Federation Commander

Blammo · Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2011 11:29 am Post subject:

The hex represent an area of space 10,000 kilometers across so stacking is not an issue.

Prohibiting stacking would have a substantial impact since in the battles to possibility of ending up in the same hex is always a possibility. Aside from that, prohibiting stacking would be completely counter to the rules.

There are no collisions in the game other than seeking weapons on their targets. The warp fields interact in such a way as to prohibit that (each ships warp field just slides off the next).

All that said, you could create whatever house rules you would like, but that would probably unduly complicate things and it wouldn't really be Federation Commander at that point. I would play the game some with the rules as they are before introducing game changers like collisions and stacking being prohibited.

Iorwerth · Ensign Joined: 20 Apr 2011 Posts: 12

Thnaks for getting back to me so quick.

What about having taking damage if a ship that you are stacked with explodes? That might make it less attractive.

Blammo · Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2011 12:37 pm Post subject:

Bolo_MK_XL · Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2011 1:40 pm Post subject:

The best answer to staking --

Play with large group of people and allow only 1 ship per person --

Individuals are less likely to shove their ships together in a bunch ---

storeylf · Fleet Captain Joined: 24 Jul 2008 Posts: 1887

So true.

"OK, we turn in together and attack him"

..

"Why haven't you followed me in!!!"

Scoutdad · Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2011 4:08 pm Post subject:

A little late to the party here, but to throw my two Quatloos in...

As previously mentioned... the hexes represent a huge volume of space so having an arbitary limit tothe number of units allowed is... arbitrary. Also, the prime game of the Star FLeet universe (SFB) has been around for 30+ years and has never had a stacking limit so adding one to Fed Comm probably isn't going to happen.
Over the years, I've played SFB and now Fed Comm against a wide range of people. Many of them stack all their ships in a single hex. While it makes it easy to move a 12 ship fleet if all the counters are stacked... it does sometimes "seem" wrong, but...
The key point is "focus of fire". You have to be able to apply enough damage to a single shield in a single fire impulse to exceed the shields damage threshold and score internal damage. The only way to do this is to have the firing units in the same (or nearly the same hex). Three units spread across a front 12 hexes wide are going to be firing at 2 (if not 3!) different shields.
There is no requirement which says you must stack ships. In our group, we tend to fly them in a tight formation covering 3 or 4 adjacent hexes. While not reqired in Fed Comm (no explosion rules, you know) - it is a hold over from our SFB days; and it gives us enough conherency to still score damage on the same shield from multiple firing units.

mojo jojo · Lieutenant Commander Joined: 23 Jun 2009 Posts: 340

If you want a house rule to discourage stacking without introducing too many complications, just limit the number of ships allowed to fire out of a facing to 1 or 2 per impulse instead of the current 3. No collision or explosion rules are needed and the game plays out pretty much the same as before.

Iorwerth · Ensign Joined: 20 Apr 2011 Posts: 12

The only problem I had with the stacking was that if you had 3 or less ships, then to maximise the firepower against a shield you were foolish not to stack the three ships together. To my mind this just created a sort of super-ship, which didn't feel that atmospheric as opposed to having seperate ships all wheeling around. I suppose it is all about aesthetics for me.

I have now read around some threads on here, so am inclined to introduce some sort of explosion rule, though limiting firing to 1 ship per hex would do the same thing, een if it makes little sense. Having said that, limiting it to 3 ships is a bit arbitary as well, so maybe it doesn't matter.

This stacking thing is the only thing holding me back from buying the game, so coming to some workable house rule for me might just persuade me to dip into my pockets! Though I am a bit worried that with all the lovely things you can buy, it might be a bit of a money-pit!!!!

mjwest · Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2011 4:57 pm Post subject:

Brazouck · Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2011 5:11 pm Post subject:

I agree that flying in stack feels not right.

But it seems that, after first pass, ships tends to scatter, due to drone fire, damage, lauching of small craft (suicide shuttle, stingers...)

So perhaps we mus stop think that our ships (or the opponent's ones) are stacked, but that they are in "close formation", it seems more atmospheric like that isn't it ?
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Iorwerth · Ensign Joined: 20 Apr 2011 Posts: 12

Bolo_MK_XL · Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2011 6:23 pm Post subject:

If you take a look at the big battle when the Feds attempted to get back to Deep Space Nine -- would say the entire fleets -- several thousand ships -- would have fit in a hex not more than 2,000kms --
See how close the Defiant's sister ship (the Red Bgd cadets), fighting the large ship at 100s of Meters ---

Just the effectiveness of weapons makes games keep a bit of distance when fighting --

Brazouck · Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2011 8:40 pm Post subject:

star trek TV shows after TOS plays battles at sublight speed, with very short distances, nothing to do with FC.

Bu I see your point, and its the same for a lot of TV shows and movies
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Mike · Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2011 1:01 pm Post subject:

There was a time when, in FC, it was not stated that the speeds in the game were faster-than-light. That way, players could rationalize everything happening at sublight if they wanted to. I think that has kind of evolved with time to be more in line with SFB, as many other things have, too.

That being said, I distinctly remember an episode of TNG in which the Ent-D approached a Borg cube. The captain on the Ent's bridge stated that he wanted the ship to halt at a range of 40,000 km. The external view of the two ships made them look as if they were about to ram each other when the Ent stopped. Now, a Borg cube was just not *that* big! The lesson here is that those external views can be illusory. Be all that as it may, lots of film (even from early TOS) is ignored in the SFU.
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Capt Jack · Posted: Thu May 19, 2011 11:05 pm Post subject: stacking

As stated in pervious posts in this thread, stacking rarely lasts long.

Also if you feel compelled to keep your ships in a stack, then you are giving a tatical advantage to your opponent. Especially if your oppontent/s have better turn mode and firing Arcs.
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