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Discuss spaceship games.
Show off painted spaceships.
Talk about spaceships.

>Thread Question
What is the best space combat game ever created and why do you love it so much?
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>>98398820
If you just wanted a Babylon 5 thread why didn't you just ask OP?
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>>98398820
Battlefleet Gothic cuz ramming is fun.
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How does /tg/ feel about Starfleet Battles?
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>>98399117
Surprisingly fun if you like spreadsheet autism. Sadly everyone I knew who played it has since died and nobody I could get was interested in trying it.
>>
>>98399117
>>98399155
Actually not that bad at all, when you boil the rules down, it's just count this amount of energy, allocate it and roll per point of damage on a table. Yes, there are some complicated rules (mainly about how this rule relates to that) but it's more slow than complicated. Unless you use EW of course. I love it, have been playing it since 1980 and will continue to, but it is very old school and I don't like how all races have to have all the same type of ship just with different weapons, it does make a lot of it feel samey. We did a Fed vs Kzin fleet battle over a weekend about a month ago... well, I think we managed three turns what with all the fighters and drones, so use the newer game for speed and SFB for completeness!
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>>98398820
It's a toss up between Full Thrust and Starmada. Both are great in their own ways though I do give the edge to Starmada as with the latest edition you can pretty much emulate Full Thrust 1 to 1.
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>>98400103
>Starmada
>Card activation system
Haram.
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>>98398820
I'm am FOREVER salty that the Homeworld game by Modiphipiss was a disaster with a literally unusual rulebook and a fuckton of behind-the-scenes drama that killed any chance of it ever actually succeeding.
I wanted the Beast to get models.
I wanted a Deserts of Kharak tabletop game.
FUCK MODIPHIUS
FUCK THEM FOREVER
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>>98400497
It really was a game with literally limitless potential and the chance to be be pure, unrefined KINO. The fact they fucked it up so bad is genuinely insane to me.
Did anyone ever make a good "Totally Not Homeworld" tabletop game?
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>>98400497
>>98400826
Didn't know this was thing. They fucked up how? QRD?
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>>98400826
>>98400497
The Homeworld series is fundamentally unsuited to tabletop gaming, because the whole thing that made Homeworld's version of space combat so unique was that it allowed for fully 3D movement in a time when every other strategy game was locked to a 2D plane.
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I like Flick Fleet.
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>>98401682
Especially like how misfires can still turn into successes.
And how tthe physical details of the different weapon dice actually matter in terms of flick potential.
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>>98401682
So it's Subbuteo in space?

Speaking of which, been a while since we had a Subbuteo thread, hasn't it? Which is strange, considering the World Cup only just ended.
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>>98401835
Never heard of Subbuteo. Looks great.
Flick Fleet is a bit more rigid. Every ship has a placard of defenses and systems that give abilities, various types of attacks, and different tiers of survivability.
Theres a point system for list building, and a lot of fun fan brewed scenarios.
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>>98401664
>Homeworld uses 3D movement
>Therefore you can't represent it on the tabletop
Nigga never heard of Aeronautica Imperialis or Dropfleet Commander.
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>>98403231
KEK
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>>98398820
>besr space combat game
Battlefleet Gothic
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>>98400497
>I wanted a Deserts of Kharak tabletop game.
Why did you have to ruin my day. It's saturday ffs, I was enjoying it so well.
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>>98405408
It would be so peak T_T
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>>98400313
what rule system are you talking about?
https://www.wargamevault.com/en/product/472034/starmada-core-rulebook
>>
for me, it's Attack Vector: Tactical
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>>98398820
>TQ
Halo Fleet Battles was fucking KINO and deserved to live. FUCK SPARTAN GAMES
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>>98398831
Wasn't there some bab5 fleet game?
I just finished the series and the last of the movies not too long ago and it's such a good show. Though I am still left with a couple lingering questions.
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Star Wars Armada was, by far, the greatest space game ever released. Can't believe they killed it tbhon
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>>98406930
Babylon five had no less than 3 official fleet games
B5Wars
Fleet Action
A Call to Arms
>>
Shit ruleset, fantastic models.
Why did it had to die? Those models have so much potential! The molds are the expensive part you did the investment just sell them to the chinks or something.
>>
star wars armada being a fantastic game but bein killed due to IP dependency makes me think that the genre needs a setting-agnostic game to really be evergreen

but capital ship nerds are almost entirely fans of a specific franchise, so that will never happen
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>>98410235
>Shit ruleset
How fucking dare you
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>>98398820
Distant Broken Stars
It doesn't actually exist and thus has no flaws.
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>>98405912
A man of culture
Squadron Strike, also.
Speaking of which, anyone tried the Traveller expansion of SS? I've been looking for a system to use for space combat in my campaign (so one ship for the whole team), I'm wondering if I could use it for that?
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>>98398820
>TQ
The OG.
It manages newtonian physics and gravity seamlessly, purely visually, without needing any math.
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>>98401538
Not who you replied to but I was a backer on Kickstarter for it. The game was literally unplayable. Some of the most convoluted and needlessly complicated rules I have ever seen to the point that the included mission campaign was just a long tutorial that gradually added mechanics. Imagine needing to play ten games just to start to understand the rules.
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>>98403231
>Aeronautica Imperialis
ACK! Too soon :'(
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Jesus Christ is this whole thread just people lamenting dead games? Wtf do all space games die?
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>>98414100
My game is still alive and getting a new box of the xeno factions sometime this year. :3
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>>98411638
Prove me wrong.
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>>98414104
Dropfleet?
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The power curve system is so cool.

https://www.gmtgames.com/p-910-talon-3rd-printing.aspx
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>>98414261
Nope, FlickFleet
https://gamefound.com/en/projects/eurydice-games-ltd/flickfleet-box-of-xeno-flicks-2#/section/project-story
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Battlefleet Gothic
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>Talk about spaceships.
Sell me on the current edition of Dropfleet Commander.
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>>98418090
It's fun. I enjoy it. Models are good. Not great, but good.
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>>98414100
Because space games are dumb and boring with no opportunity to take a personal interest in your ships the way you can make Your Dudes out of infantry. No ship game has ever been or will ever be successful.
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>>98419368
The Bioficers are pretty uninspired despite (or perhaps because of) their customisation gimmick, and it's a shame they take up one of the starter box slots.
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>>98414100
In a hobby that appeals only to autists, it only attracts a specific niche of autists within said pool of autists.
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>>98421335
PHR vs Shaltari box when?
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So what games are there?
Babylon 5
Battlefleet Gothic
Star Wars Armada
Flick Fleet
Homeworld
Talin
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>>98422141
There's also Star Trek: Into the Unknown, which seems to have a number of interesting ideas.
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>>98421544
Swap out Shaltari for Scourge and you're talking.
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>>98422141
Full thrust
Acheron falls
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Star Wars Armada was the best spaceship combat game ever made. It had it's flaws, but it did so much right. It's downfall was less to do with IP dependence, and more to do with poor management from Asmodee who prioritised looking good to investors over a quality product.
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>>98422460
Thats new isnt it?
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>>98423035
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>>98422141
A Billion Suns
Fading Suns Armada
Firestorm Armada
Renegade Legion Interceptor
Space Battles
Void Admiral
Dropfleet Commander
The Halo one
there's a fuckbunch
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>>98422964
Thanks
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>>98423010
I liked it but all the peripheral accessories necessary to play was even worse than X-wing
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>>98423052
Thats alot.
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>>98423052
>Firestorm Armada
I co pletly forgot that game.
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>>98423052
>The Halo one
I looked it up. Halo: Fleet Battles.
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>>98423115
Forgot about
Void Fighter
Space Blast
A Clear and Present Danger
Star Cruiser
Brilliant Lances
Jovian Chronicles
Whatever the new Battlespace/Aerotech one is called
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>>98423361
Thanks again.
How many are miniature games and how many are P&P?
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>>98423406
Very few pnp.
Space Blast was card based, there was an entire fad of card/deck building spaceship games for a bit.
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>>98423406
Traveller had pen & paper spaceship combat, iirc Brilliant lances was mostly pen and paper but had models or a spinoff that did.
Stars Without Number has spaceship combat as does its space navy splat.
Not sure if Eclipse Phase has spaceship combat, seems like it would, same with Transhuman Space.
There were models for the Expanse ships a while ago, don't know if that turned into an actual game, might be connected to the ttrpg for it.

There was X-Wing to add to the list, I didn't see it even though it was one of the most successful ever.

I have the reprint of this one in storage I only played once, not sure if we're counting hex & chit. Bunch of those too.
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>>98422141
Snap Ships Tactics
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>>98423438
I am astonished how many miniature spaceship games exist.

>>98423479
Good list
>X-Wing
Right, i mixed that up and thought thats Star Wars Armada too.
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>>98423566
Never heard of that. Nice one. It is more like a dogfight, more like X-Wing. And youcan customize them.
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>>98423654
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>>98414100
Eventual. It is more niche than armies with soldiers. You dont need so many units for your army, so the saturation quickly reaches a peak and the publisher stops supporting the game.

>>98421181
You can give your ships a special paint scheme. Or even could add personalized bits or pieces. Battle damages.
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>>98421181
>Not having a shipfu
Faggot
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>>98423658
>>98423654
This is such a good idea for a game that it makes me furious I didn't think of it first. Fucking WYSIWYG Lego space ships. Brilliant.
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>>98423035
Relatively new, but also quite slow on the releases front; we don't even have a complete rulebook yet.
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>>98407823

Mate, it was the sickly victorian child of FFG's Star Wars Games from day one. Like, I love it too, but you have to accept reality on this one. We were lucky it lasted as long as it did, and we all knew what was coming the moment AMG ended up with all the games it didn't want to do just to make Shatterpoint.

Which Legion then killed.

Man... if I had a penny for every small scale star wars skirmish game with custom dice that Legions killed off, well, I'd have two pennies, which isn't a lot, but it's weird it's happened twice.
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>>98411638

No no be fair. It was the best incarnation of that ruleset they'd made so far, but it's still a somewhat clunky ruleset that confuses large dice rolls for quality game design.
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>>98422466

Thing is we've already had Scourge in a starter box. Ultimately Shaltari and Bioficers should NEVER have been in a starter box as they're both too complex for new players.

Now... PHR vs Resistance? Then we'd be talking.
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>>98425521
Because it is quite hard to pull of as a miniature game.
What i saw is that this is quite common for P&P games. Like Eogue Trader.
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Are there any space ship games that allow you to manage crew distribution and involve systems being damaged and the ability to manage said systems? So basically, FTL Faster Than Light but on the tabletop.
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>>98429208
Are you me?
I was searching for this a little while ago https://archive.4plebs.org/tg/thread/83624881/#83624881
For the record, the best option I found is to use the spaceship combat in Stars Without Numbers.
But now that vibe coding becomes a possibility, I'm tempted to create a hybrid tabletop game/smartphone app, similar to the game Space Team but where the difficulty of the challenges can be set up by the game master.
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>>98422141
There are a bunch of unconventional ones, too.
I was very interested in this one: https://www.wargamevault.com/fr/product/130998/asat-orbital-combat
which was all about orbital combat, but I never got to try and apparently it's been unsupported since over a decade.
This one: https://www.wargamevault.com/fr/product/351902/afterglow takes spaceship combat way up the Kardashev scale, so you can casually blow up planets and movement is done by instantaneous hyperspace teleportation. Haven't tried it either though.
I heard it's been made by an anon.
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>>98429208
I would CONSUME an FTL-esque tabletop game!
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Anything good for four players and is on tabletop sim?
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>>98429208
>>98432336
Check out Red November, it's basically FTL: Under the sea: the board game.
Well, except there's no combat encounters with enemy ships.
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>>98432336
Try Galaxy Trucker
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>>98429417
Those are dogfight space games. Interesting, one is like a boardgame and the other is like an arena game.
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>>98429208
Star Thugs.
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>>98414100
>Wtf do all space games die?
Space games are worse than most in that they have an inherently mismatch between the players who want truly realistic space battles with Newtonian movement, plausible ranges (light seconds at least), and all the other hard sci fi stuff, and players who want to have fun. The moment you choose a position on the realism scale - any position - you immediately and automatically alienate 3/4th of your customer base at LEAST. So any game you make is doomed to financial failure.

So the only way to make money is to hook it to an existing IP (Halo, Star Wars, etc), but existing IPs constantly cancel licenses to sell them to someone else, so any game built in a popular IP is doomed to failure by revoked license.

And that's all on top of the usual "you revised your game and it's shit now" problems that ANY game faces. So yeah.
All space games die, and they always will.
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>>98401688
>>98401682
This is incredibly gay and you should space yourself
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>>98437071
Nah, piss off. It's not for everyone, Hell, I know I'm not the target audience, but I respect that they're doing something interesting with it, especially something that involves physical engagement.
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>>98410249
Issue is that most space franchises all have their own in-universe rules for ship movement and combat etc.

Rules meant to emulate Star Trek wouldn't work for Star Wars, rules meant for Star Wars wouldn't work for Honor Harrington, and so on.
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>>98418090
I'd be in it instantly if the Bioficer ships didn't look so offputting and the Resistance fleet list wasn't so fucking random. Like every Resistance light ship is meant to be flown in a squadron and they come one per box.
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>>98423052
If we include Interceptor should probably include Silent Death as well, even though that was space fighter scale and specifically wrote the setting to rule out fleet battles.
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>>98423479
X-wing mostly had success in the Barnes and Noble space where dads would pick up the game and a couple ships to play against their kids or neighbor. I honestly think FFG catering to the tourneyfags is what killed it because they released a new edition mostly focused on fixing game balance and the new setup invalidated a huge number of people's existing ships while the conversion kits pretty much sold out immediately and were impossible to find.
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>>98437404
that just goes back to my point that space combat games are forced to be per-franchise because the fans of space combat all want their specific version of it to be depicted
which means any space combat game has to be specific to a franchise, which means you run into the same problem that killed armada, they are absolutely beholden to the whims of the franchise holders which can kill a solid game with a decent fanbase because they decided it wasnt good for the brand

this applies to liscensed games in general, legion lost half its empire players because disney didnt think palps would ever fight hand to hand, so palps and the royal guard were squatted from the game without replacements
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>>98436444
I dont know if this is the problem in general. Or just for some special space ship genres.
Dropfleet Commander and Firestorm Armada kinda disproof that. And if you consider BFG as still being active, it disproofs it too.
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>>98437446
Disney is the worst thing to happen to Star Wars games in general.
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>>98438216
Dropfleet Commander (current edition) I think works mostly because the game is in the very specific context of spaceships escorting a planetary landing force, so no matter what the setting, ships would pretty much all act the same way.
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>>98437427
>Silent Death
I had entirely forgotten about that one. Good call. Fuck me there's a lot of old spaceship games.
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>>98437440
X-Wing hit a very commercially viable sweet spot in terms of release, IP and design, managing to be have huge nostalgia and recognition cash in as the new starwars revival was ramping up and being a game that worked as casual buy a box and fuck about or tourney play on the heels of other well designed competitive FFG formats. It was the perfect make money storm for a bit.
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>>98414100
Anon...the whole board is one big funeral
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>>98400497
>Make good licensed game
>IP holder yanks your license
>lose money
>Make bad licensed game
>make money
>Move on
WEG Star Wars is the only example where the license wasn't lost due to the IP holder punishing you for success.
Unless the ASOIAF rpg is good I guess.
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>>98422141
Fragged Empire, Mindjammer, Coriolis.
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>>98439877
Fragged Empire is an rpg, not a space combat game.

Unless it has space combat rules in it. Core rulebook told me to read the setting book first and lost interest when it gave me 15,000 years of dry history followed by a bunch of zoomer freakshit races and absolutely nothing about how player characters actually live and what a play session should look like.
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>>98439128

Yeah, inevitably it was going to hit critical mass, and the Disney buyout can't have done anything but hurt it by not only taking Legends content (we never did get the T-Wing or YT2000) off the table, but also forcing them to make tie products for the disastrous sequels and less awful side-movies with minimal information.
But for a while there, it was absolutely a world beater.
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>>98398820
Honestly, with the amount of excellent autism that went into its space combat and procurement worldbuilding, a crunch-heavy Expanse wargame would be awesome as shit.
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>>98434726
>Star Thugs
First time I'm hearing about this one.
The (very few) websites which still sells it are saying it have very tactical combat, nearly boardgame-like, although the rules themselves are fairly simple.
Did you try that game, anon? How does it run?
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>>98441933
>Expanse
Been meaning to watch that lately.
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>>98441933
Those ships look cheap and ugly. Whoever designed this should be put in jail.
This hame would be dead on arrival.
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>>98443080
kys

>>98441933
Show was peak

>>98442142
WATCH IT
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>>98440876
NTA, but Fragged Empire has a spaceship minigame, although I never touched the ship rules across the two sessions that I have personally played. I did skim through them while learning the rules, and they felt pretty generic as far as RPG space combat rules go. If you have played any traditional style RPG space combat ruleset, I doubt FE does anything of note that can be translated to other rulesets.

>game info doesn't have info about playing the game
Sadly, my impression at the time was very similar to Lancer - lots of waffle about high level stuff, very little that would be useful in an actual game. At least the scraps of setting implied by FE aren't as stupid or boring as Lancer's.
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>>98444268
>kys
But it is true
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>>98444687
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>>98444700
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>>98444709
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>>98444714
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>>98444717
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>>98444722
>>
Bit the bullet and ordered the DFC starter set, resistance battlefleet, and Star Trek Into The Unknown off of Amazon.

I blame this thread and my tendency to medicate depression by buying shit I don't need.
>>
>>98444714
They've got flat triangles, flat rectangles, vertical rectangles, and flat ovals. They need vertical triangles and ninja battleships.
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>>98444388
I blame people getting into scifi and hearing about how cool stuff like the Xeelee Sequence or Alastair Reynolds' novels are and reading the wiki articles on it and deciding they want to write Big Idea sci-fi. But authors don't write books about Big Ideas, they write about people living within the Big Idea.
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>>98444928

Those existed in that game. Look up the Relthoza and... one of Dindrenzi subfactions. Something of Renze I think?
It also has corporate Flying Saucers.
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>>98444918
At least you helped the economy. Thanks for keeping everything moving. At least thats the only way, what we normal people can do to keep the world from fully implode.
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>>98444928
You know, flat is the norm in designing space ships.
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>>98447343
I just wish the Into the Unknown expansions had the same discount as the core set. Don't much care for Dominion and would prefer Klingons, Romulans, and maybe some Delta Quadrant stuff.

Also sucks it looks like they're dragging their feet on product. I wonder if it's license approval or tariff related.
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>>98444928
Vertical ship designs dont really make sense. Too many ladders, lifts and stairs.
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>>98418090
won't buy till they restore the name of the moscow class
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>>98437427
>>98439090
Is Silent Death good?
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>>98447563
I dont know anything about Into the Unknown. But it seems that it is centered around the Dominion War.
And it is more like a standard episode, more a dogfight with 2 vs 2 . And a little bit captain talkimg to captain?
Isnt this a new game? Maybe they test the water before they release every ships.
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While looking for the Star Trek game i found this card deck star ship game.
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>>98448016
For a card game player this might be interesting. But it seems to be too limited for p&p and lack the appeal of a miniature.
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>>98398820
I played just Xwing, BFGothic, Full Thrust, Aerotech and all just few times; Traveller rpg if it counts
have plan to make Full Thrust campaing in unclear future with Skunkworks rules for making own empires
also finally playing DeltaVee if only to check if something could be used to make Star Trader boardgame better
>>
>>98447986
It's very late 80s/early 90s, for better or worse. Faster playing than Starfleet Battles but a more simulationist version of X-wing.
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>>98448016
I had the game version on my phone. It was pretty decent.

I'd say it's more of a non-CCG version of an area control CCG like L5R or Doomtown. Play space stations to generate resources to play ships to attack enemy space stations.
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>>98448003
Checking on BGG, the core set released in Oct 2024, and the second four ship expansion is only just now releasing on the 19th. Four ships a year ain't healthy.
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>>98442078
>>98442078
>Star Thugs
It's been a while, but I really enjoyed it. Like Traveller, it's more an RPG than a wargame, but can be run either way. We had a guy piloting an Itano Circus cruiser, a CnC psychic warfare ship and another who preferred boarding actions by ramming. Went from pirates to privateers, and retired by explosion in a huge fleet battle.
It runs pretty smooth, in my experience. Each player is playing as a whole ship, it's captain and crew. You assign ship equipment to slots, which are customizable per ship, and then assign crew to those slots. You can build everything from the ground up or use provided premades. Shields give you a pool of points to assign per facing. Captains and crew have limited use abilities. Captain and crew are active during combat engagements, both providing bonuses and triggering abilities.
It clearly was passion project, a little rough around the edges, but still I like it.
>>
>>98447938

The vertical race in Firestorm were all spiders, so presumably that wasn't a problem.
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>>98449775
Still they have to climb than just walk. It might depend on how the gravity systems work.
Probably when you have a fish race and flooded the ship with water a vertical build could work too.
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>>98447986
>Is Silent Death good?
100%. One of the most fun starfighter games I've ever played, and it's cheap as hell to get into. The plastic ships from the boxed set somehow made their way into quasi public domain, and they're available in bulk from EM4 miniatures.

This guy did a ship sheet breakdown for the game that sold me on it immediately. I love crunchy games where your units fall apart in detail, and Silent Death does that VERY mechanically efficiently. It plays really smoothly and quickly, and with almost no table lookups. Here's the sheet breakdown.
>https://archive.4plebs.org/tg/thread/50133969/#50155737
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>>98448766
Thats a big time span. It seems they see that just as a gameboard. You get the boardgame box and now some add-ons.
Maybe you should move to the other systems.
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>>98450223
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>>98450242
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>>98450246
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>>98450251
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>>98448705
Sounds like the space ship is the flavour and more like a management game than space battles.
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>>98443080
Anon, each aspect of those ships was designed and developed with four times the autism put into anything like ST or BG.

They're worked out down to the 8 year procurement plans for each of them.

They are objectively fucking cool. As opposed to >>98444687, which are 90% wacky design philosophy and only an afterthought of 'hmm how do these actually work?'
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>>98450223
Attack Wing is just X-wing. Why play that when I have plenty of X-wing.

Alliances might be interesting but everything's sold out for it.

Ascendancy is a straight up boardgame.

Into the Unknown at least is trying to mimic the structure of a Star Trek episode with alert levels and noncombat missions.
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>>98452979
Inti the Unknown really tries to add crew and diplomacy.
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>>98452166
I think there was more thought into Babylon5 design and science than >>98441933 who just took average human ships design. A little bit Babylon 5 Humans, a little bit Starship Troopers, Aliens, some Space: Above and Beyond. Than make it garbage.
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>>98452979
>X-Wing is just D&D Attack Wing. Why play that when I have plenty of Wings of Glory?
For different ships/dragons/biplanes and variations on gameplay based on mood and preference?
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>>98398820
>What is the best space combat game
Star Trek Attack Wing is fucking KINO and I can't even begin to count how many hours of my life have been spent playing this game.
>>
>>98407823
>>98410235
the twin GOATs.

And yeah I don't know why they didn't just keep selling the models after the developer went under, they were fire as hell and seemed to sell, so

>>98441933
Yeah I'd do that. But it better be so crunchy that it's basically unmarketable. I need to roll for kalman filter measurement priors or something
>>
>>98441933
>>98457216
Rogue Trader, but replace the focus on trade with a focus on ship autism.

>Start out with roll tables for each faction, depending on ratio of ships.
>You can boost your chances of a higher roll, and a better ship, in exchange for taking more and more equipment faults.
>Each ship can contain a certain amount of components, some mandatory. Each requiring certain amounts of power and space. Power is also limited, depending on engine type.
>Different crews have different G-tolerances, but also different skill sets and expenses. Martian crews are the most well trained, Earth crews can hold higher G's, Belter crews are more survivable and easier to replace.
>Ship components have a certain cost, which can be made cheaper with taking older components, or malfunctioning ones.
>Older ones are generally lower quality, and/or have a malfunction, which you roll on a table for (frequent blackouts, faulty wiring, need to do manual process, prone to misfire, interferes with other component, etc). Different factions have different severities of malfunction.
>Combat has tiers of stages. Yes, you can devote the entirety of your cruiser to carrying one 'Foe-Hammer' superheavy rail gun. But realistically you'll want space for PDC's, Torpedoes, missiles. Maybe extra maneuvering thrusters, armour, spaced armour, ammo, redundant life support systems, sensors. And not to speak of non-combat systems for mining, transport, stealth, luxury and the like.
>Alongside rolling for components, if a place where a PC is located is hit (CIC, engineering, etc), roll a dice to see if the character is taken out. It's a low chance, but mostly anything fired from a ship that does hit a person, is going to kill a person.
>Ship combat must be somehow modeled in 3d, with the fact they're accelerating not traveling modeled.
>Similarly, when rolling to intercept torpedoes/missiles, PDC location and task (corral the target into a flight path, or hit the target) must be taken into account.
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>>98455282
>Star Trek Attack Wing
I FUCKING LOVE THIS GAME!!!
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>>98457660
NTA m8, but that sounds complex enough to basically require adaptation into a vidya game

Which I's still play
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Has literally anyone played this? It sounds cool but it is PRICY and has like 0.5 releases a year.
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>>98418090

Nah. V2 ruined it. V1 had some problems but V2 took one of the two good systems in the game and threw it in the trash for no reason while introducing a host of other bad ideas. The only good thing to be said for the V2 era is more plastic kits instead of their god awful resin.

Bioficers as the opfor in the starter kit was a bad idea. They wanted to show off the new faction but bioficers have an entire extra layer of mechanics with their cells than every other faction.Not what you want in a starter set.

>>98447985

Russian or just retarded?
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>>98463164
It also doesn't help the Bioficer models just don't look like anything. UCM vs Swarm would have had that Halo utilitarianism vs swoopy alien ship feel.

Anyway, any downloads for V1? I have V2 coming in the mail.
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>>98426553
Biggest issue it ran into was the second wave getting blown up in port, meaning there was over a year before new material released for the game.

Telling people they can't run ISDs in a game specifically made for ISDs is a turnoff.
>>
>>98423654
They have restock kickstarter in like August.
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>>98463533
>It also doesn't help the Bioficer models just don't look like anything.
I had the vague impression that they're supposed to look like PCBs, but the box scheme doesn't really go with that and it's not really that strong a resemblance.
>>
>>98463533

https://drive.google. com/drive/folders/1k62uoa8fSAqXckM8bs7JBT3-mzK09K3t

V1 archive
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>>98463542

It had Star Destroyers... just the small one from the Droids cartoon. Which is fine and all, but then they compounded it by giving it an ability that fucked around with the most counter intuitive part of the game that tends to throw new players.
They should NOT have given us Demolisher in the first wave. It was such a dumb thing to do.
Also, it wasn't just the second wave... didn't the SSD also get claimed by Poseidon or African Pirates as well?

That said, having all the Legends stuff getting taken off the board absolutely fucked it over, way harder than X-Wing did, since X-Wing had managed to get a lot of that stuff out already before the Mouse came in. But when you consider how much legends content was in wave 1, with the MC-30 and AFmk2 from Empires and War, the Gladiator from Droids (which might still be canon I suppose?) hell, Wave 0 started with the VSD! That thing isn't even canon now is it?
But yeah, when all the legends content, the video games, the novels, everything, got taken off the board, it fucked the game over really hard.
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>>98463533

Honestly, I like Bioficers from a modelling perspective since they're pretty modular so you can actually make some nice inventive designs for them. Not as much as Resistance. But that core set is probably one of the best ship kits in the entire industry.

Personally I feel that after the round of FAQ's and adjustments and rule changes that it's gone through at the start of it's lifetime is that it's a good game now. Is it better than 1st Edition? Well...

Was the group building that required cards clunky and awkward? Yes. Stop clutching your pearls. It wasn't good. Was switching to IGYG activations the answer? Well, probably not as much as "I activate my group, you activate your group" would have been, but it's not too bad. They did at least try to heavily buff groups and add pass tokens to discourage MSU spam.
Was the removal of the ability cards a good thing? Yes, because fuck any game that has those. Especially you Dystopian Wars. You used to be a good game. How the fuck can someone make Spartan Games look better by comparison? But yes. Switching from the cards to a carefully curated selection of abilities you choose at list building is much better.
Changes to shooting? Did that need to happen? No. Is it better. Probably not. Is it definitely worse? Also no. It's just different, and leads to fucky situations where ships with even number of guns are plain less efficient that ships with odd amounts of them. But with the reversion of Weapons Free to the old system it's fine now.

Simplified ground combat? Everyone had been doing that in 1st edition pretty much from day one anyway, so that's fine.

The only real problem is, as said, Bioficers should never have been in a core box, and neither should UCM again for that matter. It should have been PHR vs Resistance.

Don't get me wrong, I actually like this game. But that's more because some of these ships fucking SLAP. Dave can't write rules for shit, but he knows good CAD.
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>>98463164
>Nah. V2 ruined it.
Lmao, ok bud.
2nd Edition is literally better in every fucking way, but go off sperg!
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>>98464726
Please, for the love of god, post more resistance/Kalium ships!
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>>98465927

Man, that is an old one. I think I remember seeing that back in the 1st edition days. Some of these definitely came out better than others though.
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>>98466133
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>>98466133

Ugh. This one came out super badly. Like the idea is there, but I really need to go over with more black at some point, but it's SUCH a faff.
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>>98466143
Not to diss on your painting skills, but have you considered using masking tape to ease up on painting straight lines?
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>>98466263

No because those ships are tiny. You don't have much space to work with, plus that's an even bigger annoyance. Basically it's probably more trouble than it's worth. At some point I need to photograph more of my collection. Some of it dates all the way back to the kickstarter.
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>>98464726

The Battlegroup system and Strategy cards were absolutely a good system. The way forceorg was very strict was a bit clunky I'll give you that, but everything else was great. Presetting the deck was a cool mindgame and naturally created some very impactful decision making. It handled the problem of activation control naturally and helped balance higher tonnage ships. It was the single best thing about the game.

Admiral cards and ground combat did fucking suck. That's why it's a tragedy that instead of just focusing on stuff like that V2 stripped the game down and rebuilt it out of temu parts.

The different damage types and backup saves are lazy, terrible systems and everyone knows it. Now the whole game is built around it and the only hope is V3 ripping the entire shit out years from now.

My understanding is that Chambers did most of the OG rules. TTC took over rules fairly early and Dave was never that involved.

>>98465431

Lazy and brainless. Do better.
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>>98466412

Presenting the deck was dumb and cludgy and required you to make a new set every fucking time you changed the list unless you had some workaround. It absolutely needed to go and shouldn't have gotten past playtesting any more than Traffic James should have. Is what they replaced it with better? Yes. But it's still a jury rigged IGYG system with passes and a series of micro-buffs to groups lashed onto it. V2 has problems and most of the changes are sidegrades at best. But activation and especially special order cards had to go.

Hard agree with Energy and Kinetic saves. Should have kept that shit as Armour and Point Defence. Backup Saves can stay. They give some actual survivability to Battleships that 1st sorely needed. Still not sure about the changes to fighters, I liked the old system, and using BFG's Fighter Assets system verbatim has the problem that BFG's original Fighter Asset was so broken on release GW had to release a supplement to straight up change it, well before the days of PDF's and seasonal balancing updates. Possibly even the first time they'd ever really done that, outside of minor meme things like Space Wolf Terminators with Assault Cannons and Cyclone Launchers.
Weirdly, the biggest problem seems to be Torpedoes are now wretchedly uninteractive, and they just gave Resistance Bombardment Torpedoes that absolutely can and will just delete with impunity any dropsite on the board.

But hey, rumour is we're due for another balance and errata pass this month. So we'll see what happens. Last time they made Weapons Free go back to how it worked in 1st editon (fucking over Bioficers hard) maybe this time they'll fix that.
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>>98466649
I just used sleeves and a wipe-able marker on the SR cards, was so simple I'd hardly consider it a 'workaround' or anything like that.

The thing I liked in particular about the SR card system, besides the previously mentioned potential for mind games/ship tonnage differentiation, was how it made things feel more like proper lumbering capital ships. Having to lock in the sequence your ships would activate provided a good feeling of committing a massive ship to maneuvers that the newer version lacks the punch of.
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>>98398820
I've found BFG to have the best balance of playability and depth.

I've heard good things about Dropfleet and I'm curious about Jovian Chronicles space battles and their take on Newtonian movement.
>>
>>98466412
>Lazy and brainless. Do better.
I accept your concession.
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>>98466649
The nuisances of force org and getting your cards ready was all front loaded. Once you actually got into the game it was as simple as stacking cards, flipping cards and comparing two integers. Not cludgy at all. Actually very simple for how powerful it was.

Having to time your WF attacks was actually strategic, low SR groups had inherent strategic value balancing out their lack of raw power and you had to actually commit to your plans.

Now they're all lost. Like voidgates in a dense debris field.
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>>98467158
I agree. It feels like having the best compromise between casual rules and being too complicated.
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>>98464726
If starter box was PHR vs Resistance I would have bought five starter boxes.

Seriously, half the reason I'm buying the game is the Resistance are perfect models for sci-fi RPGs like Traveller and Starfinder.
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>>98466284
You know they make masking tape rolls that come in different widths from 1mm to 5mm?
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>>98470982

The core cruiser kit is a fucking joy to work with. Also, to give the devil his due, I don't know who is doing the paintjobs for the recent Resistance stuff, but his panel work is just going from strength to strength.
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>>98463542
>the second wave getting blown up in port,
Wait, I'm sorry. NTA. Fill in in here. A shipment got *blown up*? By what? Fucking why? That might take the "cursed game" crown away from that Leviathans flying battleships game Catalyst is putting out finally.
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>>98472701
>"cursed game" crown away from that Leviathans flying battleships game Catalyst is putting out finally.
QRD?
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>>98472752
I'm not the guy to ask. One of the line devs used to post in the Battletech general. He's the guy. What I remember is
>China's government destroyed 90% of the first print run of the game because Taiwan wasn't the same colour as China on the world map, because in 1911 Taiwan was owned by Japan
>Chinese company refused to make minis after accepting the contract unless Catalyst paid a lot more money
>Catalyst had new mould plates made and was going to start production in Germany. The shipping container with the plates fell off the boat mid transit
>the lead artist died and his estate refused to honor the contract, since it was with him and not his estate, so they tried to make Catalyst pay more money to use the art they'd already licensed
>Catalyst tried to bring the moulds and minis for the second print run back to the US, and the Chinese company held them for a multi million pound ransom
>Catalyst brought the game back with a kickstarter, right as covid hit, so it killed their ability to do any external playtesting which they advertised they planned to do
>Catalyst ran another kickstarter for battletech during fulfillment of the Leviathans one that made 10x the money that Leviathans did, so they filled the battletech one first even though Leviathans backers paid for their stuff first. They didn't physically have the capability of filling both at once, and didn't realize it until they'd done the kickstarters. So backers are only just getting things now
>the delay from above meant that rest of world kickstarter backers aren't getting their stuff because Catalyst can't pay the reciprocal tariffs for a lot of countries. If Catalyst had done Leviathans first the tariff shite wouldn't have affected anything. They did a public post about it showing their internal documentation, and they end up losing a lot of money if they filled the orders. On the order of low 7 figures. But they promised they wouldn't ship to retail until they filled all the kickstarter orders
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>>98472812
Jesus fucking Christ I would commit suicide if 30% of those events happened to my product.
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>>98472812
CGL routinely fuck up kickstarters and shipping so honestly I think a lot of it isn't bad luck just them being incompetent.
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>>98474696
A bunch of that stuff is from the 2010-2013 era when they tried to release leviathans the first time. I watched some of that happen and anon is right, that game really was cursed.
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>>98474970
In that case what Gods did they piss off?
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>>98475205
Porch God.
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>>98472812
Working at a manufacturer that gets several of its inputs from China has made me very fucking paranoid about ever making business deals with a Chinese manufacturer. If you come from a western european / north american culture you must treat them like they are trying to bare-faced screw you over at every turn. It's not exactly that they're trying to do just that, it's simply that the business culture is different and extremely competetive. The general operating model is "you get what you pay for" so expect to be treated like shit if you aren't their big invoices, and never, ever leave a single yuan, dollar, lira, etc on the table. Will that piss the client off? Probably. Will that prevent the client from doing business with you in the future? Absolutely. But they aren't your main customer, so fuck 'em.
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>>98477373
I heard that chinese prtners will always srecw you over, scam you. When you dont controll what they do and present in China, they will scam you.
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>>98477373
>>98477759

China operates on a different morality from the West. Buyer beware.
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>>98455282
Attack Wing is genuinely just a better version of X-Wing desu
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>>98477373
Based Zhang fucking over lowballer boomers
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>>98477373
>>98477759
In 2010-2013, your choices were "if you aren't GW, you can make your injection molded plastic in china, or don't make your game at all". That's not true NOW, but it's 15 years later or whatever. I don't blame cgl for doing what they did, but that's the risk of not spending 20 million to set up your own injection molding facility in your own country. If you as a game company can't afford 20 million, you're too poor to make games and you should go out of buisiness.
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>>98480648
TRVTHNVKE
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>>98398820
>Discuss spaceship games.
Why? All ship games die. There's never been one that's lasted more than a decade. It's not a viable genre.
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>>98478751
This.
People say America runs on a 'fuck you, got mine' attitude, but there is no western country that can rival modern China for skaven-like mentality, or for racism.
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>>98487758
>or for racism
based
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>>98486936
More the reason to post now while we got anything to post.
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>>98482758
I think even in 2010-13 you could do that in Mexico, Turkey and Slovakia.

>>98486936
You kinda repeat what other anons >>98414100 already said.
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>>98472812
You missed out the lead devs computer getting hit by lightning and the arc hitting his backup drive, destroying the only copies of the rules in existence
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>>98472701
Apparently someone decided it was a good idea to store dry nitrocellulose in a regular storage container and it overheated in the summer weather and blew up half the port of Tianjin.
>>
So my Star Trek:Into The Unknown I ordered off Amazon finally arrived, and I will say the turning tool is probably the best iteration I've seen in any game.
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>>98486936
>don't post about things that don't last more than a decade as a fully supported game because its pointless!
The GW plantation did a number on this guy.
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>>98488984
I wonder how many times it'll take for them to take the hint.
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I like spaceships, even built pic related out of garbage, but I haven't found a method of starship combat that my group actually likes. I think the "everyone takes a station and makes checks to perform certain actions' method works well for simulating star trek type scenarios, but my players feel like only the pilot and gunners get to really make any decisions/have fun.
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>>98491150
That's a cool scratchbuld anon.
I've had this difficulty with ships, space or otherwise and ttrpgs too.
I'm looking at Stars Without Number's Skyward Steel but I think it will have a similar problem. Considering how to give each players a ship but that gets into how the PC survives if the ship doesn't and most spaceship battle games are casualty heavy in my experience.
I've also considered bastardizing Captain Sonar so its PCs vs some sort of automated+me set up but I don't think it would work more than a few times.
>>
I worked on my own space game for years. But no one would have played it so I gave up :(
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>>98486936
>only last a decade
full thrust has been around since 91
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>>98492670
Full thrust isn't even a legitimate game anon
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>>98492926
You're not a legitimate game.
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>>98492926
You're not a legitimate child.
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>>98422141
Leviathan
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>>98423124
Models were sexy but overpriced, and Spartan was a rotten company of grifters

I do miss my Dindrenzi fleet a bit
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>>98445016
Rense System Navy
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>>98494842
That's a WW1 alt history game, anon. We were just talking about it >>98472812
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>>98494903
No, not Leviathans: LEVIATHAN, the capital ship version of Interceptor
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>>98491150
Probably the best thing to do is add deployable drone fighters.
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>>98490268
I was putting together a DFC starter set yesterday and glued together a frigate in five seconds and was in literal shock that was all it took.

Way too used to GW's modern "17 pieces for a basic infantry" horseshit.
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>>98494920
Looks kinda neat.
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>>98418090
God those are ugly ship designs
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>>98495226
Kys.
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>>98494856

That them. God some of those fleet designs were fucking incredible. There was also the legal distinct not! Ships From Gundam faction as well.
It's kind of a shame how fucking basic some of the main fleets were by comparison, although some of that was just because they were designed first when CAD design was only just becoming a thing, and there's only so far you can remake them. The Soyl spring to mind as being particularly unadventurous.
>>
>>98495072

Depends on the faction really. The new UCM frigates which are part of the cruiser sprue are pretty much plug and play yeah. Other stuff isn't so simple. Again, can't emphasize enough how good to work with the Resistance Cruiser and Frigate sprues are though.
>>
>>98495226
I kind of agree. The ones on the left look like someone parked the top part of a ship from Mass Effect onto the bottom hull of one from Halo. The ones on the right just look incomplete.
>>
>>98442142
read the books. the tv show goes full retard very quickly to ADD MORE DRAMAS!
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>>98495218
Not that Leviathan what the fuck is wrong with you.
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>>98492429
Because it is too complicated, the compitition is too strong or people dont have that much time for playtesting your system.
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>>98495724
>the compitition is too strong
It was this, mainly.
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>>98495576
Well what Leviathan are you talking about? We've mentioned Leviathans, and thats wrong, and we've mentioned Leviathan and thats wrong too. How many fucking games called Leviathan even are there?
>>
Guys I taught a friend FlickFleet today and he's hooked.
Going to play it again next week, try out new ships in scenarios, and possibly move on to list building / fleet drafting.
>>
Star Trek Adventures has great space combat.
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>>98498297
NTA but this one
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>>98495576
>>98498297
Farscape?
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>>98499931
What the fuck even is that? I can't tell what's happening.
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>>98500543
Autism, autism is happening anon.
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>>98498409
I'm going to get into that with the base box and the 3-4 player alien expansion when they do a reprint on game found soon for a discount. Not sure if I'll get a mat or not.
>>
Anyone play the latest edition of X-Wing (the edition the game was on when it died)? Looks fun, never played X-Wing. Might look into it. Expensive to get these days though :(
>>
>>98495218
>>98499931
Oh neat, looks like there was an Interceptor remake too.
The dev blogs make it seem like its a significant redesign, if not something else entirely.
The templates for different weapon types were a cool idea though.
>>
>>98501269
I found the mat helps a lot.
What I find strong about the design is how engaging it is even with the base box. All we explored were the starting scenario with destroyers, carriers, and fighter / bomber squadrons. Added a *not* star destroyer in another scenario, and that alone had plenty of considerations and engrossing matchup situations.
Next time he comes over we will probably add a few more of the Imperium/ Uprising ships, like Minelayers, Rams, maaaaybe Cloaks or Repair Skiffs.
The aliens do have a bunch of additional rules with boarding parties the Mistral hit and run, and growing ships, but I would like to introduce those as well but no rush.
If you didnt splurge for the deluxe ships, do have some dry erase markers on hand to write down ship names.
Gets akward when you cant remember which carrier was supposed to be the Freedom and thats the one currently on fire.
>>
>>98503492
Alright, thanks
>>
>>98398820
are their any non scifi or partial sci fi spaceship games.

I have an autist I need to take care of.
>>
>>98503335
Listen, if you're going to play dead space games, look into Silent Death. I found it a few years back thanks to an anon doing a rundown here, and it's legitimately the most fun starfighter game I've even played. There's even a construction system so you can design your own ships.
>>
>>98504043
>There's even a construction system so you can design your own ships.
I legit don't get what it is about this that makes grogs erupt with ropes of cum. HardWar, Battletech, Silent Death, even OG 40K all had the ability to make your own units and grogs always extol this like it's the greatest thing in the universe. I've legit never once made use of construction rules in any game I've played.
>>
>>98503911
>non scifi or partial sci fi spaceship games.
Spelljammer?
>>
>>98504043
>>98505316
Leviathan had that, too. I once designed a battleship that had a spinal mount (think a giant gauss rifle that runs the length of the ship) set up for a broadside; it was actually two spinal mounts, one directed to port and the other to starboard. It made the ship look like a football with each point the end of a spinal mount barrel. Gods, I was retarded then, but it worked by the design rules and the numbers supported it, the most impractical abortion of a warship except for the one time if an enemy ship tried to juke to the flank to avoid a traditional spinal mount attack and blundered into the arc of one of the two this abomination packed.
>>
>>98505546
that is dnd and the anons here are going to make fun of me for it.
>>
>>98505583
Thought you were trying to please an autist, not the rabble of /tg/ hoi polloi
>>
>>98505316
Because modern games just shove pre built units at you and expect you to like it. Construction systems are mostly an artifact of 80s and 90s systems, and it's a selling point for a lot of people. How many ships could you build for Armada?
>>
>>98505316
It's just so you can use that cool new model you got without having to wonder about what set of existing stats you'll have to shoehorn it in as.
Speaking of... Might be helping out with a ... what's best described as an "intro to tabletop" social group soon, and while I have Full Thrust somewhere in the house, are there any other, more modern ideas for an easy to present and play ruleset for noobs/warhammer kiddies? Preferably model agnostic.
>>
>>98503372
Technically speaking Crimson Skies is Interceptor 2nd edition.

Then they changed it to heroclix with fuckhuge plane models.
>>
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Why is Battlefleet Gothic the best system? Because you can personalize your ships design. At least the Imperial, Chaos, Orks and Tyranids.
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>>98506370
i love the grand cruiser that's just walls of plasma macro cannon and heavy lances. so simple and elegant.
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>>98432191
Oddly, that is 1st edition Noble Armada.
Autistic as all hell.
But great.
The boarding action experience is exactly that.
>>
>>98491150
see >>98429379
Although
>>98495069
>deployable drone fighters
is probably the best way to do it. Think about it
>Instantly solves the issue
>Also solves the TPK issue space combat usually has (when you only have one ship, if you lose any fight, everyone dies). Now individual player can lose, it's no big deal because they only lose a drone
>You can just take the space combat wargame you prefer and just refluff individual ships as drones.
>It also makes perfect sense in-fiction. Regardless of how space combat turn out to become, you can be reasonably sure that drones will be a big part of it
It's perfect
>>
Besides the elegant mechanics of
>>98412398
>Triplanetary
and the geometric perfectionism of
>>98412373
>Squadron Strike
are there any other space combat games where movement follows Newtonian physics?
>>
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>>98506708
I find them rather weird. I dislike their GW design. And them being broadside only makes them really weird and limited.
>>
>>98407823
X-Wing miniatures mogs it. But its still the best game that actually lets you use capital ships.
>>
>>98505316
Cause I don't give 2 shits about what ever universe the designers cooked up. My group makes our own shit up so construction rules are a must. Rules without unit building are almost always designed to push models first and be a good game second.
>>
>>98506370
Because its orders and blast markers provide a lot of depth without a ton of crunch, and the amount of shit you have to track on any given shit is quite modest.
>>
>>98508896
yes. so beautiful and elegant. it blasts around on massive engines with cruiser manouvreability. and hangs at range punching insane weight of horrifically devestating long range fire into all those pesky assclowns that think IoM navy ships are all close range macrobattery slugging matches.
>>
>>98508676
Cringe af kys
>>
>>98508676
>>98504043
Isnt this always a hard thing for balancing? There are always broken stuff in RPGs, but at least you fight in a adventure with a GM.
But arnt most space games player vs player? I expect that you can create ships that break any game.
>>
>>98509078
I guess thats true too. The right balance between easy playability and still many mechanics.
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>>98510686
Using Grand Cruisers are valid ships? Maybe i need to get some. But i would use some other designs.
>>
>>98511473
Sort of? It is certainly possible to design some uber ship in a game like Starmada, or Full Thrust that's completely broken. Or the quintessential lots of missiles+fighters, as most people never bring enough PDS. But unless you are trying to be some sweaty tourny tryhard faggot and deliberately break the unit builder it's mostly balanced. But these problems aren't exclusive to games with unit creation. BFG is notorious for its poor balance and several ships being powerful for their cost. I'm lucky enough to have a dedicated group of friends I play wargames and RPGs with so munchkin shenanigans have never been a problem with these sorts of rule sets.It probably would be a little different if you just showed up to your local club and played randoms.
>>
>>98398820

i make schematics for starships (mostly halo and star wars), if anyone is interested in using them for maps.

it's all small-scale pixel art stuff though, so use something without anti-aliasing like XnView to view them.

https://itaku.ee/profile/sigmamalechad/gallery/57021
>>
>>98511957
I just thought from the perspective of a designer, considering every part, layout, payload, thats a big mess and easily ends in a broken game.
BFG feels less broken. The armies are rather well balanced when you exclude Necrons. The problem with point costs is more that you have glass canons or mechanics when mastered can be devastating.
>>
>>98399117
I wish I knew anyone willing to play it.
>>
>>98512001
Kino anon
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>>98399117
>>98512283
Why would you want to play that?
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>>98512137
Different anon; ultimately it's the old argument between the sweatlord and kicking back. Abusing a DIY system isn't much different to optimising or even tailoring the shit out of an army list (or fleet, in this case). If someone's that way inclined they'll do it and there's not much you can do about it other than tut and roll your eyes.
That said, i did like the mini-campaign offered in Full Thrust, where both players had X points to defend or raid a sector. Yes, you could have a Death Star, but that's two thirds of your force; it can only be in one place at a time, where three or four cruisers could spread out. Add in appropriate mechanics to disincentivise doom stacking (say, a time limit so the raider has to hit as many systems as quickly as possible; the defender therefore has to counter that) or even specific scenario rules and it might help to promote more balanced views.
>>
>>98511487
>Using Grand Cruisers are valid ships?
Chaos gets the best one with the Repulsive
>>
>>98514525
>Chaos gets the best one
Many such cases.
>>
>>98513115
You are right. But mathematically i think that DIY ships have so many combination possibilities that it is much harder to balance the combinations.
While in a fleet game you have ten ships per faction to balance.
>>
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>>98514525
>>98515138
Chaos has the best stats. Standard hull points with long range weapons.
>>
>>98515503
Which is good, because they are neither swift nor nimble. I used to throw Nurgle on my ships just to lean into the sloth, and also negate enemies boarding.
>>
>>98511487
the imperium gets exactly one. it has no spinal turrets, or bow weapons, or the ram or bow armour, so it just broadsides. but it has a stupid long range set of superheavy plasma macro batteries and heavy lance turrets with which to reach out and really put the hurt on targets.
>>
>>98515493
True, but then the DIY's are usually generic games that don't have 'factions' as such (though they may have an attached universe and maybe even a model line, because every GM has a compulsion to blather on about My Setting). Same reason why the D&D spell lists are so bloated; see something cool in a book/on a screen, want to allow players to do it 'at their table'.
>>
>>98495226
>>98418090

i like the blue ones on the left, they remind me of cylon ships from the BSGO game (That game was awesome, RIP). the fucking SIVA-looking red ones are ugly, though.
>>
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>>98515556
I forgot you can give marks of chaos to chaos ships. Thats kinda what lacks with Imperial ship fleets, to have more extra add-ons on your fleet. But those marks are not cheap and costs per ship.
>>
>>98515609
But Chaos and Imperium have both 2 Grand Cruisers. The Imperium got Avenger and Exorcist.
>>
>>98515693
Good point.
>>
>>98512844
Because I'm a trek fan with severe shipfag autism. But any of SFB's spinoff games like that would be acceptable too.
>>
>>98503911
>non scifi or partial sci fi spaceship games
Depends a lot of what you mean by each of these terms.
If
>Spaceship games
means
>combat between big stuff shooting at each other, but not necessarily in space
then you could run with Osprey's Castle in the Skies https://www.ospreypublishing.com/uk/castles-in-the-sky-9781472844965/ or Dystopian war. It's steampunk.
Or Attack Wing https://wizkids.com/attackwing/dnd-attack-wing/ which is air combat, but between dragons.
And if
>non scifi or partial sci fi
means
>doesn't care much about realism
then Osprey's void fighter https://www.ospreypublishing.com/uk/voidfighter-9781472866448/ is expressly aiming for something cinematic. X-Wing or any game emulating the kind of space combat you see in Star Wars, would fit in there.
But if you mean
>Spaceship, as in: a ship in space, but fantasy
Well then yeah, Spelljammer is pretty much your best pick. I'm sure there must be a game out there for space combat in that setting. Or just refluff the 40k spaceship wargame so the ships have sails, tentacles, or giant hamsters powering them.
>>
>>98517768
But Osprey games are shit.
>>
>>98518224
TRVTHNVKE
>>
>>98518224
I don't know where you got that idea from.
En Garde and Black Ops feature some of the best combat system for their types (sword fight and gun fight, respectively).
Gaslands became an absolute instant classic.
Lion, Dragon and Xeno Rampant, Frostgrave, Oathmark... are all some of the most beloved games in their respective genre.
Their tabletop games is where you find more miss than hits, but their wargames are typically great.
But I was just mentioning these as examples. My point was trying to figure out what anon was looking for.
>>
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A bit of a shot in the dark:
Any wargames for this kind of vibe? Pic related.
Spaceship combat that’s more akin to jousting with nukes (essentially one-dimensional, you see your opponent coming months in advance, and combat is a crescendo of attacks and counterattacks as the fleets close) rather than the usual dogfighting or naval warfare in space.
Pic related is from Lancer. I’m aware it has a dedicated space-combat game, Battlegroup, but apparently it’s nothing like this.
>>
>>98520854
Nothing that slow of pace would ever be a tabletop game
>>
>>98520854
Sounds more like Star Trek the TV show.
>>
>>98520854
Why don't you read lancer battlegroup and see if you like it or not
>>
>>98520878
Why do you think it would have to be slow-paced?
You could run it like:
>The game lasts three (or however many) rounds, with an additional final round in the unlikely event that neither of the opponents was taken out at closest approach
>Each round takes place at a different range and represents a different span of time. The first round could represent weeks and the last one seconds; that doesn't mean either one has to take longer to play.
>Every weapon has different stats depending on the current range.
>You have to carefully weigh when to use which weapons. >Obviously your chances of hitting are much better at close range, but firing early gives you a small chance of scoring a lucky hit before your opponent does, at the cost of depleting your stock for later rounds.
>>
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>>98520854
>Spaceship combat that’s more akin to jousting with nukes (essentially one-dimensional, you see your opponent coming months in advance, and combat is a crescendo of attacks and counterattacks as the fleets close)
Star Cruiser 2300.
Its an old GDW hex & chit from their Traveller line.
Its still probably a bit more dogfight than you want because its lowtech slow boats but they're doing a lot of ECM ECCM, missiles and sensor war to play hide and seek with nukes.
>>
>>98429208
>>98432191
Battlestations! 2nd edition is the best option if you don't mind your ship being square tiles.
>>
>>98524738
>Battlestations! 2nd edition
Holy shit, this looks perfect https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDR9wTMW2CQ
>>
>>98520854
I accidentally made this by trying to make the most realist space game I could, and its not really a wargame. In the end there's no reason to put models on the table and very little strategy, you just roll dice and hope for the best. It can be engaging if you have the right autism, but if you want other people to play you might be better off making a card game.
>>
>>98525398
>card game
Funny you should say that; I was thinking that as I was reading it. All the bluffs, reactions, special systems. Maybe even a natural progression as the game goes on; in MTG there's more mana in play, presumably in this you could use differing range bands and perhaps token accumulation/spending for a similar effect.
>>
>>98524738
Holy fuck this is actually kino! Thanks so much anon
>>
>>98525398
>>98525847
>A Card game about brutal Children of the Dead Earth-style spaceship combat
I would play that in a heartbeat.
But, wow, for once I wouldn't know where to start to design something like this. I have zero experience when it comes to create card games.
>>
>>98423566
Played this at a con. It's fun but the toy bits are so fucking big you need a big ass table to play properly
>>
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>>98525847
>>98531524
Huh, I was just throwing shit at the wall, didn't expect people to be into it. I haven't played a card game since Urza's Saga though, so I can't be of help. Star Fleet Battles has a card game though. I don't know anything about it other then it exists, or did exist, but it might be a useful starting point. Also Amateur Game Dev General.
Alternatively there's stuff like Rocket Flight, pic related, High Frontier, and Triplanetary. I'd probably play it like Risk, or a hex and chit game. Apparently High Frontier has a new edition, and a warfare module. I guess I have to.
>>
>>98398820
WE NEED A GOOD HOMEWORLD TABLETOP GAME!!!
MODIPHIUS NEEDS TO BURN IN A FIRE!!!
>>
>>98534123
They somehow get the rights to everything and then ass fuck it up. They even went full kurtzmann and bad robot anti-trek with 2e and now it's all ghey and drinking and doing drugs in ten forward, which every ship has to have for some reason.
>>
>>98535581
>>98534123
I genuinely don't understand how Modi is still around considering the fact they've done nothing but fuck up constantly over the last few years.
I mean, they even fucked up the Elder Scrolls tabletop game. HOW do you fumble Elder Scrolls? That's an IP that should print money!
>>
>>98534123
Its arguably one of the few times I'd say 10th edition 40k might actually be a great inspiration to copy.
>>
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>>98534123
Wouldnt a Homeworld tabletop be impossible? I mean boardgame or P&P would fit much better.
How can you replicate the real 3D and ressource management?
>>
>>98537074
>How can you replicate the real 3D
elevation is an establised mechanic in many games.
>resource management
a tabletop game isn't going to be 1:1 with a video game, mostly
>>
>>98536967
Wtf
>>
>>98520854
>>98525847
>>98531524
Damn, you got my neurons firing with that.
So, the game would run like this:
Phase 1 is "Orbital Maneuvers"
>Pick your maneuvers in secret, then compare them with the ones picked by your opponent.
>The sum of the cards played by both opponents defines the relative speed of the encounter. >This, in turn, defines how many rounds the combat phase is going to last.
>You could have both ships crossing paths in a roughly perpendicular fashion; or following nearly parallel but opposite trajectories (meaning an extremely quick encounter, with a much higher chance that neither ship manages to destroy the other before they're out of range again); or following nearly parallel trajectories in the same direction, meaning they're going to remain close for much longer, which means it's nearly impossible for both ships to fail to destroy the other.
>It also defines how close the two ships are going to pass by each other.
>Other maneuver options could include stuff like "passing by a munitions cache" to increase the amount of payload you carry.
>This could maybe lead to a prisoner's dilemma kind of dynamic.
Phase 2 is "Encounter"
>Each round corresponds to a range band. As mentioned, how many rounds you go through varies based on the results of the previous phase. So, you start at... say... range 6, then, based on your speed and minimum distance, you would either go through every range band from 6 to 0 (then, in the unlikely event that neither ship managed to destroy the other, increase the distance again and go through every range from 0 to 6), or just zoom towards each other, going from range 6 directly to range 3, then 0, crossing 3 range bands every round.
(cont.)
>>
>>98537400
How combat would work:
>Each player gets a number of cards based on how much payload they have.
>Your opponent knows how much payload you have, but not what it is, until you play a card.
>Each weapon's stats would vary based on the range band at which it is used.
>So, for example, range would decrease the effectiveness of lasers, completely nullify the effectiveness of railguns past a certain point, and wouldn't affect the effectiveness of missiles, but it would increase the effectiveness of evasive maneuvers.
>Some cards have an instant effect (lasers); some can be placed and only come into play when the game reaches a specific range (missiles, drones, mines... In effect, the ship sends them there); some have to be placed face up, while others can be placed face down until they take effect (drones, missile buses...).
>Evasive maneuvers only get you so far. The name of the game when it comes to protection is point defenses and interceptors.
>Again, their effectiveness would vary based on the range they're used at. Maybe. Not sure about that one.
>As mentioned in >>98521492 and >>98525847, the whole dynamic of the game is "How much of my payload should I spend early, when it's easier for my opponent to counter it?" vs. "How much should I keep for the last minute?" vs. "Holy crap, that guy sent a lot of stuff, but I'm not sure what it is yet. Maybe it's all defensive?"
>Zero randomness. Based on the type of ship your opponent has, you know how much payload it can carry and what types it can carry. You just don't know what they picked or when they're going to use it.
(cont.)
>>
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>>98537078
But isnt that the thing that sets Homeworld apart from other space video games? So no resource management.
I looked into elevation mechanics. Heroclix had that once. Thats quite a good idea.
>>
>>98537446
Broader game
Encounters could play out relatively quickly, so if you wanted to expand on that, you could:
>Each player picks... say... three ships (could be more, for longer games).
>Both players then decide which of their ships will face which of their opponent's. This can be a great opportunity for some more mind games, with some ship types being better against other types.
>Then each duel is played one by one, going through the orbital maneuver and encounter phases.
>Ships that survive their encounters can face an opponent's surviving ship after each duel has been played.
This could add an important dynamic: just winning isn't always enough. If you can get through an encounter relatively unscathed, your ship can be a great asset in the late game. Suddenly, there is such a thing as a Pyrrhic victory, and sometimes fleeing a duel can be worth it.
Also:
>Different factions could be introduced, including maybe alien ones.
>Each would have different types of ships (maybe some that can pick more cards during the orbital maneuver phase, some with greater payload capacity...), as well as different payload options.
>>
>>98537400
>>98537446
>>98537809
Meh and/or cringe.
>>
>>98537519
Never seen this. Blood Red Skies has a very interesting elevation mechanic, however.
>>
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I've always wanted to try Star Fleet Battles. It looks so fucking SOVL
>>
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>>98539629
Elevation mechanic? I can only see a mechanic to show thrust direction.
>>
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>>98542261
It reminds me of Crimson Skies. But i think that even Wizkids one doesnt have a leviatation mechanic, nor that is easy to see on the table.



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