Noble Armada 'Ships of the Fleet' update - worth getting?

[Keeper Nilbog]

I've just got back into playing the old call to arms system by Mongoose, using Babylon 5, the ADB variant of Starfleet (my current preferred version) an Noble Armada. As Noble Armada is available as a PDF (unlike Babylon 5) I was wondering if picking up the second book (Ships of the Fleets) was worth it ?

I have the rules in book form, was interested as to what the second  book brought to the table for the game, I know it has new fleets, additional ships for each House and reworked carrier rules. What else, if anything and is it a musty have to expand the game ?

[Hobby Services]

If buying it will put money in Mongoose's pocket, you're rewarding them for killing the game after lying to customers nonstop about its status for well over a year.  Don't do that.  Either pirate a copy if you feel like being unethical, or wait for the new FASA version that's coming soon.

Copied from the Bazaar thread:

Recently got back into this myself, but unable to help out (currently only have Al-Malik).

What do you think of the 'Ships of the Fleets' update, is it worth get in PDF or just stick with the main rule book (possibly allowing carriers 'free' ships, though I don't know how that would work with cos of fighters/bombers) ?

Here, let me just discourage you from spending money on a dead game further by providing the "carrier fix" from SoF - all carriers get their bays filled with fighters for free.  Zero points for full loads of fighters, and you can upgrade any or all of them to the appropriate bomber type for +5 points per bomber as desired.  As many people had pointed out rulebook carriers were stupidly expensive for what you got, and this was the correction factor they came up with for it.  Worked okay IME, but the game was killed before I got to test it much.

[The_Beast]

At the risk of more wailin'-and-gnashing-of-teeth, has anybody got a feeling of how much is translatable between the ACTA's?

Not a big fan myself, but I know of several folk that are all about the crossover events.

Doug

[Keeper Nilbog]

Not really that much cross over opportunity, mainly due to the different versions of the game having different technology bases (Shield's in one game do not work the same as in the others - SFU and Abbai shield are similar, but not comparable).

I would not mix ships/games.

Great core system though.

[Hobby Services]

The core mechanics (which were partly lifted from Battlefleet Gothic) make it easy enough to jump between the different systems but your point costs are going to be hopelessly off from one game to the next due to different tech assumptions, so it would be a matter of playtesting to figure out how many White Stars give a good game against a Klingon squadron or House Decados fleet.  If you're shooting for casual/friendly games perfect balance isn't really needed, but you'd definitely need to put some work into ironing out cross-setting issues before playing a "live" game.  

Probably the hardest element to adapt would be the boarding actions from Noble Armada, or perhaps the way different systems handle (or don't handle) fighters.  The grappling part of NA boarding's easy enough to adapt, but the actual troop combat is more of a sticking point.  The NA shield/burnout mechanics are probably also a sticking point.

If you're really into crossover gaming, there used to be a backward adaption statting Battlefleet Gothic ships into ACTA: B5 terms out there somewhere, but I can't find it online now.  Only ever saw it as a printout at a convention, but I recall it looked pretty good.  Amusingly, the guy who had it said he was working on Star Trek next, years before the ACTA: SFB rules saw the light of day.  

[The_Beast]

Thanks, guys!

I figured such, basically 'cuz I know crazy folk that do it for SFB, B5 Wars, and it's practically an FT cottage industry, but I'd never run across someone talking about using ACTA.

Doug