a) I think I'm either going to be playing my first :IO game tonight using my 'canon fleets', or I'm going to be 'GM'ing' others through their first game using my ships. One of those. Oh! It's semi-public at PicnicCon, if that means anything to anyone. So, I have a few questions
1) For HVAs, should they be sitting on a 4x8 base, or an 8x4 base? When I took all my pretty pictures I had them oriented 8x4, but on perusing this forum I might have them the wrong way around.
2) I have all the dice listed in the manual. Is that enough for just 1 player, or 2?
3) The Doomsday clock, the way it's supposed to work is it ticks down by 1 every turn, and players have the option every turn to tick it down 1 more?
4) So I have, let's see, 3 carriers, 3 frigates, 4 frame companies, 6 HVAs, 10 asteroids, and 1 ruler. I was thinking about breaking down the ships in 1 of 2 ways (for 2 players or 3)
4a) 2 players, player #1->2 carriers, 1 frigate, 2 companies, 3 HVAs, player #2->1 carrier, 2 frigates, 2 companies, 3 HVAs
4b) 3 players, and it's 1/1/1, 1/1/1, 1/1/2, 2 HVAs each
Does that sound like it would 'work' (that is, to not provide an unfair advantage either way), even though both layouts aren't strictly equal?
b) So, I made some ships, and they're pretty neat, but now they're all packed away in a beautiful little box and my desk is pretty lonely (eh, there's a few :RA mechs on it). I was thinking pretty hard about building some more fleets (again, reeeaaallly sloooowwlly), and I had this idea to make 4 fleets based on the 4 primary lego colors (and an obscure spaceship IP). I know this forum has mostly been about rules so far, but I would ask some strategy questions about fleet layouts.
Where would you put your spare pips?
1) Blue Fleet (carrier fleet): 1 capital ship with 2 catapults, 1 frigate with 1 catapult, 3 frame companies and the blue ace.
2) Green Fleet (normal? fleet): 1 capital ship with no catapults, 2 frigates with 1 catapult each, 2 frame companies and the green ace.
3) Red Fleet (rivalry fleet): 2 capital ships, with one having 1 catapult, 2 frigates with no catapults, 1 frame company as the red ace.
4) Yellow Fleet (doomsday weapon fleet): 2 capital ships, one with no catapults and 1 with 2 catapults, 1 frigate with


