From: Patrick.Estes@santafe.cc.fl.us Date sent: Fri, 24 Apr 1998 13:55:52 -0400 Subject: [B5W]: White Star Pricing To: babylon5-wars@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU Send reply to: babylon5-wars@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU I have played several "solitare" scenarios with these puppies, using JK _MOST EXCELLENT_ sheets. [BTW when are the rest coming? Not that I will be getting off my lazy a$$ any time soon to do the job, but by gosh I want you to do so :') ] I have fought it against most of the cap ships in the book, with the exception of the Sharlin, and the Primus. My conclusion : it should be priced at approx 1000 points each. This all comes down to two factors : Thrust, and range penalty. Thrust allows the WS to move much better than the rest, and so keep its distance. Range penalty (of the N. cannon) allows the ship to be accuate at longer ranges than any other ship. The kicker (and another factor I suppose) is the high ew and jammer. Since the opponants will never allocate anything to offensive ew, they will always allocate it to defensive ew. (big surprise) All he needs to do is calculate the range at which his opponant _cannot_ hit him. Example : WS vs. Omega (my favorite game for a while) Given that each ship is facing the other, the omega has this scenario: To hit: 9 + ew 0 (1 used to negate double range penalties) - d. ew 5 (for example) + fc 2 -- 6 Def ew = 7. The WS has this : To hit : 12 + ew 5 (for example) - Def ew 7 + fc 5 -- 15 This is all at range 0. Now the Omega gets a -1 / 3 hexes. The WS gets a -1 / 4 hexes. Take a look at this table Penalty To Hit Range WS Omega WS Omega 1 1 1 14 5 2 1 1 14 5 3 1 1 14 5 4 1 2 14 4 5 2 2 13 4 6 2 2 13 4 7 2 3 13 3 8 2 3 13 3 9 3 3 12 3 10 3 4 12 2 11 3 4 12 2 12 3 4 12 2 13 4 5 11 1 14 4 5 11 1 15 4 5 11 1 16 4 6 11 0 17 5 6 10 0 18 5 6 10 0 19 5 7 10 -1 20 5 7 10 -1 21 6 7 9 -1 22 6 8 9 -2 23 6 8 9 -2 24 6 8 9 -2 25 7 9 8 -3 26 7 9 8 -3 27 7 9 8 -3 28 7 10 8 -4 29 8 10 7 -4 30 8 10 7 -4 Right about range 16 the Omega has no chance to hit at all. The lucky WS is still hitting about half the time. More if Ivanova is on board. This is based on the Battle laser of the Omega, and the N. Cannon on the WS. The pulse things and the particle beams can't hit anything at this range, so would be left in intercept mode. Unfortunatly you cant intercept a Battle Laser or a N. Cannon. BTW I am doing this from memory, so please dont flame me for a few wrong numbers. If I am wrong it is only by degrees. The fact remains that the WS can command a huge to hit bonus over the Omega. This will keep the WS from taking damage while whitling the Omega like cheap balsa. Now my first few games I tried using the WS like it is used on the show. I dived in with daring aplomb and scored huge hits with the pulse thingies, striping off systems and armor like butter. Then the Omega would fire. Guess what? Those particle beams HURT! Then I got smart. I kept distance and kept firing. The old glory instinct came and I would dive in "for the kill", to "finish him off". This resulted in a badly damaged Omega and a dead WS. So much for smart. Then I realy got smart. I kept distance and kept firing. When he looked real bad I ... kept distance and kept firing. Eventualy he would go away through an explosion or jump gate. That left me with a live WS with no damage and a clear victory over an Omega. My conclusion: a WS as used on J Kozell's sheet is worth more than an Omega. I think it is probably worth 3 Omegas if used right, and time is not critical. I also think you could do the same with a Sharlin if you worked it right. I think the WS starts with a 9 to hit the Sharlin. I think the Sharlin starts with a 4 to hit the WS. Same problem, only different by degrees.