Posted: 19 May 2008 at 3:07pm | IP Logged

I know you can use crew to take over an oppanants ship. I was looking for alternate formats ,Deck stocking rules-to make the game more set to useing crew. Instead of giant decks denoted to a large fleet lets have a format that is denoted to crew attacks. I just think this would be an interesting alternative play. I was looking for input from all the salty ole space dogs that linger here abouts in this sector of cyber space. An alternate ratio denoted to crew in the deck stocking rules would be interesting. Say Anyone........

Posted: 20 May 2008 at 2:21pm | IP Logged

why do you think special rules for deck stocking is needed. 

As for taking over a ship or planet there will of course be rules.  Perhaps something like... 1 point of crew per ship/planet strength to take control.... but here's the catch  1 point needs 1 point crew, but a strength 2  needs 1+2 to be taken over totaling 3.  a strength 9 ship/planet requires 1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9= 45 points.... needless to say very difficult but possible.  Perhaps listing the possible combat crew, marine , spies, etc would double thier point value.

Then combat crew would have to be able to attack. 

Rules for subdueing the shipplanet... perhaps once the 45 points were reached then each turn one sudual point against the ship until it reaches zero and then it is conquered.  If at any point the attacker drop below 45, one subdual point is recovered.

For subdueing a planet. about the same.  except a ship my do an orbital bombardment.  A T5 takes 5 points of phaser/hvy weapons damage to take a subdual point, but the planet loses the ability to produce 1 point .

Does this sound like something to pursue?

Posted: 21 May 2008 at 2:22pm | IP Logged

excessive????  Since the Batleships normal crew complement is probably 200 plus people, I don't think it unreasonable to have 5 strength 9 trying to take it over.  Obviously the battleship would have its own higher strength personel lets say an average of strength 3 which means my 600 points versus your 45, does that still sound unreasonable.

Which is why I suggested making a list for combat personnel, eg a marine would be worth 8, a C8 first seargant worth 16. If two of your strength 9 were on the list you drop the number needed down to 3.

You say excessive, but how many battleships during the last several hundred years have been taken over?  not too many I would think.

addressing the issue.... well I could put the whole idea on the table given a week or two, but as I said...Is this something to pursue.

The strength nine would be near impossible to take, isn't that a point.  but 1 strength 9 non combat crew could take over an S3 ship and a combat C9 could take over an S5 by themselves in 5 turns.

To address the using your own crew this could be the solution... your crews points deduct from thiers.

Other points of suggestion if this is a course to pursue, I would suggest that the player of a ship may permanently lose one structure off his ship to kill the current ship strength from the opponent.  Logic is that I blow the hatches to kill some of his crew.  The opponent must lose crew up to the strength of the ship.  eg my S9 blows the hatch and is permanently reduced to S8, but opponent must lose 9 points of crew.  if all he has is 6 c4 marines then 4+4+4 must be lost.  And if the ship is captured, then it should only be capapble of repairing shields.

Many more ideas about this and the why's but it could take awhilw to hammer out.   But the whole point system for crew and how lond it takes to capture a ship is so the smaller ships are more easier to take over while the larger ships should be harder and the opponet would think hard abouttaking over the big boys. 

The same goes for planets, larger planets more population, more needed to take control,   and planetary bombardment doesn't look good on the resume of conquerors.

Posted: 22 May 2008 at 4:14pm | IP Logged

My point for the battleship was that if you would assume a battle ship has about 200 crew they would range from strength 1 up to 5 so the average would be around 3.  There fore it would have 600 points.  The 5 C9 you propose is only 45 points it wouldnt really be excessive.  of course C9 Steven seagal, C9 Chuck norris, C9 Bruce Lee, C9 Jackie Chan, and C9 Mickey mouse Nothing can stop me..

the simplicity of your C10 taking over a S9 battle ship, well I think it is too simplistic.  I mean a S1 should be easy to takeoiver compared to a S9.  Of course we could put a modifier of x2 or x3( my choice) on the ship.  Eg a s1 with a mod of x3 would need 3 point to take over and a s9 would require 27.  The modifier  would account for the ships crew knowing the lay of the corridors and any defenses that may exist.  Crew played to the ship would not receive the modifier For ex.  an S5 with a C4 Captain would be (5x3) + (4) = 19

You say you expect them to have thier own crew.  And just how did they get there, I mean if we assume the battle ship has 200 crew how many came with the c10.  I would've thought they got shot out of the sky on the way in.

Posted: 23 May 2008 at 2:24pm | IP Logged

Here is my suggestion for an addition to the regular game.

You add an extra phase after the combat step called the 'boarding phase'.  The boarding phase is composed of the following steps.

1. The active player may move one or more ships in his/her active fleet against an opponent's ship(s) which is/are in the opponent's active fleet - this movement is in preparation for the upcoming boarding action.
   1. The opponents ship(s) must be in a position to and be capable of protecting the opponent's sector HQ. (IE you can't board time skipped ships, nor can you board ships which are deployed to a terrain).
   2. The active player may move more than one ship against a single opponent ship.
2. 'Close in Fire' - The active player may fire any phaser or phaser equivalent weapons at the opponent's ship(s). This weapons damage can only be used to damage shields. Excess damage is discarded and does not affect the opponent ship in any way. (The boarding player wants to capture the ship, important artifact, weapon system, Indirigan hottie, etc...).
3. 'Return Fire' - The inactive player may return fire using only phasers or phaser equivalent weapons (heavies have trouble tracking and/or don't arm themsleves at such short distances?). The inactive player may only target the active player's ships that are moved against a particular unit. In other words, a particular unit can only target units which are moved against it.
4. 'Transporters away' If the active player's ships are equipped with transporters and the inactive player's ship's shields are down then the active player may transport crew onto the inactive player's ship and combat will ensue as described below.
5. 'Shuttles away' If the active player's ship(s) is/are equipped with shuttles then he/she may launch them in order to deliver crew onto the inactive player's ship(s).
   1. If the inactive player's ships have phaser like weapons that have not fired in this boarding phase then he/she may fire them at the inbound shuttles.
   2. If the damage caused by the inactive player's weapons reduces the shuttle's strength to 0 or less it is destroyed and cannot deliver any crew.
   3. If all launched shuttles are destroyed and there are no crew delivered by transporter then the boarding attempt has failed and this particular boarding instance must goto the boarding phase end step. Other boarding actions against other ships continue.
   4. If the active player succesffully conducts one or more transporter actions against the inactive player's ship  and/or successfully lands one or more shuttles onto the inactive player's ship then a boarding action must commence.
6. 'Boarding Action' Prior to the game each player will construct a 'boarding action deck' that is seperate from his 'play' deck. The deck may consist of crew, ability, and or luck cards. All of the cards included must relate to crew combat (as an example - A5 Battlesuit, L1 Lucky Crew Action, ANY crew card). The deck is limited to a number of cards equal to the combined strength of all ships stocked in the 'play' deck. Combat crew and or equipment count as 2 cards for boarding action deck stocking purposes, all other cards count as 1.
   1. As an example, a 'play' deck with 10 strength of ships in it may stock 4 R/C4 Marines and 1 A5 Battlesuit or 10 R/C3 Science Officers.
   2. The boarding action game - Both the active and inactive player play a sub-game using only the 'boarding action deck'. They each draw a hand from the boarding action deck. The active player has a maximum hand size equal to the number of successful transporter and/or successful shuttle actions he/she carried out in steps 4 & 5 above. The inactive player has a maximum hand size equal to the current strength of their ship.
   3. Each player (starting with the active player) then takes turns playing 1 crew card until they have played all of the crew cards from their hands. They may choose to play Ability and or Luck cards as well or they may retain them in their hand. Once all crew are played to the table the combat begins.
      1. 'Combat' The active player declares one crew card attack against one or more (if the card allows multiple attacks) opponent cards. The opponent is allowed to play 1 reaction card if they choose. The results of the combat are then resolved. Combat capable crew do whatever their card describes while non-combat capable crew do 1 point of damage to any opponent crew card in the boarding action. The turn then passes to the inactive player and alternates back and forth until one side has no crew remaining. The side with crew remaining is declared the winner and will take/retain control of the ship (see below).
      2. Note, that crew in play on a ship being boarded will take part in the boarding action and will count against the inactive player's hand size. As an example, an S9 with 8 crew on board when it is boarded will force the inactive player to draw only 1 card.
   4. All cards that were placed into play from  the 'boarding action deck' are returned to the boarding action deck. The player then shufles the deck and reolves the next boarding action using the rules described above. Continue this process until no more boarding actions remain.
7. 'Boarding Phase end step' After all boarding actions are resolved any ships which are 'moved against an opponent ship' return to their fleet.
   1. Any captured ships and any crew/equipment/etc... which were in play on that ship are kept in a seperate pile for purposes of determining the games winner.
   2. At the end of any complete turn, if one player has accumulated 50 strength worth of 'captured' cards he/she is the winner.
   3. At the end of the game all cards are returned to their owner.

That is my idea for emphasizing crew combat in 30 minutes... I'm sure it has holes but it sounds itneresting to me. It would be very slow in a multiplayer game but might work in a duel.

J--