"I need to get the bulk of the huge back log of crippled ships repaired before turn 16 - otherwise, they will never be repaired!! "


Very true. I've come to the conclusion that a backlog of more than 3 turns worth of cripples is insurrmountable. As I approach that point, I look for ways to economize elsewhere (improving my rate of repairs), and judicious use of self-kills; if I can't repair it ever, better to take the extra points of damage (saving other repairs), and get the salvage. Unrepairable cripples are just as much out of action as a dead one. The key is to not go overboard.

This is one of the reasons I developed "The Carousel" is that after the 1st turn, the "delay" is meaningless, and you have a steady stream of repaired ships coming back online; they're just a turn older. And by not building so many FRDs, you save that money for more repairs, and the SBs in your capital (and elsewhere) are a lot harder to kill than an FRD park on the frontier. There are some that advocate building an FRD EVERY turn. I heartily disagree. After 10 turns, that's 200 repair points you can't afford at facilities that are vulnerable. That's not to say I never build FRDs, but the starting ones, plus your SBs, can cover most of the damage. Too much beyond that, and you are actally reducing your ability to repair ships. Make use of those 10-15 strat points/turn to move ships to the SBs in the hinterlands; they'll come back via free strat.

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Thursday, November 20, 2008 - 11:29 am: Edit

I'm with Joe, though I also build PRDs at the capital or key major planets. They are very cheap there (3 EPs at a major planet) and have the FRD capacity. They are vulnerable to drone raids, so you have to be careful there, but they are highly useful for handling the delayed cripples.

By Joe Stevenson (Ikv_Sabre) on Thursday, November 20, 2008 - 11:46 am: Edit

Ted,


Agreed on the PRDs. At that cost, it makes a lot of sense, and in the capital, they are relatively safe (for the Coalition anyway).

Much smarter than spending a ton on FRDs and deploying a vulnerable FRD park.

They are still relatively new for me, so I haven't incorporated them into my brain yet.

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Thursday, November 20, 2008 - 12:49 pm: Edit

This game is 2K only . . .

By Joe Stevenson (Ikv_Sabre) on Thursday, November 20, 2008 - 12:55 pm: Edit

Well other than the PRDs, the advice is still valid

By Robert Padilla (Zargan) on Thursday, November 20, 2008 - 05:46 pm: Edit

PRDs, like PDUs on planets, are immune to drone raids. Makes then even more worth it.

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Thursday, November 20, 2008 - 09:49 pm: Edit

On the subject of repair backlogs -- My philosophy is different from all of yours. My opinion is that whenever I have a choice between skipping builds and skipping repairs, I should skip builds. There are exceptions, but they are rare.

Alliance turn 11 opmove is well underway. The supersecret plan of the Federation is to beat up on the Klingon fleets in Federation space as much as possible. Depending on how the op move goes, they may need Kzinti help in this.

Which would be only fair. The Federation has given the Kzinti only minimal economic assistance, but it has been very generous with military support. On Coalition turns 8 and 9, the Feds had 1-2 reserves facing the Kzinti front, and the survivors from these reserves had a way of returning, crippled, to Federation space a turn or two later.

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Friday, November 21, 2008 - 04:05 am: Edit

Well, thats what you get for supporting 'alleged' Friends? ;)

When was the last Federation v Kzinti War - and when is the next one planned for?

I think the Kzinti are secretly building up to reclaim their space from the Federation - therefore the Federation should join the Coalition to rid the Galaxy of the Evil Kzinti!!!

By David Slatter (Davidas) on Friday, November 21, 2008 - 06:39 am: Edit

I tend to believe in upgrading BATS to SBs.

You get repair capacity, and a hardpoint.

Mainly a coalition strategy at 1507/1807 area. Better to have that SB over 3 FRDs.

By Joe Stevenson (Ikv_Sabre) on Friday, November 21, 2008 - 09:03 am: Edit

David,

"Better to have that SB over 3 FRDs."


I agree, heartily.

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Friday, November 21, 2008 - 09:34 am: Edit

I remember one game I was the Hydrans. The Coalition chose to leave me alone early, beat the crap out of the Kzinti, and fight a war with the Feds.

Carefully preserving my fleet, I killed the nearby Coalition BATS at a leisurely pace -- much slower than the Hydrans did in this game. It eventually got to the point where 1013 was their only remaining BATS on my border. Then the Coalition brought enough ships down to pin me out of there for one turn, and upgraded 1013 to a starbase.

Boy was that annoying! I found myself wishing I had sacrificed a couple of CA to kill that BATS before they could upgrade it.

By Joe Stevenson (Ikv_Sabre) on Friday, November 21, 2008 - 10:00 am: Edit

Yup. It's one of the "big three"

By Edward Kroeten (Ekroeten) on Friday, November 21, 2008 - 02:01 pm: Edit

/Well, thats what you get for supporting 'alleged' Friends? ;)

When was the last Federation v Kzinti War - and when is the next one planned for?

I think the Kzinti are secretly building up to reclaim their space from the Federation - therefore the Federation should join the Coalition to rid the Galaxy of the Evil Kzinti!!!/

I have to agree the Kzinti are evil and the Federation should support a joint punitive action against them. Especially after the coalition liberated the Kzinti homeworlds. Then as the Coalition was settting up Planetary (Hospital) Ground Bases the Evil Kzinti came in and fired directly on the newly liberated planets. Killing 800 doctors and nurses, a formal protest has been sent to the United Federation of Planets.

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Friday, November 21, 2008 - 03:55 pm: Edit

Edward - you read the same news report that I also read !

Shocking isn't it!

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Tuesday, December 02, 2008 - 08:16 am: Edit

Well,the dice Gods returned last night, once more hurting the Coalition far more than tactics ever could!

The key battle for the turn over 2509 should have been a close battle, although with average dice, the Coalition winning it (Coalition started the battle with Compot just over 5% higher, circa 95 v 102) - and so with similar dice, the difference should have been maintained.

The dice through, destroyed the chance of holding the planet.

After 6 rounds of combat, I had to withdraw.

Romulans lost a KC9, SUP and FAL (and I spent a Command Point). The Federation lost a CC and FFS.

I'll work out the averges later - but I would guess it will be 4.5 for the Alliance v 2.5 for the Coalition. To add insult to injury, the loss of the only Federation scout for half the battle, I don't think had any effect on the Alliance damage percentages!

The timing of the dice though was crucial again. The SUP could only die on a 35% roll...which came up (and 30% was needed for the FAL and crippled KC9) - all got on the turn of asking.

Elsewhere - the dice are still costing me dead hulls (bascally, BIR's are going up where William wants high damage percentages).

I do need to have the dice luck change, as they are stopping the Coalition long term plans (with 2509 held, I would have had a retrgrade point deep in Federation space - so I will have to wait another turn for that to happen) and the Alliance is causing far more damage than they should be doing.

From a personal point of view, it justs grim to watch a good plan falling apart due to the dice - and knowing, there is nothing you can do

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Tuesday, December 02, 2008 - 10:44 am: Edit

Paul, I *feel* your pain. I actually used to have a pin that says "great strategist, lousy dice roller."

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Tuesday, December 02, 2008 - 03:41 pm: Edit

Well, not a bad guess for 2509

Alliance Average was 4.33
Coalition Average was 3.17

VBIR average was 3.67

Alliance got a higher percentage 4 times (rounds 1, 3, 5 & 6), Coalition 1 (Round 4) and 1 draw (when I outrolled by 1, but no difference on round 2).

Not sure what sort of dice would now be needed to equal the major rolls done so far!

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Tuesday, December 02, 2008 - 09:46 pm: Edit

Fed front is done. Fed attacks were heavy against the Klingons and much lighter against the Romulans. Feds retook 5 minor planets -- four of them in the West. Four of these recaptures were forgone conclusions at the end of movement; the fifth was aided by the lucky dice Paul mentions.

As a result of the Fed attacks, the Klingon fleets in the Federation are pretty badly beaten up. The HydZinti have also contributed to this state of affairs by causing some distractions for the Klingons -- and, in the case of the Kzinti, with direct military support this turn.

In the East, the Romulans are in much better shape.

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Wednesday, December 03, 2008 - 10:51 pm: Edit

Alliance turn 11 is done. The arrival of significant Coalition reinforcements has forced the Hydrans into a mostly-defensive posture. They still have a few scattered ships in Coalition space (the largest is a 7-ship group holding planet 1514), but the main fleets are in Hydran space.

Paul managed to retake 1202 from the Kzinti with a retreat. The Kzinti still hold 1502 and two minor planets.

The Feds, meanwhile, have come out of their shell and have left fleets on all of the planets they just retook. Coalition turn 12 will tell us how well or poorly this works out.

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Wednesday, December 03, 2008 - 10:56 pm: Edit

Final economies:

Federation 16.5EP CEDS
Balance -16.1

Kzinti no CEDS
Balance 0.95

Hydrans no CEDS
Balance 0.3

Command points available:
Federation 3
Kzinti 2
Hydrans 4

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Thursday, December 04, 2008 - 08:14 am: Edit

Well the dice gods looked like being nicer in the final battes - only to continue to support the Alliance.

The Alliance just can't fail 1/6 chances (and this was a biggie), 30% or less, and the Lyran Tug would be uncrippled, 35% or more (a 6 was needed) would get 3.6 damage - enough to cripple it.

Guess what was rolled?

Elsewhere, where in only battle which allowed the Coalition to 'mug' a Alliance force (William failed to notice a Reserve Fleet) ....I failed the 5/6 chance of persuit

In summary - a horrible turn for the Coalition, which on average dice, would have been very bearable.

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Friday, December 05, 2008 - 05:47 pm: Edit

A rules question has arisen . . . I want to get a sense if the observers have a consistent view on it. If not, it may have to go to Q&A, which could take a while . . .

There is a Klingon fleet adjacent to a Fed planet. There are no Fed ships on or adjacent to the planet. Can the Feds retrograde to the planet?

206.22 would appear to be relevant.

By Robert Padilla (Zargan) on Friday, December 05, 2008 - 06:15 pm: Edit

You cannot retrograde to a hex that is adjacent to enemy ships unless you have friendly ships adjacent to that same hex. I think a base with fighters can open up the retrograde route, but PDU fighters cannot do that. So by your example given, I'd say you cannot retrograde to that planet.

By Michael Lui (Michaellui) on Friday, December 05, 2008 - 07:00 pm: Edit

If that planet has PDUs on it then it can be Retrograded to as long as the retrograde path comes in from the 3 hexes on the opposite side of the planet from the Klingon fleet. In this case the PDU fighters cannot open the retrograde path through adjacent hexes but they are still "friendly ships" that can open the retrograde path in their own hex.

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Friday, December 05, 2008 - 07:34 pm: Edit

The planet does have PDUs. All agree that the PDU fighters do not open adjacent hexes. The question is whether they open their own hex.