Thanks! I do what I can!

:-)

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Monday, March 20, 2023 - 07:49 pm: Edit

bakija (ZIN) over Jeff_G (GBS 11)

T5: ZIN moves 16 till 7, 26 till 25, 16 till end (22 moves), puts 2 in battery that got used last turn, has 2 overloads armed, a suicide shuttle held (since the start of the game), and a point in tractor. Shark moves 18 all turn with 3 standard armed, and recharges things. I have 6 drones on the map. I just turn south and close, as the GBS moves SW. At about R8, the GBS turns in, and kills 2 of my close drones with a couple P3s. As I close in, GBS shoots my #1 with 3 standard disruptors, but misses with 2 of them, hitting for 3. I get to R4, and get shot in the face with 7xP1. Shark rolls well, does 31 damage, scoring 4 internals (offside P3, 3 hull). I launch 4 fast drones. He slips away some, I keep closing, get to R2 off his #3. He launches 2 drones (to kill 2 of my drones), I blast him with 3xOL (1 from battery), 4xP1, 4xP3. Disruptors all hit, P1s roll well, I do 56 damage to a lightly damaged #3 shield, scoring about 30 internals. I turn off, GBS turns off, but the fast drones catch up, hit, and demolish the shark.

Fun game vs a fun opponent!

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Monday, March 20, 2023 - 10:59 pm: Edit

Sir_CatWhoEatsPhotons (FED) over Gregg (ISC) in a surprising upset victory.

Turn 5. Fed goes 0 until 28 and then 10. ISC goes 10/7/10. We are in the bottom corner.

He moves up out of the corner and I tac. He launches 2 shuttles (1 last turn end), I launch 2 shuttles (1 last turn end).

He moves to range 1. I tractor him. He does not fight tractor.

Neither of us are willing to commit a bunch of phasers all at once due to shuttles. I use 3*ph-1 and 1*ph-3 from a shuttle to kill his 2 shuttles. He shoots 1 of my shuttles just in case it's a SS and kills a drone I launch at him. He puts some 3-4 phasers into my ship, which brings the #1 shield to 4 or 5 boxes after 4 reinforcement.

I hold fire all turn. My shuttles maneuver around, and the crippled shuttle eventually manages a r2 shot doing 4 to the #4.

I hold phasers all turn. He holds what he has left.

Mid turn (Imp 20 I think) he fights tractor to 3. I put in 4.

On impulse 31 he fights trac in earnest. I put in 6, he matches 6 - breaking the tractor.

This is critical. I move south 1 and he slips away 1, putting the range at 2 with me facing away from him.

End of turn Fed repairs 2*ph-3.


Turn 6.

The jig is up. I need amazing luck to win, and we both know it. But, hey, I paid my money so I'm going to takes my chances.

We both go 0.

Imp 1 he launches a fastload (B). He holds phasers (surprising me, but my good #4 effectively facing him - it's a split shield, but with both of us at zero we get to pick).

Imp 2 I HET. This is my 2nd HET. My breakdown roll is a "2", so safe. First luck event passed.

I launch a dogfight drone, and he knows its a dogfight drone. So, it's 2 points, but I'm about to lose the rack anyway.

He launches another torp from the same tube. So one is fake. Not that it matters. I'm resolved to eat whatever he throws. I *HAVE* to hit with everything. Which is not likely because I figure he'll weasel.

Which is what he does. I have to fire through a +2 shift.

OK, but I'm committed. I'm about to be hit by plasma and lose weapons, so It's fire EVERYTHING and pray.

Prayer answered.

I jackpot, rolling 3, 2, 1, 3 on photons (3*OL-16 and 1*OL-10). It's followed by a chaser of 6*ph-1 and 2*ph-3. Which I don't roll, 'cause Greg concedes.

ISC will be left a smoking wreck. Even after a +2 shift, with 58 in photon damage alone won't be much left, and certainly no batteries for the second fast load. Probably not much in the way of phasers either. So Greg calls it there graciously.

By averages I *should* have lost that game. On average I would have done something like 50-60 damage, which would have hurt but then he would have trundled off and mangled me with plasma, phaser, and PPD. He would be crippled, but guaranteed I'm dead.

But... That is the way with the fickle lady luck and the Fed TCC. Sometimes you get lucky. Sometimes you don't.

Still, this win is satisfying even if it is luck. I have NEVER beaten a well-flown ISC in the Fed before. It's just a Fed killer.

And Greg did indeed fly well. There were a few decisions you could armchair quarterback, but his maneuvering and anti-trac at the end was brilliant.

Anyhoo. Time for the next Fed-killing ship....

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Monday, March 20, 2023 - 11:00 pm: Edit

Hey, I don't see a tree. So I can't report a win.

@Paul F: Can you post the tree as a sticky post on this thread?

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Tuesday, March 21, 2023 - 08:02 am: Edit

Ted wrote:
>>I launch a dogfight drone, and he knows its a dogfight drone.>>

This is likely completely irrelevant to the game at hand, but I thought the Fed G-Rack was a fixed load out of 2xIM and 4xADD? Did it get tweaked with a "in case of plasma, you can have 2xIM and 4xVIM"?

By Andy Koch (Droid) on Tuesday, March 21, 2023 - 08:05 am: Edit

Ted:
Gregg did say further up you would jackpot him..

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Tuesday, March 21, 2023 - 10:43 am: Edit

@Peter: from SPP's answer last week:

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Quote:

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Wednesday, March 15, 2023 - 01:52 pm: Edit

The Fed has the G-rack. I think it had the option of using two type-I and four ADDs, or against the Romulans it had the option of four type-I. The SSD should indicate what drone options are available. There are no type-IV or Scatter-packs available. Note, my memory may be flawed.

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By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Tuesday, March 21, 2023 - 11:22 am: Edit

That very well could be the case; I don't remember seeing that, but the original plan was always "2xIM, 4xADD"; it is not at all impossible that a second option of "2xIM, 4xVIM/Dogfight" was introduced at some point and put on the SSD. Which seems completely reasonable to me.

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Tuesday, March 21, 2023 - 11:50 am: Edit

Ironically, in this game, it would have been better to have gone with the ADDs, due to the use of shuttles during the knife fight. But at game start, I figured going against the ISC I would be better off having a "fake" type I drone to get shot at (i.e., shoot my type VI and keep the Type I for later).

Meh. Pick your poison.

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Tuesday, March 21, 2023 - 12:30 pm: Edit

Both Feds went on to the 2nd round. Amazing!

By Gregg Dieckhaus (Gdieck) on Tuesday, March 21, 2023 - 01:31 pm: Edit

Ted Imp 1 of that turn I only had 3 phasers in arc... so would not have cracked your shield of choice. in retrospect probably should have played it out to see if my last plasma survived because it woud have been a 40 pt ept next turn...
I lost the game cause I got greedy on the previous turn and went to range 1 for the phaser shot instead of staying at range 2 while escaping... if i had there would not have been a tractor and we would have ended 6 or 7 hexes away... still you would have fired and jackpot at that range too!

By Andy Koch (Droid) on Tuesday, March 21, 2023 - 01:45 pm: Edit

Nerf the Fed.

By Mike Erickson (Mike_Erickson) on Tuesday, March 21, 2023 - 02:00 pm: Edit

Nerf dice rolling?

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Tuesday, March 21, 2023 - 02:12 pm: Edit

@Gregg, right you are, right you are... Bottom line is - good luck with photon dice is a bear to overcome.

@Andy: I totally agree. I'm a big proponent of changing the Fed TCC to a TCF. Only two photons, and MUCH friendlier on the luck factor for BOTH sides.

@SPP: Please! I will do the play test work, including all the report writing, if you authorize a play test TCF! I would love to put one into the tourney field!

By Gregg Dieckhaus (Gdieck) on Tuesday, March 21, 2023 - 03:15 pm: Edit

We once had a Seltorian with 10 p1 and it WRECKED the tournament field.

By Andy Koch (Droid) on Tuesday, March 21, 2023 - 03:47 pm: Edit

SOunds fun

By Jack Taylor (Jtaylor) on Tuesday, March 21, 2023 - 03:53 pm: Edit

I would help playtest a TCF for the Fed or any Fed that doesn't have 4 photons. Nerf the Fed.

By wayne douglas power (Wayne) on Tuesday, March 21, 2023 - 04:39 pm: Edit

A Nerf Fed is not a Fed anymore.

By Ronald J. Brimeyer (Captainron) on Tuesday, March 21, 2023 - 04:49 pm: Edit

I still say the 3 Photon, 8 P-1, 4 p-3 and 40 power is the more balanced option. Take the 2 options to the extreme, 16 p-1s and 38 power? 10 p-3s and 48 power? ( replacing Photons with 2 P-1s or replacing Photons with 2 power and 2 p-3s) And as has been pointed out, a 10 p-1 ship has already been shown to wreck the tournament.

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Tuesday, March 21, 2023 - 05:00 pm: Edit

I would be happy to playtest Ron's first version. Anything to fix the Fed's poor overall tourney performance. But I don't know where 16 ph-1 comes from - that's beyond wild. Even if you replaced all 4 photons with ph-1, that's 12*ph1. But then, it's not really the Fed anymore.

A Fed *needs* photons to retain the Fed feel and flavor.

I still think a TCF would work fine though.

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Quote:

By Gregg Dieckhaus (Gdieck) on Tuesday, March 21, 2023 - 03:15 pm: Edit

We once had a Seltorian with 10 p1 and it WRECKED the tournament field.

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By Gregory S Flusche (Vandar) on Tuesday, March 21, 2023 - 06:59 pm: Edit

I say NERF the WW or limit every one to 1 WW only...

The Fed is the Fed. Live with it. Die by luck. or what ever.

By Jason Gray (The_Hood) on Tuesday, March 21, 2023 - 10:54 pm: Edit

I always thought Wild Weasels were a poor design.
My redesign would be something like this-

WW can be used at any speed but the energy to charge a WW is 5 warp movement of energy on 2 consecutive turns.
I.e. for a CA 5w + 5w instead of 1 + 1.

The effect would be that you could carry one WW at medium-high speed and two at medium to low speed but a ship wouldn't be forced to effectively stop, thus the game flow would be way better.

By Jason Gray (The_Hood) on Tuesday, March 21, 2023 - 10:56 pm: Edit

Also......only people with 'bad karma' want to kill the Fed TCC

By Andy Koch (Droid) on Wednesday, March 22, 2023 - 07:11 am: Edit

when I say "Nerf the Fed"...I am saying it ironically. He we are decrying it's bad tournament performance and wanting to change it, and you guys go and win with it...sheesh!

By Jason Gray (The_Hood) on Wednesday, March 22, 2023 - 07:23 am: Edit

http://rwschirmer.weebly.com/uploads/5/6/7/3/56735785/sfbtrv4.pdf

Robert's excellent old Stats page has the Fed winning 46% in Ace v Ace games, with the addition of the G-Rack I would guess the Fed would be right around the 50/50 mark!