Another suggestion for Rule 653.4

If it is determined that the Romulan player needs "more of a challenge" in the form of balance options, you can modify rule 603.15.

Simply stated, rule 603.15 identifies that Romulan provinces #5115, 5117, 5416, 5318 and 5718 have not yet been explored.

To activate the provinces, the Romulan player is required to deploy a SPC(Sparrow Hawk C scout/survey Cruiser to each province, where it must spend an entire opposing player turn in that province. (Bases and planetary defense units are then built automatically and without cost after the planet or province has been explored.

The change is that instead of having open provinces and planets discovered, the Romulan player is horrified to discover a Pirate Kingdom
in the unexplored territory.

The Proposed Modification to rule 603.15 is:

Rule 653.4__x (-15) A Orion BATS, CA, CR and 2 LR in one of the unexplored provinces.

Run by the Alliance as a minor race with income from the supply grid including the newly surveyed provinces and any planets. The Romulans must attack and capture the provinces or risk having the Pirate Kingdom develop into a legitimate threat.

Suggested special rules for the pirate kingdom:

1. No ship production at start.
2. If BATS is upgraded to Starbase, Pirate Kingdom may produce 1 x 3 point cost ship per turn.
3. If the Pirate Kingdom survives to build a starbase, they could then build a shipyard. 25 Econ points for 5 turns (125 points total)results in the following production capacity: 1xCA, 2xCR, 1 SAL, and 3xLR. (the added cost reflects attracting sufficient population by recruitment, (both voluntary and involuntary?!?) to support the construction and staffing of the Pirate fleet.

PRO's
1. material aid to the Alliance.

CON's

1. Will delay the economic increase to the Romulan Economy.
2. Might provide a serious military threat to the Romulan Empire, especially if the Kingdom is not attacked and defeated immediately.
3. might seriously weaken the Romulan invasion forces attacking the Federation by the number of ships sent to attack the Pirate Kingdom.

The value of the Option can be increased or decreased by adding or deleting ships from the Pirate Forces.

By Lawrence Bergen (Lar) on Tuesday, September 06, 2005 - 04:21 pm: Edit

Cool option. I think this might work in a number of already printed scenarios.

I think that the off-map might have a few more pirate ships that could be released in a similar manner to the Gorn off-map fleet (ie die roll). In addition to the already proposed rules regarding development of pirate minor shipyard construction above.

By Christopher E. Fant (Cfant) on Tuesday, September 06, 2005 - 05:51 pm: Edit

Goodness...someone say the Romulans have an easy time of it or something?

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Tuesday, September 06, 2005 - 09:22 pm: Edit

Lawrence, nice addition.

might be too much for the "average" Romulan Player to handle, though...

Chris, that would depend on how strong a player(s) on the Alliance side is/are.

Experienced Coalition players(s) vs newbie Alliance/Fed player might well need something to offset the gulf of game experience.

By Lawrence Bergen (Lar) on Tuesday, September 06, 2005 - 11:39 pm: Edit

You could "for fun" have the NZ planet in 5403 be an Orion Base for operations into the Gorn area in a similar manner as a separate balance option.

If you counted up all of the NZ hexes there you get 3.8 EPs worth of econ plus 3.0 for the Minor Planet for the Orions to exploit.

By David Slatter (Davidas) on Wednesday, September 07, 2005 - 06:09 am: Edit

This is no worse than various balance options that delay the release of a fleet for one or two turns. All you have to do is take a reasonable 60 compot or so battleline, and those Orions are history, probably in exhanage for just a couple of cripples and fighters. The Romulans have plenty of frigates and stuff to do this. eg.

KE [4WH] [3SNB 3SN] SE

for 56 compot

really does not lose the Rommies anything worth much except pincount, and they could probably spare something a little better than that - maybe an SPG to have a go at capturing some orion ships.

By Robert Padilla (Zargan) on Wednesday, September 07, 2005 - 09:04 am: Edit

But they would probably loose that first SPC that was unlucky enough to find the pirates

By David Slatter (Davidas) on Wednesday, September 07, 2005 - 10:16 am: Edit

Depends on how you handle that part of the balance option. Besides, a CA,CR, and 2LR would not necessarily kill an SPC - only +1 in SSC, and not good enough in regular combat (22 compot).

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Wednesday, September 07, 2005 - 11:48 am: Edit

If the Alliance player uses the Orion force to hunt down the various SPC's before they can complete the mission... the Romulan development could be delayed until a strong enough force of combat ships can be deployed to the area.

I doubt that 3 SPC's, if operated together as a single battle force, would be enough to destroy the combination of a BATS, a CA, CR and 2 LR.

if one or more of the SPC's were destroyed early, 2 SPC's aare certainly not enough to "do the job".

By Robert Padilla (Zargan) on Wednesday, September 07, 2005 - 01:37 pm: Edit

Well I was figuring that the SPC stumbled on the BATS as well, but your right it would not have to fight at the base, but 6 more COMPOT might cripple it and allow a kill in pursuit.

By Dave Butler (Dcbutler) on Wednesday, September 07, 2005 - 02:25 pm: Edit

Oh, come on. If this option's in play, then any sane Romulan will divert a minimal squadron to deal with the problem. No SPC should ever be lost, although you might lose a couple of SN (or equivalent). Figure nine additional ships total (three per SPC) to act as "enforcers"; when you find the base you fight the approach and leave. On the next turn, most of the enforcers drop by the base and smoke it, and you spend a few turns hunting the ships that get away. This is Romulan Economy that's being threatened; they aren't going to half-do the job.

By Robert Padilla (Zargan) on Wednesday, September 07, 2005 - 02:46 pm: Edit

But you don't get to know where the pirates are until you survey the province (or planet I'd imagine). So yes you could have a SPC all alone stumble on them first. That's not to say the Roms wouldn't then send like 10 ships to wipe em out I would. But i think maybe -15 is too much, given the real loss to the Roms is 2-3 EPs for a turn, and maybe a SPC. I don't think that merits the cost to be so high a negative.

By Dave Butler (Dcbutler) on Wednesday, September 07, 2005 - 04:49 pm: Edit

Uh, no, you send 3 ships with each SPC from the start. You've got a Home Fleet and, failing that being released, you've got new construction. There's nothing in the rules saying that the SPCs must survey the provinces/planets alone, and if you "strongly suspect that there's something there" (read: this option is in play), then you protect your ships. Always.

By Ryan Opel (Ryan) on Wednesday, September 07, 2005 - 04:55 pm: Edit

I'd almost think this balance option would have to be chosen WITHOUT the knowledge of the Romulan player. This way the pirates have a chance to get Rom SPC's alone.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Wednesday, September 07, 2005 - 05:32 pm: Edit

Dave Butler:

see rule 603.17. It states that the 3 SPC do not survey the on map eastern region until turn 10. (not 'from the start' as you put it.)

But aside from that, the intent of the proposal is to force the Romulan player to divide his combat forces at the same time he is invading the Federation.

The presence of the pirates is a distraction that must be dealt with, or given enough time, could build a big enough force that would pose a menace.

That way it really does not matter if the Romulan player is aware of the pirate kingdom, or not... the goal was to force him to send warships off to the "back and beyond" territory...using either operational movement or strategic movement both ways.

depending on how it plays out, those ships could be out of the war for as little as 3 turns or as many turns as it takes to destroy the pirates.

Either way, they are not going to be available for the Turn 10 invasion of the Federation.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Wednesday, September 07, 2005 - 05:41 pm: Edit

Robert Padilla:

the -15 is a guess on my part, one that will be adjusted if this idea were to be accepted.

IMO (and this will no doubt be discussed by many different people with different playing styles and experience) the loss of whatever ships the Romulan player diverts from the invasion for however many turns it takes is an intangible value.

Some players (like yourself as you stated above) will dispatch 10 ships. That would seriously weaken the invasion force and keep those 10 ships "out of the game" for 3+ turns. others will send a weaker force hoping that it will do the job so more forces can be sent against the primary target (the Federation).

This is one of those cases where the value of the option is dependent on the playing style of the players involved.

By Christopher E. Fant (Cfant) on Wednesday, September 07, 2005 - 07:13 pm: Edit

10 tiny ships from the Romulan home fleet means almost nothing in the turn 10 shot. All they can reach is the NZ minor at 3912.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Thursday, September 08, 2005 - 12:19 am: Edit

But it is not "just" the turn 10 shot.

it is the targets not hit on turns 11, 12 and 13+.

that is 3 separate targets nt hit, or a extra turn (possibly 2) worth of combat rounds not fought to a conclusion because you had to send 10% of the fleet on a errand.

Granted the ships will survive (most likely) and you will get them back some time after turn 13 (hopefully)

In military terms, the operation is compromised to the extent that 10 ships (or whatever the size of the force is that gets sent away) are no longer part of the reserves. you now have fewer ships available to exploit whatever weaknesses the original invasion forces have created in the Federation defenses.

By Jimi LaForm (Laform) on Thursday, September 08, 2005 - 01:33 am: Edit

I guess as a balance factor this is okay. Could lead to an interesting way to bring a scenario back into playability if your Coalition player kicks too much butt on a regular basis. Though if the Coalition player knows about it in advance, he'll adjust accordingly to defend against it.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Thursday, September 08, 2005 - 09:49 am: Edit

As far as defending against the option is concerned, there would (I think) be 2 approaches.

First would be how much of the option is used in the form of BATS and ships, or if additional ships need to be added to it.

the Pirate Kingdom, could (In theory, anyway) have been in existance for years if not decades.

Second would be the size and economic power of the Kingdom.

With up to 5 provinces and 2 minor planets (in hexes 5117 and 5619 the kingdom would have 16 Econ Points per turn. If the Kingom were only a couple of years old, the size and number of ships might well be what the proposal calls for.

If the Kingdom had been settled for 10 years, the Orions might have built a star base (for simplicity lets put it the same place the Romulans did, in hex #5318). If the Kingdom were 20+ years old, one of the minor planets could be a Major planet and have the ship building facilities up and running. SFB allows Orions to have Base Stations (with phaser 1's instead of Phaser IV's) ad some to the "border" with Romulan Space for "Defenses".

The Econ income does not allow the pirate player to build the full schedule as proposed, but the ability to add CA, SAL, CR or LR types to the fleet would be a serious challenge to the Romulan Rear Areas...

The Option can be as strong or as week as needed by adding as many or as few ships bases and planets needed to adequately balance the scenario.

By Christopher E. Fant (Cfant) on Thursday, September 08, 2005 - 11:45 am: Edit

One problem with Options is that the current options we have are so out of whack that you cannot really pit anything against them, or use their value as a baseline.

As far as this Orion Option, well Orion's never operated SBs, so that is out. Best they could have would be a BATS.

If you are looking at giving the Orion 10 or more ships and a base or 2 and several planets, then you may as well just tell the Rom player that he loses and not bother. I think the idea of a BATS with 2-4 ships total is not a bad idea.

Still, these options in my book are bad anyway.

By Keith Plymale (Zaarin7) on Thursday, October 24, 2013 - 08:10 pm: Edit

Coming very late I know but after reading this I had this idea.

Tell the Klingon if they want the colonies the Tholians destroyed back the Romulan's have to take this one.