Do the Romulans diminish the fun???

[Kang]

In a multi-player fur-ball I would suggest what was suggested above: if someone goes into hiding that a temporary truce be called to ferret out and destroy the coward.

...which is in itself a tactic. There, you've just developed a counter to the cloaking coward

[Godeke]

Well yes. Frankly I have never liked multi-player combat games for this reason: it comes down to alliances and not in-game tactics and choices. One on one avoids this issue.

[terryoc]

There are some good multiplayer scenarios for FC, there's that one with the Roms & Klinks vs a Gorn & Fed, all four players having slightly different victory conditions. Can't remember the title.

I understand that Star Fleet Battle Force is another good multiplayer ffa sfu-themed game...

[OGOPTIMUS]

Though maybe not the only one, Refiner's Fire, published as 8B102 and 8CM1 has Feds and Gorns against Romulans and Klingons.

[Kang]

I'm currently trying to write a multiplayer scenario; it's nearly ready but will have to be playtested. There are also several three-player scenarios involving fleets; I myself prefer few-ship multiplayer actions, though, preferably one-on-one-on-one (ie each player has one ship). Any other forumers who are also scenario writers, let's have more multiplayer scenarios, please!

There is one in Briefing #1 (is it called Out of the Frying Pan?) which is Kzinti vs Fed vs. Orion; that's a good scenario. Also there's the Klingon-Klingon-Orion one in, I think it's Klingon Attack; a damaged F5 vs an E4 and an Orion LR, is it? That's a good scenario too.

Just realised this is drifting a little off-topic, but I'll post it anyway as I think it's contextually relevant and worth saying to boot.

[Mithras]

I think multi-player scenarios can, and do work, in SFU terms (ok, granted, I'm still learning FC, having been out of the SFB thing for a few years). The main issue I usually have with multi-player games in any setting is that one should really stick to a "two faction" format wherever possible - this cuts down on the game breaking down into several smaller battles rather than the larger battle originally intended.

If someone wants to play a game with Romulans and Klingons, far better for them to be allied on one side, if there are also Feds and others in the mix Easier to handle than, say, a Romulan player, a Klingon Player, a Federation Player, etc.. each with their own goals, and each opposed to everyone else.

That -said- it can work. I have seen it work both in convention sized games and in group games. Just depends upon the scenario design, really, and of course, careful delineation of objectives can really help matters, too. Ie: is the Romulan -really- there to destroy everybody else on the table, or does he have a different goal in mind? Maybe he's at war with everyone on the table, but his specific orders are to eliminate the Federation Dreadnought, rather than to engage everyone and everything?

Can even work in "two sided" games. The Klinks and the Roms may be allied, but perhaps they each have their own, secret goals.

Anyway, back to the main topic of the post, I guess it depends again upon the individual player involved. I had a great deal of fun playing with Romulans in my SFB days when I had the chance to play with them, and I quickly learned that cloak is only a tool, rather than a means to an end. Ultimately, if I sat back, cloaked, I didn't do much to accomplish the objective I had in mind, and the enemy could do what he wanted, at his leisure.

In my very early days of playing SFB, there was another guy in the group who loved to play Romulans, and would sometimes snicker and sit in cloak while everybody else did the dirty work. The solution was to allow me to use the Tholians... (I had been pushing to try their rules for some time) and the situation suddenly changed. "What do you mean I'm visible now?!"

Ahh, good times, either way.

-M.

[Hod K'el]

I am still trying to figure out why it is taking him three turns to charge plasma torpedoes. He could have the PL-F's ready for firing on one turn and the PL-G or PL-S ready for firing the next turn. And why is he not using his PH-1's? Romulan shields are as good as any other shields and the Romulans have the two point shift.

[jeffery smith]

since the romulans are one of my favorite races to play. what your missing is the fact that either the romulan player lacks any experience or the rest of you do. if they are cloaking until all their plasma torps are ready then all you have to do is figure out where they will decloak . if playing the feds be ready with a full spread of overloaded photorps,shield reinforcement, & plenty of speed. 64 points of photorp damage will put an end to this cycle and force them to use better tactics. the klingon and fed players being in a hurry to pound each other make it easy for the romulan to use this very basic tactic and walk away unscathed.you both need to worry alittle more about the romulan than each other.

[Greyson]

Or, disallow the use of the cloak and let the Romulans spend an extra 10-15% on the point values. (E.g. everyone else can spend 100 points, but the Romulan can have 110 or 115.) This gives some compensation for not having an important part of their weapons systems.

Sorry but if someone suggests that a race cannot use a signature ability, then why not just start removing tactics at the same time (ie. no Klingon sabre dancing... etc.)

Either remove the race from selection or let the dogs lie. And as with all facets of FC, don't force changes on the players. All of you are looking for the same thing, to have fun.

[Mike]

I really hate to post in this thread about Romulans to answer a question about multi-player scenarios, but you can check out Communique #19 and #21 for two that fill the bill (The Pirates Find an Ally and The Pirates Have Gone Too Far).

They are difficult to create. Various victory conditions make multi-player games much more interesting. In printed format some of the mystery is removed because all participants have full knowledge of each others' goals.

I've thought about trying to come up with a scenario in which each player's victory conditions are somewhat random and would be selected from a list of possible options by rolling a die, drawing a card, or by a player simply recording the choice secretly before the game begins.

I have always thought that more could be done with SFB/FC in regard to "standard procedure" of encountering various situations. This approach would be somewhere between role playing as the commander of a ship and the games as they are now, but closer to playing the games as they are. For example, come up with an outline of standard procedure for the various empires when encountering alien craft, a new civilization, an enemy vessel, a space monster or lifeform, unidentified craft, etc. Parts of some of those things would surely involve communications (hailing or monitoring), defensive/offensive postures, use of sensors/probes, etc. The scenarios as they currently exist simply put players into the thick of things. We depend on the fiction to inform us about the lead-ups into those situations. I don't know...perhaps this "Admiral" project will help with this sort of thing.