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Yes, if your opponent stupidly sends a reserve too small to do the job, then the Kzintis might take no damage.

But generally, my opponents and I don't do that.

By Richard Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Thursday, May 04, 2023 - 03:20 am: Edit

A5 is over.

Kzintis lost 3FF in picket fights. In 1403, a large Kzinti fleet (very well stocked with carriers) fought one round against the Coalition, who send a C8, 8FF and 12 fighters.

Both sides lost a small ship and then the Coalition retreated to 1504. While both forces has the same number of SEQs, the Kzintis had better ships and a ton more carriers.

Kzintis retrogrades, putting around 20? ships plus some cripples at 1704, a battle force with three carrier groups at 1502 and the rest of their uncrippled ships (mostly) at 1401. Some cripples go to 1401, the rest offmap.

If willing, the Kzinti *could* repair all their cripples next turn, unless the Coalition cripple more of their fleet on A6.

The Coalition has a lot of ships in 1504, but their quality is not too great, only one D6M in the theatre if I recall correctly, and only one C8 (heh).

The Kzinti have one reserve of a single TGT at 1401, the Feds move ships to 1704 and have a strong reserve there.

By Richard Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Thursday, May 04, 2023 - 03:36 am: Edit

Treasuries:
Kzintis: 0 EPs, 0FFF, 2CP. Marquise grid has 3.3EPs.
Hydrans: 4 EPs, 1.5FFF, 1CP.
Feds: 0 EPs.

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Thursday, May 04, 2023 - 09:13 am: Edit

Can the Kzinti get a local (say 3 hex part of the front) Superiority over the Coalition to try to get through to a BATS or recapture a minor planet?

By Richard Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Thursday, May 04, 2023 - 10:23 am: Edit

They could recapture 1001 or 1105 if they wanted to and didn't have anything better to do. 1202 and 1502 are still in Kzinti hands.

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Thursday, May 04, 2023 - 05:55 pm: Edit

I see the Lyrans can build a max of one carrier per turn. Does building a carrier pod count as "building a carrier"? Or can they build a ship and a pod?

By Stewart Frazier (Frazikar3) on Thursday, May 04, 2023 - 06:06 pm: Edit

Pods are independent, so a carrier pod is not under carrier restrictions (509.314), just the one pod (set) per turn.

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Friday, May 05, 2023 - 04:54 pm: Edit

Lyran economy, turn 6
Survey roll 7
Survey total 52
Survey EP 4
Offmap 22
Capital 37
Planets 24
Provinces 32
NZ 2
H province 1
H planet 1
Z province 2
Income 125
From last turn 21.7
Total Money 146.7

Repairs
412 DN, DWS, 3CW, 3DD 12
413 DN, TCB, 5DD, 2CC, 4CW 20
Subtotal 32

Builds
DN 16
STT (for CA) 10
CVL, CWE, CW 18
DW, DWE, DWS 15
3FF 7.5
CA, CW overbuild 26
VP 14
Subtotal 106.5

Conversion
Lyrantan DN 6

Total spent 144.5

Money after Econ 2.2
Command points 7+1=8

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Friday, May 05, 2023 - 04:56 pm: Edit

Klingon economy, turn 6

Survey roll 11
Survey total 38
Survey EP 2
Capital 49
Planets 41
Provinces 52
NZ 6.4
Z provinces 6
Z planets 2
H provinces 9
H planet 2
Income 169.4
From last turn -0.9
Total Money 168.5

Repairs
Klinshai 2D5, D6, F5 6
1214 D7C 2
1013 6F5S, 6F5, 10D5, D6M, TAB 32
Subtotal 40

Builds
C8 16
D7 8
D6M (for D6/D7) 10
6D5, D5V, 2AD5 49
5F5, F5S 19
3xE4 7.5
Activations 4
B-10 roll 5
Subtotal 118.5

Conversions
Klinshai D6M 5
Klinshai D7C 2
Subtotal 7

Total spending 165.5
Money after Econ 3

B-10 roll 6
B-10 total 18

Command points 5+1=6

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Friday, May 05, 2023 - 05:00 pm: Edit

The Emperor, who is blissfully unaware of other timelines, is furious with the lack of progress on the B-10. The Minister of Construction, who previously declined to inform the Emperor of the expected difficulty, has been sent to a penal colony.

The new Minister of Construction has told the Emperor that in his opinion, they have thus far been lucky, and further luck will be required to complete the project within 3 years.

By Richard Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Friday, May 05, 2023 - 08:53 pm: Edit

Did you convert the overbuilt CA to a DN? The converison cost is 12 in that case, as conversions of overbuilt units are doubled (unless you do it later).

Alternatively, you could sub a CL for a CW and convert it to a BC, a lot cheaper.

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Friday, May 05, 2023 - 10:04 pm: Edit

There was a CA sitting in Lyrantan. That's the one that was converted. We did a new overbuild, and that one gets converted next turn. So we are in the 22EP DN business again, and to support it, there will be a CA sitting in Lyrantan, waiting a turn to avoid the penalty.

By Richard Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Friday, May 05, 2023 - 10:26 pm: Edit

Why not just convert existing CCs? (I assume you are out of CAs).

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Friday, May 05, 2023 - 10:33 pm: Edit

It's a close call, but I'm unconvinced that CW+FF is always better than CC. CW+FF is obviously terrific for pinning and small battles. But in big battles, CC have a lot of value.

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Tuesday, May 09, 2023 - 11:51 pm: Edit

Turn C6 op move is complete. This is largely a logistical turn, with ships going to where they need to be for turn 7. There is one battle on the Hydran front, which should push their fleet either into or adjacent to the Old Colonies, depending on how they retreat. On the Kzinti front, the Coalition is finally getting around to taking minor planet 1202, resulting in two battles.

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Thursday, May 11, 2023 - 09:44 pm: Edit

Turn C6 combat is done. About the only excitement was that the Coalition killed a crippled Paladin while chasing the Hydrans towards the Old Colonies. The Alliance killed both a C8 and a Lyran DN on turn 5, so this is partial revenge.

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Friday, May 12, 2023 - 10:53 pm: Edit

Coalition turn 6 is done. The largest single Coalition fleet is at minor 1504, facing the Kzinti. There are also large Klingon fleets on the Fed border at 1807, 1811, and 2416. Six FRD are moved from the Hydran front to North-East Klingon space.

The Lyrans spend 8EP on strat, and the Klingons spend 1EP. But the Klingons receive 13EP from the Romulans.

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Friday, May 12, 2023 - 10:53 pm: Edit

Coalition turn 6 is done. The largest single Coalition fleet is at minor 1504, facing the Kzinti. There are also large Klingon fleets on the Fed border at 1807, 1811, and 2416. Six FRD are moved from the Hydran front to North-East Klingon space.

The Lyrans spend 8EP on strat, and the Klingons spend 1EP. But the Klingons receive 13EP from the Romulans.

By Richard Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Saturday, May 13, 2023 - 03:59 am: Edit

*SY171.
*Federation:
A6 PWC CVA ECL 2DE 3NCL 3FF

*Kzinti eco A6 SY171
*Survey roll:? . New total: 60 + 8 = 68 (three provinces).

*Old treasury: 0EP 2CP.
*Income:
Offmap: 23 EP
Capital planets: 32EP
On map (not capital) planets 8
Reunify with Marquise Grid 3.3
On map provinces 6
Total: 72.3 EP

*New treasury: 68.4 EP 6FFF 2CP.

8 TGC(sub BC)
15 3CM
15 6FF (one offmap, one Marquise)
Free CP (now 3 CP total)
3 Expeditionary Fleet (1704) TG(BP) 7BC CV MEC EFF SF)
----------------
41 EP Total

Conversions
5 (1401) BC->CV
---------------------------------------------
5 Total

Repairs
10.5 (1401) 3BC 3MEC
7.5 (OM) 2BC CV SF
8 (1704) 4BC

72 Total spent
0.3 EP 3CP remaining. Marquise grid has 3.3EP remaining.

*Hydran eco A6 SY171
*Survey roll: 35 + 10 = 45.

*Income:
21 (offmap)
1 (onmap)
4 Old treasury

*New treasury: 26 EP 3FFF(OC SY).

15 New Shipyard T2 of 6
0 free CP (now 2 CP total)
----------------
15 EP Total

Conversions
---------------------------------------------
Total

Repairs

15 Total spent
11 EP remaining. 2 CP.

By Richard Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Tuesday, May 23, 2023 - 02:18 am: Edit

In operational movement, the Hydrans run off map.

The Kzintis correct their exp fleet to have the marquise CC instead of one BC.

The Kzinti pour most of their non-cruiserss into 1603, the Coalition react a ton of ships there.

Five or so Coalition reserves go to 1603, it may be a fight. The Kzintis brought 123 fighter factors but did not spend command points. The Coalition fielded multiple 12 point ships and used 2 command points.

Might be bloody.

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Tuesday, May 23, 2023 - 04:23 pm: Edit

This is one of those empty space battles where holding the hex actually matters. In this case, the reason is that holding the hex allows the Klingons to stay within 6 hexes of the Fed 4th fleet SB. Due to the fighter imbalance, the only way it is reasonable for the Coalition to contest the hex is if we spend command points and the Alliance does not. This sets up a guessing game.

But guessing games do not work over email. I chose to take the guessing out of it by doing TWO lines, one with command points and the other not, with one to be picked at random after Richard does his line. Richard did not spend command points. The randomizer decreed that we did spend them. We are still likely to take more non-fighter damage than the Alliance does. But the difference is within the margin of acceptability. If Richard chooses to fight until he is out of fighters, this will last a while.

By Richard Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Tuesday, May 23, 2023 - 05:18 pm: Edit

While William chose to the random thing, I personally don't look at enemy battle forces until after I've determined my own, so if one is honorable, this is not an issue.

*The Kzinti chose to retreat after a couple of rounds, facing 125 pt compot and minus points. They did have a shot at a BT or DN on round two, but did not score high enough damage (it was a 1/3 chance).

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Tuesday, May 23, 2023 - 06:08 pm: Edit

I try to avoid seeing them too. The problem is . . . that's hard to pull off! It's pretty common that I do see, even though I'm trying not to.

By Richard Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Tuesday, May 23, 2023 - 08:29 pm: Edit

A solution can be to simply decide your battle force before opening the email.

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Wednesday, May 24, 2023 - 10:26 am: Edit

Another solution is not to worry about it.

Another solution is to change the way the game works. If you don't like bothering playing the "don't look at the email" game (especially when the automatic display would show the force anyway), then make the revelation specific and then switch between phases.

Example: On Coalition turns, the Coalition must submit its force first. The Alliance gets to review the force (explicit rule change) and then submit a counter force. Things like EW shifting takes place in the same way. The Coalition goes, the Alliance reviews and reacts accordingly.

On Alliance turns, it goes the other way around.

THIS DOES CHANGE THE WAY THE GAME PLAYS. However, for email games it completely solves the problem mentioned above.

On the other hand, you can just go with the honor system.

As a third alternative, get online and use the SFBOL free version of the client to open a SFB tourney room and use it as a chat chamber and the "simul" button to simultaneously reveal lines, BIRs, etc. Slower, but much closer to the way the game is meant to be played.

Pick your poison.

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Wednesday, May 24, 2023 - 06:46 pm: Edit

All fine methods. But then again, so is randomization, which is how game theorists would do it. As a former poker pro, I was just now amused by a youtube video where randomization was used for a call-or-fold decision on the end. The player shuffled his two cards, announced that one was a call and the other was a fold, then flipped one over.

By Richard Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Wednesday, May 24, 2023 - 08:09 pm: Edit

That would seem to be against the spirit of the game, as tells and such is an important part of it. Taking the human element out doesn't seem right.

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Thursday, June 22, 2023 - 02:35 am: Edit

Noting the new game for William.... is this game over?

What was the outcome?

Was it agreed the Coalition can break the Federation in effect by building up a huge advantage on turns 1 to 6 by juts taking 1 capital and keeping the tempo low enough elsewhere to preserve ships?

Thanks

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Thursday, June 22, 2023 - 10:17 am: Edit

RL Issues. I certainly hope Richard is managing.