Quote:A typical skirmish game has, let's say, 10 miniatures per side and can wrap up in 2-3 hours. Design me a two-player scenario of Silent Death that can be played in the same timeframe with as many ships per side and you are most likely playing Blizzard and Kosmos value game. A fun game too! This is where SD shines. Now, scale up the designs a bit, including a carrier and a command ship to one side, similar for the other, and add 3 players to each side - each with their own tactical preferences, player-vs-player grudges, and extraneous cross-chatter. If granular rules depth doesn't yield, Speed will make up the difference. I want to essentially play Silent Death, with the sheets and ships, but the larger group demands exceptional rules truncation. It's NOT the typical game size and I can't think of many games that can accommodate what I am asking of it right out of the box. So read 85% of my opinions with this bias in mind.

• Deathwind II  (x2)
  
• Thunder Bird  (x3)
  
• Strella           (x4)
  

• Glaive III     (x1)
  
• Hound       (x2)
  
• Pit Viper II  (x4)
  

 

• The point-defense system of the Glaive, clearly overwhelmed, manages to remove an Mk. 20, but the remaining proceeds to devastate the armor of the ship in a procession of hull impacts the ending of which leaves the shellshocked crew bloodied and dazed, staring at error screens informing them that all weapons on board are knocked out, soon to be followed by eruptive sparks as the weapon consoles themselves suffer critical failures. With no Gungnir mount to remove the 8 incoming Mk 20's, the Glaive III is doomed. [TOC follow up: "No ship can repel firepower of that magnitude!"]
  
• Pit Viper II's Mk. 30 torps reach their Deathwind targets and soften them up a fair amount, taking out Missile Launchers and rear Splattergun mounts. The Deathwind pilots relied on their 1-4 [2] PD systems instead of dodging as the odds were similar, but were not effective in this instance.
  
• Two double-spreads of Mk. 20 torpedos fired from each ship of the Hound squadron paired up with their Thunderbird targets and reduced them to debris clouds.
  

• A Deathwind pilot, frustrated with his attempts to hit the jinking maneuvers of the Pit Vipers [2d8+6 (-3 speed restriction penalty); 15DV = 14.6% range S, only 9.1% range M] attempted a ram, was successful and cleaved the annoying attrition fighter in half while taking the small mass of the ship as damage in return. The Viper pilot's ejection system was executed without fault.
  

• Although the Pit Vipers had eliminated a couple of the Strella IIs at this point, they were finding it difficult to hit their tiny (and fast) silhouettes, and if the Vipers in turn were hit and slowed even slightly, the Deathwind's Ion Ram could come to bear on them much more easily. [TOC Follow-up: statistical breakdown for dual pulse laser mount fired by "regular" (d6 ADB) experienced pilot...  21.6% hit at range L, 30.2% hit at range M, and 39.8% at range S]. Radio chatter discussing breaking away coincided with a command from the monitoring Longboat Yggdrasil to return. They had intercepted a similar command from a nearby Totenkomph II to do the same. Both sides were either satisfied with the skirmish outcome or neither side wanted to commit any further is up for debate, but one certain thing is that both sides claimed a minor victory this day.
  

1. Most of the standard stuff that should be the default rule- easing speed restrictions, decoys, point defense, firing multiple mounts, Life pods, etc.
   
2. Variable speed, Super Manuverable Torpedos - this was the standard that my excellent guest player Bob most often used so we went with it. Extremely deadly. I remember saying "If it gets them off the board quicker, yeah- let's do it."
   
3. No drift. Two of our guests were first-time players and normally black powder historical gamers, so I drew the line there. The sentiment was that drift is fun and will be included in future games.
   
4. Crew Experience die rather than purchased skills. For simplicity, everyone was Regulars d6 ADB. 5.5 points per gunner, 11 pts. per pilot added to the ships for TPV for 'per-side point estimation'. I only attempted to get the numbers close. Forces TPV ended up being Colos: 353; Sigurd: 292
   
5. As a result of everyone having the same GNR skill, we rolled a d10 once at the start of the game for a firing turn order (for all turns) and recorded it on a firing order chart. The Missile Lock-on target number = 10. The crew was to roll 2d6 + ADB & roll equal to or higher. However, every launcher mount on the board was removed via torp impacts, so not a single missile was launched!
   

Merry Christmas pilots!

So with the release of Role Master Unified it has me waxing nostalgically for the days of fighter combat and new material.

As a question to the players of this fine property;

Is there any benefit of having a Discord Channel to discuss the future of Silent Death? No in a disparaging way, more in a hopeful resurgence.

New rules, new factions, new construction, new technologies...ect.

The world is moving into a digital play age and I would like to think that our current curators have a vision that they would be willing to share.
If not then this might be a great place to start?
Thoughts?

I think I have shifted the rules enough to make it feel fresh and also samey.

Enjoy the first draft if not many drafts and final rejections.

Ha

Merry Christmas.

Attached Files

  Silent Death TNM Long Overdue Update.docx (Size: 65.72 KB / Downloads: 3)

After, ahem, some time I have been considering rules updates and moving the game into the erm future.

Quote:[font="Droid Sans", sans-serif]Bugs have a 'crew' and the number of crew equals their pilot and gunnery skills.  Ergo, killing or destroying weapons downgrades their effectiveness.[/font]

[font="Droid Sans", sans-serif]Remember playtest remit was to get the bugs to swarm.[/font]

[font="Droid Sans", sans-serif]I had floated that the 'Regen' rating could be used to add buffs to other bugs in forms of pluses to hit.[/font]

[font="Droid Sans", sans-serif]What if we say the bug ships in range of the regen rating gives the Bugs bonuses not just to hit but also improves their pilot and gunnery ratings.[/font]

[font="Droid Sans", sans-serif]A 4 group of bugs with a standard rating of 4, would lift their gunnery rating up to 7, the original bug from the help from its buddies and also gets a +3 to hit.[/font]

[font="Droid Sans", sans-serif]Drawback:[/font]
[font="Droid Sans", sans-serif]If the bugs has been screened and or is in Ink it cannot help other bugs and other bugs cannot help it.[/font]

[font="Droid Sans", sans-serif]Note:  The pilot does not fire a weapon and therefore the minimum skill will always be 2 for a weapon.[/font]

[font="Droid Sans", sans-serif]Regen can be used x times = to its rating.  Either DC x hits up to y times, or grow back ammo x times, grow back weapons, J pods, and drones etc in any mix that is not greater than the Regen Rating...[/font]

The Bulldog, having a lot of the same complaints from me as the Delta II, has been re-designed to be a more "durable," fighter. Dropping the twin autocannons and triple miniguns, a pair of splatter guns and four pulse lasers make up its new armaments. In addition to these new guns, an extra decoy, two more chances for point defense and an improved damage control system has been added to the craft. To save on costs, the armor and drive limits have not been altered. The only off-set to these improvements is a higher price tag and shorter engagement range. A great opportunity to test out the new defense systems!

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Alright, I've got a few questions about the store.

1. The original Totenkopf is absent in the store. Is the new resin model replacing it?

2. The following ships have no sheets or info about them: Bright Thorn, Eel, Monarch, Skree, Scarab and I guess the Dumbo?

3. The Aurora Hawk should be added to the above list, yet its not in the store. How do I know that? Saw one on ebay. So that means its either a mislabel or its available but not online.

I made this since I didn't like the reliance on ammo. Also, I figure if you can put a pulse laser on a Saucer Shuttle, you can put it on a Delta. Then again, if the Delta is old, but common, then it shouldn't be that far-fetched for a mod like this to exist.

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ALERT! ALERT! INCURSION ALERT! ALL PILOTS TO YOUR SHIPS! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! I REPEAT, THIS IS NOT A DRILL!

Rising metal prices will soon force us to raise prices by as much as 20%. But for the next 24 hours (more or less) get a 10% discount on all purchases! Order now!

Use the sale code FLASH2022 to get your discount.

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Sorry if this is a silly question, but does the Dumbo I appear in any existing sourcebooks? I've seen references to it around the forums and the Dumbo II model shows up in the campaign rules on this site, but I haven't been able to track down any reference to the I outside of the (very useful thus far) ship allocation KarelianSuomi provided elsewhere. Is the II the ubiquitous Dumbo in space? Any tips would be appreciated.

Thanks