I think if the Aux takes HHDD or something it could conceivably keep pressure up on the Andro and complicate its panel dumps, but then the Aux can't really brick anything, and as Peter pointed out, anyone who is serious about winning a tourney would most likely not take that package. . If the AUX is 11g1, or HBgD, common tourney packages, it can bounce alot of damage, but can't ever, ever pierce the panels.
The drones can be cleverly maneuvered to complicate the Andros optimal shot, but they are not a threat. P-3s are not a threat unless the Andro overruns. I don't think this Andro want to overrun the Aux. So in short, the Aux will win this about as many times as the Andro fails displacement or a second het. 1.5 out of 10 times. I am willing to try it a couple more times in different packages for a larger sample.

By Peter D Bakija (Bakija) on Thursday, December 01, 2011 - 01:00 pm: Edit

So Andy suggested this, and I'm thinking it is a good plan, so here are my ideas:

Let's run another Andro playtest "tournament". WIth the following parameters:

A) 8 people will be involved.

B) 4 of them will fly the current playtest Andro.

C) 4 of them will fly pre-selected Galactic ships.

D) Each Andro player will play each Galactic player, which will be 16 total games, each player responsible for 4 games (i.e. A vs E; A vs F; A vs G; A vs H; start over for player B).

E) The winner will be SFB, for getting good playtest data. Which means that each player will be responsible for writing up playtest reports, so you should only be willing to do this if you are willing to do that.

In terms of the initial Galactic ships, I was thinking:

1) Lyran: A solid DF ship that can do well against the Andro, but isn't as much of a slam dunk as the Fed.

2) Shark (bb): Drone dependent, but with good DF capabilities, stands in for both the Klingon and Kzinti as well.

3) Gorn: Solid Big Plasma.

4) Orion (HHgbb): Traditionally really hard for the Andro to beat.

So we'd have 4 Andro players and one person playing each of the above ships. I'm certainly interested in ideas, but I don't want to run anything more complicated than this; if it works the first time, complicated can be the next time.

I'm thinking about setting this up in January (i.e. after the holidays and after some folks are killed out of various existing tournaments). If you are interested, shoot me a line via e-mail.

By Paul Scott (The_Rock) on Thursday, December 01, 2011 - 01:29 pm: Edit

I'll volunteer for an Andro slot, Peter. I'll also be available starting next Wednesday for some pickup playtest games.

So far, from reading the reports this Andro looks promising. The Andro tactics being used appear to rely too much on the DD and thus I view them as sub-optimal. Likewise, however, the opponent tactics are not what I would show, especially from the drone users. Back before the ship was madr useless by the various TRL versions, good drone use could really complicate things for the Andro.

None of this should be surprising, really, as it was always a wierd ship anyway and no one has had to think about it for over a decade. It is going to take a while for people to "refigure" the ship and how to fight it.

From what I have read so far, though, it is going to be advantaged against plasma and have serious problems with the Fed and Orion. That was always going to be the case. The good thing is that it looks to be reasonably balanced against the rest of the feild.

By Mike Kenyon (Mikek) on Thursday, December 01, 2011 - 01:42 pm: Edit

I'd gladly sign up to play just about anything but the Gorn.

By Troy Latta (Saaur) on Thursday, December 01, 2011 - 03:31 pm: Edit

---

Quote:

I'd gladly sign up to play just about anything but the Gorn.

---

By Troy Williams (Jungletoy) on Thursday, December 01, 2011 - 04:17 pm: Edit

I'll play anything, but the Lyran slot would be my prefered. Me playing the Andro would probably skew the results the wrong way.

P.S. I have no restrictions on when I can play....

By Peter D Bakija (Bakija) on Thursday, December 01, 2011 - 04:50 pm: Edit

Ok, based on e-mails received so far, we got:

-Paul S: Andro
-Andy Koch: Lyran
-Troy Latta: Some Ship
-Troy Williams: Some Ship
-Mike Kenyon: Some Ship
-Me: Gorn

We got 2 slots left at press time for this first iteration. I'd prefer for folks who are already reasonably familiar with the Andro to be flying the Andro, but, ya know, I'm easy. If the three guys who already are on the list without picked ships could make a preference, that'd be good (Andro, Andro, Andro, Shark, Orion). Once we have 8 players volunteered who are willing to reliably play 4 games each (in a couple months time; probably I'll set the time frame of, like, Jan to March or so) and write up playtest reports, I'll set up a tree and whatever.

By Troy Latta (Saaur) on Thursday, December 01, 2011 - 05:21 pm: Edit

Dang, I was hoping to use this as an opportunity to learn the Andro. Ah well, gimme the Shark, then. First ship I ever flew, so I should be pretty familiar with it.

By Peter D Bakija (Bakija) on Thursday, December 01, 2011 - 05:27 pm: Edit

Well, if you wanna be an Andro, you can certainly be an Andro. Just study up before the tournament :-)

By Peter D Bakija (Bakija) on Thursday, December 01, 2011 - 07:31 pm: Edit

Discussion of the Andro Playtest Tournament has moved to the SFBOL Tournament Forum (in a thread with the appropriate title).

By Peter D Bakija (Bakija) on Sunday, December 18, 2011 - 02:46 pm: Edit

Non Tournament Playtest Game

bakija (AND) vs TartanArmy (ORI PPPff)

Orion (for clarity, armed with photon, photon, photon, fusion, fusion) kills Andro handily.

T1: I plot speed 16 till 21 or so, 30 till the end of the turn, roll the TRHs, hold the disdev, put up standard panels. This uses 0 battery power. The Orion doubles 1 engine and moves 19/30. I just fly up the map, he slips away and turns right to kind of corner dodge. I just go forward. Late in the turn, we both accelerate to 30. I turn in to kind of get behind him. He slips away and turns to face me around impulse 29 or so. We end the turn with me 6 hexes off his #5. If I had been super clever, I would have finagled to get to R5 off his #5 and would have taken that shot, but I wasn't that clever (it is also possible that I couldn't have pulled it off even if I tried).

T2: I plot speed 31 till about 20 and then 16. Holding everything and with standard panels, this takes 3 battery power. I also allocate for 6 reserve warp (probably should have had a couple more points in reserve warp). The Orion doubles both engines and moves 26 for a few impulse and then 31. Impulse 2, I turn off and run away for a while, hoping to get more map to run in after I fire and displace, but as I have no good way to avoid R1 if the Orion just chases me into the opposite corner, I'm going to have to fire and displace this turn anyway. I run for a bit, and then turn back in. The Orion needs to keep me on his #6, as it is the one with reinforcement (I don't know this, of course), so we end up at R3, perfect oblique of his #6 to my #2. I announce displacement and fire with 2xTRH and 4xP2, doing 54 damage. He fires back with 3xP3, doing 4 to my front panels. I find 18 reinforcement and do 6 internals (2xwarp, 1xP3, 3xhull). I roll to displace, roll a 6. As the Orion will now get a R0 overrun on me, and we want to see what happens if I *don't* fail to displace, we chalk up a win for the Orion and then pretend I made the displacement. I jump 6 hexes away, ending up 6 hexes behind the Orion. The Orion HETs to chase me. I use 3.33 battery to HET and 2.67 battery to move speed 25 for the remainder of the turn instead of 16. I just run, he chases. Impulse 28, he gets to R4 off my rear panels. He shoots me with 4xP1 and 3xOL photons. He rolls bad on the photons, hits with 1, and does 31 total damage (I offer to give him a die roll gimme and say he hit with 2, but he is happy with the 1 photon hit here anyway). I use 3 more battery power to reinforce my rear panels and take a leak hit on my hull. We end the turn with me near the wall, him R4 behind me. I absorb 3 battery power (bringing my batteries up to 6 power) and radiate 4 points out of my rear panels and clear my front.

T3: I only have 6 battery power. My phaser capacitor is down to 2 points. I can rearm one of my TRHs, my disdev, keep my panels at reinforced, and move 31 half the turn followed by 16 and still have 4 reserve warp left in case I need to HET, so I do that. The Orion doubles both warp and his impulse (he is down 5 warp at this point), starts rearming his photons, rearms his phasers and batteries, puts a bit of power in a HET. I run and turn north, so his down #6 might be vulnerable when he turns to chase me. He turns to chase me, so I HET south (not breaking down on the second HET, but leaving me with .667 reserve power total) and get on his down #6. He slips out, giving me a shot, but at R4. As I only have 2 armed phasers, I don't bother. I fly south a bit, he eventually HETs behind me, and then I slow down to 16. He just cruises up, gets to R0, and blasts my rear (mostly full) panels with a standard fusion, 4xP1, 1xP3. I take 20 internals, losing a TRH and my batteries. Next impulse, he gets 2 more P3s into my rear panels, and blows off my second TRH. I resign.

At the end of the damage, I still have about 20 power, but no batteries, no TRHs, and am generally done.

The Orion is certainly very good against this Andro. If the Andro lucks out and hits a non reinforced shield on its initial volley, it might be able to do ok here, but otherwise, probably not. The Orion doesn't even really need to hit the Andro's rear panels with torps to kill it (the Orion hit with 1xOL photon and 1x std fusion and still killed the Andro). The Orion moving speed 31 all the time and having 2xHETs and a better turn mode means the Andro has no advantage at all in this fight. Which is ok, as I suspect that this Andro is still very competitive vs Plasma (I'll see in 15 minutes...) and will be a very Rock/Paper/Scissors ship in general.

By Peter D Bakija (Bakija) on Monday, December 26, 2011 - 12:42 pm: Edit

Playing a game vs Andy Koch (droid) currently.

bakija (AND) vs droid (LYR)

T1: I turn everything on and move 16 till 23, 31 till end (20 moves), which means I get to put .333 into a HET and not use any net battery power. Andy moves 16/26 and has a few overloads. He corner dodges a bit, I just move to the middle of the map. We both turn left and close. When it is apparent that we aren't going to hit OL range if I keep slipping out a bit, I do that. Impulse 29, he announces an ESG to come up on 1. We end at about R10, me facing F, him facing E, him on my rear panels.

T2: I plot 16 till 6, 31 till 24, 16 till end and keep everything armed, using 3 next battery power. Andy moves 31/26/14/8 with 3 overloads and maybe some in a HET. I pitch out a T-bomb to get 10 off his ESG (which comes up at R3, power 5) if he doesn't turn off. He slips out a bit to delay hitting the T-bomb and he announces his other ESG. We close, he hits the T-bomb, losing 10 off the ESG. I HET to get a good shot unless he turns off. I end up at R3, my front panels facing his #1, but only getting to shoot by virtue of my FH arcs and his second ESG comes up in my hex. I eat 5 ESG damage. I announce displacement and blast him with 2xTRH and 4xP2 on his #1 for 53 damage, doing 23 in, hitting a couple phasers, a disruptor, an ESG, and 4 power. He shot back with 2xP1 and 2xP3, doing 9 more to my fronts. I displace and end up 4 hexes behind him. He HETs and blasts my rear panels with 6xP1 and 3xOL w/UIM. He hits with 2 of the OLs and rolls feeb on the phasers, and does 37 to my rear panels. I take a leak and reinforce. Next impulse I slip out and get 2 more P2s in his down #1 for 2 more in (hull, warp). I then do a lot of math to empty my batteries:

-I started with 15.
-I used 3 in EA.
-I used 0.2 for the T-bomb.
-I used 3.333 for the HET.
-I use 2.667 to speed up to 31 for the rest of the turn.
-I used 3 to reinforce panels.
-I put 2.8 into my phasers.

Which is all 15 power, emptying them. I turn off my front panels, putting 3 power in my rears (filling them) and 8 into batteries. I immediately put 3.2 into the capacitors, leaving 4.8 in batteries. He slows down, I fly off. When I can put my front panels up, I do that, and then drop the rears, putting 33 power in my fronts. I fly off into the corner, he slowly pursues, launching a couple shuttles. He fires a couple P3's at my down rears at R15, but misses. I put my rear panels back up by the end of the turn. We end the turn at about R15, him in the middle of the map, me buried in the corner. I absorb 3 more power and radiate 6 into space.

At the end of T2, he has 25 internals, a down #1, and is out 5 power, a P1, a P3, an ESG, and a disruptor. But he also has fired every weapon on his ship. I have 1 hull hit from the leak, 23 power/3 deg front; 0 power/7 deg back, full phaser capacitors, 7.8 battery power.

I suspect I have a significant leg up here, but it remains to be seen. If Andy rolls well on his R4 shot on my back (3/3 OLs and good phasers as opposed to 2/3 OLs and bad phasers), I take 8-10 in there, which could have been very significant. Also, if I fail to displace there, the game is just over, as he gets R1 on my rear panels.

By Peter D Bakija (Bakija) on Tuesday, December 27, 2011 - 12:21 pm: Edit

bakija (AND) over droid (LYR)

T3: I rearm everything and move 16 all turn, with results in me actually gaining some battery power. Andy moves some sort of 9/18 plot. I just spin around in the corner, trying to keep him on my empty rears and out of R8. He just trundles in, keeping me on his up #6. He launches more shuttles so there are 4 in the middle of the map. Impulse 32 I have to turn in to avoid the map edge, and we end up at R8, #6 to #6. He announces his ESG. His shuttles shoot at me, but miss. I get rid of more power in my fronts.

T4: I finish rearming my weapons, move speed 31 till 16 then 16 (using up 3 of about 12 and a fraction battery power). I just slip at him, getting to R5. His ESG goes up at R3, full power. I'm in a situation where I can't get to his #1, and if he gets his ESG and all his guns on my fronts, I'll take internals, possibly significant ones. So I do a second HET to face north and get out of his FA. Neither of us shoot as I slip out and try and turn in for another firing pass. Eventually I turn back in and slip into R3, eating the ESG full to the face, but am out of his FA arc. I fire 2xTRH, 4xP2 into his #6, roll bad, still do 11 in after his batteries. He shot back with 4 phasers. I end up with mostly full fronts (maybe, like, 4 capacity left). His 11 in include a disruptor, a couple phasers, and more power. I don't displace here. Next impulse, he gets R2 on my rears, and hits with 3xOL and 2xP1, hitting with all the disruptors, but doesn't do any in other than a leak point. My rears now have about 3 capacity left (i.e. my front and rear panels are both almost completely full). I move a few closer to the shuttles and then displace away from them. I don't fail the displacement. He fires his shuttles and his last P1 at my rears at long range, putting a couple more points in. I move off, ending the turn at about R18. I radiate some energy and absorb some battery power.

T5: I have a lot of panel power to deal with, but a lot of room to run and the Lyran is far away. I completely empty my batteries in EA by rearming everything, keeping my panels at reinforced, and moving 21 all turn. Andy moves 14 most of the turn with some standard disruptors armed. I just run off. Right as I'm about to leave R15 of his shuttles, he shoots me with them for another point in the rear. Next impulse, I drop my rear panels, filling the fronts up and putting 4 power in my batteries. Andy shoots with 3xP1 and 2xstandard disruptors, hits ok, and I take 5 internals (rear PA panel, warp, 3 hull). I move off more, shoot 4xP2 at his down #1 at long range, doing 1 in and raise my rear panels. I empty my batteries again by putting 4 power into my phaser capacitors. and reduce panels to standard. This moves 24 power from my front panels to my 9 capacity rear panels (my rear bank is down a box and has 3 degredation in each other box) and exactly 15 power to my batteries. I continue moving away and at the end of the turn, I radiate more power. We call it here.

At the end of T5, I have full batteries, half full panels, and about 8 internals (all 6 hull, a warp, a rear panel box). The Lyran is down his #1 and #6 shield and has about 36 internals. On T6, I could just rush him with all my guns and half full panels, either taking a less optimal shot at a down shield or a R3 shot as hit last front shield, either one probably kills him.

There were multiple spots in the game where Andy rolling better would have made a significant difference or me rolling a 6 would have killed me.

By Andrew J. Koch (Droid) on Tuesday, December 27, 2011 - 12:34 pm: Edit

The T1 corner dodge. It doesn't work. A cagey Andro just stays away, and the first pass ends up happening early T2, which the Lyran doesn't want. The Lyran would be better served to just head on up the map with ols and an esg, and get the first pass over with.
But I've lost this to Peter and Paul now, and it's worth noting how close this fight is despite sub optimal play on my part.

By Peter D Bakija (Bakija) on Thursday, December 29, 2011 - 03:16 pm: Edit

The most spectacular Andro death ever!

droid (LYR) over bakija (AND)

A rematch of the above game. But this time, the tables were turned. In an amazingly fantastic way.

T1: I turn everything on and move 16 till 23 then 31, which allows for .333 in a HET and no net battery use. Andy moves 16/26 with 3xOLs. We both turn left and move generally towards each other. He turns right again. We both speed up. I figure that I can stay out of R8 by the end of the turn by slipping away a bit, so again, I do that. End of the turn, we are at R9, him facing me with his #1 towards my rear panels. Nothing is fired. A single ESG goes up at R3.

T2: I plot 16 till 4, 31 till 24, 16 till end, put .333 into a HET. This uses 4 net battery power. Andy moves 27/26/14/9 with 6 reinforcement on his #1 (it might have been 5 and 3xOLs, so after all 4 got shot with 1 left, it is 6 on the front). I immediately beam out a t-bomb for the ESG. Andy closes, the T-bomb hits the ESG for 10. Andy shoots a couple P1s that are about to be off side at my fronts at R4. I can't get a good R3 shot anywhere, so I come into R2, eating the 5 point ESG. We end up at R2, his #1 to my fronts. I blast him with 2xTRH and 4xP2, he shoots me with 4xOL, 6xP1, 2xP3. I roll down on the TRH, up with the P2, and do 53 to hit #1. He hits with all 4xOL (on 1-5, not that unlikely), rolls ok on phasers. I take 68. He takes 17 in after his 6 point brick, I take 21 in after the previous damage scored. The 21 in kills 4 of my P2s, a TRH, 2 of my batteries, and a PA, which releases power to my rear panels. A couple impulses later, I HET to get my other two P2s into his down shield, doing 7 more. He takes all the damage like a champ, losing a couple P3s, a disruptor, both ESGs a lot of hull, and a bit of power. He launches a couple shuttle, and I finally displace away. I kind of run into my SW corner and then out after slowing down to 16. Andy just kind of turns around after me. We end the turn at about R12, me against the S map edge. I manage to refill my one empty battery (HET and 2 to capacitors) with 5 power absorbed from panels and radiate 5 and 4 into space.

T3: I'm down about 4 static power, only have 5 in batteries, but luckily don't have many weapons to arm. I keep my panels at reinforced, rearm my TRH and disdev, move 15 all turn, and have 4 reserve warp available. Andy moves 9/17/18/17, rearms his phasers, batteries, and has 2 standard disruptors armed. I just try to keep away, but am stuck against the edge of the map as he steadily closes in. Mid turn as it is apparent he is just getting close, I use my 4 reserve warp to speed up to 27 for the rest of the turn. I turn to cross his front and get R3 off his down #1 with my surviving P2s. I take that shot, but he shoots my rear panels with 2xOL and 6xP1. He hits with both OLs, doing 41 damage. I take 2 internals, losing my last battery and a PA panel. This PA panel releases 7 power to the front panels, leaving them with about 1 capacity left. Next impulse, Andy slips in and gets his last 2xP1 at me. He rolls, does 7 damage. This releases 1 power from the rear to the fronts from degredation (filling the front) and 6 internals. Which hits a PA panel. Releasing 7 power. My fronts are full, my batteries are gone. I take 7 in. Losing another PA panel. Taking 8 more internals. Which hits 2 more PA panels. Releasing 14 or 15 more damage. Which kills 2 more PA panels. Doing another 15 internals, blowing me up. And releasing 15 more energy to boot.

Those two Phaser 1's did, we think, 74 total damage. Which was completely awesome.

What was discovered here was that the Andro needs to not go to R2 from the Lyran. R3 is ok, especially if the Lyran feels the need to be able to HET (meaning probably only 3xOLs) and avoids the P3s mostly. But R2? Very bad.

Excellent and hilarious game.

By Andrew J. Koch (Droid) on Thursday, December 29, 2011 - 03:52 pm: Edit

Yes T2 I was carrying 3 ols with a 5 point brick on the #1. When R2 happened, I used 4 batts for the 4th OL and put the leftover up on the front shield.

T3 I filled the phaser caps(8), rearmed batts(5), moved 18, armed 2 standards for 39 power with SK. Ols came from batts.

We both pretty much knew it was over when T2 was done, but we played the next turn because Peter thought it would be "interesting" for playtest posterity.
I am absurdly pleased that we played it out, as that was the most devastating 2xp-2 shot in the history of SFB! Funny funny...

Range 2 is not the best for the Andro true, but if I miss with an OL on a 1-5, which I do all the time, I think its very much a game.

By Peter D Bakija (Bakija) on Thursday, December 29, 2011 - 08:01 pm: Edit

Yeah, a single disruptor misses at R2, and things are a lot better for me, given that my 2 batteries were killed on, like, internals 20 and 21 of the 21 point volley. I'm still in a rough spot there even if I don't lose the 2 batteries, as my front panels are full, there isn't really anywhere for me to go at that point due to my sub-optimal HET to get those extra phasers in your down #1.

By Troy Latta (Saaur) on Tuesday, January 10, 2012 - 03:19 pm: Edit

Saaur (AND) v ScottishEngineer (Galactic of some kind) scheduled for 19:30 MST tonight.

By Peter D Bakija (Bakija) on Monday, February 06, 2012 - 09:17 pm: Edit

Pure playtest game of Andro (me) vs RFH (duke).

T1: I hold everything, move 16/31 (costing 1 battery power net). Chris moves 31/25/14 with an enveloper armed. We close. At about R12, me facing F, him facing C, he launches the enveloper. I close a couple hexes, and intend on displacing over the plasma. I declare displacement, roll a 6. Doh. I HET to avoid the plasma till impulse 1 as well as come in for a shot, forgetting that I have disrupted firec control. At R4, Chris blasts my fronts with 3x bolts, 4xP1, hits with S+F bolt, and does 42 damage to my front, making me reinforce and I take a leak hull hit. I don't fire back. He gets out of my FH before I can fire again. He just turns off and we end the turn at about 8 hexes, his enveloper 1 hex off my ship. I absorb 3 power and radiate 6 to space.

T2: Well, that didn't work well. I plot 16 for a few impulses, 31 for the rest of the turn, plot a HET, don't bother arming the disdev to save power, and keep the panels at reinforced (leaving me with about 1/3 a point of power in my batteries). Chris moves 14 most of the turn with 26 for the last few impulse and rearms stuff. Impulse 1, I eat the enveloper for 30 (15+15). Impulse 2, I do a second HET to chase. I don't break down. He runs, I close. I get to R3 centerlined on his #3 and blast him with 2xTRH and 6xP2. He fires back with 4xP3s. I do 58 damage, scoring about 30 internals, hitting 3 phasers, an F torp, 3 power, and a lot of fluff. He hits me for 1 point on the front. Next impulse, I turn off, he turns in. He blasts my rear panels with 3xP1, doing another dozen to my back panels. I run off, drop my rear panels, fill up the fronts, and absorb 9 power to my batteries. I run off, he follows. I get my empty rear panels up by the end of the turn, and we end at about R9. I absorb 4 more power and radiate 6 more into space.

T3: I start this turn with 13 and a fraction battery power. I rearm my TRHs, some phasers, the disdev, keep panels at reinforced, move 30 half the turn, 21 the other half, leaving me with about 4 and a half battery power. Chris moves 28 early in the turn. Impulse 2, Chris turns in, I do a third HET to get some P2s on his down #3 in a few impulses, but roll a 6 and break down. We call it here.

Well, if the Andro rolls two 6's on three very important rolls, it certainly is going to lose. That being said, even after the initial failed displacement, I wasn't doing that badly. But with rolls like that, there is no saving the game.

By Jon Taylor (Vendetta) on Tuesday, February 07, 2012 - 12:09 pm: Edit

This last one is a great example of how things can go horribly wrong and the Andromedan is still way ahead against BP. All I am sayin.

By Peter D Bakija (Bakija) on Tuesday, February 07, 2012 - 06:48 pm: Edit

I dunno--we played out the next few impulses for grins assuming I didn't break down, and I got killed anyway--4xP1 and a bolt-f in the face did 19 internals which killed all my batteries.

If I don't HET and attack on T3 (and break down as well...), I end the turn buried in the corner and the BP ship is right on top of me with a full barrage of whatever it wants. Which I'm unconvinced that I survive, given a mostly full front bank.

By Paul Franz (Andromedan) on Tuesday, February 07, 2012 - 07:04 pm: Edit

Agreed. The key thing is the amount of power in the panels. If the panels are overloaded with energy it is next to impossible to do a panel dump with 15 points of batteries.

Lets say that you only fill the fronts with the rears empty. The Andro goes from Reinforced down to Standard. What do you have is an Andromedan with full panels in both the front and rear. Now you have to wait until the end of the turn to do anything. Now you can take 6 out of the rear panels and 8 out of the front panels. Leaving you with 18 in the rear panels and 16 in the front panels. Now, if the Andromedan drops his Front Panels in the next turn the Front panels will be empty with the rear panels with 24 points again and 6 in batteries. Again the 24 points of power stuck until the end of the turn. If you drop the rears instead then you have 8 in the batteries and 24 in the Front (again it is stuck).

You will basically never have the panels cleared.

By Peter D Bakija (Bakija) on Sunday, February 12, 2012 - 05:52 pm: Edit

Playtest game bakija (AND) vs captainron (GBS b/1)

Shark wins. Lots of 6's rolled. They bit the Andro worse than the Shark, apparently.

T1: I move 16/31 for 1 net battery power and hold everything. Ron moves 14/13/14 with 4 standards armed. He corner dodges and launches a bunch of drones spread out. I just avoid R15. Impulse 32, he hits me for 2 damage on my fronts, which lets me absorb 1 (going back to max battery) and radiate 1. We end at about 18 hexes.

T2: I move 16 till 8, 31 till 26, 16 till end and hold everything. Ron moves 14/25/26. I close in, Ron launches a few more drones. I have to use 4 of my P2s to shoot down 2 drones in my way, but I get to HET into R3 centerlined off his #1 without eating any of the other drones. I announce displacement and fire 2xTRH+2xP2, Ron fires 7xP1 and 3xOL disruptors. I roll well for 46 damage, Ron hits with 2 of 3 OLs and rolls bad on phasers, doing about 37 damage. I score 14 internals (2 reinforcement), hitting a P3, a warp, and fluff. Ron scores a leak point (from disruptors) and doesn't even make me reinforce my panels. I roll to displace and roll a 6, failing. I slip and run for the rest of the turn, Ron just follows me. I use some batteries to stay at 31 the rest of the turn, and end up stuck in the corner with Ron at R3 centerlined off my rear panels. He has 4 or 5 drones on the map. I get some power out of my front panels via absorption and radiation.

T3: I plot speed 30/21/16, recharge my phasers, one of my TRHs, the dis dev. I have about 7 battery power to use for the turn. Ron moves some sort of 11/22 split with 4xOL armed. Impulse 1, I shoot 4xP2 into his ship, rolling well and doing 15 internals. He blasts me with 5xP1 and 4xOL. He hits with 2 of the OLs, rolls not so hot on phasers, and mostly fills up my rear bank (doing a leak). Next impulse, he fires his last couple P1s and does 4 internals, hitting some hull/cargo. I turn and try to escape, and transport a t-bomb to kill 4 of his drones. Sadly, I misread the impulse chart, and put the t-bomb in the wrong hex, so the drones would get to completely avoid it. So to avoid being killed by all those drones in the near future, I do a second HET back into the corner. I don't break down, and 4 drones die to the t-bomb, which is good. Except now I'm trapped in the corner again, which is bad. Ron launches 2 more drones. I kinda avoid getting killed for a bit. His drones get to R1, I ID them, find a type IV and a type I, kill the type IV with my last couple of P2s, and eat the type I on my fronts. Two more drones catch up, which I eat in the face, filling up my front panels--both my front and rear panels are totally full. Ron gets to R0 on me and fires a P3 through my rear panels, scoring 3 internals (hitting hull and a warp), releasing 1 power from degradation which goes into my batteries. I get away some, and we end the turn at R5, him facing the wall, me behind him. I get to absorb 8 power to batteries and radiate 6+4 to space. I don't feel *that* bad here--I'm kind of close to exploding, but I still have no significant internals, and next turn I can displace, run, and clear some panel space, hopefully.

T4: I plot speed 21 all turn, recharge my phasers, keep my panels at reinforced, finish the disdev and the TRH, and end EA with less than 2 power in batteries. Ron moves 22/11 with phasers and 3xOLs armed. Impulse 1, I declare displacement, so Ron fires 2xP1 at my rear panels, filling them up completely, but not doing any internals. I roll for the displacement. And roll another 6, failing again. Next impulse, Ron HETs in, gets to R4, blasts me, rolls well, and after all the damage (and released panel power) is resolved, I have 2 total power left and a couple P2s. But I didn't blow up!

Well, if the Andro fails both displacements it attempts, it probably is going to lose. If I read the impulse chart correctly on T3, I probably do ok, as I get to t-bomb 4 drones on the map, don't need to do a second HET back into the corner, and can get away to possibly empty some panel space again. But given that I failed to displace *twice* and also made a significant counting error, it is no surprise that I got killed.

By Peter D Bakija (Bakija) on Sunday, March 04, 2012 - 06:49 pm: Edit

Playtest game bakija (AND) vs MadOverload (KLI)

T1: I move 16/31, hold everything, use 1 net power. Klingon moves 15/28 with mostly overloads (I suspect it was 3xOL, 1xSTD in ea). We just kinda close in. He launches the SP on impulse 8, it opens on 17, but due to his speed change to 28, the SP drones end up spread out but not far enough in front of him. I turn in and close after I speed up to 31, get R3 on his #1. I announce displacement and shoot with 2xTRH/4xP2, he shoots back with 4xOL, 4xP1. He does about 40 damage to my front (I reinforce and take a leak), I roll not hot on the TRs, do 49 damage, see 3 reinforcement, and do 16 internals, hitting 2 power and 2 phasers. I displace and jump off. He turns to chase me. We end at about R6, me out of his FA. I absorb 3 and radiate 6 from the front.

T2: I move 28 till 24 then 21 and rearm things, keeping panels at reinforced. The Klingon moves 15/21 with a few standard disruptors and rearms things, fixing a P3. I spend the turn running around his SP drones, and eventually get to kill all 6 of them with the T-bomb. He just comes around after me, avoiding showing me his down #1. Around impulse 20, I drop panels to standard (I'm at R10 at this point), which doesn't do anything but let me start next turn at standard and not have to worry about not being able to put them back up to reinforced early on T3. He launches a couple medium drones and we end at R9 or so. I radiate 6 and absorb 2 from the fronts.

T3: I'm low on power. I plot speed 15 all turn, finish rearming stuff. I have about 8 power in reserve this turn. The Klingon moves 15 (I think plotted all turn) and has 4xOLs (maybe some off batteries). His 2 drones close in, he launches 2 fast drones. I HET back at him to avoid his first 2 drones, and use reserve to accelerate to 19 for the rest of the turn--I needed 3.333 to HET, I need 3 power to reinforce my panels, so I only can use 2 power to accelerate. I try to angle for his down #1, but can't quite do it, as he (presumably uses batteries) accelerates to 20. He turns in and gets R4 off my aft panels, so he blasts me with 4xOL and 4xP1. He hits with 3xOL, nearly filling my rears (I take a leak). I use 4 of my P2s to kill his two fast drones (both type Is, but I couldn't afford to risk it). Next impulse, I get to turn in to R3 off his #2, announce displacement and fire, roll well, and do 10 internals, hitting 3 more power and most of his batteries. I displace and get away from his 2 medium drones (that would have killed me if I failed to displace). He gets to blast my rear panels with 2xP2, does 3 internals, hitting a warp and a phaser. I drop panels to standard, moving a bunch of power to my fronts and 5 to batteries. He turns in, I turn to run, we end at exactly R8, him off my aft panels, me off his up #6. I absorb 5 more power and (ending turn with 10 power in batts and a bit in my phaser capacitors) radiate some. He fixes a P1.

T4: I have 10 battery power. I plot speed 21 all turn, rearm a single TRH, the dis dev, fill up my capacitors, standard panels. Klingon plots speed 0 and OLs. Impulse 1, he shoots me, misses with an OL again, rolls lame on phasers, and mostly fills my rear panels and does a leak. We call it here--I can now wander off freely to reload and empty my panels more. If the Klingon had hit with all 3 OLs and rolled well on phasers, I take 8 or so internals, which would have probably hit some batteries at that point, which would have been significant.

We chalked this one up as a Andro victory, but a close and dicey one. If his disruptors hit better, I do worse (he missed with an OL disruptor in each of 3 volleys). If I fail the second displacement, I die (as I get hit by 2x drones on my almost full rear panels at that point). So the Andro closely scrapes out a win, which could have easily been a loss.

By Frank Di Vincenzo (Madoverload) on Sunday, March 04, 2012 - 07:02 pm: Edit

Turns 2 and 3 I did use reserve to increase speed. [Should've done a reveal before you left so you had better info. Sorry.]

Turn 4 I was at 0 long enough to TAC twice and speed up to 10. It was a gamble on my part to start providing some real wear on your boat. Bad decision on my part. Probably should've just went standards and stayed on your toochas.

Was a fun game. Thanks for letting me dance.