Federation Commander

[terryoc]

The scenario of a Dragoon (148 points) vs Andromedan Satellite Base (100 points) was mentioned in another thread, and it caught my imagination.

At first glance, it looks as if the Satellite Base is going to be hard for the Dragoon to beat, despite the 50% advantage in points. Basically, the problem is this: the SatB can dump power from its panel banks faster than the Dragoon can fill them. With 12 power absorber panels in two banks, the SatB can get rid of 24 points of damage per turn: 12 dissipated to space, 12 transferred to batteries. So staying at range and plinking with the Hellbores is just not going to overwhelm the panels.

If the Dragoon can get to Range 0-1 and hit with four overloaded Hellbores, that will fill both panel banks and phasers (especially the G's) will gut the SatB like a fish. If the SatB fires back at that range, you have a dead SatB and a seriously crippled Dragoon. Typical Hydran "You should see the other guy!" tactics. Trouble is, the heavy tractor-repulsors have a maximum damage range bracket of 0-3, and 4-5 is next: the SatB will fire first and has a reasonable chance of crippling the Dragoon before it can get to Range 1. And the power cost is prohibitive for the Dragoon too. Flying in fast under EM uses too much power needed for weapons.

I can see two problems for the SatB, however. Power and damage control.

The SatB's panels cost 6 points per turn to run. Arming all six TRHs every turn costs 18 power. Firing all ph-2s would cost another 8. That's 32 all up. It generates 18 power/turn. It has up to 30 points of battery power stored at the start of the game. If the SatB runs panels and arms all TRHs for five turns, it's out of battery power and cannot arm phasers or all TRHs. So just by sitting there and doing nothing the Dragoon can run the SatB out of power. The SatB can conserve power by arming the TRHs as TRLs (2 points/turn/TR instead of 3), but halves its potential damage. That makes an overrun by the Dragoon much more attractive.

The damage control issue for the SatB is this: it has only a rating of 2, and hardly any "stuffing". The base rules combined with the lack of stuffing means that the first column of the DAC for a SatB looks like this:

1. Reactor (3 repair)
2. Reactor (3 repair)
3. Transporter (2 repair)
4. Phaser (4 repair)
5. Hull/Cargo (1 repair)
6. Phaser (4 repair)

Average repair cost is just under 3.

So even if the Dragoon only averages one point of burn-through damage per turn (and I think it can do better than this), the SatB will eventually turn to junk if the Dragoon salvoes its weapons in such a way that it causes as many burn-through hits as possible. The Andromedan will probably fire back, but the fact that the Dragoon can fire two HBs through five of its six shields helps here. I think the SatB will get worn down first.
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"Captain" Terry O'Carroll, fourteen papers published including six best of issue
"Man, Terry, you are like a loophole seeking missle!" - Mike West

[IKerensky]

If there is no time limit nor reinforcement I guess the ship will always win against the base.

Question is: if there is a time limit, what tactic could he use to kill it fast enough ?

Waiting for the battery to deplet seems a good thing to do.

On the other hand I fail to see how the scenario: destroyed base against crippled ship fail to be a satisfying result :p

[kirbykibble]

technically, if you break through a shield and destroy a pa panel, the whole SatB is toast
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[terryoc]

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