Ted,

If you think that's a loooooooooooooooooong time, try playing an assault on a Tholian base. 10 hours? 21 turns? We scoff at those who see this as anything other than the blink of an eye!

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Thursday, March 31, 2022 - 03:26 pm: Edit

(There is likely a reason that most of us who play tournament SFB play tournament SFB instead of assaults on Tholian bases :-) )

By Geoffrey Clark (Spartan) on Thursday, March 31, 2022 - 06:59 pm: Edit

Yep, its the fixed map. If my opponent can run endlessly at speed 31, I want to have speed 40 plasma.

The reason that some games (almost always plasma involved) go to 20-25 turns is due to 4xWW. Shields are the precious, perishable resource; after 25 turns, any ship's shields should really be swiss cheese based on phasers alone.

I've thought about a new tournament with newer SFB stuff, speed 40 plasma, more drones, maybe 2xWW limit, or Fed Commander style, no WW, But, the current tournament is so well balanced, and has a great following after many years, why change what is working? The price you pay is sometimes 25 turns to run your opponent out of WW. The alternative is the Fed slot machine, but we see that can even require many turns to set up properly. And even if you do, you are at the whim of Lady Luck, so it is hard to win consistently with that tactic.

By wayne douglas power (Wayne) on Thursday, March 31, 2022 - 09:29 pm: Edit

The current Sapphire Tournaments are fun (sometimes other playtest ships are allowed, which is good).

(if you are looking for more SFB stuff, there are a few campaigns normally going on)

By Andy Koch (Droid) on Friday, April 01, 2022 - 09:37 am: Edit

E mails have been sent to the 2.1 and 2.2 players requesting updates....

I am away from 4/6 till 4/16 and would like to know that these will get done, since I will have a reduced ability and/or desire to communicate....

Good job to all so far, and as always feel free to schedule up if you have an opponent.

THanks!

-Droid

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Friday, April 01, 2022 - 10:04 am: Edit

---

Quote:

Ted,

If you think that's a loooooooooooooooooong time, try playing an assault on a Tholian base. 10 hours? 21 turns? We scoff at those who see this as anything other than the blink of an eye!

---

By Graham Cridland (Grahamcridland) on Saturday, April 02, 2022 - 08:46 pm: Edit

Dave and I are through 6 turns, with (somehow?) no internals either way. He is ahead in shield damage, and has two shuttles/potential weasels left, and (if my count is correct) up to 3 or 4 drones left on his ship. I need to go back and count heavies, but I think maybe none of those left.

Near the end of turn 3, he announced ED to avoid getting overrun by 70 + a probable fastload, and I peeled off and started circling, not wanting to approach a stopped/slow Kzinti full of drones while spending my tractor energy on movement. After a couple of turns of this, he sped up, I launched my (second) pseudo + F to force him to slow back down, and we have swapped some phases and disruptors.

There are 4 drones on the map, he is in pursuit position with the wrong side of the Gorn ship (empty of plasma) facing him, but he is limited to speed 17 most of next turn and we start outside range 8.

Still anybody's game.

Continues Monday at 7 or 8 p.m. Pacific. I need to check my schedule.

By Jack Taylor (Jtaylor) on Monday, April 04, 2022 - 08:33 pm: Edit

Madjack vs Madman is planned for 6:00pm eastern tomorrow.

By Graham Cridland (Grahamcridland) on Tuesday, April 05, 2022 - 03:41 am: Edit

SummaryJudgment (Gorn) over Admiraldzzi (Kzinti) in 12 turns and almost 12 hours.

Writing it down so I'll learn something I hope. The game went a long time, but that was kind of on purpose, at least for me. I had in EA of turn 2 thought about what would happen if the Kzinti ran out of drones (turns out it is still a perfectly feasible disruptor ship, but we'll get to that), and so I kept a lot of plasma in the bay to discourage overloads and other things which shorten the game, and kept shooting down drones, accepting shield damage to keep chasing.

Turn 1: I plotted 16/24 (on 17) and put 5 on my #!, finishing the B torpedo as an EPT and holding the rest as standards. I held only one shuttle, a weasel. I planned on weaseling the scatter pack (if launched) on turn two, and then proceeding having attained map position. Dzzi plotted 31/19 and did some scatter pack launching and disruptor plinking. Due to my slow speed and willingness to allow Range 8, I was able to launch the EPT on i21, which is much more friendly than a i12 launch in many ways. We traded some fire, and Dzzi's disruptor crews were not cooperative, so only 13 stuck to my #6. There were 8 drones in the air, some of them fast, at EOT.

Turn 2: I plotted 4/14 to weasel the drones, put 12 in tractors in case he decided to risk and anchor, and took 12 collateral because I couldn't get either myself or the weasel out of my hex before 2 stacks of drones impacted. Over a few impulses, Dzzi shot the daylights out of the plasma and eventually took it on 2.09 for 6 total net damage. I get plinked again, and four rack drones are launched. I launched a pseudo this turn, faking an 'A" launch, to see if I could cheaply herd him into a corner.

Turn 3: This didn't work; Dzzi plotted 0/9/8/9, and I have a 14/17/26 plot to approach and some tractor energy, but he pre-emptively ED's late in the turn and I peel off, to avoid getting blasted and watching my plasma eat weasel. He wipes out my #6, leaving it at one box.

Turns 4-6: I circle, trying to get a good opportunity to launch plasma, but he only goes higher than 4 at the end of the turn when I can't get plasma to him before the turn break. I burn the D torpedo to relatively little effect on turn 5, and get the B torpedo gunned down on Turn 6. My shields are taking hits and I start slowing down to power reinforcement against the constant disruptors.

At turn 6 end, we save. The Kzinti shields are 27/4/23/19/23/12, Gorn 30/22/12/17/12/1. The Kzinti is limited to Speed 17 the following turn and has four drones in the air and three left on the ship.

Turn 7 I went 17 all turn still (!) holding the A torpedo, with the B in the first turn of arming, C held, and D in the second turn. I still had a WW held (I started it turn 2 when I used the first one) and put two in tractors. I had some vague idea of trying to get an anchor, or a 32 anchor (firing on 32 from range 1). That didn't happen, but I did shoot down the last three drones on i32.

On turn 8, The Kzinti was out of drones, and my plasma was almost recovered. I plotted 12 all turn with 3 on my #1 and dropped the weasel, since what was it protecting me against? Somewhere in here I gave him the #6 and he didn't take the shot, but he did get an unreturned (just 'cause I wasn't feeling it) shot at R5 for some shield damage.

On turn 9, I went 12 all turn again, now with an EPT B. If I followed him all turn, I would launch on the 30-row, 15 hexes from the east wall where the torpedo should impact for 44 unless I screw up moving it. At EOT we come to range 6 and exchange fire, leaving my now weak #1 to his also weak #6. I launch the EPT on 32, expecting him to stop and weasel.

I planned to sideslip in to R5 on 10i2 and bolt the facing shield if he left it to me, and then turn my strong(er) #2 and wheel off to reload. He didn't stop. He went 21/12 and HET away back to direction C.

If I follow the plan with him not stopped, the bolt shot is into a decent shield, I have no phaser chaser (all facing phasers cycle on i8) and I can't wait for phasers because disruptors cycle at the same time. So I turned off, and after his HET, HET next impulse to follow off batteries, still facing him with a weak (but reinforced) shield and planning to wait for impact, launch a 50 stack, and wander away and see what he does about it.

He plinks my #6 on the spline in the process, as I had to give it to him rather than the #1, but only gets 2 in due to weak dice (Phaser-3, Warp).

By Turn 11, I am facing dead away, he is stopped to start the turn, and I just float away at 17, reloading, while he gets up to speed and fires some surprisingly effective disruptors and P1s from R15, leaving me with shields of 2/6/12/8/12/0

Turn 12 EPT B is back up, so I face my #2 with 5 points on it, go 12 all turn, and wait for him to threaten OL range (he's limited to 19 most of the turn). With EPT A coming online the next turn, he can't stop (only one weasel left) so I am expecting either the charge into OL range, or running.

(Note that at this point the only internals on the map were my Phaser-3, Warp, and the P3 was in the process of repair).

He goes 16/17/something with standards, waits for the launch, fires, tries a second HET to avoid losing virtually all remaining shields + internals to the EPT, rolls a 6, breaks down, and concedes.

I think I got all of this right, but I definitely want to get -this-right. This was probably the most competitive and close SFB game I've played and I was pretty comprehensively outplayed for a long time, being saved by bad disruptor dices and bluffing plasma. Thank you very much to AdmiralDZZI for the game.

I think I learned that simply trying to outlast a Kzinti puts you up against too tough a disruptor clock, and that there is probably a better strategy out there. Playing the Gorn purely "threat is stronger than the execution" with limited launches leaves you vulnerable to disruptor ships plinking you to death.

By Andy Koch (Droid) on Tuesday, April 05, 2022 - 08:44 am: Edit

Wow Graham,
Very well done... thanks guys for getting it done.

Now if Dana and Jack (2.2) can get to a finish tonight, we are all in under the wire!

Reminder that I will be away from 4/6 till 4/17.
Round 3 starts Saturday 4/9 and the deadline for finish will be Saturday 4/23...please schedule up if you have an opponent

If anyone needs assistance, judging by a judgey judge, or just conversation with a very friendly guy, please contact Sir_Catwhoeatsphotons (Ted Fay) in my absence..

Thanks
-Droid

By wayne douglas power (Wayne) on Tuesday, April 05, 2022 - 03:04 pm: Edit

Good game Graham.

By Graham Cridland (Grahamcridland) on Tuesday, April 05, 2022 - 03:50 pm: Edit

Klingon, Kzinti, and another Klingon or Kzinti to come. The Gorns wonder why so many strangers from the far side of the octant keep attacking them.

(Fortunately, the Romulans are waiting in the finals like a breath of fresh East Octant air, if I get there.)

By David Zimdars (Zimdarsdavid) on Tuesday, April 05, 2022 - 05:52 pm: Edit

Graham-you played it right for a plasma ballet. The Kzinti doesn’t have much room for slight errors; and I had a few-beyond the missed shield I think I could have outrun a 44 EPT to 30; and a 30 to 20-which was bad counting on my part.

We hadn’t played before so I didn’t know how flexible you would be to bolt or try an anchor.

I think in order to avoid the 12 hour game, I committed early on to tactics that would draw in a more aggressive Gorn. Against you I should not have launched the SP; but rather unloaded it so I could have a later weasel. In the mid game, I put significant anti-anchor energy in. As such I was power starved and shooting too many std disrupters off batteries. I would have rather put the power into shield reinforcement and get closer to pull out your Fs. Or overload std disrupters.

The Kzinti has to win the guessing game. For example, you had reinforcement some instead of tractor-which probably saved you. And the Kzinti has to get lucky with the disrupter shots early. And down some shields-not just leaving 1-2 boxes.

As far as my final HET, I had a 4/6 shot of making it, better than 50%. Though I probably had too weak of shields to claim any advantage.

Good game and good luck!

By David Zimdars (Zimdarsdavid) on Tuesday, April 05, 2022 - 06:05 pm: Edit

Graham-one last thought about how narrowly balanced the tournament ships are. The Kzinti can handle anyone who wants to beat it 8 turns or less just fine. But it always is undergunned range 4-6. And in longer games this hurts. Just not enough accumulation. But give me the 3 360 p1s the CC has, and it would be pretty hard to beat.

By Graham Cridland (Grahamcridland) on Tuesday, April 05, 2022 - 06:47 pm: Edit

Dave:

I originally based a lot of my Gorn tactics on Ken Lin's writeup of his RAT victory in the ship that is available online. He makes the same point: The Kzinti is no Klingon outside Range 3-4.

I had some tractor energy too, off and on, but was mostly too scared of OLs to try to use it, and wasn't sure I wanted to be at Range 1 to four drone racks anyway.

Thanks

Graham

By Jack Taylor (Jtaylor) on Tuesday, April 05, 2022 - 08:14 pm: Edit

MadJack defeats Madman in 2 quick turns. Dana had me sweating as he always does. Write up later on.

By Jack Taylor (Jtaylor) on Tuesday, April 05, 2022 - 09:14 pm: Edit

MadJack (Kzinti) over Madman (Klingon)

T1. I dodge to the corner going 16 all turn. I had 4 standards loaded, 1 held Sui, 3 power to start a 2nd sui, and some shield reinforcement. He had 2 overloads, 2 standards, no special shuttles, and made 23 moves with a 21/28 late speed plot. I launched my scatter pack late in the turn and he shot at it with the 2 standards but only hit with 1 *fortunately*. I shot him and hit for 9 on his shield #1. He had to discharge 2 overloads. I put out 4 t1 speed 20 from the racks for him to deal with on the board. He launched 2 drones which later on turned out to be counter drones. Counting his power t1 made me think he did not have a weasel. My plan turn 1 was simply to try and build a drone wave before engaging t2. If I get too close turn 1 I lose things before I wanna lose them. (batts and racks)

T2. I might anchor him, maybe. I have a 29/14 plot for 19 moves total. I continue on with the suicides, charge 2 std disruptors and put 9 in tractor. He plots a 15/28/15 for 19 moves and loads 4 overloads. We start the turn about 10-12 hexes apart heading directly at each other. My scatterpack opens imp 2 and has 4 speed 32's in it. He thinks better of running directly at 10 drones and turns out to better use the ADD. He ends up killing all 10 drones one way or another. Somewhere early in the turn I get a range 3 shot on his #3 for 25 points. He does not use a battery to stop that internal so I am thinking he is going to try to HET and shoot overloads. I am behind him a few hexes so the idea makes sense if he can pull it off. Unfortunately for him, I have one remaining battery and can speed up to be faster then him at the end of the turn. I am behind him in his row and he has to move first. He ends up HETING imp 32 and I end up in his hex, Shield #1 to Shield #1. There was no other way to get his disruptors in arc. I launch 3 t4, 1 t1, and a suicide. He fires 1p1 at each drone only killing 2. His fire at me amounted to 48 with 18 internals. I fired 4 p3 range 0 + his feedback take down his 21 point #1 and do 3 internals. Dana sees a lot of damage coming and concedes at this point. Fun and fairly quick game. Thanks Dana.

By Geoffrey Clark (Spartan) on Monday, April 11, 2022 - 06:50 pm: Edit

Kingzilla over Spartan, Rom civil war, TKR vs TKR

Turn 1 - Kin has got a 21-31-26 plot, Spa is 21 all turn. About 1.18 he launches a real S and turns in. 1.20, I launch 2xS (real & fake) and turn out. Kin gets to range 5, bolts S&F, fires 5xph-1, does 33 to S's #6, sees 4 reinf, leaving one box. Spa returns fire with phasers after Kin turns out, weakens the #3. Spa phasers the S torp and takes it on the #5, leaving 10 boxes, and a weak left side.

Turn 2 - Kin & Spa are both moving fast, 2xS hit on the 25th move, revealing torps. Spa is out for revenge, with 70 real online, chases Kin into NW corner. Spa launches S&F, Kin launches one F, emer decels, launches WW on 2.24, Spa phasers the WW for collateral, Kin phasers Spa's #3 for 12. Spa runs from F, phasers it, takes 5 pts.

Turn 3 - Kin is starts to move again, Spa turns back toward Kin and launches 2xF (one is quick F). Kin angles for a phaser shot on a weak shield, but Spa HETs away. Kin also HETS away from plasma, phasers it, and the remainder weakens the #5 to 13 boxes.

Turn 4 - Spa runs for the southern wall, Kin builds up speed and chases.

Turn 5 - Spa is run against the southern wall, Kin gets to about range 5 on 5.21, launches an S, bolts an F, fires 5xph-1, nets 17 internals ... 2xph-3s, 2x warp, 2xbtty, and fluff. Spa bumps the wall, launches WW vs S.

Turn 6 - Spa builds up speed to 9, Kin runs out to re-arm.

Turn 7 - Kin is a launches S, Spa is at 19, phasers S torp, and runs through it on the #2, Kin launches F, Spa phasers and runs through it on the #3. Spa's Remaining Shields: 25/2/2/24/0/3, looking pretty grim.

Turn 8 - Kin launches S torp and begins to cloak. Spa is moving 9, then 4, WW#2 vs S, and begins the sub hunt. Gets a shot on the weakened #5, leaving 2 boxes.

Turn 9 - this is mostly maneuver as Kin is getting ready to come back out, and Spa is trying to get another phaser shot, without stopping.

Turn 10 - Kin comes out of cloak, is moving speed 0. Spa has a 9-4 split. Kin bolts and fires phasers, does 19 internals. Spa gets to range 2, and tractors Kin, gets him for 2 points, so launches 100 pts. Kin launches an S then then an F, Spa fires phasers at plasma takes 32 more internals. Kin phasers a little, takes 98 on the nose, with 15 reinforcement takes 53 in. At this point, Kin has 2xS, 2xph-1, and all 4 waist ph-3, and 20 power. Spa has 2xS, 1xph-1 and 17 power.

Turn 11 & 12 are rearming and maneuver.

Turn 13 - At about range 12, Kin loads a G-EPT, and plots a 20-10 split to run. Spa loads 2xS-EPT, and does not move. Spa is left with 2xS, but only 6 power. Kin runs out the 2xS, takes a few minor internals.

It was a good game Seth, thanks. Two different styles, bolts and single torps, vs multiple plasma launches. I can think of several mistakes or what-if options. You've come out on top, nicely played. Good luck in the final.

By Jack Taylor (Jtaylor) on Tuesday, April 12, 2022 - 05:35 pm: Edit

MadJack (Kzinti) vs SummaryJudgement (Gorn)

Planned for this Thursday 9-9:30pm eastern

By Graham Cridland (Grahamcridland) on Wednesday, April 13, 2022 - 01:28 pm: Edit

It's only going to take half an hour, apparently

By Graham Cridland (Grahamcridland) on Friday, April 15, 2022 - 11:08 am: Edit

We are four hours and five turns in. I have a few internals (mostly hit hull, DAC was friendly) but fairly healthy shields, the Kzinti has some weak shields (especially 2,3,6) but no internals yet. Jack has been slow with drones (never more than five in the air at a time, I think). Jack used the SP (4 drones) and has used several fast drones but no heavies, unless one of the drones I double-tapped due to missed labs was a closet husky boy.

We will continue soon.

By Andy Koch (Droid) on Friday, April 15, 2022 - 05:45 pm: Edit

Closet Husky Boy is the name of my Blues Traveller tribute band

By Jack Taylor (Jtaylor) on Saturday, April 16, 2022 - 11:04 am: Edit

MadJack (Kzinti) vs SummaryJudgement (Gorn) cont...

Planned for Monday 9pm eastern. The early turns are over and it is getting to the nitty gritty. Come watch the fun really begin!

By Jack Taylor (Jtaylor) on Monday, April 18, 2022 - 10:44 pm: Edit

MadJack (Kzinti) over SummaryJudgement (Gorn) in 6 turns. Graham played a great game, I was sweating it the whole time.

By Graham Cridland (Grahamcridland) on Tuesday, April 19, 2022 - 01:03 am: Edit

Turn 6 began with Jack having weak #2 and #6, his #1 to my (mostly up) #6 at range 5. I had an empty phaser cap, empty batteries, and ten or so in, including (remember this) a tractor. I have both F's coming hot this turn, B is armed, A is in the second turn of arming. He has enough drones left for turn 6 and two fast drones launched on 32 in his hex.

So I have two choices. I can brick his shot (a little) and park, to keep my down #4 away from him. Or I can keep moving at 12, and have no energy for anything (I think maybe I had to go 11 just to keep my weasel.) I could also go 9/4/14, but I rejected that because it seemed like he could just wait out the SC and then launch drones, so there wasn't much point.

I chose to park, and this was probably a mistake, because he went 9/4. 9/4 allowed him to get an R4 shot (since I was not moving), and still never allow a favorable plasma launch. Nonetheless, while EA was good for him it wasn't fatal, yet.

Early in turn 6, he fired, and did 10 in past 5 allocated rein. This was a good move! He thought I used batteries here, and I still had them. Unfortunately, on 10 in, he hit 3xP1, plasma, and (most important) the second tractor.

I returned fire with an F, which he weaseled. I could have instead bolted on his weak #6 in the phaser/disruptor exchange, but having stopped dead, I thought bolting would leave me permanently stuck and disarmed and I get, at best, probably 25 in.

I let him approach and came up with a plan. I would get to R1 on 32 and launch plasma to hit on 1.

Unfortunately, there were three problems with this plan.

1. Now I had no tractor to use with the batteries I had oh so cleverly concealed.
2. Because I had no tractor, he could weasel on 32 because he never sped up.
3. I forgot to TAC before speeding up, so I ended up not getting range 1 anyway.

So, 20 internals down with more coming and with Jack still having weasels vs. no tractor beams, I conceded.