Since repair freighters and Tugs are already opening up and patching together damage warship, how about something similar and allow them to change the mission of HDW for extra cost starting in Y180.

I'd think the cost would be something on the order of 2-4 ep versus one ep or three movement at a SB. Doing this would use the full repair capability of the Freighter/Tug doing the mission. It would be done during the production phase with the repair ship dispatched to an HDW within six hexes of a strategic of the race owning the repair ship.

A similar thing could be done with Romulan modular ships after the HDW trick was learned and the Romulan High command slaps itself in the collective head saying "Why didn't we think of that."

By Chuck Strong (Raider) on Sunday, March 19, 2006 - 09:36 pm: Edit

(ARS.0) ADVANCED AUXILIARY REPAIR SHIPS

I'd like to propose an advanced rule for repair ships where we have on board auxiliaries. The original rule was written in the 1986 game when we didn't have Aux Ships but now seem like a good time to suggest adding an advanced rule.

(ARS.1) Currently repair ships from (422.0) can repair 8 points of damage in field repair and moves to a SMN (or FRD) conducts repairs and move back. Each race was also given a set number repair ship under (422.6). These would remain relatively the same under this proposal except:

(ARS.11) Repair ships can move like any Aux Ship and if in supply can use field repair on any crippled ships they are stacked with in the field repair phase (IOW they need not be on a SMN to conduct field repairs). Repair ships can be attacked like any other auxiliary ship. Repair Tugs can be assigned this mission and move on the board normally using this rule.

(ARS.12) Only repair ships (and Repair Tugs) in the Capital or off-map may use the unlimited Strategic movement under (422.3) (no change to the current rule here). However, repair ships in the field may use a strategic move slot and can only move 12 hexes if using strategic movement.

(ARS.13) Repair ships (and Repair Tugs) on a SMN (or with and FRD) of the owning race can repair ships normally under (420.0) but cannot be used for field repair on the same player turn. (Alternative: Any unused capacity not used in normal repairs can be used in field repair during the same player turn.)

(ARS.14) Repair ships can use half their repair allotment under Rapid Combat Repair (425.3).

(ARS.2) Auxiliary Repair Ships

(ARS.21) Large Auxiliary Repair (LAR): 1-4R/0-2; (8pts of Repair); Replacement Cost = 5EP; OpMove = 3

(ARS.21) Small Auxiliary Repair (SAR): 0-2R/0-1; (4pts of Repair); Replacement Cost = 3EP; OpMove = 3
-- Note: Gorn/Romulan/ISC SARs may use the Plasma Repair Exception under (420.423).

(ARS.3) Under this advanced rule, LAR/SARs replace the original repair ships as follows:
Fed, Klingons, Romulans, Lyrans: 2xLAR & 2xSAR (24 total points of field repair)
Kzinti, Gorns, Hydrans, Tholians: 1xLAR & 2xSAR (16 total points of field repair)

NOTE: Currently (422.6) limits the races the following number of repair ships:
Fed, Klingons, Roms, Lyrans: 3 (24 total points of field repair)
Kzinti, Gorns, Hydrans, Tholians: 2 (16 total points of field repair)

(ARS.31) Federation Logistical Task Forces (LTF) require one repair ship from the original rule to be integrated into the LTF under (525.242). The Federation player may use one LAR or 2xSAR to meet this requirement.

(ARS.32) Repair ships cannot use their repair capabilities if they are crippled.

(ARS.33) Repair ships can be escorted using (515.43).

(ARS.4) Alternative Rule: Allow players to buy additional LAR/SARs beyond the above allotment at 150% of their replacement costs (LAR = 7.5 EPs; SAR = 4.5 EPs). However, no race can have more than twice its allotment of repair points from above.)

(ARS.5) Alternative Rule: Allow repair ships to change modules on HDWs and Romulans modular ships at the regular cost but each change uses a point of "repair" to do so. (Based on Trent Telenko's proposal above.)

(ARS.6) Alternative Rule -- Mobile Conversion Facility: Allow repair ships to conduct "field" conversions if stacked on a SMN owned by the player during the Production Phase. Each point of conversion uses 4 "repair" points of the repair ship. Repair ships cannot perform major conversions, two-step conversions, carrier or PFT conversions or use Conversion During Repair (CDR). Players pay for the conversions normally.

By Christopher E. Fant (Cfant) on Sunday, March 19, 2006 - 09:48 pm: Edit

I like this. Not too many changes from the original.

The one part I do not like is ARS.6
It's not that big a deal one way or the other, but would prefer that part not be included.

ARS.4-I would say they cost the normal amount, but players may only buy one addition ship per year up to double their normal alotment.

By Chuck Strong (Raider) on Sunday, March 19, 2006 - 09:49 pm: Edit

If the above LAR/SARs are added to the game, we will need at a minimum the following number of counters:
Fed, Klingons, Romulans, Lyrans: 2xLAR & 2xSAR
Kzinti, Gorns, Hydrans, Tholians: 1xLAR & 2xSAR

28 total counters + plus a number of generic ones

By Nick G. Blank (Nickgb) on Sunday, March 19, 2006 - 09:57 pm: Edit

This would be fun for strategic ops, and would get rid of those ugly repair ship markers (well, mine are really ugly anyway as they were somewhat miscut), replacing them with counters that actually have ships on them. Plus, something else to destroy!!!

By Peter A. Kellerhall (Pak) on Sunday, March 19, 2006 - 10:03 pm: Edit

TARGETS!

I really never liked the fact that these "ships" could never be hunted down and destroyed but never thought of doing it this way. I like these rules!

By Christopher E. Fant (Cfant) on Sunday, March 19, 2006 - 10:10 pm: Edit

Would need a rule allowing them to be escorted as SAFs and Convoys I think. Otherwise that nasty drone raid rule could make short work of them.

By Chuck Strong (Raider) on Sunday, March 19, 2006 - 10:14 pm: Edit

Chris: Escort rule added above -- thanks. I also restricted the mobile conversion facility -- no carrier of PFT conversions would be allowed.

By Christopher E. Fant (Cfant) on Sunday, March 19, 2006 - 10:31 pm: Edit

Could repair ships add this conversion ability together to do things like CW scouts and or anything requiring 3 conversion points?

Otherwise it is basically for carrier escorts...and that would be ok I think.

By David Walend (Dwalend) on Sunday, March 19, 2006 - 10:48 pm: Edit

Looks good. Who's going to try it in a game?

By Chuck Strong (Raider) on Sunday, March 19, 2006 - 10:52 pm: Edit

I would think that if players wanted to to do this then they would be using their capacity to do so, but they would still be restricted to minor conversions only under the rule from above. They would also need at least two or three repair ships co-located to pull it off and that just makes them bigger targets as a result.

By Russell J. Manning (Rjmanning) on Sunday, March 19, 2006 - 11:07 pm: Edit

I like most. The only one I am not overly thrilled about is ARS4. It seems to give a Gorn racial benefit of (442.72) to everybody.

By Christopher E. Fant (Cfant) on Sunday, March 19, 2006 - 11:35 pm: Edit

Well, the Gorn get the special anyway...don't see how other races get a bonus from this over anyone else. Still costs 1 EP per point.

By Ken S. Towery (Maxoman) on Sunday, March 19, 2006 - 11:40 pm: Edit

I like this rule as a whole and it would seem to add an interesting element to the game.

The only thing I would "change" is regarding rule (ARS.6). I think that this expense should cost TWICE the normal EP cost. [Example: the Klingons want to convert an F5 to F5S; it would cost 2 EPS instead of the normal 1 EP cost even though only taking "4 repair points" worth of the AR's "conversion" capacity.] I think this makes the "mobile conversion facility" a little less "powerful", and would therefore only be used by the player that simply MUST have that conversion done NOW and is willing to pay more than normal to do it.

Possibly there could be an exception for CEDS conversions, but I think double the cost in all circumstances makes more sense, otherwise the AR's seem like they're capable of doing too much for the relatively low price of their hull.

Ken

By Chuck Strong (Raider) on Sunday, March 19, 2006 - 11:43 pm: Edit

Russell: The Gorns get extra repair PODS per (442.72), not aux ships. The Gorn racial repair benefit (0.5 EP per repair point) is NOT extended to anybody.

Ken: I'll leave that call to SVC. It would be nice addition in a remote location or at a colony base to have a small conversion capability nearby. Remember most races would would have to use most of their entire repair fleet to just do a minor three point conversion (that's 12 repair points not used).

By Jeff Laikind (J_Laikind) on Sunday, March 19, 2006 - 11:52 pm: Edit

The only problem I see is in SFB equivalence:
A Large Repair Freighter has 20 repair boxes, a Small one has 10.
In contrast, an FRD (12 repair points) has 52 repair boxes. And the FRD can dock ships internally and repair armor on old Romulans and Fed CLs.

I think that the capacities for each repair freighter should be cut in half, which of course requires double the number of ships to achieve the same number of repair points.

By Chuck Strong (Raider) on Monday, March 20, 2006 - 12:08 am: Edit

Jeff if that's an issue, we could add the HAR to the game and adjust as follows:

(ARS.21) Heavy Auxiliary Repair (HAR): 2-8R/1-4; (8pts of Repair); Replacement Cost = 7EP;
(ARS.22) Large Auxiliary Repair (LAR): 1-4R/0-2; (4pts of Repair); Replacement Cost = 4EP;
(ARS.23) Small Auxiliary Repair (SAR): 0-2R/0-1; (2pts of Repair); Replacement Cost = 2EP;

This would preserve the current balance:
Fed, Klingons, Romulans, Lyrans: 1xHAR, 3xLAR & 2xSAR (24 total repair pts)
Kzinti, Gorns, Hydrans, Tholians: 1xHAR, 1xLAR & 2xSAR (16 total repair pts)

40 total counters plus a few generics.

By Russell J. Manning (Rjmanning) on Monday, March 20, 2006 - 12:10 am: Edit

Chuck,

ARS.11 says Repair tugs can take advantage of this rule. Therefore, they seem to fall into the same category as the proposed AUX ships. Additionally (442.72) gives the Gorns extra field repair capacity by giving them more repair tugs then the other races. The extra repair capacity is an additional part of the improved logistics over and above the 1/2 cost field repair.

The ability to build addtionally aux repair ships seems to water down part of the benefit from the improved logistics. The improved logistics is part of the Gorn racial flavor. I would like to keep as much racial flavor as possible.

Therefore, since I like the ability to field repair ships off SMN's, I would suggest the rule be modified to not include ARS.4

By Daniel G. Knipfer (Dgknipfer) on Monday, March 20, 2006 - 12:13 am: Edit

Chuck,

I thought the Tholians only had one Repair ship marker. Would they have as many Aux Repair units as the other Alliance races? I can't check on that though as I don't have access to my books at the moment.

By Chuck Strong (Raider) on Monday, March 20, 2006 - 12:21 am: Edit

Russell: No one is getting extra repair PODS nor can they purchase more beyond replacement levels. The Gorns can also purchase additional Repair Ships like anyone else and use their reduced logistics to their advantage and they gain greater flexibility as a result. I don't really see it as an issue.

Dan: See (422.6); the Tholians get two original repair ships per rule; this may be because the Tholians do not get FRDs.

By Russell J. Manning (Rjmanning) on Monday, March 20, 2006 - 01:19 am: Edit

Chuck,

Perhaps then I am misreading ARS.4. I am reading it to say other races can purchase additional AUXrepair ships. So for example, the Lyrans get 1xHAR, 3xLAR & 2xSAR. This gives the the Lyran's 32 pts of field repair capacity(24 pts from AuxRepair ships + 8 more for the one allowed repair tug). According to ARS.4 the Lyrans can buy more of the Aux ships and end up with 1+xHAR, 3+xLAR and 2+xSAR. This seems to increase the Lyran field repair capacity beyond what they are allocated.

Because of the lack of carriers, the Gorns focused on improved logistics. The improved logistics had two outcomes. The first was to allow field repair to be done at the normal 1/2 cost. The second was to give them the ability to have more field repair assests than assigned (24 pts) through the use of multiple repair tugs. With the additional Repair pods, the Gorns now have 48pts of field repair capacity (2xrepair ships + 4xRepair Tugs).

By giving the other races the ability to build additional AuxRepair ships, you give them the ability to increase their field repair capacity. This increased field repair capacity is what I am saying weakens the Gorn special ability and takes away from their Racial flavor.

By Chuck Strong (Raider) on Monday, March 20, 2006 - 01:45 am: Edit

...as proposed above...

	Repair Ships Assigned (Pts)	Repair Pods (Pts)	Max Extra Ships (Pts)	Total Repair Pts	Max repair costs (EPs)
F	24	8	24	56	56
K	24	8	24	56	56
R	24	8	24	56	56
L	24	8	24	56	56
Z	16	8	16	40	40
H	16	8	16	40	40
T	16	8	16	40	40
G	16	8 (+24)	16	40 (+24)	20 (+12)

The Gorns still out-pace everyone and at half the cost; I don't see where they lose their advantage.

The Gorn improved logistics is the half cost field repairs and three bonus repair pods.

By Trab Kadar (Trab) on Monday, March 20, 2006 - 03:42 am: Edit

I'd like to see this rule added to Strategic Ops whenever it comes out. I rarely use field repair as it just cost too much but these advanced rule make a lot of sense and add flexibility without adding a lot of extra text.

By Russell J. Manning (Rjmanning) on Monday, March 20, 2006 - 07:20 am: Edit

Chuck,

How does ARS.4 limit the races to building only limited additional repair ships over its allocation? The way I am reading it, a race can build unlimited AuxRepair Ships. That would mean the 3rd column on the chart is misleading/

By Lawrence Bergen (Lar) on Monday, March 20, 2006 - 08:19 am: Edit

Chuck, you might consider proposing just a flat 12 hex limit for movement instead of unlimited from the capital. This would require positioning these units properly where/when needed, enhancing their value as a target for the opponent.

I agree that ARS.4 should be tested both ways (included and not included) to test its overall effect. I see what the concern is but it seems it may be self-limiting by the economics of the game. Even if you had all of the repair ships, would you have the money to use them? I dont think you could without giving up something else.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Alternate Conversion Proposal: Any conversion concept by these ships should be limited (i.e. 1-point conversions) even if you gave them 2 points of conversion capability. (Maybe conversion goes too far for these ships but it could be a way to deal with CEDS in the future as an Advanced Repair Ship rule.)

What about sacrificing 2 points of repair capacity for each 1-point conversion performed? Max of two 1-point conversions.

SARs could then only do one 1-point conversion no repair capacity remaining.
LARs could do two 1-point conversions no repair capacity remaining.
HARs could do two 1-point conversions but would have 4 pts of repair capacity remaining.

Alternate Strat Movement Proposal: Strat Movement recommended as beyond the last SMN up to 2 hexes (but not beyond your 12 total allowed hexes of movement). This could be done so that you could actually attempt to perform field repairs "in the field". This may be too much.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


All in all I like these rules. SVC was talking about putting repair ships on the map and I loved that idea.