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March 2013
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Star Fleet Universe News THE BIG NEWS this month is that chief designer Stephen V. Cole fell and broke his leg. This cost him over a week of work and will delay STAR FLEET MARINES: LAST STAND to late March or even April. He's back at his desk and trying to get caught up. Counters for Star Fleet Marines: Last Stand and Reinforcements Attack.
In other news this month, the second annual Platinum Hat International Online SFB tournament has finished and Paul Scott is this year's champion. We look forward to seeing the third annual tournament start this summer. Stay tuned here for more news, but remember you can always find the most up-to-date information on the BBS: http://www.starfleetgames.com/discus/. WEBSITE: Our website, www.StarFleetGames.com, continues to grow and improve. You are welcome to send us your requests, comments, and suggestions. Joel Shutts, our graphics director, continues to update the website, do covers for the new products, shut down pirate websites, help out around the company, and learn more about the game business. One of our newest pages is for Starline 2500 where we display photos and 3d renders of the new starships. FACEBOOK: Jean continues to improve our page on Facebook, adding many new photos and other features. VIDEOS: StarFleetGames has taken its act to YouTube and we now have a YouTube channel. Our goal is to create a video for the new product releases during each month. We have "In the Box" videos to show you what you will see when you unpack your new game. We have also done "Spotlights" on a single product or product line. So pull up a chair and join us at the movies! Our newest uploads are: Star Fleet Marines Part 1 STARBLOG: Our StarBlog has moved to a new URL
and all links on StarFleetGames.com websites have been changed to match. The new
site is JAGDPANTHER
Custom Decals for Starline ships Tenneshington Decals now provides custom decals for all currently produced Starline 2500 miniatures, as well as special sets encompassing the contents of the Federation Fleet Box, the Federation Squadron Box 1, and Squadron Box 7 - Federation Reinforcements. Decals for each of these ships are available individual sheets and we now have a sheet of "windows" which can be used to detail any ship with additional window blocks, sensors, hatches, and even phaser scars.
ONLINE TOURNAMENTS Rated Ace Tournament 40 has started with Geof Clark as the judge. Round 1 is finished and there are two games finished in Round 2. This one is rocketing along!
DEMOS AND CONS WITH SFU GAMES Please send information to Jean via the email in her BBS profile, PM on the Mongoose or Federation Commander forums, or Message on Facebook. If you want convention support, please contact Mike Sparks at support@StarFleetGames.com. Your convention must meet a few simple requirements (one of which is being held in the United States due to shipping costs) which are here: http://www.starfleetgames.com/sfb/tournament/tourn_main.shtml Download Transmissions HAILING FREQUENCIES: This is our newsletter and will let you know all the news for all our games. You can subscribe here. Have you missed an earlier newsletter? Click here to get caught up! COMMUNIQUE: The latest Communique brings you more Ship Cards, scenarios, and more news from the Star Fleet Universe! It can be downloaded from the Commander's Circle. FC Forum Recent Posts
We are very pleased to see the medals, honor bars, and ribbons awarded to players being incorporated into their signatures. It is exciting to see lots of interesting conversations about a wide variety of subjects. Get in on the activity! While for new players the Federation Commander Forum is a little easier to manage, the original (Discus-based) BBS is where most product development takes place. If you have a proposal you'd like to see worked on, don't forget to make sure it is mentioned here. It also has active F&E and SFB forums where players run campaigns, Rated Ace tournaments and other SFB tournaments are organized (most FC tournaments are organized on the Forum), SVC's "My Day" appears, along with current news and strategies dealing with Prime Directive, and each issue of Captain's Log is created. While less colorful (no avatars or sigs), it is a vital part of ADB, Inc.'s communications. F&E Strategy of the Month When engaging in high-risk survey, a die roll of six is an encounter with a space monster that cripples your survey ship forcing it to spent a turn getting repaired. While it is true this ship cannot now survey, it need not mean you have lost the turn of survey. There is a limit to how many ships can do off-map survey: three more than your at-start allotment. However you can build additional survey ships for use on the map.
After you have built your quota of survey ships, at the first opportunity build an additional survey ship, and have it wait at a base. Survey ships make excellent scouts, and you can use it offensively each turn and then retrograde it to a base. Then when the dreaded high-risk survey die roll of six comes, take your extra survey ship and move it by Strategic Movement to the off-map area to take the place of the crippled survey ship. Then when the cripple is repaired you can bring it onto the map by free Strategic Movement. You already have the logistics setup in the off-map area, and for the cost of a Strategic Movement you can avoid the loss of a survey turn. Now a survey ship is expensive, but using it each turn as a scout gets some good value, or later you can use the SRV variants and get escort capable electronic-warfare platform. You can also use the extra survey ship for on-map survey, which will gain you one Economic Point per turn. You will need to detail a TG, LTT, or TT to be ready to move beneath the survey ship and go into supply mode to allow the survey ship to move by Strategic Movement to the off-map area
(End F&E Strategy of the Month) Call To Arms Tactic of the Month TERRAIN IN A CALL TO ARMS: STAR FLEET One of the more important things to master in games of A Call To Arms: Star Fleet is the correct use of terrain. Terrain can provide cover for your direct approaches and flanking moves, screen vulnerable initiative sinks from enemy fire, and reduce the likelihood of enemy ships being able to target you, never mind hit you. Demotivationals Throughout the month our graphics director places on the website various cards called Demotivationals. These are like postcards with an image and a phrase that is often used for humor. To see our previous Demotivationals click here. Mini of the Month Starline 2500 Federation Mars Battleship
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New Releases Communique #87 has been posted to the Commander's Circle. Click here to see our previous issues of Hailing Frequencies. Recently Released
Federation Commander: Reinforcements Attack, Stock # 4110, $29.95 Federation Commander Booster Pack 34 Escorts, Stock #4234, $9.95 Federation Commander Booster Pack 35 Cops & Raiders, Stock #4235, $9.95 Federation Commander Booster Pack 36 Heavies, Stock #4236, $9.95 Captain's Log #46, Stock #5746, $24.95 Starmada: Battleship Armada, Stock #6105, $16.95 Alien Armada Nova Edition, Stock #6103, $16.95 Distant Armada Nova Edition, Stock #6104, $16.95 To be released during April-May 2013 PDF SALES: ADB, Inc. continues its relationship with Steve Jackson Games and their e23 Warehouse. We chose e23 because they have a philosophy that agrees with ours -- our customers are honest and honorable and wouldn't aid people who want to steal our products. Furthermore, we know from experience how devastating a computer crash can be and want our customers to know that they don't have to worry about the loss of their e-products bought through e23. What do we have there? We have created a new page that allows easy access to our PDFs for sale on e23. From here you can see what we currently have posted and have links to those products. RECENTLY RELEASED ON e23 RECENTLY RELEASED ON DRIVE THRU RPG Star Fleet Fiction Flight Admiral Sand among the Stars pushed himself off the deck. The gunboats had hurt his ship terribly, and he realized that his life and career had come to an end. There would be no raids into unprotected Tholian space, and it would be up to the other Sages that came after him to destroy the Tholian menace in this galaxy. But he still had one more weapon at his disposal. He would have his vengeance upon the commander of the Tholian space control ship.
He slid back into his command chair, opened the comm-link to the transporter room, and put his plan into motion.
The Tholian attack fighters had closed to within forty thousand kilometers when the Seltorian carrier abruptly fired every heavy and defensive phaser it had left, blinding its special sensors and losing the ECM protection it had been generating. Orrna winced instinctively, but her flight had not been the target of the phaser volley. The Guardian, now following close behind her flight, was the target of the enemy fire. The front shield, already damaged by the phaser battle, failed. The phasers opened up grievous wounds in the hull of her command ship.
A return volley of disruptor and phaser fire flew past her and smashed into and through the front shield of the Seltorian area control ship. The ship staggered from the blows and began trailing a fiery trail of debris, but cruisers died hard, and this one was no exception. That is good. It's our turn now. "Fire all weapons!" she ordered, taking advantage of the down shield. Four out of five disruptors hit. The next to the last one caused far more damage than it should have, and she realized that it must have hit a fighter being reloaded in the hangar bay, causing one of the fabled chain reactions that some carriers were vulnerable to. She watched in awe as the reaction continued, until a single great violet-orange explosion began to blossom in the heart of the ship. Seconds later, there was nothing left to show that a starship had been there except an expanding ring of debris. She began to turn her nose toward the Seltorian escorts. But the three ships, battered and bleeding as they were, had had enough. They blew past the patrol corvettes, and with a final spat of phaser fire, turned for home, with the surviving Tholian gunboats in pursuit. They won't get very far with those gunboats chasing them, she thought. But she was wrong. The Seltorian escorts had each dropped a transporter bomb behind them. The gunboats had to detour sharply, enough to allow the Seltorians to make good their escape. So, we can't kill them all, she smiled to herself, but you can't blame us for trying. Now where are those Seltorian fighters? (Continue reading here) Ask Admiral Vanaxilth Cloak After an 11-year tour at the Academy, Admiral Growler has returned to active duty. His successor is Admiral Vanaxilth, a visitor from the Hydran Kingdom. Although well-versed in military theory, rumor has it the Royal Family had him sent to the Academy on the theory he would do less damage there, after his fleets were devastated by the Klingons.
Admiral Vanaxilth is assisted by Kommodore Ketrick and many staff officers, including Stewart Frazier, Troy Latta, Gary Carney, John Wyszynski, William Wilson, Ken Humpherys, Alex Lyons, and Terry O'Carroll. Clayton Krueger asks: When a ship deactivates its cloaking device and begins fade-in, it immediately gains a +5 penalty (G13.302) during Stage 6B2 of impulse activity. If the ship continues to uncloak, then during the Stage 6B2 segment of the following impulse the range penalty decreases to +4, but does that mean that the uncloaking ship is still +5 during the preceding movement (6A) segment? If so, is the Impulse #1 movement segment an exception when the player does not pay for the cloak during energy allocation?
ANSWER: Per (G13.116), if the cloaked ship does not allocate energy for cloaking, it begins decloaking on Impulse #1. There is no exception to the (G13.15) procedure for this case. The deactivation is announced during stage 6B2 of impulse activity of Impulse #1, and the ship begins fading in at that point. Prior to this stage, the cloaking device is fully operational. Daniel Thompson asks: I follow rule (G13.36). Pretty much pick either the fire adjustment chart or the basic electronic warfare shift. That seems to conflict very slightly with rule (G13.303) but not to a relevant degree. Rule (G13.361) says to use the chart in (G13.37), but add the penalty hexes to the die roll and then subtract five from the die roll. Ignore any electronic warfare effects. Now it is a little fuzzy to me what it is saying here. Which penalty hexes is it referring to? I would "guess" it is referring to the +5 from the normal cloak. That seems curious however since it immediately says to subtract five. How then would you ever get to seven or more on the chart if electronic warfare does not apply? My guess to answer that question would be rule (G13.62) which replaces the +5 with a +10. Under those conditions it would be possible to reach a seven or more on the (G13.37) table. ANSWER: You add the penalty hexes, and then subtract five. Unless you are using (G13.62), Experience in Tracking, it would not be possible to have an adjusted roll of seven or more on the (G13.37) table. Otherwise, note that if the range adjustment is +5, (G13.361) works out to a straight die roll, which is what you get when the target is fully cloaked (along with double range if you do not have lock-on). The adjustment will then go to -1, -2, -3, and -4, at which point the (G13.37) table will be moot because the highest you could roll is a "two." Alex Lyons asks a follow-up question: In order to get a 7+ natural electronic warfare sources such as atmosphere would still be in effect.
ANSWER: Daniel Thompson correctly answered electronic warfare specifically does not do anything to (G13.37) up or down, natural or otherwise, in any of the rules I have just read. It is quite specific that (G13.37) replaces electronic warfare. Rule (G13.372) refers to any ECM shift, which would include ECM from atmosphere. During fade-in/fade-out, the cloaking unit can give you the (G13.72) effect, as adjusted by (G13.361), or the electronic warfare die roll shift (but not both), at his option. And Daniel is also correct that other atmospheric effects on weapons [see (P2.54)] would still be applied. (Ask Admiral Vanaxilth continues here) F&E Q&A AND A FEW MORE QUESTIONS Q: Can the Klingons perform WYN trade via blockade running on Turn #1 of the General War? They definitely accumulate trade rights then (449.11). However, (601.161) forbids Klingon ships from leaving their territory on Turn #1 of the GW scenario. I find no enabling rule that provides an exception to (601.161); so my guess is that the answer to my question is "no." However, it makes little sense to me to negotiate trade rights and then be unable to actually trade. So, maybe there's an oversight somewhere and it's meant to be allowed for the Klingons to blockade run EPs to the WYN on Turn #1? Hence, it's possible that the answer might be "yes." A: The Klingon Empire can use a blockade run to go and return from the WYN Cluster in the Raid Phase (3A). This allows the Klingon Empire to send a transport ship clandestinely to the WYNs to exchange Economic Points with the WYN Cluster. Q: Are E&S missions allowed against future belligerents (in neutral? or enemy? territory)? What about the Federation while they're neutral or using limited war to help the Kzintis? A: No, that would be declaring war on the future belligerent and the definition of a future belligerent requires you to leave them alone up to a certain point. E&S missions are beyond that point. Q: What is the SFB equivalent of a PDU (defense battalion)? DefSats? GBDS? A mine package? A combination of those? Or something else entirely? A: A two-page article in Captain's Log #22 provides this information. In simple terms, it consists of three ground-based phaser-4s, a ground warning station, and three defense satellites. Over the years, this is increased to include a military garrison, fighter base, power stations, and other things. This varies widely, and the exact combination is unimportant in F&E terms. Your efficient staff makes sure you have the right combination for each planet as you have bigger concerns to worry about. Q: Can I react to the movement of a ship my enemy is selling to the WYN Cluster? A: No. Once the ship is "sold" (which is on declaration, not on arrival) it's a neutral ship (it already belongs to the WYN and nobody wants to intercept it because that would upset the powerful (and feared) WYNCOVIA banking cartel. Q: When an interned ship becomes captured because a future belligerent entered the war (or in the case causing the question the Orion Enclave rejoined the Federation) is the ship just considered an un-crippled captured ship? A: If the Orion Enclave rejoins the Federation, the interned Coalition ship is captured immediately (503.512), is undamaged, and is available to be used in any of the six options in (305.2) by the Federation. Q: Let's say I capture a crippled ship. I want to repair it and then convert it to use in my fleet. Can I do that in one turn or does it take two turns? A: Either, at your option, but if you don't do both on the same turn you will have to keep a written note about what's going on. Q: Does the use of an Engineer regiment (541.34) repairing SIDS on a base reduce the cost by five points per Engineer regiment under (541.31)? A: Yes, (541.31) and (541.34) allow an Engineer regiment to repair up to two SIDS like a tug for eight EPs minus the five for the Engineer regiment for a net cost of three EPs. (End of F&E Q&A) ASK AUNT JEAN Q: Why do your PD1 ebooks look so rough? I'm having trouble reading mine! If you want more information, check out this page: http://www.starfleetgames.com/sfb/sfin/index.shtml#PD Send questions to Jean at design@StarFleetGames.com and SVC will decide which one Jean will answer next. Cool Stuff on the Website In this section we will provide links to various web pages and items that we think you will find "cool". We have also uploaded new Xander wallpapers to our Wallpapers section on the website. We have new images of our next game Star Fleet Marines posted on our BBS topic page. STAR FLEET ALERTS These are the press releases we send to the wholesalers, retailers, and media. You can get on the mailing list for them by asking Marketing@StarFleetGames.com to add you to the list. (Obviously, they are free.) They are uploaded to the Star Fleet Alert page One way to mission-kill a small ground weapon base is to attack the weapon box with a Marine raid after knocking down the shield. When doing this, raid the base's "bridge" box as well. The base has only one control box, so if you disable the bridge, the base will be uncontrolled and suffer a penalty on to-hit rolls [rule (5A2b)] until it is repaired.
(End of FC Tactic of the Month)
SFB Tactic of the Month SPEEDING UP THE DAC Everyone complains that Star Fleet Battles takes too long to play and everyone is always looking for ways to speed the more time-consuming aspects of the game. One of the most time intense parts of the game is Damage Allocation. NEW MINIATURES! Starline 2500 Orion Battle Cruiser |
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