Author Topic: Alpha Strike: A Quick-Playing Tactical Miniatures Game  (Read 221888 times)

Alexander Knight

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Re: Alpha Strike: A Quick-Playing Tactical Miniatures Game
« Reply #660 on: 06 August 2013, 20:15:12 »
You'll be pleased to know that in AS, ProtoMech Points do not need to maintain cohesion or all fire on the same target.  You're free to move individual Protos all over the map and fire on as many targets as you have Protos.  you just won't be doing full damage.

Nerroth

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Re: Alpha Strike: A Quick-Playing Tactical Miniatures Game
« Reply #661 on: 06 August 2013, 20:46:59 »
Perhaps it might be worth checking the Society ProtoMechs (or "Z" variants) when their conversions are being done, to see if that particular class was ever used by a "standard" Clan (such as the Coyotes).

If it was (such as the Sprite and Hobgoblin, both of which are listed on the 3085 Homeworld ProtoMech RATs in WoR:S), it could be offered in AS with the assumption of a five-proto Point.

However, if it was a variant which no Clan ever adopted (such as the Procyon Z or Roc Z, which even the Coyotes don't have on their 3072 ProtoMech RAT), it could instead be done up using Society force organization templates (perhaps as a three-proto Un).


Or, perhaps the units or Z-variants that only served in the Society could be skipped for the time being, and revisited once the Wars of Reaving are handled in a future AS PDF supplement. (At which point, other Society-specific Unit Cards might be offered, based on their descriptions in WoR:S?)



EDIT: And speaking of non-standard force organizations, how many BA troopers are in a single squad, as used by the Marians? Do the Legions use standard IS deployments for their troopers, or would a Unit Card of standard Spheroid BA squads not represent how things work in the MHAF?

I recall that on the BattleMech side of things, the Marians deploy those units in five-'Mech centuries. But how many BA troopers would equate to each BattleMech from the Legions' point of view?
« Last Edit: 06 August 2013, 21:01:51 by Nerroth »

Von Ether

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Re: Alpha Strike: A Quick-Playing Tactical Miniatures Game
« Reply #662 on: 06 August 2013, 21:34:07 »
hard to accept that assumption when most proto's are about on par with IS early tech light mechs, and cost about the same in BV. (or more, in many cases)

Just curious, what were the fluff reasons why Protomechs didn't replace IS light mechs?
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glitterboy2098

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Re: Alpha Strike: A Quick-Playing Tactical Miniatures Game
« Reply #663 on: 06 August 2013, 21:45:07 »
Just curious, what were the fluff reasons why Protomechs didn't replace IS light mechs?
probably the limited protomech production facilities in the IS, and the need for small EI implanted pilots.

odds are the IS efforts to duplicate the tech (as seen in that story in techmanual) were a minor sideline compared to building more general clan tech production.. and the fear of cybernetics caused by the Manei-Domini made it hard to get EI implants or DNI technologies into the mainstream enough to make it worthwhile.
odds are super-heavy proto's with their PAL based control frame wound up too tough for IS tech.

Alexander Knight

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Re: Alpha Strike: A Quick-Playing Tactical Miniatures Game
« Reply #664 on: 06 August 2013, 22:26:08 »
2,957 out of 4,527 complete.

And as a bonus...the Athena XR!

Type:        CV
Size:          3
Move:        6"t
Armor:       8
Structure:  4
Damage:   6/5/0
PV:            14
Specials:
CASE,FC,TUR(2/2/0),TUR(4/4/0),SRCH


Enjoy!

SCC

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Re: Alpha Strike: A Quick-Playing Tactical Miniatures Game
« Reply #665 on: 06 August 2013, 22:35:26 »
Weird but fun.
The basic unit is an Un.
One Un is 1 mech, 3 battlearmor, 7 Vees, 1 fighter, or 3 protos.
The next highets is a Trey, which is 3 Un's
A Sept is the highest, 2 Treys and a command Un.

And they used normal clan protos and BA alongside their own designs, making alphastrike stats tougher to get.
I thought a Sept of 'Mechs was 9 'Mechs, is this wrong?

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Re: Alpha Strike: A Quick-Playing Tactical Miniatures Game
« Reply #666 on: 06 August 2013, 22:41:32 »
ProtoMechs aren't used by the IS due to CLANTECH and the need for pilot implants, come the current timeline (3145) that means we don't have a good reason for why the MoC isn't using them

@Alexander Knight, the Athena XR, how does that work out? (Yes I know it's got two turrets, but shouldn't they be combined into a single turret or something?)

Alexander Knight

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Re: Alpha Strike: A Quick-Playing Tactical Miniatures Game
« Reply #667 on: 06 August 2013, 22:51:48 »
@Alexander Knight, the Athena XR, how does that work out? (Yes I know it's got two turrets, but shouldn't they be combined into a single turret or something?)

It's got two turrets.  That means it can shoot a separate target with each one.  Hooray Athena XR.  ;)

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Re: Alpha Strike: A Quick-Playing Tactical Miniatures Game
« Reply #668 on: 06 August 2013, 23:02:08 »
I thought a Sept of 'Mechs was 9 'Mechs, is this wrong?

You are correct in saying you are wrong. Glitterboy is correct.
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theothersarah

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Re: Alpha Strike: A Quick-Playing Tactical Miniatures Game
« Reply #669 on: 06 August 2013, 23:55:26 »
I was kind of sad that the Wobbies didn't make their own protomechs using VDNI as a standin for EI. They could get around the size issues by removing the arms and limbs of their pilots (with sockets to plug in robotic limbs when they're not in the cockpit of course)

2,957 out of 4,527 complete.

And as a bonus...the Athena XR!

Type:        CV
Size:          3
Move:        6"t
Armor:       8
Structure:  4
Damage:   6/5/0
PV:            14
Specials:
CASE,FC,TUR(2/2/0),TUR(4/4/0),SRCH


Enjoy!

I like the Athena XR in TW but my goodness that looks like a lot of bang for your points in Alpha Strike.

Lorcan Nagle

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Re: Alpha Strike: A Quick-Playing Tactical Miniatures Game
« Reply #670 on: 07 August 2013, 01:40:53 »
gonna play me some Alpha Strike on Friday, expect a battle report with photos soon!
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Narann

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Re: Alpha Strike: A Quick-Playing Tactical Miniatures Game
« Reply #671 on: 07 August 2013, 01:55:08 »
I like the Athena XR in TW but my goodness that looks like a lot of bang for your points in Alpha Strike.
? I think it's actually very strong:
Quote
Damage:   6/5/0
CASE,FC,TUR(2/2/0),TUR(4/4/0),SRCH
It can inflict a lot of damage (12 at Short, 11 at Medium). This seems to be a true war machine. o_o

Is it me or I didn't catch the point?

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Re: Alpha Strike: A Quick-Playing Tactical Miniatures Game
« Reply #672 on: 07 August 2013, 02:09:38 »
? I think it's actually very strong:It can inflict a lot of damage (12 at Short, 11 at Medium). This seems to be a true war machine. o_o

Is it me or I didn't catch the point?

I said that you get a lot for the point cost so I don't know how you interpreted that as me saying it's bad.

Von Ether

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Re: Alpha Strike: A Quick-Playing Tactical Miniatures Game
« Reply #673 on: 07 August 2013, 02:19:26 »
? I think it's actually very strong:It can inflict a lot of damage (12 at Short, 11 at Medium). This seems to be a true war machine. o_o

Is it me or I didn't catch the point?

I am confused. I thought that with the new AS stats everything was already added to the base damage. [Pg. 50, TUR special ability.] (And that you only add damages when converting QS to AS.)

If so, though, the original QS damage line is in the negatives.
« Last Edit: 07 August 2013, 02:33:23 by Von Ether »
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SCC

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Re: Alpha Strike: A Quick-Playing Tactical Miniatures Game
« Reply #674 on: 07 August 2013, 02:33:53 »
The Athena's normal attack is a composite of it's two turrets, the problem I have with it is that it should really just have the one turret attack, not all three

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Re: Alpha Strike: A Quick-Playing Tactical Miniatures Game
« Reply #675 on: 07 August 2013, 03:26:50 »
@theothersarah
Sorry, I missunderstand "that looks like a lot of bang for your points". My bad. :(

@Von Ether
You're completly right, I'm completly wrong:
Quote
Turret (TUR#)
A unit with a turret has some (or all) of its weapons mounted
with a 360-degree field of fire. Damage for all turret-mounted
weapons are included in the base damage values for the unit
, and
then separately for the TUR special ability. Thus, when a unit with a
turret wishes to make an attack outside of its normal forward field
of fire, it must use the damage values for its TUR special ability in
place of the unit’s standard damage values.
Weapon attacks made using the turret cannot be combined
with any other special attack ability (such as IF, FLK, and so on).
Some particularly large units—such as mobile structures and
very large or super large vehicles—may feature multiple turrets.
A unit with multiple turrets may use each turret individually to
deliver its attacks (see Exceptionally Large Units, pp. 96-99).

But I don't get it. In the Athena case,t he base attack should be 6/6/0 (TUR4/4/0 + TUR2/2/0). No?

What does that mean?

If the Athena "wishes to make an attack outside of its normal forward field of fire, it must use the damage values for its TUR special ability in place of the unit’s standard damage values."

So if I understand well, it's better for an Athena to fight in rear than in front? o_O You "just" can't get other special abilities. That's bizarre but maybe that's the point.

Von Ether

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Re: Alpha Strike: A Quick-Playing Tactical Miniatures Game
« Reply #676 on: 07 August 2013, 03:34:41 »
2,957 out of 4,527 complete.

Don't let the frustration get to you.   [##] Keep up the good fight! You're more than half way there!!
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Re: Alpha Strike: A Quick-Playing Tactical Miniatures Game
« Reply #677 on: 07 August 2013, 03:47:38 »
@theothersarah
Sorry, I missunderstand "that looks like a lot of bang for your points". My bad. :(

@Von Ether
You're completly right, I'm completly wrong:
But I don't get it. In the Athena case,t he base attack should be 6/6/0 (TUR4/4/0 + TUR2/2/0). No?

What does that mean?

If the Athena "wishes to make an attack outside of its normal forward field of fire, it must use the damage values for its TUR special ability in place of the unit’s standard damage values."

So if I understand well, it's better for an Athena to fight in rear than in front? o_O You "just" can't get other special abilities. That's bizarre but maybe that's the point.

Not quite - if I have it correctly, it can make:
- a 6/5/0 attack in the normal forward arc
- a 4/4/0 and a 2/2/0 attack outside that arc (you don't add them, you make each separately)
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SCC

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Re: Alpha Strike: A Quick-Playing Tactical Miniatures Game
« Reply #678 on: 07 August 2013, 04:00:38 »
The Athena can't make two turret attacks in the same turn can it? That is fire BOTH turrets

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Re: Alpha Strike: A Quick-Playing Tactical Miniatures Game
« Reply #679 on: 07 August 2013, 04:25:49 »
Just want to be sure... AS-7D has damage block of 5/5/1 with LRM 1/1/1, AC 2/2/0 and IF 1 in AS right? So all I have to do is add the special damage values into the damage block on the QS card and I'm good?
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Re: Alpha Strike: A Quick-Playing Tactical Miniatures Game
« Reply #680 on: 07 August 2013, 05:10:44 »
The Athena can't make two turret attacks in the same turn can it? That is fire BOTH turrets
Interesting question. :)
Just want to be sure... AS-7D has damage block of 5/5/1 with LRM 1/1/1, AC 2/2/0 and IF 1 in AS right? So all I have to do is add the special damage values into the damage block on the QS card and I'm good?
From here (QS card): AS7-D has damage 2/2/0 and LRM 1/1/1 and AC 2/2/0. So AS damage should be: 5/5/1.

Am I right?

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Re: Alpha Strike: A Quick-Playing Tactical Miniatures Game
« Reply #681 on: 07 August 2013, 05:17:49 »
The Athena can't make two turret attacks in the same turn can it? That is fire BOTH turrets

It can. 
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Re: Alpha Strike: A Quick-Playing Tactical Miniatures Game
« Reply #682 on: 07 August 2013, 06:46:39 »
Just want to be sure... AS-7D has damage block of 5/5/1 with LRM 1/1/1, AC 2/2/0 and IF 1 in AS right? So all I have to do is add the special damage values into the damage block on the QS card and I'm good?

In theory, yes. Rounding may give slightly different results from what you're doing, but you'll certainly be within a point of the proper value.
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Re: Alpha Strike: A Quick-Playing Tactical Miniatures Game
« Reply #683 on: 07 August 2013, 07:15:02 »
It can.
That seems a bit silly as it is better for it to fight backwards.

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Re: Alpha Strike: A Quick-Playing Tactical Miniatures Game
« Reply #684 on: 07 August 2013, 07:18:12 »
That seems a bit silly as it is better for it to fight backwards.

I don't see anything that limits the TUR to being used backwards.   It says it has 360 field of fire, and if you're firing outside the front arc, you must use the TUR.  So if it is in the forward arc, you may use the TUR(s) instead of a standard weapon attack.
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Re: Alpha Strike: A Quick-Playing Tactical Miniatures Game
« Reply #685 on: 07 August 2013, 08:06:48 »
Is Battleforce now dead and if so do we expect to see StratOps re-released with the relevant sections removed?

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Re: Alpha Strike: A Quick-Playing Tactical Miniatures Game
« Reply #686 on: 07 August 2013, 08:15:07 »
Is Battleforce now dead and if so do we expect to see StratOps re-released with the relevant sections removed?

In order: No, and N/A.

Alpha Strike/Quick Strike and Battleforce may share a lot of rules in common, but they are still two distinct games. Alpha Strike is focused at the same individual level as Total War, but sheds a lot of detail in favor of fast gameplay. Battleforce has the same level of detail as Alpha Strike(more in certain cases, less in others), and uses that reduced detail level to focus on much larger games than Total War does.

Now as to wether or not any future SO reprints will omit the Quickstrike section....that's a very good question, one that might not even be answerable even by Herb until he decides that a reprint is needed, and gets such a project going.
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Re: Alpha Strike: A Quick-Playing Tactical Miniatures Game
« Reply #687 on: 07 August 2013, 08:33:26 »
If Strat Ops have to be republished, only QuickStrike rules have to be removed.

To make BattleForce compliant with AS, only the few rules (about damage values mainly) have to be "homogenized".

This way, BF and AS could share similar rules (only about conversion actually).

I don't think it's relevant to spend more time on Strat Ops now. Push AS first seems more important.  [drool]

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Re: Alpha Strike: A Quick-Playing Tactical Miniatures Game
« Reply #688 on: 07 August 2013, 08:34:47 »
Agreed. Besides, it's not like QS/BF is the section of StratOps you should be paying the most attention to... O:-)
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Re: Alpha Strike: A Quick-Playing Tactical Miniatures Game
« Reply #689 on: 07 August 2013, 08:50:47 »
Agreed. Besides, it's not like QS/BF is the section of StratOps you should be paying the most attention to... O:-)
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