Archive through April 15, 2011
Star Fleet Universe Discussion Board: Star Fleet Battles: Star Fleet Battles Online:
Battle Reports :
Archive through April 15, 2011
I wish people would not get all emotional about non-aggression stuff. Starcastling, turtling, retrograding, cloaking and bricking are all valid tactics. The non-aggression rules put limits on them. Why do people get all worked up about being called on the non-aggression clock, but not about the cloak limit?
I've been on both sides. I had an opponent retrograding in the ISC. Any other ship, and I would not have cared, because it would be a losing strategy, but in this case, I felt it necessary to call him on it. He got mad, but the rules are what they are. In another battle, I found myself going speed 4, with a WW on the board (the PPT did not kill it) that was getting farther from my ship. It was advantageous for me to continue crawling along, as my opponent would either have to waste position and resources trying to attack the turtle, or eventually, I would finish fixing my hellbore. But he called me on the non-aggression, and the next turn, I accelerated. No hard feelings.
Dealing with the starcastle, you have several options:
1. You don't have to attack. Stay outside of range 8. Eventually, your opponent must accelerate, or lose due to non-aggression. When he accelerates, he'll be at a disadvantage, with his speed limited to 10.
2. Surf the shield boundary. Kerry has given some pointers on how to do this. The key is that you can alternate between two shield facings faster than he can TAC. If he splits his brick between two shields, you can do damage beyond it. If you guess wrong and hit the brick, just pull back out of range and try again later.
3. In the Kzinti, you can do so many nasty things to an opponent if you get to range 1 or less, you could consider just going in. Put up a brick and skip the disruptors. If he weasels, use phasers to make sure it dies in his hex. If a string of drones strike a weasel, one at a time, he will take a lot of collateral (4 points per drone!). Or, hold your launch, anchor him, and then launch at range 1.
Surrendering the initiative to the Kzinti is not a good thing, because the Kzinti has many different options - OLs, brick, anchor, speed - and you don't know which one he's going to do.
Are there 'official/final' non-aggression rules or a framework posted anywhere? I have the original Module T (not T 2000), and it only really seemed to have some general thoughts on the topic. Nothing that I recall on retrograding or crawling around under weasel, for example. And the only 'cloak limit' I recall was in cloak-vs-cloak games.
Xander, you can read about non-aggression here: Star Fleet Universe Discussion Board: Star Fleet Battles: SFB Tournament Zone: Tournament Rulings
Gentlemen, Andy Vancil is correct in his wishes and the implications that discussions that involve non-aggression seem to never end on a civil note. Please do not continue down this path as it leads to the Swamp of Non-Aggression. Allie (the twin of Ally who lives in the Political Swamp) lives in the Swamp of Non-Aggression. Allie is even hungrier than Ally and will eat anyone who wanders into her swamp. While she would appreciate the dinner, I like you all too much to see you disappear down her throat.
Jean
WebMom
Xander, to avoid a misunderstanding; note that the text Jean refer to is not a game rule.
What it discus is how judges make a decision (confusingly called a 'ruling') on player behaviour.
So technically speaking there are no rules for the players to follow, and consequently none to break.
Carl, not exactly. Players are definitely required to warn their opponent of non-aggression if they want to ask the judge to rule on it later.
There is no non-aggression rule. It has been explained why there will be no rule. Non-aggression remains a judgment call with procedures in place for players to follow if they feel a player is being non-aggressive.
Carl, please remember that SVC has specifically and publicly forbidden you to start any future discussion of a non-aggression rule. This does include encouraging another to do so, thus starting down the wide and easy path into Allie's swamp.
Jean
WebMom
No problem, Jean. I merely needed to make that point clear for Andy that there is no rule.
SFB is all about rules, and so it is important to get it right.
Yes, I can see that any rules that involve non agression could and probably would be exploited by tournament players. Specifically retrograde movement. I didn't think i said to the player in question that they were rules i posted into chat. I believe i used the words guidelines, but there the guidelines for judges.
Now how is retrograde movement non agressive. I like retrograde movement myself. And yeah the ISC do it well, Ive faced an ISC Echelon moving in retrograde. In my opinion when your three rear shields are gone retrograde starts looking pretty sweet. Its probably the best "agressive tactic" for a ship thats missing half its shields. It faces the heavy weapons at the enemy usually, as well as the majority of a ships phasers. The fact that my arse end usually gets shot up before i take it on the nose probably could mean ive not been being agressive enough.
I understand why my opponent still holds hard feelings about it, fatigue and him not doing what i expected were in this case more of a problem than the sitting in the corner. Many of your ideas have given me many ideas on how to take advantage of the stationary Fed. I never considered using shield boundaries in the way that was suggested above. Its probably one reason SVC doesn't want to have to make an official rule on this. You all have already found solutions to the Fed Starcastle, without the need for any rule. Also there is the fact that in regular SFB, non agression can make perfect sense. Your outnumbered protecting a fixeed target and have reinforcemtnts coming very soon, what do you do. I would try to preserve the defending fleet by avoiding the enemy early, counnting on being in a better position soon.
I can see now that these posts about non agression are only guidelines. SVC is probably right to let us all find tactics to make non agression a bad idea in all but the most desperate circumstances. Its those desperate circumstances that are why things like retrograde and TAC's are in the game in my opinion. The surprise i guess was in seeing these things so early, when i saw no "desperate circumstances" in the game. I did think there were other better ways to handle a dozen drones with the Fed, and the Fed can expect to see that many drones out of the Kzin every time. But it wasn't my place to fly the Fed, it was my opponents, I probably shouldn't have said anything its his right to use those rules whenever he wants. Considering the hostility that these "guidelines" can create i would hate to see the uproar from any rules on the subject.
I think we should all weigh the benifits and consequences of invoking the dreaded "non-agression" clause. Even if it wins you the game, it can lose you a friend, it can lose you a player to enjoy the game with. I can say it can leave you feeling like a real ass for quite some time.
And the NK format we were playing doesn't have a great availability of Judges. As the guidelines say i think the Judge should be consulted first, that would have been a good idea if i could have. I think in NK it could be really hard to get any judgement on non agression in a game. Its actually very hard to even get a stats mistake corrected or talk to a warm bodied person with some authority over NK. But with patience over about a month and a half it is possible. 
And thank you Jean, i don't want to get poor Carl in trouble. Ive learned alot from this thread and see my situation in that game differently. Also have a clearer understanding of the unintended consequences of opening the pandora's box of trying to use non agression guidelines to change human behavior. People are very hard to change, maybe we shouldn't even try. For me SFB has always been about exploiting the rules to maximize the effectivness of your race vs the opponent's race. I think my poor Fed was simply experimenting with something new to him, and me. But not to you veterans.
I think i will try to change the topic, another ship and a series of battles Ive played over the last two months.
Thanks again, Josh-GFB
So here goes, the ship is the Archao Tholian TCC.
The opponent is the Fed again. Many flatheads have blown my poor ship Casterator to bits. Here are some things ive learned in general about my ship.
The absolute no 1 do not do in my opinion with the A. Tholian is get hit on the no 1 shield after turning. It looks tempting at first when you look at the A. Tholian SSD. The disruptor arc's can only fire all 4 down the centerline, also all 8 ph 1's can fire down the forward hex row. But the fatal flaw to this is when you start to take internals on the no 1 you have absoultly no ph 3's in arc. The only facing on the A. Tholian that can say that. In my opinion the risks far outweagh the benifits of one extra disr(which you struggle to power), and 1 ph 1.
In one very bad example I turned my no 1 towards the enemy, a Fed. The first hit took out the shield and fluff and a phaser. Thats when i noticed that there were no ph 3. Over the next several impulses as i tried desperatly to turn, Slip any shield into position he picked at me with phasers. Ruthlessly exploiting the DAC, and before i knew it i was down to 3 ph 1 and no starting to eat into my precious power.
The flip side of the coin is that the ph 3 are RX, and the ship has 4 of them. It really help's being able to take two of three phaser hits as type 3. But eventually your rear and or side shields are gone. Thats when i feel like you have to switch to retrograde, or fight with one side of the ship. I don't consider it non agressive, and i think most people understand my reasons for doing it at that point. The turn you change to reverse your terribly vulnerable, and often die.
So what ive been doing against the Fed is usually plotting 20/28 on turn 1 or more often 20/31. Its oh so important to move last when making your final approach. I continue this high speed usually into the next turn but start at the lower speed 28, or 20 to satisfy my turn mode earlier than I would at max speed. Changing to max speed early, and tapering down to 20 at the end of turn 2.
This seems to usually keep the Fed outside effective OL range for the first two turns except if your web placement is terrible. Or you find a speedy Fed.
I think the Fed is one of the tougher match ups vs the A. Tholian. The Fed has the phasers to match the Thol, only in ph 3's do the Thol have an advantage, more but not 360. Aft shielding is a bit better, and i think both ships struggle with power. The Fed can take power hits and continue to function, ever power hit on the A Thol hurts.
So how do you all handle the A. Tholian power issues? What should the wise A. Tholian player not power, because its a balancing act between the defense the Caster and Snares provide vs the punch of the disr. I cant see how the A. Thol or any other flavor of Thol can live without the phasers. They are I think the Tholians most important weapon, at the ranges I like to play at they convert energy into damage more efficiently than disruptors or the web fist.
Another question is how much do you use the disruptors on the A. Tholian? For me they are mostly an end game weapon. Wen i charge more than the C and D disr I typically move too slow and get caught. Which is the end of the game for me usually.
Also lets discuss CDR on this ship. I focus my repairs on the Phaser 3's as padding, in most games thats all I have CDR to repair. There is one exception I always take disruptor hits on the A and B disruptor. These I would spend 4 CDR on if they were on the side of the ship still capable of fighting as range 10 disr. Also the Batteries are vital, and cheap to fix. If it feels like I may be able to survive and do well and ive taken a snare hit I have occasionally repaired them, as snares generally, although maybe a web gen would be better. They protect the Web Caster, and when the WC is gone your toast. So i think its in the A. Thols best interest to keep one snare or web generator up as padding. They do take forever and a day to repair, and i often wish i had been fixing the ph 3's instead.
Turn 1 you have many more options because there is 10 energy sitting in phaser caps, and another 7 in the web caps. The Fed always wants to put distance between us on turn 1 to OL the last two photons. Very understandable.
Another thing that this ship has is some lovely fractional leftover energy after your speed plot. The ship depends so much on power you cant really afford to let it go to waste. After scouring the EA form for a place to put power you cant use, I settled on HET energy, especially when you havn't used your HET yet. TAC's are another option, or the phaser capacitors. Does anyone else have any ideas on where the A. Tholians would best use leftover scraps of energy.
Against the Fed the extra energy you have on turn 1 seems wasted on S reinforcement. Disruptors slow you down even at standard charge, and I usually don't make it to the coveted r15 on turn 1. Im beginning to think the energy better spent on an agressive speed plot to sieze the center board on turn 1, and the fed can always surprise you by coming in early and fast. The added speed would let you adapt to what the Fed decides to do.
Another consideration, if the Fed clearly doesn't plan to engage on turn 1 why use the stored web energy. I suppose you could block the feds running with a long range web, but i doubt its worth the energy, even if you catch him in the web, your still only going to get a long shot with disrruptors.
Specal shuttles against the Fed, this is one thing ive noticed, while your allowed to take two special shuttles, thats 2 less power each turn you have. Fighting the Fed you probably don't need any WW, sure the ECM would be great but slowing to 4 is not worth it. The smart Fed simply waltzes in to range 1 and eats the feedback energy knowing he will get more than enough internals to make it worth his effort. Suicide Shuttles are tempting, but as i said cost energy and the odds that you will hit with one are slim. Against seeking weapon races this is obviously not the case, the WW is very important and worth the energy. I always hope to never need them, but very often my plans backfire.
The A. Tholian seems to take alot of skill to win against certain races, its never boring, death is just the other side of the web usually, and the web is usually impulses away from collapse.
So im just curious if anyone has any further thoughts on this ship, and the matchup vs the Fed in the A. Thol. Are there strengths to this ship that im missing still. Winning in it is sure satisfying though, and naturally I love to see plasma's coming at me. Drones are way more trouble. The Hydran is fun to play also, there must be something wrong with me i enjoy torching Stingers through my webs so much i may seek professional help.
Also there is the N. Tholian, which ive yet to try. What do you all think of the N. vs the A, Tholian, do they play about the same? I know try it and see.
So thanks in advance for any advice on this tricky litter bug of a ship.
Josh-GFB
Josh wrote:
Quote:Now how is retrograde movement non agressive. I like retrograde movement myself.
Allow me scrupulously avoid discussing the merits of the non-aggression guidelines while clarifying the definition of the term "Retrograde" as it applies here.
Josh, you need to understand there is a difference between the Retrograde and simply moving in reverse. You can be aggressive when moving in reverse. As you pointed out, after your forward shields are gone, it can be the best way to approach your enemy. And there is nothing wrong with backing up out of a knife fight so you can reload and get into a better position.
But the Retrograde is more than just moving in reverse. It is moving in reverse, away from the enemy, in such a way that the only way the opponent can engage you is to run uphill through your seekers, PPD shots, prox photons, etc. That is what the non-aggression guidelines are talking aobut.
On the fixed tourney map, it usually is not an issue, but the ISC, and to a lesser extent the Big Plasma ships, can use it effectively.
The A Thol and N Thol play a little bit differently. As the NThol is a MC 1 ship at spd it has less descretionary power so normally it plays more like a KLI.
Against the FED in the Nthol I like to do a web at range 10 ish and close to R8 firing 4 OLs at that point with the web coming up before we reach R5. This sometimes "pressures" the FED into firing from R6-8 and for me that is the range I want it to fire at.
At that point it's web and phaser games(with additional HET games), which the fed usually loses on, as the NThol can fire phasers before the fed gets to fire with this fire being 5 P1 + 3 P3 from R2.
If the fed then dives into the web the Neo generally uses std web blocking to delay til next turn where full alphas will be exchanged from R3-4. After the smoke clears there normally is enough of the Neo left to finish the fed off before phots can be reloaded.
Both tend to see the opposite though with the FED NOT diving but using a spd 24 or 26 manuevering around the web. This actually works out better for the fed for the most part, but depending on the skill level getting a decent shot may be awile, and a "good shot" seems to work out to a R8 on the rears. Again with the Fed a lot depends on what hits but if only 2 hit the FED most likely lost, 3 means the internals can decide it and 4 means fed just won.
The Archeo has the additinal caveat in that it can run at higher spds for longer so concievably it could delay the fed shot til internals occur and here luck may help it out.
My Archeo play seems to be:
T1 load 3 OLs and everything else to spd(commonly a 21/28 plot). Web T1 is to set up a break for T2. From T2+ until I get cornered it's 1-3 in web caster, no disr, and then spd. During the turn an occasional std disr is loaded from batts.
Against the Fed specifically odd points from spd are normally put into HET or if tight on power I underload phasers by 1 and put the fraction there(as I normally am not firing P3s vs the fed often). With the Archeo I do not use special shuttles vs the fed.
Archeo is normally a total dance while the neo is a dance for a turn or two and then exchange alphas from there on out.
No wonder my feet hurt.
Thanks Andy and Nomad.
Yes I do see how retrograde on a floating map can be exploited, have experienced it myself.
The Neo Thol does sound interesting, the movement cost of the Archaeo has killed me every time I get tractored. Which is getting less frequent. The problem is that after tractored and with the other ships movement cost added to your own your energy for movement doen't add up to alot. Even tractored at range two where you would think you could use the snares to break the tractor link the enemys speed always pushes you too far from the web before it solidifies.
Yes always the goal is to try to get the Fed to fire past range 4 with the Photons. Most won't do it. One thing ive started to think about is if the FED is definatly going to get a shot maybe its better taken earlier in the turn. Feds love to fire on imp 32, as this makes the photon a 33 impulse arming weapon. And that can get painfull if they repeat the timing over and over.
One tactic im seeing from the Fed is if you deny him the r4 shot is just firing 1 OL late in the turn with usually 6 ph 1. If the photon hits and the phasers do avg damage that shield is so low that you dare not leave it exposed. Firing late these pot shots never seem to leave the Fed vulnerable. The Fed has the power to feed its phasers and take longer range shots, the A. Thol with a 10 capacitor and only 33 pwoer, sometimes has trouble refilling the phasers all in one turn. The Fed is up there with 9 capacitor, 38 power. Roughly 1/3 of the Tholians power to 1/4 of the Feds, this i suppose is the nature of the beast when dealing with the 2/3 movers.
I will try no special shuttles pre loaded vs the Fed, I think that power over a few turns could make a real difference. Also underloading the WC is another good idea, strength 2 web blocks direct fire just fine ive found. And may actually increase your chances of catching a ship, even two movement impulses is helpfull.
Ive learned never to be within three hexes of the web when someone jumps in, 5 is alot better though. Tractors it seems work just great from a web hex, And tractors are one system that ship cant afford to power, its no Aux Box thats for sure. Having only 4 Batteries does not help the situation, even if you anticipate it and do what you can any auction with a movement cost 1 ship is at a serious disadvantage.
It sounds like ive been moving in the right direction on flying the Archaeo Tholian, just need to learn the dance.
Thanks again, and im glad moving in reverse on the tourney map is kosher, it can be a great thing when fortune favors you with three good shields on the front at the end game.
Josh said "I focus my repairs on the Phaser 3's as padding, in most games thats all I have CDR to repair."
Better to repair a forward P1 as P2. You can do it in one turn, it holds more power, pads the P1s, uses fewer CDRs and is a half-decent weapon as well. If you can afford the time, repair it as a P1 (maybe doing another as P3 first as well to get it all over in 2 turns).
In terms of what not to power: distractors, obviously, unless you can be sure that you'll achieve something useful with them. To state the obvious: make a plan and power that, rather than powering stuff and finding a way to use it.
Yeah phaser 1's and 2's are definatly better, its the time thats the killer. I am extra careful not to get hit on the forward shield early. From that angle there are no ph 3's. This is mainly why I repair the phaser 3's they are not very useufull at the ranges i try to stay at.
I can see myself repairing a ph 1 as a 2, that does only take a turn, but to get it back to a ph 1 would take two turns since the repair cost is 5.
In those two turns your likely to take internals, and if the ph 3 are not there then you lose more of the phaser 1's than you can afford to live without. I think ill give Mudfoots ideas a try when I lose a ph 1 early.
U10.0 Survey Captain Game
Battle report for the Klingon Empire
Scenario 1 Short Summary- D7E Kurtenbach
While collecting moon rocks for the Emperor's moon rock collection, we find ourselves ambushed by the cowardly flatheads (Fed GSC). Never one to turn down a challenge, we accept (in hindsight, maybe should have left with our precious cargo of moon rocks instead).
Turns 1 to 3: The FED plays the EW game well and only very light damage is scored. It's Y164 so it's like watching two flies paint a house and watching the paint dry while playing a game of golf.
Turn 4: Desperate for Disruptor hits, the Klingon closes. However, the lack of EW from the FED start of turn does not hint at what is going to happen next. An HET later, combined with a weapons officer who ate his porridge, makes for a bad day for the Klink.
Turn 5: A successful H&R by a commando unit on the last guarded Klink security station results in a mutiny and the ship is captured by 5.18. Klingon captain escapes with a pocketful of moon rocks, explaining why he gets another ship for this campaign.
Well played by ECF in the role of FED villian/opponent. Thanks for the game!
Teemo: Scenario 1 point total -20. No problem. A positive gain in the next 8 and I avoid the court-martial and requisite execution that comes with it.
I'm crossing my fingers for the Planet Eater next round. Best of luck to the other Survey captains in your...uh..surveys!
I'm playing Operation Tribune (SH187.0 in Module M) against Ted Fay on SFBOL. We just started. I'm playing the Gorn and Ted is playing the Romulans.
We made some slight modifications to the setup to reflect ships that might have been historically present but weren't published at the time of Module M.
Ted replaced his initial starting force with a CNV carrying 6 Tribune-K heavy fighters and 12 G-3SF superiority fighters, a SPM escort, and 2*SKEA escorts. For my part, I added a heavy bomber base with 6 G-52s to hexside A of the planet and a GBDP phaser-4 battery to hexside D; I also upgraded the initial BC to a BCH, and the DDF that arrives on turn 4 to a BDA. Since it's Y180, we also upgraded all the plasma to sabot, and all the shuttles to advanced.
We've played 19 impulses of turn 1 so far. The start of the game was delayed by me having problems with EA on the client and Ted having problems with a special map overlay I made to help out with the ground combat.
At start of turn we both closed and launched most of our fluff units (my 6 interceptors from the base and Ted's enormous horde of fighters). The bombers have stayed in the hangar so far. The CNV also pooped out *two* MRS shuttles, which I didn't even know was allowed (it is). The interceptors used EM.
He launched a bunch of plasma - 8 pl-F's from four of his Tribune-F's, 2 F's from his Skyhawks, 2 PL-D's from the Skyhawks, and four D-torps from the same four Tribunes. The F's all turned out to be targeted on the base, whereas the D's were targeted on the interceptors (not identified, just obvious from movement).
The base station fired a pl-S sabot at one of the escorts, but the tribunes phasered it down to almost nothing. The ground base chipped in an R13 phaser-4 to prevent its pseudo status from being revealed.
The INTs turned and ran out the D-torps to nothing, waddling along at their max speed 15 at launch. The base weaseled, and the weasel was destroyed by long range phaser fire from most of his ships. The impact of the plasma scored a net of 11 collateral on the base (two of the F's were out in front, which I phasered down before weaseling, and they chipped in an extra 1 point; the others maxed out the collateral chart for 10).
Since the base launched an MRS, it's already begun its critical shuttle shortage. Base stations have serious problems with that, even though they have plenty of extra shuttles in the shuttledeck, it takes forever and a day to get them ready as weasels. I probably should have foregone the MRS in favor of just having another weasel; but then, having the extra capabilities of the MRS is nice too.
The Gorn warships, moving at their max speed of 24, have finally gotten within 5 hexes of the planet. The Romulans are loafing with the CNV and SPM at speed 4 and the escorts now at speed 12, complaining about power shortages on the CNV.
Turn 2, the Romulans receive as reinforcements a Sparrowhawk-G, which to my dismay retains nearly its entire armament, and a Commando Eagle, which, ah, does not (it can however land on planets). Gorn reinforcements arrive on turn 4, in the form of some serious fighting ships, a DNF, BC, BDA, and SC. That, however, is seeming like a very long way off.
That's a cool scenario, please keep us updated!
It *is* a cool scenario, and I was happy that Sheap volunteered to play it once I mentioned it on the BBS.
On the "complaining" of power shortage on the CNV: Dude... Especially with the advent of Sabot you have to spend oodles and oodles of power upgrading plasma and reloading the F-torpedo stasis chambers. The CNV spent 27 power on reloading/upgrading fighter torps. And then it has to actually load its *own* torps....
Anyway, it's shaping up to be a fun scenario. What Sheap said about serious fighting ships on the way - but seems a long way off - is a theme for the entire scenario. Basically you get waves and waves of ships on each side coming in over time, and once reinforcements arrive from one side the other side feels a serious pinch. Naturally, reinforcements are not endless, but it is NOT a short scenario!
As for the MRS on the BS, I was very surprised to see it. Given the massive plasma I have available, I felt for sure he would have two WWs available to maximize survival time of the BS and force me to throw as much plasma as possible at it until destroyed. Especially because we are on a fixed 42x30 map with sabot plasma - and because he starts commanding the center of the map - I am extremely hampered until I silence those big guns. With his MRS launched and the other weasel used I'll very likely kill the BS on turn 1! However, I'll still have to launch massive plasma at it to ensure the kill, and that will leave my ships and fighters somewhat vulnerable to the BCH squad he currently has on the map. However, those phaser-4's *HAVE* to be silenced as rapidly as possible or the Roms will go down faster than sh!! through a goose...
You know, I think I'll try to get screenshots so people can see the progress of the scenario. I'll have to do that later.
Yeah, the MRS was an error. It is because I am used to the big maps that are popular in modern scenarios (especially in campaigns), and I'm also used to BATS where you have enough shuttles that you can last a good long while. A PF scout would also be a big help, good thing you attacked this year and not next year
The scenario modifications we made favor the Romulans more than I initially thought, because it takes so long for the bombers to get into action.
Now if we can just get the next session scheduled...
Sheap, I might be able to play tonight. As usual my schedule varies but I should be on by 9:00 CDT. I'll let you know otherwise. Sometimes as early as 8:30 CDT.
I agree the mods have favored the Roms. I felt the original scenario favored the Gorns a great deal. Maybe the balance is too far on the Rom side now? Probably worth playing out as we modified, I hope.
Oh, I'm not going to want to make any mid-scenario changes or whatever. Also, probably better to wait until there's been more than just 11 points of shield damage to panic. If I lose, I lose. It's SFBOL, I am used to it
I don't think I can go tonight, Mondays are usually bad for me. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays are my good days - and weekends, but I know you don't like weekends.
Completed turn 1 of the modified Operation Tribune.
Things are getting bloody fast. 42x30 fixed map, sabot torps, and both forces have turned into each other!!!!
Massive waves of plasma at the base are very effectively blunted by Sheap. Using all 7 available ph-4, some 8 ph-3, and about 30 ph-1, Sheap managed to turn what would have been about a two-time kill on the BS to merely substantial damage. The BS has it's #4 down, #1 very weak, and 10 damage to the other shields. Nearly all of the fluff is gone, two D racks are hit, both special sensors shot off, all ph-3s destroyed, and one phaser-IV bought the farm. On impulse #1 of turn 2 the R torp will hit for another 11 or so internals, which might bag another ph-4 or two (or maybe not). After that, the fluff will be about all gone and the BS will go down fast. I still have a couple hundred points of plasma incoming that will impact at various points in early turn 2; however, he'll have phasers again before most of it reaches. Thus, it's uncertain what the fate of the BS will be. The Roms have also blown through nearly their entire wad of plasma, which is not good for me at all. I still have plenty of D torps left (1 on each of the G-IIIs, 2 on each of the Tribunes), and I'll have D torps on the ships - but other than that the Roms will be dry on plasma. The CNV has used its fakes from its C and E tubes (S and F torps) but Sheap doesn't know yet which are the fakes.
The Gorns have also launched a wave of plasma of their own. Currently I have an enveloping S targeted on the SPM at about range 5, a S torp and an F torp (fake?) at a SKE, and an unidentified torp. The BS launched another enveloper that I don't know the target of. Right now I think the BCH has launched its S torps, the HDD has launched its S torp, and the BDD has kept it's torps (I suspect this is inaccurate, so I'll let Sheap update on what the actual launch status is of his ships). The BS has used its fake and it's S torp - not that it will matter too much as the BS is going down on turn 2 if I can at all help it. Oh, and the Interceptors launched 6 F facing torps at me, range 9 or so. He also launched his 6 bombers late in the turn, no doubt with fresh Sabot F torps.
I did manage to fake out the BCH. Not knowing the targets of a whole wad of F torps, it HET and crossed the T at about range 9 of my main fleet, which has now all met up in the same hex. I'm heading F, BCH heading E. The other two Gorn ships are heading C straight towards me, but have been slipping B to avoid hot plasma and phaser death.
Late in the turn I fired a messload of ph-3s and some ph-1s from the SKEAs at the #1 of the BCH - before it HET - (ranges 8 on 11 ph-3's, 9+ on the rest). I picked it as the target mostly because it did not have any ECM up and I could ill afford a shift. I rolled pretty well and managed to ping the #1 of the BCH for some 18 damage. Hardly a mortal wound, but at least it will deter him somewhat from flying straight at me again.
Turn 2 will put some more pinch on the Gorn, as I have my reinforcements scheduled to arrive of SPG, SKG, and CE. Not heavy on the weapons, but it's still another S torp and 4 F torps and a few more phasers to throw into the mix.
Turn 2 will of course promise to be even more bloody.....
I'll post my own report soon but Ted has the outlines correct. I wouldn't call my plasma a "wave" as much as a "dribble," especially compared to the 600 points or so that got fired at me on turn 1
Next turn will be fun - he still has eleven D-torps on his fighters, but not a lot else in the way of plasma.
I did EAF yesterday and have a more accurate Gorn plasma count.
BS: Tube A used for sure. 4/6 plasma magazines left on 2 launchers; one D torp used from those magazines.
BCH: Tubes A, C, and E used? Tubes B, D guaranteed to be hot; tubes A,C,E may/may not be hot.
HDD: Tube A used for sure. Tubes B and C guaranteed hot.
BDD: All three tubes guaranteed to be hot.
INTs (All 6): Tube B used? Tube A guaranteed to be hot.
G-52s (All 6): All torps hot.