Frigate Wars

Blammo · Post by **Blammo** » Tue Apr 12, 2011 1:10 am

A few weeks ago I posted a poll to see what interest there was in various types of PBEM Battle Scenarios. The results of the poll indicated that the preference was for something I like to call "Frigate Wars". Based on that I am including a set of rules for the competition series.

For anyone that is interested (that has not already emailed me), please review the rules and email me or post here. I am going to give two weeks for people to sign up so I will be posting the first battles on April 25th.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Frigate Wars

General Information:
This will be a final point total competition series. This means that each commander in a battle will be awarded a number of points based on their standing at the end of each battle. These points will be added to any points awarded in future or previous battles in this series. Once the last battle has been completed, the commander with the highest total points will be declared the winner.

Each battle in the series will be fought one ship (per side) at a time and each ship commander will be matched against each other ship commander (randomly) until all pairings/battles have been fought.

In the case of only two participants, the victor will be declared by a best two out of three.

In the case of only three participants, each player will fight the other commanders once and then the two top scorers will compete against each other.

In all other cases each commander will fight against each other commander until all combinations have been completed.

Ship Choices:
Each ship commander may choose any ship available in Federation Commander up to 85 points in value. The ship choice of a commander must be an actual ship. In other words, a commander could not choose to enter the series using only Stingers. Once a ship commander has chosen what ship will be used for their first battle, that will be the same ship (and same configuration in the case of Orions) used for each subsequent battle.

Map:
Each battle will be fought on a fixed map. Any unit leaving the map will be considered to have been forced to disengaged.

The map that will be used is the 42 x 30 standard map.

Terrain:
No terrain will be used in any battle.

Points:
Points will be awarded at the end of each battle based on the following:
- The side with ship having a point value less than their opponent will be awarded a bonus of the

difference in values.
-If a player forfeits or withdraws from a battle, their opponent will receive points equivalent to a forced disengagement. A player that does not provide updates (Energy Allocation, SOPs, etc) by the established dead line of the final notice will be considered to have forfeited (and therefore, forced to disengage).
- The declared winner of a given battle will earn a bonus of 5 points. For the sake of this battle series a winner is the player that earns 1 or more points in a given engagement than their opponent.
- Each player fighting in a given battle until completion will earn a bonus 5 points.
- If a commander concedes the battle to his opponent, this counts as a forced disengagement for the sake of this battle series.
- Point awarding is as follows:
- Scoring internal damage = 10% of point value
- Forcing a ship to disengage = 25% of point value
- Crippling the enemy ship = 50% of point value
- Destroying the enemy ship = 100% of point value
- Capturing the enemy ship = 200% of point value

Battle Completion:
The following circumstances count as a completed batle:
- One side (or both) is/are destroyed
- One side is considered to have been forced to disengage
- Time limit of battle is completed
- One side concedes the battle

Special Notes:
- All battles will be fought at Squadron Scale.
- Reference Rule Book v6 will be the source rule book for this series.
- Each battle will have a 6 turn time limit. Whatever the status at the end of turn 6 will determine the winner and points awarded. What was "about to happen" in the next turn will have no bearing on point totals.
- Per (4G3a), a commander may decrease the speed of his drones (and related ship point cost).
- Per (4G3b), a commander may increase the speed of his drones (and related ship point cost). The final cost of the ship (with fast drones) cannot exceed the ship point cap.
- All damage at the end of a battle will be repaired before the next battle begins.
-For determining point value we will be using the Master Ship Chart (MSC) for FC for any ship that was available at the time the latest MSC was made available. For any ship not on the MSC, we will use the card value.

Scoutdad · Post by **Scoutdad** » Tue Apr 12, 2011 2:26 am

email sent

SFU_FEAR · Post by **SFU_FEAR** » Tue Apr 12, 2011 8:23 pm

How about No Orion ships? The +1 at this level would be too much of an advantage considering the points spent.

Blammo · Post by **Blammo** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 12:07 am

Hey, Mike: Since the +1 is calculated as part of the point value of a ship, I am not inclined to exclude Orion Pirate ships at this point. But, I will keep it under consideration.

Scoutdad · Post by **Scoutdad** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 12:07 am

Jsut so you know... the Orion DW was my 7th choice and the LR was a horrid 13th choice - so no Orions for Scoutdad this go 'round.

Blammo · Post by **Blammo** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 3:12 am

Thanks for the interest, guys. I am glad to see the ideas getting batted around and look forward to some great engagements!

Scoutdad · Post by **Scoutdad** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 3:26 am

Blammo wrote:Thanks for the interest, guys. I am glad to see the ideas getting batted around and look forward to some great engagements!

I'm just looking forward to playing in a game instead of moderating it.

Of course, the 85 point limit has a few issues of it's own. Many of the empires frigates come in between 85 and 90 points and some just over 90. But you have to set a limit... if you go to 90, then someone will ask for 92 points. then when you go to 92, the next guy will want 96...
Before you know it, Everyone has a battleship!

terryoc · Post by **terryoc** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 5:25 am

- I suspect that the Federation FF will be a top ship in this format. It's notorious for its ability to fly at top speed under EM while holding fully-loaded torps.
- I am surprised that Tony rates the Orion LR/DW so low, with three heavy weapons they are potentially quite nasty. Photons would give them a brutal alpha strike.
- The Zin FF is one point over limit, too bad. Six drones would give most frigates a headache. Even four would be a problem.
- Klingon F5 I rate as weak. There's a reason it was replaced by the F5W.
[/list]

terryoc · Post by **terryoc** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 5:47 am

OK, I'm in. Can't find Blammo's email, so my selection is the Andromedan Cobra. Not confident that it will do well but I do love my Andros.

Blammo · Post by **Blammo** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 11:36 am

On the point value cap: I did just have to choose a value and cut off there. To paraphrase Tony, you have to choose a cut off point somewhere or else it will just keep getting bumped up. I looked at what was available across a cross section of races for that point value and found it gave quite a few options. But, if I find it to limiting this time through, I will look at a slightly higher cap next time.

Again, I am glad to see people joining in and look forward to some great ship-busting fun!

Scoutdad · Post by **Scoutdad** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 1:34 pm

terryoc wrote:OK, I'm in. Can't find Blammo's email, so my selection is the Andromedan Cobra. Not confident that it will do well but I do love my Andros.

First item: My ship selection was submitted yesterday.

Second Item: I forsee an interesting encounter.

Scoutdad · Post by **Scoutdad** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 1:57 pm

terryoc wrote:- I suspect that the Federation FF will be a top ship in this format. It's notorious for its ability to fly at top speed under EM while holding fully-loaded torps.

Yes... the Federation FF will definitely be a contender. F.E.A.R. is entering the event and his skills combined with the effect of the infamous"woobie*" will make him a formidible opponent. And he loves to fly Feds (although he is equally skilled with every empire!).
I suspect many others will select the Fed FF, so this lowered it's ranking in my list as I would like to see diversity, else we'd be running a 24th century IROC.

OH! An idea for the next big event (when Escalation! has wound down) just hit me.

Terry wrote:I am surprised that Tony rates the Orion LR/DW so low, with three heavy weapons they are potentially quite nasty. Photons would give them a brutal alpha strike.

Actually, I like the Orions and play them frequently. The problem is their lack of internals. Once they get hit, it hurts... and it keeps on hurting.
And, Yeah... a DW with 3 photons can start the game with them all loaded and hold them awaiting an alpha strike...
but a good opponent will deny that opportunity. And once they are fired - there is no way you've got the powerto rearm them. Ynless you kick in the "cocaine effect" and that leads to it's own issues.

Terry wrote:The Zin FF is one point over limit, too bad. Six drones would give most frigates a headache. Even four would be a problem.

Actually, that would have been #1 if the point cap had been 86. I thought of using speed 16 drones, but that just seemed to defeat the purpose of having an overwhelming drone capability.
Now if Robert would let me start the game with one drone in each rack set at speed 16...

Terry, again... :lol: wrote:Klingon F5 I rate as weak. There's a reason it was replaced by the F5W.

Hmmm... I ranked the F5 third on my list. Seems that Mr. O'Carroll and I have a slight difference of opinion here.
Mayhap things are topsy-turvy down-under.

While I do not deny that the F5W is superior to the F5, I still like the old warhorse itself. It does the job if you can deal with it's flaws. It can ssucessfully sabre-dance with most other frigates, you just have to be patient. An F5 battle will not be won by charging in 2 turns and swapping overloaded alpha strikes.

Blammo · Post by **Blammo** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 4:20 pm

Just so I make sure my ship cards and master ship table are correct, isn't the Kzinti Frigate 87 points? I just see if being referred to as 86 points and want to be sure I don't have a bunch of misprints here (or out of date information).

SFU_FEAR · Post by **SFU_FEAR** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 5:13 pm

How long do you want me list to be? I will submit one this evening when I get home of my preferences.

Blammo · Post by **Blammo** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 5:58 pm

SFU_FEAR wrote:How long do you want me list to be? I will submit one this evening when I get home of my preferences.

If you already know what you want to use, only one choice is needed. Tony submitted three different choices just to keep things interesting, but whatever you want to use within the point limit is sufficient for me.