1. I've chosen Bright Thorns for an upcoming game. I don't understand their role. All they seem to bring to the table is being the only gamma with an ink dispenser. Without the redundant beam mounts of some other gammas, this seems to lend them to a fast support role?

As the highest pointed gamma, (besides a Mutant Hull that I'm not even sure is purchasable at start or if it changes mid-game - I've forgotten all the beta rules threads from the old page) I'm also curious as to what is causing Bright Thorn's points to be a bit inflated- (unless it's the larva in this comparison that is undervalued).

      Bright Thorn                                                                   Larva

                -2                       Defensive Value                              +2
                -4                       Damage Reduction                         +4
               +3                       Drive                                                -3
                -2                       Type 1 Drones                               +2
                -2                       Hit Boxes                                        +2
              Same                    Regen Value                                  Same
                -2                       X-Beam ammo                               +2
                Ink                      Equipment                               Drone Mover

I also compared the critical tables of these two, and results 7 and up are identical for both designs. Result 6 (10%) is a markedly better result for the Larva, result 1 (10%) brings the Larva's DV to par with the Thorn's. Crits don't seem to be a contributing factor. Not wanting to make this a min/max issue, just wondering if the situations in which BT shine are those forces where the Betas don't have ink coverage? How are they earning their points back?

2. Any additional guidance as to which Terran ships to test against these grubs? Are Drydock I & II Ships okay? NW? Any to avoid? Any specific rules to focus on? Worm Pods/Blood Worms/Boarding?

3. Dumping the latest Brood playtest file on Independence Day with a coinciding "Russell Casse" memorial summer sale just might be the best thing to come out of this site all year...  (hint-hint nudge-nudge)

1001 pt./side pending playtest game (move to Night Brood 2.0 if it would be better there).
Force lists below if you'd like to give it a go.

Situation:
Red Star Central Command received a distress signal from the Gyáa'aang- a Discovery Class science vessel surveying potential terraforming prospects of Albanghu IV near the Old Imperial Rim. A mixed force with elements from the 777th Rescue Squadron -"Broken Bow" & 437th Operations Support Squadron -"Firekeepers" (including an FTL tender) have been sent to investigate. They arrive at the beacon ten days later- orbiting the planet amongst remnants of a recent battle. The Gyáa'aang is spotted, but before an investigation into the incident begins, incoming hatchling ship signatures light up tactical screens of several Red Star vessels. Standing Peppy, Captain of the Betafortress "All In", barks commands to the Dart II's to "do a barrel roll" and get in fighting formation...   

[added pilot values & fixed a typo:]

More to come... (5/1 Edit: game postponed 'till 5/2)
Optional Rules:

• Easing Target Speed Restrictions
  
• Firing Multiple Weapon Systems
  
• Gunnery Duels (if you can remember!)
  
• Ottawa Redshirt Crew Allocation (ORCA)
  
• Destroyed Starcraft Debris
  
• Drift (at end of turn)
  
• Sideslips
  
• Sequential Resolution of Torp Attacks
  

So much for jumping over them.  

On the ravaged husks of worlds decimated in the Hatchling War, outposts turned hellscapes both written off and long forgotten, vestiges of humanity defy extinction as they salvage and war over the scraps essential to survival in the howling canyons of their twisted habitats and the silence of space...

• Buzzard Pirates start the game with one point of Zeal and can never have more than one point at any time. Buzzards do not accumulate Luck.
  
• Zeal can be spent at any time by a crewmember of a ship to temporarily double their PLT or GNR skill (max 10) for the remainder of the turn phase. Hedgehog ramming attempts accompanied by a fervent cacophony of howling from the crew are typical.
  
• Fervor for Carnage: Zeal can be regained in various ways depending on the role of the ship or crewmember, but the closest Buzzard ship to a 'reactor hit' resultant destroyed ship (friend or foe) always gains a point of zeal on a D6 roll of a 4+.
  
• The Chosen: A Hedgehog crew regains Zeal on the crit result of a 7: when their ship shudders and threatens to rip apart but somehow manages to hold together.
  
• Flaming Skullz: Buzzards often coat their missiles with incendiary dope because-- fire, and sometimes they even stay lit.  If at least three 6's are rolled in the missile to hit/damage roll, a point of Zeal is regained as the crew's goggled faces contort into pyromaniacal sneers of jagged teeth.
  

I still think the Drift phase should be at the end of the turn.

Firstly it allows missile boats to drift into range as a tactic.  Secondly it is a risk with asteroids.  That is, asteroids drift first then the ships drift with possible collisions.  Any ship entering an asteroid's hex needs to roll under their piloting skill to avoid hitting it.

Drift in SD gives a unique feel to the game that no other space game has.  And it is fun.

It also means some ships can drift our of contact with the fight.  Even slower ships can drift up to 4 hexes which means they will need to turn around to get back into the fight.  And smaller ships can career off to escape their larger conterparts.

It is also good with using debris counters for destroyed ships (3d6 low damage) , which is funny for smaller ships because if they do get hit they get hit well.  Again this can be a risk in the drift phase.

I placed an order but there was no payment option apart from proceed to checkout that wasn't a link.

I can only assume that you will raise the order and invoice for payment?

Yours

The Attrition Fighter, the Darwinian Pilot draft, who survives gets a bigger ship eventually.

Saucer Shuttles?
These are so low end it makes you wonder how desparate are procurement for these things.  If a pilot survives it probably because they were not seen as a threat... no matter how many you bring.

Pit Vipers
The classic in attrition fighters.  There are various versions from the Trainer to House Specific variants.  One of the fastest of the Attrition fighters and generally a good all rounder.

Blizzards
For a concept the Blizzard is a cheap torp boat.  Regrettably its main weapon is a bit lack lustre because it requires getting up and close to targets that would ice in a trice.

Spirit Riders
This is one of the toughest Attrition Fighters but unlike many others in its class it comes with two torps, twin splattergun and armour value of 3!  However, to make this fighter worth its weight the pilot has to be of some standard.

WindJammers
Similar to the Pit Viper these fighters have reduced their drives for a QuintPulse Lasers which makes it quite pokey and a danger to others in its class.  Also the WindJammer has the potential to smear a Sauer Shuttle in one shot (It needs to deal 7 damage and it has a +4 modifer to begin with)

Some tricks with Attition Fighters is to use them as Torp shooters.  Another is to slightly improve the gunnery of the pilot so it shoots before other fighters.  

In swarms they can be dangerous but due to their fragility they cannot swarm for long.

Some of the ships are equipped with a markable Hyperdrive system. I have found one instance where it is said, that the hyperdrive follows the campaign rules. Since I have struggled to find these, I didn't find any hyperdrive rules too. ?

My question regarding the hyperdrive thus is: How does it work, what does it do and how much does it cost point/slot-wise?

Speaking of ship building, I can't find the build costs for EMP beams/rays either. I would have expected to find them in the ASP sourcebook but either I stubbornly flipped past it or this assumption was wrong. A full text PDF search didn't yield any results either.

Does anyone know where to find this info?

I haven’t played in a long time and my ships seemed to have been placed in incorrectly labeled baggies. First up, is this a Blizzard? If not, what is it?


I will post more pics of my painted ships as I want to make sure I have them correctly labeled.

I'm curious. :

How do you play Silent Death – Do you come together for some quick scenarios every now and then or do you play elaborate campaigns with some sort of storyline tying the encounters together or something in-between?  

And if you play scenarios, do you create your own or do you repeat those from the books for convenience's sake (and because there are really lots and lots of them)?

Or anything else that's unique to your games. Please tell me. 

Oswald Boelcke was one of history's first fighter aces, and a pioneer in aerial warfare tactics. Boelcke learned his deadly trade during the First World War, a time of rapid evolution of the aircraft as an instrument of war. Boelcke's eight rules (dicta) were reputedly written down by Boelcke himself for Colonel Hermann von der Lieth-Thomsen according to his first biographer Professor Johannes von Werner. Today several versions exist in circulation. Boelcke's eight dicta are essentially as follows:

1) Always seek to secure an advantageous position before launching your attack. Keep the sun behind you if at all possible, and dive upon your enemy from above and behind as soon as the moment to attack presents itself.

2) Always press your attack once you have started it. 

3) Always fire from close range, and only when your opponent is clearly in your sights. 

4) Always keep your eye on your opponent, and do not be deceived by a ruse. 

5) Always assail your enemy from behind. Therefore never turn your back on an enemy and try and run away. If you are attacked, turn into your attacker and face him with your guns.

6) Keep your eye upon your enemy and do not allow him to trick you. If your opponent appears damaged, follow him down until he crashes and see to it that he isn't faking.

7) When over enemy lines never forget your line of retreat. Foolish acts of bravery only make for dead pilots. The Jasta (squadron) must fight as a unit; there must be close teamwork between all pilots. The signals of the leader must be obeyed.

8) For the squadron, always attack in groups of four or six. If the fight breaks into single combats, be careful that several pilots do not go after one opponent. 


So how do we translate this into Silent Death terms? We don't have to deal with three dimensions, nor the issues associated with flying early fighter aircraft that are little more than dangerously overpowered kites by our modern standards. But Bolcke's dicta covering teamwork and when you press the trigger most certainly do. So to this end I'll give your our own Silent Death version, the Dicta Grivas named after the legendary Q'raji ace Sheldon "Professor" Grivas:

1) Always seek to secure an advantageous position (and Never Give a 
     Colosian and Even Break). 

In game terms this means being a shameless opportunist, and taking advantage of the changing opportunities presented by the game's initiative mechanics. So for example if you identify an opposing ship with a pilot whose Piloting skill level is lower than your own fighter, and your fighter is in a position to lock onto that opposing ship from a direction that it will be unable to respond to your cannon fire, then that is an opportunity to be exploited with one caveat. Take into consideration where the other opposing ships are situated if you make that move, and be aware of the risks of having another opposing ship latching onto your tail in an effort to help their mate.

As for diving out of the sun, obviously that isn't a factor for obvious reasons. That said, space is not entirely empty, and various sorts of "terrain" can come into play. Space Junk offers a good many such hazards and hazardous opportunities for tactical shenanigans. Asteroids for example are a wonderful piece of what is known in ground combat jargon as hard cover. They're great for blocking cannon fire and obstructing movement. Using the asteroid drift rule the potential for confounding your opponent potentially increases if you use their movement to your advantage. 

Therefore it is well worth while to make use of anything that can obstruct your opponent's weapons fire, and aid you in setting up a position of advantage whether it is to close the range to get your cannons into the fight before your opponent can gun you down like a rabid dog in the street, or to enable you to maneuver your ship into a position to deliver a killing blow. 

2) Always press your attack; do not dither! 

This point is fairly self evident, however many is the time that we've seen a player hesitate to follow through with an initial shot at an opposing ship, only to hesitate and break off in order to engage another ship and oft times not from a position of advantage, like a Ferret with ADD after a half dozen shots of espresso. 

So press your attack, and use your wingmate(s) to deal with the other opposing ships whenever possible. 

3) Always fire from close range. 

This is really self explanatory. The closer you are, the higher the probability of a hit. If you're using ammunition dependent weapons such as Miniguns or Plasma Shell Cannons, then it is all too evident that you want to make every shot count. Ideally when you're doing this, your opponent (and his friends) are unable to respond in kind.

4) Don't let 'em sucker you. 

Over 2,000 years ago the master strategist and reputedly unbeaten battlefield commander Sun Tzu wrote, "All warfare is based upon deception." This applies to Silent Death in no uncertain terms. Obviously, you can't cheat (you only get to do that when playing Privateer, and only if you don't get caught by the other players). But you can try and mislead your opponent through misdirection and trying to present them too many options to try and choose from as to which way and at whom your ship or ships are about to move. 

And remember, if you can sucker punch the enemy, your enemy can (and will) sucker punch you at the first opportunity. Bottom line: stay focused and watch yer six.

5) Always attack from a position of advantage. Always turn into your enemy when they attack you from a blind arc. 

This connects to number 1; always attack from a position of advantage, ideally where your intended prey cannot retaliate at all (or at least has a very low probability of actually doing you any real harm). But further on this point, Bolcke was dead on target about what to do when attacked: turn around and face your assailant with your guns. This is especially true for SPACs, or any ship for that matter that lacks any effective defense to any particular arc. As Sun Tzu would have counseled, you deny your enemy the opportunity to apply their strength to your weakness.

6) Always confirm your enemy is dead. 

Quite simply, a wounded enemy can still potentially kill you. Even a schmo flying a Saucer Shuttle can get lucky with that Pulse Laser. So if your opponent still has a working gun and Drive, then kill them off, or at least do so as soon as possible if only to prevent them from surviving to come back and fight another day.

This last point is especially relevant in a campaign game. The more of your opponent's experienced pilots and gunners you can send to their maker, the sooner your opponent's overall combat effectiveness will erode. Of course, rest assured that your opponent will be trying to return the favor (if not beat you to the punch every time).

7) Teamwork and discipline make for live pilots. Every fool for themselves makes for dead ones.

Teamwork will always triumph over rank individualism. This is why one of the first lessons learned at great cost during the First World War was that fighter pilots were more effective when they operated in pairs or larger groups. The lone wolves usually ended up like lone wolves always do in nature: dead. 

So if you're all flying one ship, pair up and work as wingmates. If you're running multiple ships, pair them up and work them as wing pairs, and in turn for greater effectiveness, work pairs as part of larger four-ship tactical fire and maneuver elements as long as possible. When things break down into a furball, do your utmost to have individual ships help each other out as opportunity permits. This can even take the form of suckering an opposing fighter into the firing arc of a damaged ship that still has working guns. You'd be surprised how many players will in the excitement of the moment forget that a TPAC with its Drive down to 2 and a single working cannon system might still be something best avoided. 

8) Don't waste your efforts. If two will do the job, don't pile on eight.

The point here is to develop some tactical judgement skills when it comes to applying force upon a particular target. If you know that a wing pair of 100 ton SPACs will be sufficient to chase off and kill a 300 ton SPAC that is trying to get a shot at your slow moving gunboat, then don't send all eight of your 100 ton SPACs that were escorting your gunboat in pursuit. Use the remaining ships to deal with the others that are trying to make a run on your gunboat. 

This takes some judgement, and in the heat of a game with the optional 30 Second Movement Rule in effect, this can be a rather more exciting process to go through (and a fun one). 


This concludes this first briefing in the Wardroom. Comments and constructive criticism are of course always welcome.

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