|
Post by coldsteel on Feb 19, 2011 10:39:35 GMT -5
In one of the intro games I have been running at the FLGS, a player came up with an interesting tactic. He was playing cylon and was backed into a corner of the table trying to stay out of range of the rail guns from a rapidly closing battlestar and 2 gunstars. He spun up his FTL and I thought he was jumping away to end the game. But he pulled me aside and asked if he can jump to another part of the board, just like his raiders can. Why not? I even figured I would reduce the distance dice by half for the superior computer capability of a capital ship.
He made the jump and landed exactly where he wanted: immediately BEHIND the battlestar. And then proceded to launch missiles at point blank range while the colonial formation broke apart trying to turn around. The baseship continued to launch a 2d volley while it moved away. Both gunstars were damaged enough to withdraw, while the battlestar lost a couple of rail guns and was effectively maneuvered out of the game.
|
|
|
Post by fastgit on Feb 19, 2011 11:02:51 GMT -5
It's an interesting interpretation of the rules as written... and probably not one I'll use in my games. It just feels as it would unbalance the fleets more than I'm willing to accept.
As I read and interpreted them [the rules], a "Micro-Jump" is something different than "Jump Engines." Micro-Jumps allow for the short-range, somewhat inaccurate tactical relocation of strikecraft. Jump Engines, on the other hand, are designed to propel the vessel to a more distant location.
Pages 14-15 of CB:MvM (Jump Engines):
"Ships jumping away are removed from the table top and count as having escaped the battle."
"If you choose not to jump away, you may either allow the jump engines to go cold, resetting the spin-up count. Or you may maintain the jump engines in a fully spun-up state. At the start of any turn where a ship has fully spun up jump engines, it loses 1 point of delta for that turn."
"At the start of each movement phase all ships with fully spun-up jump engines must choose to jump away, allow the jump engines to go cold, or maintain the spun-up state. Declare to your opponent which option the ship is choosing for that turn."
|
|
|
Post by TheDreadnought on Feb 19, 2011 16:08:03 GMT -5
Cool idea, and hopefully you guys had fun with it, but i'd suggest you treat it more as a one off than as a new option in the rules. If you allow tactical jumping by cyborg ships they should be able to wipe out the colonials nearly every time. That is whys it was not allowed under the rules as written.
As a side not, there were never any examples of that being used in the show that I can think of. If you care about such things.
|
|
|
Post by coldsteel on Feb 19, 2011 16:58:28 GMT -5
"As a side not, there were never any examples of that being used in the show that I can think of. If you care about such things."
No, I don't worry too much about taking a TV show as gospel. OTOH, there is just such a tactic described in Battlestar Prometheus. Granted, the ship that pulled it off landed right in the path of several missiles and did not live to regret it.
I permitted the maneuver more as a reward for a novel tactical idea by a young gamer. Harking back to my previous life as an Army tank officer, the 2 hardest tasks to train my lieutenants at was when to use their imagination and when to disobey orders. Interestingly, during last night's game, the colonials adopted an echelon formation rather than a line abreast, just in case the same cylon player tried something like that again. Of course, that gave him the opportunity of concentrating against 1 part of the colonial fleet at a time. But that is the way real tactics work: 1 side tries something and, if it works, the other side adapts their tactics to compensate.
If the locals want to try the maneuver again, I may come up with some home rule to compensate, like no use of delta or maybe taking an engine hit. Will wait and see.
|
|
|
Post by warchariot on Feb 19, 2011 19:24:15 GMT -5
Funny this should come up. The game I played in on Friday had this in the rules-home grown BSG. There was a minimal jump range of 50 inches and the ship scattered. In MvM, this wasn't intended because Raiders have this special ability along with Micro jumps by fighters. This would make the Raider role useless and the Micro jump less effective. But points for thinking it up!
|
|
|
Post by coldsteel on Feb 20, 2011 9:26:01 GMT -5
I am not so quick to think on-board jumping by a ship would imbalance a game. First, there is no reason to limit it to just cylons. If you have the ability to jump long distance with accuracy, why not a short one? Nor do I think it would reduce the effectiveness of a raider micro-jump. The micro-jump is immediate and a surprise move. Spinning up an FTL takes 2 turns at best and I have seen players not make it in 4 turns. A lot can happen in that time. And the delta penalty already limits their maneuverability. Maybe require the player to secretly write the intent of a micro-jump before their first FTL roll? Then add in an engine critical hit or no launching penalty immediately afterward? After all, a battlestar almost self-destructs when jumping with the launch bays deployed.
|
|
|
Post by fastgit on Feb 20, 2011 12:14:32 GMT -5
If I were to use this optional FTL rule, I would require that the jumping player plot the intended destination when they began spooling up the FTL. It's not usually necessary because the ship is just jumping away.
|
|
|
Post by warchariot on Feb 20, 2011 12:16:23 GMT -5
I am not so quick to think on-board jumping by a ship would imbalance a game. First, there is no reason to limit it to just cylons. If you have the ability to jump long distance with accuracy, why not a short one? Nor do I think it would reduce the effectiveness of a raider micro-jump. The micro-jump is immediate and a surprise move. Spinning up an FTL takes 2 turns at best and I have seen players not make it in 4 turns. A lot can happen in that time. And the delta penalty already limits their maneuverability. Maybe require the player to secretly write the intent of a micro-jump before their first FTL roll? Then add in an engine critical hit or no launching penalty immediately afterward? After all, a battlestar almost self-destructs when jumping with the launch bays deployed. The problem I found with the game/rules in Denver was if both sides don't spin up, one side moves behind the other, way behind, and it's two or three turns until you can do anything other than shoot missiles and launch fighters. If both of you spin-up then both jump and whoever jumps first is at a disadvantage. If you hold the jump, you can't do any turns or slow/speed up with 1 delta ships. The other disadvantage is Leopard fighters can't jump, so you have to catch up or load them on a ship to jump. The Reapers can jump and will move with their ships. Unless you change how the jump works for either Raiders or the other ships, it gives Raider ability to all ships. The mirco-jump for the Cyborgs is use to close the distance while the big ships stay far away. We never jumped a few fighters, but large groups of 10 or more to attack ships with. Once we were close, we could cyber attack or nuke/damage.
|
|
|
Post by fastgit on Feb 20, 2011 12:16:57 GMT -5
Oh... and one reason it should/could be limited to the Cyborgs is because Colonial FTL technology isn't anywhere near as advanced.
|
|