MBS Podcast Episode 16

[Ruckdog]

Episode 16 is here! This time around, Greg and Andy are joined by Dale to talk about the shooting mechanics used in a few popular naval miniatures games. Later, the trio dig into a detailed review of Star Trek Ascendancy. Finally, Ruckdog discusses his process for choosing a faction in a minis game.

Shooting Mechanics: 32 min

Star Trek Ascendancy Review: 1 Hr 32 Min

Ruckdog's Report: 2 Hr 39 Min

http://www.manbattlestations.com/blog/2017/03/02/episode-16/

[Charbe86]

Haven't finished listening yet, but I wanted to put in a quick word in defence of the elusive target MAR.  Big ships have big guns, and big guns track slowly, so it does make some sense that a capital ship would have a harder time hitting a small fast ship.  A range limit would probably add to that realism, but would probably over complicate things too. 

[Klingsor]

Another good episode.
I am not a huge fan of Star Trek after the terrible disappointment that was first episode of The Next Generation but you make Star Trek Ascendancy sound very good indeed – except when you mentioned Q which rather put me off.

[Dakkar]

Big ships have big guns, and big guns track slowly

I suppose a better mechanic would be to penalize by weapon, not by ship. Thus any gun with base dice in double digits is -1 to hit Frigates and smaller.

Hmmm ... but then how would Linking be penalized? And should that apply to space guns?

[Dakkar]

except when you mentioned Q which rather put me off.

He's only one card in a fairly large deck. And it could just as easily read "Warp rift" in another setting :-)

[Ruckdog]

Another good episode.
I am not a huge fan of Star Trek after the terrible disappointment that was first episode of The Next Generation but you make Star Trek Ascendancy sound very good indeed – except when you mentioned Q which rather put me off.

I would encourage you to take another look if you every have the chance! The series got a lot better as time went on, and had some very memorable episodes IMO.  Season 6 is reckoned to be the best overall by many fans.

[Dakkar]

I would encourage you to take another look if you every have the chance! The series got a lot better as time went on, and had some very memorable episodes IMO.  Season 6 is reckoned to be the best overall by many fans.

I'll echo that. If you judged every sci fi series by its first ep or six, then you're probably not watching ANY science fiction on TV. ;-)
(Exception - BSG Revival)

[Landlubber]

Klingsor, thanks for the kind words, glad you're enjoying the podcasts!

I'll pile on to what Ruckdog and Dakkar said...Star Trek Next Generation is a pretty darn good show. The first two seasons are admittedly rocky, but it does get better from there.

Dakkar...I would add the first season of "Lost" to that very, very short list as well--the list of shows that grab you from the first episode.

@Charbe86, I agree with your logic.

[Ryjak]

I feel like I grew on up TNG, because I was old enough to understand what was going on.  That first 'episode' was trying to be a TV Movie, and it failed by trying to do way too much.  Fortunately they remembered Star Trek is a morality play in a Sci-Fi setting.  They even managed to make a few Episodes with Q not totally suck by leaving out the Q's ex Machina.

The best Episodes are when Piccard ends up in really bad situations, without anyone else to help.