Mr. Calhoon and I have come up with an idea for a Fed/Klingon vs. everybody (more or less) scenario. It's wacky as heck.

By Jason Langdon (Jaspar) on Friday, June 28, 2019 - 07:33 am: Edit

Id love to see the rules and set up !

By Jason Langdon (Jaspar) on Friday, June 28, 2019 - 08:53 am: Edit

I still want to do an ISC game. I even spent AGES setting up a Vassal game file.

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Friday, June 28, 2019 - 10:24 am: Edit

When we get to the end of AT34, the world is your oyster!

By Jason Langdon (Jaspar) on Friday, June 28, 2019 - 10:27 am: Edit

Are you suggesting the Coalition will lose ?

By Richard B. Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Friday, June 28, 2019 - 10:58 am: Edit

The wacky scenario I mentioned is supposed to have all existing empires in it (no Orion enclave). which would include the ISC, but starting at Y168. I still have to formally write it, which is a challenge as things currently stand.

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Friday, June 28, 2019 - 11:28 am: Edit

I think Thomas Matthews had a "twisted wind" scenario where it was Klingons and Feds against everyone else - but there was no ISC I think.

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Friday, June 28, 2019 - 11:46 am: Edit

AT26

Movement seems to be wrapping up--the Feds are currently attacking both Klingon held (with very significant forces) planets 2106 and 2812 with larger Fed forces--2106 is currently about 80 SEQ of Klingons vs about 105 SEQ of Feds; 2812 is currently about 130 SEQ of Klingons vs about 175 SEQ of Feds. The Gorn are now attacking occupied planet 4705 with more ships than the Romulans have, and are also piling on numerous province raiding forces.

A few more ships left to move.

By Jon Murdock (Xenocide) on Friday, June 28, 2019 - 12:05 pm: Edit

I did a Fed/Gorn/ISC Y168 against everyone else scenario once as the more peaceful powers, due to propaganda from the ISC, decided to end war forever. The ISC had a stronger fleet. Turn 1 is the invasion of the Romulans. On Turn 3 the Klingons can go to full economy. On Turn 5 the Kzinti. On Turn 7 the Lyrans. On Turn 9 the Hydrans. On Turn 11 the Tholians (who can send an expeditionary fleet similar to normal rules and also attack openly). Prior to going to war they all get their 50% peacetime economy and can spend it as they wish and save EPs etc. All the Coalition powers can declare war on the Alliance 1 turn after they go to full war economy if they wish. The Klingon IWR starts activating once the Klingons are at war and all three of the Alliance powers could put in-supply ships into Klingon space or all three of the Alliance powers have moved ships into non-Romulan Coalition space. The Selts do show up but join the Alliance.

The Gorn and the ISC got a bunch of free mobile bases at start as their prep for the war to set up supply lines across the Federation. It was nuts but a lot of fun. The Romulans did not last long and were wiped out and the Gorn and ISC started building their supply line back home. The Kzinti capitol fell and the war bogged down in Klingon space. The Lyrans joining saved the Klingon capitol and turned it into a stalemate. Once the Hydrans joined and started getting ships into Klingon space the tide started to turn. Hydran lines are scary.

It was a weird game and we both played poorly but it was fun.

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Friday, June 28, 2019 - 12:31 pm: Edit

I don't wanna be a total kill joy, but could we keep the digressions down to minimum in this thread? It's an active game, and I don't want the actual game getting lost in side discussions. Thanks!

By Richard B. Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Friday, June 28, 2019 - 01:05 pm: Edit

Sorry, mention of ISC (and the existence of Xships in this game) got me thinking and blabbing.

How soon until more empires get X-ships? Turn 28?

By Jon Murdock (Xenocide) on Friday, June 28, 2019 - 01:27 pm: Edit

Sorry, my bad.

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Friday, June 28, 2019 - 02:28 pm: Edit

Heh, all good. I'm totally ok with discussion about the game itself, but if things spiral out of control, the whole thread becomes unmanageable.

Yeah, most folks get X ships on T28 (i.e. y182)--Lyrans, Romulans, Gorns, Kzinti, Hydrans. I think the Tholians don't get X ships till y183, but they will have fallen off the map by then.

By Richard B. Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Friday, June 28, 2019 - 03:22 pm: Edit

I'm surprised the Tholians haven't been directing ships of yourrs regularly. It's not like they'll need their own ships after turn 28 unless you attack, which probably would be a good thing for the alliance if you did.

I mean, the Tholians could lose half their ships and still mangle you over their own capital if you attacked.

By Richard B. Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Friday, June 28, 2019 - 03:23 pm: Edit

When do the Tholians get PFs anyway? Or I should ask, are they at PF3 yet?

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Friday, June 28, 2019 - 03:35 pm: Edit

The Tholians are on PF3 this turn; they have a few PFTs, and as such, their compot is up.

The Tholians have been directing my ships as much as I have been directing theirs, but they have mostly been attacking fixed defenses, and either killing them (a couple BATS, some PDUs on that Klingon planet), or being chased off in the approach due to terrible dice.

They have been tying up, like, 80+ ships for the last few turns, so that's something. I suspect that on T28, they'll just burn up ships trying to kill things, 'cause why not? What am I gonna do? Attack them? The Tholian Capital with PFs? No thanks.

By Richard B. Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Friday, June 28, 2019 - 03:51 pm: Edit

I imagine they're still at 16 PDU, that's only 8 flotillas of PFs to deal with. Plus the starbase.

It's perfectly safe.

Also, if you attack them now, it'll keep 'em in the game past turn 28. This is certainly a good idea for one side or oteher!

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Friday, June 28, 2019 - 05:07 pm: Edit

Ya know, I actually considered attacking them for a hot minute, but then I was all "Huh. I need to get, like, another 100 ships down here. At a point when the Feds are already starting to get a leg up. And then I'll toast, like, 30 of 40 ships doing it. Hmm...."

At this point, I have completely ignored the Tholians on my turn--once and a while, I'm all "Hey! I could *totally* go pick off that BATS!", and then get my wits about me, as I'd take damage, lose some ships, and gain, uh, (doing the math...), exactly nothing?

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Friday, June 28, 2019 - 10:32 pm: Edit

AT26

Moves are done and reserves have gone in!

In Hydran space, there are 3 fights--a big one over planet 0416, where the Hydrans have a significant advantage, and two modest Hydran fleets vs province raiders. The Klingons sent a reserve to one of those, but the Hydrans can still win the hex.

In Kzinti space, there are 5 fights--a big one over planet 1105; the Kzinti have a ship/fighter advantage, but it isn't huge, and a Lyran reserve showed up to help. The rest of the fights are Kzinti battle lines vs province raiders.

On the Fed/Klingon front, there are 8 fights--5 vs province raiders or small planet garrisons where the Fed will win 4 of them, and a modest reserve moved to save an E4 or something in the last; at 2106 and 2812 there are big Fed fleets vs big Klingon fleets, where the fights could be protracted and bloody; at 2610, the Feds have a bigger fleet than the Klingons, but at least the Klingons can fight back some.

On the Fed/Romulan front, there are 7 fights--5 of them are Fed advantaged fights vs province raiders and light planet garrisons; one of them is a Romulan reserve saving planet 3210 from getting retaken; one of them is a moderately advantaged Fed fleet over a Romulan fleet at planet 3306.

On the Tholian front, 2 fights--the main Tholian force vs 2 dozen Lyrans and a Klingon BATS, and a dozen Tholians vs a Romulan BATS and then two modest reserves (Lyran and Romulan; they didn't really have anywhere more important to go).

In Gorn space 9 fights. 8 of them are advantaged Gorn forces beating up province raiders (well, watching them cloak or fail to cloak away) and a big fight over planet 4705; the Gorn, I think, have ship advantage.

34 battle hexes, with the Alliance advantaged in the vast majority of them. 2812 has the potential to be very exciting, as the Feds have a lot of ships, the Klingons have a lot of ships (including a dozen X ships at this point), the Klingons might not want to give up planet 2812, and the Feds might want to push them off of it.

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Saturday, June 29, 2019 - 09:19 am: Edit

AT26

Combat is well underway!

Mostly, a lot of "Let's beat up province raiders" fights have happened; the Alliance have killed 11 small Coalition ships, losing 2FF in the process. And the Romulans have succeeded in an absurd 15 out of 17 cloaked evasion rolls (although most of those were pairs of ships cloaking out, so it probably saved about 7 ships from death).

In the big fights so far, at 1105, the Kzinti have a huge battle line (for the Kzinti) at about 118, as they are using full, fast drone bombardment, and have a ton of fighters and carriers. Seems likely they mean to take back 1105; at 2106 and 2812 the Feds have very significant forces, high compots, and a lot of fighters to burn. At 2106, they outgun the Klingons. At 2812, the Klingons have a dozen X ships and currently are at 132 compot with the B10 leading an FX battle group, which is kind of nuts.

Lots of fights, lots of potential destruction. This turn promises to be very bloody.

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Sunday, June 30, 2019 - 08:28 am: Edit

AT26

So far in combat:

-The Kzinti quickly reclaimed planet 1105, as they had a ton of carriers and fast drone bombardment, and the Lyrans fought a round of that, quickly did the math, and ran, vaporizing an SDF on the way out of town; the Kzinti currently have 65 ships (with 14 fighter squadrons) sitting on 1105. It remains to be seen how many of those ships will stay there.

-The Klingons held on to planet 2106; the Feds fought a round, both sides rolled 6's, some ships exploded (including a self killed FF to avoid pursuit), and then the Feds ran.

-The Tholians mangled the Coalition in the approach over BATS 3317, rolling high and the Romulan/Lyran defense force isn't particularly sound. They will likely kill that BATS.

-The Klingons and Feds are still fighting over planet 2812, where Klingon compot is nuts (B10+a dozen X-ships+ a C8V group to fill out the line), and a couple Fed SCS groups are fighting (not at the same time...).

So far 18 dead Coalition and 10 dead Alliance ships, including a dead FX (possibly the first dead X ship in the game?). Plenty of carnage to come.

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Monday, July 01, 2019 - 06:02 pm: Edit

AT26

Combat is winding up. The Feds fled planet 2812 after a couple rounds, as the X ship line was just too huge (B10+C8S group+6x X-Ships). In a couple turns, the Feds will be able to do the same thing...

The Tholians killed BATS 3317, as well as crippling, like, 8 cruisers, but fled from Klingon BATS 2519 after a round of approach, losing a couple small cripples to the Lyrans in pursuit.

The Gorn gave up over planet 4705 after a couple rounds, as they ran out of fighters.

The Feds are currently mangling the Romulans over planet 3306, and the Hydrans are fighting over planet 0416; the Hydrans can certainly take the planet back if they want to stick it out.

The Coalition have been rolling kind of nuts this turn; I'm at 7 out of 14 combat rolls as 6's this turn, which can't remotely be moralizing for the Alliance. The Alliance isn't doing that much worse, however, with 5 out of 14 combat rolls as a 6.

By Jason Langdon (Jaspar) on Monday, July 01, 2019 - 07:55 pm: Edit

To put things in even more perspective, Peter is 6 out of 9 rolls of 6 when his compot has been 100 or higher. 2 of the other rolls were 5. The final one was a 2. Average is 5.33.

Ive had some good rolls too, but the damage being dealt is just insane.

Not to mention is cloak rolls were beyond awesome for him.

Rough turn for the Alliance.

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Tuesday, July 02, 2019 - 08:09 am: Edit

AT26

Combat is over!

In Hydran space, the Hydrans took back planet 0416 and have open supply to the Old Colonies. Not much died; the Lyrans gave up 0416 after a single round of combat (no chance of winning if the Hydrans pressed it; the Lyrans were going to take a lot of damage if they stuck around for no gain).

In Kzinti space, the Kzinti took back most of their space, killed a bunch of E4s, and have a significant fleet sitting on planet 1105 (it remains to be seen how much, if any, they leave there at the end of the turn). The Lyrans again gave up planet 1105 after a single round of scary combat (drone bombardment and +1 fast drone bonus). The Coalition currently hold zero Kzinti planets, and might hold a couple provinces at the end of the turn.

On the Fed/Klingon front, the Feds took back a lot of space, killed a bunch of E4s, took back planets 2306, 2610, and 2811. The Klingons still hold 2106, 2715, and 2812. The Feds are clearly pushing back the Klingons towards the edges of Fed space. As of press time, the Feds control more planets in Fed space (outside of the Capital) than the Coalition (there are 10 liberated Fed planets, 8 captured Fed planets; of the liberated planets, 2 are currently recovered)

On the Fed/Romulan front, the Feds took back planets 3005 and 3306; they were repulsed from 3210 by a timely Romulan reserve.

On the Tholian front, the Tholians killed Romulan BATS 3317, but were repelled from Klingon BATS 2519.

On the Gorn front, the Gorn chased a lot of little Romulan ships around the map, killing a few raiders, and took back a planet or two, but mostly there seems to be a effective stalemate in Gorn space--the Romulans hold most of the south of Gorn space, and have strong force holding planet 4705, but other than trading devastated planets back and forth, the Romulans are unlikely to make much headway in Gorn space any time soon.

Ships Killed:
-LYR: DWE, 4FF
-KLI: FX, D6S, 2F5, 9E4
-ROM: SPC, SK, BH, 2SNB, SEH, SN

-ZIN: SDF
-HYD: PGS, CU
-FED: NCL, 7FF
-GRN: HD, DD
-THA: NCL, PC, (DD, PC)

25 dead Coalition vs 17 dead Alliance (and 4 of those are Tholians, who, ya know, don't really matter :-), so even with the cruel dice, the Alliance came out significantly ahead here.

Romulans lost a BATS; Lyrans lost 9 or so PFs.

Dice were, as noted, kind of nuts. The Coalition rolled an average of 4.7 (14 rolls) and the Alliance rolled an average of 4.1.

More egregious, however, were the Romulan cloaked evasions rolls; I made 20 of 23 cloak evasions (87%), saving 3 or 4 hulls (from average).

On to retrogrades!

By Jason Langdon (Jaspar) on Tuesday, July 02, 2019 - 10:22 am: Edit

Game started in September 2017, so we are looking at 2 years for a full game through to T34.

Not too bad !