As far as tracking your panels, I'd suggest customizing a spreadsheet. Or just use graph paper and draw thicker lines to denote which panel is which.

By John August (Johnaugust) on Friday, July 22, 2011 - 09:05 pm: Edit

Thanks for that - game went well - the enemy's force did split up, and I managed to destroy a ship with a close in shot with a Mauler - didn't realise how powerful they were !

By Roger E. Burgess, III (Ataraxzy) on Monday, April 15, 2013 - 11:41 am: Edit

So, I'm playing solo through SH45.0, an Andro convoy attack on an ISC convoy.

The ISC starcastle their freighters and POLs, position 9 shuttles 3 hexes towards the Andro, 4 t-bombs three hexes behind themselves to cover the rear and fire off 30-40 points of plasma every round to keep the Andro away.

The setup can be seen here:
https://plus.google.com/photos/104810568712102362000/albums/5867046705934529937/5867046709914521426?sqi=111229977945579240171&sqsi=60c17d3b-be9b-45c7-9e8c-20f8899293b3

In game, I let the PL:Fs #1 and 2 get to within a single hex, then DisiDeved over to hex 1817 to get within TR:L range of the two F-L's with the intent to capture them by sending BPs through a near-guaranteed downed shield.

The plan is to use reserve warp to out-run any plasma they throw at me, and messing up their firing rotation, giving me more time to plaster them and send over crew units to drive my prizes away.

What, if anything, could I do differently/better?

By Richard B. Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Monday, April 15, 2013 - 11:58 am: Edit

If you are fighting ISC, you definitely want PA mines. Each one would completely eliminate a type F torpedo.

I wouldn't try capturing freighters - the ISC can beam more boarding parties onto any freighter you try this on than you can (from their Police ships).

Your best bet is probably to displace a freighter out of the convoy and then close for a range zero shot on it (where your phaser twos will be far more effective). With luck you might get a second shot at that target on your TRL rearm turns (if needed).

Don't be afraid to take a little damage if it gets you a good shot at something.

By Roger E. Burgess, III (Ataraxzy) on Monday, April 15, 2013 - 12:32 pm: Edit

PA mines would be nice... I took stock ships, no ComOpts at all.

Next round I'll use them, and give the ISC some toys too.

You're right about the BPs. Maybe I can get the freighters displaced away, preferably across the minefield.

By Richard B. Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Monday, April 15, 2013 - 12:46 pm: Edit

Another note, I don't think displacing the plasma torpedo will help, it will still have lock-on to the unit that displaced it. That only works (if I recall) if you displace a torpedo that is targeted on something that isn't that unit that displaced it.

By William T Wilson (Sheap) on Monday, April 15, 2013 - 04:02 pm: Edit

The rules are G18.424 and G18.425. Seeking weapons displaced by their target are unaffected, seeking weapons displaced by something else lose their lockon. This also goes for displaced ships: they can guide seeking weapons (but not launch new ones) at the unit that displaced them, but not at any other target until their fire control recovers.

By Jim Davies (Mudfoot) on Tuesday, April 16, 2013 - 07:55 pm: Edit

But if you displace it 6 hexes over there, it will probably waste 8 hexes of movement trying to get back to you. And for a type F, that's pretty much killed it. Of course you'll probably miss or displace it 2 hexes in an unhelpful direction.

But in any case, you have better things to displace than plasma, and you'll only get 3 attempts.

By Mike Strain (Evilmike) on Tuesday, April 16, 2013 - 11:10 pm: Edit

Note that if you are not using CO points the convoy gets no T-bombs.

So if you decide to use CO, only then can the convoy get T-bombs, and you PA mines.

And if I were you I would wreck the police ships first, they are nasty little frigates and are tougher than they look. You can wreck the F-AL later when you have dealt with them first...

And don't forget that you can death-drag shuttles if the opportunity arises....

By Richard B. Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Tuesday, April 16, 2013 - 11:55 pm: Edit

You don't have time to wreck the Pols, reinforcements that will kill you come on turn 6.

By Richard B. Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Tuesday, April 16, 2013 - 11:56 pm: Edit

Also, Pols are armed with about half of an actual ISC FF's weapons. You'd be better off shooting an F-AL if you want to destroy weapons, as then you are also working towards victory conditions.

By Roger E. Burgess, III (Ataraxzy) on Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - 08:16 am: Edit

"Note that if you are not using CO points the convoy gets no T-bombs. "

The POLs and the FA-L and FA-S have two each, and two dummies.

Doing it straight looks about like this:
Turn 1: 2 TR:L on F-L #1, crippling it by removing weapons. 1 victory point.
Turn 2: Run away from plasma, PA Panel games
Turn 3: 2 TR:L on F-L #1, crippling it by removing weapons. 1 victory point.
Turn 4: Run way from plasma, PA Panel games
Turn 5: 1 TR:L on F-S #1 plus any ph2 needed to strip the 1 Ph3. 1 TR:L on F-S #2 plus any ph2 needed to strip the 1 Ph3. .5 victory points each, bringing the total to 3.
Turn 6: Disidev away and disengage by acceleration/distance

The F-Ss and the F-Ls have no BPs, so I'm thinking that sending BPs over and then towing the ships I've boarded away from any transporter games the POLs and Armed Freighters would try might be a neat trick to play. In fact, I think this is just about the only way to earn 5 victory points, and only as long as you consider capturing to be worth as much as destroying.

So, the alternate plan now looks like this:
Turn 1: 2 TR:L on F-L #1, crippling it by removing weapons. 1 victory point. Beam over 2 BPs and drag away the ship.
Turn 2: Run away from plasma, PA Panel games. Beam over a crew unit to pilot ship, start to disengage. 1 extra victory point.
Turn 3: 2 TR:L on F-L #2, crippling it by removing weapons. 1 victory point. Beam over 2 BPs and drag away the ship.
Turn 4: Run away from plasma, PA Panel games. Beam over a crew unit to pilot ship, start to disengage. 1 extra victory point.
Turn 5: 1 TR:L on F-S #1 plus any ph2 needed to strip the 1 Ph3. 1 TR:L on F-S #2 plus any ph2 needed to strip the 1 Ph3. .5 victory points each, bringing the total to 5
Turn 6: Disidev away and disengage by acceleration/distance

If the POL's try and interfere with your capture, circle around and do the same with the FA-L and F-S's.

By Richard B. Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - 10:24 am: Edit

You cannot tractor the freighters unless you use a TRL for that purpose.

By Roger E. Burgess, III (Ataraxzy) on Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - 01:22 pm: Edit

Right. The F-L only has 9-box shields. Only need one TR:L to punch through.

The F-S has 5-box shields.

The FA-S|Ls are a bit harder.

By Jim Davies (Mudfoot) on Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - 08:14 pm: Edit

If you can capture a freighter you can make it self-destruct, though you'd better be quick or the ISC might capture it back. So capturing can be as good as destroying. Don't put more than 4 BPs on it or you won't be eligible.

In any case, you'll have a hard time getting the freighters out to disengagement distance, especially if they're stopped at the start. You might be able to do it by sublight but there are a lot of enemy ships around and you might not have any impulse engines left. And the Pols can stop it by tractoring you.

By John Trauger (Vorlonagent) on Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - 09:11 pm: Edit

How bout displacing a freighter and capturing THAT?

What is the andro ship again?

By Mark S. Hoyle (Resartus) on Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - 09:24 pm: Edit

Not many ships can manage to Tractor an Andro.
Especially one the same size or larger.
Remember, Negative Tractor doesn't require having a Tractor. Andros normally have plenty of extra energy.

By William T Wilson (Sheap) on Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - 09:33 pm: Edit

The attacker cannot order a captured ship to self-destruct. Self-destruction is on the prohibited list in D7.55. Also, if the original owner recaptures the ship, they cannot self-destruct it either. D7.503.

By Mike Strain (Evilmike) on Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - 11:09 pm: Edit

"The POLs and the FA-L and FA-S have two each, and two dummies."

Only if they are using CO points. If they are buying T-bombs, those are the maximum amounts they can have.

If you are playing the scenario without CO, they can't buy T-bombs (or anything else, like extra BP's, crew, etc.

By Roger E. Burgess, III (Ataraxzy) on Thursday, April 18, 2013 - 09:24 am: Edit

Heh, T-Bombs were on the SSD, so I figured they had them. Makes the game a bit easier, as I don't have a wall of t-bombs to avoid aft of the convoy's starcastle.

In a game with modified victory conditions using CO doesn't seem like a good idea, considering that the 'balancing' of CO purchases comes from adding to your winning BPV total.

The Freighters might also self destruct on their own because they have no BPs and only 2 crew units max. They're eligible for self destruction at the start of the scenario based on crew size IIRC. We'll see. I might relegate that decision to a die roll like I did with Pseudo plasmas and t-bombs (I don't know which torps are pseudo- and which t-bombs are dummy until I impact one - I'm playing solo)

By Richard B. Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Thursday, April 18, 2013 - 11:59 am: Edit

If the freighters self destruct, that is fine for Andro victory conditions.

By Jim Davies (Mudfoot) on Thursday, April 18, 2013 - 08:14 pm: Edit

I wasn't talking about tractoring the andro, but the ISC tractoring captured freighters to stop them running off. So if they can't even SD, there's no point in trying to capture them. Save your BPs for H&Rs to kill any remaining weapons.

By Matthew Potter (Neonpico) on Thursday, September 04, 2014 - 11:59 am: Edit

I've noticed a disconnect between the history of the Andromedans in the Alpha Octant and Fleet BPVs. It's fairly common knowledge (in this community) that as you get above 500 BPV, the Andromedans begin to lose the battle (the Galactics begin to have enough punch to start piercing the panels at will, causing internals to the fragile Andromedan hulls, which quickly kill them.)

Lately I've been asking, "how does this square with the history that the Andromedans were able to take so much territory and harm the economies of the Alpha Octant so well if they would get squashed by any medium-large fleet?" I can see that they nibble at the edges, taking out squadrons and garrisons when possible. If assumed that they only attacked under such circumstances, I think they would be classified as a significant threat, but not as something which might take over the empire. This is because any point fortified with a couple 2 or three squadrons will likely be too strong for the Andromedans to manage.

Anyone else have some ideas how the Andromedans handle these larger Alpha-Octant fleets?

By Randy Blair (Randyblair) on Thursday, September 04, 2014 - 12:18 pm: Edit

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Quote:

Anyone else have some ideas how the Andromedans handle these larger Alpha-Octant fleets?

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By A. David Merritt (Adm) on Thursday, September 04, 2014 - 01:01 pm: Edit

As I understand it it, the Andromedans generally avoided fleets, and went after economic targets. If the foundries and factories are not getting raw materials, spare parts stop being made, and fleets fall apart. Using the RTN, the Andromedans were able to use the "hit them where they aren't" strategy.