Federation Commander

[Nerroth]

Hi.


As it stands, drone racks allow for infinite reloads (in both regular and tournament play) regardless of what era you are playing in. While this might primarily benefit drone-heavy empires (such as the Kzintis), it is a factor for every navy which has access to drone racks... as well as for those in opposing fleets who are obliged to deal with them.

In the experience of those on these boards, when playing either on the tabletop or online, in standard or tournament play, is the infinite reload ability something that becomes a factor (as in, do games last long enough for a drone user to get several reloads in or not) or is it largely irrelevant?

For my part, one thought I had (for tournament play at least) was to consider limiting drone-armed ships to only one reload per game. That would make a drone user take more care with the missiles he or she has on hand (unless the reload thing wouldn't matter over the course of a tournament game anyway).

Indeed, would such a rule make more, or less, of a difference depending on whether the drones being used were speed 16, 24 or 32?
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FC Omega Discussion (v3)
FC LMC Discussion

[storeylf]

In the vast majority games I've played reloads are almost irrelevant. Few games get to turn 5 (where normal drone racks may have run out) without the game being largely over bar the shouting.

The few games where we do get to the point of reloading with the game still in the balance I find (as the target) that the reloads don't come fast enough to worry about overly much, and the game has probably just swung my way by a good margin.

[edit] We played a large number of tourney style games early last year, and getting to turn 5 in the time limit was itself quite a rare achievement (that was the older 2009 rules, the newer rules added an hour play time if I remember correctly).

[mjwest]

1) I would really, really like to not have special "tournament-only" rules.

2) As storeylf points out, reloads become rapidly irrelevant with time limits. For tournaments, this means they are (for most intents and purposes) already limited to a single reload.
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Federation Commander Answer Guy

[Hod K'el]

[marcus_aurelius]

I like the infinite reloads concept as a way to simplify record keeping in the game.

Even if a game went really long (e.g. 12 turns) that would equate to 2 full reloads for each rack which is not unreasonable in "real life." Simpler to just assume infinite reloads than track all of this.

In SFB, I never remember running out of even 1 set of reload drones before the final outcome of the battle was obvious (with the possible exception of those racks on the SFB Kzinti CC that fire twice a turn).

[Kang]

We have found that, like storeylf, the length of the game meant that reloads don't become a huge factor. In the games where they do become a factor, all that happens is that the play dynamic shifts from battle-passes and such (with drone waves) to a run-and-reload style of play, not unlike a plasma duel.

As a case in point, I have done extensive tactical studies on the Z-FF vs the K-F5, and in this case the Kzinti frigate is probably the better ship while it has its drones, if the Klingon can survive to a point where the Kzinti has popped all his ammo and is now into reloads, then that's the point at which the gameplay style changes to a stern chase/run and reload. The Klingon usually then wins.

That's really a tactical question, though, so please refer to this thread

http://www.starfleetgames.com/federation/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=2172

for more details.
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