Archive through September 18, 2008
Star Fleet Universe Discussion Board: Federation & Empire: F&E INPUT:
F&E Reports from the Front:
Inactive Scenarios:
Across the Pond:
Archive through September 18, 2008
No, since the Kzinti capital is now off-map, the Feds can use two tugs to put EPs into a stockpile in the off-map area. 207.292 allows the tugs to move back either into the off-map area, or on-map depending on what they did last when dropping off the EPs. So two Fed Tugs can keep dropping off 20 EPs into a stockpile at the off-map SB, while the Kzinti can use two tugs to keep picking up the same 20 EPs from the off-map SB and bringing it back to their capital. So really 4 instead of 8.
And besides, the Feds didn't use any of their tugs to upgrade anything this turn, so they must be BTs and CV tugs.
In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful,
Allah's Kzinti are guided by Allah alone.
We have no need of the wealthy imperialists' fancy toys.
David,
Welcome to our game!
We are playing base FE2K. It's pretty clear that there is a limit of 2 carrier groups, plus one FV/DWV, per turn. IDK about pods -- but I think I start with the max. In any case, I don't have any tugs to spare.
Well, its all choices - which is part of the game.
Both achieve different things - extra ships gives an instant hit - Carrier groups (even the lowly FV) gives longer term benefits.
Operational Movement for Alliance Turn 7 has started, with the Kzinti counter attacking into 1401 (the Capital of the Lyran client state of Kzintism). The Kzintism Capital bosts 5 operational PDU's!, and the Patriach of Kzintism beleives his capital will be held.
Elsewhere, the Federation counter attacker against province holding ships and the Hydrans try to extract their small out of supply force.
The Sultan wishes to inform with delight His subjects of a visitor. Today, a ship with a circular front section arrived at Hydrax Starbase. The Captain of the ship asked to speak to the "King of Kings". The Duty Officer at the Starbase consulted the Admiral, who had the good sense to contact Me. The following dialoge ensued:
The CAPTAIN: Good morning, Sir.
The SULTAN: Good morning, Sir. What is your name?
The CAPTAIN: Captain Mustafa of the starship Mohammed, Sir. With whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?
The SULTAN: I am the Sultan of Hydrax. Are you a Klingon?
The CAPTAIN: No.
The SULTAN: Then why are you speaking to me in that most foul tongue?
The CAPTAIN: [incomprehensible gibberish]
The SULTAN: I understand. If you are not a Klingon, who are you?
The CAPTAIN: I represent the United Federation of Planets. We are at war with the Klingons.
The SULTAN? Are you a Federation?
The CAPTAIN: [high pitched parking noises] No. I am a Human.
The SULTAN: Do you represent the Human Empire?
The CAPTAIN: There is no Human Empire. The Federation is made up of Humans, Vulcans, Orions, and Others.
The SULTAN: What brought you here?
The CAPTAIN: The Federation is at war with the Klingons. We are the enemy of your enemy.
The SULTAN: I invite you to stay at Hydrax. You can teach me to speak Federation and become our Ambassador.
The CAPTAIN: I have brought along Diplomat Jones for that very purpose. He will be our Ambassador, if you will accept him. He will teach you to speak our language, which we call English.
The SULTAN: In the name of all Hydrans, I am delighted and honored to accept. Because of the War, I have urgent business to attend to. You must have the same.
The CAPTAIN: Indeed. One to beam over. [pause]
Over and out.
...Due to a horrible error in the translation 'He will teach you to speak our language, which we call English'...Ambassador Jones made a very nice broth, which the Hydrans enjoyed very much...
They are still waiting for how 'Jones' will give them English though?
Intelligence Report
Upper Command Only -- Sultan and Admirals. Admirals burn after reading.
Multiple, independent, reliable sources inform us that far, far to the East, there is a planet called "Romulus". Even as the war rages, the Klingons have been reinforcing this planet. It therefore must be of great importance to them.
Your humble analyst believes it would be most desirable to capture "Romulus" if it can be located.
Alliance turn 7 is well underway. Hydran front is done. The Hydrans currently have superiority in both quantity and quality of uncrippled ships in the region, and the outcome reflects this. The toll:
Hydrans: Dead CU. 9 crips.
Lyrans: Dead DW. 11 crips
Klingons: Dead 4BATS, 2PDU, D5, F5, 2E4. 4 crips.
The four killed BATS were all in the far South -- 1415-19 and 1618. The Coalition has no BATS remaining on the Hydran border, and the Hydrans now have access to several Southern Klingon provinces. However, further Hydran operations in the region will be hampered by supply difficulties.
The Hydrans have also conquered Valoria (1514). The Klingons can easily retake it on their turn if they choose.
Ouch.
Be careful, Paul. Rampant Hydrans are decidedly unpleasent...
David
I am trying my best 
As with everthing - William has different objective priorities than I do - and unfortunately this turn, they differed wildly.
To make matters worse, the dice gods continue to favour the Alliance.
In last nights battles, the Hydrans basically rolled on average 1 point high per battle.
And to compound that - the Hydrans generally roll very well in the big battles, and OK in the small battles...whereas the Coalition rolls poorly in the big battles and well in the small battles.
Net result - I am taking on average, alot more damage than what I should be - turn in turn out!
Turn 1 - although only minor battles the Lyrans rolled well.
Turn 2-4 - Alliance has rolled much better than the Coalition
Turn 5 - William thinks this was a good turn for Coalition rolling (I can't remember, so possibly we just both rolled averagely!)
Turn 6 & (so far) 7 - Alliance has rolled much better than the Coalition.
....I must therefore be due some lucky breaks!
His turn 5 was good for him over Hydrax. However my turn 5 was good for me . . .
I'm having problems understanding how the Hydrans are doing so well on Turn 7. Every Coalition BATS on the Hydran border is destroyed and the Hydrans lost 1 (ONE!!!!!!!) CU???? There is some fundamental problem somewhere.
If you don't hit the Hydrans hard and let them hit your fixed defenses without significant forces to DD them, the Hydrans will blow up your BATS and take the losses on fighters. I haven't been following this game meticulously enough to answer definatively, but going for the Kzinti Shipyard frequenly lets the Hydrans spawn to dangerouos proportions.
Oh and both sides seem to agree the luck of the dice has mostly favoured the alliance.
Combination of two reasons:
1. The Hydrans have been the main benficiaries of the sacrifices the Kzinti have been making. They still have not resumed work on their shipyard. For this reason, the Coalition has needed to devote a lot of resources to the Kzinti front, which has helped the Hydrans a lot.
2. Dice.
Kosta
2 Klingon BATS died earlier, and 3 more border (and 1 slightly internal BATS) died ths turn.
Bascially, the BATS have very little value to me, and so the Klingon forces, other than the odd Frigate was in Northern Hydran space/South West Klingon space - and so the Hydran attacked where I wasn't.
William is using his fighters very well to mitigate his losses - and the dice stop me killing much (for example, if the dice had gone the other way in 1013, instead of a CU dying, a Batte Tug could have been crippled and probably killed in the persuit battle - I had 60% higher compot, but I only did 75% of the damage the Hydrans did - I think it was 20% v 35% - i.e. a 1 v 6 roll and ideal ideal BIR for William!).
In one of the other battles, again I rolled low, and instead of killing a RN (I think I needed 35%, and we both picked BIR 4) - I could only cripple a ship with directing!
I don't think people know how badly the Coalition is rolling in key battles - and how well the Alliance is rolling in key battles - but hopefully my luck, will change soon!
I probably lose 5 hulls a turn (and 8 more crippled) due to the current dice differentials, (and getting the right roll at the right time) - this is very hard to overcome 
The dice have really been absurd, to the point where this game does not give much of a test of our respective underlying strategies.
Normally, the "signal" from the strategies the players use overwhelms the "noise" from random swings of luck. However, in this game, my feeling is that noise > signal. Which is unfortunate, as we made some unusual choices, and it would have been interesting to see their results.
FedZinti front is done.
I made a mistake and he was able to double reserve the Marquis SB. I then had to spend 2CP and get some crips killed by dirdam to save it. The dead include a CVL group.
Losses:
Kzinti: CVL+MEC+EFF, 2CC, 2EFF, 2SIDS; 2CP spent; 4 crips
Fed: NCL, FF [captured]; 6 crips
Klingon D7C, D5, F5S, F5L, F5, E4; 15 crips
Lyran PDU[was on Kzintai], FRD; 10 crips
The Incredible Shrinking Kzinti Fleet is down to 53 ships.
Final Economy:
Kzinti 7.5EP spent on CEDS repair; 3.5EP on EFF
Balance -6.6
Hydrans 1.5EP CEDS repair
Balance -0.7
Feds 13EP field repair; 1EP CEDS repair
Balance -9.25
William
Don't worry to much about the marquis SB mistake. Any fight with you defending a SB with a decent fleet is a good one. Doesn't matter if it is on your turn or his.
Problem was it was nearly at the end of my moves. My defending fleet was mostly crips (all I had left), and I lost 2CC, and a CVL group.
David
The fight over 1704 was close - without command points, was around 104 for each side (William bumped himself up a little with those 2 CP's)
Although it would have been nice to cripple the SB (4 more SIDS are needed), the main target, the crippled CVL group I got - and so this CVL is the first 'true' full carrier to die - hurrah!!
The Kzinti are under alot of pressure - and with the Main shipyard still 5 turns away before being completed (so in 3 years they can build normal ships) the loss of heavy hulls is very good for me.
Single Ship Combat - it is hereby ordered, no Coalition vessel shall fight under 'equal odds'.
On turn 7, the 3 SSC's was
F5 v 6 Fighters - (Even) F5 died
D5 v 6 Fighters - (Even) D5 died
Hydran TGC+VP v CL - (+2 to Hydrans) Hydran retreated!
Anyone notice a pattern?
At least the combat dice was more even (although key rolls still going to the Alliance) - and averages for the latter part of the turn was 3.6 for the Alliance and 3.55 for the Coalition!
One other tidbit -- the Feds have towed their 3rd fleet FRD to the Barony. If the Feds are able to use it to repair Kzinti ships, it amounts to a hidden delivery of EPs to them.
Likely the FRD will be cut off during the next Alliance economic phase. However, cutting it off for the CEDS step of future Alliance turns will not be easy for him.
The Feds can use it to repair Kzinti ships. Have some more fun with it, declare it part of an Expeditionary fleet and move it into the Kzinti off-map area. The Feds still pay for the repairs, it can't be cut off from supply since it is "stacked" with a SB, and it is invulnerable to attack.
If the Feds are able to use it to repair Kzinti ships, it amounts to a hidden delivery of EPs to them
I always thought that was a bit suspect. Your ally can't supply your undamaged ships (fair enough, they don't have the right spare parts & replacement crew... homeless/expeditionary allocations aside) yet they have no problem with replacement parts & crew for your crippled ships!
Using an ally's FRD sounds fair but it would make me happier if the eps need to come from the owner of the crippled ship (the one supplying the spare parts) rather than from the owner of the FRD. Homeless/expeditionary ships are different, of course.
William
I'll check this later...but I think only Tugs can enter an Allied Off Map Area - the FRD might not be permitted there.
IIRC, no Allied Ships can enter off map area, with just two exceptions
1 - To deliver EP's
2 - Klingon Survey Ships moving through the Lyran Far Stars area
Might be wrong though!