sign up for Sapphire Star VI, making him number three to sign up.