Wow, sounds like an epic battle!

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Friday, October 30, 2020 - 03:29 pm: Edit

Graham Gridland:

"(G2.20) BECOMING UNCONTROLLED: If all control systems (excluding security) on the ship are destroyed (or have been captured by enemy boarding parties), the following restrictions apply to the ship on the turn following the destruction/capture of the last control box and on all subsequent turns. If a control box is repaired or recaptured, the restrictions are removed at the end of the turn during which this happens."

While the rule on tractors says

"(G2.24) SYSTEMS: The ship may not:
use tractor beams (G7.0) (any existing tractor links generated by the ship are lost),"

It still takes effect the turn AFTER the turn the last control station was destroyed. You cannot maintain tractor links into the next turn, but existing tractor links remain in effect until the start of the next turn.

By Graham Cridland (Grahamcridland) on Friday, October 30, 2020 - 03:46 pm: Edit

Holy mackerel we screwed that up. I'm not sure it mattered to the final result, Lee was considering conceding at that point as he was finally losing weapons, but that is a cold shower on what we thought was a spectacular interaction.

By Lee Hanna (Lee) on Friday, October 30, 2020 - 06:01 pm: Edit

It wouldn't have mattered-- in this case-- whether the tractors would have shut down on 7.9 or 8.1, since I couldn't have repaired either a control box or a phaser, or charged a weasel.

I had nothing, and it was time to concede.

Given that he allowed me a mulligan on the 4-powered HET, I'm more than willing to allow the drones to hit early.

Still, that's something to remember. I think this is the 3rd time I've ever seen a decontrolled ship?

By Graham Cridland (Grahamcridland) on Friday, October 30, 2020 - 08:47 pm: Edit

Only the second for me; my son reminded me that I once managed to - lose - to a decontrolled ship, my wife's Romulan Firehawk, in a battle he watched. Other than that, which I must have blocked out, I don't think I've ever seen a ship go decontrolled before someone either gave up or blew up.

By John L Stiff (Tarkin22180) on Saturday, October 31, 2020 - 09:18 am: Edit

Hi Graham, Lee,

The rematch was a good one. It is good for a friendly game to have some leeway for a minor mistake.

The ISC got to use an overloaded PPD, something I have not had the opportunity to do against the Klingon.

By "drop the weasel", I presume that you no longer applied power to it, nullifying it? This is a "grey" area for me - how long does it take for a WW to once again become a regular ole shuttle?

As an ISC player, I am interested in Lee's use of plasma. Did you utilize those rear firing plasma F's? After that beautiful Overloaded PPD shot, I was expecting all envelopers from your G's. Did you use your shuttles? They are extra P3's for drone defense or for shooting thru down shields when the Klingon closes or against Klingon shuttles.

Thanks for sharing!

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Saturday, October 31, 2020 - 03:39 pm: Edit

Graham Gridland:

Another comment from the peanut gallery. I really do not want to sound like I am nitpicking here, but want to make sure everyone understands things.

A ship does NOT blow up when the last Excess Damage box is hit.

You blow up when an excess damage box is called on to be hit, and you do not have one (or an acceptable substitute, e.g., cargo box) available to score the damage. Thus when the 48th damage point hit the last excess damage box, if you did not have a 49th Damage point, the ship is simply a hulk.

"(D4.40) ACT OF DESTRUCTION: When there are no "excess damage" boxes remaining, and one additional excess damage hit is scored on the ship, the ship is destroyed. This final excess damage hit cannot be scored as excess damage so long as there is some other system (only: cargo, repair, mine rack) on which an excess damage hit can be scored by Annex #7E."

As to how long a suicide shuttle takes to convert back to a normal shuttle, one turn.

"(J2.2212) The third turn of arming can be the turn of launching. If not launched on the third turn, it costs one point of energy (any source) per turn to hold it on board the ship during the fourth and each subsequent turn. If holding energy is not provided, the shuttle is deactivated and all arming energy is lost immediately. The shuttle cannot be launched or prepared for any other mission on that turn. It could be used to escape (D21.41). Additional allocated energy (up to the limit of nine total points) can be applied to a suicide shuttle being held, but the maximum limit of three points per turn still applies."

By Graham Cridland (Grahamcridland) on Saturday, October 31, 2020 - 03:55 pm: Edit

Appreciate all of it.

Darn hulk. I would have shot it again .

By John L Stiff (Tarkin22180) on Saturday, October 31, 2020 - 05:26 pm: Edit

Be glad "that hulk" was not "green"! It might get angry, heal all the damage, and go on a rampage!!

By Graham Cridland (Grahamcridland) on Monday, November 02, 2020 - 12:06 pm: Edit

So, this weekend was Orion - themed.

On Saturday, my HHgbb Orion pretty much demolished my son's Hgbb WAX, because two Hellbores are better than one and the Orion can just fly away from drones.

On Sunday, his HHgbb Orion outlasted my RKR, when I tried to hold out too long firing too little plasma, miscounted hexes, and allowed a t5i1 (3rd) Hellbore shot for internals, after which he could just fly away. I sure didn't outmaneuver him in this game... I made one-hex mistakes repeatedly and got punished.

By Lee Hanna (Lee) on Monday, November 02, 2020 - 11:21 pm: Edit

John Stiff: I had a busy weekend, I can't recall now how I used the rear-F's, but they did both get launched, and then used to pad the PPD. I think the portside one went in our first session, probably when I was running away after my first pass.
I used one enveloper on the first pass, so it arrived after the PPD, and he'd run it almost out, and the 2nd came in t6. Mostly, I was speed-loading the Gs as Fs.

Putting the shuttles out for drone defense is something I pretty much forgot to do when we were both stopped. I used 1 as a weasel on t5, then was loading a suicide at the end.

By John L Stiff (Tarkin22180) on Tuesday, November 03, 2020 - 01:41 pm: Edit

Hi Lee,

Thanks. It helps to keep track. I know it is a skittles game. I circle the weapon box when fired or launched with the impulse noted. That is my short hand to remember things.

You might read up on "rolling delay". It is a tactic that is sometimes used.

In tournament play, it is required to write things down, especially launching plasma. Turn, impulse, hex of launch, facing, target, which launcher, real or psuedo or enveloping, and in your case, a fast loaded F. All that you are required to say to your opponent is the warhead strength when launched. But if there is a dispute, a judge can see immediately what you did.

I think you might enjoy playing with sabot plasma - it modifies tactics a bit. It is "fun" too!

By Graham Cridland (Grahamcridland) on Thursday, November 05, 2020 - 12:54 am: Edit

Prufraack (ISC)-SummaryJudgment(Klingon) III

Turn one, I decided to just go for it, allocating overloads and movement and nothing else. 19 hexes (15/16/26) and OL's, and straight on 'til morning. I know I mentioned I might go straight in here, but I couldn't think of anything better as work intruded on any actual planning.

Lee started 17, then went 27, slipping out a couple of times and letting R15 come and go without any action. I flew up the map, and turned in when he was on my #6 hexrow and my speed kicked in. He responded with B20(fake) and D20(real, of course), and I started slipping left to let the f torpedo fly a bit before it hit me. At R7 he fired phasers for 14 on my #1, and on i26 launched B20 and C20. On i29 I turned off to R4 perfect oblique off my #2 and unloaded, doing 10 internals through his #1 after 5 reinforcement, hitting two plasma torpedoes, a tractor, and a couple power but, again, no phasers.

I ran to EOT, the B20 hitting on i32 and being revealed as a pseudo. I put a few p3s into the f torpedo, and it would hit for 5 on i1. Lee was only 4 hexes away, and my guns didn't cycle until impulse 5.

At end of turn, I was kind of in a spot. The F torpedo was only one hex away from me and had two friends following it one hex back. I was facing B and not turn eligible (at least, not at plasma-fleeing speed). The torps were set to hit me on i1 and i2, unless I did something drastic.

So I gambled. I armed two OL's, refilled some phaser, plotted a HET, and moved 26/16, with only the first six impulses on 26. [Almost strictly better would have been 26/15, but for some reason I decided to screw up my turn mode to lose a hex?]

Lee went 8.

2i1, the D20 hit for 5 and Lee started the PPD, but held phasers, hitting my right side shields for 1-4-1. That made my decision easy, maybe? Anyway, on 2i2 I HET into range 3 to duck the PPD, on his down #1 shield but with precisely no weapons able to shoot it.

On i3 I slipped out, inexplicably worried about a tractor beam, And Lee fired a P1 and a P3, scratching my #6. On i4 I was forced forward, Lee slipped in to range 1. I launched 2 speed 20s scheduled to move next imp, and we each launched a shuttle (mine was manned, but designed to look like an SS). He ignored them and blasted down my #6 with 5 P1 for a couple of internals (I held batteries thinking I might have to HET again or fight a beam). On i5 the drones hit for shield damage, I slipped out, and the plasma continued to follow. Lee speed changed to 12, moved away from the shuttle, and we separated a bit. His plasma took down my #5 and did one in - again I stupidly failed to block the internal thinking I might need the batteries and was punished with a warp hit.

I came around and got R8 near the end of turn on his #4 for 2 OLs and shield damage. I decided his shuttles must be suicides because they could have fired p3s at some point through down shields, and didn't.

At end turn 2, we both have a few in, he repairs two boxes on #1.

Turn three is just flying. He goes 0/8 or something, I go 15/26, get turned around, clean up two of the four (!) shuttles he launched on t2, launch my SP on 24 to bloom on 32, and get R9 at EOT, just off my 1/2 boundary with me headed A and him near the northeast corner and headed deeper into it. I scratch him with 3 standards on 32.

We're both perfectly viable, I have 6 drones about three hexes further back than me (and southeast of me). He has the PPD and both G torpedoes coming hot this turn, and I have two down shields, so I can't be excited about eating any enveloping torpedoes he may arm. But I'm in prime position to blast him with OLs, he has limited room to run, and I have drones on the map and have only used two IM drones; the racks are still almost full.

Everything to play for.

[Edit:Just realized this: look for where I could very probably have won the game, but just didn't.

Hint: I can't count to 8.]

By John L Stiff (Tarkin22180) on Thursday, November 05, 2020 - 09:29 am: Edit

This turn should be interesting!

By Graham Cridland (Grahamcridland) on Friday, November 06, 2020 - 12:25 pm: Edit

I made three serious mistakes on Turn 2.

First, on i4, I held batteries and accepted two internals through my #6. Given the difference in speed, he could tractor me easily even with my batteries if he had allocated for it, and he probably didn't want to, since he had almost no weapons hot. Having a one point #6 would be huge on turn 4.

Then, when the plasma caught up, I again held batteries on my #5, accepting one in (a warp hit!). Again, the remaining 2 batteries to hold this shield at one box would be huge on turn 4.

Of course, I also can't count, so on i5, when I could have slipped in to R0 on the same shield as two drones, I didn't realize I could fire (I was thinking I cycled the next impulse) and therefore slipped out, missing a probable opportunity to more or less end the game.

Yes, it would have been painful for a couple of reasons, including a probable suicide shuttle pointed at my down #6 I would need to hold phasers for. But it would have been something in excess of 35 in, so taking some more damage would have been, frankly, perfectly okay.

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Friday, November 06, 2020 - 01:39 pm: Edit

All reasonable things to notice!

Slipping into R0 with some drones that are hitting is often (when it comes up) a pure winning move. Even if it gets you shot up a bunch.

By Graham Cridland (Grahamcridland) on Friday, November 06, 2020 - 02:22 pm: Edit

I've been too precious about internals in the past, allowing winning maneuvers by opponents to avoid taking "that first internal" and losing games where I was ahead on internals because I wasn't willing to suck it up and take a few in to avoid [plasma death, drone death, tractors, Range 2 to a Hydran, etc.] things.

But I went overboard here in the other direction; the batteries really would have been a good choice.

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Friday, November 06, 2020 - 03:39 pm: Edit

Yeah, one very good thing to get accustomed to is the "how good is my ship if we both get crippled, but my opponent gets crippled worse?" math.

I spent a very long time playing the Kzinti pretty much exclusively, and one of the things that got me to start winning games more often was the realization that the Kzinti is probably the best crippled ship in the game (ya know, assuming both sides are crippled). So playing to get to a point where you and your opponent both had 50+ internals and then leveraging that to your advantage 'cause your opponent had a little more internal damage than you often paid off.

As the Gorn, often exchanging 40 or 50 internals, even at slightly a disadvantageous exchange, works to my favor, assuming in a turn or two I can then land an enveloper on a ship that is slow and no longer has a shuttle bay.

Sometimes it is worth getting socked in the face.

By John L Stiff (Tarkin22180) on Friday, November 06, 2020 - 09:35 pm: Edit

Nasty Kzinti...

I recall that the Kzinti does have the most internal boxes of all Tournament ships.

A good player caught me in "Kzinti anchor" early in turn 2. Can't WW. Can't fire phasers, I fired them late on turn 1. Heavy weapons not available. He launches 4 drones at range 1 unopposed (i.e. 84 damage from 3xIV and 1xI), with 8 drones guaranteed to hit (96 damage) from turn 1 (SP and ship launch). Not to mention 4 more drones at the start of turn 3 plus overloads and phasers.

That ship gives me night mares...

By Graham Cridland (Grahamcridland) on Monday, November 30, 2020 - 02:18 pm: Edit

This weekend:

Last weekend we had a lark and Trent played a HHHbb Orion against my Romulan TKR (twice, and yes, we know the HHHbb isn't a thing, hence "lark"). He won both games, although I continue to believe that Orion isn't as amazing as it seems on first glance. I didn't exactly play well.

This weekend vaguely serious tournament SFB returned and WE had our usual morning games:

Saturday Trent flew an LDR because he hadn't though a lot about what to play in advance. We traded internals on Turns 1 and 2, flew around on Turn 3, and the Turn 4 Romulan enveloper pretty much ruined his ship.

Sunday Trent flew a 11g1 Aux, again against my Romulan. I had it in mind to cloak at some point, but never actually did. On Turn 1 he approached the enveloper but turned off after getting a phaser shot, taking it on Impulse 1 of Turn 2 in the 21 bracket.

Turn 2 he again came in, and I again used phasers on drones and launched plasma (this time a double F launch that took down his #1 and did some internals.)

By the end of turn 2, I had taken about 20 in in three volleys - all of which hit a torpedo! - and he had taken about 30 in in three volleys, losing both tractors and some weapons. After a bit more flying, I finally got Range 1 and attached tractor, after which he resigned as he was getting hit by another enveloper for something over 20 in, and was running out of phasers.

By Brian Evans (Romwe) on Tuesday, December 01, 2020 - 09:36 am: Edit

It's nice to see the TKR getting some love. I've thought for a long time, that the TKR is actually the best of the Romulan tournament ships. That opinion is not shared by many though. Good to see someone else flying it!

By Graham Cridland (Grahamcridland) on Tuesday, December 01, 2020 - 11:55 am: Edit

When I looked at the Firehawk, Gorn and TKR after deciding I needed to move on from the TKE (which I flew in my first four or five SFB games ever) I decided against the Firehawk ("Just a TKR with missing phasers.") and tried the Gorn, which I still play a lot ("A plasma ship with Fed phasers."). But the TKR just does the things I want to do with a plasma ship (turn a lot, shoot down drones with phasers so I don't have to slow down) better than the Gorn, with an additional "panic" option in the cloak.

I almost never cloak and almost always die terribly when I do; it's not something I'm good at timing. But like I said, I fly the TKR for the turn mode.

[If you haven't noticed, my son is incredibly aggressive in this game, generally going for close-range fire on Turn 1 in any ship he flies (although he flies ships that work that way). He crashes a lot of enveloping plasma torpedoes. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.]

By Andy Koch (Droid) on Tuesday, December 01, 2020 - 12:22 pm: Edit

A boy after my own heart

By Norman Dizon (Ichaborn) on Tuesday, December 01, 2020 - 12:26 pm: Edit

Droids don't have Hearts.

By Graham Cridland (Grahamcridland) on Thursday, December 03, 2020 - 12:07 am: Edit

Prufraack (ISC)-SummaryJudgment(Klingon) III (Part II)

At the beginning of T4, I was at range 9, my scatterpack had just bloomed, and I was carting a down #5 and #6 (fixing one box on #6 on T3). The ISC was limited to Speed 10 most of the turn, so I confidently expected him to park, and have lots of weapons and reinforcement/tractor. This was bad, because I couldn't really go fast enough to get from Range 8 to Range 3 in 5 impulses and also OL disruptors.

So I went 15 all turn, planning to stall the approach and circle at R9 to see if he started the PPD. Then I could decide to turn in, and maybe speed up, mid-turn, or if he launched early plasma, just run it out and come back. I OLed disruptors and put a couple of reinforcement on my 1 point #6, on the theory that I might need to turn my #1 into a PPD.

It went according to Hoyle, with the ISC announcing Speed 0 and immediately taccing to D to get me in FA if I approached. I turned off to B, and then back to A, and circled. the drones approached, and no plasma was launched, but one of the remaining shuttles (Shuttles 1 and 2 had been destroyed on T3, and ISC Shuttles 3 and 4 were out flying around - this meant no weasel too.) shot a drone.

I turned in when I moved on 18, and Lee started the PPD, cleaning off most of my #2 shield and cutting my #1 and #3 down by 6 with a 6 pulse overload over 6 impulses. He also launched a fast F (I had expected an EPT, and was ready to crash that too). Th fast F hit my one box, reinforced #6, and did some internals, hitting lots of power but, critically, no weapons.

I approached, and on i27 launched two Type IVF drones, which he labbed and gunned down on i29. On i30 I moved forward to R2 on the spline (my #1/down#6 with him on #6, his full #2/#1 but on the #1), and opened activity to give him the business.

First, seeing me on a 4 box shield, he dropped his facing #1 and threw four boarding parties at my disruptors. I always guard my HWs and tractors, and he didn't roll well enough to be successful. So I did 42 in through his still down #1, and he did 22 in through my #6. On i32 I moved forward to R1, down #6 to down #1, and tossed two P2s in the hole for another 9 in. I also launched an admin, since a p3 might be fun on turn 5.

The critical thing at this point was that I was at R1, and still had not lost a single p1 or disruptor despite taking something in the neighborhood of 35 internals in about four volleys. My only weapons hits to this point were P2s.

So turn 5, with 27 energy, I paid housekeeping, kept my WW, overloaded 3 disr, filled my phaser capacitor to 6.5, and plotted 2 tacs, with 4 rein on my #1 (which I planned to face to the ISC as soon as possible. I assumed I'd lose a disruptor to phasers that had cycled on i1, but the ISC held fire and I tacced. On i2, the ISC launched a torpedo, and I weaseled. Due to the ISC firing arcs, the torpedo didn't hit the weasel until i5, but I pointed the weasel the wrong way so the collateral went through my down #6 for five more in (shuttles and power.)

I announced AFC and Lee fired, taking down my #1 and doing a couple more in. (One P3, but no P1s or Disruptors).

On i6 I moved my shuttle off his #1 and on i8 I fired its p3, thinking I was being clever but just bouncing off the ISC's CDRed shield #1, which had been turned off, not down, the previous turn, and was now up to 6 boxes (I need to read the repair rules again).

On i12, AFC was up and I launched two drones that he couldn't do anything about, hitting for 24 shield damage on his fresh #2. Next impulse I shot him with everything, and he conceded.

This game was pretty good but kind of tough for Lee because of the DAC's unwillingness to hit Klingon weapons. I had a lot of internals, but all my important weapons lasted to the end of the game. It would have been a lot closer if I had been down a couple of disruptors when I reached R2 on Turn 4.