SITUATION RESOLVED 27 APRIL 2017

Orion Pirates BATTLESTATION BATS: Are factors correct? Rationale: Has same factors as other BATS, but has no Phaser-4s. REITZEN 9 DEC 2011.

This is from a question I saw in another topic.

By Chuck Strong (Raider) on Thursday, December 08, 2011 - 02:38 pm: Edit

RBE: Good question. My inclination is that such types of Orion stations have their AF cut in half but that will be for ADB to decide officially.

Orion BASES BTS: Suggest revised COMPOT of 6-12/3-6. Rationale: Orion bases use phaser-1s in place of phaser-4s. To date I am not aware of any published Orion base F&E counters in existence. STRONG - 8 Dec 2011

Orion BASES BS: Suggest revised COMPOT of 5-10/3-5. Rationale: Orion bases use phaser-1s in place of phaser-4s. To date I am not aware of any published Orion base F&E counters in existence. STRONG - 8 Dec 2011

By Thomas Mathews (Turtle) on Thursday, December 08, 2011 - 02:50 pm: Edit

I can think of 2 cases off the top of my head for Orion bases.

1. The BATS in 2911. This BATS is in the Orion province. As such under some non-historical scenarios where Orion is a player race this could come into play.
2. The Orions have some hidden base or bases on the map in a non-historical or future historical scenario where pirates figure more prominantly in the game. In such a case these bases could be discovered along the lines of the Andro RTN was.

I am not aware of any official ADB counters for Orion bases. However, there is Orion Battle Station (R1.2) and Base Station (R1.3) published in module R1.

Additional note for informational purposes only: The Cyberboard gamebox contains counters for Orion bases. Generally these are used for an Orion NPR and as such are considered the equivalent of the other player empires for the Early Beginnings scenario.

By Kevin Howard (Jarawara) on Thursday, December 08, 2011 - 06:21 pm: Edit

"1. The BATS in 2911. This BATS is in the Orion province. As such under some non-historical scenarios where Orion is a player race this could come into play."

The Orion Pirates do not use PH-IV's.

Historically the BATS in 2911 was a Federation BATS, not an Orion BATS. Therefore, it still has PH-IV's.

In a scenario where the Orions is a player race, presumably the 2911 BATS is owned by the Orion national government, not the Orion *pirates*, and therefore probably has PH-IV's on the BATS.

But that's just my 2 EP...

By Lawrence Bergen (Lar) on Thursday, December 08, 2011 - 09:17 pm: Edit

Actually I think the Orions have bases that are used in the Cloudburst scenario too.

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Friday, December 09, 2011 - 12:44 am: Edit

Just my opinion, but if the Orion are played as a minor Empire, then they should get full-sized bases. Otherwise, they'll get smashed pretty quickly, would they not?

On the other hand, if they're played as "homeless mercenaries" providing ships to the highest bidder, then yeah their bases should have reduced ComPot.

However, comma, given that they usually build their bases deep within asteroid belts and such, that tends to off-set the loss of firepower, does it not? So, instead of 1/2 strength, perhaps 2/3 or 3/4 strength?

Hmmm ... odd-ball thought popped into my head. What if mercenary Orions get to build hidden bases? Not sure how that would work as far as writing F&E rules, but it could be interesting, no?


Garth L. Getgen

By Lawrence Bergen (Lar) on Friday, December 09, 2011 - 06:57 am: Edit

Hidden bases are used in the EB Andro scenario. They work rather well. Talk to Losberg about the rules.

By Chuck Strong (Raider) on Friday, December 09, 2011 - 10:58 am: Edit

50% AF is my recommendation to ADB for Orion Pirate BTS/BS bases armed with phaser-1s; my recommendation didn't change their DF.

By Randy Blair (Randyblair) on Friday, December 09, 2011 - 01:44 pm: Edit

The Orion base issue was my question in F&E "Why" section. And it came about because I'm setting up a Cyberboard game and happened to notice the factors. I thought they couldn't possibly be right and even erroneously believed it was because of "engine doubling" (Duh! bases don't have engines!).

I would think that ALL Orion bases would have cloaking devices, otherwise they'd just be sitting ducks waiting to get picked off. Maybe that's the reason to offset the lack of PH-4s?

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Friday, December 09, 2011 - 02:55 pm: Edit

Chuck, yes I saw that. But what I'm thinking is being inside an asteroid field forces the enemy to get closer in before they can fire, thus off-setting the lack of Ph-4 firepower. Also, the Orion cartels would make heavy use of mines. Just throwing it out there to see what sticks to the wall.


Garth L. Getgen

By Stewart W Frazier (Frazikar2) on Friday, December 09, 2011 - 08:06 pm: Edit

Looking over the Orion bases, I'd say that its AF s reduced by 3 or 4 so that the Pirate BATS is 9-12 or 8-12 and the Pirate BS is 7-10 or 6-10 since the remianing weaponry (heavy, ph-3) is the same...

By Randy Blair (Randyblair) on Saturday, December 10, 2011 - 12:33 am: Edit

Turtle, I checked the SIT before I asked the question. It's not a Cyberboard issue.

By Thomas Mathews (Turtle) on Saturday, December 10, 2011 - 05:13 pm: Edit

Randy, I rechecked all my counters. I have atleast one of every countersheet available and there are no Orion bases published as counters. Therefore the Orion bases could say "future" in place of F&E and CO for the BATS and BS resprectively.

This also gives room for the possiblity of the Orions as a player empire having standard bases that match everyone else while the pirates have the reduced factor bases.