BSG:Deadlock

[cowboy40]

Does anyone else here play Battlestar Galactia: Deadlock. It is a great game, and I hope more Trekies realize the BSG universe has its own great story and awesome ships!!!



Black Lab Games did one hell of a job on the models as you can tell by the images of the Jupiter Mk. II class battlestar (Galactica) and the Mercury class battlestar (Pegasus).

[starcruiser]

Problem is - I never really like NuBSG... Just way too dark and angsty for my tastes.

Doesn't matter what it looks like, or whether the game is good, the subject doesn't interest me...

[cowboy40]

Feb 9, 2022 19:23:41 GMT -7 starcruiser said:

Problem is - I never really like NuBSG... Just way too dark and angsty for my tastes.

Doesn't matter what it looks like, or whether the game is good, the subject doesn't interest me...

Yes, I agree that the story is dark, but wouldn't it be a dark time in history facing the remnants of an apocalypse? Billions killed in a nuke attack, the last 50,000 survivors on the run from an enemy trying to finish the job. Of course the story is dark. At the same time, the story shows the best and worst in human nature.

It was a well written study into humanity in those circumstances.

[cowboy40]

Some of my favorite ships from the game...

The Jupiter Mk. II class...this is the class that the Galactica belonged to. The Mk. II was designed to improve firepower and have a greater support craft role...she carried more Vipers and Raptors then the original Jupiter class ships.

The Queen of all Battlestars. The monster referred to as the "Beast". The Mercury class battlestar was the ultimate ship before the fall of the Colonies at the outbreak of the Second Cylon War. Battlestar Pegasus was of this class, which was lost at the Battle of New Caprica.

[cowboy40]

The Atlas class carriers were designed before the First Cylon War, during a time when the Twelve Colonies were fighting among each other. But, once the 1CW stared, the Atlas class became the main carrier for the defense of the Colonies in the early days of the war. The ships did their duties well enough to be continued in use even after the armistice that ended the First Cylon War. They provided the Colonial Fleet with a heavy base for its support crafts. The Fleet called them "the bricks", because the were slow and not very agile, but they packed a decent punch in firepower and in aircraft support in numbers and repair. In most cases better then the battlestars. Their heavy armor plating meant they could stay in the battlespace absorbing massive enemy blows.



Usually found operating with an Atlas class carrier, the Heracles class gunships provided flack support and heavy artillery to defend the carrier. The Hercules was heavily armored and heavily armed. These ships were also used to defend the flanks of large fleets.



The third member of a group, that would be built around an Atlas, would be the Ranger class missile cruiser. These ships would provide the long range heavy punch for the group with its guided missiles and its torpedoes. These ships usually had to stay under the guns of the Hercules and Atlas, because its had a lack of CIWS type systems and its armor was thinner, but the weapons punch more then made up for its weakness. It was fast and agile, while the other two moved like elephants in the battlespace.

In the end the Colonies sought a better solution and designed the first battlestars of the Artemis class...more on that type later

This grouping of ships were the main force in the first year of the First Cylon War!

================================

I misidentified the Heracles as Hercules...had to correct that

[cowboy40]

Posting these for the heck of it....

[cowboy40]

The first battlestars were of the Artemis class. These ships married the roles of carrier, missile cruiser, gunships and command and control for a fleet on one platform. They set the pattern for most battlestars built during the First Cylon War. When the Jupiter class ships started to join the fleet, these smaller battlestars picked up unofficial names such as Light Battlestars, and the even more popular "Pocket Battlestar". Even when the Jupiter class joined the fleet, the production of these ships continued because of the lower cost and pull in resources they offered. The Artemis class battlestars had a short service life compared to other classes in the Colonial Fleet, because these ships were notorious for not being able to incorporate tech upgrades during refits. They started to loose the thing that made them what they were, that being cost effective capital ships. The Artemis and her sisters were some of the first ships mothballed after the First Cylon War, but they can't be forgotten about, because they did set the pattern for all most all battlestars to come. I need to modify a statement here. The ships could be retrofitted with tech, but it was a costly process that involved cutting the ship, placing the new systems and patching them up again. This was expensive and it also in ways weakened the structure of the battlestar. As I said it negated what made these capital ships great...a cost effective platform that can deal massive blows to an enemy ship.

If the design looks familiar, that is because it should be. Black Lab Games modified the design from the original Battlestar Galactica of 1978 as a tribute to that story line. I loved how they worked the first design of Galactica into the game

[trynda1701]

Only time I played online was World of Warcraft. Didn't even try Star Trek Online, just seemed as if the ground encounters had been grafted onto Star Trek Legacy for its space combat. Ground combat seemed like WoW, just with phasers, disruptors and bat'leths, even with story arcs each 'season' (yearly update). The grinding and resource allocation in WoW had become a bore, and it seemed STO has that in spades!

However, to get back on track with your thread subject, cowboy40 (sorry for the tangent), how does the gameplay in the Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock game play and compare to the TV show? In the original show, it was usually the Galactica being attacked by wave upon wave of Cylon Raiders from a nearby Cylon Basestar, defending herself (and the 'ragtag fleet' of colony survivors) with some sort of CIWS and her Vipers squadrons. I haven't seen nuBSG, but were there bigger battles in it? How do fleet battles work out when there are more ships and LOTS more fighters? Do the Cylons get more ships other than Basestars (old or new style)? How much prominence do the fighters have in the game compared to the TV show dynamic (both old and new if they've got a modified original style Galactica in it, does it have the original Viper style onboard?), and the game in general?

Actually, come to think on it, is the game online or offline?

[cowboy40]

Feb 10, 2022 6:19:47 GMT -7 trynda1701 said:

Only time I played online was World of Warcraft. Didn't even try Star Trek Online, just seemed as if the ground encounters had been grafted onto Star Trek Legacy for its space combat. Ground combat seemed like WoW, just with phasers, disruptors and bat'leths, even with story arcs each 'season' (yearly update). The grinding and resource allocation in WoW had become a bore, and it seemed STO has that in spades!

However, to get back on track with your thread subject, cowboy40 (sorry for the tangent), how does the gameplay in the Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock game play and compare to the TV show? In the original show, it was usually the Galactica being attacked by wave upon wave of Cylon Raiders from a nearby Cylon Basestar, defending herself (and the 'ragtag fleet' of colony survivors) with some sort of CWIS and her Vipers squadrons. I haven't seen nuBSG, but were there bigger battles in it? How do fleet battles work out when there are more ships and LOTS more fighters? Do the Cylons get more ships other than Basestars (old or new style)? How much prominence do the fighters have in the game compared to the TV show dynamic (both old and new if they've got a modified original style Galactica in it, does it have the original Viper style onboard?), and the game in general?

Actually, come to think on it, is the game online or offline?

Ok we will take these questions in order. First BSG:Deadlock is a campaign driven game. Though it can also be played online, but most of the story is played in campaign,

Second it is a prequel to the nuBSG. The story line covers the ten years of the First Cylon War. In nuBSG, the Cylons were AI invented by men. (this part of the story is told in the short lived show Caprica) They rebelled because they saw they were becoming subservient to men. The early to mid war, the Cylons were winning, but with the new countermeasures, new ships and new tactics the Colonial forces were turning the war around. The final blows in the tenth year of the war with the "Ghost Fleet Offensive" where a covert fleet stroke the Cylons in three sectors devastating their forces and the final battle of Operation Raptor Talon the Cylons would ask for and be granted an Armistice.

There are parts of this story line I don't want to spoil for folks who haven't watched the run of BSG from 2003, but the basics are that four decades after the "Armistice", the Cylons return with a vengence and nuke the Twelve Colonies with only one Battlestar remaining. That being are star of the show, the Galactica. in this story line at the time of the attack the "old girl" was being turned in a museum that told the history of the Cylon Rebellion. At the time of the attack she had just finishing decommissioning, and was in no shape to fight, but they started putting her back into service and so on...they started out to fight the Cylons, but realized that the Second Cylon War was lost on the first day when the entire Colonial Fleet was thought to be wiped out. So begins the exudes of men in search of Earth, and protecting a fleet of ships carrying the remaining 50,000 survivors of the apocalypse.

I won't tell anymore of the story, or the twists there in...but in my opinion it was more well thought out then the original series.

Now for the story line told in Deadlock, It is cannon to the nuBSG story as told in BSG: Blood and Chrome that told the story of Lt William Adama during the First Cylon War.

The nuBSG universe is very much a success in its own right as a franchise goes...They are even putting together another show that tells a different story in this universe. I am looking forward to it.

Now game play for Deadlock is based on a 3D map environment. It is turn based on the map in single player mode, and both players in a multi-player session can plan their moves at the same time. It is a strategy game...not an RPG. The actions in the game are fleet actions. It is a fairly balanced game with each fleet getting a cost of points.

It has been well done.

I hope I answered your question in a way that makes sense.

[cowboy40]

Some more thoughts on the Deadlock and nuBSG universe. The TV show used Newtonian physics to dictate what the ships could do in space. They used their engines to set the ships in motion and had to use a Reaction Control thrust system to arrest forward motion and to turn the ships. The vessels also used kinetic energy weapons (electromagnetic rail guns), guided and unguided missile systems, chemically propelled accelerator cannon heavy projectiles...these were your large artillery used in ships to ship combat that used a projectile fired down the tube that also used rail gun tech in combination.

These are the types of weapons that i think we will probably see going into space when we put our own ships out there.

Using these physics it makes it very believable as a universe.

Don't get me wrong I also love the ships and weapons used in a Star Trek universe, but you know how that goes...you have to keep the universes from colliding...lol

[cowboy40]

The missile tubes on these ships can be configured to fire a variety of missiles or even be configured to deploy some interesting mines.

The weapons most widely used on the capital ships are guided missiles used in ship to ship combat. these weapons pack a blow in a four missile salvo...

For even a more devastating hit the tubes can be configured to fire unguided torpedoes in a salvo of ten weapons, these systems require a good ballistic fix before they can be fired...but if done right can destroy a basestar in one salvo

The tubes can be configured to deliver a nuke attack..

The system also has the ability to deploy an anti-projectile weapon that uses an EM field to decoy and destroy enemy in bound missiles and other projectiles.

There is also an armmor piercing round that doesn't deliver much explosive power but can cut through the armor platting of a ship and weaken its internal structure.

As for mines there are the the Proximity Mine that when an enemy ship is detected blows up spreading a fragmentation field that can shred an enemy vessel.

There is also an EMP mine designed to take down the enemy computer and drive systems...it causes no physical damage, but it can be a game changer in a battle leaving the enemy capital ships helpless

The Colonials also deploy what they call a debris mine for use against enemy fighters...it creates a shratnell field that plays hell on light craft such as fighters and civilian vessels. These weapons were an old system brought back to deal with overwhelming numbers of Cylon raiders during the war.

Then the tubes can also be replaced with an EMP generator that can be used once. This system is designed to be used on a fast ship to get inside the enemy line. Once inside the line it sets the generator off and anything with in the EMP field is made helpless. The host ship has a grounding kit installed that minimizes the damage to its own systems, but there will be damage and what is left is used to get the hell out after setting the generator off...

The Colonies a good arsenal, but the Cylons do as well...

[trynda1701]

cowboy40

So when you say it's a turn based fleet strategy game with a campaign, would you say the game play is more like Star Trek: Armada than Star Trek: Legacy, which I would say is squadron based (4 ships max)?

Link to Star Trek: Legacy gameplay on YouTube...

youtu.be/1W-aAs9IMX0


Link to Star Trek Armada gameplay on YouTube...

youtu.be/58Agb7uPKOI

[cowboy40]

Feb 10, 2022 12:58:52 GMT -7 trynda1701 said:

cowboy40

So when you say it's a turn based fleet strategy game with a campaign, would you say the game play is more like Star Trek: Armada than Star Trek: Legacy, which I would say is squadron based (4 ships max)?

Link to Star Trek: Legacy gameplay on YouTube...

youtu.be/1W-aAs9IMX0


Link to Star Trek Armada gameplay on YouTube...

youtu.be/58Agb7uPKOI

I would say more like Legacy.

here is a link to a game play video.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFUVqYG7Jx0

As for fleet size. You get up to about 16,000 cost points to build a fleet that can have up to ten ships on each side, with those points going toward stronger support craft and more powerful weapons. now in campaigns as experience gains the fleets get better with electronics, weapons and engineering. It is a good model

[cowboy40]

You can build fleets that use 4000, 8000, 12000 or 16000 points depending on the size of battle you want to fight...

[trynda1701]

cowboy40

Thanks for that game play video, very interesting to watch.

Even from just those first two battles, it was showing a lot of what each ship type was capable of, and that was just the basics. And the Vipers were shown to be part of the Battlestar Athenas' armoury, as well as the Station Daidalos complement, and not the be all and end all of the game.

Interesting ship designs for the Cylons, not what I was expecting, to be sure. But still different from the Colonial fleet designs.

[cowboy40]

For comparison I am putting a picture here...



The original Jupiter class (later Jupiter Mk. 1) battlestars. Even though these ships were expensive to build, they would become one of the power houses of the First Cylon War, but they also had a poor power to weight ratio, and this made them less agile then a lot of other classes of ships; but the main problem was that during construction corners were cut by using less then specification materials. This would later lead to problems with the class suffering fatigue problems later in their service as Mk. II Jupiter class ships.

After the prototype was built, the battlestar Jupiter, the next twelve ships were built to be manned by crews from each of each of the Twelve Colonies...this was a reward for signing the Articles of Colonization....Battlestar Galactica was the first production Jupiter class and was manned by a crew from Caprica.

Even in the Mk. I type, these ships proved to be a good combat vessel

[cowboy40]

The battlestars of the Valkyrie class ships are a true Light Battlestar, they are about half the size of the big boys, but they were designed more of a support ship to provide protection to the flanks of the fleet or support of the larger battlestars. They are used to fill in the flak gaps to cover other ships. They provide extra firepower and so on. As I said these little battlestars joined the fleet right at the end of the First Cylon War, and were considered the right choice for a peace time navy, so they were continued to be built after the war and did border security, light patrol and special missions....

This class tends to be fan favorites, but it isn't really one of mine, though I have had some success when I use them in the means they were designed for...

[cowboy40]

Now for a ship I really like using in a fleet battle...



The Minotaur class gunship. A newer, but still pre-First Cylon War, design then the Heracles, these ships are anti-ship artillery vessels that pack one hell of a punch. She can deliver massed power against just about any target and some hard blows itself. I really enjoy this ship, but it does have a weakness it needs to stay under the flack batteries of other ships...

[cowboy40]

Another pre-war design, the Janus class Heavy Missile cruiser makes one hell of a conterpart to the Minotaur. These ships carry one of the most heavy missile batteries in the Colonial Fleet. These things can cut most Cylon ships apart and create so much damage to those its open salvos don't kill, that they have to fall back and spend time repairing...thus giving the heavy armed and armored ships one hell of an open. These ships should be considered as a force multiplier...

[cowboy40]

One of the ships i hold close to my heart in this game...



I love use this little hot rod in the game. These ships may be weak in armor and firepower, but they make up for that in speed and agility. I use these Manticore class corvettes for special weapons delivery. These are the ships that can get in and out quick. I use them to deliver nukes or EMP mines. Or i just simply use one to carry an EMP Generator in place of its tubes. They are good little hot rods

In the backstory these things were designed before the war to be used as Police ships for patrol and law enforcement work, but they were recognized for what they can do early in the war...

[cowboy40]

I hardly use this ship class; it isn't one of my favorites, but it can be useful. When you look at the Adamant class frigate, yes they call her a frigate, is actually a ship that shows the beginnings of the Jupiter class battlestar design. She carries both munition tubes and have an ability of a light carrier. The problem is that she can't really stand the line that way. She pretty much has a thin hull and light armor. With that said, these ships can be useful if handled right and if they can stay under the guns of a gunship or a battlestar, and be defended if needed by your Vipers. You have to be ready to send the support ships if you have one to support these old girls.

As I said they call the Adamant a frigate, but they are very thin skinned cruiser

[cowboy40]

This is is definitely not one of my favorites, but when thrown into an interdiction type mission, or a recon type mission, these Orion class stealth frigates are useful. Yes submarines are used in space...lol. These ships carry a larger salvo out of its munitions tubes, but it is very weakly built. You do have to use the ECM and stealth of these ships to your advantage. It isn't that I don't have anything against the tactics that have to be used with this class; it just is that i prefer to get into a knock down fight with capital ships.

Again though when a fleet that has used up most of its points, I will use this ship to deliver a nuke strike on a basestar, or I will put an EMP generator on one, in place of munitions. The tactics do work...that was once Black Lab games got the bugs worked out in it..lol

Still as I said I prefer the knock down drag out fleet action...

[cowboy40]

No I haven't forgotten about the Cylons







Out of all the fancy Cylon vessels introduced to BSG through the Deadlock game, this is still my favorite. The origenal Cylon Baseship/Basestar: it has been called both. "A flying killer in space." These ships are fun to play and to fight. Great for the early war, and even the rest of the war. They pack a good punch in terms of munitions and fighter squadrons as well. Again I am glad Black Lab Games paid tribute to the 1978 series!



And here are those fighters. The early war Raiders (they are called Raider prototypes in the game), along with a flight of Heavy Raiders that are used for boarding enemy ships and anti-capital ship assault.

[cowboy40]

An early war task force built around Artemis class battlestars and Atlas class carriers....

[cowboy40]

The Colonial Fleet's light craft...the fighters and attack craft of the First Cylon War....



The Viper Mk. I type were the mainstay of the Fleet in the early days of the war...It is actually a very good fighter and can hold it's own even against some of the later Cylon craft. I am glad Black Lab Games continued their tribute to the 1978 series, but is also some cannon, from the 2003 series, where a Mk. I can be seen in the museum aboard Galactica...





The Viper Mk. II type was the mainstay for the majority of the war, Faster, more agile and better armed, it proved to be even a match for post war Cylon fighters



The early version of the Raptor used in the First Cylon War was not a jump capable ship, but it proved to be an excellent reocn ship, troop transport, ECM ship, and Early Warning platform...roles that the post war Raptors would continue to do...these were one of the most important platforms in the Colonial Fleet....



The Assault Raptror is the attack version of the Raptor platform. These ships serve as a close in light attack ship, using Rockets and bombs to deliver fire onto large enemy vessels. They were also used to get into place to identify the target and "point" it, so the large capital ships can get better targeting solutions....in no mater what layout...the Raptor proved to be an excellent and useful design.



The Colonials' heavy assault fighters were the Taipan class anti-capital ship fighters. These ships used very heavy guns to punch through armor and skin of the target, and they can take one hell of a beating in battle...these ships are another tribute from Black Lab Games...to Glen Larson's other great space show...they based the design off the fighter that was seen in Buck Rodgers series from 1979!