Devilfish - What Makes It "Better"?

A few posts ago, I mentioned a plan to have a permanent Star Smuggler board set up so I can play whenever I like. I drew up deck plans for a gargantuan ship. The Devilfish is roughly 3 times bigger than the Antelope that appears in the original game. 

Bigger is better, but what else makes it better? It has 3 turrets, therefore 3 guns. It has two shuttles, a garage for a skimmer, and a medical station. 

But what went away? It lost its stasis box in pilotage and its concealed locations. It has no more Hypercharges than the original. 

Strangely, to hit charts and criticals are introduced in the rules. I would have a standard chart for the Devilfish: 

1. Garage, 2. quarters, 3. engineering, 4. gun turrets, 5. main cargo, and 6. the boat hold. Since some of these locations are very large, I would split the turrets into 1 of 3, the holds into port and starboard, and the engineering area into large and small. The Medical area and pilotage can't be damaged directly owing to the 1d6 nature of the roll. It seems easy enough to expand this to 2d6 in the future because it's odd that you can't hit pilotage in the nose of the ship. 

This ship clearly has the edge over the Antelope in the game. Now I have to consider what else has gotten better? 

Many or all hostile ships will have shields and ECM by default, something the Devilfish does not have at all. They will also have and make use of hoppers more often than the rules currently allow. I will have to design antagonistic ships, possibly even small fleets of them to make things fair. 

I can't wait to retool the battleship from e81. In the image I drew for that post, I think a pocket battleship would have one or more hoppers to act as spotters. It has two orbiter bays and two 45-cu cargo bays to carry even more. Imagine if it was a battleship-carrier hybrid. Even hampered as it is with the limitations from the rules, a swarm of 4 hoppers would give anyone pause. 

Another improvement is needed for ships boats and more frequent drones. The improved hopper would have a fission engine to produce life support and eliminate the need for fuel units. Ships or hoppers toting a drone or two in battle would be cool and terrifying to face down. 

Visiting Fort William Henry

A map of Lake Geroge and 
Fort William Henry

Jen and I visited Fort William Henry in Lake George, NY this weekend. There is so much to do and see there, it boggles the mind and scratches an itch for me. 

The map on the left is something I am working on, I need to do some adjustments and re-fire the laser. I'll probably break it into the fort and the lake. If it comes out nicely, I'll add it to my shop. 

Lake George is loaded with American history and the older history of the Native Americans in the area. While my wife enjoys the Lake for the nostalgia of her childhood, her family spent summers there; she also connects with the history of the place. They have several good historical sites, museums, and books stores that we frequent a lot. I can digest history naturally, as one is meant to. 

Our last trip zig-zagged between history and amusement. We did a couple of historical tours and a few ghost tours. We went up French Mountain to look down on the Lake and took in the sights, lakeside. It is a wonderful place. 

The Horicon Steamboat

There are several steamboats. One of them is named The Horicon. That sounded Greek to me, but it isn't. It's Algonquin. It means "the land of pure, clean water." Native Americans were highly mobile, Horicon National Wildlife Refuge is in Wisconsin and they also gave the name to the Lake George region. It is a vague descriptor of the area, not a specific site on or around the lake, in either New York or Wisconsin. 

That is a vast area. I just wanted to say that in case you Google it. I think it's amazing that people moved so much. 

I can't wait to get back there. We'll do another trip in December before planning our 2025 outings. 

#SundayStew for October 13th, 2024 - Paella Fusion - Part A

This week's #SundayStew is crockpot Paella and a two-for-one recipe. 

The basic recipe is: 

1 tablespoon of olive oil
2 lbs. chicken breasts or thighs 
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cups of chicken broth
1 lbs. of hot smoked sausage, sliced in rounds. 
14 oz. stewed tomatoes
1 cup of uncooked Arborio rice
1 clove of garlic
1/2 cup of frozen peas

Cook the chicken in a skillet for 6-8 minutes or until browned on both sides. Place in crockpot. 

In the same skillet, cook onions until clear. Stir in broth, sausage, tomatoes, rice and garlic. Cook for 8-10 minutes, then pour over the chicken in the crockpot. Cook for 6-8 hours on low or 3-4 hours on high. 

Pull the chicken out and place on a plate. Fluff rice and stir in peas. Place the rice in bowls and top with chicken. 

Very often, I don't have hot smoked sausage and Wegmans sells a nice Italian sausage. I do a fusion Paella. Just switching out the smoked sausage for Italian sausage totally changes the meal. But you can take it further. 

Here is the fusion recipe: 

1 tablespoon of olive oil
2 lbs. chicken breasts cut into quarters
1 medium onion, sliced
2 medium peppers, sliced 
4 cups of chicken broth
1 lbs. of Italian sausage, diced
14 oz. stewed tomatoes
1 cup of uncooked Acini di Pepe.
1 clove of garlic

Place olive oil in crockpot and layer with the raw chicken breast cut in quarters.

In a skillet, cook onions and peppers until browned. Stir in broth, sausage, tomatoes, and garlic. Cook for an additional 8-10 minutes, then pour over the chicken in the crockpot. Cook for 6-8 hours on low. 

Prepare Acini di Pepe per directions and spoon into bowls. 

Stir the crockpot well, using a fork to shred the chicken. Top the pasta with the fusion paella. 

You can even go a further two steps with tomato sauce and cheese but that can get mighty heavy. 

Oops. Merry Christmas?

I might have made a mistake. I logged into Kickstarter to back a project only to realize that I had already backed this project at a much higher level than I would have done today. 

This project wraps up in December so this could be a Christmas present or maybe a January Birthday present. 

#Mechamonday for October 6th - Locust Again

I managed to complete 3 more Locusts, plus three other mechs. They need some sprucing up, I expected the colors to be brighter.  

As you can see, I use wine corks and sticky tack to mount them. 

If I had time for another project, I'd make a photography station.