I've been in the CC while now.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Sunday, May 01, 2005 - 11:15 pm: Edit

I releived Captain Grafton back on wednesday 11:58AM, and have had the "watch" since.

Are you ready to take over the watch, sir?

By Loren Knight (Loren) on Monday, May 02, 2005 - 12:24 am: Edit

Yes. I ordered the cap out from the CC so I had it. You must have missed my post where I began my fictional accounts?

John Hacker, long time ago I asked SPP to make some up thinking that if something of this was ever published that could be part of it. The huge SSD crashed his system and he hasn't had time to finish it. It's not really needed since we all have these SSD's anyway. I just got out a manilla folder an put in copies on all the needed SSDs in it.

Of course, I someone wanted to put one together I wouldn't be upset.

By David Slatter (Davidas) on Monday, May 02, 2005 - 05:38 am: Edit

SPP

Can't Banshee use their chaff to deactivate the drones that were targeted on them?(or at least have a good chance of doing it).
I always thought you could keep track of drones launched within your detection radius - i.e. banshee would know which are the drones that the G1 launched. If you can simply launch a drone within an existing stack and they automatically get "mixed up", that's a significant tactic as you say.

By Paul Stovell (Pauls) on Monday, May 02, 2005 - 05:54 am: Edit

OOC-
Douglas,

Sorry I missed your report.

Fire orders will come from Col Loren.

Those orders at the moment are to fire at drones at closest approach each turn.

In the event that you hit a drone at long range I would suggest you target a different drone leaving the drone damaged a point alone as it will make it an autokill for our point defense later.

By Christopher E. Fant (Cfant) on Monday, May 02, 2005 - 10:11 am: Edit

David, yes they can, but if a shot was to be taken at the drones, that was not an option.

In any case, Banshee is out of the fight and will be down a fighter.

Moving on to control of Ghost.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Monday, May 02, 2005 - 10:43 am: Edit

David Slatter:

Sigh.

Okay, I will explain this part of the situation. This something that Richard and Chris did not know as yet (I think).

Being a cagey old SOB, when I dropped the drones into the stack, I DID NOT TARGET THEM AT ALL. They are actually "Ballistic", will run out of endurance and die. They are literally no threat to anything.

The problem is that there is no way for the fighters to know this. The fighters of course want to be as close as possible to the bombardment drones when they fire. If they drop chaff, they will find that the drones do not go away, which can mean that the chaff simply failed [there is a 33% chance of any given chaff pack failing to distract a drone (D11.32)]. If they dropped their second chaff pack, the drones would again not go away. There is a timing matter in that they have to drop the chaff either well before they fire [because dropping chaff means that fighter cannot fire its phaser or launch or control drones for eight impulses (D11.4)] or they have to fire from further away (range two) and then drop chaff. The final option is to launch counter-drones, or save phasers to kill the drones.

The PF would prefer that they save phasers to kill its drones, because of the risk that the drones are targeted on the fighters, which in turn means that they would have to use two phaser shots on each one (as I noted before), as hitting a drone that takes four points to kill with three points (or hitting a drone that takes six points to kill with four points) would be fatal.

So I would have expected the fighters to launch a type-VI from the EWF, and have one of the other fighters launch a type-VI, to destroy the two drones launched by the PF, allowing the fighters to then close to point blank (range zero) range with the phaser-Gs dedicated to firing at the bombardment drones. This would have averaged about 20 dead drones and four damaged (hence eight), but the other four fighters could have launched one type-VI each at the four remaining drones on the way in, with the result that only four damaged drones (on average) would have survived the pass. And even though the drones would have been slowly pulling away, as they only needed one damage point each to finish them, the fighters would have needed about two turns to finish them (at worst).

I would have opted for this (if I was running the Federation fighters) as it would have left the five normal fighters (assuming the EWF was crippled) with one type-I and one type-VI each (five and five) to face off the gunboat. (If the EWF is not the fighter crippled, the equation is four type-I and five type-VI). But the G1 is faster, has longer ranged weapons, and the crew is not incompetent. They are not going to run up behind the fighters, take a shot, and then fall back, having to make up the distance they fell back before they can take another shot. After their one good close shot, they are pulling to a flanking position, where they can turn in, take a shot, and pull back out. This largely makes the phaser-Gs nearly impotent in trying to harm the Gunboat, and lets it gradually wear the fighters down. The only real tactic the fighters have is to stay together, putting the non-damaged fighters between the damaged fighters and the PF, and looking for the PF to do something really dumb (it will not, I may be old and out heavy playing practice, but I KNOW how this equation works) where they can land a drone. The threat of a drone or two chasing him off (because he emptied his phaser banks into a fighter on a turn he was not planning to disengage) is the only thing that is keeping him at a distance at all (distance being a range where the disruptor on overload is not a guaranteed cripple if it hits).

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Monday, May 02, 2005 - 11:07 am: Edit

SPP:

That information, while helpful, is distracting to the extent that now we have to play it out while pretending we dont know the two drones that were launched by the gunboat are on ballistic targeting.

Note that I am not saying Chris and Richard are not suited to the task, just that it distracts them from doing it.

Perhaps the "best thing" for Banshee flight to do is make a "fighting rretreat" back to base.

this accomplishes 3 things...

1. preserves the squadron as a fighting unit (and hopefully keeps the cripple alive to eventually get repaired, assuming the base survives).
2. keeps the gunboat from being a participant in the drone strike at the planet...because it cant be in 2 places at the same time...it cant try to kill individual fighters out of banshee flight and still use max movement to accompany the drone strike.
3. keeps the only enemy unit we have encountered under constant observation... of course there is nothing we can do about it... but still... better that we know what its doing than be totally ignorant.

By Loren Knight (Loren) on Monday, May 02, 2005 - 11:23 am: Edit

I assumed that a fighting retreat is what they were doing. Once the drones pass them and they can no longer kill any (i.e. more than 15 hexes away) they should continue to try and run for home. The G1 isn't going to let them hurt it and since their drones won't matter for the Cassadra IV then they would be free to use them for holding back the G1.

I would hope their tactics would then be to HET and fire late in the turn each time the G1 gets close. 5 Ph-G's and 1 Ph-3 (from crippled) at R9-15 should do a little damage (3-5 points). If the G1 closes further they can launch drones and fire again at the closest opertunity. When it turns off they can turn away too and keep closing for home.

It would be a dance for sure but enough lucky long ranged shots and they could put a dent in its forwrd shield. On average the amount of damage would bounce of reinforcement but luck happens.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Monday, May 02, 2005 - 11:28 am: Edit

Jeff Wile:

If people are not going to react to situations and work with the data, then it is not going to work.

Banshee (the CAP) was originally launched on a recon mission.

Do YOU consider that recon mission complete? Are you willing to allow that there are obviously no more drones coming from that direction? That there is not a second wave? What was the depth of the recon Loren Knight started?

In any case, I had assumed that lacking orders to the contrary, that a fighting retreat after engaging the drone stack was what Banshee would do. The problem is the crippled fighter. And even if the remaining five fighters abandoned the cripple, the Guboat would continue on the flank, driving in for a shot and pulling back out as Banshee headed back. If the Gunboat succeeded in crippling another fighter or two, it would (obviously) clean up the cripples (finish them off) as it headed back out. So any cripples Banshee "drops" are basically lost (the pilots MIGHT survive in their POIS systems for later pick up).

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Monday, May 02, 2005 - 02:15 pm: Edit

SPP-

No I do not consider the recon mission complete...for one thing we still do not know how many total drones were in the drone group...

If I had been the officer in control of the recon (or the releif force) I might well have chosen a different path than what Chris and Richard chose... but that is neither here nor there.

Chris and Richard are the officers on the spot, and (intheory, anyway) in a sense we live or die with the decision that they take (or fail to take).

It would be helpful to know if there are additional waves coming... but Chris and Richard have to make up their minds (or Col Knight has to make it up for them,I guess) but without information, we cant plan to take best advantage of any tactical situation that faces the 429th PDU.

If the first wave of drones only has 28 drones in each group...we have a chance to susrvive...but if the groups are 60+ drones each, it is difficult to see how Cassandra IV will avoid taking massive damage from the drones.

By Michael C. Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Monday, May 02, 2005 - 04:08 pm: Edit

To: Lt. Doug Lampert
CC: J-3, Maneuver Company, and all base commanders
From: GMG-6

1) Defense Company, with attached NG leg infantry company, is deploying several dets to Control Stations. The 5 GCLs with bases have 15 Control Stations which will thus require 15 BPs to be manned fully. This is more than the strength of Defense Company (plus attachments, I have 10 BPs, 2 heavy weapons squads, plus a Legendary Marine Captain). See earlier comm traffic.

NOTE, "Legendary" IS NOT very congruent with "skillful" in the case of Marine Captains

2) Be advised that some of the BPs integral to each base are expected to partially (ie half inside and half outside) deploy to man local control stations. Specifically, each base is expected to provide 1 BP to assist manning the exterior perimeter as defined by the GCLs array of Control Stations.

3) Defense company is acting UNORIR, per SOP at this time.

Grafton (flipper 6) commanding

off camera:

Loren, could we start to refer to each base location using the appropriate GCL? So we would have GMG-Annapolis or GMG-A.

By Michael C. Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Monday, May 02, 2005 - 04:41 pm: Edit

OOPs, 4 hex sides with 12 Contol stations

Mikey

By Christopher E. Fant (Cfant) on Monday, May 02, 2005 - 06:05 pm: Edit

At this point, I am not sure if we can report in or not. As soon as I hear from SPP again, I will give the command center an update.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Monday, May 02, 2005 - 06:25 pm: Edit

Col Knight:

Recommend that you updaate the current "battle postions" of the 429th PDU units.

Earlier I had listed 3 possible options for you...and SPP has requested same informatin from you, (IIUC on 2 occasions, now).

basically you can position forward (at or close to the 100 hex range), middle range (on the order of 50 hexes) or 26 or less hexes from the planet.

It would be helpful to know what loading status you want on the shatter packs... IIRc you ordered 2 of them loaded, with 3 admin shuttles unassigned, and 3 GAS.

I have forgotten (or maybe did not see where you wanted the Def Sats located (orbit range form planet) and it would be nice to know what status of the civilian divil defenses are in (are the bomb shelters open, are people taking shelter...or is the entire population vulnerable to the drone strikes).

On a final note, the GWS (A or B) should be able to pick up some additional information when the drones pass the 150 hex range (more than 1 full turn of movement prior to the drones reaching the 101 hex point from the planet. Sinc that is two times the level 'A' status on the Tac intel charts (see rule D17.0 IIRC) we should have perhaps 1 turn of movement to alter our defenses based on the enemy approach to the system but just pefore it actually reaches the 101 hex range.

its not much but it could make a difference.

thank you.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Monday, May 02, 2005 - 06:28 pm: Edit

Christopher E. Fant and Richard Sherman:

Technically we could see vignettes from Richard giving his view and reporting what he thinks needs to be reported up to the point he linked up with you. Then from his standpoint as part of the Section you were leading while you would report anything you thought worthy of from your launch (pick a point to start) to when you made contact. Both of you could give your views of the link up, the pushing back of the Gunboat, the discovery of the drones, the engagement of the drones (try to be honest guys, while much has now been stated and given to you about the Gunboat and what it is doing, try to act, i.e., write up the scene, as you would have acted not knowing until things were revealed). I suspect that the lack of pods might change what Chris intended to do with his fighter's drones (or might not). But essentially things can be taken to the point where the section engaged the drones, "discovered" some things about the Gunboat, destroyed the drones, and are now involved in the "fighting retreat" [or have decided to abandon the cripple to its fate and are still involved in a fighting retreat in which in all honesty they can expect one or two more (die rolls made by me might result in none, or two, depends on the luck) fighters to be crippled and then destroyed when the Gunboat finally decides to leave]. Once the fighting retreat is taken up (however Chris and Richard decide it will be conducted, what drones they have available after taking on the bombardment drones, and again they should make their decisions based on what they did not yet know about the Gunboat) the base can react based on their reports.

That report will indicate that they DID in fact contact at least one single stack of 28 bombardment drones, but they were not able to determine if another wave is following that one, at least out to about range 100 from the point they destroyed the drone stack (which was at about range 175 from the planet, so they see no more drones within 100 hexes of themselves in any direction at the point they destroyed the drones).

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Monday, May 02, 2005 - 07:18 pm: Edit

Jeff Wile:

And that is the problem, i.e., why you are not getting anything else, as Banshee's intercept of the drones is further than 150 hexes, so I had to have Banshee's encounter resolved first.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Monday, May 02, 2005 - 08:24 pm: Edit

Curious.

If Chris and Richard can "SEE" what objects are present within 100 hexes...the it is a "globe" of 100 hexe radius...a diameter or 200 hexes from their current location.

I guess I visualized the drone strike as starting from 1 location (the launch point) and the various drone groups would have departed on independent courses where they would (eventually) start converging in the vicinity of the planet.

at 100 hexes from the planet... each of the drone strikes would form a "circle of the planet.

Would have been "nice" if Chris and Richard could "see" the 2 adjacent drone groups as they approach the starting position at 100 hexes from the planet.

too bad, would have been nice if we could have gotten some confirmation on the presence of the adjacent drone groups at the same time Chris and richard "saw" drone group "A".

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Monday, May 02, 2005 - 08:27 pm: Edit

Jeff Wile:

They cannot see any of the other drone groups, if there are other drone groups.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Monday, May 02, 2005 - 08:36 pm: Edit

Col Knight.

If the initial drone group only had 28 drones (and that Banshee flight accounted for 100% of them...then there is no drone group going to arrive at the entry point 100 hexes "north" of hex side Annapolis.

that means (depending on what you decide to do with the fighters of ghost flight) you have the potential of concentrating all of ghost flight against a 2nd entry hex, and could expect similar results if there is a 2nd gunboat accompaning the 2nd drone group.

If the 6 fighters can kill 28 more drones (assuming the next group is of equal size to the DG encountered by Chris and Richard)AND 'play with' the G1 (if there is one) we could have 2 "clear hex sides" free from drones.

if the shatter packs (say 4 of them were prepared) kill 12 drones from each of the other stacks... the 429th would stand a fair to medium chance of defeating the initial wave of drones.

Lots of 'ifs', 'ands' and 'maybes' there... but it is the first positive indications I've seen so far.

we may need more than 2 shatter packs.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Monday, May 02, 2005 - 09:17 pm: Edit

spp-

OK, no other drone groups in sight.

I appreciate the confirmation, no targets in sight.

thank you.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Monday, May 02, 2005 - 09:28 pm: Edit

Jeff Wile:

What confirmation? The fighters cannot see any more. That does not mean that there are not more.

By Loren Knight (Loren) on Monday, May 02, 2005 - 10:09 pm: Edit

That's the info I was waiting on. I'll post orders tonight or in the morning (late morning as I'm in CA).

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Monday, May 02, 2005 - 10:10 pm: Edit

SPP:

Understood.

All I meant was that Banshee flight didnt missing seeing any drone stacks that might have been "routed" thrugh this portion of space while enroute to the dogleg way point on a ballistic course... for instance, say the drone flight targeted for "D" hex side of Cassandra IV (which had the farthest to go) didnt "skirt" the sensor/scanner range of the GWS's at 150 hexes...but went "much farther" out before turning back to get to 100 hexes from Cassandra IV in directin "D".

By David Slatter (Davidas) on Tuesday, May 03, 2005 - 05:46 am: Edit

It's amazing how much difference that single G1 has made for the Klingons. Just 28 drones targeted on each hexide of the planet would not have been much of a threat at all. Stick a G1 in, and the entire Banshee flight has had problems dealing with the drones from the "A" direction. Now, stopping a similar number coming in from all the other directions will be tricky. At best, the fighters will deal with ~50-60 of them (assuming no more G1s), and the bases arn't going to stop all of the other ~90. The cheapskate Klingons have saved at least 40 drones by harrassing with a G1, with little risk to the G1 itself. A few fighters would have had a similar effect for even less risk. Tacnote for SPP on planning drone bombardments.

The ballistic targeting was neat.