Crashand Burn (WAX) over Spartan (ISC)

Turn 3 - after a speed change to 24, running from 4 drones at range 1, and 2 more in pursuit, a poor move choice results in 4 drones impacting ISC.

Good game John, good luck vs MadJack.

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Tuesday, May 18, 2021 - 09:08 pm: Edit

romwe (HYD) over bakija (GRN)

I went in for an overrun R1 centerlined vs a Hydran. Didn't do enough damage in return :-)

T1: I move 15/17/24 with an enveloper. HYD moves 16/26. He slips out, I turn in, then turn up again. At R12, I launch my enveloper, turn off. He turns off without firing. I turn back at him. The whole turn took 6 minutes to play :-)

T2: I move 24 all turn, HYD moves 26, dropping to 20 late. He just turns towards the North wall, and then towards the NW corner. I chase him. He gets near the wall, slows down to 20, my enveloper catches him for exactly 2 damage, which sticks. He closes in, launches both fighters (which I end up killing both over a couple impulses with 4xP1 and a P3). I close in. We end up centerlined at R1 (this was a terrible idea...). I tractor him, he does not fight (Mostly I wanted to use up some of his batteries). I launch 70 plasma, suicide shuttle, manned shuttle, fire a P3 at his ship (hoping to save another few P1s for follow up fire). He blasts me with 5xP1, both gats, 2OL fusions, 2std fusions, 2 std HBs. Both HBs hit, he rolls fairly average on the rest of his guns, so I take 82 and then 20+20 from the HBs. I end up pretty mangled, losing an unfired P1 (which I should have shot) and used all my batteries for reinforcement (which should have been dropped into a HET earlier, but I would have been crippled anyway), ending up with 3P1s, both S torps, and 16 power. I lose the tractor holding Brian, but he doesn't move the next impulse. Next impulse, my plasmas and SS hit for 88 damage, and I move into R0, firing a follow up P1 for 6 more in. He ends up a little less mangled than me, losing only 1 fusion, both HBs, all 5P1s, and is left with 21 power. He launches a shuttle, I kill it with my rear phasers as I drive by. We end up at about R7, him facing D, me facing C, him moving away from me.

T3: I move 8 and keep arming my plasmas. He moves 10 all turn. We just wheel around some, nothing is fired. We end at R7 or so, my #3 facing his #6. My shuttle is flying around me. He fixes some boxes on his #1, and a P3; I get 2P3s back.

T4: I stop and TAC, arm an enveloper. He moves 16, dropping to 14 at some point. He starts coming my way, I launch a standard S torp. He decells, skids into R5, launches a weasel. I kill it with my rear 2 P1s and my shuttle. The pseudo is revealed. When the weasel explosion clears, I launch the enveloper, which kills the second (and last possible) weasel. No one moves the rest of the turn, except my shuttle orbits a bit. He gets a P1 back, I get an APR back.

T5: I remain stopped with some TACs, arm the other enveloper. He moves 9 all turn. He just comes in. At R2, I launch the enveloper, which he shoots with a couple P3 shots, it hits him, he takes 7 in, but only loses the phasers he already shot (a single fusion here probably saves me, as does a lucky 3rd phaser hit). He slips into R1, but holds fire. He turns into R0 centerlined, his down #1 facing my 26 box #6. I blast him with 2xP1 and a P3, do 17 in. He shoots me with both gats and 3 fusions for 58 damage. When the smoke clears, he has a single fusion beam and 9 power. I have no boxes left on my ship, and some excess damage hits.

Good, fast game!

If I had remembered to fire another P1 at R1 on the first exchange (that I lost to damage), I probably do ok in the long run; if I get a little luckier on the enveloper internals on T5, I might survive. But nope. Sometimes, the Hydran wins!

By Norman Dizon (Ichaborn) on Tuesday, May 18, 2021 - 09:17 pm: Edit

Peter, why did you choose this strategy? He has Gatlings and Fusions to use up close. Why not stay at a distance? Were you just hoping for better rolls than him in the exchange?

By Brian Evans (Romwe) on Tuesday, May 18, 2021 - 09:21 pm: Edit

Nice write up. Always fun to play Peter. I love that our entire game took less than 2 hours start to finish for 5 turns.

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Wednesday, May 19, 2021 - 07:19 am: Edit

Well, my plan wasn't "go to range 1 centerlined with the Hydran", but once I got close, and had movement advantage, it seemed like it could pan out ok. I really wanted to get to R1 *not* centerlined, which might not have been impossible if I thought about it a little more, but that went out the window at some point.

Really, what got me killed mostly was significantly underestimating the amount of damage I was going to take (as it has been a long time since I was at R1 centerlined from a Hydran); when I realized that we were going to end up like that, I was imagining, like, 40 internals total, not 70. And so in my head, we were going to et to R1, I was going to launch al my seeking weapons, he was going to blast me, and then I was still going to be able to HET away on the next impulse and get 3 or 4 more phasers into his ship to follow up the plasma. This, of course, required most of my batteries to survive (and me not be crippled as to not break down on the HET), which, at about 40 internals, was fine. But then I took 70 internals, lost all my batteries (having used them to stop damage anyway), lost more phasers than I had envisioned, and was doomed.

If I had fully realized what was going to actually happen (which I could have just spent a minute counting average damage, but, well, we were playing fast and lose), the better plan (assuming I was already where I was) was to fire 4P1 and a P3 at his ship (and another P3 at his barely uncrippled fighter), did, like, 20+ damage to his #1 shield before the plasma hit, and then cripled/killed his second fighter with my 2 rear P1s (which, at the time, in my head, were gonna shoot his ship after I HET...). This would have resulted in the Hydran taking, what, 70 internals as well. And while still not necessarily me winning, a much better situation.

Hindsight and all.

By Richard Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Wednesday, May 19, 2021 - 11:33 am: Edit

If he'd show the suicide shuttle instead of you the internal damage balance would probably have favored the Hydran considerably.

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Wednesday, May 19, 2021 - 11:36 am: Edit

There were 2 shuttles, he did't know if one or both or none were suicides; he needed to shoot them both for it to work out there, which is about an even trade at that point (14-16 damage for 0-36); he clearly was taking a gamble.

By Norman Dizon (Ichaborn) on Wednesday, May 19, 2021 - 12:19 pm: Edit

Thanks Peter

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Wednesday, May 19, 2021 - 02:07 pm: Edit

Yeah, like, optimally, I'd have chased him into the corner, launched plasma, took a phaser/bolt-F shot on a rear shield, HET out and run away, avoiding being inside of T5. But Brian has seen that happen a lot of times, and acted accordingly.

I could have probably got to a point where I took a R5 phaser/Bolt F shot on a side shield, avoided getting too close, probably made him decel and weasel, taking phasers and HBs from R5+, but at a certain point as I was closing, it looked like I could possibly get R1 off centerline (which didn't pan out), and then it looked like I could get a possibly beneficial exchange even at R1 centerline. But again, I was vastly underestimating the damage I'd take; it seemed possible he wouldn't have had 2 of his fusions armed, seemed possible he'd shoot the 2 shuttles I launched, and again, I just was envisioning 40 internals, and not 70 :-)

By Richard Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Wednesday, May 19, 2021 - 03:49 pm: Edit

Ah, the two classic blunders:

One, never get involved in a space war against the Tholian Will and
Two, never swap with a Hydran who has you range one centerlined!

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Wednesday, May 19, 2021 - 04:04 pm: Edit

It is amazing how many times the last record of a disaster beacon is "Oops!"

By Andy Koch (Droid) on Thursday, May 20, 2021 - 08:46 am: Edit

Ahh...the old R1 CL on a Hydran gambit.

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Thursday, May 20, 2021 - 09:05 am: Edit

It coulda worked, I tell ya!

By John L Stiff (Tarkin22180) on Thursday, May 20, 2021 - 09:16 am: Edit

It could have been worse with 2xOHB.
One can argue that killing the fighters saved you even more internals or that the Hydran wanted to soak up your phaser fire by sacrificing them.

In any event, the Hydran is smiling because "you made his day"!

By Thomas Mathews (Turtle) on Thursday, May 20, 2021 - 11:59 am: Edit

It could have been even worse. Suicide overloaded fusion beams.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Thursday, May 20, 2021 - 03:58 pm: Edit

In all seriousness, worse is in the eye of the beholder. The ship was left a gutted wreck, with only a few excess damage boxes (and one assumes a few of the Track boxes). So the captain has to live with the defeat. A few more damage points might have blown it up, which can be seen as worse, but might be seen as "Merciful" in that the Captain did not have live with his defeat.

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Thursday, May 20, 2021 - 05:10 pm: Edit

I mean, yes? There could have been a pair of OL HBs and sucide overloaded fusion beams. But neither of those were actually particularly possible, give the situation.

The Hydran was starting the turn running from an enveloped plasma. Overloading hellbores would mean that the enveloper hit way earlier, and likely resulted in the OL hellbores being ejected into space if the Gorn stayed at range. Overloading the fusions would have meant the same thing (let alone, suicide overloading the fusions). The ship overloaded 2 of 4 held fusions on battery power, as that was the most efficient use of power for damage at that point we were at. One could argue that one OL fusion and one OL HB off the batteries might have been better, but the HB could miss and the fusions couldn't.

So on the one hand, yes? Sure? I'm glad neither of those things happened? But on the other hand, there was no way in a million years they were going to :-)

By Jack Taylor (Jtaylor) on Saturday, May 22, 2021 - 08:48 pm: Edit

CrashandBurn (aux) defeats MadJack (Orion)

I played terrible and stupid and he played great. I have no idea what I am doing in the Orion or with cloak. He ended up tractoring me and hitting me with at least 3 drones (we did not finish) before I could get out of cloak. To his credit he was well prepared for the anchor so great job there. I deserved to die. Good luck in the next round Crash!

By Graham Cridland (Grahamcridland) on Saturday, May 22, 2021 - 11:42 pm: Edit

CatWhoEatsPhotons (Klingon) v. SummaryJudgment (Gorn)

Through ten turns. The Klingon is slightly ahead on internals but has more shield damage (although the Klingon has weak shield pretty much all around and the Gorn is down 1,3, and 5 almost entirely but has full 2,4 and 6.)

Continues Monday. Thus far Ted is wise to all of my stunts, and has avoided taking significant plasma while arranging phaser and occasional disruptor shots. I'm not sure I've ever seen a Klingon fire so few overloads for a sustained period, but it's working.

[And two turns I spent lots of energy avoiding overloaded disruptors that weren't armed.]

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Monday, May 24, 2021 - 10:59 am: Edit

Dice have been... very horrible on both sides for most of the game (except for like one turn for me). Had they been average, I'd be significantly ahead by now - but lady luck is fickle, so it is what it is.

Once I missed with 3/4 overloads (Yes, 3 "6's"). Crazy stuff.

Anyway, Turn 11 promises to be a dodge and run turn. We're running into opposite corners - him so he can reload and me so I can evade an enveloper I just can't afford to take. Because he will get a chance to reload, it's definitely still a game.

While it is true he has 3 good shields, it will be very difficult to avoid me getting a weak or down shield with 1/3/and 5 all in tatters.

Then again, my #2 and #5 are down or nearly so, and my other shields are damaged... so it's no guarantee of a win for me either.

We continue tonight.

By Graham Cridland (Grahamcridland) on Tuesday, May 25, 2021 - 02:25 am: Edit

We continued tonight.

On Turn 11, the Gorn fled west across the map and got turned around, while the Klingon ran out the EPT from Turn 10 and finished its turn, following and ending the turn Klingon #1 to Gorn (good) #2, at R15.

On Turn 12, the Klingon fired standard disruptors and ran from the EPT B, fired on R11, south and then east into the southeast corner of the map. The Gorn leisurely followed into the middle of the map.

On Turn 13, the Gorn successfully baited a standard disruptor shot into reinforcement at R10 on the 1 box #1, but made a mistake trying to delay the EPT A shot, delaying too long and allowing the Klingon to turn into it at the end of turn, allowing a (presumed) weasel on Turn 14 (decelerating over the turn break). On i32, the Gorn called for fire, but didn't fire. The Klingon did, (since presumably it is stopping and will have no trouble refilling the capacitor), doing 12 to the Gorn #6 (until now pristine). At EOT, the Gorn is at R6, showing its strong #6 shield which has only taken some phasers to date.

The Gorn is limited to Speed 24 on T14, having moved 12 through most of the end of T13.

By Andy Koch (Droid) on Tuesday, May 25, 2021 - 12:40 pm: Edit

sounds like a good game.
I would appreciate more fireworks though...

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Tuesday, May 25, 2021 - 12:45 pm: Edit

Been plenty of shooting. Just plenty of missing - and no one committing to all or nothing strategy.

By Andy Koch (Droid) on Tuesday, May 25, 2021 - 01:04 pm: Edit

JUst shoot harder Ted.

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Tuesday, May 25, 2021 - 02:37 pm: Edit

Well, let's just say the first Dirsupter weapons team has been "discharged" from the tubes and the backup crew has been informed of the dire importance of their successful performance...