Yet another slightly off SG-14 Geek Meet

InnocentBystander · Post by **InnocentBystander** » 2006-07-24 02:55pm

Hey, I announced that I was putting my fighters on the planet card. Generally I like to keep the hexes clutter-free, so once the system gets a bit messy I start putting space docs, troops, and eventually fighters on the planet cards, just to get them off the board.

Soontir C'boath · Post by **Soontir C'boath** » 2006-07-24 03:00pm

InnocentBystander wrote:Hey, I announced that I was putting my fighters on the planet card. Generally I like to keep the hexes clutter-free, so once the system gets a bit messy I start putting space docs, troops, and eventually fighters on the planet cards, just to get them off the board.

Yea, but generally they should stay near the system or it seems nothing was there. You had them all the way back to your race card.

Anyway, you did build them and told me long before the battle and I forgot so whatever. Next time, I'll just start asking nastily of what else you got there.

InnocentBystander · Post by **InnocentBystander** » 2006-07-24 03:09pm

It's crazy how we both managed to rebuild our fleets by the end of the next turn.

Soontir C'boath · Post by **Soontir C'boath** » 2006-07-24 03:13pm

InnocentBystander wrote:It's crazy how we both managed to rebuild our fleets by the end of the next turn.

Definitely, I managed to scrape two more dreads and picket ships from both of my docked planets easily in the next turn. By the time Hotfoot or Fgalkin would've tried anything, we'd been ready and that's if we didn't continue fighting.

InnocentBystander · Post by **InnocentBystander** » 2006-07-24 03:34pm

I, very handily how I stole Galkin's big pile of money to help rebuild my Grand Armada.

The game has an crazy dynamic, trade, as it turns out, is about the only thing preventing people from war, when you have no trade and you are close to someone, war becomes a very simple option.

And I don't know if you guys realized what was about to happen; but the political card that I set us up for was called "Wormhole Reconstruction", if we vote for it, all wormholes link to every other wormhole. Hotfoot feel on the ground laughing when he found out.
It would have made the galaxy an amazingly dangerous place as there was a wormhole adjacent to Galkin, Hotfoot and Soontir's homesystem, with the final one being adjacent to Mekatol Rex and my primary staging sector.

Soontir C'boath · Post by **Soontir C'boath** » 2006-07-24 03:45pm

Jesus shit! That would've locked the game up pretty bad. Of course, I did still have a trade agreement with Cameron so we wouldn't exactly be in a position to fight each other.

Fgalkin and you on the other hand...

InnocentBystander · Post by **InnocentBystander** » 2006-07-24 03:52pm

You understand that it puts my fleets within striking distance of your home systems

Soontir C'boath · Post by **Soontir C'boath** » 2006-07-24 04:00pm

InnocentBystander wrote:You understand that it puts my fleets within striking distance of your home systems

Yes, as were my ships.

By the next turn, I would've been able to get trade goods if someone took the trade card and I would've enacted my race bonuses which you heartily took in that last battle of ours.

Post by **fgalkin** » 2006-07-24 08:13pm

InnocentBystander wrote:You understand that it puts my fleets within striking distance of your home systems

no, not really. Remember that fleet I moved into the wormhole system the last turn? That would have been in striking distance of everyone's home systems. I would have been King of the Game.

Personally, I think there should have been no ship restrictions. If, for example, I wanted to spend all of that money to build a grand armada of drednoughts, the game should have let me.

Oh, and had Danny not stolen all my money, I would have had a War Sun in three turns.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

Hotfoot · Post by **Hotfoot** » 2006-07-24 08:21pm

All the ships have strengths and uses, however the ship limitations are there for two reasons - nothing but dreadnoughts would be silly, as would be nothing but War Suns, and frankly, there are already a TON of ship models.

Post by **fgalkin** » 2006-07-24 08:37pm

No there isn't. I ran out of cruisers, and everyone was at their DN limit. Personally, it would be nice if you had an option to specialize you fleet, like, say, make it cruiser-oriented by doubling the cruiser limit, and giving them extra-abilities, like, say, to attack a planet, exhausting it, as to make raiding behind enemy lines a possibility, versus, say a dn-oriented fleet with more and improved DNs, versus say, six carriers with improved fighters for an unbeatable fighter swarm of doom. If you chose either route, you get the upgrades for the ships of choice, but all the other ships get only the basic upgrade (+1 movement for carriers, etc). Or, you can take the current route, and get War Suns. If you had an option to do only one, it would make the war part of the game much more interesting, because you would have more options. So, if you have a large empire, you could get cruisers, and always respond to border threats, while waging war by avoiding direct confrontations, but raiding their economy, whereas carriers or battleships would make you charge towards the enemy to swamp them all.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

Hotfoot · Post by **Hotfoot** » 2006-07-24 08:48pm

Dude, there are six plastic fleets, all incredibly detailed. Each fleet includes:

12 Fighters
12 Ground Forces
8 Destroyers
8 Cruisers
5 Dreadnoughts
5 Carriers
2 War Suns
3 Space Docks
6 PDS

That's 41 models for each player, not couting the counters for fighters and ground forces, so over 240 models is a TON of minis for a board game. Hell, it's a ton of minis for any tabletop game.

Each race has a strength - L1z1x has cool dreadnoughts, Sardak Norr have awesome Cruisers and Destroyers, so on and so forth. The technology path you take also determines what sort of fleet speciality you're going to focus on - for example, having XRD transporters means you can have a fast strike force with carriers, vastly increasing the toughness of the fleet, even if it's just cruisers and destroyers.

Meanwhile, there is a tech that's relatively easy to get to that lets you move through enemy ships, essentially allowing you to strike behind enemy lines.

Vastly increasing all the ships available makes the board WAY too damn crowded, makes the game nearly impossible to play, and so on.

Post by **fgalkin** » 2006-07-24 08:55pm

But my point is that by giving everyone the same fleet, you make it impossible to build the uber armada of doom. Say, I eliminate everyone but one player, and control half of the galaxy. I can only build 3 space docks? What if I want to build more, because I have 10+ planets? And because I have a fleet cap, I can't out-produce my opponent and build a grand armada of doom.

Seriously, either not make an epic game at all, or make it truly epic.

EDIT: And I know about the tech. That's what I was referring to, really. If you had a specialization, you could make it cruiser-only, so that if you want to do raiding, build cruisers. That way, there are different strategies involved.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

Hotfoot · Post by **Hotfoot** » 2006-07-24 08:59pm

Dude, it's a game that's designed to be played in a reasonable amount of time once you figure it out. Your solution has two problems: One, it would take for-freaking-ever to play, like, months, just a single game. Two, if you control half the galaxy, you should have either won already at that point or you're going to utterly crush your opponent, either way, it's senseless to play at that point. Better to stop the game before one player gets a disgusting advantage than to let it drag out into curbstomp land.

Soontir C'boath · Post by **Soontir C'boath** » 2006-07-24 09:01pm

Fuck the armada of doom, big ass fleet vs big ass fleet works fantastic and is more fun than trying to knock down someone that's a third of your fleet or so. Besides there's no glory in an armada of doom.

Oh Danny, in the SG-14 folder on your desktop, there should be a mov file at least 200mb. I don't remember what I had recorded but if it's worthy, upload it at your discretion.

Post by **fgalkin** » 2006-07-24 10:30pm

Oh I disagree. After Danny stole all of my money, he deserved to get crushed. Not defeated by an equal fleet, crushed. Like an ant.

Do you realize that I've made my plans like 2 hours in advance, and Danny destroyed them all. There was a reason why I remained at peace, after all.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

InnocentBystander · Post by **InnocentBystander** » 2006-07-25 12:26am

That's what happens when you Turtle!

Soontir C'boath · Post by **Soontir C'boath** » 2006-07-25 07:51am

Or at least, horde the goddamn trade goods.

Hotfoot · Post by **Hotfoot** » 2006-07-25 07:57am

Oh, so you're just whining that your plan didn't go off as you had hoped? Join the club! If Jason had rolled a six or more on that artifact, I would have had dreadnoughts with 2 movement! Ace's worlds would have been demolished turns earlier, and I would have had the ability to easily reinforce my front against you.

The point of this game isn't to sit in the corner and play with yourself until you amass enough resources to build a super-fleet, it's about continually pumping out ships, getting technologies, and stabbing your enemies in the back at every opprotunity.

InnocentBystander · Post by **InnocentBystander** » 2006-07-25 09:26am

The thing is this; by turn 3 we all had a massive industrial capacity and plenty of trade goods coming in. Notice how by the next turn Jason and I were back up to full strength? The only thing you can't do quickly is replace huge losses in fighters; which are absolutely key to victory.

Fun:

Naalu Collective +1 fighters
with Cybernetics +1 figthers
with Into the breach Action Card +1 to all ships for the battle (including fighters)
with Fighter prototypes +2 for first round of combat

Gives you fighters which need a 4 or better to hit for the first round. 6 or better on all subsequent rounds that fight.

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2006-07-25 10:25am

Holy hell, that was a fun game, you guys definetly should make it alternate with SG. Sidenote: Is it purchesable international?

Hotfoot · Post by **Hotfoot** » 2006-07-25 11:06am

Don't know myself. Check out http://www.fantasyflightgames.com and see if they have any love for the non-americans.

Hotfoot · Post by **Hotfoot** » 2006-07-25 09:11pm

Okay, the "official" report, since nobody seems to want to toss it up yet.

First, Saturday, the SG-14 meet. It was a one-off in an alt-history Stargate universe, set in season nine. On the hunt for more ancient artifacts, SG-14 is mobilized to research ancient ruins found by a Tok'ra scouting mission. After much deliberation, they decided to take the DD-305 Icarus Class destroyer Hermes, commanded by Colonel Hopewell. In addition to the usual kits, they brought along a fair amount of base creation materials, research equipment, and two gate assault vehicles (which were promptly salvaged for their .50 cals). After a brief run-in with the early industrial inhabitants while Major Parker and half the team was lost in the city's maze of transporters, SG-14 is threatened with having their expedition shut down by the Archeologist's Guild. Thirdfain tried to tell them that the machine-gun emplacements were surveying equipment, in a stunning diplomatic effort.

Meanwhile, inside the city, Ace, fgalkin, and Marcao tried to figure out the puzzle of the random teleporting transporters, as Marcao was throwing a hissy fit, fgalkin managed to solve the puzzle with barely a second thought, much to the chagrin of the good Major.

Shortly after, the Hermes reported a Ha'tak and several Al'keshes inbound to the planet. Realizing he was outmatched, Colonel Hopewell cloaked and hid behind the planet, waiting for further instructions. Shortly thereafter, the Ha'tak and the Al'keshes began bombarding the planet, announcing their dominance and that the people were now to serve their new god, Ba'al. The team outside the ruins quickly scrambled to grab as much from the base camp to bring inside, dodging Death Glider strafing runs in the process. Once inside, the team scrambled the ruins teleporters once again to keep Ba'al's forces from the center of the city, meanwhile trying to restore power to what remained of the city's drone launcher system, restoring power to the remaining damaged puddle jumper. While the team was scrambling to get all this done, dozens, if not hundreds of jaffa and super-soldiers landed on the planet and began to slowly infiltrate the city.

While running against the clock, another pair of ships entered the system - one a Ha'tak, one with no recognizable shape. Immediately both groups opened fire on each other, with Ba'als ships running after having crippled the enemy Ha'tak. The unrecognizable ship began bombarding the city with metallic spikes...consisting entirely of replicator bricks.

Now with hundreds of Ba'als forces inbound plus the threat of replicators, SG-14 was really under the gun. Finally, the drone launcher was brought online, and Ace was brought to the control chair to make use of what was left of the drones in the launcher. Launching half the drones, the replicator ship was torn apart, only to quickly reform into a smaller vessel. The last of the drones were launched, reducing the ship into a much smaller version, which quickly made it's way to the hulk of the crippled Ha'tak. The Hermes took the opprotunity to launch its full complement of missiles and F-302's along with railgun bombardment to take down the remains of the replicator ship, losing a single F-302 in the process.

On the planet, the replicators and Ba'al's forces had reached SG-14, and firefights in the city's halls were the call of the day. Jaffa led by Kull Warriors inflicted a fair amount of damage on SG-14's muscle, and the replicators made their slow and steady advance towards the team. Finally, the puddlejumper was charged enough for an escape, and the team ran into the hanger. After some trouble getting the hangar doors open, the team's next challenge was getting the jumper off the ground. Ace's fumble streak came to a head during liftoff, almost resulting in the end of SG-14. However, upon exit, the team gave Colonel Hopewell authorization to initiate the contingency plan - a Mark 9 "Gatebuster" to ensure that the replicators didn't get their hands on the Ancient databases.

The Archeological Guild could not be reached for comment concerning the unauthorized surveys that night.

Soontir C'boath · Post by **Soontir C'boath** » 2006-07-25 09:21pm

Somehow I think the only reason the Baal's ha'tak came as it did was because Thirdfain(!) fucked up with the arch guys.

I'm surprise I didn't thought of this then. They could've know more shit about the ruins than we did! (MAJOR DUH) Not that it matters now.

Hotfoot · Post by **Hotfoot** » 2006-07-25 09:25pm

Tee-hee.