Federation Commander

[Patrick Doyle]

This is a tricky system to use and I am looking for any advice that I can get. I have played against web casters but have not actually played using a web caster. I do know that you must place the web very carefully. One misplaced hex of web can have disasterous consequences for the Tholians.

The best advice I have heard to date for learning about the web caster is to spend a couple days with map and counters and try out as many combinations as possible. I haven't done this yet, but I'll post what I learn.

Webcasters have several uses as far as I can tell.

1. You can try to trap ships with them. This seems like the most tempting from what I have seen and always the least effective. It is difficult to trap a ship that does not cooperate.

2. The near relative to the above is to use it to influence enemy movement. The enemy must either be trapped or move where you want him to move. (or do an HET)

3. Use it as a web fist. This makes for a long range punch and hurts when it hits.

4. Use it as cover to fire phasers at the enemy.


So does anyone have any specific thoughts on the Webcaster or anything to add?
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Once again I have proven that even in the future, your photon torpedoes are built by the lowest bidder.

[Sneaky Scot]

I almost never try to trap ships with the caster. I think the best use is deployable terrain. You can try to affect the opposition's movement options, you can hide behind the web (always good at annoying Klingons and Kzintis as you dive through your own web and their drone swarms don't) or as a palisade you can hide behind for phaser sniping.
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Nothing is quite as persuasive as a disruptor pistol on slow burn and a rotisserie......

[TJolley]

On the approach:

I like to use web to break up fleets so as to gain local superiority against some portion of the opponents fleet, or to use web as a way to throw up a wall to fire at the enemy under protective cover.

Once the battle is joined:

One you get close to the enemy, I tend to use web fist a lot. It's pretty expensive, but it can tip a game.

With the one impulse delay before it solidifies. it is very difficult to use cast web to capture ships under most circumstances. It's better employed to influence movement of opposing fleets, or intercept seeking weapons

[mjwest]

I am not a big Tholian user, but this is what I have seen over the years:

1. Doesn't work. And with no breakdown threat, it doesn't even really buy you anything. Never even think this.

2. Still hard to do. Unless you have multiple web strands you can use in combination, you are going to trap the enemy, and the movement influence is fairly minor. You will never force them to HET unless they want to. (With the power that an HET costs, you can decelerate enough to turn safely.) You can temporarily split the opposing forces, but only if they are widely dispersed. Overall, a decent idea, but hard to make use of.

3. Good use, but remember this is the secondary use of a web caster. If you go in thinking "web fist" you are not fully using its capabilities.

4. This is the main use. It is a firebreak that allows you to control when the fire exchange takes place. With FC's limited firing opportunities, even brief moments of exposure don't even have to be a difficult thing.

From everything I have ever read from tournament writeups, #4 is the primary use of web casters. If you can use it this way effectively, you can really alter the damage balance and give yourself a significant advantage.

The other thing to remember (when comparing them with SFB webs) is that FC webs are not nearly as scary as SFB webs. They don't cause breakdowns. They have a lower maximum strength. It is harder to get stuck in a web, and harder to stay stuck.

But, they also don't cause damage reduction to Tholian phasers firing through them, either. Cast web should be very useful to break up enemy fire.

Oh, there is one more thing you didn't mention:
5. Stop seeking weapons. Cast web is one of the few things that allows you to easily deal with seeking weapons coming in head-on. You have to time it right (for the one impulse delay in "solidifying"), but web can definitely stop, or at least slow down, a seeking weapon wave very effectively.
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Federation Commander Answer Guy