- Lieutenant Commander Dale Fields, USS California
With the release of Planetary Operations, the Hydrans and the Kzintis now have to face the possibility of not just having their space occupied, but eventually absorbed into the Klingon and Lyran empires. The traditional solution is of course simply to sally forth and kill the province garrisons. Of course, if the Coalition reacts into that province and pins you, you will not have accomplished anything.
This can be especially trying for the Hydrans who, if they have been kicked to the Off Map, can be pinned out of everything but those two southwest provinces. The solution is to focus your raiders on disrupting the captured provinces before they become long-term captured. Without that status, the provinces can never become annexed. This can save the majority of Hydran territory. Fast ships can reach to the 07xx column, hitting eight separate provinces. Because long-term capture takes four turns each, and you have two standard raiders, you can prevent the Coalition from EVER annexing these eight provinces. If your raider is the LGE, there is almost nothing the Coalition can do besides locating a medium-sized fleet in every possible hex as nothing the Coalition has can stand up to the LGE one-on-one.
The Kzintis will find this less useful as their best raider (the DNL) can enter into some dangerous fights even against war cruisers, let alone the hordes of Lyran DNs or BCs. But, the Kzintis also have their Off Map located conveniently along most of their territory so the traditional methods will often work.
The Federation can use this tactic to some extent as they will have the CVF and DVL, but they have until Turn #17 to kill garrisons and they have a long border so the traditional methods should apply to them as well.
The Alliance should also watch for provinces with a hex out of reaction range as a dinky little commando frigate can be safely sent to that hex, disrupting the province.
One final note to the Hydrans. You have noticed those three provinces that you cannot reach with your LGE? Do not worry about them. They will get annexed by the Vudar eventually. The Coalition will never get to hold on to any of your space.
