Alpha Strike system

Spacecowboy87 · Post by **Spacecowboy87** » Sun Mar 25, 2012 3:50 pm

Our group has been experimenting with the Alpha Strike damage allocation system (found in Captain's Log 41 supplement, developed by Mike Bennett)
Mein Gott, Bozhe Moi, and Holy Mother !!! What a brilliant system !!! I can't believe it's not THE mainstream way of damage allocation. We follow the advice of the companion article and allocate up ten internal hits normally, but after that it's Alpha Strike all the way. Got 50 hits? Want them allocated in 20 seconds? Check out Alpha Strike.
(This is an unpaid endorsement-- unless of course someone wants to. Have your people call my people)

ericphillips · Post by **ericphillips** » Sun Mar 25, 2012 4:52 pm

I really like it too, but cannot get anyone around me to use it.

I also made an excel file that I used his percentages and created a complete random allocation with the same distribution. Works sweet.

duxvolantis · Post by **duxvolantis** » Sun Mar 25, 2012 6:07 pm

Spacecowboy87 wrote:Our group has been experimenting with the Alpha Strike damage allocation system (found in Captain's Log 41 supplement, developed by Mike Bennett)
Mein Gott, Bozhe Moi, and Holy Mother !!! What a brilliant system !!! I can't believe it's not THE mainstream way of damage allocation. We follow the advice of the companion article and allocate up ten internal hits normally, but after that it's Alpha Strike all the way. Got 50 hits? Want them allocated in 20 seconds? Check out Alpha Strike.
(This is an unpaid endorsement-- unless of course someone wants to. Have your people call my people)

I like the randomness of the DaC in duels and small squadron fights.

That being said, the Alpha Strike makes a lot of sense for large battles.

Spacecowboy87 · Post by **Spacecowboy87** » Sun Mar 25, 2012 6:15 pm

To be fair, I should point out that we normally play weeknights at a shop, so we're always up against the clock. It's not perfect, but it's "perfect enough" for our situation.

gar1138 · Post by **gar1138** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 6:36 pm

I've always been intrigued by it, but never actually used it in a game.

One question I have about it: In the section explaining about Weapon Hits, it says to:

..Mark weapons damage in this order: any phaser, any phaser, best phaser (4, 1, G, 2, 3), any torpedo weapon..

Is that really true in FC, or is that a hold-over from SFB? I thought in FC you were never required to mark a "best" phaser (unless you run out of smaller ones, etc, etc).?

Garrett

Sorry for the above deleted posts, the Forum kept cutting off my full message, then wouldn't let me delete them.

ericphillips · Post by **ericphillips** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 6:40 pm

I think that may be a hold over. Certainly in FC you can always mark the wost phaser on hit after hit, and it also does not force you to hit phasers in arc of the volley. I think the author just likes the 3rd phaser is best phaser is something he misses from SFB.

mjwest · Post by **mjwest** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 6:40 pm

I think it is saying to do that for the Alpha Strike system. I doubt it is making any implications as to how basic FC works.

(And I deleted the extra posts.)

Mike · Post by **Mike** » Wed Mar 28, 2012 12:57 am

Glad you guys are interested in the Alpha Strike system.

As for the weapons hits going in the order, "any phaser, any phaser, best phaser, any torpedo, any drone," that is something that I never noticed in the published version. I went back and checked my file that I submitted and it did not have that "best phaser" oddity.

I don't know how it could have gotten changed, but it was for some reason. I would submit that it should be changed to "any phaser" in the true spirit of FedCom.

Finman · Post by **Finman** » Sat Mar 29, 2014 4:49 pm

Other than the CL, where can I get a copy of this system? I'd like to give it a try.

Mike · Post by **Mike** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 1:46 am

I think that is the only place. It is available in printed form for $5 from the ADB store or in electronic form from Warehouse23.

http://www.warehouse23.com/products/ADB5741-S

http://store.starfleetstore.com/merchan ... y_Code=CLS

Finman · Post by **Finman** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 9:51 pm

Mike,

Thanks for the link. Already looking at some minis, so I will check it out when I order. (Come on Starline 2500 Lyrans!)

Fin-man

Finman · Post by **Finman** » Sun Apr 13, 2014 10:45 pm

Following up - we picked this up and gave it a trial run. (No Lyrans in 2500, but that's another story...)

I thought this was brilliant! I loved the ease of putting 20, 30, or even 40 points of damage in just a minute without dice rolls. I second the idea of using this a the baseline for FC damage going forward. (I just wish the "order" for systems and weapons was on the page with the damage - it would have made things easier.)

My friend was less impressed, due to the 'luck' factor being removed, and wants to research it more. (Of course, he does tend to roll lucky for the '6' chart, or getting the '2' chart for a single point of burn-through damage.)

We'll keep playing with it, using it for all hits (including burn-through) to keep the game going. Well done, Mike!

Finman

Mike · Post by **Mike** » Sat Sep 06, 2014 3:07 pm

Sorry to resurrect an old topic, but I was thinking about the Alpha Strike damage allocation system this morning and something occurred to me that answers a question that was asked awhile back.

The question involved the way weapons were damaged, specifically:

One question I have about it: In the section explaining about Weapon Hits, it says to:
Quote:
..Mark weapons damage in this order: any phaser, any phaser, best phaser (4, 1, G, 2, 3), any torpedo weapon..

Is that really true in FC, or is that a hold-over from SFB? I thought in FC you were never required to mark a "best" phaser (unless you run out of smaller ones, etc, etc).?

Here is the answer.

That was done intentionally. I was totally mistaken in my initial response (don't know what in the world I was thinking about, but there must've been a major brain malfunction at the time).

The reason there is a specific order for different types of weapons taking damage is because all weapons were grouped together in one category, just like power, to help make the system fast.

[With no difference between impulse and warp engines, power really doesn't make that big a difference. Well, there are batteries, but I decided to let that slide for speed's sake.]

But with weapons, there is a huge issue. All weapons are not the same, so the sequence of what should be taken as damage for each volley was the solution.

So, it is not really a "hold over" from SFB at all. It was designed to be the way it is.

Sorry for such a long coming with the correct answer, but there it is.

storeylf · Post by **storeylf** » Sat Sep 06, 2014 6:24 pm

The earlier question was not about weapon type, it was about 'best' phaser.

I can see why you had to break down type (torp/phaser/drone), but that doesn't explain the 'best phaser' bit. In FC you never have to take 'best' phaser, just 'generic' phaser.

Mike · Post by **Mike** » Sun Sep 07, 2014 2:18 am

Okay. Maybe my brain was working way back then and not today. I dunno.

I checked my original chart and it shows the order weapon hits are to be taken as:

Phaser - Phaser - Phaser - Torpedo - Drone - repeat the sequence.

No reference to "best" or "worst" phaser. Not sure where that came from.

Federation Commander

Alpha Strike system

Alpha Strike system

Re: Alpha Strike system