i seem to recall paul mentioning two D6M captures. which alliance polity holds the other?

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Friday, October 25, 2019 - 05:26 pm: Edit

Kzinti and Feds each have one

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat2) on Saturday, October 26, 2019 - 11:55 am: Edit

Alliance turn 11 op move is done. The Feds and Kzinti forced a big pinning battle at major planet 1502. Paul had to react a bunch of units from Coalition reserve fleets into the battle in order to keep the Feds and Kzinti from getting additional strong ships into Kzintai.

The Kzinti even sent some ships (mostly small) there instead of to 1401 because Paul was having to react things like Lyran BC out of 1401. They probably should have done a bit more of that.

At 1401, the Kzinti have enough ships for a good battle line, plus one more ship and a scout. The Coalition has three DN-sized ships and a bunch of small stuff, with a decent reserve in range.

The Feds are attacking major planet Klegarine (1611). It could be saved by a reserve, but it's the same one that can go to 1401, so Paul has to choose.

Additionally, the Feds are picking a bunch of open-space battles where they should have an advantage. One of these is a Klingon MB setup. The Klingons have one reserve that can pick among the open-space battles.

The Hydrans are also fighting some open-space battles and even attempting a province raider pickoff. The Coalition has one reserve down there that will presumably move one of the battles to their favor.

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Saturday, October 26, 2019 - 02:15 pm: Edit

The only reserve in range went to 1401.


Well, it started with a small chance for the BATS to SB upgrade of not occurring (William had to roll +2 or more likely +3 on the approach battle to win the first approach round)…..

and for once the dice was nice to me.

VBIR went up 2 (which reduced the chance of a success) and the roll was 1 v 6.

With the only Alliance CR10 ship then directed (I had a choice the captured L-BC, captured D6M in form or Fed CVL (Scout box)..)

Killing the Mauler would have meant the upgrade was a lot safer, but if William stayed and won the 2nd round, might get a chance at the upgrade... with more damage to take and a dropping from a CR10 to a CR9, I felt it would nearly eliminate the chance of him winning round 2.

And so William ran after a single falled approach

Kzinti did spend 2 CP's.....and Lyrans 4 CP's!

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Saturday, October 26, 2019 - 02:40 pm: Edit

….Just to confirm...

The 1401 Lyran BATS>SB upgrade will occur.




The True Patriarch feels a lot safer!

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat2) on Saturday, October 26, 2019 - 03:51 pm: Edit

Yes, killing the SB upgrade was a long shot that had to be tried, because there was next to no downside. Chance of winning the first approach was probably 1 in 5. If I win that approach, then in the base battle it would have been pretty much a sure thing to at least cripple it, with maybe a 1/3 chance of actually killing. If the approach battle had been closer, Paul would probably have been unable to kill something with dirdam because of the risk that the next approach might succeed.

But even the failed attempt brings benefits. The Lyrans spent 4CP, the Feds are going to capture a Klingon major planet because Paul needed to send his reserve to that battle, and the Alliance got to fight a bunch of favorable battles elsewhere in Kzinti space without fear of reserves.

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Sunday, October 27, 2019 - 03:56 pm: Edit

I'll let William give all the juicy stuff...

….. but the main points :-

Coalition actually outrolled the Alliance in Combat dice 3.71 v 3.33.

Other than the key 1st roll, Alliance probably got the better dice at better times (including some good persuits - another 5 Coalition ships died from in the 1502 retreat - the captured maulers I think have killed 10 ships now between them in persuits - Coalition I don't think has killed a single ship with a Mauler in pursuit yet).

Capture dice - Alliance continue to streak away - another 2 captures (FH and a F5) v 0 (so I think that's 8 v 2 overall)

Cloak Offensive use - 2 attempts and both were NA.

Cloak Escape - some good news, 2 attempts and 2 successes.

Pursuits - 50/50 on Coalition rolls and I think 5/6 for the Alliance.

Once more, the Mugging of an Alliance raiding force by a Coalition reserve failed... with another 1 rolled. The pursuit was at least better.

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat2) on Sunday, October 27, 2019 - 09:13 pm: Edit

Most of the Alliance attacks were directed at Coalition fleets, and the results of the turn reflect it.

The Alliance killed 18 frigates while losing only four.

In larger ships, the Alliance killed a Lyran CC, a mauler, and captured a Romulan FH while losing the Hydran LM and a captured Lyran BC.

Most battles only went one round plus a pursuit. Therefore, crips were light all around, perhaps 30EP for each side. The Klingons, Lyrans, and Hydrans are all likely to make progress on their respective backlogs, none of which are close to being cleared. A quick count of crips of other races found 30 Feds, 13 Kzinti, and 18 Romulans. Many of these were from prior turns. Of these three races, only three of the Romulans are not at repair sites.

The only Coalition fixed defenses destroyed were the PDUs at major planet Klegarine.

The Kzinti took major planet 1502. They have a pretty strong fleet there, but it's weak compared to the monstrous Coalition fleet at 1401.

The Coalition managed to get a lot of fleets inside the federation on turn 11. As a result, the Feds need to defend some deep targets. Of their planets, only the capital and the four Northern minors behind the fourth fleet region are safe. Every other planet but one has some sort of defensive fleet.

As a result, their SB are defended less than previously. Of the four forward SB (3rd, 6th, 7th, and 8th), the weakest is the 6th, which has only 16 ships. But they include a CVA group, 3CC, and a battle tug, and two reserves are in range, so it's still not easy meat.

It is fortunate for the Feds that this level of threat did not arrive sooner. Without the 32 ships they built and activated this turn, it would have been difficult for them to defend against so many threats.

All six Fed and Kzinti reserves are in the central Federation, with some East-West spread. The two Kzinti reserves have 5 ships total, but in my experience, even small reserves can make quite a difference.

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Friday, November 01, 2019 - 06:46 pm: Edit

Turn 12 has started

Copy and paste didn't work, so normal Lyran builds, Klingons build their first C8V and Romulans build a SUB.

Lyrans also build a PDU.

Repairs are 57.5 Eps, 49 Eps and 17.5 Eps

Klingon B10 is up to 33 (about 2 points below average).

Romulans are the richest with 2.2 Ep's left.

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat2) on Friday, November 01, 2019 - 10:20 pm: Edit

The Romulans also built a convoy. Reading the tea leaves, this suggests that an assault on targets deep inside the Federation is planned. Their forward-most bases are the two planets adjacent to the Fed 6th fleet SB. So if they want to leave a fleet on the major planet Chicago , it will be out of supply . . . unless that convoy moves to supply it.

On the Kzinti front, a fleet with six Lyran BC and two 12-compot ships, among other things, is on Kzinti planet 1502. The Kzinti fleet there is pretty good, too . . . but it may not be able to stand up to that. A weaker fleet is on the Fed 8th fleet SB. This appears to be a pinning attack, though the SB isn't pinned yet.

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Saturday, November 02, 2019 - 03:46 am: Edit

Well supply is critical... and with relatively few bases - and half the Romulan Tugs being nearly useless at supply (the FE's) - a Convoy I think will give me some flexibility!

By Richard B. Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Saturday, November 02, 2019 - 08:11 am: Edit

Aren't SPH's good for 6 hexes? Pretty sure you can build one a turn so you can have plenty for supply by now if you had really needed them.

By chris upson (Misanthropope) on Saturday, November 02, 2019 - 01:42 pm: Edit

gotta be a good feeling when you can't even build a lousy heavy cruiser and your opponent comes back with three CVAs on his turn.

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat2) on Saturday, November 02, 2019 - 03:14 pm: Edit

Turns 10-15 are always a frustrating time for the Alliance. You feel like you've weathered the storm and there should be sunny times. But no, it's just more storm.

Exhaustion can't come too soon.

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Saturday, November 02, 2019 - 05:20 pm: Edit

Richard

Yes - could have built the SPH - haven't felt the need to do so, so far.

Lack of Pods means the Tugs I have might be enough - probably should have built 1 or 2 SPH's though.

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat2) on Monday, November 04, 2019 - 06:17 am: Edit

C12 op move is well underway. Paul is in the process of demonstrating to me that I should have pulled a few more ships off of my SB. Several planets will be under threat, and most reserves will be pinned.

On the Hydran front, there are a couple of open space battles.

The only Kzinti battle is a really strong Lyran fleet retaking planet 1502. The Lyrans have only 6 fighters, but their compot will be over 100 and may even reach 110.

One aspect of the turn 10 attack that hurts the Feds is the slower activation of their mothballs. They have currently activated 22 of the 48 mothballed ships. With a turn 7 attack, they would have 18 more, which would have strengthened their defense considerably.

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat2) on Monday, November 04, 2019 - 07:30 am: Edit

Chris I will say that skipping the CA and DN isn't that bad. The Feds started with a lot of CA. A couple are now CVS, and the rest are CC. So their compot is quite good. What they are still short on is bulk.

The do need to build a fourth CVA, which will give them enough to keep one at each forward SB.

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Monday, November 04, 2019 - 08:42 am: Edit

Well, there is a Fourth CVA.... it's just a Klingon one!!

By chris upson (Misanthropope) on Monday, November 04, 2019 - 10:08 am: Edit

are you taunting the capture dice, paul?

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Monday, November 04, 2019 - 11:40 am: Edit

Well, the risk of capturing a Klingon C8V is pretty small.....

…..as the group will need to be direct killed or (direct killed and then direct crippled) and then probably a 50/50 at best to capture the C8V over the surviving escorts…..

….So I'll just hand the keys over

(In case I mis-read it - the Feds have 3 CVA's and I have built the Klingon equivalent, C8V so none have been captured.... yet)

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat2) on Monday, November 04, 2019 - 01:09 pm: Edit

Ordnance says that unlike the very-explodable C8, a C8V is a difficult target. The final step is not a problem, but there are more layers one has to traverse, giving the enemy time to make adjustments.

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat2) on Monday, November 04, 2019 - 07:25 pm: Edit

Paul has surprised me . . . by moving towards Earth! I had considered the region safe. He can get some ships in there and may snag a central SB on his retreat. Unclear whether he can devastate a lot of planets. The Fed forces there consist of 3FRD, a Kzinti BC, and some crips. But the Romulans can come with a single battle line, and that only by leaving a 4-ship reserve unpinned, plus half of another 4-ship reserve. Even that may be enough.

The Klingons could come with four ships of their own, plus a crip. That would involve not pinning the second 4-ship reserve at all.

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Wednesday, November 06, 2019 - 08:14 am: Edit

Couldn't say too much earlier...

But Sol is indeed under attack - 11 Romulans broke through the Federation's defences.

2808 and 3008 are also under attack.

Final non-reactionable moves to be done tonight (lots of pinning was done)….

….and a record number of fighter reactions has been done...

60 Federation Fighters reacted (24 into 2908 and 36 reacted out!) to Coalition movement.

Only SB 3008 has it's fighters....

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat2) on Wednesday, November 06, 2019 - 01:48 pm: Edit

Yes, it seems that fighters that react into the capital hex are better than ones that are already there? The ones already there are in the system of their SB. As far as I can tell, fighters that reacted in are not subject to any of the mobile/fixed force rules, so effectively they are mobile forces.

If there are carriers in the mobile group, the SB fighters can effectively become mobile by rebasing onto those carriers (after the first round). But the fighters that reacted in appear to be mobile from the start.

By chris upson (Misanthropope) on Wednesday, November 06, 2019 - 05:26 pm: Edit

seems like an interesting little battle hex. after reserves, if its not too inconvenient i'd like to hear the actual rosters.