CT26

Moves are well under way!

In Hydran space, the Hydran fleet in 0416 is pinned and heavily engaged; remains to be seen if they will hold the planet (or even try). The ships at the mouth of the old colones are pinned, it looks like the Coalition is trying to set up a way to cut planet 0416 (or the fleet if it retreats) out of supply.

In Kzinti space, the Coalition are attacking planets 1001, 1504, 1802 with forces likely big enough to beat the reserves if they show up; they are also capturing most provinces. The Coalition is avoiding anything within 2 hexes of 1401.

In Fed space, the Klingons are attacking planet 2306 with a roughly similarly sized force; planet 2811 with a bigger force than the Feds have; undefended planets 2610, 3005, and 3210 with forces that probably beat one or two reserves that show up.

In Gorn space, the Romulans have sneakily sent a cloaked fleet of 12 ships into Capital 4503; the Gorn have enough ships there to be able to pin out any traditional Romulan assault, so I successfully snuck a dozen cloaked ships in, which may or may not intend on attacking the PDUs that are still under the fully operational starbase, by cloaking to avoid the approach fight, which will in all likelihood result in a mangling of the very brave, yet likely doomed battle line.

Still a bunch of ships to move, but likely nothing else particularly dramatic happening (as the Alliance have enough ships to pin anything possibly dramatic).

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Tuesday, June 11, 2019 - 05:42 pm: Edit

CT26

Moves seems mostly done, and I'm waiting on reserves to come in.

In Hydran space, 2 fights--a big Hydran fleet vs a marginally bigger Coalition fleet over planet 0416, and a moderate Lyran fleet vs 8 Hydrans in 0117. The Hydrans have 2 bulky, but not real dense (i.e. mostly FFs) reserve fleets that can get to either hex.

In Kzinti space, 3 fights. All three of them are significant Coalition fleets facing smaller groups of Kzinti ships at planets 1001, 1504, and 1802. The Kzinti have 2 reserve, each about 8 ships (a CV group of some type and some FFs, mostly) that could go to any of these; if both go to one either 1504 or 1802, they might change the outcome.

On the Fed/Klingon front, 3 fights. A big Klingon fleet vs a big Fed fleet (roughly even; the Klingons have some X ships), mostly a toss up; a moderate fleet vs an undefended planet in 2610, and a big Klingon fleet (led by B10) vs a smaller Fed fleet at planet 2811. The Feds have 4 movable reserves, most of which are a CX and a bunch of FFs that can make it to any of these fights.

On the Fed/Rom front, 4 fights--a battle line hitting the last Fed BATS in 2905 (protected by a CA and 3FF), a significant fleet hitting undefended (but recovered) planet 3005, a significant fleet hitting undefended planet 3210, and a significant fleet hitting planet 3306, defended by 8 ships (mostly FF). The Fed reserves can get to any of these as well.

In Gorn space, 2 fights. The Romulans are hitting capital hex 4503 with a dozen sneaky ships that got in via cloaking. This may or may not be a good plan for the Romulans. There is also a significant fleet hitting planet 5004, defended by 4 ships. The Gorn have 2 reserves, about 8 ships each, that can go to either fight.

The Tholians continue to enjoy being un-molested.

The Coalition have clearly run out of good targets at this point; we can't realistically get into the Fed capital; attacking the 3 adjacent Fed starbases (all three of which still exist) are possibilities, but will see the Feds defending with huge fleets that generally mean either 9 rounds of SIDS while getting mangled, or a huge, lengthy attrition fight. The Kzinti have their Capital, which is now essentially invulnerable (PFs and/or heavy fighters). The Gorn have enough ships to pin the Romulans out of anything they want to pin them out of, unless the Romulans get another 50 some odd ships into Gorn space. The Federation now have the ability to forward deploy ships, threatening Klingon held targets. The Fed also now officially get to benefit from the Third Way rules (overstuffed CV groups that count as 1 less ship on the line; free extra fighters held on escorts).

I basically have no ability to win via 3 capital sudden death (I have the Hydran Capital, and probably still will when the game ends, but it is very unlikely I will get a second, let alone a third). We got another 8 turns of attrition at this point.

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Tuesday, June 11, 2019 - 06:27 pm: Edit

Keep fighting. You could still win this on VPs.

By Jason Langdon (Jaspar) on Tuesday, June 11, 2019 - 08:30 pm: Edit

Oh Peter is well ahead on the VP count at the moment. But I have very few BATS and SB left for him to destroy.

He still has plenty for me to destroy.

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Tuesday, June 11, 2019 - 10:05 pm: Edit

Oh, I'm currently winning by a significant margin. I just don't think it is going to hold for the next 8 turns.

CT26

Combat is well underway. The Kzinti have lost 2 planets and a few ships; the Feds have lost 5 planets, a few small ships; in Gorn space, the Gorn lost a planet, and then in a fit of tactical and strategic genius on my part, I snuck a dozen ships into Gorn Capital hex 4503 to strip the 4PDUs off the major planet. The Gorn had a compot of 201, rolled well, did 40% damage, and dropped 80 damage on my line, which instantly vaporized 2 SKEs and then crippled most of the rest of the line. I did manage to score 30 damage to kill the PDUs with a mauler, and then ran away, lost crippled FHF, 2SPM in pursuit my being mauled by the Gorn DNT. The Gorn only lost fighters in the pursuit fight.

If I even manage to make it back into that hex? That move was gold! Otherwise, that was a disaster!

Combat continues.

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Wednesday, June 12, 2019 - 11:48 am: Edit

CT26

In another act of "Man, those Romulans are brave. Yet stupid.", the Romulans sent a forward deployed leftover reserve fleet from last turn to go hit the last on map Fed BATS in 2905, which ended up being defended by three modest reserve fleets (although they included 2CX). Over 2 rounds, the Romulans managed to kill the BATS, but the battle line (which had zero fighters) is being completely mangled, and will probably result in 5 or 6 dead hulls between the combat and the pursuit.

In the long term, trading 5 or 6 ships (worth 1VP) for a BATS (worth 5VPs) is a reasonable trade. In the short term, that's a lot of dead ships this turn for limited immediate advantage, including the strike on the Gorn PDUs.

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Wednesday, June 12, 2019 - 11:54 am: Edit

Makes sense to me, actually. The way the game is going it sounds like the Coalition is not getting to 2905 again anytime soon, so get while the getting is good. It's unlikely 6 SEQ is going to make the difference in the endgame, so a net +4 VPs probably makes sense.

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Wednesday, June 12, 2019 - 05:35 pm: Edit

I mean, like, logically, I 100% agree with that assessment. But, man, kick in the teeth :-)

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Friday, June 14, 2019 - 07:45 pm: Edit

CT26

Combat keeps raging across the octant!

At planet 0416 in Hydran space, the Hydrans fought a few rounds, killing a valuable Lyran HDWE, and then retreating, giving up the planet to the Coalition. It is possible that they will end the turn out of supply and down 3 dozen fighters.

(Ron Howard: "They will.")

A few more fights left this turn.

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Monday, June 17, 2019 - 05:37 pm: Edit

CT26

Combat is over!

In Hydran space, the Coalition recaptured planet 0416, and cut the main Hydran fleet (now in 0317) out of supply. It is down a few dozen fighters, but has the Supply TG with it (so 20 ships can be in supply anyway), and getting it back in supply will take no effort at all. What is important is that most of that fleet will be limited to 3 hexes of movement next turn (so it can't attack SB 0411).

In Kzinti space, the Coalition recaptured most of Kzinti space and planets 1001 and 1504 (which were immediately abandoned back to the Kzinti, but they don't generate EPs for a while), and 1802, where they Klingons left a few ships.

In Gorn space, the Romulans recaptured planet 5004 (leaving a few ships to hold it) and a lot of Gorn space. They also stripped the 4PDUs off capital planet 4503.

On the Fed/Klingon front, the Klingons recaptured planets 2306 (with a token occupation force), 2610 (with a modest fleet), 2811 (token occupation force), and numerous provinces.

On the Fed/Romulan front, the Romulans killed BATS 2905 (the last Alliance BATS on the map), planets 3005 (held with a token force), 3306 (held with a modest fleet), and 3210 (held with a token force).

Nothing happened involving the Tholians this turn.

Ships killed:
-LYR: HDWE, 3FFE, FF
-KLI: 3D5, F5E
-ROM: FAL, 2SKE, (FHF, 2SPM, SP, 2SK)

-ZIN: MSC, CL, 3FF
-HYD: 2AH, CU
-FED: 5FF, (BATS)
-GRN: DD, (4PDU)

So 18 dead Coalition (6 of which produced no salvage), 14 dead Alliance along with a BATS and 4PDUs. So not a super bloody turn overall, but the Coalition (well, Romulans, really), lost more ships than usual considering the number of battles.

By Jason Langdon (Jaspar) on Monday, June 17, 2019 - 09:17 pm: Edit

It was a good turn for me killing things but Peter continues to increase the Victory Points.

I really need a way to push him back to his borders so I can do some real damage.

By Richard B. Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Monday, June 17, 2019 - 09:45 pm: Edit

Keep some fleets forward deployed and have a forward retrograde point that you can pin him out of. :p

By Jason Langdon (Jaspar) on Monday, June 17, 2019 - 10:34 pm: Edit

Problem is Peter has a massive ship count advantage pretty much everywhere. No matter how many ships I kill, he still has more.

Hopefully with economic exhaustion he starts to struggle. But most likely he keeps building a full line but subs in FF. While I will have to drop off FF having already downgraded to them from 75% exhaustion.

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Tuesday, June 18, 2019 - 09:59 am: Edit

Yeah, I think the Feds can easily gain ship advantage in localized areas; if you had held onto planet 2306 this turn (which would have required sending the reserves there, I suspect), you'd be in range of planet 1910 with a retrograde point, which is a good place to be; the Feds that are south deployed can certainly cause havoc; pin all the ships in/around 2812 with stuff from the Capital, send those other ships to hit held planets in the south. You even have places to retrograde to from there.

The Kzinti can do some similar things if they go and take some West side planets with some force; without SB 1704 to defend, you can have, like, half your fleet over on 1001 or something, and nothing terrible will happen at all, and then you force me to defend assets inside Lyran space.

I think you got more leverage here than you think :-)

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Tuesday, June 18, 2019 - 05:52 pm: Edit

CT26

The turn is over!

In Hydran space, the main Hydran fleet is out of supply (but it will be insignificant to get them back in supply for fighting). The Lyrans have a big fleet at planet 0416, the Klingons have a big fleet and a reserve at 0617.

In Kzinti space, the Coalition have big fleets at 1407 and 1506, a modest fleet at 1105. There are Lyran reserves in 1105 and 1407.

On the Fed/Klingon front, there is a big fleet at planet 2106, a giant fleet at planet 2812, and a modest fleet at planet 2610. The Klingons have reserves at 1910, 2812, and an all X ship reserve (3DX, 6FX; they can all move 7 hexes! Woo!) at 2916.

On the Fed/Romulan front, there are modest Romulan fleets at 3306 and 3706; a big fleet at 3509, and a reserve at 3711.

On the Gorn front, the Romulans have a big fleet at 4705 and a reserve at 4309.

On the Tholian front, the Lyrans have a solid fleet at 2318; the Klingons have a big fleet (and the X reserve) at 2916, and the Romulans have a reserve at 3518.

The Klingons and Lyrans have limited funds left in reserve; the Romulans are still ok, cash wise, but that probably won't last. Dice were fairly even and above average, with the Coalition averaging marginally better at 3.85 with the Alliance at 3.71.

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Tuesday, June 18, 2019 - 05:58 pm: Edit

CT26

Map at end of CT26:

http://www.lightlink.com/pdb6/SCD2mapCT26end.html

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Saturday, June 22, 2019 - 08:20 am: Edit

AT26

The Fed generate 137 EP, which becomes about 100 EP and about 72 XTP, giving them after treasury about 113 EP and about 110 XTP to spend. They build SCS, 2CX, HDWE, NCS, DW, FFE, 23FF, SWAC; Convert CA>CX, DW>HDW, NCL>NCS; fix a couple cripples. They are now on PF1 turn of 3rd Way, giving them a bunch of F111 squadrons for their SBs. The Fed auditors found some trouble with their spreadsheet (the automated spreadsheet functions were not calculating XTP correct, nor subtracting the EPs converted to XTPs correctly), so final totals in treasury are not yet clear.

The Kzinti generate about 33 EP (they have hit 50% exhaustion), have about 50 EP to spend. The build CVH, 10FF; convert DD>PFT, spend 7.5 EP on repairs (they still have a bunch of cripples stacked up). They end econ with a buck and change in treasury. They also get a giant pile of PFs on Kzintai (Kzintai now has a compot of 372 before ships...).

The Hydrans generate 19 EP and have 27 EP to spend. They build PFT, 5CU, get a free PFT, get a free prototype LN>DDP conversion, convert another LN>DE. End with a couple bucks in treasury.

The Gorn generate about 59 EP, have about 100 EP to spend (the Gorn are fugal!). The build CMV, CLE, 3HD, HDWE, 3BD, DDE, DD, and with about 45 EP in treasury.

The Tholians generate about 23 EP, have about 40EP to spend (they saved a bunch last turn), build PFW, 3PC, convert DN>DNV. Save about 10 EP at the end of the turn.

The Kzinti and Hydrans are at 50% econ, and have started losing hull builds. The Feds are doing ok, especially with XTP income to bolster their production; they currently can only produce 3 or 4 CX a turn (making 3 this turn); in y182 (i.e. T28) they can start exploding out DDXs. The Gorn continue to do fine, as they save money a lot.

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Saturday, June 22, 2019 - 08:05 pm: Edit

AT26

Ok, after figuring out Fed econ correctly (the spreadsheet decided to forget some forumlas in some cells...), the Feds started AT26 with 113 EP and 110 XTP to spend, and they ended econ with about 3EP in treasury and 50 XTP in treasury (spending 30 XTP on 2CX and CA>CX, and then 30 more XTP on 10FFs).

The Alliance raided 5 Coalition provinces, and succeeded in 4 raids, getting scared off (but unharmed) by a Lyran POL.

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Sunday, June 23, 2019 - 08:45 am: Edit

AT26

Moves are underway!

In Hydran space, the Hydrans are attacking the province raiders that were cutting supply to the main Hydran fleet, and now have attacked planet 0416 in force; the Coalition have a significant fleet there (50+ SEQ), but the Hydrans have over twice that many, even down a few dozen fighters.

In Kzinti space, the Kzinti are rounding up province raiders and the small planet garrison at 1802, and have sent a significant fleet to planet 1105 (about 60 Kzinti vs about 50 Lyrans currently).

The aggressive Tholians have attacked Romulan BATS 3317 with their Detached Fleet, and then sent the rest of their fleet to Klingon BATS 2519.

Plenty more to move.

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Tuesday, June 25, 2019 - 06:58 pm: Edit

AT26

Moves keep going.

In Hydran space, the Hydrans seem mostly done moving; they have a big fleet at planet 0416 that can certainly take the planet back if they are persistent; there are moderate fleets attacking province raiders in both 0116 and 0218 (big enough to beat the possible reserve fleet).

In Kzinti space, the Kzinti seem mostly done moving. They have a bigger fleet in 1105 than the Lyrans do; it remains to be seen if they intend on fighting to keep the planet or not. They also have moderate fleets attacking province raiders in 0903, 1304, 1704, and planet 1802 (also big enough to beat the possible reserve). And a few ships in Fed space in 2202, beating up some FFs.

In Fed space, the Fed so far are attacking some province raiders in 2306, 2410, 3005, 3309, 3603; they have a larger fleets a modest fleets in 2610; they have sent a large fleet toward 2812 (a giant Klingon fleet), flying over the 3 ships holding planet 2811.

In Gorn space, the Gorn have just started rounding up province raiders.

Tholians are likely done moving, hitting Rom BATS 3317 and Klingon BATS 2519.

Plenty to keep moving.

By Gregory S Flusche (Vandor) on Wednesday, June 26, 2019 - 05:36 pm: Edit

go ahead klingons next turn take the fed capital. Teach them flat flat heads

By Jason Langdon (Jaspar) on Wednesday, June 26, 2019 - 05:41 pm: Edit

Please do, Peter.

I will leave a path clear for you !!

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Wednesday, June 26, 2019 - 08:14 pm: Edit

Yeah, that'd be cool. It's turn A26. The Klingons are yet to set foot in the Fed Capital. Ever. I probably had a few chances in the early teens if I had really pushed it. But I never got there. And now, it is way, way too late.

By Gregory S Flusche (Vandor) on Thursday, June 27, 2019 - 04:11 pm: Edit

I know the Klingons should make a deal with the Federation. Have them take out the Kzinti. Split that space in half. Then the Klingons turn on the Lyrans They would own that whole side if the Octant.

By Jason Langdon (Jaspar) on Thursday, June 27, 2019 - 06:28 pm: Edit

The Feds could then remove the Gorn and the Romulans.

I assume people have done the Fed and Klingon vs everyone else game before.

Could be fun.