Federation Commander

[Patrick Doyle]

Below is an article I put together based on various posts by different people. Because my experience withblack holes is limited to precisely ZERO, I wanted to throw this out for comment and additional ideas. If you have black hole experience and there is a dirty trick that should be part of this article please let me know.

Also I do not duxvolantis' name, so if anyone knowsit please let me know so I can credit him properly.

OK, I have been trying to post the article but the only thing that gets posted is the article title, The rest gets cut off. Does anyone know why and how to fix it?
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Once again I have proven that even in the future, your photon torpedoes are built by the lowest bidder.

[Scoutdad]

Patrick: There are some formatting issues that will mess with the php type forums. Usually it's curly apostrophes, but order characters will do it as well.
If you'd like to email the text file to me, I'll see if I can tweak it and get it to post.
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Commander, Battlegroup Murfreesboro
Department Head, ACTASF

[Patrick Doyle]

Tony, you gave me an idea, I tried laundering it through notepad first to remove any wierd formatting. Here it goes......

BLACK HOLES

by Tony L Thomas, Terry O
_________________
Once again I have proven that even in the future, your photon torpedoes are built by the lowest bidder.

[Patrick Doyle]

Frack!
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Once again I have proven that even in the future, your photon torpedoes are built by the lowest bidder.

[storeylf]

I'm starting to see a way of re-writing your signature

[Patrick Doyle]

yeah, its 2011, I thought that we as a race had conquered the problem of cutting and pasting, but even in the future.....
_________________
Once again I have proven that even in the future, your photon torpedoes are built by the lowest bidder.

[Scoutdad]

BLACK HOLES
by Tony L Thomas, Terry O'Carroll and duxvolantis

INTRODUCTIONA black hole is an extremely dangerous terrain feature that can make for a seriously fun game. The closer any ship gets to one, the more dangerous a black hole becomes and the lower the margin of. Enter into combat near one at your own peril. We will discuss some basic dirty tricks that you can use around a black hole as well as the effect they have on maneuvering your ships in combat. For example, a black hole is great terrain for Andromedans because they can displace enemy ships into or near a black hole.

MANEUVERING
A relatively undamaged ship can accelerate often enough to avoid the gravitational attraction of a black hole. However, as a ship takes damage it may get harder to maintain range from the black hole and the closer you get, the more the black hole tugs at all objects. Always maintain awareness of your range from the black hole and what it's affects will be at your range. While the effect is minimal from 21-30 hexes, inside 20 hexes the effect is every pronounced.
You should maintain a high speed if you are going to get anywhere close to the black hole. If you take a significant amount of engine damage while close to the black hole, there may be no escape. Look for ways to exploit the effects of the black hole to your advantage. For example, the pull of the black hole may allow you to move into an unexpected firing position and strike from an unanticipated direction.
Order of Precedence - Movement caused by a black hole occurs before all other movement within each sub-pulse. The ship is then free to counteract the movement caused by the black hole through normal movement and acceleration. A key point here is that you do not want to get within 1 hex of a black hole.
Tractor Beams - Always maintain enough power to fight off an enemy tractor beam whenever you are close to an opposing ship. Note that tractor beams can be really bad news for BOTH ships around a black hole. When linked by a tractor beam the ship controlling movement is slowed by at least one speed level, and two if it is smaller but controlling movement. If neither ship is controlling movement and they are both at a dead stop they will both fall toward the black hole.
A ship that is badly damaged (or about to be sacrificed) could potentially grab another ship with a tractor beam in the hope of taking that ship into the black hole with it. The cost of fighting a tractor beam along with the speed reduction from being tractored could pull both ships closer to the black hole. The effectiveness of this tactic will depend on the relative sizes and power available of each ship as well as distance from the black hole.
Conversely, keep an eye out for ships (particularly smaller ships) that can be nudged into a radius that they cannot escape. Even if a ship can escape, it is possible that a ship will have to use so much power saving itself that it won't pose a significant threat.
Shuttles - A shuttle that is 20 or fewer hexes from a black hole will not be able to escape. A shuttle can double its speed between 11 and 20 hexes. Inside 10 hexes the shuttle will be destroyed due to excess speed. This makes suicide shuttles of limited use near a black hole. Additionally, there is a chance that the suicide shuttle will miss.

COMBATDirect Fire Weapons - The less power that a ship has, the more dangerous the black hole becomes. Therefore, whenever possible you should target engines on an enemy ship. There is also a +1 die roll shift for direct fire weapons when the line of sight passes within10 hexes of the black hole. They block fire whenever the line of sight passes within 2 hexes of the black hole.
Seeking Weapons - If a target is between the launching ship and the black hole (and less than 30 hexes from the black hole) then seeking weapons can gather additional speed as they fall toward the black hole. The closer the target is to the black hole, the faster the seeking weapon may move toward its target. Of course, the gravity effects will slow down seeking weapons fired 'uphill', at targets farther away from the black hole.
Combat with seeking weapons are affected within 10 hexes of the black hole. First, any seeking weapon will miss its target on a die roll of 6 when it impacts. While missing with a drone might not be a big deal, missing with a plasma torpedo would be. Balancing this effect, any ship will suffer the +1 die roll modifier during defensive fire, increasing the chance of an 'impacting' seeking weapon striking the target. The other advantage of firing seeking weapons at a target around a black hole is that it may force the target to use power that might have gone to countering the pull of the black hole's gravity.

CONCLUSIONAlthough dipping into the gravity well early in the game doesn't hurt too much, you should generally stay as far away from the black hole as you can. Black holes become more and more dangerous the closer a ship gets to them and the more engine damage they sustain. A relatively undamaged ship can accelerate often enough to avoid the gravitational attraction in close, but as ships take damage, it becomes hard to maintain range from the black hole. The bottom line is that adding a black hole opens the door to some very fun and interesting battles. So, if you haven't done so, throw one or two black holes on a map and have at it.
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Commander, Battlegroup Murfreesboro
Department Head, ACTASF

[Scoutdad]

Might have known that Terry was the culprit.
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Commander, Battlegroup Murfreesboro
Department Head, ACTASF

[duxvolantis]

[Patrick Doyle]

Thanks. I'll update it with your name.
_________________
Once again I have proven that even in the future, your photon torpedoes are built by the lowest bidder.