Here is the basic outline I'm doing for a Andromedan/ISC-Romulan battle.

I need advice from the more knowledgable Andros out there if this is going to be a cake-walk or with the Andros get blown up to easily.

By Scott Tenhoff (Scottt) on Monday, March 25, 2002 - 01:15 pm: Edit

(SH.??) ???

(Summer 197) by Scott Tenhoff, California


(SH??.1) Number of Players: 3; the Andromedan player, and the Romulan player, and the ISC player.

(SH??.2) Initial Setup
ISC
Planet: 2230 map A
Mobile Base in orbit at 2430 map A, rotation 2-4, WS-3, 3 cargo pods, and 1 repair pod
DD within 2 hexes of planet, speed 4, WS-3
FRD within 2 hexes of MB, speed 0, WS-2
CA docked inside FRD, speed 0, WS-0, see rule (SH??.?)

Romulans: All set up on xx30 row of map B. Speed Max, WS-3, uncloaked.
Royalhawk-K
King Eagle
Snipe-B

Andromedan:
Intruder: hex 0101 map A, speed max, WS-3
Mamba, Small Energy Module, Eel being carried.

(SH??.3) LENGTH OF SCENERIO: The scenario continues until the Andromedons or ISC and Romulans leave the board.
Special RULES
(SH??.41) MAP: The map is fixed, it does not float. There are 2 maps, A is set up above map B. Any unit leaving the map has disengaged and cannot return. The Andromedons may only exit the board from Map A in direction A or F. The Romulans may only exit the board in direction D of Map B. The ISC may only exit the board in direction B or C of map A or B.
(SH??.42) SHUTTLES: Warp booster packs are available. The Royalhawk may purchase a MRS with Commander’s Option points.
(SH??.43) COMMANDER'S OPTION ITEMS: Each player may purchase up to 20% of its Combat Value for Commander’s Option Items.
(SH??.431) There are no drones in this scenario. If playing with variant fleets they would all be "fast", i.e., speed-32. Each drone armed ship may purchase special drones up to the historical racial percentages as part of Commander's Option items.
(SH??.44) REFITS: All ships have all available refits for Y197.
(SH??.5) ISC CA damage: The CA is being repaired after being in a major fight. The CA has taken 1 volley of 25 damage through each of the #1, #2, and #6 shields. At the beginning of the scenario, all shields have been repaired, and the ISC player may conduct 5 turns of repairs on the CA.

(SH??.5) VICTORY CONDITIONS:
Use standard victory conditions. The MB and FRD are counted as their EPV.
(SH??.6) VARIATIONS: The scenario can be played with the following:
(SH??.61) remove the SN-B and replace it with 2 Starhawk-As on the Royalhawk, and 2 Centurions on the KE.
(SH??.62) Replace the Romulans with Gorns. They have CS, HDD, BDD
(SH??.63) Replace the ISC DD with 5 Plas-F DefSats
(SH??.64) Replace Viper with ?? Modules from J2.
(SH??.7) BALANCE: The scenario may be balanced for players of different skill levels by one or more of the following:
(SH??.8) TACTICS:
(SH??.9) HISTORICAL OUTCOME:
(SH??.X) DESIGN NOTES:

By Scott Tenhoff (Scottt) on Monday, March 25, 2002 - 01:16 pm: Edit

Background, and introduction to follow later (after I've written it.)


The Romulans and ISC are fighting together, so they can't attack each other.

By Jonathan Perry (Jonathan_Perry) on Monday, March 25, 2002 - 01:48 pm: Edit

First glance . . . not a cakewalk.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Monday, March 25, 2002 - 02:13 pm: Edit

Scott Tenhoff:

You need to be clear about what it going on with the ISC CA.

"Five Turns of Repairs" That can be taken by the Andromedan Player as "You can conduct five turns of Continuous Damage Repairs, expending your ability to do any Continuous Damage Repairs for the duration of the scenario, prior to the scenario beginning".

The ISC and Romulan players will insist that it means "The ISC CA has its fully normal ability to do Continuous Damage Repairs during the scenario, but has also completed five turns of the maximum possible repairs the FRD can perform."

Also note that you are going to need to explain the status of "Commander's Option Points" available to the ISC CA as a separate issue. This might be "The ISC CA's Commander's Options were fully restocked while it was docked as part of the repairs being implemented by the FRD", or "The ISC CA has been in combat and used some of its Commander's Options, to reflect this, it has only the following Commander's Options and cannot purchase more (LIST)," or "it has only (# of points . . . percentage of its Combat BPV) available for the purchase of Commander's Options," or "it has the following Commander's Options (LIST) and in addition has (# of points) available to purchase additional options in order to keep the Andromedan guessing as to what exactly it has."

You will also need to cover at the very least whether or not it has gotten replacement crew, whether or not it has its full complement of boarding parties (even if the damage only kills those that would be lost by normal crew loss rules, i.e., three boarding parties, some might also have been lost in hit-and-run raids, or when the thing they were guarding was destroyed, or when the ship they were conducting a boarding attack against self-destructed or disengaged or what have you).

There is also the matter of the "shuttles" availble to the ship, some of which may have been lost and not replaced (or broken out of storage), and of course the status of its PPTs. I.e., if he repairs a lost plasma-S as part of his five turns of repairs, will it have a PPT (obviously not since it takes more than five turns to replace a PPT . . . but you need to clearly state such to avoid arguments). Note also that if you ALLOW some of the prior turns of repairs to have been CDR conducted after the "big battle", a plasma-S tube might have been repaired and had its PPT regenerated.

By Scott Tenhoff (Scottt) on Monday, March 25, 2002 - 05:58 pm: Edit

Reposting of scenario, with history, and CA corrections.

(SH.??) Plans change in Battle

By Y189 the ISC had created a solid zone separating the Gorn and Romulans from each other. The Gorns and Romulans were constantly probing this area to disrupt the ISC and make their continuation of their “Pacification” difficult. Knowing fully that all supplies came from the ISC homeland and traveled between their Empires.

The Romulans ordered their Royalhawk “Imperial Knight” to lead an attack on one of the ISC repair and supply planets in this zone. The Imperial Knight was assigned an aging King Eagle (with a Captain that had been on it for 20 years) and an obsolete Snipe-B for point defense against PFs and fighters.

The “Imperial Knight” approached the area under cloak as planned, yet before they uncloaked, the defending squadron of ISC ships were observed warping away at high speed. The Romulan squadron still approached under cloak for 1 more hour before uncloaking to begin their assault.

What surprised them was that at the same time an Andromedon Intruder was also warping in to attack their target.

In a moment that will be analyzed for years, without hesitation the captain of the “Imperial Knight” raised the ISC base commander over sub-space radio, and offered assistance in defeating the Andromedon. The Base Commander never asked why the Romulans were there but accepted immediately.

(Summer 189) by Scott Tenhoff, California

(SH??.1) Number of Players: 3; the Andromedan player, and the Romulan player, and the ISC player. Alternatively the Romulan and ISC units may be controlled by one person.

(SH??.2) Initial Setup
Planet: 2230 map A (with atmosphere)
Mobile Base in a standard 2 hex orbit at 2430 map A, rotation 2-4, WS-3, 3 cargo pods, and 1 repair pod
DD within 2 hexes of planet, speed 4, WS-3
FRD within 2 hexes of MB, speed 0, WS-2
CA docked inside FRD, speed 0, WS-0, see rule (SH??.?)

Romulans: All set up on xx30 row of map B. Speed Max, WS-3, uncloaked.
Royalhawk-K “Imperial Knight”
King Eagle
Snipe-B

Andromedon:
Intruder: hex 0101 map A, speed max, WS-3
Mamba, Small Energy Module, Eel being carried.

(SH??.3) LENGTH OF SCENERIO: The scenario continues until the Andromedons or ISC and Romulans leave the board.
SPECIAL RULES
(SH??.41) MAP: The map is fixed, it does not float. There are 2 maps, A is set up above map B. Any unit leaving the map has disengaged and cannot return. The Andromedons may only exit the board from Map A in direction A or F. The Romulans may only exit the board in direction D of Map B. The ISC may only exit the board in direction B or C of map A or B.
(SH??.42) SHUTTLES: Warp booster packs are available. The Royalhawk may purchase a MRS with Commander’s Option points.
(SH??.43) COMMANDER'S OPTION ITEMS: Each player may purchase up to 20% of its Combat Value for Commander’s Option Items. The ISC CA has 0 Commander’s Option Points (they were all used in the last battle and have not been replenished.)
(SH??.431) There are no drones in this scenario. If playing with variant fleets they would all be "fast", i.e., speed-32. Each drone armed ship may purchase special drones up to the historical racial percentages as part of Commander's Option items.
(SH??.44) REFITS: All ships have all available refits for Y189.
(SH??.5) ISC CA damage: The CA is being repaired after being in a major battle. The CA has taken 1 volley of 25 damage through each of the #1, #2, and #6 shields. At the beginning of the scenario, all shields have been repaired, and the ISC player may conduct 5 turns of repairs on the CA from the FRD. The CA has no shuttles, all being destroyed in its last battle. The CA may not conduct CDR on any system as it was used in its last battle and spare parts haven’t been received yet. The CA lost 14 (including the 3 Crew units from Boarding Parties) crew units, and has lost 6 boarding parties total. The CA has NO PPTs available for its plasmas.

(SH??.5) VICTORY CONDITIONS:
Use standard victory conditions for each side. The Andromedon counts the MB and FRD as their EPV, and for damaging either the ISC or Romulan ships. The Romulans only score points for damaging the Andromedon. The ISC scores points for damaging the Andromedon, and if the CA gets off the board will score its full BPV for it.
(SH??.6) VARIATIONS: The scenario can be played with the following:
(SH??.61) remove the SN-B and replace it with 2 Starhawk-As on the Royalhawk, and 2 Centurions on the KE.
(SH??.62) Replace the Romulans with Gorns. They have CS, HDD, BDD. If wanting PFs, replace the BDD with 4 casual PFs.
(SH??.63) Replace the ISC DD with 5 Plas-F DefSats
(SH??.64) Replace Viper with ?? Modules from J2.
(SH??.65) Replace RH-K with a NH-K.
(SH??.66) Add a Legendary Captain to the KE.
(SH??.7) BALANCE: The scenario may be balanced for players of different skill levels by one or more of the following:
(SH??.71) Remove the Viper from the Andromedons. Assume it was destroyed in a previous battle.
(SH??.72) Remove the Snipe-B from the Romulans.
(SH??.73) Remove the Snipe-B from the Romulans, and add a HBM w/ 11SF+1EF to the MB.
(SH??.8) TACTICS:
(SH??.9) HISTORICAL OUTCOME:
The Royalhawk attempted to confront the Intruder head on, but the Intruder displaced over it and attacked the FRD, severely crippling it in one volley. The King Eagle moved to interpose itself between the Intruder and the MB on its next pass. It was then severely damaged by the Intruder after launching is Plasma-R. It then cloaked and was not seen in the battle again. The Mamba from the Intruder was beamed behind the Snipe-B and the Snipe was destroyed within minutes. The Intruder left after destroying the FRD and CA, but was unable to destroy the MB as the Royalhawk continued to pursue it. The Romulans returned home after the battle to a heroes welcome. Romulan Command carefully removing the fact that they were there to destroy the same base from the press. After the battle ISC Command conveniently misdirected a large shipment of medicine and food to Romulan space which was used to feed refugees from Remus.
(SH??.X) DESIGN NOTES:

Possible changes still:
1) Turns of repair for CA is 5 to much/to little?
2) Victory Conditions for Romulans, maybe bonus for destroying Intruder.
3) Is 2 Plasma-R to brutal against the Intruder? Should it be a Novahawk+King Eagle?

By David Kass (Dkass) on Tuesday, March 26, 2002 - 01:31 am: Edit

I would expect an FRD to have a pair of fighter/PF hangars (and fighters/PFs) attached.

I'd suggest changing the wording to clearly state that the 25 points are internals. I first read it as including shields and was wondering why the CA was in an FRD.

If the CA has used its CDR, it should be allowed to repair 4 systems after the damage and before the FRD repairs (to reflect its use). I don't know if this is important...

The historical outcome seems a bit odd--can a Mamba actually destroy a SNB in a single firing pass? Also, given the loss of the FRD and CA, I'm surprised the ISC would send the Romulans anything (those are the two important units for them).

By David A Slatter (Davidas) on Tuesday, March 26, 2002 - 04:38 am: Edit

David

If you think in F&E terms, putting fighter modules on an FRD is not necessarily good strategy, as it puts a valuable ahort-ranged asset (fighter modules) on something that generally dies if it ever gets into battle (the FRD). It's more normal to spend money on fleet elements to keep the enemy *away* from the FRD.

I would have thought that the MB would have been a BATS by now, particularly in a border area so close to the ISC where it would be a vital link in the supply chain further out.

By David Kass (Dkass) on Tuesday, March 26, 2002 - 05:34 am: Edit

I don't necessarily consider F&E to be a good representation for small actions and related issues. How many players would only have a lone DD and crippled CA stacked with their FRD? In SFB there are many more individual raiders and single ships instead of the large masses seen in F&E. Thus, in SFB it makes much more sense to put fighters and PFs on an FRD. They can stop a raiding DW or even probably a CW/CA and in SFB, there is always the chance for rescue to come in time, especially if the action can be delayed. And don't forget marauding Orions who would consider the supplies on an FRD a jackpot (unused military hardware?)

By David A Slatter (Davidas) on Tuesday, March 26, 2002 - 08:16 am: Edit

The cost of a single 12-fighter module, fighters, and back up is equivalent to an ISC DD (minimum). The cost of the PF module and PFs is at least that of a CW-class ship.
I am only going by overall F&E economic cost - this is not necessarily talking about a large scale action, but that would be quite an investment for a FRD. For the same amount of money, you could have upgraded the MB to a (fighterless) BATS. If you forgoed the cost of the FRD entirely, you could have used those funds to upgrade the BATS with fighters (12) and PFs.

Small query. Why is the FRD there at all?

Again, in F&E, you would never see a FRD so weakly defended in border territory (except perhaps in strategic movement transit, which F&E does not represent) They are either with a veritable hoard of ships (of which many could be crippled) or sitting around at least a BATS or planet with significant defences.

As to the FRD being there because there is a cruiser there it to repair, that would be very unusual - more normally, the cruiser would simply go on its own power straight to the nearest repair site rather than the FRD come to it - the cruiser would have to be very severely damaged not to be able to move, and intercepting a cruiser in warp is almost unknown in SFB scenarios (i.e. the crippled cruiser can be fairly certain of getting to a freindly repair site once it has disengaged from the battle).

Still, SFB isn't F&E.

However, you could do the following


1)Have a tug/FRD (+ escort?) on strategic redeployment stopping off at a (defended) mining station for refuelling (dilithium). Normally, it would get this at the nearby BATS (I'm afraid a MB sounds unlikely, especially as the ISC are well established at this point), but the convoy responsible for getting the fuel to the BATS got shot up recently, retreating to the mining station (which has, say, some ground based phasers or defsats). The tug had to get the dilithium itself.

2) While the tug/FRD is at the station, it stops for a few hours to do rudimentry repairs on convoy elemets. As luck would have it, this is apparently what the Andros wanted the ISC to do, apparently tracking ISC movements using concealed observation stations.

3)Unfortunatly (ultimately) for the Andros, the renouned Romulan intelligence was working well, and they also saw the opportunity to destroy a tug/FRD, dispatching their squadron...

NB - It is likely that much larger ISC forces would be warping into this area behind the tug to both protect it and to punish the perpetuators of the original raid. You could have considerable ISC reinforcements arrive during the scenario (maybe an X-ship?). Even if you take none of the above ideas, the ISC would be responding to the fact that their FRD would look horribly vulnerable with only a MB, DD, and crippled CA to defend it, considering an attack recently happened.

By Scott Tenhoff (Scottt) on Tuesday, March 26, 2002 - 11:12 am: Edit

Well I was thinking of writing a scenario that is the precursor to this one, where an Exploiter(?) went to attack the planet and draws off the other defenders (was thinking a PFT+CL+2FF, I haven't really worked it out yet), or I suppose I could use a Imposer(?) against a PFT+CC+2FF+2DD,

A BATS at the planet was already destroyed and the MB is a temporary until it can be upgraded (or since this is during the time of the Andromedon invasion maybe the retreating ISC will dismantle it and bring it back home.) I thought I had given enough backstory of the Romulans and Gorns probing and attacking this area so a BATS could of gotten killed then.

RE: F+E and Fighters
Well their is a Balance were the SN-B is replaced with fighters on the FRD, yes I know that will make the forces raiding wrong, but will still be balanced as the Romulan+ISC verses Andromedon.

By Robert Merkamp (Rdm) on Wednesday, March 27, 2002 - 05:05 pm: Edit

Is this a "weakly" defended FRD? Check out the description:

The “Imperial Knight” approached the area under cloak as planned, yet before they uncloaked, the defending squadron of ISC ships were observed warping away at high speed. The Romulan squadron still approached under cloak for 1 more hour before uncloaking to begin their assault.

So it sounds like the ISC had a more substantial squadron there (as the MB/FRD is probably the local supply-repair facility) and it left to go deal with something else. Scott, maybe you could flesh that out, another sentence or so indicating what the ISC were reacting to.

F&E Reaction movement creeping in. In this case the ISC made a mistake reacting off the base.