Who, if anyone, wants a FC: Early Years module?

[mjwest]

Not quite. Module Y1 redefined what the sublight Romulan ships looked like, invalidating the ships published in Advanced Missions.

Instead, the sublight Romulans have a different power distribution, and they have warp-something lasers that can do damage out to two hexes or so.

Basically, the lasers are to give them some minimal drone/missle defense in addition to their really big gun.

[junior]

Basically, the lasers are to give them some minimal drone/missle defense in addition to their really big gun.

Which are useless against their neighbors, since the MY Gorn use plasma torpedoes as well, and the Feds of the MY time period pretty much don't use drones.

My vague recollection is that the Warbird in the old Commanders Edition sub-light rules (from back in the '80s) had lasers and missiles (as did everyone), but the lasers were then removed when the Warbird was refitted to the MY version with the plasma torpedo. That's changed, though, since the old Commanders Edition sub-light rules and ships long ago went the way of the dinosaurs.

[Nerroth]

Oh, Mike - are you planning on letting the Roms have those sublight fighters and bombers for planetary defence purposes?

[mjwest]

Basically, the lasers are to give them some minimal drone/missle defense in addition to their really big gun.

Which are useless against their neighbors, since the MY Gorn use plasma torpedoes as well, and the Feds of the MY time period pretty much don't use drones.

Not true! For a significant portion of the Early Years, the Gorns use lasers and atomic missles (which move two hexes a turn in SFB). They don't get plasma until later. And even with seeking plasma, the lasers provide some warhead reduction.

Also, note that even when they get plasma, the Gorns are restricted to range 5 bolts for quite a while. That is why having the masking device only shift range by 4 hexes is still quite effective.

But, fundamentally, if you want to see the accurate picture of the pre-Smarba Romulans, you have to buy Module Y1. It supercedes everything before it.

[mjwest]

Oh, Mike - are you planning on letting the Roms have those sublight fighters and bombers for planetary defence purposes?

Actually, all I am currently trying to do is get a basic article created for Captain's Log. Eventually, having one or two Early Years Briefings would be great. But that is way off. Right now, I just want the Captain's Log article, and let the rest fall where it may.

Dealing with fighters in the article is a secondary concern. If I have room, great. If not, then not.

[junior]

Not true! For a significant portion of the Early Years, the Gorns use lasers and atomic missles (which move two hexes a turn in SFB). They don't get plasma until later. And even with seeking plasma, the lasers provide some warhead reduction.

Also, note that even when they get plasma, the Gorns are restricted to range 5 bolts for quite a while. That is why having the masking device only shift range by 4 hexes is still quite effective.

I did clarify that with an 'MY' note on the Gorn and Fed ships.



And as far as bolts are concerned...

Who needs to bolt when your opponent can barely move at all? Plasma-G torpedoes (which is what the Gorn are armed with up until the '+' refit arrives) do full damage out to range 10 when the Romulan uncloaks to use his Plasma-R, and the Romulan doesn't have the speed to outrun them. And while he's under cloak, the Gorn can snipe at him with phasers while the Romulan is unable to return fire.

[Nerroth]

junior - the point he is making is that the Gorns, for a certain time, cannot fire seeking torps at all. Their launchers fire short-range bolts only.


Looking back, it could have been neat if the Gorns had been given the kind of early direct-fire plasma weapon that the Korlivilar, Pronhoulites and Rovillians got in Y2...

...oh, and as an aside, for those who don't already know, the distinct history of ISC plasma development meant that when the Concordium finally started to use Plasma-F and -G torps, they could always use them in bolt or seeking mode, as they were integrating the mixed experience the five founding planets had with plasma weapons (including the early Plasma-V torpedoes the Veltressai fielded on their ships).

[junior]

junior - the point he is making is that the Gorns, for a certain time, cannot fire seeking torps at all. Their launchers fire short-range bolts only.

Suicide shuttles and phasers then.

Or just phasers if the suicide shuttles aren't available yet.

It may take a little while. But the relative inability of the Romulan to do much in the way of maneuvering will eventually let the opponent finish them off.

[mjwest]

Oops! Forgot the suicide shuttles modification, so, the full list of EY modifications for Federation Commander are:
- Early Years ships may not choose a baseline speed of 24.
- Sublight ships move base speed zero and may accelerate only on non-consecutive impulses.
- Early Years ships may not use directed targetting.
- No weapons may be overloaded.
- Drones do half damage and use a base speed of 8.
- Missles use a base speed of 0 and accelerate on impulses 2,4,6,8. [Missles may be completely ignored.]
- Suicide Shuttles can only accept a maximum of 3 points of power.
- Transporters are 3 hex range.
- Mask works as cloak, but doesn't halve the damage; it only add 4 to the range. [This is still significant. It forces Gorns to get to range one to hit with the bolts, and makes Ph-2s fairly ineffective.]

Again, this doesn't include rules for any EY-only weapons.

[Steve Cole]

Mike; Start and Email dialogue with me about doing an early years package in CL39. I need to program it into the page count. Gary Carney almost bumped early years to CL40 when he asked for prime team rules to be in CL39.

[Dal Downing]

MJW, Since Atomic Missiles use to be twice as fast as sublight ships iirc (Which now basicly travel 4 Hexs a Turn) why not just say EY Drones and Atomic Missiles function exactly the same. There may be fundimental difference in their design but functionally they are almost identical. So why not just simplify the rules and make them the same?

Also as far as making thing simple why not just say the Lasers use the same chart as Phaser 3 but subtract 1 from their damage for ever hex they shoot through. We already do something similar for Plasma Torpedos.

Never mind about the Laser Damage thing anyone using this article probably has the Commander SSDs from Y1 and/or Y2.

[mjwest]

Dal,

I am thinking of doing exactly that for missles. I am thinking of making Andorian drones, drones, and missles all operate the same. They will have different warheads, but they will all operate the same with the same speed and all. (Thinking about it, I will need to make missles have a shorter endurance, too. Probably just a turn. Rats. Another difference.)

For death bolts, I plan on making them just a "double drone". They operate just like a drone, but take double damage to kill and do double damage to the target (i.e. 12 points, since all warheads are halved).

Also, for death bolt racks, I am going to make them operate just like drone racks with a single load. So, after you fire them, they must be reloaded. That will make them as hard to reload as SFB death bolt racks, but will ignore all the extra rules around that.

Of course, always keep in mind these are only my submissions. Steve could easily see something I missed or a more obvious solution and implement that instead.

[Sneaky Scot]

Sorry to add another thing Mike, but don't the Carnivons have a Disruptor Cannon that takes 2 turns to load but does more damage? Apologies if I've misrembered.

[mjwest]

Yes. The structure of the rules is exactly like the hellbore with no overloads. (Seriously, I just copied the hellbore rules, making the appropriate changes.)

It costs 2 points of energy for 2 turns. Energy is added in Energy Allocation. No hold; using rolling delay (again, just like the hellbore). It does double the damage of a disruptor bolt. Ranges and hit numbers are the same as a disruptor. Ranges are 22 for cruisers and dreadnoughts, 15 for destroyers and frigates.

[terryoc]

Missles may be completely ignored.

[uncloaks]
Never ignore a loophole-seeking missile! Muahahahaha!

BTW Mike, are there any mods to tractor beams? Wasn't there a limited arc in EY, or are you just going to ignore that for simplicity's sake?