Federation Commander

[marcus_aurelius]

Our group has decided to try the Juggernaut scenario next time we meet.

The only complication is that we might have 6 people that day.

Does anyone have experience with modifying the scenario for 6 people?
(I am asking because I do not have a good track record at modifying sceanrios without breaking them.)

The first thought was to pick 5 defenders with the same total BPV as the 4 defenders in the published scenario. But that means no heavy cruisers and probably light cruisers or destroyers instead. I don't know if the fact that each ship can take less damage would have any significant effect on the balance of the scenario not represented in the BPV.

The second thought was to keep the 4 defenders as is (or perhaps drop the Klingon to a D7 or D6) and add another Orion CR or some other light cruiser.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Thanks.

[pinecone]

Add a prime trader to the defenders

In seriousness, I think that the "same BPV" idea is A good one.

[ericphillips]

Don't forget to use the updated Juggy rules on page 42 of Captain's Log 41.

Also, if you have that issue there are SFB SSD's for some other Juggy ships. I converted them to FC and use them. The BPV should be close. With larger ships you could then use the Juggy BB, which is sweet. JuggySweet!!!

It can be a lot of fun, but make sure whoever is playing the juggy really plans ahead. That is a different kind of ship to fly, and the rotating shield can be both an advantage and liability, and if the player doesn't have some strategies down the Juggy might not last as long as you think it would.
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"I could have been an adventurer like you, but I took an arrow to the knee."

[marcus_aurelius]

Thanks for the input. I will try to pick up Captain's Log #41 before the game for more ideas. If that doesn't work out then I will try to use 5 light cruiser types and shoot for around 550 points (the offical scenario ships I think are somewhere around 520 points).

As far as strategy goes I am not entirely sure yet if I end up being the Juggernaut (hopefully someone else will volunteer, otherwise they will "volunteer" me).

[toastie]

Well, I volunteered. I've got CL #41, and one thing still confuses me. The rules say the rotating shield cannot be reinforced. Does this mean that you allocate power to the shield at the beginning of the turn and can't add any more during the turn, or just that you can't use power up to the # of batteries to add additional boxes?

This might be important...

[ericphillips]

We are talking the FC version, right?

If so...

The rotating shield cannot be reinforced by rule 3C5. So no, you cannot use batteries to reinforce. You cannot use general/specific reinforcement in FC (its only in SFB) at all, and you don't need to allocate power to shield in EA.

However, it can take tons of damage before falling anyway, and automatically goes back to full the next turn. Such as on the BB the shield stops 150 points and then is down, but next turn is full at 150 points (unless both shield boxes are down).

BTW: Make sure the "safety interlock" they talk about is off.

[toastie]

[ericphillips]

Okay, I get where you are coming. Yeah, you need to power it in the EA. You cannot add power after. The maximum if 100 is for the card from FC. The ones in the back of CL 41 have different maximums (like 40 for the DD and 150 for the BB).

[Drew Klenotic]

Thing is, on scenarios like this, you need to change things here and there. Make the shield vairable. Change the "if more than 40 points, shield goes there" rule. Otherwise, people who read ahead could say "ok, I'll hit him for 40, you hit him for 100 right after!"

I think the first rule when running any published scenario with a group of experienced players is....... change it!

[ericphillips]

The answer I gave was about the Rules As Written. It is up to you to decide f you want to change things up, which is fair, of course.

[OGOPTIMUS]

[Nerroth]

That safety interlock was disabled on Beta and subsequent Juggernauts, though.

(The whole point is to show that Beta adapted to adverse conditions it, or rather its predecessor Alpha, faced in our galaxy, then passed its findings on to Gamma and other inbound ships. Presumably, the same was true for Juggernauts Primus, Secundus, Tertius et al in the conjectural Fire in the Deep storyline.)


Also, if you are interested, CL35 has the Juggernaut Empire CA and CL, on top of the BB, DNM, DD and FF from CL41. (I really hope we get the full range of JE ships in FC someday.)
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FC Omega Discussion (v3)
FC LMC Discussion

[toastie]

I lost. We had exactly 5 people so we didn't need to substitute ships. We played the scenario from Klingon Border, which starts the battle with the alliance players at 15 hexes from the Juggernaut, instead of the Captains Log scenario which starts with the alliance players at 25 hexes.

On turn one, I went to speed 24 to try to break out of the ring, but the alliance ships were just too close. I was able to keep the alliance out of the #4 arc, but didn't have much power left for shooting. Late in the turn, I had to emergency decel to keep the Orion out of my rear arc. I had exchanged fire with the Orion, dropping his #6, and doing a few internals. Fire from the Orion and Tholian knocked my #1 armor to about 10 boxes and fire from the Klingon did 18 to my #6 armor.

On turn 2 the Orion risked a 2nd HET to try to reach my #4 shield. I had to use my own HET to keep it away from the Fed. The Fed fired 4 photons and phasers to get exactly 40 points on my #6 armor, moving the shield to that direction. The Klingon hit me on my weak #1 armor, knocking it down and doing minimal damage, but opening me up for 10 hit and run raids combined from the Orion and Klingon. Moving the shield left the #4 open for the Tholian, who hit me for 60+ points, ending the game.

My rolling was horrible. Out of 6 Phaser 4 shots, I rolled 4 sixes, 1 two, and 1 four. At one point with 6 phaser 1 shots, I rolled a one, a five and 4 sixes.

It was a good game, but from the Juggernaut side, it seems more a game of 'how long can you survive?' rather than, 'how can I win?' Starting at range 15 seems a little tight, I'd like to try again starting at range 25. This would give the Juggernaut a chance to go one on one and even the odds a bit before someone inevitably slips behind and ends it.

[pinecone]

The Juggernaught has to kill the Fed quick, cause he has the most crunch power. the next target is the D7C, unless the Tholian CA is using a partial photon load. the CR is always the last target.

[toastie]