1.1 Dan B (Lyran) vs. Geoff C (Gorn)

1.2 Jack T (FED G) vs. Ron B. (Vudar)

1.3 Dana M. (Orion HGHBB/FGFf1) vs. Bill S (Kzinti)

1.4 Leslie L (Romulan Firehawk) vs. Graham C (Shark BB)

1.5 Andy K (Rom TKR) vs Jason G (WAX 11g1/111g)

1.6 Justin R (Hydran) vs. Brain E (ISC)

1.7 Majead F (Neo- Tholian) vs Peter B. (LDR)

1.8 Paul Franz (Selt) Seth (Archeo Tholian)

JFF, no huge pressure on the schedule, but lets not drag these rounds out too long or we'll lose interest. We are all cagey vets with a pretty good record of Alacrity! so I trust there will be no problems. I am the organizer, but this is a self judged tourney. Players can come up with answers either in game or get a consensus on this forum.

Wayne Douglas Power is in the wings if anyone needs to drop out and just let me know if you lose and want to re enter. I'll insert you into the queue.
Sorry Peter. The Vudar missed you

So... go.

By Graham Cridland (Grahamcridland) on Friday, July 30, 2021 - 11:02 am: Edit

Great.

Putting this post up so my email is available.

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Friday, July 30, 2021 - 11:59 am: Edit

Man. LDR. That was certainly unexpected.

Graham! You got, probably, the best ship in the bunch :-)

By Andy Koch (Droid) on Friday, July 30, 2021 - 12:29 pm: Edit

I got stuck flying a ship I have never flown against a ship I always fly.

By Jack Taylor (Jtaylor) on Friday, July 30, 2021 - 04:40 pm: Edit

Question on Vudar (since I have to shoot at one)

What is the arming status t1 for the ion cannons?

Held overloads doesn't make sense. Held standards to start makes some sense since it is a 2 turn arming gun.

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Friday, July 30, 2021 - 04:56 pm: Edit

Ion Cannon standards cost 2+2 to arm, where 1 must be a point of "ion" (impulse) energy, and 1 to hold.

Overloads cost an addition 2 energy at some point, where 1 (more) must be a point of "ion" energy, and they cost 2 to hold.

So in general, you'd arm an overload with 2+1i and then 2+1i over 2 turns.

At WSIII, you can't start with OLs, and don't get any OL energy (there is a specific note that they aren't Feds...), so on T1, you'll generally be holding 4 std ICs (for 1 each), and then overloading them if so inclined for 1+1i each (a total of 12 power, of which 4 is "ion" power).

"Ion" power comes from impulse engines, or APRs. If your ship is really messed up, you can generate "ion" power by paying an "ionization" tax of 1 power (it is usually equal to a ship's move cost) to make any power you want into "ion" energy during EA.

And then, on your first volley of 4xOLs where you need either 8's or 9's to hit, you'll still only hit with one of them. Every time. At least that is my experience :-)

By Graham Cridland (Grahamcridland) on Friday, July 30, 2021 - 05:02 pm: Edit

Not only (arguably) the best ship in the bunch, but if I win, I get the Firehawk (also fantastic) and if I win again I get either an Orion or a Kzinti (far from terrible either way). If I play good SFB I could make the semis without having to fly a bad ship.

All that said, I've never actually flown a disruptor ship other than the ATC and the Klingon before, so this will be an experience.

By Jack Taylor (Jtaylor) on Friday, July 30, 2021 - 07:43 pm: Edit

Thanks Peter - that confirms what I figured.

By wayne douglas power (Wayne) on Friday, July 30, 2021 - 08:19 pm: Edit

Good first round ship match ups, I am looking forward to observing the battles.

By Graham Cridland (Grahamcridland) on Friday, July 30, 2021 - 10:41 pm: Edit

Note that Peter had, as stated, a .250 batting average with ion cannons in our game... and won. We both had cross-eyed gunnery officers in that one, although the Ions were the worst break either of us had. The Vudar is pretty dangerous. Unlike the Fed, it is capable of rearming without stopping or otherwise doing silly things, and it's kind of immune to drones (or at least, to big drone waves) with the IPG.

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Saturday, July 31, 2021 - 10:55 am: Edit

I also missed 3/4 on my first shot at the Neo Tholian in my second game at R5 (where hitting 2/4 probably wins me the game n the long run, and hitting 3/4 ends the game instantly). And did lose that one :-)

By Ronald J. Brimeyer (Captainron) on Saturday, July 31, 2021 - 03:33 pm: Edit

I think this will be fun. I am flying a ship I have never flown vs an opponent I have never beaten. (We have enjoyed many fine games) I smell an upset!

By Ronald J. Brimeyer (Captainron) on Saturday, July 31, 2021 - 04:13 pm: Edit

Does the IPG start with 4 stored power?

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Saturday, July 31, 2021 - 04:18 pm: Edit

I'm pretty sure at WSIII it starts full. Which I think is 4 power (i.e. enough to kill type I drones).

By wayne douglas power (Wayne) on Saturday, July 31, 2021 - 07:35 pm: Edit

Yes the Vudar have 4 power in IPG capacitor, and can only use Defensive Ionic Wave Mod (G36.33).

By Jack Taylor (Jtaylor) on Sunday, August 01, 2021 - 07:15 pm: Edit

MadJack (Fed+G) versus CaptainRon (Vudar)

Set for Saturday 8/7 at 10a eastern.

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Monday, August 02, 2021 - 01:31 pm: Edit

bakija (LDR) vs Majead (NTC)

Tuesday, 8/3, 9:30 am ET (12:30 GMT).

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Tuesday, August 03, 2021 - 11:07 am: Edit

1.7

bakija (LDR) over Devil (NTC)

T1: I move a 22/30 split with 2 overloads, 2 standards, and a fraction in HET. Neo Tholian moves 15/26 with 4 standards (and possibly a HET already allocated?). I just go straight up the map, he slips out a bit. When we reach about R15 or so, he casts a straight 4 hex, strength 12 web parallel to our movement, a little between us. I turn towards him, but below the web. Right before it solidifies, he shoots me in the face at R10, with 3 of 4 standard disruptors for 9, which all sticks. He turns to get the web between us. I close on my end of the web, turn to face him (he is facing C, I am facing A). I can get on his side of the web, and am faster than him, so he HETs away to A. I just follow him, get past the web on the far side, and on impulse 30, fire 2xOL, 2xSTD disruptors, hit with 3 of them for 15 damage to his #5. We end the turn about 7 hexes apart, me behind him.

T2: I move speed 21 till 8, 30 till 24, 15 till end, have 3 overloaded disruptors, a bit in HET, 1 in tractor. The Neo Tholian moves 15/28/15. I start closing in and announce my ESGs on impulse 4 to go up on impulse 8 (r3, strength 15 each). He pitches out a 4 hex, strength 12, W shaped web near his #2 shield direction. I use 1.333 energy to gain 1 hex of movement, accelerating to 30 on impulse 5 instead of 8 (one of the rare instances you pay 2:1!), gaining a hex on him. On impulse 7, he announces a speed change to 28, and I cancel my ESGs. Because of where he is relative to the close web, and him not moving on impulse 9, he can't get into the web to block my fire (if he did move on impulse 9, he probably would have been fine). Impulse 8, he slips away. Impulse 9, I move to R2 centerlined, my #1 on his #3. I blast him with 3xOL, 6xP1, both full gats. He shoots me back with his facing 2P1 and 5P3. All my disruptors hit, my phasers roll a little low, but I do 69 total damage. The Neo does 25 to my 21 box #1. I take 4 internals (hull), he takes 40 in after 5 battery reinforcement. He loses 12 power, lots of fluff, the snare, and a couple P3s, so while he took 40 in, nothing real terrible happened (well, 12 power is very rough on that ship...). I turn off, barely dodge having to hit the wall at 30, and move away the rest of the turn. He comes about towards the center of the map. We end the turn at about R16, him near the middle.

T3: I move 21 all turn, recharge all my phasers, batteries, arm 2 standard disruptors (the good ones), and start fixing my #1 shield, and have a bit in HET. Neo moves 9/15 and recharges stuff (he had 5 in the WC and plenty of phasers armed). My #1 is down, so I close in obliquely. At about R12, I'm facing D, he is facing F, I'm to his left, and he casts a 5 hex, strength 10 web that is sort of between us. I just HET back at him to avoid the web and close. He turns to face me, and we end up at R5, my down #1 facing his full #1 when the web is about to solidify. He blasts me with all 5 facing P1s, rolls hot (something like 1, 1, 1, 3, 4), and does 22 internals, hitting all 4 of the P1s that I had fired back the same impulse (doing 8 to his #1 and killing a shuttle he had just launched), one of my still unused ESGs, and 3 of my 4 batteries, leaving me exactly 1 point of reserve impulse power. We close a little more, I use my 1 point of reserve impulse to jump to speed 22 for the rest of the turn to gain a convenient hex of movement, allowing me to get R2 off his down #3 with my #3 at R2 before he got to turn or get behind the web. I shoot him with 2xSTD, 2xP1, and my facing gat. Hit with everything, roll hot on the gat, do another 32 internals. The Neo hit me with a couple more P3s (for 7 on my full #3), and Majead surrenders.

Great, fast game! We had a weird time confusion (UK is currently GMT+1, but I was looking at the world GMT clock, which didn't indicate that UK was ahead an hour, so I showed up late to the game :-). The Tholian is, more often than not, killed by exactly 1 of something (the web is off by 1 hex, the Tholian is doesn't move 1 hex, the opponent is 1 hex too close, whatever), and in this game, if Majead has been able to move on impulse 9 on T2 (either by moving 30 instead of 28, or it being an impulse earlier when we interacted), he probably would have been fine at that point.

ESGs are apparently useless against Tholians. All my ESGs did was get announced, seem concerning for an impulse, get cancelled, and then get hit. If the game had continued, I probably could have used the survivor to kill a shuttle or something :-)

Next I get a Seltorian. Or a better Tholian. Gah.

By Graham Cridland (Grahamcridland) on Tuesday, August 03, 2021 - 11:14 am: Edit

Good game, Peter and Majead.

Leslie, please email me (in profile). I don't have an email for you.

By Norman Dizon (Ichaborn) on Tuesday, August 03, 2021 - 12:50 pm: Edit

Fantastic Game!

I had to double-check the Web Caster Rules to see what was going on with firing it one turn after another. With a 5-point Capacitor, it can used as long as it has points. Since the Webs on T1 and T2 were both 4-Hex and Strength 12, they each would have required 5 points of energy at Ranges 1-10. I assume the 5 points in the Capacitor was used up on T1 and then refilled during Energy Allocation on T2...?

This seemed like a Disruptor vs Phaser match with the Web and ESG having little consequence. Except the LDR has Gatlings. Maybe there was more at play with the Web Caster controlling movement that is not apparent in the text write-up. I know Peter said the Web was only 1-Hex away, so maybe it was just a question of timing and distance to the Web.

Great Game and Cool Matchup of Technology!

By Norman Dizon (Ichaborn) on Tuesday, August 03, 2021 - 12:54 pm: Edit

p.s.

I also tried coordinating with someone in the UK a long time ago. That whole GMT thing messed me up too...

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Tuesday, August 03, 2021 - 02:06 pm: Edit

Norman wrote:
>>I had to double-check the Web Caster Rules to see what was going on with firing it one turn after another. With a 5-point Capacitor, it can used as long as it has points. Since the Webs on T1 and T2 were both 4-Hex and Strength 12, they each would have required 5 points of energy at Ranges 1-10. I assume the 5 points in the Capacitor was used up on T1 and then refilled during Energy Allocation on T2...?>>

You can fire a Web Caster every turn. It can hold up to 5 power. Each point of power gives you 10 web points to use for up to 5 hexes of web. So on T1, the WC starts WSIII with 5 power. You can launch a 5 hex web that is strength 10, or a 4 hex web that is strength 12. Strength 12 is the break point where if you run into the web and are moving 12 or faster, you take some damage and have to roll for breakdown (but can use your once per game breakdown bonus if you'd like). So the Tholian often casts a 4 hex, strength 12 web, even though it loses 2 points of web strength (as web is always an even strength across the whole length).

You can put less energy in the Web Caster when reloading it, so if you are really low on power, using 1 energy to arm the WC allows you to make 5 hexes of strength 2 web (which still blocks fire as well as a strength 10 web). Or 1 hex of strength 10 web. Or something in between.

The Tholian often has a lot of power issues as the game goes on, as it wants to arm and use the WC every turn, but it can be expensive, and all of its guns cost energy. As such, the Tholian often just lives as a ship that moves fast and arms the web caster and phasers, mostly ignoring the disruptors a lot of the time.

>>This seemed like a Disruptor vs Phaser match with the Web and ESG having little consequence. Except the LDR has Gatlings. Maybe there was more at play with the Web Caster controlling movement that is not apparent in the text write-up. I know Peter said the Web was only 1-Hex away, so maybe it was just a question of timing and distance to the Web.>>

The web had a lot of influence on the game, but it wasn't ever a very dramatic one. On the first turn, the web meant that I couldn't just close in and blast him at close range (as there was a web in the way, and if I went one way, he'd go the other). On the second turn, the web meant that my ESGs were going to be useless, and if things had been 1 more convenient somewhere (it was 1 hex closer, or it was 1 impulse earlier, or he was 1 faster), he probably would have been able to completely avoid me shooting him at R2, gone through the web, and forced me to either just go around it, or crash into it, possibly using a HET to do so (which could be disasterous). On T3 his web forced me to HET at him and give him my down #1 shield, to get a shot on him, but as I was already ahead 40 internals, and was faster than him, it didn't help that much.

Like, normally, the Tholian has movement precedence against most opponents (as it is Turn Mode B), which helps a lot. But against the LDR, the LDR has the same Turn Mode, but also can HET at speed 30, so it can reliably move speed 30 a lot of the time, where the Neo Tholian generally needs to be 26 so as to be able to HET to maximize web use.

Tholians are tricky to play, the Neo Tholian is way less good than the Archeo Tholian, and I suspect that the LDR has a leg up on the Neo Tholian, due to the ability to always engage at speed 30.

By Norman Dizon (Ichaborn) on Tuesday, August 03, 2021 - 02:44 pm: Edit

Very informative, as always.

Thanks so much, Peter.

By Jason Gray (The_Hood) on Wednesday, August 04, 2021 - 02:28 am: Edit

"I use 1.333 energy to gain 1 hex of movement, accelerating to 30 on impulse 5 instead of 8 (one of the rare instances you pay 2:1!)"

Having never used this manoeuvre I decided to read up on section C12.24 in my 2012 Master Rule Book.

Peter was correct in his usage, however I was struck by the following example-

"If the ship had a plotted increase to Speed 20 on Impulse #23, and made an unplotted increase to Speed 20 on Impulse #16, it would gain two movement points (and pay the cost of four movement points)."

I have played SFB for 30+ years and as far as I know everyone I have ever played with has used the above example as a 1-1 cost, not a 2-1 cost???

By Andy Koch (Droid) on Wednesday, August 04, 2021 - 07:15 am: Edit

I have always played that at a 1-1 cost.

The only time it's 2-1 is if you accelerate "temporarily" using reserve. IE plot 20 1-32..use reserve to bump to "some higher speed" for 8 impulses to get a hex or 2 at a crucial moment...

Or.. my life is a lie.