Federation Commander

[Scoutdad]

Since we are wrapping things up on FC: W&P, Steve has given me permission to post the following play test report.

This is the first play test session we held and there have been a few minor revisions to the rules in play at that time... but read the report, enjoy, and by all means discuss:
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Commander, Battlegroup Murfreesboro
Department Head, ACTASF

[Scoutdad]

Below is the first Andromedan play test game Battlegroup Murfreesboro played.

Battlegroup Murfreesboro: Andromedan play test report #1: Saturday April 17, 2010

Present: Tony L. Thomas, Mike Curtis, John Curtis, Scott Burleson, Scott Ritenour, Merl
Dewitt, Bounthavi Janetvolai

Forces:
Federation: CA, NCL, NCL, NCL (522 points)

Andromedan: INT, COB, COB, COB (515 points)

In order to simulate the end result of the first Federation encounter with the Andromedans, we
assigned the three experienced SFB players the Andromedan forces and gave the Federation forces to the Federation Commander players who had never seen an Andromedan ship in action.


Andromedan:
Mike Curtis (INT, COB-3)
Scott Burleson (COB-1)
Merl DeWitt (COB-2)

Federation:
John Curtis (CA, NCL)
Scott Ritenour (NCL)
Bounthavi Janetvolai (NCL)


Tony L. Thomas served as impulse caller and record keeper

The floating map consisted of 12 large scale panels in a 4 wide by 3 high grid.

The Andromedans started within three hexes of the upper right corner with the Satellite ships
out in space at the start of the scenario.
The Federation started within three hexes of the lower left corner.

Turn One:

The Andromedans spent this turn skating the upper edge of the map to enable time for their
weapons to arm.

The Federation forces closed at speed 24.

The Andromedans maintained a single hex formation for their forces, while the Federation
forces spread into an inverted wing with the CA leading the way, but ended up separating into a
pincher movement with the CA, NCL commanded by John heading for the forward arc of the
Andromedans and the remaining NCLs moving towards the rear of the Andromedan force.

Turn 1 ended with the forces ranging from 9 to 12 hexes apart.

All photons were held, but all facing Phasers 1's were fired by the Feds and Phaser-2's were
fired by the Andromedans.

A total of 11 points were scored on the forward PAa of the Intruder.

A total of 6 points were scored on the #1 shield of the Federation CA.

During the repair phase, the INT purged power, transferring 8 points to batteries and
dissipating the remaining 3 points.

Turn Two:

The Andromedans plotted speed 16, the Federation plotted speed 24.

At the end of Impulse One, the range was 7 hexes for the CA and 9 and 10 hexes for the NCLs.

The Fed CA fired everything that beared at the INT, while the NCLs fired phasers.

The Andromedans fired all TRLs / TRHs at the Federation CA and followed them up with the
Phaser-2s. The INT also targeted the two trailing NCLS with it's two DisDevs.

The Federation scored a total of 48 points with Photons (2 fully overloaded and 1 partial
overload) plus another 11 points from phasers.

The Andromedan fire ripped into the CA for 45 points.

The INT absorbed the entire volley, while the CAs #1 shield collapsed and 13 points of damage
were scored as internal hits.



Both DisDev attempts were successful and the trailing NCLs found themselves spread in
opposite direction and forced even farther back, effectively separating the Federation forces
into 3 distinct units.



The later impulses in turn two found the Fed CA turning it's downed shield away from the
extra-galactic threat and the remaining three NCLS attempting to consolidate fire.

Throughout the turn, as weapons hit optimum ranges and arcs, sporadic fire at the INT
continued to plink away at the PA panels.



Impulse 8 saw the INT with all of it's PA panels full (in both banks) and 3 internal damage
points. The internals were scored on row 6 of the DAC, with one point taking out a forward PA
panel. This happened early in the Turn and the damage went straight to the rear panels.

The Federation CA received an additional 6 points of internal damage.



The repair phase saw the Intruder repair it's damaged PA panel, then transfer 14 points of
power to its batteries and dissipate another 14 into space



Turn Three:

More maneuvering by both sides.

The Intruder headed towards the far corner of the map at base speed 24Š accelerating each
impulse to burn the power in the batteries. It was closely followed by Scott R's NCL, but as it
became apparent it was pulling away, he fired his photons (overloaded at range and rolled
5, 6, 6 and 2. The single, fully overloaded Photon combined with the Phasers filled the
remaining spaces on the rear panels and scored 6 more internals but as before, no PA hits.

The Cobras set baseline speed 24, accelerating each impulse as they attempted to maintain range from the Federation forces. Rather ineffective phase fire at the end of the turn simply added power to the panels of COB-1.

During repair, 14 additional points of power transferred to the Intruders batteries and 14
more dissipated into space.



Turn 4:

The Intruder turned towards the middle of the map and the Cobras circled around the opposite
end.

Now the Federation forces found themselves in a classic pincher movement.

Impulse 3:

The CA fired 3 overloaded photons at the Intruder and all three hit for 48 points, while
phaser fire contributed an additional 6 points. This resulted in 6 additional internals, one of
which was a PA panel, taken on a recently emptied forward bank PA panel.

The Intruder returned fire with a TRH for 12 points on the facing shield.

Impulse 4:

A Federation NCL fires 4 overloaded photons at the Intruder at range 6 and all four miss,
although the phasers do 7 points of internal damage.

The Intruder now fires it's other TRH at the Federation CA, scoring 20 more points of damage.

Impulse 5:

In desperation, the Federation NCL fires his phaser-3s at range 3 and misses.

All three Cobras fire phaser-2s at the NCL and score 15 points.

The remaining NCLs fire everything at the Intruder at range 5: 2 fully overloaded photons,
2 partially overloaded photons, and 5 phaser-1s. The two full OLs miss, but everything else hits
for 39 points, all internal. No PA panels were harmed during the production of this impulse.

Impulse 6:

Merl's NCL fires a Ph-1, and a Ph-3 at COB-1 at range 5 for 3 points damage, Target "Weapons". 3 points scored as internal damage and the roll was a 6. The PA hit was scored on the rear bank.

COB fired a ph-2 at the rapidly approaching drone, but only scored 3 points of damage.

Impulse 7: The previously launched drone impacts COB-1 and scores 12 points of internal damage. Another PA panel is hit, but is scored on the rear bank.

Impulse 8: nothing is left unfired.



During repair, the Intruder clears much of its damage. COB-1 dissipates and transfers what it can, while applying 2 points of repair to its damaged PA panel.



Turn 5:

Impulse 1:

The Federation forces fire every available phaser at the nearest Andromedan unit. COB-3
takes 19 points, COB-2 takes 19 points, COB-1 takes a whopping 3 points.

In retaliation, all three Cobras empty there weapons into John's NCL 33 points, 35 points, 39
points, and 19 pointsŠ John's NCL goes BOOM!

Impulse 5:

John's CA fires it's photon (fully overloaded) at COB-1Š and misses!

Scott R's NCL fires 4 phaser-1s at the evasive Intruder and scores 2 points.



Turn 6:

Impulse 1:

The Federation forces once again target the nearest available Andromedan units.

COB-1 receives 19 points, COB-2 receives 22 points, and COB-3 receives 16 points.

COB-1 and COB-2 fire at Bounthavi's NCL for a total of 27 points of damage, while COB-3 fired
at the crippled CA for an additional 3 internal damage points.

Impulse 2:

Slight maneuvering brought most of the remaining Federation weapons to bear on COB-3. This
impulses fire resulted in 28 points of damage to COB-3, including 6 additional internals.

COB-3's maneuvering brought it's last PH-2 to bear and the CA received 4 more points of
internal damage.

Impulse 3:

Bounthavi's NCL moved to 8 hexes range and fired 2 fully overloaded photons at COB-3 for 24
points of damage.

With the resulting cascade from collapsing PA panels, COB-3 exploded.



Turn 7:

Impulse 1:

Scott R's NCL fired 2 overloaded photons and 2 phaser-1s at the Intruder for 36 points of damage.

The Andromedans fired a total of 2 TRH, 4 TRL, and 8 phaser-2s at the Federation CA at range 2
for 99 points of damage.

The Federation CA was destroyed.

Impulse 8:

Bounthavi's NCL fired 2 overloaded photons, 4 phaser-1s, and a phaser-3 at the Intruder (who
has been clearing power from PA panels as rapidly as possible and burning energy from
batteries at a prodigious rate) for 66 points. The forward PA bank takes 59 of those and the
other 7 go in.



During repair, a PA panel is repaired by the INT and additional power is dissipated and
transferred.



Turn 8:

The two Federation NCL continue to roll their photon and each one fires 2 partial overloads at
the Intruder along with a total of 6 phaser-1's and a phaser-3. Three of the overloaded photons
miss and the phasers hit for 16 points, yielding 28 points. The Intruder easily absorbs most of
this and ends the Impulse with 57 points of internal damage and 62 non-disabled boxes.


As all three Andromedan units will be able to keep pace with the remaining NCLs and fire a
full complement of TRH / TRL on Turn 9 – the Federation player graciously surrenders.



Conclusions and Observations:

Of course, we discussed the game afterwards to get everyone’s opinions; although it was an
abbreviated discussion as I really did not feel well by then...



We felt the game could have gone either way. It may have been an unfair match-up as all the
experienced players were running the Andromedans - but it was fun. Fun enough that everyone is
looking forward to the next session.



The Federation players suffered from a severe lack of co-ordination. Had they concentrated
forces and fire, it may have gone better for them...

The Federation player suffered from extremely poor die rolls. Many, many overloaded photons
missed the target. Had just one or two more connected at a crucial junction - the Intruder
may have been lost.



The Intruder showed itself capable of shrugging off tremendous amounts of damage. It received
299 points of damage spread across 8 turns and ended with only 57 boxes disabled. This is
phenomenal, but very near what they can do in SFB. Part of their resiliency stems from the
repair capabilities. In Federation Commander, the Intruder can repair 8 PA panels in 8
turns... in SFB that number would be significantly less. Also, with no degradation...
the PA panels continue to take a licking and keep on ticking.

An even bigger part of it's resiliency came from the lack of "overwhelming force" that could have
been excerted by 16 photon torpedoes. The Federation player managed to push the Intruder
to the brink (all PA panels full) three times, but was never able to bring enough firepower to
bear to cause the cascading PA panel failure that would have led to the Intruders destruction.
_________________
Commander, Battlegroup Murfreesboro
Department Head, ACTASF

[Nerroth]

Very nice report!

Although, speaking of

[OGOPTIMUS]

Cool!

Those Feds really had some bad rolls. But it seems as though the Andros are pretty well balanced.

Can't wait to see the full rules and all the ships!

The 'Cascade Failure' is when the energy in the PA panels gets "involuntarily" released, can't be put elsewhere, and thus is scored as internal damage, right?

Gary - FC does have the DDL, it was in booster 91, and an unofficial version is in communique.
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O.G. OPTIMUS


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[Scoutdad]

[Nerroth]

[Steve Cole]

Andros tend to absorb HUGE amounts of punishment with almost no loss of function and then go BOOM.
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The Guy Who Designed Fed Commander

[Scoutdad]

Steve is right.
In our game the Intruder took an astonishing 299 points of damage during the game, but ended with 57 boxes disabled and 62 functional.
_________________
Commander, Battlegroup Murfreesboro
Department Head, ACTASF

[Nerroth]

*notices something in an earlier comment*

There are going to be Energy Modules in FC?
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FC Omega Discussion (v3)
FC LMC Discussion

[djdood]

[OGOPTIMUS]

[Nerroth]

But in this case, I get the impression that the mothership's larger panels makes popping it first a lot harder, relative to the three Cobras it was carrying.

When you see the amount of firepower being dished out against the Intruder, only for it to not be noticeably impeded (since the Feds had trouble getting over the threshold) they could have used that time making one or more of the Cobras go away.

Against a non-Andro fleet, it's easier to mass fire on a larger ship first and reduce its options - but here, it seems the threshold for the Intruder is high enough to make that less of a workable option.
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FC Omega Discussion (v3)
FC LMC Discussion

[djdood]

You'll end up facing a "cherry" Andromedan Intruder, with a shot-up squadron - that uphill climb sounds even more daunting in that situation. I'd be curious to hear a battle-report applying your approach.
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[Krellex]

Without giving away the farm, what are the percentages of power you can dump from panels into batteries, and dissipate from panels to space? And no degradation? Means your going to have to hit the Andro hard, and keep the pressure on him until his ship folds. Ugh, now I have to justify to my wife that I need to buy a new FC Module!
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[Nerroth]

Well, I dunno.


If you leave the SatShips intact, and if (as hinted above) the mothership can use any SatShips in its hangar as damage sponges, leaving the Cobras alive is risking letting the Intruder shrug off at least some of what you'd been trying to fill its panels with.

Now, if you can indeed take Energy Modules and the Andro keeps them in its hangar, there's not a lot to be done - but each SatShip flying about waiting to be shot at is a way to ensure that more of your damage points will stick when you turn towards taking out the Intruder itself.
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FC Omega Discussion (v3)
FC LMC Discussion