Federation Commander

Hi guys,

I tried this scenario for the first time tonight. It was so easy that I wonder what I'm overlooking.

As the Fed, I set base speed to 24, accelerated every impulse. I got within transporter range of the Dakota while the Klingons were still ~8 hexes from the freighter, though the drones were about 4. That impulse, I drop shield, emergency evac the freighter. Next impulse, HET, hit the gas, and get out. The D6s never got closer than 8 hexes, so even two of them couldn't do much damage. It was over in one turn.

This scenario is reputed to be pretty difficult, so I imagine I have overlooked something important. Do the emergency evac rules in FedComm make this too easy? Am I forgetting something in the transporter rules?

There is a huge problem with the version of this scenario as it was published in the scenario database (and perhaps in the Communique in which it appeared). There was one VITAL special rule left out and the victory conditions were loused up.

Here is how the victory conditions SHOULD read:

Victory: You win an overwhelming victory by executing an emergency transport of the crew of the freighter to your ship, exiting the right side of the right map with less than half your internal system boxes marked as damaged, and not causing more than 10 internal damage points on any Klingon ship. You win a marginal victory by rescuing the crew and exiting the right side of the right map with less than half your internal system boxes damaged. You win a tactical victory by rescuing the freighter crew and exiting the right side of the right map.

And here is the VITAL special rule that should have appeared as the first special rule, but which was totally left out:

The Federation ship is limited to a baseline speed of 16 for this scenario. You may not use acceleration, but you may use deceleration.

Since this was supposed to be more of a training scenario, it was set up to use lower speeds. That's what makes it more difficult than you experienced. Try it again with the speed limit of 16 and see how it goes.

I didn't write the SFB version of the scenario; I only converted it to FC and playtested it. It is a good challenge. The lower speed also makes the robot rules for the Klingon cruisers work easier.

Thanks, Mike. That does make a lot more sense. I'll try it again as intended!