DARKSTAR CAMPAIGN UPDATE: DUCHESS ANNABEL’S WAR IS OVER
Darkstar Live Blog !! P3
Update – 23:45
GMT Okay, the battle is finally over!
First up, my last Russian heavy cruiser is indeed crippled by that torpedo spreads!
The Kraken and Xu Shan manage to take out the destroyer Oder and finally the pocket battleship Von der Tann. Return fire forces the Xu Shan to break off … leaving the only Duchess’ Alliance warship still operational on the field is the HMS Kraken … so 182 points for the Duchess’ Alliance … a minor victory from this 635 point battle.
Yet again, the Kraken survives!!! Even a battle ship can go down if you get her point blank in the engines and reactors!
Great playtest today – playing with battleship class warships has actually been very rare up until now, and we were able to identify several “cracks” in the math driving some of the game at the really higher-end firepower levels. These issues were small enough not to be noticed in smaller ships, but once expanded to battleship scale they became more apparent.
Battleship armor and damage tracking charts are being re-worked to rectify this problem.
Look forward to seeing the tweaks, be great to understand what went wrong and what made you decide to go for them.
Pretty simple, actually @davehawes – battleships are too vulnerable. Even with their escort ships (which @aras DID have), even with a properly-balanced task force, and even considering that the Scharnhorst class is a pretty egregious “glass cannon” – pocket battleship with all speed at the expense of some protection and a lot of firepower … (in some ways she’s more “British” in her design philosophy than German) … she just went down WAY too fast. One broadside from a destroyer and light cruiser — granted, at point-blank range … granted, right across the stern, and granted those Chinese ships were… Read more »
I love the idea of German commanders removing VR headsets at their military design facility, shaking their heads.
“This test was a failure, we would have lost valuable resources in a real situation”.
“Yes Commander, but I think I can see the flaw, should be an easy adjustment, we will be ready to test again in 48 hours.”
🙂
Damn these academy instructors, @davehawes and their “Kobayashi Maru” tests! 😀 😀 😀
Damn! Just saw this. Would have been fun to jump in while the action wqs happening. Again, love the system, and the in-depth science behind it. Well done!
Awesome, @cpauls1 – thanks very much! It was a lot of fun, I warned everyone ahead of time that in this new system … the battleship class was a wholly untested ship type so get ready for some wonky results – NO ONE would die or lose a ship permanently in what was basically a “playtest” game. Might account for some of the suicidal “WITNESS ME!” tactics that were used. 😀 And yeah, we try to pay at least a little attention to “science.” At least where we can. Where we decide to err on the side of space opera,… Read more »
This has so much commercial potential @oriskany . I’m thinking it should be possible to create 3D files of ships for the game. Are those 1/2″ hexes, or larger? Hard to tell, given your skill at atomic scales. I would also suggest, at what I’m guessing is nano scale, that even 2d counters could take this game to market. Your graphics expertise at that level is exceptional, and of course well documented.
Thanks again, @cpauls1 – hexes are 1.5″. But the ships are not to scale. The hexes are 180 kilometers of spherical space. This way in the turn (1 minute), each hex of movement = 3 kilometers per second. At the time of designing the game, I think Voyager 2 as the fastest real spacecraft crated, something like 17 KPS after gravity assist from the gas giants. I wanted to use this as a rough benchmark – a speed of 5 or 6 in the game. The torpedo and aerospace counters are Photoshop created, but very simple compared to PanzerBlitz counters… Read more »
I agree that ship design is a big draw for this game. A sourcebook of ship types and common variants is a fine start. However in this digital age how feasible would it be to create a sort of download pack which containts electronic copies of rules, design templates, existing tokens etc? I know we are all attached to buying a big box and getting all we need but there is also an appeal to making your own ship tokens (or using existing models). Digital guides and files could be an easy way to dip a toe into marketing your… Read more »
@muakhah – “However in this digital age how feasible would it be to create a sort of download pack which contains electronic copies of rules, design templates, existing tokens etc?”
One better – how about electronic play on a virtual game board, in real-time over long distance via Skype, Google hangouts, or some other kind of shared desktop application? With a simple e-mail link I think we can play on the same computer screen, with you even moving you own pieces on my “gaming” table from anywhere in the world in real time?
That sounds like a wonderful place to start. Google hangouts are problematic for me though as I am in China without a VPN. As I said I really want to play this game. I may get all presumptuous and send you a private message with email details as a start.
I see your private message, @muakhah . I’ve also tested GoToMeeting on my end (I have an account) that allows for teleconferencing, virtual / shared desktop, sound, that may allow us (or anyone, really)play just about any wargame on a virtual table.
I don’t know if your location or the hours (time zone difference) would present a challenge, but we could certainly test it if you’re interested.