Persei-Aries War Resumes
New Darkstar Players - Tuffyears vs. Hegemongary
Darkstar is back, everyone with new players “joining the fleet” eager to test their skill, push their luck, and find their fate across the stars. This game was played between community @tuffyears and @hegemongary, both of whom were brand new to the game. In a single session, we sat down and created two small beginning battlegroups, with the players electing their factions and warships. We pointed up a small 65-point game, set up “raid” victory conditions, and had a quick game.
For their first time with the system, both players did great with the rules mechanics for range bracketing, torpedo and aerospace strikes, and the Newtonian “drift movement … and the end result was damned near to a mathematical draw. It was a great first taste of Darkstar, and we hope the first of many games with these new players (building up their fleets until their ready to take on some of our more veteran commanders like @Damon and @Rasmus.
Tuffyears has started with a battlegroup from the high-speed, low-drag, and very high-tech Corporate Consortium. Just for fun she’s designated “Wal*Mart ASDA” as the sci-fi mega-corp that her Senior Director and crew of “security consultants” fly for. Yes, even in the year 2522, it seems this company is still a powerhouse. Hegemongary has chosen the Arab League, wanting to select a navy not many have chosen before and interested in their high-tech, high-FTL designs, their doctrine heavy with carriers and hybrid-carrier/cruiser designs.
So the date is July 2522. The Third Hercules War has ended just last month, yet even as the embers cool and the ink dries on a fresh stack of peace treaties, further conflict kindles anew. The Consortium technically wound up on the losing side of that war, while the Arab League stood as a victor. Now, as planets, moons, and whole star systems change hands across forty light-years of the Hercules Rim, some local Consortium vice-presidents are less than happy with how the war ended, and remain reluctant to hand over holdings and shipping lanes to the winning powers.
The first incident comes in the outer protoplanetary debris belt of the Gliese 649 system (Ragnarssonland Colonies). The United States co-owns that system with the Consortium, and the US has agreed in the peace treaty to provide access to certain Ragnarssonland orbital refueling points and comm-drone relay points to the Arab League. As the Arab League dispatches a small, high-speed battlegroup to claim its stake, they find their approach being intercepted by a small Consortium battlegroup. Apparently the US Navy forgot that Wal*Mart ASDA was one of the companies on the lease of these refueling stations, and Wal*Mart ASDA never agreed to that clause of the treaty. It seems Wal*Mart ADSA were supposed to receive a quiet kickback from the US State Department in exchange for signing off on this clause, but payment is still pending.
Thus, the Consortium is not backing down, and Tuffyears has orders to intercept the “invaders” and teach them some manners. Hegemongary’s battlegroup, conversely, has orders to claim what was rightfully won in the late war and legally signed over by international treaty. Looks like another scrap is about to go down in the chaotic world of Darkstar.
Here is the Arab League battlegroup, the Khalifa-class aerospace carrier ar-Ra’I, carrying a complement of “Mylekinir” (Fire Angel) type fighters and “Demkikham” (Vengeance) class bombers. Escorting her is the Hattin-class frigate az-Zawraq, armed with small but stinging 6-megakelvin lasers and 9-teravolt EPCs. 
Meanwhile, the Corporate battlegroup cuts in to intercept. The flagship is the Baroness-class WMS Thacher - small, high-tech, and startlingly well-armed for her size, and fast even for a “security frigate” (often read “merchant raider”). Escorting her is the Twilight-class “venture cutter” (corvette) WMS Stardust, and finally the Rogue-class armed sloop (gunboat) WMS Alpha ... basically the size of the Millennium Falcon. 
The two battlegroups make their initial approach through the drifting asteroids and icebergs here along the extreme outer edges of the Gliese 649 star system, analogous to our own solar system’s Kuiper Belt. Arab League keeps their approach slow and stead, not even immediately launching their initial aerospace fighters. The Consortium comes down from the upper right much more aggressively, launching and sending out their one and only scout plane. Both sides have only a single long-range laser that can reach at this point (the range between them is 32 hexes, 5760 kilometers, about the distance from London to Afghanistan). So no one hits on the first volley, but torpedoes are launched and begin their attack runs on enemy ships. 
Each turn is a minute, and at the end of Turn 2 the two battlegroups are close enough to actually start landing superficial damage on each other. The Consortium’s weapons are particularly accurate at this range, thanks to their dizzyingly-advanced sensors and targeting suites. But all that draws incredible power, reducing the number of caliber of their weapons. The Arab League’s guns may not be as accurate, but the az-Zawraq carried many more of them. Meanwhile, Hegemongary launches the bulk of his aerospace strike group, but the ar-Ra’I’s launch bays are only so big and he can’t quite get everything off at the moment. Both sides are also carefully guiding their torpedoes to target, keeping them out of range of enemy mass driver defense guns. In fact, Tuffyears keeps her torpedoes within range of her own mas driver guns, just in case Hegemongary decides to send his fighters after her torpedoes before they can reach his ships. 
Both task forces turn directly toward each other, sidestepping and weaving slightly as they make their rush. Here at last, at a range of 1680 kilometers, the two fleets really come to blows. Arab fighters and bombers make a point-blank run at the stern of the Consortium ships, hoping to present a dilemma to Consortium mass drivers between shooting at them, or at their powerful "Ahrasyfa" (Storm) Class IV torpedoes. Tuffyears has to divide her mass driver fire, and while she shoots all the Arab bombers and most of their torpedoes, one torpedo hits the stern of the Stardust ... but the gravitic shielding pre-detonates the warhead. Ten “Fire Angel” fighters make an up-close “Star Wars”-style strafing run, and actually do just enough damage to the Stardust’s starboard engine and reactor to leave the ship crippled and adrift. First blood is drawn! 
Now this is a very small battle (65 points, typical games run from 300-800), and raid victory conditions ... meaning that Hegemongary has actually already fulfilled victory requirements (destroy 30% of the enemy points, win by at least 5%). Now he just has to get out of the battle area. His two ships pour everything into acceleration, and are now pushing 16 hexes (48 kilometers per second) in a determined bid to break off the engagement. Consortium ships, however ... while small and fragile, and INCREDIBLY nimble. So even at her speed of 24 kps, Tuffyears is able to execute a four-point turn that puts her two remaining ships in a point-blank broadside straight across Hegemongary’s stern. Gunboat Alpha fires first, tearing open the az-Zawraq’s stern armor but not quite getting into her engines or reactors. Az-Zawraq fire back with stern EPCs, slashing the Alpha clean in half, the 9-teravolt “lightning gun” incinerating the bridge and instantly killing her skipper, Sr. Manager Taylor. The Thacher fires a moment later, drilling straight into the az-Zawraq’s armor that the Alpha had just opened, knocking out her port and centerline engines, two reactors, aft mass drivers, and aft shield. The ship MAY be crippled, but Thacher’s two powerful 8-megakelvin lasers have already switched to the ar-Ra’i. These hit perfectly in the ship’s central stern, damaging both port and starboard engines. Ironically, although more badly damaged, the az-Zawraq survives the assault, while ar-Ra’I loses power (along with four fighters shot down in an abortive missile attack run on the Thacher) 
And that’s it the battle is over on Turn 5. The az-Zawraq survives and escapes along with six fighters and two scouts (who shot down the one Consortium scout near the drifting wreck of the Stardust). The Stardust and ar-Ra’I will be recovered and towed back to base for repairs, while the gunboat Alpha is lost forever, her helpless wreck hunted down and destroyed by vengeful Arab League fighters after the battle. The results are pointed up and the game is very VERY close, with Tuffyears’ Consortium battlegroup scoring 36 points to 34 (the biggest Arab ship wound up crippled and those fighters and bombers add up too). Per Darkstar Rule 522.B.ii, you have to win by at least 5% or the game is considered a draw. Dividing 34 by 36 yields 0.944444, giving Tuffyears a 0.05555556% victory, BARELY enough to call this one a win, but it’s a legit win nevertheless! 
Here are some of the damage sheets for the ships after the game. As you see, the az-Zawraq actually took more internal damage than the ar-Ra’i, the az-Zawraq just had luckier dice on the ship crippled table. This one really did come down to the wire, both players did great especially for their first time in what is NOT a simple or forgiving rules system. There were many times where a single dice roll could have swayed the game either way. 
I’ve not seen so many 6’s rolled in a row, for a very long time
Loaded dice for the win 😛
The Internet does odd things to dice both on and off camera
I have had some epic die rolls on camera, both good and bad.
How many times did my tank shells and AT-3 saggers deflect off that M3 Cavalry Bradley’s tissue-thin armor?
Conversely, how many snake eyes did my MH-6 Little Birds get against your SNA Somali Militia? 😀
I might be out of town this weekend, but we gott get yourself and @damon in another of these games as well.
Yeah, and from both players as well! Great job @tuffyears and @hegemongary on your first game of Darkstar!
Excellent stuff, glad to see the Darkstar battle reports back. Look forward to the next one.
Thanks, @gremlin . Yeah, people have been asking me a lot about Darkstar recently. Not sure if its the recent Billion Suns release or Dystopian Wars (and maybe some players want just a little more detail / depth in their experience), but sci-fi naval combat seems to be a thing again?
Great to read, and I did enjoy the build up to the game – and sorry the girls did pull me away, sometime you have to go do husband/dad stuff 😉
Absolutely no worries, @rasmus – Darkstar is a relatively high “skill cap” game and I wouldn’t want to put veteran players up against new players right off the bat in any event. If you’d been able to play that weekend I’d probably throw in a ship myself so you and I could fight while Tuffyears and Hegemongary fought each other in a different part of the table. 🙂
Or another option would have been you join them and take down one of the bigger INJ cruisers or something like that – options that is why we love the game
Cool deal. Points weren’t really the worry, though … Straight-out player experience I feel is a thing in this game. Some games you can just chuck dice, it’s largely luck-focused, light and fun, and a new player can beat a veteran player in a heads up match. I don’t think Darkstar is that kind of game (at least I hope not). On the other hand, I’d I had played on their side, yes we would have had experienced players on both sides, but now they don’t have much agency. Or you and I could have taken one ship on each… Read more »
I enjoyed watching while I was awake, but bed was calling. It’s good seeing new players getting into it so well
Gotta train new allies and foes! Fresh meat for the grinder! >=D
Nice small scale engagement to get people hungry for more.
I’ve missed Darkstar, both playing and seeing other people’s games.
Yep, @Muakhah, especially since one of them has chosen Arab League as their faction!