Turn C19 movement is almost over. The Klingons and Romulans have decided to leave Earth alone and are instead concentrating on the Eastern Federation. A Gorn starbase, two undevestated Fed majors, and a recovered Fed minor are under attack. With only three reserves that can reach, at least one of these will have to go. Also under attack are an MB setup attempt, a minor that will produce 1EP if held, and two planets with no current economic value.

On the bright side, the Feds have finally cleared their North-West sector. But the price for this appears to be losses in the North-East

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Monday, December 13, 2010 - 02:15 pm: Edit

Well - hopefully the dice will allow to have an 'average' turn as the attacker!

With so many forces in the North West Area - I had create new plans!

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Tuesday, December 14, 2010 - 07:45 am: Edit

Well, William had dispatched his reserves!

Shame I can't view where they went at work!

I am guessing, one has got to save the Gorn TG+MB being set up.....

.... and one might have gone to mug my Carrier Tug which is on it's own (against one of his FF's!)!

I couldn't get it out the hole it found itself in - should have removed the pods.....

Hopefully, several planets will be liberated fromn the evil Federation though!

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Tuesday, December 14, 2010 - 01:55 pm: Edit

Well, 50% right......

Looks like the Carrier Tug will die!

No real surprises on the reserves!

4 Battles in Hydran space
4 Battles in Kzinti space
1 Battle in Gorn Space
Lots of Battles in Federation Space!

Hurrah, no battles in Coalition (other 'Patriach Kzinti' ) space!

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Wednesday, December 15, 2010 - 04:46 am: Edit

Yesterday, it was discovered that the Gorn Trustee "accidentally" neglected to forward the 4EP of survey income from the Trusteeship Zone to the main treasury. This morning, the trustee was found to have "accidentally" fallen off a cliff and died.

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Wednesday, December 15, 2010 - 07:46 am: Edit

The Romulan senate is once more shocked to hear of corruption in an Alliance Government.

Trade Minister T'Pow extended an olive branch to any Gorn Citizen who wishes to defect to the honourable Romulan Empire.

T'Pow was quoted as saying "Our neighbours should not fear us - and we have far more to offer them, than their evil corrupt overlords!"

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Wednesday, December 15, 2010 - 07:55 am: Edit

The Coalition Fall offensive of Year 177 has begun.

In Hydran space, a CU was destroyed by a light Lyran Squardon - the other 2 Hydran ships were seen retreating towards their capital in disarray.

In Patriach Kzinti Space, 1001 has been liberated once more.

In Federation space, 2 minor Federation planets, following the corruption of their erstwhile neighbours, the Gorns, finally see the light and join the Romulan empire, with no blood being spilt.

Elsewhere, the opening volleys in 1202, 3306 and 4806 have begun!

Federation & Gorn reserves will save 2 major Federation planets.

1802 is likely going to remain Kzinti (Fed and Kzinti reserve turned up!) - and 1202 will be very close (small Kzinti reserve turned up).

In Hydran space, 518 will be saved by the timely arrival of a reserve, and a trio of other Hydran ships are assisted by the arrival of a much stronger Hydan reserve!

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Saturday, December 18, 2010 - 02:15 pm: Edit

....Another Romulus Senate Session.... September 177

Defence Minister, Weagle stands with his head bowed.

Weagle - 'Fellow Senators, I bring news. Once more our brave military forces punish our enemies for evil they do to us. Many lives have been lost - but victory for once has been achieved.'

Emperor Ramus - 'What news do you bring?'

Weagle - 'Emperor, our Glorious forces under Admiral K'Tang, have attacked the Gorn SB at 4806. Do you extremely heavy (but inaccurate) firepower from the defenders, K'Tang was able to cripple the SB. As he had insufficent forces, he was forces to retreat and I understand he is personally leading the rearguard, as the Gorns persue his battered forces.'

Ramus - 'Insufficent forces?'

Weagle - 'Yes, as was debated only last week, the bulk of our theatre reserves are at this very moment approaching the Federation 6th Fleet Starbase - I was surprised K'Tang was able to organise a strong enough force for his assault.'

Senator Ramsom - 'And no doubt has taken heavier damage than he would have done if he had waited for re-inforcements?'

Weagle - 'Senator, as we have debated many times before, time is not on our side, and waiting for re-inforcements is likely to weaken us more than our enemies. On losses, I believe only the SuperHawk 'Revenge' has been lost, although contact was also lost with one of the Carrier Escorts in the fleet during the retreat, confirmation of it's lost has not yet been confirmed.'

Ramus - 'And hows goes our major offensive at the 6th Fleet Starbase?'............

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Sunday, December 19, 2010 - 07:02 pm: Edit

Combat results for C16 are trickling in:

Gorn 6th Fleet SB --

SB took 3 more SIDS, all due to dirdam, for a total of 8 (now crippled)
Romulan dead: SUP, SKE, WE

13.5EP crips on each side. Romulans also spent a command point.

Fed 6th Fleet SB -- Feds decline approach. Romulans decide not to come in. (SB has 4 SIDS.)

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Tuesday, December 21, 2010 - 05:03 pm: Edit

Well, I thought the dice gods were being fair....but luck still goes with William

1/6 chance of killing a crippled Gorn tug is missed....

......I then get 1/6 chance of hurting a small force of Gorns, and have a 2/3rds of taking no damage.

What happens - William gets the roll.

So in a battle where I mugged the Gorn (+50% compot) ends up with a Gorn BD and DD being crippled in exchange for a KE being crippled (and I lose 4 fighters!)!

These small battles are massively painful on the Coalition - and they shouldn't be!

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Wednesday, December 22, 2010 - 03:51 am: Edit

Just to expand on the above...

If I had rolled a 3 or higher, William would have to cripple 2 ships, or kill 1 ship and cripple another. (Any roll resulted in a cripple or a kill)

If William had rolled 4 or less, I would have taken no damage.

Hence a roll fo 2 v 5 is mighty annoying (as this always seems to happen to me, and never to William)

So what should have been damage of 3.5 Ep to 0 Ep combat in my favour - turned into a 2.5 Ep to 2 Ep combat in my favour.

By Paul Edwards (Pablomatic) on Wednesday, December 22, 2010 - 11:38 am: Edit

Paul,

I know the feeling comrade! All we can do is try to engineer favorable situations. Then if we get screwed by the dice, at least we set ourselves up for success and the failure wasn't our fault.

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Saturday, January 01, 2011 - 07:50 am: Edit

A series of foul-ups has delayed certain battles, as local commanders were "waiting for orders."

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Saturday, January 01, 2011 - 02:39 pm: Edit

Well, someone in Starfleet Command sent one of your Admirals 'Call of Duty 3045 - The Maroon Brigade' for his birthday - you can hardly blame the guy for being very busy!! (Must be very annoying to nearly finish a level, only for your ship to lose power due to enemy fire - thereby turning your computer off...just before an autosave is done ;) )


Well, Coalition turn 19 is nearly over.

The last few minor battles are being resolved - but will not effect anything.

For once, the dice have been alot nicer to the Coalition. Before I claim my dice 'poor luck' is over - the Alliance as usuall, rolled generally better.

A couple of good rolls meant one minor planet will remain in Federation hands (which with average dice, would have been captued - compot was similar but I had more damage I could take.).

In the smaller battles, Williams luck continued, and I still take far more damage than I should do (dice breaks always go his way).

In the largest battle over 617 - the dice generally were similar - but high for both sides (and VBIR went up more than it went) down - and so when your re-devasating planets using directed damage - it wastes alot of damage (and I took more than I needed to).

About the largest poor roll for the Alliance - was failing the persuit roll over 617 - which saved a STT plus other cripples from certain death. (William did kill a TGA+VP though, where it was a 1 v 1 combat - and he sent a reserve there - on similar battles previously - I have failed to kill carriers - but William got the persuit roll!).

About the best roll for the Coalition was where William miscalculated - and the dice were good - and I so I killed a Paladin.

Summary for the turn

Hydran Front - 3 Planets re-devastated (1 had recovered) plus 1 minor captured.

Kzinti - 2 minor Kzinti planets remains in rebel Kzinti hands. (Rest are owned by the 'real' Kzinti Patriach )

Federation Front - 5 minor planets captured - plus 1 Minor devastated.

Gorn MB being set up, was destroyed.

Gorn Front - SB at 4806 crippled.

Losses were relatively light - with the main hulls being killed of the Paladin and Klingon TGA+VP. Several maulers also died.

In summary - a reasonable turn which will hopefully start to hurt the Federation (and Alliance members) economically.

Lets hope my dice continue to improve for the rest of the game.

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Saturday, January 01, 2011 - 03:04 pm: Edit

Well, if I was hoping the last 2 battles were going to be good - I was wrong!

William remains the Small Combat King - I just can't kill his ships in it (+1 to me - he retreated).

In the other battle, rolls of 3 & 2 for me were extermely poor in comparison to Williams 5 & 5.

Retrogrades to be done!

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Sunday, January 02, 2011 - 02:27 pm: Edit

Here is a summary of combat results from C19.

Gorn front:
* Gorn 6th Fleet SB crippled by 3 points of directed SIDS being added to the 5 taken voluntarily earlier.

Fed front:
* Romulans send a large force to the Fed 6th Fleet SB (which has 4 SIDS) but elect not to go in
* Romulans retake formerly recovered Fed planet 3706 (near Gorn border)
* Romulans (sometimes with Klingon support) retake devastated planets 3210, 3514, 3612 and 3711.
* Long and bloody battle at formerly recovered Fed planet 2509 (near Earth) ends up with the planet devastated but Feds still in control. Lots of crips on both sides.
* Klingons retake Fed minor planet 2610.

Kzinti front:
* Coalition retakes Kzinti planets 1105 and 1001
* A Kzinti reserve saves 1202
* Fed and Kzinti reserves arrive at Kzinti planet 1802, which is enough to maintain control. As a result, there is now a legal strat path from Earth/Gdhar to the Barony that does not involve stopping off in the Survey area

Hydran front:
* Coalition raid at Hydrax redevastates a minor and a major and devastates a minor that had recovered
* Hydran reserves successfully open a supply line from the Old Colonies to Hydrax

I find it interesting that each side had successes on every front. (The Gorn 6th battle is a success for each side in its own way).

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Sunday, January 02, 2011 - 04:16 pm: Edit

Forgot 1202 should have been a 'tough but likely win'!

Another horrible set of dice for the Coalition there!

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Sunday, January 09, 2011 - 12:26 am: Edit

Retroes are being held up by logistical issues . . . something to do with sick bay and laundry detail . . .

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Sunday, January 09, 2011 - 05:17 pm: Edit

Captain....the kitchen slot cannot take it....

Scottie...... I need full laundry capability NOW...

Captain....I'll see what I can do, but I am Chief Enginneer of a Starship....not a Kitchen Designer for a house!

...................

The new washing machine we bought was 2 1/2 cm's deeper than what the technical specifications state it is (curved frontage I bet they don't include!!!!)

- Retro grades have been done - other than in Hydran space, Coalition forces have withdrawn to strong points, to repair another huge number of cripples - leaving small cross covering garrison forces in most areas.

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Monday, January 10, 2011 - 05:33 pm: Edit

Coalition retroes look like one of those good news/bad news situations to me. The good news is that with them pulling back, the Alliance will have more EPs than expected. The bad news is that there are fewer Coalition ships in random far-flung locations where they are easy to kill.

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Tuesday, January 18, 2011 - 02:27 pm: Edit

Well, the Coalition is ready to receive the Alliance onslaught!

Coalition reserves have been set up in -

Lyran
1401 (x 2)
1013

Klingon
1509
1811
2214
2715

Romulans
3415
4214
4613

Hopefully, thats the bulk of the Coalition 'Extended Defensive Border' covered!

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Thursday, January 20, 2011 - 08:26 am: Edit

A rules issue has come up. Apparently, Paul and I managed to play 18 1/2 turns with different beliefs about the following:

A Coalition force enters an Alliance-held province during the Coalition turn. It does battle with the Alliance forces there and defeats them, forcing them to retreat out of the province. It then pulls out of the province during retrograde, leaving no forces in the province. The Alliance does control an adjacent province. What is the economic value of the province during the Alliance turn?

I believe the answer is 2EP. Paul believes it is 1EP. In support of my belief, I cite the following ruling (from 2002!)

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Friday, December 20, 2002 - 12:53 pm: Edit

Trying to understand rule (430.24), which I will quote for convenience:

(430.24) "If the enemy occupies (sole possession) a province and voluntarily withdraws from it during his player turn (no friendly units are in the province), the originally owning player, provided he controls a provice adjacent to the abandoned province, receives one Economic Point from it on his following Player Turn and can re-occupy it to gain the full production on later turns. If the original owner does not have an adjacent province, no one receives the EPs for that province on the current turn."

My question is: what does it mean to "occupy" a province? Is it the same as conquering? Here are some examples. In each case, has the province been "occupied" or not?

1) Enemy forces enter the province during their op move and destroy the only friendly base there during combat. They then retrograde out of the province. The province contains no friendly fleets.

2) As above, but the enemy forces retreat out of the province after destroying the base. At the end of combat, no forces are in the province.

3) There is a combat in the otherwise empty province, which both sides retreat from. However, the friendly forces retreat first.

4) Enemy forces pass through the empty province during movement.

William


By Nick G. Blank (Nickgb) on Friday, December 27, 2002 - 12:28 am: Edit


William Jockusch: For those purposes it is assumed that you actually captured an enemy province, and then later moved out.

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Thursday, January 20, 2011 - 08:28 am: Edit

I will add that even if Paul is wrong about the rules issue, I have some sympathy for his situation as he has apparently been deducting EPs when the Alliance did something similar. At my end, it hasn't had much (if any) opportunity to come up, because Paul really hates to retro out of a province he would otherwise have conquered.

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Thursday, January 20, 2011 - 09:07 am: Edit

IIRC, and I don't have the rule handy, you DO lose the EP if the enemy was the last to move through a province and there were no opposing ships or bases in the province.

But your situation is slightly different - so AFAIK the ruling applies.

By Stewart W Frazier (Frazikar2) on Thursday, January 20, 2011 - 06:53 pm: Edit

Hmmm, way I see it, if you retreat out of the province, you didn't 'occupy' it after the Combat Phase (retreat being part of the Combat Phase). Retrograding would 'occupy' the province (as well as giving one the chance to garrison).

1] as (430.24) - 1 EP
2] nothing (2 EP)
3] nothing (2 EP)
4] captured (1 EP)