Federation Commander

See below - some of the questions were answerd by my self

Just came to me that I'm reading location centered on X wrong and having a stupid moment, I'm to used to floating maps.

So the questions are the following:

Q1: The scenario is played on a location map centered on the convoy. The convoy consists of 5 ships, which part of the convoy is the map centered on?

Q1a: If a ship is captured or tractored, is it no longer part of the convoy?

Q1b: If the map is centered on a specific convoy ship, can other convoy ships disengage of the edge of the map?

Q1c: If all ships are part of the convoy, what happens if they 'starburst' and all head to opposite map edges, making it impossible to actually keep all convoy ships on? (may be covered by the scenario, though I don't remember it).

Q2: The raider has to destroy 100 cargo (i.e. half). There are 2 large and 2 small freighter which only have 150 cargo on the map, so 100 is a lot more than half (which is 75). Is it meant to be 100 or half?

Q2a: The convoy player can adjust his force with a Q ship, which in turn adjusts the amount of cargo. Does this in turn adjust the amount of cargo the raider has to kill in order to keep it at half?

Q2b: If Q2a is 'yes' then when does the Raider player find out what his victory condition is, when the Q ship is revealed (which is potentialy never)?

Q3: The 25 hex disengagement rule doesn't include tractored or captured convoy ships. I assume that meant that any such convoy ship can no longer count as the closest ship. Is the disengagement calculated at the point of capture/tractor, i.e. capture/tractoring may result in immediate disengagement?

Thanks

storeylf wrote:Q1: The scenario is played on a location map centered on the convoy. The convoy consists of 5 ships, which part of the convoy is the map centered on?

The map moves as the ships move, so the "center" of the map could become diffused somewhat if the convoy spreads out too much. I supposed there should have been a clause saying that freighters still in control of their own movement must stay within five hexes of each other.

Q1a: If a ship is captured or tractored, is it no longer part of the convoy?

Again, this probably should have been made more clear. But, if the convoy player is no longer controlling the movement of a ship, then obviously that ship no longer counts for that rule.

Now this begs the question of what happens if a ship is tractored, dragged away from the convoy, then released. In that case, I think the best solution is to say that it is not considered a part of the convoy (for that rule) until it rejoins the convoy (if ever). Presumably it should try to do so if able.

Q1b: If the map is centered on a specific convoy ship, can other convoy ships disengage of the edge of the map?

The map is centered on the convoy as a whole. Really, the intention is that the convoy cannot disengage since it is, by definition, the center of the map. Like I mentioned above, there should probably be a rule that says the convoy cannot scatter.

Q1c: If all ships are part of the convoy, what happens if they 'starburst' and all head to opposite map edges, making it impossible to actually keep all convoy ships on? (may be covered by the scenario, though I don't remember it).

Again, there should have been a rule to prevent this. Sorry.

Q2: The raider has to destroy 100 cargo (i.e. half). There are 2 large and 2 small freighter which only have 150 cargo on the map, so 100 is a lot more than half (which is 75). Is it meant to be 100 or half?

You know, I have no idea how I did that. That is kinda embarrassing. Let's stick with 100, rather than half.

Q2a: The convoy player can adjust his force with a Q ship, which in turn adjusts the amount of cargo. Does this in turn adjust the amount of cargo the raider has to kill in order to keep it at half?

Nope, let's just go with 100.

Q2b: If Q2a is 'yes' then when does the Raider player find out what his victory condition is, when the Q ship is revealed (which is potentialy never)?

If it was 1/2, then the Raider player would know by killing one of each freighter type. If he hit a Q-ship by accident, he would just back away and hit the other. It would not be a big mystery on the goal.

Q3: The 25 hex disengagement rule doesn't include tractored or captured convoy ships. I assume that meant that any such convoy ship can no longer count as the closest ship. Is the disengagement calculated at the point of capture/tractor, i.e. capture/tractoring may result in immediate disengagement?

Sure, why not? If the convoy player is going to give you the gift of a free captured freighter by making sure it is 25 hexes from any other freighter, then go for it. Might keep those silly freighters closer together.

Thanks for the reply, we played this prior to your answer so didn't play with your suggestions.

Our play through of this did see the convoy essentially remain together, but there was a definate feeling that the convoy is never going to be winning against that much firepower, I don't remember any of the orion ships even taking any internals, whilst utterly gutting the convoy. Neither did there seem to be a huge amount of need for the orions to fight each other early on, in theory (if not in practice) all factions can meet their requirement (gaining a marginal victory each) - and if it gets to the point that it looks like they need to or want to fight it will probably be to late for the convoy.

Without the firepower to take out the ships, nor the speed to outrun them there needs to be some way of realistically forcing the disengagement, probably in a way that puts the orions under a time pressure, which is where I was looking at the starburst tactic. If the ships all starburst to the various edges (and they can disengage) then the orions will be hard pressed time wise to stop them all disengaging and, therefore, require them to take a bit more risk against the escort/QShip (rather than a leisurely turkey shoot) to get their required victory condition, and make it more likely they will need to fight over what can't get away.

I came away thinking (and even more so with your suggested 'remain together' rule) that the convoy player is a dud side to play, and the orions don't seem to have the impetous to fight each other for the spoils. But I also felt that this was very close to being a really good scenario if it coud address that.

There are a couple things I think could help.

1. As noted, allow the freighters to disengage if they can move off the map, whilst still having a location map based on them, i.e that requires 2 freighters reaching opposite edges. Keep the 25 hex disengement rule and the tractor/carpture bit. The reason for giving up a freigter is to potentialy trigger multiple orions to auto disengage if it is tractored or captured, and that could also mean that another orion player doesn't want the freighter captured as it might force his ships to disengage if the other orion caught it (ie a reason to for 1 orion to try and stop another orion).

2. Bring on a convoy reinforcement on turn 2 or 3, maybe even link it to the 'no q ship' choice. The orions would not know whether they face a Q ship or destroyer (for example) turning up to help. If you kept the 25 hexes to a freighter rule then it may be harder to fight of the extra escort as you can't manouver against that and always remain that close to the freighters if the convoy player is clever.