Re: New Conversion of Babylon 5 for FT

Oerjan Ohlson wrote:

> >If we take B5 the series at face value we have several problems with
> >consistancy and those must be resolved.  The first has to do with
ship
> 
> >designation.  Cleary JMS is an average joe in comparison to his
> >knowlege of naval operations.  The Omega "Destroyer" should really
>be
> called the Omega "Battleship".
> 
> I can name another well-known SF series (movies though, not TV) where
> the biggest capital ships are called "destroyers"... and at least one
> SF author who uses the terms "battleship" and "cruiser" to mean
> "short-ranged ship with endurance for a single battle only" and "ship
> with endurance for long-distance patrol cruises" respectively (which
> IIRC is closer to the original naval meanings of the words than
today's
> usage is) :-/

And as I see it, names used to describe ships don't necessarily have to
follow *20th century* conventions, either. Things can change over time.

> >I am sure he was just trying to be dramatic.  The same goes for the
> >Shadow Weapons slicing up ships with one hit.  Dramatic, but pretty
> >much uninteresting from a gamig point of view.  It is more akin to
> >paper-scissors-rock.
> 
> If you give the Minbari heavy screens to give them their normal
> invulnerability against human weapons - they'll need at least level-2
> screens to come within shouting distance of the "historical" effect,
> and level-3 would be preferrable - they will *also* be virtually
immune
> to the Shadow weapon. Unless you vary the number of screens they have
> depending on who they fight at the moment, of course.
> 
> The Minbari in the show - Delenn in particular - seem to be quite
> nervous about fighting the Shadows... but why would they be nervous,
if
> the Shadows couldn't harm Minbari ships?

Actually, if you re-view some of the major battles of the multiple races
against the Shadows, you see Minbari warships sliced to pieces by Shadow
vessels, just as easily as everyone else. The Minbari ships are no more
immune to Shadow weaponry than any of the other races (save the Vorlons
and other 1st Ones, but they're in a league all their own!).

> >Now then, I suspect I'll get over-ruled and much more devestating
> >weapons will be proposed, in which case the Shadows will be
>relegated
> to scenarios rather than be useful in a strategic-tactical >game. The
> Shadows are either all-powerful or totally neutralized by >psi.
> 
> Pretty much, yes. Just like real-world heavily armoured battleships
are
> all-powerful against small ships without torpedoes (and pretty close
to
> invulnerable to small surface ships *with* torpedoes, too...) but
> neutralized by subs or aircraft <g>

I'd personally (if I had more time to revamp my B5 rules) take the
Sa'Vasku rules and tweak them a little to represent the Shadows. After
all, in a roundabout way I suspect that's what Jon was trying to not-
emmulate. ;-)

> >The Minbari are interesting. [snip] This lead me to believe that the
> >Minbari rely heavily on electronic means of security over robust
> >physical design.
> 
> According to what's said in the show (and AFAIK), they use both.
What's
> said doesn't always agree with what's seen, of course - but which of
> the visuals and the dialogue is more likely to be dramatic effect? <g>

At least there's an attempt. JMS is an SF fan, not a wargamer dude.
You gotta cut him a little slack and work with what's available.
Ultimately
you have to decide what WORKS, and what doesn't, for the GAME. And as
long
as all players of that set of rules agree, no problemmo.

> See the comments about the Shadows vs Minbari above. In the show it
> seems that the Minbari EW capabilities aren't as effective against all
> enemies - so if you use screens to represent this effect, they'll
> probably need level-2 or -3 screens against humans, but against
Shadows
> (who, according to Delenn, "never miss") 

Legend and rumor handed down over time. The characters aren't all
omniescent.
They only tell you what *they* know. That's what she thinks or believes.
It
doesn't necessarily make it correct. We've seen Shadows miss in other
battles
(and I'm *not* referring to the early clashes between The White Star and
single
Shadow ships, either). That the Shadows have an incredibly accurate
targetting 
system, I'll buy it. But that they "never miss", I won't accept.

Well, just had to jump in here for a moment. I've managed to resist
putting
in the "FT is *not* wet-navy-in-space even though it may almost look
like
it"
bit.  ;-)  Back to lurking...

Mk
From - Fri Dec 22 22:00:02 2000
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Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2000 11:59:12 +1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)
From: "Flynn Richardson" <Flynn.Richardson@unilever.com>
Subject: Noble Armada
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Hi all,
Has anyone on the list had any experience with the Noble Armada game set
in the Fading Suns universe? i.e. are the minis any good for FT? are the
boarding actions interesting? can they be mapped to FT?

I have looked at the web page but that did not give a view of the minis
included in the base box just the expansion one (which looked ok and
around LC to BB scale)

Any help would be appreciated.

Flynn Richardson
Powders Project Manager
Lever Rexona New Zealand