SFB TACTIC OF THE MONTH Continued

ARMOR YOUR DRONES
- Junior Lieutenant Robert Gamble, USS Massachusetts

These traditional enemies also rely more on phaser-2s than other races. A simple 1/2 space armor module in your two-space drones turns a guaranteed kill on a standard type-IV drone with two phaser-2s, into one not at all guaranteed. While the Lyrans' better ships in the General War have phaser-1s primarily, most of the Klingon ships retain some phaser-2s, and these will often be assigned to drone defense.

One trick that could surprise an enemy with low numbers of labs would be to have a scatter pack with three (or four) drones. If other drones are coming in, the enemy might mentally assign those drones to two phaser-2s (or better yet, two phaser-3s) as he or she "knows" there are some two-space drones in the group, while saving his labs, and even tractor beams, for the unknown drones. (Ideally these should be timed to arrive beforehand.) This also works against an ESG since the Lyran might assume less damage to it than will actually be scored, possibly leading him to use a less than optimal attack run for the actual situation.

This trick can also be used effectively during time periods when fast drones are not yet General Availability (Y178-179). Here, assign a one-space external armor module to your two-space drones (within the availability limits of course). This slows them down to speed-20. Make a scatter pack that includes two of these and two standard type-IF drones. Your opponent will once again "know" (at least until you have pulled this on him once), that the two fast drones must be the type-IVs. If they do not identify them due to low lab numbers, they will likely overkill them and then be surprised by the two-space drones moving at speed 20 which will hit for 24 points of damage and take 10 points to kill.

While other constructed drones might be "sexier", the simple armor module can lead to some of the best opportunities to foil your enemy's plans.