Module E2R: Triangulum 2

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This is a link to the revised and updated Module E2 errata file.

E2 Errata File

December 6, 2011
By Norman Dizon (Normandizon) on Wednesday, March 26, 2014 - 01:57 pm: Edit

Hi James. There are updates in the archives of this thread and in the errata file that you downloaded. Sounds like you have everything you need to start playing Triangulum. What other questions did you have? I'm sure everyone here would be glad to help you with them.

By James Everett (Jetedguy) on Saturday, March 29, 2014 - 09:04 pm: Edit

I have had a chance to review all the archives here. For now I am going to keep my comments focused on the Helgardian Protectorate. All of my initial questions were addressed in the archives except
(1)(EN106.31) Can a PS held from a previous turn be overloaded during EA? (EN106.311) implies only with reserve power at the time of firing. I would think that it could. Energy 2 hold + 2 to overload.
(2)(EN101.12) It was suggested to reduce the number of shots for a MGB be reduced to 3. I would like to suggest that the energy for each shot be reduced to .33 per "shot" for a MGB. Reduce the capacitor accordingly. Example a MGB fired in standard mode would use 1 point of power for 3 shots. A Protector CA would have a capacitor of 9 instead of 15.
(3)(GN100.0) Rotary Shields, Eliminate the capacitor system (GN100.4) and require rotary shields to be powered every turn just like standard shields. Can be raised and/or increase in level with reserve power. Raising and or increasing level still has to be done in Operate Shields Step in 6B7.
(4)(GN100.0) Do Rotary Shields block transporters to and from the ship? I would think that they do.
(5)(GN100.331) Does not specify that the rotation occurs in the same step as announcement. This is just for clarity.
(6) I flew the Protector CA in (SM1.0) The Planet Crusher. Used all refits and 4 t-bombs 168 BPV which came out to needing 269 damage to kill the Planet Crusher. I did this to get a fell for the mechanics of the Helgardian weapons and systems. Spent the first 2 turns loading everything up. In the Third turn I had flow across the front of the Planet Crusher and presented the #6 shield to take the Anti-proton beam shot. The shot was 20 damage, 10 to the RS and 6 to the #6 after reserve power. At this point I began firing all the GBs in arc 4 MGB and 2 LGB. I fired each GB every 8 impulses provided they were in arc. When the CA got to range 1 I fired the 3 Particle Shotguns in overload mode scoring 10 hits for 40 damage. I was able to generate 96 points of damage plus 10 from a t-bomb for a total of 106 in that turn. I failed to get outside of range 6 by the end of turn 3 due to laying of 2 t-bombs and took the next shot from the Planet Crusher on the #4 shield. The roll was a 6 or 10 damage points 5 to the rotary and 5 to #4 shield. Turned the CA into the Planet Crusher firing GB as it went till the end of the turn ending at range one dead ahead at the end of turn 4. The Planet crusher also set off 2 more t-bombs in turn 4 for another 20 dmg. Took the next shot and once again the roll was a 6 for 10 damage 5 to the rotary and 5 to the #1. Fired 3 OL PS got 12 hits for 48 damage. By the time I took the next set of GB shots the Planet crusher was dead early in turn 5! Summary of damage; 88 from the PS, 30 from t-bombs, and 151 from GBs.
Conclusions; I agree with you guys the MGB may be a bit powerful. I felt the ship was a bit power hunger when reloading the PS, GBs and the RS at the same time. I had to drop the speed to 10 and still didn't fully recharge the GB capacitor and if in a duel there is no power for EW.
Recommendations; See above but I would not reduce the number of MGBs.
(7) can I get the revised rules and SSD for this ship?

By Norman Dizon (Normandizon) on Saturday, March 29, 2014 - 11:24 pm: Edit

Hi James. Sounds like you had a great time flying the Helgardian CA against the Planet Crusher. I never thought of the Planet Crusher roaming through the Triangulum Galaxy hungry for a meal. But why not? I'm sure it would eat planets no matter what galaxy it is in. The Helgardian are one of my favorite Triangulum empires.

I will answer what I can, but I fear that some of your inquiries need to be answered by ADB. Sadly, Francois Angers has become unavailable since January 2014. I sent him an e-mail but he did not respond. I'm sure he is busy with life and work. Hopefully he will return to this thread sometime in the future.

Now on to your questions:

(1) I agree with you that a held Particle Shotgun can be overloaded during Energy Allocation (not just with Reserve Power). However, after scouring through the latest version of the Particle Shotgun Rules, I could not find any text explicitly stating that. I'm sure that is something that should be corrected if Triangulum sees publication.

(2) I assume that your suggestion to reduce the cost for each Medium Graviton Beam to .33 is In Addition to limiting the total Medium Graviton Beam shots per turn to 3. When I playtested the Helgardian, I did not see any issues with the power requirements for each Medium Graviton Beam shot. In fact, the cost for the Medium Graviton Beam shots are balanced with the cost for the Light Graviton Beam and the Heavy Graviton Beam. Change one and you would have to change the rest. I know the Helgardian cannot power everything at once without being limited in movement, but I believe that design was intentional. The Helgardian player must choose wisely how his power is spent each turn.

(3) The original design of the Rotary Shields included allocating power and using reserve power just like your suggestion. However, playtesting showed that the constant regenerative abilities of the Rotary Shields gave the Helgardian an unfair advantage in a duel against an Alpha Sector CA. Basically, a portion of the Helgardian's shields (meaning the Rotary Shields) were regenerating over a 10 turn period whereas the Alpha Sector CA's shields were not.

To put a cap on this regeneration and to limit its use, Gary Carney suggested (and I agree with) a Rotary Shield capacitor system. This would limit the amount of energy that could be used by the Rotary Shields at any given time and force the Helgardian player to choose wisely when to use the Rotary Shields and, specifically, when to use the Rotary Shields at Reinforced Levels. Francois Angers approved the Rotary Shield capacitor system and it was added to the Rotary Shield Rules.

(4) There is no reference that states that the Rotary Shields block transporters. However, I agree with you that they should. But this leaves some strange situations possible. In a duel, a Helgardian CA will probably have its Rotary Shields facing its opponent, so it makes sense it would block the transporters. But what about in a fleet battle? Now the Rotary Shields only block transporters from one arc, but not the other five arcs? That is a bit odd, because usually Shields are either up (blocking transporters) or down (not blocking transporters). Also, what about if two ships are at very odd angles, like along a hex line? Does the Rotary Shield still block the transporter? These Rules would need to be written clearly with examples to clarify all of this.

(5) The Rotary Shield does not move on the same impulse as announcement. Here is an excerpt from the Rotary Shield Rules:

(GN100.331) To move one or more rotary shields the player must announce his intention in the Operate Shields step, during the Marine Activity stage, of the impulse prior to the RSH being moved, i.e., he must announce it on Impulse #4 in order to rotate it on Impulse #5.

(GN100.332) The announcement can be made in the last impulse of the eight impulse delay period, e.g., if an RSH was rotated on Impulse #1, the player can announce a new rotation on Impulse #8 which takes effect on Impulse #9.

(GN100.333) The new facing of the RSH must be recorded at the time of the announcement, but is not revealed until the RSH actually rotates.

(6) In order to do a fair analysis of the damage, I think we have to subtract the Transporter Bombs from the equation. Those can always be bought and added on, but they are not part of a ship's core weapon design.

I agree with you that the Medium Graviton Beams were doing too much damage over a short period of time. That is why the number of shots was changed to 3 and the impulse time between shots was changed to 12.

The Particle Shotguns were doing damage comparable to Alpha Sector torpedo damage, so they seemed fine. In one of your attacks, you scored 40 points of damage. In another, you scored 48 points of damage. This is comparable to 4 overloaded photons or 4 overloaded disruptors.

Yes, the Helgardian CA is power hungry, but I believe this was part of Francois' design.

(7) SPP should have the revised Helgardian rules and the revised Helgardian SSD. I would recommend you contact ADB directly through e-mail to see if you can get a copy of both.

=================================================

In summary, (since Francois is unavailable) it falls on ADB to:

1) Update the Particle Shotgun Rules to state that a held PS can be overloaded during Energy Allocation.

2) Accept or Reject your suggestion to lower the cost for Medium Graviton Beam shots to .33.

3) Accept or Reject your suggestion to elimate the Rotary Shield capacitor and return to energy allocation for the powering of Rotary Shields.

4) Rewrite the Rotary Shield Rules to include details on Rotary Shield Interaction with Transporters.

5) Approve your request for the Revised Helgardian Rules and SSD.

However, ADB is busy with various projects. So exactly when these things might be looked at is unknown.

Hope that helps. Keep playing Triangulum - Its a Great Galaxy!!

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Saturday, August 02, 2014 - 09:13 pm: Edit

A note for future consideration:

The table of contents for Captain's Log #49 includes an entry looking at the inter-galactic trunk line, which seemingly covers the long-distance connection between the Andromeda Galaxy and the Lesser Magellanic Cloud.

While it has yet to be confirmed whether the Andros have historical designs on the Triangulum Galaxy or not, this article may prove to be a useful reference in the event that an Andromedan invasion route does indeed lie between M31 and M33.

By Nick Samaras (Koogie) on Tuesday, September 02, 2014 - 06:55 pm: Edit

What is the repair cost of medium mine rack (MN100.0)?

Can an individual powered battle armor be lent EW by a scout?

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Tuesday, September 02, 2014 - 08:50 pm: Edit

To follow up on my last post above, the CL49 article on the Intergalactic Trunk Line does not mention M33 by name. But it does postulate that similar routes to that established between M31 and the LMC may exist to other target galaxies, and goes over the various purported means by which a given ITL may have been established.

If which case, the same benefits and restrictions would have been in place for the Andros, in the event that they did indeed take a shot at Triangulum either directly or via some convenient waypoint or other(s).

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Thursday, March 12, 2015 - 12:01 am: Edit

With discussions elsewhere looking at certain potential extra-galactic arrivals in other known parts of the Star Fleet Universe, one topic which might be interesting to see explored in a future published Triangulum module is exactly what, if any, new arrivals (not counting known "blow-ins" like the Humans) may end up appearing, or at least making a cameo, on an expanded M33 timeline.

The biggest question would arguably be whether or not the Andromedans built an ITL route from M31 to M33, in order to launch an invasion of the Triangulum Galaxy. But there are other "usual suspects" (such as Tholian exiles, Seltorian Tribunal fleets, Bolosco colony arks, or Juggernaut Empire warships) which might make for interesting case studies.

Plus, there may be the question of whether or not any known "itinerant" factions, like the Jindarians, exist in M33 also - or if that galaxy is too far distant for even the Jindos to appear in.

Of course, I'm not asking for any of this to be decided upon any time soon. But perhaps, if or when the time comes for the Triangulum setting to make the jump from playtest to formal publication, it might be worth leaving the door open for some such potential encounters.

By Shawn Perry (Redmop) on Saturday, April 25, 2015 - 04:43 pm: Edit

We have a group here in Colorado that is beginning to playtest E2. It would appear that quite a few changes were made E2 since the Errata was released. Is there any way we can get those so we can playtest something current?

We played SNH100.0 with the Errata, and I find the Arachnids unplayable with the 75% warhead size reduction.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Sunday, April 26, 2015 - 02:30 pm: Edit

From what I gather, François had been working on revisions to the Triangulum material off-site, but the material he had assembled has yet to be reviewed by ADB.

Hopefully the time will come when M33 can be presented in a formally published SFB module. (Some day, I'd like to see how these empires might work in FC, too.)

I do agree that something may need to be done about hellfire and hellblazer torpedoes before then. I wonder if François' most recent material addresses that concern?

By Shawn Perry (Redmop) on Monday, May 04, 2015 - 09:45 pm: Edit

Thanks for the info. As the Arachnids, and the Helgardian are at least playable, I will suggest that we continue to playtest them in random scenarios, perhaps replacing an alpha race in general, monster, or historic scenarios.

Another question: Is there any interest from ADB in receiving playtests for Triangulum? I ask because the last post from Steve Petrick was on Monday, December 16, 2013.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Tuesday, May 05, 2015 - 12:14 am: Edit

I can't speak for ADB on the playtest front, but I was wondering: do you just have Module E2, or do you also have Captain's Log #23 (for the playtest Imperium ships and rules), this sample Mallaran PDF, and these playtest Powered Battle Armor rules?

The 2011 errata file posted above should also cover any updates noted by that time for the CL23 material... not counting whatever François may have worked up "off-boards", at least.

By Jean Sexton (Jsexton) on Tuesday, May 05, 2015 - 12:58 pm: Edit

Yes, ADB would like to hear playtest results. :)

By Shawn Perry (Redmop) on Thursday, May 07, 2015 - 02:00 am: Edit

I have E2, CL 23, and the above Errata. Actually, the errata is the cause of my pain. Dumping at least 20 points of power from an Arachnid CA over 4 turns to maybe do 30 damage with my high damage weapons and minimal additional weapons vs the Mallaran CA spending 6 points of power over 2 turns to do the same damage, and there are a lot more weapons on that thing. that 75% reduction is killer.

We'll keep playtesting, though I'm not looking forward to playing the Arachnids.

Any issue with us testing ideas on fixes for those torps?

By Shawn Hantke (Shantke) on Saturday, June 02, 2018 - 10:06 pm: Edit

Does someone have the Module E2 color cover? Is there a link or could you email me a scan?


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