Federation Commander

[storeylf]

[Kang]

[storeylf]

[rulesjd]

[DirkSJ]

[Savedfromwhat]

JD,
I am a long time Gorn/Romulan player and I am good. Plasma has a problem, the problem is getting to hit. In a tournament I don't need more then range 8 as the federation, at 8 I can Superstack all 3 of my ships and fire 12 OL photons at one of your ships, even if I do less then average and only hit with 5 I have just crippled one of your ships and If I fire phasers I cant chase you down I will run out of power, so I have to wait until next turn and depending on the Range I still may not be able to hit you.

I could go EM right? Well then my opponent gets to come closer and when I drop it he is much closer and can still HET and run. The old tactic of cloaking to range 5 Launching and going evasive next impulse was a huge boost to the Plasma Races and I am very glad it is gone (EM was way tooverpowered before), but even that only worked for the Roms and it only worked once.

Changing when plasma is armed will not help the situation because I could 2 turn F arm all my Heavy Plasmas launch them and still not hit, it isn't an issue of being ready for your opponent it is an issue of plasma not being able to hit at speed 32.

[HappyDaze]

The "follow the plasma with your phasers" doesn't really work so well in FedCom either since a canny opponent can elect to take the torp on a shield during subpulse 1-3, and then have another facing you for direct fire after subpulse 4.

My group hates seeking weapons, feeling that they are generally bad weapons. Drones are at least tolerated for being 0 power, 360 arcs, and firing every turn (until th rack is empty). Plasmas just get no love, especially as plasma ships have few or no other heavy weapons.

[phul]

So... Plasma.
I wouldn't say I'm a 'good plasma' player as was requested above. I will say that the 'plasma balet' as it was described above is not the only way to play plasma races.

As a plasma race, if you let your oponent reach range <5, you've made a gross mistake somewhere prior. To this line:

[Kang]

[terryoc]

[storeylf]

Phul, like you I tend to see the plasma less as a killing weapon and more as a means of 'encouraging' enemy ships to move away from me, in a way that I can take adavantage of. I agree that waiting to fire plasma at range 1 or 2 (or generally overload range) is just asking for trouble. The idea isn't to exchange volleys, where the enemy clobbers you and them you hope your plasma hits. You shoot slightly earlier and force the enemy to be hit by the plasma if he wants to get to overload against you. Whilst I admit I haven't played enough games or against a wide enough number of other people to be some uber master of plasma, I have found the basic concept succesful. My gorn and romulans have both won (as described earlier) doing exactly the type of things you are noting, you either achieve a fire power edge aginst fewer enemy ships as the plasma target runs away, or follow up an entire running fleet blasting his rear with phasers.

I know I keep noting the 3 turn arming, and am aware of, and have used 2 turn Fs, but the point remains that whilst 2 turn Fs are a useful feature, to use the plasma at full (normal) power you need 3 turns, and that does bias their tactics. 2 turn Fs can be situationally very useful but it is the bigger plasma that allows you keep an enemy running those extra impulses, or has the time to catch some one against a map corner and still deal decent damage.

I note quite a few people see the cloak as being a little useless, something I can't understand. OK, Ive only played them twice, but in both games the cloak was critical to the tactics used. There is no way the roms could have sat with ~18 stingers plus motherships milling around them whilst I bided my time for a moment to uncloak a ship and kill several stingers. Against the klingons the cloak allowed me to manipulate the initial exchange position to the one I wanted, which then left them defensive and running for half the game, and then later (during the phase where I was reloading and defensive) to avoid giving up more points than I had accumulated.

The romulan force I've used twice and is still the one I like is 2 WE and 2 Snipes. Gorns I can't make up my mind on, but I think the force I used was 2 of the 160ish pt ships (can't remember which type) and a CL.

I do think that the Gorns are a bit expensive for what they are, but not because they are plasma. I would happily take most gorn ships against any similar class vessel of another race, but for some reason they usuually seem about ~10% more expensive, that adds up in a tourney and makes squadron choice awkward. I can see that roms are paying a premium for the cloak, but what are Gorn paying a premium for?

[pinecone]

[storeylf]

[Krellex]

Regarding the comments about launching a bit early to force your opponent to take the hit or turn and run: Make sure you keep enough plasma unlaunched as a deterrent. Savvy opponents will feign a charge, you launch a bunch/or all your plasma, he turns and runs it out, then comes back in to mug you. Prevent this by keeping some torps hot in the tubes at all times. He may still come in and hurt you, but to get his shot, he has to eat some delicious plasma.
Plasma requires finesse and patience and usually they wont hit at full strength. But remember you have phasers you can whittle down his shields with. Anyway, these are some general thoughts. I have never done FC tourney, so I can't really comment there. (Never played with a short clock in FC)
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[DirkSJ]