"tell me about Squadron Strike " Topic

I saw the new ships and they look good, how is the game?

Not out yet.

But there is some stuff on the Ad Astra site.

Is it going to be umm, "hard" like AV and Honor Harrington one?

Shakes, not sure whether you mean "hard science" or "I didn't understand SITS" (and it makes a difference whether your experience was with SITS 1st edition or 2nd edition; completely different games).

Squadron Strike has spaceships that go "Whooosh!!!" It also has spaceships that move like those in SITS. It also has "UFO" movement. You can mix them all in the same game.

Shakes, you can read all about Squadron Strike: link
Oldest items are at the bottom of the page, so you may want to start there.

One of the best things about Squadron Strike is that it's fast (very fast by Ad Astra Games standards). From the report on the 8-player Origins demo game:

"It took about an hour and a half teaching the game around the table, and then the game ran for 8 turns in the next 5 hours. Not bad given that it was a large game in 3-D with a bunch of people who'd never played before. (One of the players in particular was very … methodical … in his plotting, and took twice as long as anyone else.) The game moved considerably faster than the nearby 2-D Star Fleet Battles game, which made us happy: speed of play is an important design goal for Squadron Strike."

A full account is in the What's New blog along with photos. You can see a bit of what the angle adapters do with the miniatures.

"I didn't understand SITS"

Thats what I mean.

how can I tell what version I have?

SITS 1st used segmented movement, SITS 2nd uses "whole turn at once" movement.

You can compare your play aids to the ones on our Downloads page: link (scroll down a bit). It they're the same, you have SITS 2nd. Otherwise, you may want to download and read the movement example, so that you can see how much simpler 2nd edition is.

2nd edition combat is also completely changed to be much, much faster. Huge ships take only marginally longer to do combat than tiny ones. It's a pretty slick system with some smart touches.

The main reason that people don't understand SITS (or Attack Vector) is that they don't do what the rulebook tells them: get out the pieces, set them up according to the tutorial, and actually move everything around while reading the tutorial. Instead, they just read the rules and end up going, "Hunh?"

Success rates are 80%+ for buyers who "do" the tutorial, maybe 40% for those who just read the rules.

I go along with that explanation from AdAstra.

I tried reading the rules and my eyes glazed. I tried the tutorials and everything clicked.

Prepare to spend time inverting and twisting your hand while you get your mind around what angle your ships at. I often looked like a pilot explaining his last dogfight to somebody until I got used to everything.

What kind of weapons are available in Squadron Strike? Does the game have railguns and missiles?

Wolfpack,

You can design pretty much any weapon you want in SS – so yes railguns and missiles are definitely included.

Interestingly I've written quite a bit about what you can design in different games including SS. Check out this thread:

TMP link

-Tim

Thanks, Tim. I've been on a sci-fi spaceship combat "kick" recently, and I'm currently looking at the Ad Astra Games inventory to see which one I might purchase. AV:T is the most "realistic" (but, apparently, very complicated), as far as I can tell; but I understand SS is only slightly less so and gives you the option to design everything (ships, weapons, defenses) from scratch. I find that very appealing.

Wolfpack,

My last two articles are being posted in the next two weeks. First one is on a 2D SS design, and the one after that is for a more complex 3D SS design.

Two of the things I really like about SS:
1) Hex based but uses 12 directions instead of 6
2) There are 4 defensive facings on a ship (only made possible by using a 12 direction system).

I think actually SS is a fair be easier to grasp than AVT, but I've never actually played AVT. In SS you only plot movement – in AVT I've heard you have to plot all kinetic fire as well and deal with stuff like rotational acceleration of your ship. A lot of the more complicated stuff (managing power (AP), vectored movement, fighters etc) are optional and you can design ships without them to make them easier to run.

You can even just play SS in 2D to get a handle on how combat works before diving into 3D. Its not that 3D is that complicated, but its something totally new to most people and takes a couple of games to get familiar with.

-Tim

Hello again, Tim. Thanks for sharing your insights and your excellent series at the Space Gaming blog. It is all very helpful. I've actually been pestering the designer of AV:T and SS, Ken Burnside, with other questions about both games, and he's graciously taken the time to answer them.

It looks like, for me, SS is going to be the way to go, at least at first. What you and he describe sounds exactly like what I'm looking for.

Say, this question just occurred to me… Do you think it is possible to play SS without a hex map after you get good at using the rules? If you're referencing 12 directions, it seems to me that it might be possible.

-Geoff

Geoff,

I think it could be possible. Hexes make things easier, but once you are familiar with the rules you could figure out how to do it. You might have to do something like limit ship direction to 12 pts or use some bases with the 12 directions to help.