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Plasma vs. the Planet Killer...

 
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Maxwell Luther
Lieutenant JG


Joined: 10 Apr 2013
Posts: 75

PostPosted: Mon Jun 10, 2013 4:50 pm    Post subject: Plasma vs. the Planet Killer... Reply with quote

To get a good feel for the plasma rules , I ran the Planet Killer scenario from KB, using the Gorn. The PK didn't even get off of the first map.

I was using a CL, HDD and DD which is just under the 350 points suggested by the scenario, using the HDD as a sort of decoy while the CL and DD traveled in the same hex and came up behind it. Only the HDD took any real damage, and the timing was such that, by the time it did, the other two snuck up on an already weakened shield and hammered the PK with 2xs, 1xG and 4xF torpedoes and a mass of phaser fire from a range of 3. The plasma alone, after defensive fire and shield reinforcement, did over 100 points of damage. Did I do something wrong or is Plasma just that powerful against a ship that can't move more than 16+1?

Another oddity in the set-up was the fact that it is a 4x3 map yet the ships are supposed to be 50 hexes apart, which isn't really possible. So the ships had a roughly 20 hex jump on the thing to start with, but outside of adding extra map boards, I'm not sure how to fix that.
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storeylf
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Joined: 24 Jul 2008
Posts: 1897

PostPosted: Mon Jun 10, 2013 5:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I seem to remember there are a number of scenarios where the board size suggested means the start distance is not possible. Bad playtesting or just lack of general general checking I'm not sure.
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Bolo_MK_XL
Captain


Joined: 16 Jan 2007
Posts: 836
Location: North Carolina

PostPosted: Mon Jun 10, 2013 6:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

IIRC the point of the scenario is to keep the PK from the planet.
The PK is a set number of hexes or maps from the planet, ships are
half way between.

Ships make the decision of using maximum speed to hit the PK further from the planet or wait (slower speed) to provide maximum firepower.

PK is focused on the planet, limited in it's ability to follow or even deviate to attack the ships.

Played it several years ago against Klingons, 350 pts can be a bit much against some Empires.
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Maxwell Luther
Lieutenant JG


Joined: 10 Apr 2013
Posts: 75

PostPosted: Mon Jun 10, 2013 9:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, the Gorn stopped it before it got a full map over, so mission accomplished.

I just think that the scenario, which already advises the players to limit Fed ships to 300 points due to photon torpedoes, should also mention the high versatility of Plasma vs. the monster. It was a cake walk at 350, especially as the monster is only worth 250. Maybe 350 is a typo and it is supposed to be 250 (200 for Feds). Anyone else find this scenario to be too easy with Plasma armed ships?

I'm also thinking that the board should be 2x5 instead of 4x3. This creates a corridor that the PK can travel straight down and gives it a little more distance from the opposing fleet.
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Klingon of Gor
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Joined: 01 Jun 2011
Posts: 150

PostPosted: Thu Jun 13, 2013 4:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I once played Romulans against the Death Carrot. Same result, basically. Plasma turned the PK into a smoking hulk in short order.

My impression has always been that a lot of the monsters scenarios I have played were basically optimized for Feds. Maybe the designers didn't intend that, but it seems to have worked out that way. I played Feds against Death Probe, and it was right down to the wire. I don't remember how much of my force was left at the end, but that was an expensive day for Starfleet, even though they just barely eked out a win. Later, I played Klingons against the Death Probe, and it was no contest. Disruptors fire every turn, and because they fire from long range and mostly hit, they allowed the Klingons to to quite a bit of damage while keeping their exposure to the Death Probe's photon torpedoes and phasers to a minimum. The phaser 4s could hit at long range, but there's only two of those, and mass disruptor fire was an effective antidote to the death probe.
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terryoc
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Joined: 07 Oct 2006
Posts: 1386

PostPosted: Thu Jun 13, 2013 6:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The Probe can move at Speed 32, and the map is fixed, so I don't see how you can avoid getting plastered by the Probe at point-blank.

The Death Carrot is a fairly easy scenario as written. Good to teach a team of beginners vs the Bugle of Doom however.
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Maxwell Luther
Lieutenant JG


Joined: 10 Apr 2013
Posts: 75

PostPosted: Thu Jun 13, 2013 1:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I haven't played the other monster scenarios yet (most of them seem better suited for random encounters in extended campaigns than as one-off scenarios), but I did run the Planet Killer again yesterday for a new player.

I gave him a Kzinti NCA, Kzinti FF and a Fed NCA. I managed to line up a two-fer against him, herding the Kzinti ships together and away from the Fed ship so that I could totally smoke the FF on Impulse 8 and then the NCA on Impulse 1 of the next turn, but it cost me all of my armor, two shields and allowed the Fed time to +8 overcharge his Photons and come up behind me.

We stopped there, but had we more than an hour and a half to play, the Planet Killer would likely have been destroyed before getting within 30 hexes of the planet. Frankly, unless you're playing a single ship against the thing, I cannot envision a scenario in which it does reach the planet. Still, it was definitely a good introduction for a new player and he learned everything needed to pilot three ships in squadron scale in a very small amount of time...
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Mike
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 14, 2013 12:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Anyone ever try playing one monster against another?
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DNordeen
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Joined: 05 Apr 2007
Posts: 564

PostPosted: Fri Jun 14, 2013 3:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

No but that would be interesting
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mjwest
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Joined: 08 Oct 2006
Posts: 4069
Location: Dallas, Texas

PostPosted: Fri Jun 14, 2013 4:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Mike wrote:
Anyone ever try playing one monster against another?

Did the Death Probe against the Juggernaut. The Death Probe ruled. Learned two things:
1) The Juggernaut is power starved. It can do lots of really cool things, but it can't do all of them in a turn, particularly if it is trying to move fast. And any damage taken just makes it worse.
2) Moving speed 32 with two free HETs is pretty awesome.

Basically, the Death Probe would simply move into position behind the Juggernaut, HET to get the weapons in arc, and fry the Juggernaut. Yes, it has to burn through the 100 point rotating shield, but it doesn't matter as it still does extra damage and it all applies against the warp engines. It isn't a one-shot kill, but the Juggernaut is still going to die.

Hmm. I wonder how the Death Carrot and Juggie would do against each other. They are similarly styled, with ship's systems, rather than just mark-off boxes. That might get an interesting fight. (Make the Juggie the target of the Death Carrot, not a planet.)
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djdood
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Joined: 01 Feb 2007
Posts: 3412
Location: Seattle, WA

PostPosted: Fri Jun 14, 2013 7:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Maybe they were [shudder] the opposite sides of that forgotten war, so long ago...
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Mike
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Joined: 07 May 2007
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Location: South Carolina

PostPosted: Fri Jun 14, 2013 1:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Or, in spite of a certain Vulcan's supposition, the control mechanism of the Planet Killer WAS able to be accessed and a nerdy Star Fleet techie managed to reprogram it to intercept a Juggernaut because no other Star Fleet vessels were in the sector.
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Klingon of Gor
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Joined: 01 Jun 2011
Posts: 150

PostPosted: Fri Jun 14, 2013 4:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

terryoc wrote:

Quote:
The Probe can move at Speed 32, and the map is fixed, so I don't see how you can avoid getting plastered by the Probe at point-blank.


That game didn't go down the way I would have expected. I would have thought that the Klingons would have had a much harder time than they did. This was a while back, and I didn't make detailed notes. But the Probe's weapons started going down very quickly because the damage from disruptor fire really added up. I don't recall the die rolls being in any way unusual. If I could recall how we maneuvered I would. But I think the Klingons are a lot better equipped than the Feds to take the DP down.
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