X-wing asteroid base WIP

[Mason]

Looking good, mate.
I like the various bits of 'tidy junk' that you have assembled, it should all work really well when coloured in.
 

I see that you even have a 'tray'.
Jeff will be pleased.
 

[Dr DeAth]

That's coming along nicely - hurry up and get some paint on it! 

I see that you even have a 'tray'.
Jeff will be pleased.
 

So will Mr Stephens

[Elk101]

What, Mr Stephens in catering?

[Elk101]

Here's a discussion regarding turbolaser turrets on BGG, haven't tried anything myself though:

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/936237/standard-rules-turbolasers

That's really useful.  The concept garnering most favour seemed to be this one from Rogue 13:

Turbolaser Battery
Hull: 4
Agility: 1 (to represent plating, and this increases to 2 at Range 3)
Attack: 3* at Range 2-3
Actions: None

*Attack: This attack rolls 3 dice, but must score three total uncancelled [HIT] and/or [CRIT] results against the target in order to hit. If this attack hits, the target takes five critical damage.

So, what this means is that it's unlikely for the batteries to hit X-Wings (the battery has to roll all three hits without TL or Focus and the X-Wing has to throw all blanks on its defense), but if it does the X-Wing is destroyed outright, barring Shield Upgrade. It's slightly easier for the batteries to hit Y-Wings and the YT-1300, though they can survive a single hit.
End

That makes it fairly devastating if it hits so it might force attacking players to carefully consider their attacks. I'm assuming that as it states ranges 2-3 only, range 1 is considered to be outwith their firing arc? Five criticals for a hit is brutal though. As my lasers are singlely mounted I'd probably reduce that.

Another gamer said that he has multiple activations at different skill levels during a turn. The trick will be ensuring that gameplay is balanced.

[rumacara]

Those rules sound very interesting.
And the base is looking very nice.

[Elk101]

Thanks.  I also found this on Boardgamegeek:

[pocoloco]

That's a good one too.

[Elk101]

I decided to brush a layer of black paint over all the filler, blue foam and white polystyrene just to make sure the spray primer won't ruin it. It'll get primed tomorrow. I'm really leaning towards the grey-brown with light grey look.

As regards the gameplay I'm thinking pilot skill 0 to ensure that it fires after most of the more agile ships, allowing them to get their attack in first; probably firing at 180 degrees. It would make sense that small ships are hard to hit but easy to damage, large ships are easier to hit but harder to damage, and huge ships are easy to hit but hard to damage. I'll need to figure out how this will work in practice though as I don't want loads of special rules. It would also be good to allow for the base to be shielded with direct, sustained attacks on the shield generator (probably the big ball) required to drop them.

[Silent Invader]

All very interesting Steve. 

I take it the base will have various cards rather than just one card for the whole thing?

[Elk101]

All very interesting Steve. 

I take it the base will have various cards rather than just one card for the whole thing?

I'm not sure yet. I did think that it might be one card covering the shields,  overall hull, attack info, etc. but that each laser would roll it's own attack and have its own hull points. Once they're knocked out they lose their attacks leaving the station vulnerable.

[rumacara]

A Ion cannon would also be interesting for a base (like Hoth).
Keep it coming. You´re giving me some ideas.

[Silent Invader]

I'm not sure yet. I did think that it might be one card covering the shields,  overall hull, attack info, etc. but that each laser would roll it's own attack and have its own hull points. Once they're knocked out they lose their attacks leaving the station vulnerable.

Interesting 

I think I'm going to give cards to different sections, though I really like the idea of the shield being taken down for the whole base.

[Elk101]

Interesting 

I think I'm going to give cards to different sections, though I really like the idea of the shield being taken down for the whole base.

I'm not sure how to work it out yet. Do the shields have to be dropped before the lasers can be hit, for example? I'm assuming the shields are a combination of ray shield to defend against lasers, etc and particle shields to protect against debris in the asteroid field and to prevent unauthorised ships from landing. There are lots of examples of particular areas being covered by separate shields so perhaps the lasers have a localised ray shield with one or two shield counters,  like a small ship, while the wider base is covered by a larger series of shields with a higher rating but all powered by the main shield generator. It would be no different to different electrical circuits in a house being isolatable with their own fuses in a consumer unit. Individual fuses could be tripped but if the consumer unit goes down everything goes with it.

A localised ray shield could also allow the lasers to fire outside of the main shields. The base would also have fighter support but would have to turn off the landing zone shields in order to scramble. This might make a base a little bit like a huge ship in terms of damage. In this case there would be two laser turrets,  one laser turret with a refuelling line, a fighter landing pad, a large ship landing pad, a deflector shield generator and the central base area (comms, command and control,  etc), so seven distinct areas. I quite like the idea that the base could use some of the crew cards too (equipping a laser turret with Gunner, for example).  This might make the idea of separate cards work better; say one per turret and one for the main tower?

[Silent Invader]

Lots of thinking going on there Steve!     

With regard to your last para especially, in my head an asteroid base IS in effect a large ship, which is what is guiding my thinking 

[tomrommel1]

very nice idea and building!