@Paul Franz:

Problem with the playtest Fed ship definition. There is no way to select type VI drones. Your choice is ADD or... ADD. Oddly, you can pick Type-IV, but that is illegal.

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Tuesday, September 22, 2020 - 12:35 pm: Edit

Update: Sir_CatWhoEatsPhotons (Fed) v. Cadet Stimpy (ISC).

Turn 1: Fed goes 16 all turn and corner dodges. Literally into the last hex of the upper left corner. ISC goes 16/26/19 or something like that. At the end of turn he fires the PPD, which hits, but I have reinforcement so no shield damage. ISC also launches an enveloper G on imp 32.

Turn 2, Fed goes 4. ISC goes 16/26 or some such. I bounce most of the shield damage from the PPD fired on turn 1 with reinforcement, but 3 end up hitting the #5 and 1 hitting the #1 due to him switching shield facings. I weasel the enveloper. Over 16 impulses I turn twice and get my heading to C back towards the middle of the map. ISC decides to run away back towards the map rather than deal with a reinforced Fed. No torp launches from the ISC. After that I increase speed to 14 and trundle along after him. Range is still pretty wide since he's run back to the middle of the map.

Continuing tonight.

By Paul Franz (Andromedan) on Tuesday, September 22, 2020 - 10:48 pm: Edit

Ted,
That is weird. Because the dogfight is available for the Klingon. I will look into it.

By Paul Franz (Andromedan) on Tuesday, September 22, 2020 - 10:49 pm: Edit

The tree is now up.

By Paul Franz (Andromedan) on Tuesday, September 22, 2020 - 11:17 pm: Edit

Andromedan (AND) vs Son of SummaryJudgement (HYD).

Turn 1:
Andromedan Speed Plot (30/21/28 split)
Hydran Speed Plot (15/24 split)

Approached and achieved range 5 on the oblique. Andromedan fired 2 TRHs and 4 P2s (42 points of damage). 12 internals. 1 RWarp, 1 HB, 1 Fusion and 1 P1 and the rest is C Hull.

Next Impulse, Hydran Fired 1 OL HB and 3 P1s at Range 5. 19 from HB and 20 from P1s.

Andromedan Turns away to direction B and Hydran turns in (direction C). Andromedan side slipped to get the down shield in arc of the offside phasers at range 3. 1 LWarp, 1 RWarp, 1 Fusion, 1 HB.

Andromedan displaces in direction F to get behind the Hydran.

The Hydran launches 2 Fighters. (Hydran ship is 8 hexes away from the Andromedan).

Andromedan keeps running for the corner.

EOT activity with the Andromedan absorbing 3 energy into bttys and dissipating 6 in the front, 4 in the rear.

Turn 2:

Andromedan Speed Plot (21) (late unplotted change to 27)
Hydran Speed Plot (13/26 split)

Hydran plots a course around the right part of the middle of the map and going over to meet the Andromedan on the left side of the map.

Drop Front Panels on Impulse 1.

Andromedan turns to Turn E setting up for a Panel dump

Impulse 10 Andromedan Drops Rear Panels and Raises Front Panels allowing the 10 points of energy to go to the batteries.

As the fighters close from range 10 to range 8. Fighters get to range 8 on the rear panels but don't fire. Allowing the Andromedan to raise the Rear Panels without issue.

(story to be continued tomorrow)

By Graham Cridland (Grahamcridland) on Wednesday, September 23, 2020 - 01:21 am: Edit

Thanks to Paul for being patient with Trent (who was pretty good, but occasionally weird with the interface (why is there a second TLM?) and at least once just wrong (trying a HET at 26 down 3 warp).)

And I got a proud dad moment when Paul expressed surprise that Trent was playing like that at age 10.

Good luck to Paul in later rounds.

Tomorrow I continue against Droid.

By Jack Taylor (Jtaylor) on Wednesday, September 23, 2020 - 10:06 am: Edit

MadJack (Kzinti) vs Devil (Fed)

Scheduled for Friday 9/25 at 8:30a eastern

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Wednesday, September 23, 2020 - 11:18 am: Edit

Update: Sir_CatWhoEatsPhotons (Fed) v. Cadet Stimpy (ISC).

Turn 3: I go 14/24/26. ISC goes 24/17/24 or something like that. I take the middle of the map, while the ISC runs and then turns. He launches an enveloper (tube B) using those nice LP arcs while I"m more-or-less off his #5. I slip out a bit in order to line up the torp, and then I turn into it late turn. It will hit at full strength. So, I fire 10*ph-3 at it, reducing its warhead by 18 to 22. I take the damage by moving right into the torp.

I'm now middle-south in the map and ISC is somewhat in the upper right map segment, I'm facing #1 to his #5.

Continuing tonight. Unfortunately, Dan and I have difficult schedules to match, and so we end up only playing for an hour or two each session...

By Paul Franz (Andromedan) on Wednesday, September 23, 2020 - 10:38 pm: Edit

Andromedan (AND) vs Son of SummaryJudgement (HYD).
(The continuation of the story...)

The Andromedan turns in on impulse 17, raising the rear panels on Impulse 19 as the Hydran ship and fighter close in. Increases to speed to 27 on Impulse 23 so that he can force the Hydran to move first and react appropriately.

The Hydran turns to direction E on impulse 24. The Andromedan reacts by turning to direction B so that he ends up at Range 2 of the Hydran (on the 2/3 shield boundary) and Range 3 of the fighters.

Andromedan fires 2xP2s at each fighter (crippling 1 and the other getting 6 points) and fires 2xP2 at the Hydran (9 points of damage to shield #3).

Hydran fires 2xP1s, 1xPh-G and 1xFusion doing 28 points to the rear panels causing 1 leak point.

Andromedan continues to close on the fighters finally deciding to slip into the hex of the good fighter and then tractoring it with one of the arming TRHs. So that the fighter would be forced to stay on the Andromedan's front panels.

Fighters do a total of 37 points to the Front panels.

The Andromedan circles around to the middle of the board. While the Hydran turns around to be facing direction at the end of the turn.

Andromedan maintains tractor on fighter until the end of the turn.

(story to be continued tomorrow)

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Thursday, September 24, 2020 - 12:13 am: Edit

Stimpy (ISC) over Sir CWEP (Fed).

I flew brilliantly, he flew OK, but in the end the photon dice killed me. This is just a very tough fight for the Fed.

On turn 4 I ended up chasing him into the NE corner, fighting through an enveloper and a rear F. At range 5 he put 6*phaser into me hoping for a photon, but didn't get it. I launched a drone.

Shields are now shreds.

ISC launches a WW. I close to range 2 (best I can do with my move plot) and fire. Due to shift I only hit with 1 photon.

I don't even bother to roll the phasers. Game is over,and I throw in the towel.

Sure, he'd take 20 or so internals, but that's irrelevant at this point because I have NO shields at all, particularly in the front where I need them. There's no way I can survive another turn to fire again.

Had I hit with 3 photons, I could have made a game of it. Had I hit with 4 I'd probably be ahead. 50% odds, and hit with 1... oh well.

The drone rack made NO difference to this game at all. Not even as padding for a phaser.

Overall, I flew well and Stimpy made several movement errors - but in the end bad photon dice can always save the day!

Dan's a great opponent. Hope to run into him again sometime.

By Russ Simkins (Madcowak) on Thursday, September 24, 2020 - 12:45 am: Edit

Tough game CWEP, an interesting watch. Hard for the Fed to get anywhere without some trick to overcome EW crushing most of the eggs in your photon basket.

Was rooting for the Fed to make some magic as this is matchup has some old memories for me. Sometime in the 1980s when Vol.III came out with the ISC, my older brother has me try out a blind first encounter. My Fed CA against the some mysterious alien ship I'd never seen with no idea of its weapons. It went far worse then CWEPs encounter. First time hard-charging, guns blazing, high school me ever looked up the rules for disengagement. I don't recall if anything or anyone from the UFP survived. -twitch- -twitch-

By Norman Dizon (Ichaborn) on Thursday, September 24, 2020 - 02:56 am: Edit

Very cool details on the Andromedan Match. Love seeing the Newcomer give the Andromedan a run for his money!

For Ted's game, it's interesting that EW seemed to be the deciding factor (causing the Photons to miss). Ted states the Drone Rack was of no use. I suppose a Scatterpack was out of the question?

In my mind, there should be some way for the Fed to win over the ISC without just gambling everything on all the Photons hitting. I guess that's not the case...

Perhaps the Fed is broken in a way I never imagined. SFB is about Options during Gameplay. If the Fed is reduced to only 1 Option, hitting with All Photons to Win, then it clearly doesn't have any other Options to Win...

Is this a Design Issue with the Photon Table, particularly the To-Hit Chances and the Amount of Damage for each Photon? Disruptor Ships don't seem to have this One-Trick Pony Issue...

???

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Thursday, September 24, 2020 - 07:16 am: Edit

1.04 bakija (AND) vs Romwe (FED)

7:00 pm ET tonight, Thursday, 9/24.

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Thursday, September 24, 2020 - 11:19 am: Edit

Scatterpack illegal in playtest Fed. However, it would not have made a difference I think.

The problem with the Federation is, indeed, the photon dice. You can't really overcome it. If the photons were more accurate then you'd have to reduce their damage to maintain balance - but then you have a slightly different Klingon.

Also, the Tournament is a fairly rarefied environment. In regular SFB, the Federation can be EXTREMELY dangerous and effective, especially in squadrons or fleets. Photon damage doesn't degrade with range unless you want it to (i.e., proximity fuse), and the law of large numbers smooths out the statistical hit problem that an individual ship has. Additionally, a Fed fleet is likely supported by a scout that can even out the EW problem for the larger ships.

Think of it this way: A fleet of DN plus 10*FF (easily done in a F&E environment) has 24 photon torpedoes. You should hit with 4 at range 30, which is 32 damage - enough to wreck a shield of an enemy ship, and enough to do serious internals to a FF or DD. At range 2 with overloaded torps, you will do 20*16= 320, and with phasers you will easily do enough damage to kill 4 cruisers.

So, for the SFB overall game, the Federation works great and are quite viable competitors. However, in a tourney environment you don't get the benefit of the law of large numbers, so as an individual competitor the Federation TCC is always going to be a "looser" unless it gets extremely lucky.

Which is why I keep advocating for a tourney version of the Fed TCF. A fast ship with 10*ph-1, 2*ph-3, 1 or 2 G drone rack, and 2*photon lacks the punch, but it is MUCH more reliable and has the power to fly and chew bubblegum. It would solve the problem of the Fed's unreliable photon dice but still not be overwhelming.

But the powers that be don't want to playtest a Fed TCF, so it's out.

By Daniel Bitseff (Cadet_Stimpy) on Thursday, September 24, 2020 - 02:04 pm: Edit

Thanks for the write up, Ted!

I guess I was lucky to be in one of those lopsided matchups where "Ok" can overcome "brilliance!" :D

Maneuver did feel like a struggle for me, if you have more insights on my movement errors, I would love to hear...trying to get better!

By Norman Dizon (Ichaborn) on Thursday, September 24, 2020 - 02:21 pm: Edit

Thanks for your detailed response, Ted. Very Insightful. You have given me Food for Thought.

In Honor of your Brilliance, you have been Promoted to the GRAND ADMIRAL OF PHOTONS!!

(Or perhaps it should be GRAND FELINE OF PHOTONS??)

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Thursday, September 24, 2020 - 03:37 pm: Edit

Ted wrote:
>>But the powers that be don't want to playtest a Fed TCF, so it's out.>>

I think the big issue is that we have already determined, fairly definitively, that a ship with 10xP1 (any ship with 10xP1) in the tournament environment is going to be a nightmare (see: the vastly worse 10xP1 Selt when it existed completely dominating play). So you gotta end up with something super weird; I think the version of the CF that is floating around as an SSD on SFBOL is something like 3xPhoton, 7xP1 (3xFH, 2xLS, 2xRS), 3xP3 (? 360), and a G-rack or two, along with some sort of F ship engines (36x warp? Maybe something a little less?). Which may or may not be viable, but is a harder to sell as a concept.

It's got a *lot* of moving parts that need considering.

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Thursday, September 24, 2020 - 03:41 pm: Edit

Norman wrote:
>>In my mind, there should be some way for the Fed to win over the ISC without just gambling everything on all the Photons hitting. I guess that's not the case...>>

Against plasma, I think, generally, the Fed needs to be willing to try a R8 shot; play conservatively till you can get that, look for an opportunity to take it when it won't get you killed the next turn, and then take it. If they hit average (i.e. 2x photons, ok phasers), they can probably still make a game of it. If they get lucky and hit with 3x photons, they are generally advantaged. If they hit with 1 photon, well, they are probably doomed, but a lot of the time, that's the case anyway.

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Thursday, September 24, 2020 - 06:18 pm: Edit

@Peter B: Sure, but let's at least start playtesting something....

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Thursday, September 24, 2020 - 06:20 pm: Edit

@Dan: What I would have done would be to be slight more aggressive with the plasma launch. On turn 2 when I went slow you could have hit me with another couple of plasma with plenty of time to run and reload (especially with 2-turn arming F in the G torps). You would have eaten another weasel.

That's it, really.

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Thursday, September 24, 2020 - 06:53 pm: Edit

Hey, so the current Andromedan ships in SFBOL are listed as:

-Andromedan Krait (official)
-Andromedan Krait (previous)
-Andromedan Krait (2010 playtest)
-Andromedan Krait (previously sanctioned)
-Andromedan TKC-2008-Andromedan Krait (2008 playtest)
-Andromedan Krait-OLT-Andromedan Krait OLT (playtest)
-Andromedan TKC-2011-PPF-Androemdan Krait (playtest)

So which one of these is the ship we are using? And what does "OLT" and "PPF" mean?

By Russ Simkins (Madcowak) on Thursday, September 24, 2020 - 07:25 pm: Edit

A consideration regarding tourney Fed - this is the ship that anyone from outside this game would want to see and would expect it to be a stronger competitor. It's sort of the face of the franchise. It sure would be nice to find some solution to its troubles in tournament play.

By Paul Franz (Andromedan) on Thursday, September 24, 2020 - 08:17 pm: Edit

Peter,
Use "Andromedan Krait (official)".

Note: This is a bug in the ship that the TRHs are marked TRLs when it comes to system type. I will correct that in the future.

By Brian Evans (Romwe) on Thursday, September 24, 2020 - 08:25 pm: Edit

I think that adding the G-rack to the Fed is a nice step. The ISC/Romulans are really terrible matchups, which would be ok, if all the drone ships weren't bad matchups as well. I'm hoping to see the g-rack help a little with drone matchups, moving at least some of them towards that 50/50 win ratio. Getting an Andro back in the tournament is a big deal for the Fed as well, since it gives it a matchup that it's advantaged in. It doesn't have many of those currently.

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Thursday, September 24, 2020 - 08:28 pm: Edit

1.04 Romwe (FED) over bakija (AND)

Once again, we determine that the Fed is good vs the Andro.

T1: I move 16/31 split (a little more 31 than 16). Fed moves 17/24. He moves towards me, I go forward, eventually turn towards the East wall, slipping away, and then turn North again. He launches a drone late in the turn. We end at about R10, me facing A, him facing C, me near the wall, him off my #5 shield facing.

T2: I move 31 till 26, drop to 16. I spend all my batteries in EA, have 6 points or reserve warp and 1 point of not warp to use for the turn. Fed moves 24 most of the turn, speeding up to 26 late. I'm trying to get in a beneficial turning situation, while avoiding a R4 shot on my front panels. He launches a second drone. I keep moving, end up getting to totally kill both of his drones with my T-bomb that I beam out, but end up turning my front panels to his #6 shield, and will soon end up at R4 or closer. So I displace behind him successfully, still trying to get a somehow beneficial shot. After an impulse or 2, I HET behind him, but still am at R8 or so. He HETs back at me. He gets to R5 off my rear panels. He doesn't shoot. The next impulse, I move, and he does not, which is terrible, as if he did move, I'd be able to turn into R4 out of his FA, and have an advantageous shot. But 'cause he doesn't move, I have the choice of turning into a perfect (for him) R4 shot on my front panels, or giving him a risky R5 shot on my rears, which if he takes and rolls badly, I come out ahead the next impulse. I gamble that he doesn't want to risk the 50-50 photons at R5 and give him my rear panels at R5. Brian thinks for a bit, and gambles on the shot. He hits completely average for 52 damage. I take 12 in, losing an unfired TRH, a pair of P2s, and a couple power. Game is over. I play till the end of the turn, having the opportunity to fire my single TRH at a rear shield at R4 or so, decline to take it, and resign at the end of the turn after another 4 internals from his off side phasers late in the turn.

My batteries are empty at this point (well, I have something like .4 battery power before panel absorption). I'm down 4 static power, 2P2, TRH. I have done zero damage to the Fed.

I could have just gone forward and swapped a R4 or R3 shot, my front panels to one of his forward shields, but if he hits 3/4 photons, I take 12-15 internals and am in about the same spot, while yeah, he takes 20 in, but he'll be much better off at that point. I tried clever maneuver and giving the Fed the choice to avoid bad dice, but didn't work. Last time, I just took the Fed's R4 shot, and also got demolished :-)

End result: Fed is good vs Andro.

The Fed's G-Rack was helpful; it used up my t-bomb, and did result in my turning in a little earlier than I had intended (to make sure both drones hit the t-bomb), which might have killed me. But probably not.

Go team Brian!