What would have happened if the Organians were not able to broker peace between the Klingon Empire and the United Federation of Planets? In this alternate history timeline, we have decided to run an Admiral's Campaign in which the treaty in Y156 was never signed and war broke out.

To set the stage, the "Battle of Iridima VII" will effectively begin Turn 0 of our game. A Fleet battle will also be played in Turn 0. Ships will be pulled from the available starting fleets.

I am still working up final rules and fleets. More to come soon...

By Richard B. Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Saturday, August 25, 2018 - 01:50 am: Edit

Do you intend to do this by email?

By Ken Krajniak (Ca1701) on Saturday, August 25, 2018 - 01:56 am: Edit

Intention is to play out one battle every 2 or 3 weeks in person. If we can't manage this schedule, we may offer up a few battles here.

By Gregory S Flusche (Vandor) on Saturday, August 25, 2018 - 03:34 pm: Edit

Sounds interesting at the leas...

By Ken Krajniak (Ca1701) on Sunday, August 26, 2018 - 10:14 am: Edit

Captain's Log; Stardate 3203.3: The Organian Peace Treaty talks between the Klingon Empire and the Federation fell apart abruptly. We do know what happened, but Star Fleet Command has given me new orders to proceed to space station K-6 and patrol the surrounding sector.

We were 28 light years from K-6 and our long range sensors detected movement from Klingon space. As this fleet has come closer, we have matched their heading to intercept.

Science teams tell me that we are looking at 2 D7 and 2 D6 hulls. My fleet composed of this Dreadnought, a Cruiser and two light cruisers are waiting to engage them...

Turn 0, Battle 1: Opening Fleet Action.
Klingon Force: D7C, D7, 2xD6. D7 has a Legendary Captain.
Federation Force: DN, CA, 2xCL. CA has a Legendary Captain.

Remaining Forces in Campaign:
Klingon Empire:
2xC6, 1xD7C, 5xD7, 4xD6, F5C, 6xF5, 9xE4, 2xF5S, LD5, TGB

Federation:
DN, 2xCC, 5xCA, 3xCL, 4xDD, 6xFF, 1xSC, 1xTG

By Ken Krajniak (Ca1701) on Sunday, September 09, 2018 - 10:40 am: Edit

Minor changes to Federation Fleet: add 1xFF and 1xGCA.

First Fleet Battle is underway.

By Ken Krajniak (Ca1701) on Tuesday, September 11, 2018 - 07:51 pm: Edit

First battle was completed - Klingon victory.

One of the Federation CLs was stripped of most of its weapons during a series of range 15 disruptor barrages. It managed to disengage by separation during turn 4.

Federation photons were able to remove shields and score a series of internals on one of the D6s. At the end of Turn 4, Federation ships were at range 11 to this D6 and Photons would be ready to fire on Turn 5.

The Klingon Commander (Legendary Captain) was able to bluff his way out of trouble convincing the Admiral on the Dreadnought (USS Concordia) that they had hundreds of civilian prisoners ready to be executed unless the Federation fleet withdrew.

----

For giggles we played out the beginning of Turn 5, the D6 took 43 internals essentially taking it out of the fight. The Klingons would have likely fled before the end of Turn 6.

By Ken Krajniak (Ca1701) on Thursday, October 04, 2018 - 09:22 pm: Edit

Next battle is scheduled for this coming weekend. We will be playing the Battle of Iridima VII scenario.

Klingon Forces: C6, D7C, 2xD7, 2xD6, F5C, 2xF5, 2xE4, F5S, LD5

Federation Forces: DN, CC, 2xCA, CL, 2xDD, 5xFF, SC

By Michael Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Friday, October 05, 2018 - 04:50 am: Edit

Feds have a huge EW advantage with the SC dominating the F5S.

By wayne douglas power (Wayne) on Saturday, October 06, 2018 - 01:49 am: Edit

Nice one, I will be following this Admirals Game.

By Alan Trevor (Thyrm) on Monday, October 08, 2018 - 09:54 am: Edit

I don't have my books handy... what's the YIS for an ECM drone? None of the listed ships have any refits indicated, so the Feds apparently have no drone capability at all. Granted, Klingon ships before the "B-refit" have only limited capability. Still, if they are available, a few ECM drones could help counter the Fed EW advantage Mike Grafton referenced. Also, if the Fed SC is unrefitted, it has a huge number of scout channels but only 19 points of generated power, hindering its ability to fully use those channels.

By Norman Dizon (Normandizon) on Monday, October 08, 2018 - 11:56 am: Edit

Excellent Points, Alan!

By Jeffrey George Anderson (Jeff) on Monday, October 08, 2018 - 12:25 pm: Edit

I, too, do NOT have my books handy, but IMO, the biggest problem the Klingons are going to have to face is Federation long range fire.

I would imagine that, if the Federation keep a tight reign on how they operate, they'll want to keep it a long range fight for as long as possible.

Kaufman Retrograde?

Seriously, the Klingons may have their drone capability, but some of their disruptors only have a range of fifteen hexes; VERY few of them can reach out past twenty two. Additionally, at the longer ranges, the lack of phaser ones in their fleet may be telling.

As far as the EW thing goes, IF the Klingons are able to use ECM drones, the Federation SC can "Loan" a couple points of Offensive EW to ships that have an active ECM drone to either counteract the weapon or to redress the balance.

The Klingon scout would have a hard time fighting back against that.

(For the record, though, my win/loss rate is bad enough that I'm probably COMPLETELY wrong about that assessment...)

By Jon Murdock (Xenocide) on Monday, October 08, 2018 - 12:45 pm: Edit

With the Fed Scout with that many channels it is more power-efficient to just turn off the ECM drones or attract them.

In any case ECM drones are not much help in this timeframe unless you are okay with your ships sticking to speed 8 or 12.

By Alan Trevor (Thyrm) on Monday, October 08, 2018 - 01:36 pm: Edit

I certainly don't think ECM drones are a complete solution but I do think the Klingons can use them to reduce the effectiveness of the Fed's SC. To consider some of the points Jeff Anderson and Jon Murdock raise:

Kaufman Retrograde to take advantage of superior long-range firepower - a possible tactic but, due to power limitations, the Feds may not be able to keep it up for long. Consider the Fed DD; 19 points of generated power, 2¹/₂ points housekeeping, 8 points for the photons. It can use its photons at maximum rate-of-fire while retaining 8¹/₂ points for movement, sustaining a retrograde speed of 17. This sounds pretty good, until those DDs start worrying about ECCM. Now consider the humble D6 (not even a D7) trying to close the range with retrograding Feds. It's not bothering to arm disruptors due to the range. Phaser capacitors are armed but the D6 doesn't intend to fire them until it gets close. It's spending 4 points for housekeeping and 6 for ECM, while closing at a speed of 27. The DD is firing at +2 DRM, while being overtaken by 10 hexes per turn (20 per photon firing cycle). If the DD generates 3 points of ECCM (resulting in a +1 DRM), the D6 is gaining by 16 hexes per turn rather than 10. The Fed scout can lend ECCM to keep the DD's speed up but then the scout rapidly runs into power problems keeping its own speed up. The Fed FF use its photons at maximum rate-of-fire while sustaining speed 25. But even 3 points of self-generated ECCM drops that to 16.

I'm not saying the Feds shouldn't consider retrograding. I am saying that, due to power requirements, it is very definitely not a "Get out of jail free" tactic.

Fed SC turning off ECM drones - I concur this is more power efficient. I merely note that every point of power spent this way is a point not spent on lending ECCM. And the SC doesn't have a lot of power to begin with.

ECM drones require Klingon ships to stay at low speed - True. Those drones wouldn't be much help chasing down a retrograding Fed. I was thinking more in terms of the Klingon using them after closing to overload range, when power requirements for the disruptors will slow the ships anyway.

ECM drones certainly aren't a complete answer. But under the right circumstances they can at least partially neutralize the power-deficient SC.

Just my .02 quatloos worth.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Monday, October 08, 2018 - 02:20 pm: Edit

ECM drones are available in Y151. Operational Times: 64 impulses at Speed 12 if mounted on a type-II or type-V frame (unless the frame is also equipped with extended range, in which case 128 impulses), 96 impulses at Speed 8 if mounted on a type-I or type-IV frame (unless the frame is also equipped with extended range, in which case 192 impulses), 192 impulses at Speed 12 if mounted on a type-III frame. The ECM module has a lifetime of just 192 impulses even if the frame it is mounted on has a longer lifetime.

Medium Speed (Speed 20) becomes available (limited) in Y165, Restricted in Y166, General in Y167. Operational times are unchanged.

Fast Speed (Speed 32) becomes available (limited) in Y178, Restricted in Y179, General in Y180. Operational times are unchanged.

Note that the number of impulses of operations starts from the moment the ECM module begins lending, which is not always the same as the impulse after launch, thus even on an extended range type-I drone frame it is possible the drone will run out of fuel before the ECM module burns out.

By Jon Murdock (Xenocide) on Monday, October 08, 2018 - 03:39 pm: Edit

Also fun is that if they use a Type-III ECM drone (or other type with ATG) at close range you can attract it and they cannot shut it off due to the self-guiding equipment. Free drone!!!

In any case I doubt the scouts will play a huge role. Neither of them have the power to push EW too hard.

The Kaufman Retrograde is not really viable. If I was the Klingon and you tried to retrograde I would let the range go out to somewhere between 31 and 50 to take your photons out of the equation and play phaser duel games where my P-2s are as good as your P-1s and I have more of them.

Any closer then that without getting into overload or near-overload range will see the Klingons outgunned due to the limited disruptor range on their small ships.

By Ken Krajniak (Ca1701) on Tuesday, October 09, 2018 - 10:29 pm: Edit

The Iridima VII scenario begins with 2 parts of each task force: Fed DN, 2x CA, and the SC. On the Klingon side; C6, 2xD7, F5S. Each turn a d6 is rolled allowing the reinforcements to come in (3 groups for each side).

For reference: This is SL265 found in Captain's Log #37.

There is a Gas Giant (3 hexes wide) with 2 Class M moons and 2 rocky moons orbiting. Forces begin on either side of the planet.

My hope is to put together a web site cataloguing these battles, but until then, I will post the battle reports here. We did not get to this over the weekend due to personal issues, so this will likely be on hold for the next 10 days.

By Ken Krajniak (Ca1701) on Monday, November 12, 2018 - 08:13 pm: Edit

Update forthcoming; We did not finish the game, but got in a few turns. I am hoping to write it up shortly. Part two is scheduled to be played post Thanksgiving.

By Francois Lemay (Princeton) on Wednesday, November 14, 2018 - 05:00 pm: Edit

Alan Trevor,
One slight problem with your theory , the Fed DD has 15 warp and to arm 4 standard photons would take 8 warp power leaving 7 warp for movement so it could tuck its tail in front of itself and pedal backwards as fast as speed 14, 15 if using an imp.
Therefore the DD's precious 19 power is broken down as follows,
7 for warp movement,
8 for photons,
1 for imp movement
2.5 for HK
leaving only 0.5 for incidentals.

Cheers
Frank

By Alan Trevor (Thyrm) on Wednesday, November 14, 2018 - 06:26 pm: Edit

Francois,

You're right that I neglected to consider the warp requirement for photons - mea culpa - but wrong that it poses a problem for my "theory". It actually strengthens it. The point was that Jeffrey George Anderson's comment, in his 12:25 PM post on October 08, about using the Kaufman Retrograde to keep the range open, was hardly a "get out of jail free" card. the requirement to use warp power for the photon torpedoes makes the retrograde even less effective under the stated conditions.

By Eddie Crutchfield (Librarian101) on Thursday, November 15, 2018 - 10:59 am: Edit

The Retrograde is probably not an option considering the scenario setup. it is a closed map, so you will be limited in the space available for the Retrograde. Assuming the starting hex is correct 3706. both starting fleets have to be within 5 hexes of it. So they will be no further than 10 hexes apart. Are the Fed DDs the 2 or 4 torpedo versions? The starting directions also appear to show them facing each other, so it would seem that a very bloody exchange will take place at very close range very early. Also remember that not all of the ships are available immediately, they arrive as reinforcements, MRS shuttles are also available to most of the larger ships.

By Alan Trevor (Thyrm) on Thursday, November 15, 2018 - 11:47 am: Edit

Eddie,

But even on an open map, an unrefitted Fed DD doesn't retrograde well because of speed issues. It just won't get that many rounds of fire before being overtaken. The CA, if using all four photons at max rate of fire, is a bit better. But it can still only sustain a speed of 22 while retrograding. And as I described 1:36 PM post on 8 October, those D6s are pursuing at 27, while putting up 6 ECM.

I'm not knocking retrograde as a tactic to be used under the right conditions. But I don't think it works under the conditions described above, even on an open map.

By Alan Trevor (Thyrm) on Thursday, November 15, 2018 - 11:48 am: Edit

The Fed NCL on the other hand...

By Eddie Crutchfield (Librarian101) on Thursday, November 15, 2018 - 12:53 pm: Edit

Never felt the retrograde was a good tactic at all. As far as I am concerned the Feds strength is the photon, especially in fleet actions. If the starting hexes for the initial ships are correct then it is an OL battle to start, if they are actually starting on opposite edges it is still an OL battle, use the terrain to block fire close with the planet and use it as cover until you reach that range.