Archive through May 04, 2021
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Archive through May 04, 2021
It's because you have to give up compot to get EW. Even for the Kzinti who can get 5EW for 18 compot, you need that to get you from -2 to 0 AND to have about 120 compot (at BIR 5; it's 150 or so at BIR 8) to break even. The defender often wants higher BIR to force cripples on better ships or direct something big, and higher BIR means that EW matters less. There are a host of other reasons to not care much about having better EW in specific circumstances.
In this case, though, my only scout was killed round 1 and the Klingons had extra D6Ds so I'd still have a -1 shift almost every round.
Gregory
Couple of factors
1) Generally the Coalition has more and better scouts (certainly prior to the Feds arriving).
2) The Coalition can afford to risk 'scouts' on the line (the D6D for example) and the Alliance might not get enough to return the favour (and Maulers mean CD's can't be risked as easily - as they are in far shorter supply).
For the 1704 battle - it probably was more due to the Coalition doing the surprise C6 attack on it (which equally could have been deliberately left weak to allow the Coalition to attack it!).
On pure numbers though - I don't there was enough Coalition in 1704 to bring the SB down.
Total compot is about 244 Coalition v 191 Alliance.
The problem is, nearly 100 compot of the Coalition is E4's - and so the lines would start at about 87/14 (Coalition 1 CP) 111/10 (Alliance, 0 CP) - and there is very little depth in good ships for the Coalition.
(Thinking about it - using a Battle |Group of 3 x D5 and 3 x F5 (and crippling the F5's - replacing with 3 x E4, might have worked...12 Compot you can then cripple a round with no drop in compot).
Alliance had modest depth - so unless the Coalition was willing to self kill (and alas E4's are not really worth self killing 
) - the SB was probably not going to die?
i.e. ignoring dice rolled - basic 30% for both sides is about 25 v 31 (Alliance does 27.5%),
I think the Coalition would run out of a line first.... (as the Coalition Compot will drop every round).
Based just on the numbers you're right - but I really didn't want to take Kzinti cripples (beyond the one CM), as they're not going to get repaired any time soon. The SB is only worth the damage I can do with it at this point.
You still might be right, but I don't think it would have taken that much more for me to just let it burn.
Had I thought that it was even a possibility that 1704 be attacked, I would have put a reserve in 1401 as most of the ships there were eligible. Karl and I seem to look at the game quite differently, and he keeps blindsiding me. I'm just Lucky the Hydrans took so much heat off the Kzinti.
In Hydran space, the Coalition destroy two border BATS for minor damage and capture the major planet at 0718.
The attack at SB 0215 however, is quite bloody. The Hydrans eventually repulse the attack after nearly every ship involved is crippled (the SB ends with 7 SIDS taken).
The Hydrans end up with 3tr 3de hn pgs crippled (an hn destroyed) with two TGV uncrippled.
The Coalition end up with TGA(2BP) bc 2d7 2cw 3cl 2f5l dw 6ff d6v cls dws crippled, an F5V remaining uncrippled and a dw and ff destroyed.
More BLOOD! More BLOOD!
***
There are still three battle hexes to go.
At 0416, the Klingons devastate the planet and cripple 5 Hydran ships before retreating.
The Klingons ended up with d7 3d5 crippled (and a dozen destroyed fighter factors), an F5 got autokilled as well as 3 f5l's destroyed in pursuit.
The Hydrans lost both PDU and the planet got devastated but not captured. The Hydrans lost most of their fighter factors and had 5 ships cripple (2HR 2KN PGS).
Combat continues the Hydran theatre.
This turn in the Hydran theatre has continued to be bloody, with 2 more battle hexes to go...
C6 is done. The last few battles were relatively anticlimactic; a covering force on the Hydran Exp SB did a drive-by the he FRD after approach was declined, but only stayed one round. Similarly a larger fleet that was pinned out of Hydrax fought a single round before the Hydrans retreated back to their capital.
Some field repair was done to shore up the frontiers, and reserves are about where you'd expect them. A byproduct of all these repairs is that the Klingons generally have strong reserves to work with each turn. The bulk of the Klingon navy on the Kzinti frontier are sitting at 1707 where a BATS -> SB upgrade is happening. We'll see what the Kzinti can do now with Fed support.
Kzinti use their 35EP to pay off DBB debt, repair Z6M 4MEC LCW TGC 3CC 2FF, convert a BC to CV, and convert their LCW into a LCWE. They've been looking forward to that since capturing the CW! Is the conversion worth it? Maybe not, but it feels good.
They also repair a CM in 1704.
The Feds build CVA LSC 2DE 3NCL 2FF FFE, activate CL FF, convert that CL to a second LSC, and build a PDU in 2306. They send 20 EP to the Kzinti and have 68.25 EP left over.
The Lyrans have fell victim to one of the classic blunders! Only marginally less well known than the others: Never leave your FRDs in Kzinti territory!
There are 13 Kzinti ships in 0902, where a Lyran FRD is completely unprotected (2bc 2dd there). In 1001, there are 36 Kzinti plus 20 cripples (there to ensure a legal retreat path exists). Also in 1001: 30 Lyrans, 4PDU, and a mobile base being set up.
There are a few minor fights elsewhere in Kzinti territory - a (probably) one round battle in 1202 where the Kzinti are pinning a reserve, and 3 Feds against essentially equivalent Coalition ships in 1803.
A6 op movement is mostly done. Richard is out temporarily because of an issue with his eye (unfortunately, seeing is a big part of the game) so Sam has taken over the Hydrans for the time being.
The Kzinti are going after the Lyrans this turn; while the fleet at the Marquis SB gets back on it's feet (with Fed help soon), the home fleet has attacked a Klingon garrison at 1202, a Lyran installation with a significant fleet at 1001, and a poorly-defended FRD right behind that at 0901.
HTO is ongoing, but a similar theme is going on here where Lyran hardpoints are under assault. Sam did commit an unforced error in moving a small fleet through the Expeditionary SB, allowing the Klingon fleet that was parked outside for the C7 Hydrax assault to react in. We just have reserve moves to go and then combat will begin.
ZTO so far is done. A small skirmish between a handful of Fed ships and a similar handful of Lyran ships near the Fed border did not result in anything exciting. The Alliance focused mainly on Lyran hardpoints in western Zin space; the home fleet moved out and pinned fleets at 1202 and 1001 (where a Lyran MB was being set-up) to get a few ships through to a Lyran FRD at 0901, which died along with one of the crippled ships stacked with it. The other major battle was a push to kill the MB at 1001, but this was unsuccessful. I had put some PDUs there to prep for the MB, which helped up the COMPOT of the fleet and provide attrition units which the Lyrans so far have lacked (although the battle also saw the involvement of the first Lyran carrier, a TGC-V.) The other pinning battles were mostly 1-round affairs.
HTO is ongoing. A couple of Lyran pickets in west Hydran space were attacked but poor Hydran rolls in SSC resulted in the pickets mostly surviving unscathed. Several pinning battles along the Lyran border resulted in stalemate, with a handful of cripples on either side as well as some small Hydran hulls killed as well as a Klingon tug.
A few battles remain; the Hydran assault on a Lyran FRD at 0412 and the Exp SB in 0716. Both battles are lopsided, so likely both the FRD and SB will go down.
Dice have been brutal so far for the Alliance this turn - 2 and 3 in SSC, a missed 69-point pursuit, and generally poor rolls in combat. The one bright spot so far was the Klingons crippling a BT presumably to save on repair costs in 0415, and the Hydrans getting +2 VBIR and a 5 to score just enough for the kill in pursuit.
Incidentally, it's hard to track that sort of thing with my spreadsheet, so that round only gets +0.4 (because the Coalition rolled a 4). Shows how accurate the -67.48 (roughly 17 EPs of luck in the Coalition's favour) for the turn really is (not very).
What with killing so many FRDs this game (8, including the two this turn), I've noticed something: FRDs are hard to kill. Or rather, they could be. There have been a bunch of cases this game where I wanted my ships to retreat after killing the FRD (and the FRD is not with a base). For instance, I had my best ships in 0901 this turn and I wanted them to fight in 1001 as well. In order to do that, I need to retreat, and the defender gets to choose to retreat after the attacker. So Karl could have just fought an approach battle and then let me retreat if towing ships were available.
In this case, the FRD was unable to retreat. But in some other FRD battles it would have been legal for the FRD to retreat and very disadvantageous for me not to retreat. I know saying this means that I probably won't kill as many FRDs going forward, but there are only a few of them left anyway :P
I'm starting to wonder if it's a bad idea for the Coalition to stack FRDs with bases because they can't run away. Stick a couple CWs with the FRD and leave it between a pair of BATS, and it'll never get die if you can cut off retrogrades.
>> I'm starting to wonder if it's a bad idea for the Coalition to stack FRDs with bases because they can't run away. Stick a couple CWs with the FRD and leave it between a pair of BATS, and it'll never get die if you can cut off retrogrades.
This sounds like a tactical note?
--Mike
FRDs are easy to kill if not stacked at a base; slow unit retreat allows the pursuer to pick both BIRs and use a full battle force.
Assuming the aattacking force can afford not to retreat, of course.
***
My A6 plan was to attack 0411 and not retreat, retrograding forces to defend 0215 or something like that. I think there was another FRD to attack that I would have retrograded to 0716 possibly. Memory is hazy and I can't read the old map really right now.
That's mostly what's happening, except I screwed it up and let Karl react onto 0716, and he's getting it for a song. The second FRD is getting away largely because it'd leave too many ships outside of 0617 (which might be the case anyway).
To the casual observer it might seem that I have been pretty cavalier about putting my FRDs where the alliance can get to them. But I find they are a good way to "bait" opponents into attacking at their location because they are high value targets (strategically) which make them tempting to strike, especially if the enemy can get a reasonable enough force in there where they know they can kill it. At 10EPs they are relatively cheap (cheaper than MBs, anyway, where you're risking a tug as well as additional EPs to upgrade to a BATS, and over multiple turns to boot) so for me the cost to the coalition is worth the strategic value of being able to direct the course of events. Even better, you get minimum 2 rounds (approach + at base) to beat up the attacking force, which hopefully had a reserve show up to help defend the FRD. (Incidentally this also helps bring reserve fleets close to the front.) If the alliance doesn't take the bait, I still have the increased repair capacity and retrograde point, so for me it's win-win.
As Sam would point out, I'm not afraid of losing hulls, if it means achieving a strategic objective. FRDs don't count for pinning or ship count anyway. It's like spending 10EPs to influence your opponents decisions.
In this case, the Hydran Ogre fleet (this fleet of PAL+all the DGs that has been the coalition bugbear of the HTO since A3) indeed sunk the FRD in 0411. But it can only retrograde to 0215, meaning it will sit out the Hydrax assault on C7 where I have 4 Klingon fleets sitting in wait. That "ogre" fleet has the only DN and 2/3 the cruiser hulls in Hydran possession, so it's absence from capital defense will be *helpful* to the Klingon cause.
Similarly, the BT loss was due more to me using it as a distraction from the cripples stacked with that fleet; it was lost in pursuit, and I had figured on using it as an economical damage sponge as Sam mentioned. But Sam did well and managed to bag it. I knew it was a risk though so I'm not crying over spilt milk.
Using FRDs as bait is certainly a thing, but I don't think (prioor to A6) that it has worked out very well for you in this game.
A6 is over.
Total casualties:
Kzinti Crippled: DN CC 2MEC EFF
Kzinti Dead: 2CL 2EFF FF
Federation Crippled: FF
Hydran Crippled: HR HN
Hydran Dead: HR 2CU SB0716
Lyran Crippled: 9CW
Lyran Dead: DW DD 2FRD
Klingon Crippled: TGA 4D7 D6 5D5 F5L F5E F5 E4A E4
Klingon Dead: TGA+BP D6M D6D 2D5
The Hydrans got relatively good value for the Expedition SB - three rounds under the starbase's guns, and the Hydrans only lost a single HR (no cripples either). The Klingons lost 3 cruisers and crippled another 5. I think it's pretty similar to when Klindai fell on A3 - tempo to the Coalition, economy to the Alliance. There'd have been fewer ships available to defend it, and the Coalition probably could have gotten it for even less. But now there's only one real target for them to attack (unless the 2nd fleet starbase gets attacked, but there's PAL 6DG 2TG-V there, so it'd be costly).
However, having half the heavy cruisers in 0215 is going to cost the Hydrans at the capital. The Coalition has 4 maulers, about 35 other cruisers (cruisers being CW and up), and 50 or so smaller ships in range, so Hydrax won't fall, but the Hydrans will lose more PDUs than they would otherwise. The Hydrans have 60 ships in 0617 including 20 cruisers.
In Kzinti space, the Coalition basically has to decide whether to SIDS the 1401 starbase or take the 1704 starbase. There's a strong 8 ship reserve offmap, one at 1704 (all the Marquis ships plus Fed DN LSC) and the rest of the new builds in a Federation reserve in 2004. The Coalition can definitely take 1704 (but it'd be costly) and can maybe take 1401 (the starbase, probably not the hex).
There's no chance that the Klingons attack the Federation C7 - the Federation Home Fleet took the aggressive position of 2012 (they've got all the targets they could desire), and there's only about 30 or 40 Klingons which can even reach Federation space.
Decisions, decisions in the ZTO. I'm working out econ atm and will post here momentarily.
Re: FRD bait - yes, there were a few early on that were accidental losses, but they were what gave me the idea. (Sam simply can't resist attacking any FRD withing range of Kzinti ships.) Otherwise my placement has been semi-intentional...
Anyway I don't want to give away too much so I'll stop talking now.
Too late, you've given everything away.
Moves were quick on C7 - 1704 is being attacked by surprisingly few ships (~60 including 20 E4s) and the last Kzinti BATS (1902) is going down. There are 40 Alliance ships in 1704, so it should hold.
The Hydrans are losing both of their on-map minors and BATS 0318 this turn, so the force in the capital is definitely not big enough to do more than kill a few PDUs (The Hydran Home fleet is bigger). A tiny reserve of TG CR CU went to 0318, but it won't keep the BATS alive.
Shoot I just realized I forgot to post Econ here. Will pull my stuff together at some point today...
Combat on C7 is over! This was the quietest Coalition turn since C1. Only 19 rounds of combat; only 668 damage done total (average per turn is 836).
BATS 1902 got destroyed as expected. 1704 was pretty bad for the Klingons - the Alliance outrolled them a bit and they didn't really have enough ships to take it anyway, so they retreated after two rounds. Then I rolled well in pursuit and was able to maul tga-v+ad5+f5l.
The Hydrans lost a CR they didn't really need to, but they managed to open the route to the offmap. BATS 0318 went down and planets 0416 and 0519 were captured. In seven rounds (seven battle lines, anyway) + pursuit in 0617, the Klingons devastated two minors and a major in the Hydran capital.
Kzinti Crippled: Z6M
Federation Crippled: 4NCL
Federation Dead: FFE
Hydran Crippled: CU
Hydran Dead: CR
Lyran Crippled: DW
Klingon Crippled: D7C 3D7 3D5 3D6 3F5L 6F5 E4
Klingon Dead: TGA-V D6M 2D7C 2D6 AD5 2F5L F5
That is a brutal turn for the Coalition, with 4x the cripples and 5x the dead. How did the Hydrans open supply to the off map on the Coalition turn without 416 and 519 (and I forget if 0215 is intact)...
Well, they did kill 10PDU and 2BATS, but I tend not to count those in my listings because they're not likely to get rebuilt. And they don't have the staying power that SBs do.
The Hydrans hold 0617 and 0215, and they have ships in 0417 and 0117. So supply is open through the xx17 row.