Turn C11 combat is well under way. The Feds are going to lose 3 BATS and 2SB. I sent quite a lot of forces to the Romulan side, but apparently not enough, as all three BATS and one SB (the Fed 6th) are on that side.

Furthermore, the Alliance fleet is not that large at either SB. The 6th fleet SB battle went only 7 rounds, and that only because the Coalition were directing. The 4th fleet SB will probably be shorter.

The Feds are doing better with planets. Minor 3610 had its defenses stripped on C10. They have now lost it. They have also re-lost 2610, which they retook on turn A10.

The Romulans also stripped defenses from major 3509 and partly stripped them from minor 3711.

The Feds did capture a mauler. Given the frequency with which the Alliance directs on maulers, it's probably about time.

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Monday, January 01, 2024 - 08:19 pm: Edit

Turn C12 movement is progressing. Minor 2106 is under attack and will fall without considerable reserves. Said reserves may well be either pinned or needed elsewhere. My gut is it will fall. Sigma Draconis (3509) lost its PDUs last turn and is again under heavy attack. It won't hold unless reserved and may well fall even then.

It remains unclear where the main blow will fall. One possibility is a Klingon strike on Earth. The hex would hold easily, but a number of planets could be worse off. It might be combined with a Romulan strike on a nearby SB, which would likely fall. But Coalition repair capacity inside the Federation can't grow to much by turn 13, so the Feds would have a breather after an Earth battle.

Another possibility is that the Klingon-side and Romulan side Coalition forces hit different targets. The Klingon side strike might be on Cygnus (2306) or minor 2509. On the Romulan side, they could hit minor 3210. Minor 3706 or 3711 would also be possible, though neither appears especially likely based on the moves so far.

Those aren't the only possibilities, just some that appear likely from the Alliance point of view.

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Tuesday, January 02, 2024 - 06:06 pm: Edit

It's definitely not Cygnus. He is trying to pin the reserve there and has nearly done so. But then he sent a strongish fleet to . . . Pacifica? Like Cygnus, it has a strong Fed fleet with a reserve. Apparently he is trying to pin all the reserves, though there is a small one at Earth that won't be pinned. These moves could be consistent with an effort to take 3210 without a bunch of reserves pouncing? Or Orion?

I expected to know what was up by this point. But I don't.

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Wednesday, January 03, 2024 - 12:01 am: Edit

All shall be revealed.

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Wednesday, January 03, 2024 - 10:30 pm: Edit

With moves completed, the Coalition ended up with considerably more than a pin at Cygnus, yet not enough to take the hex. I'm assuming the 10PDU there did not win any popularity contests at Klinshai, and their numbers are likely to decrease.

The ENG may also be at risk. We will see.

Pacifica has a much better Fed fleet than Cygnus does. It is also overpinned, but not by much. There, we'll just have to wait and see what the Klingons want to do.

Sigma Draconis will fall, as will minor 2106 ("Western Worlds"). Minor 3711 appears likely to fall. Minor 3210 is probably in trouble. Other Fed planets are likely to hold.

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Friday, January 05, 2024 - 11:06 pm: Edit

Cygnus held in an expensive battle. Klingons spent 5.6EP on drones, while the Feds spent 19EP on rapid combat repair! All ten PDUs were killed as were MB, FRD, 2D6S, and a mauler.

The Feds passed up some juicy dirdam chances including C8 (repeatedly), mauler (ditto), and a carrier group. But had they directed more than they actually did, they would have lost the hex, and probably their engineers too. No clue if it was worth it or not. The Klingons do have a repair problem from the battle.

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Saturday, January 06, 2024 - 04:31 am: Edit

There was a couple of FRD's at Cygnus then?

How does 'boosting PDU's everywhere (rather than overbuilding)' seem to be working for the Feds?

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Saturday, January 06, 2024 - 06:37 am: Edit

There was an FRD and a PRD.

The PDUs and PGBs are intended to slow down the Coalition. They've done that.

If I had to do it over, I might not buy a bunch of MB again, though. They are vulnerable to G attacks, and this is highly annoying.

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Thursday, January 11, 2024 - 09:14 pm: Edit

I missed A11 somehow. But here is A12 F/Z eco:

Z: 81EP all sources. Borrow 2EP more. This enables them to do their repairs and build their full schedule.

F: Economy took a big hit this turn. We lost 11EP of planetary income and 9EP of provincial income. On top of that, even though a commercial convoy arrived on A11, borrowing went up by 4EP at the end of C12 due to 23EP of rapid combat repair. After the interest payment, available money was 165EP. Feds borrowed another 12EP. Debt is now 44EP. Expenditures:

Repairs 24 [none skipped]
Conversions 20 [scouts, escorts, FCR]
Fleet builds 129 [skipped expensive escorts]
PDU 3 [ENG]
Finish colony 1

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Wednesday, January 17, 2024 - 01:00 am: Edit

Alliance turn 12 combat is done. The Feds and Gorns killed the two Romulan BATS near their mutual border. The Hydrans and Kzinti each killed a Lyran BATS. The Kzinti retook some devastated planets, most of which will likely fall again on C13.

Overall, A12 was pretty quiet. The Feds have a horde of crips. All can reach repair sites.

By Tom Lusco (Tlusco) on Wednesday, April 03, 2024 - 09:39 am: Edit

How do you feel your implementation of 537.11 has gone? Assumng it is still

"5) Interpretation of new 'failure to secure' rule (537.11). Any two Gs (whether or not on the same ship) in the same hex as a captured planet prevents the auto-rebellion at one planet in the hex. Roll events (537.12) normally. Example: in a captured capital hex, one FTL (with 4 Gs) could secure any two planets in the system."

Has the conqueror just spammed FTS, or are there enough small commando ships to make it work?

Starting a new game soon, and this is an open question.

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Wednesday, April 03, 2024 - 09:42 am: Edit

Tom,

This game is paused. However, yes, the implementation is working well enough. You don't really have enough Gs as the Coalition, but you have enough to make it work. As for spamming AUX Gs, you're limited, but building a few is worth it - particularly for occupying the Hydran capital.

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Thursday, April 04, 2024 - 03:33 pm: Edit

As an Alliance player, I tend to concur. I'm sure it's a pain for the Coalition to need to keep GG everywhere. But it does not appear to be a crippling requirement for them.

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Tuesday, July 23, 2024 - 01:19 pm: Edit

This game is resuming. C13 retro has happened. Kzinti economy is not bad. Feds are a hot mess.

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Wednesday, July 24, 2024 - 08:08 pm: Edit

Fed economy, turn 13:

Debt 44EP
Income 162.4
Last turn + scrap 4
Borrow 23 more, but pay 4.4 interest, leaving 185 to spend

Repairs 72.5
Construction 97.5 (23 ships; the only expensive one is a CFS)
Conversions 14.5
Other 3.5

Gorns are chipping in 20EP, which will help a lot next turn.

By contrast, the Kzinti had no trouble building their full schedule.

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Wednesday, July 31, 2024 - 06:22 pm: Edit

Alliance turn 13 combat has started. There was an interesting battle over Sigma Draconis, which the Feds were trying to retake. The Romulans reserved 3 ships there, giving them a slightly larger force. But the Feds had 6 fighters, which they refilled 4 times from their FSD. The Romulans were doing about 3 more damage each round, but the Feds were losing 6 fighters each round, so it was in their interest to keep fighting. After 5 rounds of this, the FSD were empty, and the Feds retreated, leaving the Romulans with the planet.

By Gary Quick (Northquick) on Monday, August 12, 2024 - 01:43 pm: Edit

Catching up on the flanks:

**Hydran T13:**
Income: 36
Builds: TG, 2xTR, 6xCU, PT

Not much has changed in the Hydran Theater since last Hydran posts, except Hydran forces are a little more carrier strong, with both an IC and ID. Still have been hesitant about re-engaging in force and have been mostly picking off pickets.


**Gorn T13:**
Income: 93
Builds: CCH, CLE, CM, 2xHD, SR+survey slot, 2xBD, BDS, BDE, DDG, PT, Convoy
Convert: HD>CM

With a heavy focus on the Feds by the Roms so far, the Gorns are happy to pickoff border BATS where weakly held and reserved. Rom BATS 4710, 4910, 5010 all fall this turn. Roms do have strong forces in range of both Gorn border BATS and Fed space/planets, so it will be interesting to see where the Roms focus their efforts T14.

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Wednesday, October 02, 2024 - 07:46 pm: Edit

C14 saw a raid on Kzintai!

Losses:

Z: DNL, 2CD, MSC, TGC, 2TGT, 2 battle pods, 4 scout pods, 6PGB, 2 minor planets devastated, 22.4EP spent on RCR and drones, 22.5EP of additional crips
K: D6D, 2D6M, D5
L: 2BC, STT, TGP, scout pod, DWS, PT
Coalition crips are 53.5EP. The Klingons also spent roughly 18EP on drones.

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Tuesday, December 10, 2024 - 10:11 pm: Edit

We are up to turn A16. This turn's Fed econ is somewhat interesting. We are using the Romulan cloaked raider rules as written. The consequence is that the Feds need ships that are favored in single combat with a Romulan SUP. It's also better if they can react to raiders.

The only thing that meets both criteria is a Federation tug with a CVA pod. Other than dealing with raiders, it's a poor use of Fed free fighters. But dealing with them is important enough that they purchased a CVA pod this turn!

income 174.6
from last turn (mostly salvage) 7.35
available 182.95

Builds:
DNL 16 (sub for CVA)
CC 9
TG 6 (sub for CA)
NCA 6
8NCL 40
16FF 48 (incl 2 downsubs)
FFB 0 (special rule)
NCT 5
LTT 5
CVA pod 2+12FFF

Construction total: 137
Various conversions 16
Colonies 2
Devastation recovery 0.5

Interest 2
Repay debt 12
Remaining debt 8

Remaining EP 0.95

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Wednesday, June 04, 2025 - 07:37 pm: Edit

Coalition turn 17 saw a battle in 1401 with 22 rounds of actual combat (plus 4 redevastation rounds).

The damage was more than one would expect from 22 rounds because Ted was using the "push your BIR every 4 rounds" rule. He was up to BIR 9 at the end -- the usual 4, plus 5 from the BIR push.

Counting by repair cost, Kzinti have 77EP of crippled warships in Kzintai + Barony, and 97.5EP of uncrippled (not counting depot ships). This may actually mean I didn't go long enough before giving up my PGBs at the second major. I could have done one more round by crippling another CVS group and a few other ships. But I would have had needed to devastate it after 1-2 more rounds as some of my uncrippled ships were static in the other two systems.

The Kzinti lost two majors devastated during the battle. All minors were previously devastated. Two majors are still healthy.

The Kzinti will not repair everything on their turn. But then again, neither will the Coalition.

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Tuesday, June 24, 2025 - 07:35 am: Edit

What defences are left in 1401?


The push the BIR rule I think is the most forgotten about rule for attackers!

It certainly makes direct crippling (or killing) of SB's more easy!

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Tuesday, June 24, 2025 - 09:06 am: Edit

Remaining defenses are:

10PGB on one side major
12PGB, 8PDU, SB on Kzintai

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Tuesday, June 24, 2025 - 04:13 pm: Edit

The capital is farily safe then!

How is the plan going on breaking the Federation Economy in general - did the 'Mud Slide' work?

(Joe Stevenson I think called it that - but might be wrong on the name!!!)

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Tuesday, June 24, 2025 - 08:24 pm: Edit

I would not call it safe.

On C18, he is not likely to try to take down the defenses over Kzintai, other than perhaps a single round to kill PDUs and run away from the minus points. His fleet is still too beat up from the C17 action. But C19-20 may be another matter.

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Wednesday, June 25, 2025 - 01:17 pm: Edit

You were asking about the Fed economy. Their base income (planets, provinces, colonies) has been in the low 160s for several turns but jumped to 180 on A17, mostly due to the Romulans being otherwise occupied. This may not last. BUT if he goes after Kzintai, I imagine that will help the Feds.