From: sgccstr@citec.oz.au (Shaun Travers)
Subject: REVIEW: New Starfire Edition
Organization: CITEC
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1992 00:32:20 GMT
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL4

Yesterday I happened to be in a local gamestore and picked up a copy
of the new Starfire. As I have had only time to read the rules I will
give a summary of the differences between the new Starfire and the old
Starfire/New Empires/Gorm-Khanate War.

One major change is the switch to 1d10 from 2d6.

The box comes with a 96 page rule book, 4 sets of counters, 1d10 and
a map (the map is not black but dark blue with a star pattern on it).

The rules contain the entire tactical rules from the old books, sorted
into a different order, adding more weapons and systems, inventing
reasons why things work (lots and lots of 'hand waving') and
generally providing a more consistent ruleset.

The Strategic rules (originally in New Empires) will be in another
release called Imperial Starfire. A third release, The Stars at War, 
will contain all previous and many new scenarios from the consistent
history they have developed over the years.

There are about forty pages of rules (Movement, Combat, Tractoring etc).
Some of the rules have changed slightly, e.g. fighter can only fire
directly ahead rather than in a sixty degree arc.

Another 25 pages are devoted to the systems you can use. Many of the
rules for the systems are buried in here and you need to read all 
the systems to see how they interoperate. For example, the entry on
Energy Beams contains no reference to Overload Dampeners but OD's
can absorb EB damage so you needed to have read through the system
to notice that Overload Dampeners exist!

There are two pages with twelve scenarios. These simply give you
the ships types and setup. None of the interesting background
they had in the original Starfire. There are also twelve pages
of ships for Terran, Khanate, Gorm, Rigellian and Ophiuchi and 
sixteen pages devoted to describing these races. The ships are
real ships, not the 'I would never design a warship like this'
ships in the original Starfire.

There is a handy one page summary of combat 'to-hit' and damage
effects but it is a pity it is part of the rules and not a separate
sheet (or even on the back like the Gorm-Khanate War).

Overall I think it is an impressive achievement. The rules are now very
consistent and systems are more balanced than they were before. I
recommend it to any person who enjoyed the original Starfire.

That's all for now. If you want to know more, drop me some
e-mail. I'll be away from 24th of December to the 3rd January.

For the diehard Starfire fans, here are just a few changes in the new
rules (besides those mentioned above):

. All fighters move at 9, reduced by 1 for each weapon they carry.
. There are now Capital Force Beams (Fc), Energy Beams (Ec) and
  Primary Beams (Pc).  They take up about 50% more space but have 50%
  increased range and inflict about twice the damage.
. Long range scanners (Xr) are more important. You cannot fire at
  a ship over 20 hexes away without Xr. Also the only Energy weapon
  allowed to fire at fighters is a Laser unless the ship has an Xr.
. Small engines (i) are not the same. The rules are a combination
  of the original and Gorm-Khanate War. Engines rooms are still 
  required but small ships get 2 or 1.5 movement points per I (thus
  an Escort has less damage point as it now has 3xI rather than 6xi).
. Fighters in combat are treated as ships. There is no special
  'Fighter Vs Fighter' segment.
. Advanced Manueovring costs 100% of the engines installed.
. At Tech Level Six,  Advanced Gun/Missile Launcher (Wa) is available.
  This is just like W except it can fire twice.
. There now exist small ships: cutters, pinnance, shuttle available
  at low tech levels. These ships cannot be armed, but some have an 
  inherent Improved Point Defense (Di) capacity.
. A ship may fire at more than one target with Multiplex Tracking
  but all fire is at -4 (-2 for fighters).
. Fighter guns can only be used against other fighters.
. A new system, Qc, is a combined Life Support/Quarters system
  that can be used to provide life support and quarters for up to 
  20 hull spaces. Small ships do not have to waste that extra hull
  space buying a Q and Lh.
-- 
Shaun Travers               Dept of Transport, (Sunny) Brisbane, Australia
"Age doesn't matter (unless you're a cheese!)" - Anon
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