Archive through April 04, 2020
Star Fleet Universe Discussion Board: Federation & Empire: F&E INPUT:
F&E Reports from the Front:
Active Scenarios:
Battle of the Atlantic:
Archive through April 04, 2020
Combat is interesting this turn.
About the only thing the Klingons appear to be good at is running away (William failed two persut rolls).
Elsewhere it seem if I put up an E4 in the line, William will roll poorly....but still enough to kill it - and if anything better goes on the line, he will roll better and still get enough to kill something.
Weird!
Looks like William was right, will be a bloody turn.
So far losses are
Lyran - CW, DW and DWE
Klingon TGA+BP, AD5, F5 and 2 x E4
Kzinti - TGC+BP, 2 x FF, SF
Hydran - KN
Federation - CA, 2 x F5E and 2 SIDS
Gorn - 2 x PDU (and 1 Planet Captured)
Well, that's a good question to ask...
Would I swop the result in 3604 for better dice in 2509.
William got very luck in pursuit and killed a crippled Klingon Battle Tug (second one to die this turn)….
….and I just** about killed the SB in 3604 due to better dice?
** - Just being the very operative word.
SB was defended by 4 cripples and the Federation retreated with 4 cripples.
Romulans attacked with a small force - and lost a KE and all but two ships was crippled.
Could have been bloodier than it was.
The Coalition gave up on the two Klingon-side SB assaults rather than letting them go to the end, and similarly didn't push the devastated planet battle at 2509 as far as they might have.
The Romulans did well enough at the Fed 5th fleet SB that they were able to kill it. The Feds directed on a crippled KE in the final round, but that may have been a mistake. If they don't direct, the Romulans end up with an entirely crippled fleet sitting in Fed space.
The Romulans had some out of supply fleets in the Fed 6th SB region. Taking a page out of the Hydrans' book, these fleets simply stayed put, rather than moving and getting reacted on by stronger Federation fleets. Paul even managed to use a cloaked move to reopen a supply line. So those fleets will be better off if the Feds attack them during the Alliance turn.
C17 was quick and pretty bloody.
I think William will be happier with the dice - couple of really big rolls went his way over the full on SB assaults - although I did have luck over underdefended 3604 (equally I did roll badly over 2211, which probably saved it).
Averages for the turn are
VBIR 3.42
Coalition 3.53
Alliance 3.61
So slightly better for the Alliance but 3 pips over 36 dice isn't too bad (and far better than what it was).
Other than death of the Hydran NSC, I don't think a lucky roll (1/3rd chance and I created a force to have a chance to achieve it, risking some nice ships) killed a good Alliance hull, but the Alliance did get a couple (the 2nd Battle Tug and KE spring to mind).
Alliance are again up on Captures!
Total Damage : -
Lyran - CW, DW and DWE
Klingon - 2 x TGA+BP, AD5, F5, F5E, and 2 x E4
Romulan - KE, 3 x SP (1 captured), BH, SN, SKF
Kzinti - TGC+BP, 2 x FF, SF
Hydran - KN, NSC
Federation - CA, CL, 2 x F5E and 2 SIDS - plus 1 x SB. 2
Gorn - 2 x BD, DD, DE, 4 x PDU (and 1 Planet Captured)
So, 17 Coalition Dead and 14 Alliance Dead.
Romulans got there Federation forces back into supply though - and the Federation 4th Fleet SB is cut off.
Kzinti also have a modest force cut off in 1702.
The Romulans liberators of 4903 are also cut off - but the 4702 forces decided not to capture the planet to get back into supply.
Retro's to be done....and then Alliance turn 17.
Say, did you remember (515.261)? Unescorted carrier tugs count as 2 ships for CR rating (and a CVT in the form is unescorted) …
yes. I didn't realize that on turn 1 as I had played FE2k only before this game.
Stewart
I think the honest answer, is we have at times forgotten rules or misremembered them.
A good example recently was retreating into an existing battle hex and we overlooked crippled ships count as a full equivalent for working out whether a hex can be retreated into or not.
Possibly one downside of using Cyberboard and number counters on fleets (we use Yellow for Ship equivalents and Red for Crippled ship equivalents - for pinning).
So 10 Yellow plus 2 Red would pin 12 yellow moving into it's hex..... but would stop 13 yellow retreating into the hex (unless all hexes had more etc( ignoring Command Rating etc on pinning).
It's a shame you can't 'wipe' from the memory the old rule book and re-read fresh the new rule book 
If we notice it in time, we have corrected lines etc - so no real harm is done.
It has happen to me before (and in different games) so …
Retrograde and SM has been done.
Modest forces remain forward deployed on the Kzinti/Fed border, Hydran space and Southern Gorn Space.
A large concentration of Klingons remains around 2211.
4 Romulans ships are behind Gorn lines in 4903 - and the victorious (but very battered) Romulan Eagle Fleet remains vulnerable as the planned FRD retrograde route got blocked by a retreating Federation force
Reserves have been set up:-
1 Reserve in Hydran Space
2 reserves covering Kzinti Space
3 reserves covering Klingon/Federation Space
1 reserve covering South West Romulan Space
3 reserves covering Romulan/Gorn Space
Lyrans send 6 Ep's to support the Romulans.
Over to the Evil Alliance!
Kzinti economy, turn 17
Survey roll 6
Survey total 174
Survey EP 14
Offmap 17
Total 31
Percentage 0.75
Income 23.25
From last turn 0
Total Money 23.25
Repairs
Barony 5
Builds
CMV 7
4FF 10
Total spending 22
Money after Econ 1.25
2CP remaining
Hydran economy, turn 17
Survey roll 7
Survey total 145
Survey EP 12
Offmap 17
Provinces 1
Total before exhaustion 30
Percentage 0.75
Income 22.5
From last turn 0.5
Total Money 23
Repairs
Offmap 4.5
Build
Shipyard (5/6) 15
Conversion
NSC 3
Total spending 22.5
Money after Econ 0.5
7CP available.
Hydran fleet is fully repaired! This removes a source of uncrippled ships but also removes a drain on their income.
Federation economy, turn 17
Survey roll 30
Survey total 185
Survey EP 14
Offmap 6
Capital 59
Planets 37
Provinces 51
NZ 2
Income 169
From last turn 0.65
Total Money 169.65
Repairs
Earth 7.5
Near Earth 6
2nd 8
6th 5
8th 8
9th 8
Subtotal 42.5
Builds
11FF, 3FFE 45
12NCL 60
CC (sub for DN) 9
Skipped: 2CA
Subtotal 114
Conversions
NVS(FFF) 2
DE 1
6FFE 6
Subtotal 9
Orion Smuggling to 3rd fleet SB 4
Total spent 169.5
Remaining after econ 0.15
3rd SB grid: 2EP province + 2EP smuggled in, spent to repair 2 SIDS, balance 0
Command points: 2+1=3
The Fed repair bill is the smallest it's been since turn 10. So they get to build almost their full schedule. They also have fewer newly built and repaired ships at Earth than usual. This is likely to change next turn as they have a fair number of crips they can't repair.
Gorn economy, turn 17
Survey roll 7
Survey total 35
Survey EP 2
Offmap 12
Capital 22
Planets 10
Provinces 23
NZ 3.4
Conquered 1
Scrap SP 2
Income 75.4
From last turn 0.3
Total Money 75.7
Repairs
6th 7
SW 8
4002 1.5
4004 1.5
5203 1
Gdhar 1 4.5
Gdhar 2 2.5
Gdhar 3 3
Subtotal 29
Builds
HD, HDE 11
HV 19
DD, 3DDE 15
Skipped: BC
Subtotal 45
Conversions
SE HDE 1
Total spending 75
Money after Econ 0.7
Command points: 4+1=5 (spent one during their last turn).
Gorn economy took a bit of a hit due to the Romulans conquering one minor planet and devastating another.
I think the NSC doesn't get to use free fighter factorrs if it isn't a unit constructed (this turn) at the OC shipyard (which it doesn't seem to be).
Converted from HR. Wasn't clear in my post.
Alliance turn 17 movement is well underway.
The Hydrans have found a way to do something dear to their hearts -- cause trouble! The are attacking both minor planet 519 and major planet 716. The Lyrans have one reserve in the region. It could certainly hold the minor. If it goes to the major, it might maul a Hydran CA.
The Gorns and Feds are attacking Romulan fleets in the region. The will have forces left over for attacking bases and planets, but they haven't done so yet.
Alliance turn 17 movement is done.
On the Klingon side, the Alliance are mainly attacking Klingon fleets. There are also three planet battles:
minor planet 1902, which will probably change hands as usual
major planet 1502, which the Coalition can probably hold if it is willing to kill some Alliance fighters
minor planet 2517, which the Coalition can hold if it sends two reserves and might hold with one.
But the main action is on the Romulan side. There are multiple battles where the Romulans are in danger of losing a stack of crips. In addition, the Alliance is attacking five minor planets (one in Romulan space and four conquered), two Romulan BATS, and one Romulan starbase. Two Romulan reserves are pinned. The third one can save something.
Well, I have to say the Romulan Retrogrades for C17 were less than ideal - and William is taking full advantage of that.
To add to that, some of my reactions were clearly wrong to do 
Going to be a very painful turn for the Romulans I think.
Well, as suspected, the turn has been horrific for the Romulans.
In about 6 key battles - Alliance generally rolled well and only 1 single roll (a failed relevant pursuit) has the Alliance rolled poorly,
Williams has though masterfully orchestrated the battles order, so the battered force from one battle have to retreat into an existing battle - to get re-battered again.
My reactions ineffect compounded this by allowing him to move over other weak forces - and batter then to!
Romulan have had to self kill about 10 ships so far.
Elsewhere, Williams ability to roll the right number at the right time to direct kill a ship in a pinning battle continues to impress me (he got a 50/50 and a 1/3 chance).
Dice have been so so for the Coalition - Cloak is marginally ahead of average but relevant combat dice are not generally good - certainly not in comparison to the Alliance rolls.
ESSC has been pretty much a 100% success for the Alliance - but for once, no captures!
SSC tends to favor the attacker when they can put 14-19 in a line against a single frigate. So the odds are pretty well in favor of the lone frigate dying. The coalition doesn't get much use out of SSC unless the Alliance is leaving lone frigates to keep a province from being captured or keeping a tenuous supply line open aka the Marquis to Kzinti proper.
As the phasing player I generally try to arrange battles so I win the objective (or at least don't lose anything too critical) if my opponent rolls well.
As the non-phasing player, I try to set up my forces when it was my turn to avoid giving the opponent any easy kills even if they roll well.
This is all easier said than done of course, but generally I find it possible to do these things at least fairly well.
It also helps not to obsess on the die rolls.
Thomas
Totally agree - William generally rolls enough to kill the defender - I am probably 50/50 on killing the target (C17, I think there was 1 SSC and missed the 50/50).
Richard - Again, totally agree.
Williams tactics and my poor retrograde was always going to make it a tough turn - but the level of that toughness perhaps has been a little harsher than it could have been, with more average dice.
As an example - key dice for William (not necessarily big compot, but where an extra pip causes me to self kill an extra hull), William has rolled 5,1,6,6,6,5,3 (4.57)
In those same battles, I rolled 2,1,5.4,4,6,5 (3.86).
Not a huge difference - but when William is self killing extra fighters and I am killing extra ships due to those good rolls, the pain level is that much more.
Turn is over!
Hydran theatre results were 3 dead ships for each side, all of them small. The Hydrans liberated their major planet, at least for the moment. The fleet that did it will probably get punished on his turn.
On the Klingon side of Earth, the Feds and Kzinti killed 13 ships while losing 8. The largest was a Kzinti BC. They also retook two minor planets but did not attempt to retake Fed planet 2106. This is a bit better than average for the Coalition I think.
As Paul mentioned, the battles on the Romulan side of Earth were brutal to him. The Feds and Gorns killed 25 Coalition ships, 22 of them Romulan, while losing only 2. Four of the dead Romulans were 9-compot ships. They kicked the Romulans off of five minor planets and killed two Romulan BATS. The unpinned Romulan reserve went to the SB that was under attack, and the Feds chose not to press the assault.
Neither side took many cripples on the Romulan side. So the Romulan repair situation on their turn could be better than it's been in some time.
Coalition turn 18 has started.
Lyrans built a full schedule (DW's downgraded to FF's), a CA for the DN, a PDU and 50.5 Ep's.
Klingons built their first C5 (instead of a C8 or C8V) and 56 Ep's on repairs.
Romulans built everything but the WE/FAL and 35 Eps on repairs.
After a spectacularly bad turn 17 for the Coalition, manoeuvre was used where possible to gain an advantage.
With 4 fights done, Coalition have lost a SPF, SP and a FH (captured - further expanding on Williams capture luck) and a d5.
Alliance have taken afew more cripples than the Coalition, but have lost 2 Gorn BATS.
In addition, 40 or so Alliance ships have been cut off and out of fully supply, in the Sixth Fleet SB pocket.
I was able to use Cloaked Ships to surround the main supply routes and retreats to cut the last hex off.
Romulan will regain their minor planet the Federation captured..
Else where 3 Federation SB and 2 Minor planets are under attack - as is 1 Gorn SB.
All on map Hydran forces are also under attack, including the cut off fleet in 718.
OK - the Hydran front has been done
Hydrans lots a RN, CU and 2 x HN (1 being captured).
Coalition lost a STT (lucky dice in a persuit!!) and F5.
The Hydran Home Fleet remains Out of Supply in 717 - the dice being generally find kind on the Hydrans
The Battle in 2004 has also ended, with the destruction of the SB allowing the Alliance fleet to run. Although dice favoured the Coalition, the Alliance rolled generally eough to kill a BC every other turn.
The kill pile is pretty high : -
Coalition lost a DN, 3 x BC, 2 x CW and a D5 - plus 2 Lyran Command Points where spent.
Alliance lost a SB, MB, 3 x Z-CLE*, Z-FF and a FFE.
Due to getting the right dice, the huge pile of Coalition fighters available for the battle was hardly touched.
Probably should have kept the BC's safe for a few turns using the Carrier Groups, but the Alliance Compot would have been about 40% higher then -rather than the 10-20% that it was.
Both sides retreated after the SB died - the Kzinti are likely to be in a Partial Grid, around 2103, which may or may not survive.
* - Both sides often use Heavy Escorts without Light Escorts (either due to choice.... or shall we say a lack of them), and so the CLE's were easy targets in this battle.