Game 2.4 Seth in a Hydram vs me in a Lyran

I feel like this game should favor the Lyran as long as he stays out side of range 2 and avoids the Hydran CL. As it turns out, I did neither and died...

T1 I plotted 19 moves with a 17/26 split.I topped off the ESG caps and armed standards, held 2 suis, and had some minor reinforcement...The Hydran plotted sp 14 all turn..
The Hydran played his fighter games early in the turn and I just headed straight. 1.25 I fired my 4 disr r14 at his #6, prompting him to immediately turn into me..
I then turned into him, as felt I strangely compelled to do so..
I raised ESGs on 1.32 stupidly a R3 as I was entertaining a ram.. Seth fired nothing.

T2 I plotted a 16/30/20/16 split for 22 moves, armed 2 ols and 2 standards and continued holding my suis.
The Hydran plots 14/27 with perhaps a decel coming later.
We close the distance and 2.4 we arrived at R4. I decided to fire here, and helped Seth kill me by using 4 batts for OLS. I didi hit with all 4 ols but followed up with a pretty anemic phaser strike which netted 14 or so internals to the Hydran. He lost a fusion beam , 2 phaser 1s, and maybe a power or two. And center hull. He lost some center hull. Seth fired 1 standard HB (R1 to the ESGs) which auto hit and took down ESG 1, and left ESG 2 at 10 points

I then turned out and ran at speed 30. Seth on 2.6 or so accelerated to speed 27 and tractored his untouched fighters..
The handwriting was on the wall at that point. 2.13 or so I slowed to 20 and he started to catch up...Seth used batteries to actually accelerate to 28 as soona she was able
2.20 or so the Hydran rammed my 10 point R3 ESG with his ship and fighters. At this point I fired 1 p-1 at each fighter to cripple them, but Seth dropped the tractor and had them fire back doing 16 points to my #4.
This is where the lack of batteries came home to roost...Because he was moving so much faster than I was, there was no chance of me keeping him off my 8 point #4 at r2 unless I turned, which meant he got R1 CL on my #5.
There he ended it with 3 p-1s, 3 fusions, 8 p-3s, and an additional plink or 2 from R3 and R12 shuttles. Followed by 10/10 from a standard HB...

This was a fast pace quick game. It took just over an hour and even though I got beat, I enjoyed it.
Seth is a very good player and I may have lost in any case, but my gaffes with esgs and unwise battery usage made it easy on him.
Good luck the rest of the way Seth!

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Saturday, March 21, 2020 - 02:09 pm: Edit

I've an issue I am trying to deal with that may impact schedules.

More on this as I have definite data on the effects.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Saturday, March 21, 2020 - 02:50 pm: Edit

Okay.

Paul Graves has had to drop out because of personal reasons (members of his family are sick, although it does not seem to be coronavirus-19 thankfully, and his own workload has skyrocketed because of the virus). This has created a check, and the resolution is that Daniel Bitsef, who earlier had to drop out because of a pre-scheduled family vacation and was Paul Graves original second round opponent is back and will face Andy Koch (who is technically now replacing Paul Graves rather than Daniel Bitsef).

Andy Koch and Daniel Bitsef will try to complete their second round game in the coming week, and the winner will then face Seth Shimansky in what is the second week of Round three. This will hopefully allow the tournament to be back on track.

It should be obvious that this is to keep everyone informed, the tournament as non-disrupted as possible, and the winner will have still won one game in all four rounds (although Andy Koch or Bill Schoeller could be the tournament winner with four games one and one game lost each).

By Jack Taylor (Jtaylor) on Sunday, March 22, 2020 - 04:55 pm: Edit

MadJack (Gorn) vs BS (Klingon)

Scheduled for 8p eastern, Monday 3/23.

By Jack Taylor (Jtaylor) on Monday, March 23, 2020 - 10:50 pm: Edit

BS (Klingon) Defeats MadJack (Gorn)

Bill played perfectly against big plasma the way he did against me tonight. He also rolled pretty good and I only rolled 4's and sixes. My die rolls with phasers don't really matter.

I think there is a new truth in town. I think Peter would agree. And Paul Graves. And Seth. The days of the traditional ballet games against drone/disrupter ships are over.

Once you know how to defeat a big plasma ship trying to ballet it becomes hard to lose to a big plasma ship trying to ballet.

By Norman Dizon (Ichaborn) on Tuesday, March 24, 2020 - 01:34 am: Edit

Please elaborate on your intriguing statement if possible. Why exactly are traditional plasma ballet tactics against drone/disruptor opponents no longer relevant?

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Tuesday, March 24, 2020 - 10:37 am: Edit

Oh, heh, I never try traditional plasma ballet against, well, pretty much anything, myself. Especially Disruptor/Drone ships, as they can leave disruptors empty, rush through some modest plasma, corner you, and mug you with drones and phasers and then follow up with disruptors on the next turn.

As the Gorn, I almost never use traditional plasma ballet tactics (i.e. launch an enveloper, get the middle of the map, launch a second enveloper the next turn, keep avoidng close range, try and lather, rinse, repeat), as I think it is generally too hard to pull off most of the time, especially without a cloaking device--I think the Romulan is *much* better at this sort of thing, as it can always cloak and duck getting clobbered.

I've played Bill in this exact matchup (KLI vs GRN), like, 20 times, and it is probably, like, 12-8 in Bill's favor (Bill. He's really good :-), but generally speaking, my game is usually (and is usually against most folks) use an early enveloper on T1 to gain board position, then mix it up with standard plasmas and bolts; revert to envelopers and/or anchor once the opponent as inevitably stopped and as speeding back up.

By Jack Taylor (Jtaylor) on Tuesday, March 24, 2020 - 12:21 pm: Edit

Peter- you are probably the best Gorn player to ever play and are 8-12 against probably the best Klingon player to ever play. And that's playing the best you can play using the non-enveloping tactics you use. All I contend is that it goes way worse if you launch envelopers t1 AND t2. Like almost impossibly worse, if the disrupter/drone player knows what they are doing. I think you mostly agree with me on that. I guess I am unsure it is materially any better for a Romulan who cloaks. Maybe a little better.

So Norm-- that's the moral of the story. Many plasma players launch envelopers turn 1 and turn 2 against disrupter/drone ships. That is a losing proposition against good players with disrupter ships most of the time, so don't do that!

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Tuesday, March 24, 2020 - 03:11 pm: Edit

Jack,

Heh, that's very kind. I'm pretty good, but I get clobbered enough :-)

I spent a long time with the Gorn trying to get the "Enveloper! Another Enveloper!" game to work, and, well, I couldn't get it to work :-)

Especially against D+D ships, the ability to run out the first enveloper, get some drones on the map, and then bust through the second enveloper while going real fast with empty disruptors, corner you, and mug you to death (which is something I did a lot of during the long period of me being Kzinti...) is just crushing.

That being said, I think the main issue here is the one I brought up earlier--Bill. He's really good :-)

By Andy Koch (Droid) on Wednesday, March 25, 2020 - 09:51 am: Edit

Dan and I should be getting done Thursday around 11pm eastern

By Andy Koch (Droid) on Friday, March 27, 2020 - 12:04 pm: Edit

I had a whole lovingly crafted writeup of Dan's and My battle last night, but lost it when my router glitched. Thanks router.

Anyway,
GAME 2.3 Synopsis:
I end up winning in 10 turns of vicious fighting. I missed an opportunity to trac the LDR T3 that would have ended the game either way far earlier. Instead we finally concluded at 2:30 AM.
AT the end of the game my Lyran had 71 internals in 6 volleys , and Dan's LDR had 68 in 6 volleys. Our shields were my Lyran with 0/0/8/24/24/0 and Dan's LDR with 5/0/0/0/0/0 .
Turn 8/9/10 Dan had very little power and was forced to keep his #1 pointed at me because no shields otherwise.
We had about the same firepower but I had the energy to use more of it.
In the end I was able to get him off my full # 4 with 2-p-1s and 2 p-3s in arc against his 5 point #1

Otherwise,
After the initial T3 exchange, Dan played great. I was gutted worse than he was after t7 when he got me with 57 in on two good volleys. On turns 8/9/10 Dan rolled poorly on 2 occasions which I feel tipped the scales. great old school slobberknocker.

On to Seth round 3

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Friday, March 27, 2020 - 01:48 pm: Edit

Andrew Koch and Seth Shimansky will face off in what amounts to a rematch of their second round game for the third round; the winner will face Bill Schoeller in the final.

By Andy Koch (Droid) on Friday, March 27, 2020 - 03:01 pm: Edit

One of these things is not like the other

By Andy Koch (Droid) on Sunday, March 29, 2020 - 07:13 am: Edit

Seth and I are in contact. The auspex indicates things might be afoot this afternoon Eastern time...

By Andy Koch (Droid) on Tuesday, March 31, 2020 - 05:35 pm: Edit

Since many of us are cooped up, at least on weekends...do we think a Master's event would gain any traction?
I'll run it. If we can get 16 that would be great......

By Andy Koch (Droid) on Tuesday, March 31, 2020 - 05:38 pm: Edit

3.2 Tonight 8 pm Eastern.
Hydran v Lyran deux
kingzilla v Droid
peon v ThunderPussy

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Tuesday, March 31, 2020 - 06:32 pm: Edit

I would not remotely be unwilling to play Masters.

By Andy Koch (Droid) on Tuesday, March 31, 2020 - 09:56 pm: Edit

I think a double negative makes a positive

3.2 I managed to beat Seth. I'll write it up tomorrow ...

By Andy Koch (Droid) on Wednesday, April 01, 2020 - 11:30 am: Edit

3.2 kingzilla(HYD) v Droid(LYR)

First off: Seth found out his Dad died this last weekend. He then had to drive up to the danger zone in NYC for the funeral etc. It all sucked. I want to express my condolences to him and hope he ends up safe at home where he belongs.

Turn 1 I went 14 topped off esg caps. I did not bother with suicides as I am bad at using them.. and being that close to the Hydran probably means I'm dead anyway...
I plot 16 moves 14/26. Seth goes 16 all turn... I plinked his front shield with disr. Seth launched fighters. I announced ESGs 1.32. We ended about range 11 or so.

Turn 2
I plot 14/26/20 for like 21 moves. ESGs set to come up R0 full strength. 2 ols and 1 standard. 5 pt brick on #2. Seth plots 27/26.
I was slightly concerned as my SC wasn't coming till 2.11. I could be dead by then...
Seth Tractored his fighters one hex behind his ship and closed the distance..ESGs came up 2.3 . We close the distance. We arrived at r5 (to his fighters... 4 to his ship) and I called for activity with an early SC to 26 (3 batts), and with the intent of trying to cripple his tractored fighters on the cheap...Seth was cagey though and dropped his tractors before I could fire... so I reallocated to fire to 2 phasers at each fighter. I managed to cripple 1 with 7 and not cripple the other with 6. We close to R3 oblique with his fire on my mildly bricked #2. His uncrippled fighter unloaded, and his ship shot a standard HB..The fighter only did 4 ..not getting through my brick. The HB auto hit for 17 off ESG .
We both moved next impulse, and the best of all my bad choices was to turn out and give him my rear shields at R3. Any other thing would put me at R1 or 2.

Before they went out arc I finished off both fighters at R4 with my 5th and 6th phaser shot. After that Seth chased me and I ran. When Seth started to suspect he wasn't going to get any closer he shot his shot and took my #4 down with a handful of internals. 4 or 5. 1 power and 1 disr. An OL HB took the ESGs down to 6.. The Hydran turned out at this point and slowed down. I started turning around.
EOT i discharge my unfired disr and dropped the last esg.


Turn 3 I plotted 21 or so moves, rearmed phasers and batts, put 3 pts apiece in my ESG caps (now 5 in the caps, as I had cleverly topped them off 1st turn), and chased the Hydran at moderate speed. The Hydran ran at moderate speed. We ended the turn with me on his butt at R11 or so. 3.32 I announce 2 esgs. Eot I fix a box on #4 (powered) and disr (cdr).

T4 I plotted 21 moves with 3 ols and a standard. Seth stopped with tacs and a SC to 10 mid turn or so. I fly toward him uncertain of my fate, as he is a speed 0 fully loaded, undamaged Hydran.
I4.4 ESGs come up R0 full str. As I closed Seth launched 4 shuttles. Seth continued to tac to keep me off his rear shields.
As I got to r4 I was able to avoid the shuttles and face him by slipping along the map edge. When I got to R2 I decided to unload on him at r2 through his 6, which netted 28 internals after some reinforcement. This got 4 of his p-1s. Not really sure how now that I think about it...(phaser in lieu of HB?) Seths return fire was a HB which took 17 off my esg..
Seth now tacs and fires taking My #2 down with 4 or 5 internals, no esg. The shuttles all fire on my #5 from r3 doing 5 damage.

Seth sped up to 10 and moved straight ahead to R1. I was intent on getting my offside p-1s in his downed #6, So I missed chance to HET and ram at r0 with a 2 phaser chase. Instead I slip to r2 and plan on continuing to try and get a shot through his down 2.
Seth conceded before I could accomplish that. I was relatively unscathed (still had both ESGs) and would be able to attack again next turn behind my #1 #2 shield. I feel The Hydran still had a chance, but I don't think Seth felt like seeing what would happen. If he had been 1 hex closer to the map edge, or if he'd gotten an ESG, or if was home in his sweatpants without the distractions of recent events, Seth would probably beat me like usual.

In any case, on to Bill. There's talk of us getting it done by this weekend, possibly Friday night. Petrick will be so pleased.

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Wednesday, April 01, 2020 - 02:42 pm: Edit

Andy! Go advance yourself a couple levels on the Tree. It'd be nice to see your name in the finals.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Wednesday, April 01, 2020 - 04:45 pm: Edit

Peter Bakija:

Uh ... Andy is in the finals, so you are already seeing his name there.

The final is Bill Schoeller's Klingon versus Andy Koch's Lyran.

By wayne douglas power (Wayne) on Wednesday, April 01, 2020 - 05:55 pm: Edit

Klingon v Lyran a good one to observe.

By Andy Koch (Droid) on Wednesday, April 01, 2020 - 06:30 pm: Edit

Well..I hope I can make it interesting. Bill is an above average Klink

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Wednesday, April 01, 2020 - 06:55 pm: Edit

SPP wrote:
>>Uh ... Andy is in the finals, so you are already seeing his name there.

The final is Bill Schoeller's Klingon versus Andy Koch's Lyran.>>

At the point when I was posting, the online tree hadn't been advanced from Andy's R2 game. Apparently, between me posting that and you checking in, Andy saw my post and updated the tree. So success!

By Andy Koch (Droid) on Thursday, April 02, 2020 - 06:09 pm: Edit

Yes.
I updated myself.
Neither of the last two guys reported a loss.
So... I did what Peter told me to do.