Re: [FT] FB2 Balancing Corrections Proposed

Sorry if there are two versions of this one... the previous attempt
disappeared into the void somewhere before it was completed :-(

Brendan Pratt wrote:

[Difference between 6x4 and 8x4 ft tables]

>>Allows a bit more time for acceleration, but no more lateral space
>>to dodge in than a 6x4 table (assuming the fleets set up at the short
>>edges of the table). I'm not sure the difference between a 5ft wide
>>table and a 4ft one is that critical (cf. the previous report where
>>the 1500-pt Phalon fleet got virtually annihilated for only light NAC
>>losses on a 8'x5' table), but it does make it harder to dodge than
>>on my 120x100mu table (equivalent to 10'x8'4"for you
inch->>measurers) :-/
> 
>As a generalisation, I would suggest that 8 x 4 playing 
>surfaces are more commonly in use than larger alternatives - 
>only said as I have played tournament style games since 
>1980 and have played in 5 countries.

9x5 (table tennis table) is the "recommended standard size" for 25mm
games in several ancients/medieval rule sets, but no doubt the ancients
crowd claim all those tables for themselves <g> 

Not sure if Alan forwarded my recent NAC/Phalon battle report to you
(1500 pts per side on a 96x60 mu table), so I'll risk repeating myself
about it. My (Phalon) opponent initially thought of this
(comparatively) small table as "duelling with assault rifles in a
prison cell", but I (flying the NAC) had no difficulties keeping my
ships more than 12mu away from the Phalons until I had killed enough of
them to safely outgun them even at point-blank. In the end the Phalons
were massacred - they lost 1275pts destroyed, and the one CL which
escaped had only two hull boxes and very few working systems left -
while the NAC only lost a CE, three escorts and a fighter squadron (491
pts) with a DD being crippled (FCS lost) and the BDN needing its entire
pattern of kill-marks re-painted (not just the three new Phalon ship
symbols :-/ ). 

In spite of my opponent's initial hopes, this was no different from our
battles on the large (120x100mu, and floating edges) table. Narrowing
the table further and increasing the fleet sizes, eg. to 48mu and 2750
pts <g>, would probably help the Phalons - but would it really be
enough to turn the above rather one-sided slaughter *by* the NAC *of*
the Phalons into its exact opposite?

>We are testing the rules very intensively with about 20 players at our
>twice weekly club meetings - there are a number of players at any
>given skill level, all of whom have expressed the same strong
>opinions about certain aspects of both Phalon and Sa'Vasku weaponry.

After how many battles each? IIRC, in your post to Jon you mentioned
about 30 battles in total (using all three of the alien races), but
with twenty players that doesn't give each individual that many chances
to try out counter-tactics... it does take a bit of time to adjust from
anti-human to anti-Phalon thinking

>>That said, the tactics needed to defeat the Phalons are 
>>quite different from those effective against the FB1 
>>designs (and against most custom designs you can build 
>>with FB1 technology).

One of the more subtle differences is the range vs arc one. When
fighting the FB1 human fleets, being in the right fire arc (preferrably
in the target's (Ax) arcs while keeping it in your own (Fx) arcs) is
generally more important than the range at which you fight, since both
sides' firepower drop of at roughly the same rate. The Phalons OTOH
don't care much about which fire arcs your ships are in thanks to their
numerous all-arc weapons, but the *range* your ships are at is
absolutely critical to them. 

Conversely a human ship doesn't care from which arc(s) attacking
fighters approach since all its PDSs and B1s are all-arc, but most
Phalon ships don't have the same PD strength all around (the
Vlath-class SC is the only published exception). A fighter squadron
hitting a Ptath-class "battleship" (really a battledreadnought if you
look at its combat power) on the nose is faced by up to 7 Pulsers
firing in PD mode; if instead it attacks up the Ptath's tailpipes it
only has 2 Pulsers to worry about.

>Granted that you argument does hold lots of water - My 
>main counter is that two players of equal skill are not going 
>to have similar results over a number of battles

Like the 35 playtest battles I and my main opponents fought, you mean?
<G>

Two players of equal skill won't get similar results over a large
number of battles provided at least one of them varies his/her tactics,
but it wasn't clear from your what different tactics and tricks the
non-Phalon players tried. It was quite clear that the Phalon players
*didn't* vary their tactics, but they were winning so they had no
incentive to change anyway.

>>Jon had a whole bunch of posts he was going to forward to you. Did
>>you recieve those?
>
>Not yet - Alan Brain forwarded yours originally.

Hm. Jon said to forward 'em all to you about a month ago... I'll see if
I have any of them saved somewhere.

>One other comment is that the Phalon plasma bolts don't 
>worry me anywhere near as much as the Sa'Vasku.

I'm not surprised - the SV worry me as well.

A couple of other questions:

* Does your group use player-designed ships, or only the published ones
from FB1? (During the FB2 playtesting Alan said something about him
very rarely using custom designs, though it does sound a bit curious in
light of his ST-to-FT conversions... Alan?)

* If you do use custom ships, have you flown human ships with weak
hulls, massive armour and armed mainly with Class-1 beam batteries
(with some missile or WG/NC backup)? With what results?

The following three designs were offered to the IF admiralty by the FSE
designer Georgios Phallandros in 2182 AD (standard FB1 design rules):

Voss-class SDN
TMF 283
NPV 999
MD2
FTL
Weak hull (57)
Armour 25
Level-1 screen
5 FCS
66 Class-1 batteries (All)
12 SMR-ER (3xAP/FP/F, 6xFP/F/FS, 3xF/FS/AS)

Ptah-class BDN
TMF 161
NPV 511
MD4
FTL
Weak hull (32)
Armour 8
Level-1 screen
3 FCS
42 Class-1 batteries (All)
4 SMR-ER (FP/F/FS)

Tulip-class BC
TMF 94
NPV 324
MD4
FTL
Weak hull (19)
Armour 6
Level-1 screen
2 FCS
18 Class-1 batteries (All)
3 SMR-ER (FP/F/FS)

After taking a single look at the blueprints, the IF High Admiral went
into a fit and accused Mr. Phallandros of being an NRE agent attempting
to weaken the Federation. Indeed, Mr. Phallandros's very life was only
saved by the FSE ambassador's presence; the diplomat calmed the High
Admiral by testifying that Mr.Phallandros was in fact an FSE citizen
living in Paris.

If you had been the IF High Admiral, would you have bought the above
designs instead?

[For those who haven't read the Encyclopedia Galactica for the
unofficial Tuffleyvers: the NRE is the Nea Rhomaoi Empire, aka
Byzantines in Space. They are arch-enemies of the IF, but their
relations to the FSE are quite solid. *Frozen* solid, that is :-) ]

[For Laserlight: The Sultan was as appalled as the FSE ambassador by
the High Admiral's behaviour ;-) ]

Later,

Oerjan Ohlson
oerjan.ohlson@telia.com

"Life is like a sewer.
  What you get out of it, depends on what you put into it."
- Hen3ry